“Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: You people have behaved worse than your neighbors and have refused to obey my decrees and regulations. You have not even lived up to the standards of the nations around you. Therefore, I myself, the Sovereign Lord, am now your enemy. I will punish you publicly while all the nations watch. Because of your detestable idols, I will punish you like I have never punished anyone before or ever will again. Parents will eat their own children, and children will eat their parents. I will punish you and scatter to the winds the few who survive. [Ezekiel 5.7-10]
Here is an interesting statement: I will punish you like I have never punished anyone before or ever will again.
The first part of the threat above is threatening enough for Israel and the second part further confirms the severity of the punishment. However, for those of us living after this predicted punishment, is it safe to say that anything we might deserve in the way of punishment for sinfulness will not be so bad?
Could this have some bearing on why it seems people 'get by' with so much sin today? Is it because God bound Himself to His own Word through Ezekiel?
Father, as many times as I have read this passage of scripture in Ezekiel, I must admit I have never grasped the full meaning of the "never before... or ever again" statement contained in it regarding the severity of Your punishment for faithlessness. Help me to process this entire prophecy and gain fresh understanding of what might be expected in the days ahead for Your wayward Church.
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