“Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house: lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel: lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger; and thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed, and say, ‘How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; and have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!’ ” Proverbs 5:7-13 (KJB)
door
It Will Come
“Also, thou son of man, the children of thy people still are talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, ‘Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the LORD.’ And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as My people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not. And when this cometh to pass, (lo, it will come,) then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them.” Ezekiel 33:30-33 (KJB)
“Lo, it will come.” Just what is it that the LORD is telling Ezekiel that will come? Every word that He has given the prophet to speak will come to pass.
Many of the people of Israel loved to hear the words Ezekiel proclaimed. They loved the illustrations, the symbolism he used, the metaphorical emphasis that he used in his preaching; but they really did not hear, neither did they do them.
There are many today who love to hear a “good” sermon; the stories, the illustrations, life situations, and narratives that the preachers use in their Sunday morning messages; but is it because they are being entertained, or do the words they here; do the words you and I hear affect change in the life of the hearer? Do we grieve over our sin, repent, and walk out of that worship having truly worshiped Holy God, and having experienced a changed life?
Be sure that when the Christian preacher of 2019 is preaching the word of God, rightly dividing the word of truth, then it will come to pass, just as God has spoken it.
Jesus Christ is the Living Truth. He came and fulfilled all the law and commandments of God. He died on the cross for your sins, He was buried, and He rose again. He told us that He would come again (John 14:1-3); and He will. If He said He will come again; It Will Come” just as He has said.
On the Threshold
“Then came the woman in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man’s house where her lord was, till it was light. And her lord rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way: and, behold, the woman his concubine was fallen down at the door of the house, and her hands were upon the threshold.” Judges 19:26-27 (KJV)
In reading this story of chapter 19; and I do recommend that you would do so; you will notice that three previous verses have noted that “there was no king in Israel in those days” (17:6; 18:1; 19:1). Which tells us basically that there was no law. The final verse of Judges 21 adds to those words, “…every man did that which was right in his own eyes”.
Another verse of Scripture to think on, and I give the NKJV rendering of is,
“Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint;
But happy is he who keeps the law.” Proverbs 29:18 (NKJV)
And so with that in mind we can get a grasp of the vile acts, and consequences of this chapter.
In these events we can see how cheap human life was. That men would throw a woman out to voracious wolves (evil men) to save their own house and lives is next to unthinkable for many men in our day. Yet we are not innocent.
Women and children are fed to the wolves of our society through, husbands, and men who think they own their woman, through sex slavery and human trafficking. Is there any difference? Wives and children live in abusive situations; and treated like property rather than special human beings.
The hands of women and children are on the thresholds of homes today. For some it is too late (like the woman in our story). For others (for the living) there is hope in the cross of Jesus Christ.
If you are one of those people who live in the U.S. of A. and think that slavery is over. You are mistaken; you are deceived. You are part of the problem, need some education on the matter. I know that I need more.
Those of us who are Christian men must commit our lives to Christ, to become more like Him, love Him, His word, and have His compassion for women and children; and be men of God through Him.
The people of this world are enslaved to sin. They go after their own way. We all need a Saviour, and His name is Jesus. He is also the King.
The Fire and Hammer 