Welcome to a year in the Bible with daily grace. The Bible tells one big story of

redemption and we want to spend five minutes every day journeying through the Bible from start to finish, and exploring how all of it

points to Jesus. Hey everyone, welcome back to a year in the Bible with Daily Grace.

My name is Aubrey Coleman, one of the hosts for the podcast, and today we'll be looking

at Ezekiel Chapter 22 through 24.

In chapter 22, Ezekiel is given the task to expose the sins of Jerusalem, and he provides a detailed

list, abuse of power, disrespecting parents, oppression, disregarding

orphans and widows, slander, profanity, dishonoring God, neglecting the Sabbath,

sexual sins, and even incest, financial bribery, extortion, and even more.

The final thing Ezekiel accuses them of is the worst of all, forgetting God. He follows with a parable of a furnace where metals like silver are melted to separate the impurities from them.

The furnace is portrayed as the wrath of God, and the impurities are the sense of Israel.

Israel might be put through the fire in order to be returned to its original beauty and purpose.

God looked for anyone among them who is righteous to stand before him and prevent

the destruction from happening, but no one could be found, not one.

Another parable is prophesied in chapter 23, and there's some really challenging imagery here

so if you've been a victim of sexual abuse or if this imagery is triggering in any way

you may want to skip through this part. But if you continue listening, it's important to understand

the discomfort that this parable brings. Sin and a rebellion should make us uncomfortable. The

parable begins with two Harlot sisters or prostitutes. One represented

Samaria who had its own place of worship, though God's true temple was in Jerusalem.

The people of Samaria were God's people, but they were idolatrous and they worshipped false gods ultimately leading to their rejection.

The younger of the sisters represented Jerusalem. She could have learned from her older sister, but she became even more corrupt.

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