8 “‘But they rebelled against me and would not listen to me; they did not get rid of the vile images they had set their eyes on, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt. So I said I would pour out my wrath on them and spend my anger against them in Egypt. Ezekiel 20
I do two different Bible studies on my own. One study is going through Ezekiel and moves at a chapter a week, which is what I share with you, and the other is currently in Deuteronomy and goes about a verse or two a day. They both delve into different aspects, and I'm looking at different things with each. It's normally very easy for me to keep the two studies separate.
Not this week.
Deuteronomy is a recap of the first four books of the Bible. Where I'm at, it's not pretty. It's currently recounting the rebellion of the Israelites in the desert - again. What does this mean? The rebellion of Israel in the desert after they left Egypt is clearly described for the first time in those first four books of the Bible, again in Deuteronomy, and here we are in Ezekiel and we get it again! It's also discussed again in Acts during Stephen's speech to the Sanhedrin (one of my favorite Bible stories), and it's elsewhere too.
So now I'm at a difficult point. Two weeks ago, I wrote about how God said that if we accept Christ, he will completely forget all of our sins. If he completely forgets about our sins, why is the rebellion of Israel brought up so many times? To go even further, the Israelites didn't only rebel once, but numerous times in those first four books of the Bible, and who knows how many times they rebelled that weren't documented.
The Israelites rebelled, again and again and again. But, God forgives and forgets our sins if we accept him. Aren't these two opposing views?
No. God forgives and forgets each of our sins if we accept him. The reason that the Israelites and their multiple rebellions are brought up isn't to constantly rehash a bad argument, but to show, "Look at how many times the Israelites messed up. Look at how horribly they turned from me and rebelled. And I still forgave them and brought them to the promised land once they accepted me."
Once we've accepted Christ, nothing we do will be so horrible that if we do not ask forgiveness, God will not take that away. The story of the Israelites is repeated so many times to show us that no matter how bad we are or that we think we are, God is there for us. This doesn't mean we can sin without repercussion, but that we can go back to God after ANYTHING, ask for his forgiveness and repent, and he will forgive us and forget our sins.