Have you ever left something on the stove too long? It doesn’t take much time for a delicious pot of chili to be scorched, especially if the burner is too hot. If that happens, even the part that isn’t stuck to the bottom tastes burned. And if you neglect it too much longer, it will get so hard and sticky that the pot itself can be ruined.

That’s the image Ezekiel holds before us in the first part of chapter 24. Although Jerusalem had once been richly blessed (24:3-5), having the very Temple of God within its walls, it was holy no longer. Instead, the people had allowed all sorts of sin to go unchallenged and unchecked. They had shed innocent blood (24:7), they had engaged in all sorts of lewdness, and they had consistently refused God’s offers of forgiveness and cleansing, preferring to continue in their sin (24:13)

So, God said He would turn up the heat. Like an overcooked stew, their bones would be burned (24:10), and the city that was their pot would be ruined (24:11). God would judge them according to their ways and their deeds (24:14).

So, let’s pay some attention to our own pots. Let’s take an honest look inside ourselves, and see if we’re really living according to God’s perfect law of love, devoting ourselves to His glory and to the good of those around us. If not, let’s not make God turn up the heat to get our attention. Instead, let’s accept His offer of forgiveness and cleansing (24:13). Let’s surrender to Christ as our Lord as we accept His pardon as our Savior. After all, who wants to try to eat burned stew from a ruined pot?

Ezekiel 24:1-14 (NASB)

And the word of the LORD came to me in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, saying,
2 “Son of man, write the name of the day, this very day. The king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem this very day.
3 “And speak a parable to the rebellious house, and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Put on the pot, put it on, and also pour water in it;
4 Put in it the pieces, Every good piece, the thigh, and the shoulder; Fill it with choice bones.
5 “Take the choicest of the flock, And also pile wood under the pot. Make it boil vigorously. Also seethe its bones in it.”
6 ‘Therefore, thus says the Lord God, “Woe to the bloody city, To the pot in which there is rust And whose rust has not gone out of it! Take out of it piece after piece, Without making a choice.
7 “For her blood is in her midst; She placed it on the bare rock; She did not pour it on the ground To cover it with dust.
8 “That it may cause wrath to come up to take vengeance, I have put her blood on the bare rock, That it may not be covered.”
9 ‘Therefore, thus says the Lord God, “Woe to the bloody city! I also shall make the pile great.
10 “Heap on the wood, kindle the fire, Boil the flesh well, And mix in the spices, And let the bones be burned.
11 “Then set it empty on its coals, So that it may be hot, And its bronze may glow, And its filthiness may be melted in it, Its rust consumed.
12 “She has wearied Me with toil, Yet her great rust has not gone from her; Let her rust be in the fire!
13 “In your filthiness is lewdness. Because I would have cleansed you, Yet you are not clean, You will not be cleansed from your filthiness again, Until I have spent My wrath on you.
14 “I, the LORD, have spoken; it is coming and I shall act. I shall not relent, and I shall not pity, and I shall not be sorry; according to your ways and according to your deeds I shall judge you,” declares the Lord God.'”