Daily Devotional For Saturday, August 22, 2026
Good morning Southside. If you have been reading these daily devotionals, you know we are using the suggested Bible readings for the One Year Chronological Bible. Currently, we are in the Book of Ezekiel where God has destroyed His people for their rebellion, divination, idolatry, and infanticide. God used King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to do this in 3 major military campaigns that took place in 606 BC, 598 BC and the final blow in 586 BC. Thousands were slaughtered. Thousands were forced to go back to Babylon to live as slaves. Those left in Israel, we left to die by starvation.Our text for today comes from Ezekiel 33:17-22:
“Then this message came to me from the LORD: (18) “Son of man, the people of Israel are the worthless slag that remains after silver is smelted. They are the dross that is left over—a useless mixture of copper, tin, iron, and lead. (19) So tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Because you are all worthless slag, I will bring you to my crucible in Jerusalem. (20) Just as silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin are melted down in a furnace, I will melt you down in the heat of my fury. (21) I will gather you together and blow the fire of my anger upon you, (22) and you will melt like silver in fierce heat. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have poured out my fury on you’” (NLT).
As you read this passage, it seems that in the Lord’s opinion, Israel is useless, worthless and hopeless until God puts them through the judgment of a “smelting furnace” symbolically. In those days, smelting furnaces were used to burn away the dross and impurities, leaving only the purified precious metal. This was a common figure used for purification in Scripture (see Isa. 1:22, 25, Isa. 48:10; Jer. 9:7; Zech. 13:9; and Mal. 3:2-3).
Since this is a prophecy about the future, most scholars believe it is around 589 BC – just 3 years before the final blow comes in 586 BC by the Lord. When this final blow came, people living around Jerusalem fled to it as a sanctuary, falsely believing that they were safe there behind its high walls and re-enforced gates. Little did they know their hope was going to burn up in the fiery wrath of God.
In this analogy, Jerusalem is the smelting furnace (Ezek. 22:19) and Judah (Ezek. 22:20) was the object to be refined. The wrath of God was the heat to do this (Ezek. 22:21). And by the time this was all over, Judah would know that it was God who had done this to them (Ezek. 22:22). This was to purge Judah of its evil as warned by God through Ezekiel in Ezekiel 21:13-22. For many people they do not like, accept and want a God of wrath. They say, “I want a God of love.” Any parent who loves their child shows their loving wrath against them when they are disobedient.
This is not just only in the New Testament. The greatest display of God’s wrath is the cross. The Apostle Peter writes about God’s wrath in 2 Peter 3:9-14. The Apostle John writes about this also in Revelation 20:15. By the time God is done with Jerusalem, this city will be uninhabitable. In some way, God is separating the “sheep” from the “goats” here. The main point here is that Judah is like dross, something that is worthless and is discarded.
There is coming a day when God is going to do the same to the lost and those “Christians” (Matt. 7:21-23) who believed they were saved but were not. God’s avenging hot wrath will separate the sheep from the goats. In that case, the redeemed will remain in heaven and the lost (dross) will go to fires of hell to be tortured for all eternity.
Reflection Assignment: Does the Lord consider you a precious metal or a dross that is to be discarded? If you say, “precious metal,” why do you say that? If you say “dross,” why and what should you do about it? Why do you think the people in Judah felt they were safe? Why do you think people today feel they are safe?
Scripture To Meditate On: Deuteronomy 4:20, “Remember that the Lord rescued you from the iron-smelting furnace of Egypt in order to make you His very own people and His special possession, which is what you are today” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, I pray You never have to treat me like dross. I know that if You need to do this, it is only because You love me and are ridding me of the sin in my life. Thank You for loving me this much. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside – Pastor Kelly