This week’s readings have really challenged us; particularly as we’re on vacation. That’s way we haven’t posted this week; that and a very old computer that won’t connect to the internet with any predictability. But we have continued to read along with each day’s readings and have been moved and disturbed by the book of Ezekiel. Its a hard and discomfiting book–not the lightest fare for vacation time. Nonetheless, we have found the Lord using it to sift our hearts and overturn some places that needed upending.
In Ezekiel 21, God makes this sweeping pronouncement through the prophet: “Son of man, set your face against Jerusalem and preach against the sanctuary.Prophesy against the land of Israel 3 and say to her: ‘This is what the Lord says: I am against you. I will draw my sword from its sheath and cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked. 4 Because I am going to cut off the righteous and the wicked, my sword will be unsheathed against everyone from south to north.” (Ezekiel 21:2-4). What a provocative statement; disturbing to say the least. It is hard to imagine that God would allow the righteous to suffer the devastation of judgement along with the wicked. What’s going on here?
So, let’s look back and remember that Ezekiel is among the exiled Jews who are living in captivity in Babylon. As he prophesies in this chapter, his view is on the people “back home” in Jerusalem but his message has several intended targets.
First, he is announcing that judgement is coming upon Jerusalem because the people had abandoned their loyalty to God. All our choices have consequences. The place is going to be wiped out and no one will be spared; not even those who follow God. This points to the fact that sin’s consequences affect other people. It isn’t just the God deserters whose lives will be devastated; even the upright will suffer. We see this today in our culture as well. So many suffer injustice due to the poor decisions of others. The breakdown of family systems in our country has profoundly affected generations who are growing up without healthy role models. Sadly, sin and its dreadful by-products can never be contained to individual lives — sin cannot be isolated — it has a way of hurting those around us. Consider the case of an addict whose dependency brings underserved pain to their spouse, children, friends and co-workers. Think about the angry father whose verbal rants demoralize and destroy the members of his family. Consider the critical mother whose sharp tongue and disapproving comments wither the souls of her children. Yes, sin always overflows the individual and affects others in dreadful ways. So, the actions of the “wicked” will affect the lives of the “righteous.”
Next, God will use Jerusalem’s destruction to bring about another result. It will also affect the exiles. God’s intention is to cleanse and purify his people so that they will belong completely to him. He intends to bring a remnant of faithful people back from exile who are free of idolatry. Restoration is the ultimate goal. But the people in exile had not yet fully repented and returned to the Lord (even though they had been taken to exile!). The people continued to look back toward home and saw that Jerusalem and the temple were intact. They viewed these outward things and assumed that God was still for them. They were still synchretistic in their hearts — blending their identity as God’s people with the worship of other gods. It is amazing how deep denial runs in the human heart. They put their hope in externals (Jerusalem and the temple) while still running their lives according to their carnal desires. They were people who wanted it both ways. On the one hand they identified themselves with God and professed faith in him. On the other hand their actions proved otherwise. God knew that as long as Jerusalem stood, the people would avoid the real work of honest relationship with him and repenting of their sinful ways — of doing an internal housecleaning of the heart that was visible in their external lives. If Jerusalem fell and the temple was destroyed, the people would have to own the reality that they were out of relationship with God; that he would not tolerate them “dating” other gods; and that their hope had to be in him alone and not in any external, lesser thing.
So how does this apply to us? We, too, can put our hope in externals while convincing ourselves that we are fully committed to God. We profess faith in Christ, but also hope in lesser things like family relationships, friendships, our churches, our spouse, a boyfriend/girlfriend, our health, our job or our finances. We too have a way of “dating” the lesser ‘gods’. We don’t call them this, nor do we tend to think of them this way, but in essence we make idols of anything in our lives in which we place our hope outside of Christ. An idol is usually a good thing that becomes an ultimate thing that we rely upon or trust in beyond our hope in God. It pulls our hearts away from him and affects our decision making and our choices. It is less that God’s perfect will for our lives. He wants our complete devotion; just as he has already given us his. And because he loves, he is willing to strip away any and every thing that competes for our complete dependence upon him.
upword 