14 The word of the LORD came to [Ezekiel]: 15 “Son of man, the people of Jerusalem have said of your fellow exiles and all the other Israelites, ‘They are far away from the LORD; this land was given to us as our possession.’ 16 Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Although I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.’ 17 Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again.’ 18 They will return to it and remove all its vile images and detestable idols. 19 I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. 20 Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God. 21 But as for those whose hearts are devoted to their vile images and detestable idols, I will bring down on their own heads what they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD.”
–Ezekiel 11.14-21 (NIV)
If you have ever labored under the false teaching that the OT is all about God’s wrath while the NT is all about God’s love and grace, this passage from Ezekiel is for you because in it we see the very heart of God, a heart that is full of love for his wayward people even as it is a heart that demands his holy justice be fulfilled.
A bit of background might be helpful before we look at the text. Prior to the fall of Jerusalem in August 586 BC, Judah had been invaded by the Babylonians and some of its people were carried off in exile to Babylon about 11 years earlier, Ezekiel included. True to the human condition, the survivors living in Jerusalem had deluded themselves into thinking they were special in God’s eyes because they had been spared exile. “Not so fast,” says God. “I am not finished with dealing with you yet. The worst is yet to come.” In the first part of Ezekiel, then, God is prophesying to his people in exile, warning them of Jerusalem’s impending fall and reminding the exiles that their unfaithfulness and rebellion had landed them there.
Yet in the midst of God’s judgment and wrath, we read this remarkable passage from today. Indeed, after Jerusalem fell, the whole tone of Ezekiel changes from oracles of judgment to oracles of consolation for his broken and despairing people. As is always the case in Scripture, we see God giving people what they need, good and bad, because God does not want to lose anyone permanently and continually calls his people to return to him.
Remarkable.
In today’s passage we get a glimpse into the very heart of God. At first blush the statement that God has been a sanctuary to his people in exile is not all that remarkable. But when we remember that the Jews believed God’s Presence resided in the Temple in Jerusalem, this is a quite remarkable promise for God to make. Imagine that. God is reminding his proud and foolish people living in Jerusalem that he is being a sanctuary to the very people they thought were under God’s curse. When we understand this dynamic, it is easier for us to understand the dynamic of God’s wrath and God’s mercy. The former is never the end but rather a means to a greater end–repentance and a return to life.
Yes, God’s people had been sent into exile because of their unfaithfulness. God had called them through Abraham to be his people and the solution to the problem of sin and rebelliousness. They were blessed so that they could be a blessing to others. But Israel had forgotten her calling and had sought after other things and other gods and people to be her god. They had become part of the problem instead of part of the solution and God had finally called his people to account by inflicting the unthinkable on them–exile and the very destruction of God’s dwelling place on earth, the Temple in Jerusalem.
But God did not abandon his people, even in their punishment. God was with them and promised to restore them. Not only did God promise to restore them, God also promised to transform and heal them so that they would not be stubborn and wayward anymore. For you see, God wants all of us to have life in him so that we can really enjoy living. Without life in God, it really is all futile because only in God can we find our source of all life.
So what can we take from today’s passage? One of the lessons we can learn is that God is a God who is faithful to his people even when they are not faithful to him in return. It does not matter who you are or what you have done. God continues to reach out to you, to invite you to have real life in him. He has taken on our humanity and resolved the intractable problem of human sin and the alienation it causes by dying for us on a cross. He sends his Spirit on us to heal and transform us, and make us into the very likeness of Christ so that we can enjoy life to its fullest.
And as today’s passage reminds us in such poignant terms, God promises to be with us through the good times and bad. How often we forget the latter! How often do we think God has checked out on us when things go terribly wrong for us, even when the bad things that afflict us are by our own making! But this is not the message of Scripture. God loves us and created us to have relationship with him. He wants us to live and love and succeed and prosper. But too often we do not want that for ourselves. Too often we pursue that which is ultimately not good for us and then we wonder where God is when it all collapses around us.
When life collapses around you (or on you), go back and read passages like today’s from Ezekiel. Have it remind you that God is faithful to you and is calling you to come back to him in the context of a proper relationship with him, a relationship in which he is God and we are his creatures. Even when bad things afflict us that are not of our own doing, God promises to be with us, to take us by the hand and walk with us in the midst of our darkness until we reemerge into his light. But to take advantage of this requires our faith and our trust. You likely cannot trust someone you do not know very well and so if you want to take advantage of God’s gracious offer to you, you had best do your part in growing the relationship with God in Christ.
None of this will make you immune from the hurts and heartaches of life. What it will do is give you power to overcome them and to bring glory to God as you do. You will only be able to do that if you know God’s love for you to be real and that God is completely trustworthy and true to his word. Your exile may not end immediately but as today’s passage reminds us, you will never be separated from God’s great love for you made manifest in Jesus. Why is this? Because as Jesus reminds us in John’s Gospel, he is the new Temple, the real focal point of God’s presence on earth because he is God made man, and Jesus is readily available in the power and Presence of the Spirit to anyone who calls on him.
When you really believe and accept that, don’t be surprised if you find a mind-blowing power to overcome your darkness that defies all logic and that helps you be the conqueror instead of the conquered. You have not only the word of God about this. You also have the testimony of countless Christians across time and culture to verify this wonderful truth.
Life is hard enough as it is. Don’t try to live it alone or by your own power because you will be defeated. Instead, ask the Lord of this vast universe to help you navigate through the waters of this life and count on his great love and power to help you do just that.
Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!