Tag Archives: Ezekiel

A work in progress… completion assured

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In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth of the month, in the fourteenth year after the fall of the city – on that very day the hand of the Lord was on me and he took me there. In visions of God he took me to the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain, on whose south side were some buildings that looked like a city.. “Son of man, look carefully and listen closely and pay attention to everything I am going to show you, for that is why you have been brought here. Tell the people of Israel everything you see.”

(Ezek 40.1-4)

Then the man brought me to the gate facing east, and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with his glory.. The glory of the Lord entered the temple through the gate facing east. Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. While the man was standing beside me, I heard someone speaking to me from inside the temple. He said, “Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet. This is where I will live among the Israelites for ever..”

(Ezek 43.1-7)

And the name of the city from that time on will be: THE LORD IS THERE.

(Ezek 48.35)

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away… And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God..” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”

(Rev 21.1,3&5)

The book of the words of the prophet Ezekiel is a challenging read, containing some visions which we find almost impossible to picture, let alone interpret.. It is nonetheless encouraging, closing as it does with a detailed description of a new temple, a new centre of worship of the the Almighty God, where his presence returns to dwell among his restored people. That vision came to encourage a people in exile, a people whose national identity was on the point of vanishing under Babylonian rule.

Because those people were not just any ethnic group, they were the chosen ones, the covenant people of the Almighty God and the objects of his faithful love. They were to play their part in his plan for the salvation of the world, and the inauguration of a new kingdom, and so although in human terms, they had no hope, yet God – through Ezekiel – is speaking to them of a purpose, dignity and identity as his people. There would in time be a restoration, a return to Jerusalem and a pattern of worship would be re-established.. but the return of the glory of the Lord – his presence – remained in the future. Devout Jews looked for this return, this coming of the Lord to his people, to dwell among them, and the writers of the New Testament recognise that Jesus, as God incarnate, was the initial fulfilment of the prophecy.

Ezekiel then speaks to a future restoration which is yet to be completed, to a full indwelling of God with his people. This is what we – as believers in Jesus – have experienced in our part as we live by faith and by the indwelling Holy Spirit. Jesus teaches that as we trust in him, so we become the dwelling place of God. We have been made fit for that purpose through the powerful atoning work of the cross, and – whatever we may feel – the truth is that the global church is now the place where the divine is at home.. We, like the exiled Israelites, have dignity, purpose and identity because we are the object of God’s covenant love. We too, look forward to a day when the full glory of God will dwell with his people and because of Jesus, we can be confident that it will come to pass.

The prophet’s vision is one of perfect communion and intimate connection, of proper worship and pure devotion. Only God himself, whose name and glory his people have defaced and dishonoured, can restore and make this a reality. God is committed to the realisation of this communion, a relationship where his glory will be perfectly seen in all its fulness, and seen as He dwells with us. How marvellous, how far beyond our comprehension this is!

To see this vision, is to worship and bow in awe before unimagined love and power, confessing my own insignificance and unworthiness, yet exulting to know myself chosen to share it!

That you, O God, should be glorified is only right.. But that your glory should be seen by your indwelling of your people is astonishing! Let me grow in understanding of this truth, let it inspire and motivate me to love, obedience and glad-hearted service. O Lord, be glorified in me!

Living with imperfections..

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“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me..When..you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways…I will hold you accountable for his blood..Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! ‘”

(Ezek 33.7&8,11)

“Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. for I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God..”

(Acts 20.26&27)

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection…Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on…Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me, put it into practice.

(Phil 3.10&12, 4.9)

Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith…

(Heb 13.7)

The apostle Paul is revealed through his words – recorded in the book of Acts, and in his pastoral letters to churches and leaders – as a passionate evangelist and church planter, consumed with one desire – to make Christ known across the ancient world. His single-minded pursuit of this goal took him through dreadful suffering and persecution, and enriched his life as he saw God transforming lives through the preaching of the gospel.

Paul was urgent, earnest, and fully aware of the responsibility which God had laid upon him – to call the wicked to repentance and faith through Christ. In his powerful final address to his beloved friends in Ephesus, he declares himself ‘innocent’, a watchman who had fulfilled his calling and warned of the coming judgement and present offer of salvation. No one could accuse him of withholding good news from them; their guilt would be on their own heads for rejecting God’s grace.

Paul knew that he was not perfect, indeed he refers on several occasions to his ongoing weakness and struggle. But, it is not that which defined his ministry, it was his tenacious obedience, and total dependence upon Christ for salvation and acceptance with God. When Paul invites his readers to imitate him, it is not because everything in his life was holy and without fault. Rather it is because he knows it is not, and he has sought on every occasion to model how the believer should conduct themselves in light of that knowledge.

As redeemed sinners, we are free from the fear of sin because we have full forgiveness whenever we need it, and the burden of guilt is taken from us. Our sin no longer defines us, and cannot hinder God in the working out of his purposes. We are on the winning side and although our enemy is powerful, our captain is victorious and our very struggles are – by his grace – working out for our blessing and his glory.

When the writer to the Hebrews invites the reader to imitate their leaders, it is faith which is mentioned, not perfect lives. What is faith? It is the assurance of things not seen – our promised eternal life at home in glory, our future perfection and the full realisation of the sanctifying work of Christ in us. Faith is depending upon God’s promises, and basing our lives on the truth of what he says about us – forgiven, justified, adopted, beloved, glorious. This kind of faith does not pretend that there is no sin left, nor is it obsessed by the fear of sin, but rather it knows the quickest way to the Father’s side, to the mercy-seat, to the fresh cleansing fountain of forgiveness and the strength of Christ in us to resist temptation and if we fall, to get up in confidence that God is with us and we can keep going.

This is how we live with imperfections, by imitating Paul and others who have taught and modelled the christian life for us – as a persevering, a dogged and cheerful obedience which knows that we are not earning salvation, but living in it. This side of death, we cannot know complete freedom from our weaknesses, and from the pain of sin in the world. But we can live free from fear of those things, because Christ has conquered them, has promised that none of them can separate us from him nor prevent the completion of his work.

God grant us a burning desire to be holy for him, total dependance on Christ’s saving work and the Holy Spirit’s power so that as we press on, we will indeed be changed increasingly into the likeness of our glorious captain, to whom be all the praise and honour!