April 19, Ezekiel 5
"And because of all your abominations I will do with you what I have never yet done, and the like of which I will never do again. - Ezekiel 5:9
Like an actor in a one-man show, Ezekiel played multiple roles in the drama God presented to the exiles through the prophet's life. His actions depicted what God was going to do to Jerusalem and the people of Israel because of their ongoing rebellion, ungodly living and idolatry.
The razor stood for the sharp sword of Babylon God would send against the city to expose and humiliate it. Jerusalem would be in mourning. Ezekiel's hair and beard represented the people. The scale Ezekiel used to divide the hair into thirds represented God's righteous judgment and the various terrible deaths so many of the people would die. A small portion of the hair bound up in Ezekiel's robe represented a remnant of the people God would preserve. Even some of them would perish in the fiery destruction.
Why was this awful time of death and destruction coming? God said it was because the people had rebelled and done more wickedness than their pagan neighbors. Therefore God would vent his wrath against them in a way he had never done before, and would never do again. The people who survived the sword would be so hungry they would turn to cannibalism, eating their own family members to survive. Pestilence, famine and sword would devour many of the people, and the rest of them would be scattered among the nations around them.
Jerusalem had been so blessed, but became so wicked. Ruined, desolate Jerusalem would be a testimony to all who saw it that these people had rejected and insulted their holy God. The Lord would make the destroyed city a warning to all the nations that it was serious, deadly business to ignore and insult the true, living and almighty God. He reminded the Israelites who survived that all this happened, just as God warned when he made the covenant with them. He told them from the start that these terrors would come on them if they forsook and disobeyed God.
These tragic events symbolized by Ezekiel's dramatic performance did come to pass when Jerusalem was destroyed. It should still serve as a warning and a horror to us as we read about it. Yes, God is loving, kind and merciful. But he is also a God of holy wrath who takes action to judge and punish people who will not listen to his word, humble themselves and turn to him. God stressed that he himself would be the one who sent the famine, the pestilence and the sword against these people. He repeated the solemn first person pronoun "I" multiple times, and ended the message with, "I am the LORD; I have spoken."
Truly God is a loving, generous God. He gives us every good thing in our lives. And best of all, he showed his great love for us when he gave his only Son to save us from sin and judgment. But God is also a God to be reverenced and feared. These graphic descriptions from Ezekiel should remind us to forsake our sins and turn to him so that we never have to experience his furious wrath.
Copyright © 2024 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Today in God's Word—April 2024
East Tallassee Church of Christ
Comments