Presented to The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries, 23 July 2023 by Major Michael Ramsay.
Based on an earlier reflection (11 July 2021) that you can read
here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2021/07/reflections-on-ezekiel-4-5.html
Ezekiel, as seen in the dramatic reading
(below), has just put on this big show for the exiles so that they (and the
rest of us who are reading it today) might learn something important – urgent in
their case. Now, as Susan referred to last week, Ezekiel is either a
thirty-year-old man, serving in the 30th year of a particular king or
experiencing the 30th year since Israel was exiled. Ezekiel is not
in Jerusalem, Judah, or even Israel when he is acting out this prophesy. He is one
of those deported and living in exile in Babylon. And Ezekiel is a priest. As such,
he would like nothing more than to be serving as a priest in back in Jerusalem;
but instead, he is sitting by the probably very dirty water near his refugee
camp.
He is listening to and obeying the Spirit. His
obedience is particularly significant because as we just saw in the dramatized
scripture reading by Sarah-Grace and Heather, the Spirit is leading Him to do
some very interesting things. In the passage we read today, he is spending much
of his time -well more than a year- lying on one side or the other -420 days
total- and then eating food cooked on animal dung and doing everything else
mentioned in this chapter and in this book.
Ezekiel and the others in exile are living
against their will in a refugee camp in a foreign country. But Jerusalem still
exists. This is important. It is still independent – sort of. We can draw some
parallels then to Canada today: In Canada we are an independent -ish country.
We are allowed to make some decisions for ourselves but we wouldn’t be allowed
to do anything that would be perceived as a threat to the USA. We wouldn’t be
allowed to leave NATO or NORAD. We wouldn’t be allowed to sign a free trade agreement
on our own with China or invite the Russian, Cuban or another country’s military
to have a base here. And, of course, we ship our natural resources like logs
and oil to the USA to be refined and then sold back to us at a profit for them.
So we do consider ourselves a free country… but… in reality,… maybe we are, maybe
we are not. Jerusalem is in an earlier version of this kind of relationship vis
a vis Babylon, the superpower in their area in their day and age.
Now there are significant differences between
Jerusalem then and us here today. Babylon has already attacked and defeated Judah
and Jerusalem and let them continue to operate quasi-independently (maybe think
of Vichy France). Babylon, after invading, has deported (exiled) some of the
people from Judah. Yet the people in exile – and maybe those still in Jerusalem
– still believe that Jerusalem cannot be conquered. They believe that the people
in Jerusalem can do whatever they want. They believe that there is nothing that
anyone can do that would lead to the destruction of Jerusalem – even though they
are nowhere near as strong as Babylon and even though they have previously been
defeated by them.
Some people even believe that God physically
lives in the Temple in Jerusalem and of those that don’t, many seemingly believe
that God will protect the Temple, God will protect Jerusalem, and God will
protect them no matter what. This is their false hope: Jerusalem will survive; God
will not let it be destroyed so that, at some point, those in exile can return
to this independent city/nation protected by God, Himself.
Ezekiel is telling them they are wrong! This is
not true! God is not like a Japanese Emperor of the Shogunate era: God is not a
hostage locked up in the Temple! The Lord does not need to protect Israel,
Judah, Jerusalem, or anyone! Even if you control the Temple, you do not control
God! God is Salvation. If you flock to and stay with God, you are saved. Ezekiel
is telling these exiles that people can’t walk away from God and still expect to
have God beside them. God is not going to be forced to follow their or our
lead. God is not a genie in a Bible (or bottle) to be carted around and conjured
up to do our bidding. If we want to remain safe and if we want to remain saved
then we need to remain with God.
This is reminiscent of The Salvation Army’s ninth
doctrine which states, “We believe that continuance in a state of salvation
depends upon continued obedient faith in Christ.” This seems to me to be
exactly what Ezekiel is saying to the people of Israel, Judah, the exiles, and
us in the context of Jerusalem and the (conditionally) Promised Land.
Ezekiel is saying that it does matter how we
treat God and how we treat each other. Israel was chosen to be God’s servants,
worship Him and take care of those in need but instead they began to disregard
God or even treat God as if HE were their servant. Ezekiel says Israel, Judah
and Jerusalem are even more selfish than the other nations that God hadn’t
chosen. Are we any better? Israel is not doing what they were chosen to do: worship
God. Are we? Are we as God’s chosen people obedient to the purposes for which we
are called?
Israel believed that God was on their side no
matter what, so it didn’t matter what they did. The truth, however, is that as
long as Israel was on God’s side, they would be safe and secure no matter what.
That is VERY different!
It is the same with us here today. It is not whether
or not God is on our side. Our Salvation is not evidenced by whether or not God
does what we want Him to do: giving us jobs, houses, health or whatever we ask
for (again like a Genie in a Bible); quite the opposite: our salvation is
evidenced by whether or not we do what God wants. And God wants us to continue
to love Him and God wants us to continue to love our neighbour. Salvation is a
word to describe our relationship with God and so as long as we remain in
relationship with God we will remain in a state of salvation. And if we are
saved, then even when things are horrible, terrible, rotten, and we are crying
on the metaphorical banks of a river running through the refugee camps of our
lives we can know that everything will be okay – God loves us and He wants
nothing more than to have us come to Him and to put His arm around us love us
and protect us.
This is my encouragement to us today. Stay
close to God! Life will get tough. You may never wind up on the banks of a
dirty river running through a refugee camp… but you might. You may have
something that effects you just as roughly or worse too! But here is the
important truth, as long as we remain close to God looking to Him and looking
after our neighbour, everything will be alright.
Let us pray: Lord God we thank you that you are
the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, and as long as we remain in you
everything will be alright – even when it isn’t. You can see us through any
storm. Thank you.
Dramatic reading:
Posts
