The king will mourn, the prince will be clothed with despair, and the hands of the people of the land will tremble. I will deal with them according to their conduct, and by their own standards I will judge them. “They they will know that I am the LORD.” Ezekiel 7:27 (Ezekiel 1-7)
Ezekiel was part of the ‘Great Deportation’ that took 10,000 statesmen, craftsmen and soldiers from Judah into Babylonia. He was in his late twenties, training for the priesthood with a wife and children. All seemed lost. And then! When he was thirty, the age a priest begins work and also the age John the Baptist and Jesus began their ministries, God gave him a vision. He saw sin in all its blackness contrasted with God, all-knowing, all-seeing, ever present and Glorified!
With meticulous attention to precise dates and vivid symbolism, Ezekiel brings a message of personal accountability. Sin must be seen as it is, devastatingly destructive, and God is to be Sovereign over all things, yet a Kind and Good Friend. Ezekiel’s mission was one of great sacrifice. He lived in personal famine to illustrate the consequence of rejecting God. He shaved himself bald to give living evidence of the grief and shame God felt over Israel and Judah.
First came the judgement that had been promised. It was horrible, but just. The people of Judah had filled the Temple with prostitution, secret animal worship and false gods. Second, a renewal was begun. In captivity the covenant people lost their entitlement and were humbled. From this point they began to see and become what God designed them to be.
Some individuals became the best versions of themselves (Ezekiel, Daniel, Baruch….) and others became the worst. It is a free choice. Choose God’s version, it is a perfect fit in any circumstance.
Love,
Gretchen