Prophecy – Ezekiel 43-48
August 4, 2009
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Wow! It may have seemed a fairly arduous task in the beginning but what do you know? We’ve come to the last passage of Ezekiel! What an accomplishment!
However, let us consider. Upon reading this book in its entirety, do we feel that we have achieved what God wants us to achieve in reading it? What is it that God wants us to accomplish in reading this book anyway?
It is very simple actually. The refrain ‘they shall know that I am the LORD’, repeated 65 times in the book, tells us that through all the warnings, chastisement and promises, God wishes His people to turn back, know Him and revive a wholesome relationship with Him so that in doing so, they will be saved.
Have we understood God better after reading Ezekiel?
Bible Passage: Ezekiel 43-48
The Lord our Righteousness (YHWH Tsidkenu)
In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell safely; Now this [is] His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. (Jer 23:6)
All throughout the book, we hear about how God wants us to be holy, upright, perfect so on and so forth. Do we feel it a burden and an impossible task? After all, we’re humans in our weak vessels of flesh and susceptible to sin. Like biblereadingcompanion, I always feel my weaknesses revealed and the standards of God cutting whenever I read His words.
It is exactly like what God instructed Ezekiel,
Son of man, describe the temple to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; [...]. (Ezek 43:10)
Yet, we should not be disheartened because we must remember that God already knows all our limitations and our weaknesses. That is why He made Himself to be our righteousness, to fulfil the standard that we would not be able to on our own.
Think of how God made a ‘cutting’ covenant with Abraham (Gen 15) yet did not require him to walk through the bloody pathway between the pieces of animals.
God knows that we will never be able to fulfil our part of the covenant on our own thus chose to fulfil the terms of the covenant for both parties by giving us His only Son who shed His blood for us so that we can ‘walk before [Him] and be blameless’ (Gen 17:1).
Jesus has effectively become our righteousness from the moment of our baptism and because of His blood, we are able meet the requirements of God. Thus we must always remind ourselves not to do anything that makes this precious blood a common thing (Heb 10:29) or it will no longer cover us.
The Lord who Heals (YHWH Rapha)
[...]“If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I [am] the LORD who heals you.” (Ex 15:26)
It is also a comforting thing to note that after all the fire, brimstone and destruction prophesied by Ezekiel, he tells us of the rivers of healing waters at the end.
Our God is one who delights in life and growth, not death and destruction. All that He does is for the ultimate aim of turning man away from the path to death (which we often stubbornly insist on walking on) to be planted by the banks of this river.
As we read this portion of Ezekiel, let us remember that although we may be hurt and wounded sometimes by the chastisement of God and more often than not our forays into the world, we must be trees whose ‘leaves will not wither, and [whose] fruit will not fail’ because we are planted by the ‘waters [which] flow from the sanctuary’ (Ezek 47:12)
The Lord is Present (YHWH Shammah)
[...] and the name of the city from [that] day [shall be]: THE LORD [IS] THERE. (Ezek 48:35)
Often, we hear about how terrible hell is because of the unquenchable fire and worms that do not die in it. Yet, I feel that the most terrifying thing about hell is the complete absence of God. Imagine, no God for eternity! *shudder*
Conversely, we also frequently question what is so great about heaven. Although many people try to imagine how wonderful heaven is by thinking of the streets of gold, beautiful houses, singing flowers etcetera etcetera, let us think, what can be better than to be in a place where God is?
As we leave Ezekiel (for now), may the final verse of Ezekiel be our motivation to continue to this city where the Lord is.
P.S. Did you know that ‘Ezekiel’ means ‘seized by God’? Like Ezekiel, we are all caught hold of by God. Aren’t you glad?
Ezek 37:6 reminds me of the Holy Comunion.
Ezek 47:2-12 reminds me of the Holy Spirit and His work.
When the Holy Spirit first enters my heart, He is a fountain of living water flowing to eternal life. This is provided if i submit to Him. Otherwise He can only covers my ankles, slowly ebbing to a drop who springs from the heart, drops to the sole and is gone.
As the Holy Spirit works in me and measures according to the standard of God, the water comes up to my knees.
The fountain of livng water continues to flow from my heart, He comes up to my waist.
Then He measures another thousand, the water becomes a river which i must swim. At then it is fully the Holy Spirit carrying me. i m just immersing in His power, loving kindness and mercy.
The river of lving water gives life to all who is connected to Him. “Along the bank of the river, on this side and that, will grow all kinds of trees used for food, their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fall.”
“They will bear fruit every month, because their water flows from the sanctuary.” Flows from God.
“Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for medicine.” The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. (Gal5:25)
Let us swim in the Spirit.