OLD TESTAMENT: Ezekiel 40-42
POETRY: Psalm 133
NEW TESTAMENT: John 5:31-47
In today’s Ezekiel reading, we enter into Chapter 40 after a thirteen year gap of time since Ezekiel’s last vision described in the preceding chapters. A lot can happen in thirteen years. For Ezekiel….well…he was still in exile and oppressed under Babylonian rule. Though he had grown up in a priestly family, before he could even serve as priest, he was hauled out of Jerusalem in the first siege, and mentions being on the shores of the Kebar River when he receives his prophetic visions. In addition to Judah remaining in captivity in the hands of the Babylonians, by now the old temple in Jerusalem (you know, the super fancy and detailed one from Solomon’s era?) has been crumbled as well.
I can imagine how I might feel hearing my church building or house had been destroyed and taken over. But, it is hard for me to even imagine how it would feel to deal with all that Ezekiel and Judah were dealing with at this time….being in captivity in a foreign land, laden with guilt knowing that exile was related to their people’s own sinful choices, surrounded by those not worshiping the same God, and then hearing that their beautiful temple……that really big important place the LORD had told them in precise detail how to build and what to do in it……it was….gone. Destroyed.
Ezekiel tells us he sat among exiled people along the Kebar River, and Psalm 137 (coming up soon, written by the exiles living in this area) describes how these people felt
“By the rivers in Babylon, we sat and wept, when we remembered Zion.” (Psalm 137:1)
In those circumstances, I am confident I would long for something to look forward to and believe in, and that is what we are introduced to in these chapters.
Ezekiel’s vision in chapters 40-42 reference (again in amazing detail!) a new, future, restored temple. And while it is easy for a reader in the comforts of the modern western world, not in captivity, whose houses and churches are not physically crumbled, to find some of this reading a bit tedious perhaps. But, in the context of looking forward to something restored….something yet to come…..I find it a beautiful message of hope. Judah wasn’t in captivity forever. The Messiah finally did come. And he will come again. They were promised. We are promised.
The temple described in these chapters has not yet appeared, and there are all sorts of thoughts on this prophetic vision and how it is fulfilled. To me, it sounds like there will be quite a majestic temple when Jesus returns!
Until that day when we will live in true restoration, we will have seasons like those on the banks of the Kebar. Sometimes as a result of our own accord like Judah and Israel experienced. And sometimes just because we live in…. Babylon. But, we have a God who has not left us and will not leave us in exile.
“. . .be content with what you have, for He has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)
-Jennifer Hall
Questions:
- What connections can you make between today’s readings?
- What encouragement does God’s word provide for the days you find yourself feeling like the exiles along the shores of the Kebar?
- Imagine your church building or house being completely destroyed. Now imagine it being completely restored, and way better then it was before. Think about what is coming!
Seek Grow Love 