Ezekiel 5

Ezekiel 5:5-6, 13a ESV

"Thus says the Lord God: This is Jerusalem. I have set her in the center of the nations, with countries all around her. And she has rebelled against my rules by doing wickedness more than the nations, and against my statutes more than the countries all around her; for they have rejected my rules and have not walked in my statutes.

"Thus shall my anger spend itself, and I will vent my fury upon them and satisfy myself. And they shall know that I am the Lord

Jerusalem was intended to be a "light on a hill." She was to be the center of worship to the true God. From her the truth of God was to go out into all the world. Instead, she became more wicked than the nations around her. The light became darkness. Those called a "people of God" became instead a people walking in darkness.

It makes me wonder whether the church has become that as well. Jesus said that the world would know that we are his disciples when we have love for one another. Instead we "bite and devour one another" to use the words of Galatians 5:15. Drinking buddies and community action groups get along better than the church does and they have no expectation of unity for the sake of their message. Our message, according to Jesus, is validated or disqualified based on our unity or disunity as a body.

The result of Jerusalem's sin is that God will judge her. His judgement isn't just the flashing anger of a god fed up with his followers. This chapter almost reads that way at first glance, but when we read verse 13 we realize that God is not just angry. He truly cares about his people. People you don't care about you either ignore or you destroy. People you care about you discipline. That is what God is doing here. His desire is that they would know him and that they would actually be the light they were called and designed to be.

To communicate that message to Jerusalem God calls Ezekiel to shave his head and beard and act out the judgment that is coming. When God calls us to be his messengers we cannot divorce our personal lives from the message. Just as Jerusalem was to be a light to the nations, now God calls Ezekiel to be a light to Jerusalem.

God has called us, believers in Jesus Christ, to be lights in a dark world. That is not something that is done on Sunday mornings during a planned "service." It must be the whole of our lives. We cannot separate our private world from our public world. We cannot expect our influence for Christ to be effective when our private walk with him is nonexistent. Ultimately our lives become our message.

Father, forgive me for the times I have fallen into dysfunction in my relationship with you, with my family and with those close to me. May my life, my relationships and my personal choices continually reflect your truth and your glory.

By His grace,
Rick Weinert