A TIME TO COME HOME

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say, ‘Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says: The enemy said of you, “Aha! The ancient heights have become our possession.”’ Therefore prophesy and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because they ravaged and crushed you from every side so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations and the object of people’s malicious talk and slander, therefore, mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Sovereign Lord: This is what the Sovereign Lord says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys, to the desolate ruins and the deserted towns that have been plundered and ridiculed by the rest of the nations around you—this is what the Sovereign Lord says: In My burning zeal I have spoken against the rest of the nations, and against all Edom, for with glee and with malice in their hearts they made My land their own possession so that they might plunder its pastureland.’ Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel and say to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I speak in My jealous wrath because you have suffered the scorn of the nations. Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I swear with uplifted hand that the nations around you will also suffer scorn.”

“‘But you, mountains of Israel, will produce branches and fruit for My people Israel, for they will soon come home. I am concerned for you and will look on you with favor; you will be plowed and sown, and I will cause many people to live on you—yes, all of Israel. The towns will be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt. I will increase the number of people and animals living on you, and they will be fruitful and become numerous. I will settle people on you as in the past and will make you prosper more than before. Then you will know that I am the Lord. I will cause people, my people Israel, to live on you. They will possess you, and you will be their inheritance; you will never again deprive them of their children.’”

“‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because some say to you, “You devour people and deprive your nation of its children,” therefore you will no longer devour people or make your nation childless, declares the Sovereign Lord. No longer will I make you hear the taunts of the nations, and no longer will you suffer the scorn of the peoples or cause your nation to fall, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”

Again the word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, when the people of Israel were living in their own land, they defiled it by their conduct and their actions. Their conduct was like a woman’s monthly uncleanness in my sight. So I poured out My wrath on them because they had shed blood in the land and because they had defiled it with their idols. I dispersed them among the nations, and they were scattered through the countries; I judged them according to their conduct and their actions. And wherever they went among the nations they profaned My holy name, for it was said of them, ‘These are the Lord’s people, and yet they had to leave his land.’ I had concern for My holy name, which the people of Israel profaned among the nations where they had gone.”

Ezekiel 36:1-21

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

It was an incredible loss.

The nation of Israel, the once divine and revered country seen as under the special covering and protection of God, was in ruins, mercifully attacked first by the Assyrians and then the Babylonians. Left to be the scorn of all other nations, Canaan experienced a devastation no one could have ever imagined; ditto for the subsequent displacement of all of God’s people into captivity, a majority of which who were taken away into Babylon for seventy years. Many who were carried off would never see the day when they would return.

And they would return for as we see in today’s scripture passage from the opening verses in Ezekiel 36, a time was coming when God would restore His people to the land He had promised to their ancestors so many years before. There would soon be a time to come home.

Look again at these verses:

“‘But you, mountains of Israel, will produce branches and fruit for My people Israel, for they will soon come home. I am concerned for you and will look on you with favor; you will be plowed and sown, and I will cause many people to live on you—yes, all of Israel. The towns will be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt. I will increase the number of people and animals living on you, and they will be fruitful and become numerous. I will settle people on you as in the past and will make you prosper more than before. Then you will know that I am the Lord. I will cause people, my people Israel, to live on you. They will possess you, and you will be their inheritance; you will never again deprive them of their children.’”

“‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because some say to you, “You devour people and deprive your nation of its children,” therefore you will no longer devour people or make your nation childless, declares the Sovereign Lord. No longer will I make you hear the taunts of the nations, and no longer will you suffer the scorn of the peoples or cause your nation to fall, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”

Again the word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, when the people of Israel were living in their own land, they defiled it by their conduct and their actions. Their conduct was like a woman’s monthly uncleanness in my sight. So I poured out My wrath on them because they had shed blood in the land and because they had defiled it with their idols. I dispersed them among the nations, and they were scattered through the countries; I judged them according to their conduct and their actions. And wherever they went among the nations they profaned My holy name, for it was said of them, ‘These are the Lord’s people, and yet they had to leave his land.’ I had concern for My holy name, which the people of Israel profaned among the nations where they had gone.” Ezekiel 36:8-21

Let’s move from the last paragraph up. I want to do it this way because we need to be reminded as to why the Israelites went through the judgment that they did. It wasn’t because God is unjust in any way. He reminded us and His people as much through His word. No, the Israelites got what they deserved after they defiled the holy land God had provided through their willing and willful sinfulness, chief of which was their worship and devotion extended to pagan gods and idols. God had commanded His people to have no other gods before Him (Exodus 20:2-3) and yet the people did it anyhow, profaning His name in plain sight of all other nations.

And so God took action. He had to because He had to show His people and the nations that surrounded Israel that He was the Lord God Almighty, the Maker and Master of all peoples, and He would not stand to be disrespected and disregarded by anyone, especially the people he had protected and rescued many times over, the people He had blessed so very much.

So God showed Himself as a God of judgment but at this juncture of our devotion, we need to turn to another critical truth about the God of all creation. For although He is a God of judgment, God is equally a God of deliverance and restoration. He was in Old Testament times and He still is today.

Yes, the Israelites were relegated to seventy years of exile where they would have to live outside of the land they had called home. But note what would happen after those seventy years. God would deliver His people from their captivity and make the way clear for them to return home to rebuild their homes, their lives, and their relationship with Him. The people of Israel would once again be God’s people and He once again would be their God. He would settle on them and settle in with them “as in the past” and make them “prosper more than before”. He would look on them “with favor” and allow the towns to once again be inhabited, the ruins rebuilt. He would allow the people to once again multiply and be fruitful. Ditto for the animals they had within their land.

Life would be good when the time came for the Israelites to come home.

Fast forward to where we are in the 21st century and consider how we are all sinners who fall short of the glory of God. No one is innocent to the point where they have a chance of pardon when they stand before the God of judgment, the same God who destroyed an entire nation and left it in smoldering rubble, the same God who imposed a harsh penalty on His people as they were sentenced to seventy years in a foreign land.

Indeed, we are captives to sin, staring down God’s harshest punishment without hope without someone who might be able to intercede and provide a chance for us to be renewed and restored in God’s sight.

Enter Jesus, God’s only Son, the Lamb of God who was sent by His Father to take away the sins of the world.

And that He did.

You see, we deserved to be annihilated for our wicked ways and the many times we have transgressed willfully in the sight of a very watchful God. But the scriptures tell us that God so loved the world that He didn’t wish for any of His people to perish and so He sent His only Son Jesus as a living sacrifice, a substitutionary atonement to save God’s people from having to suffer (John 3:16). Indeed, Jesus shed the blood we should have shed. He endured the pain and anguish and the torment of the cross so we wouldn’t have to. He died so we could live.

All we need to do is place our faith, hope, belief, and trust in Him as our Savior.

When we do, when we acknowledge our inability to save ourselves and accept the truth that the only way to God the Father is through Jesus the Son, then and only then can we gain the assurance that a time will come in the future when we will be brought home, home to a New Jerusalem and new heaven and earth, to our true home where we will trade in affliction, hardship, brokenness, pain, hurt, sadness, and sin, for an eternal life defined by love and light and peace.

Have you decided to follow Jesus today, assuring you will have a home when this life is over?

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark
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