Whatever it takes to get our attention. He is not even beyond using dramatic object lessons to do it.
Ezekiel chapter four records two very interesting "object lessons" designed to attract the attention of God's disobedient people and lead them to repentance:
"Now you son of man, get yourself a brick, place it before you and inscribe a city on it, Jerusalem. Then lay siege against it, build a siege wall, raise up a ramp, pitch camps and place battering rams against it all around. Then get yourself an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between you and the city, and set your face toward it so that it is under siege, and besiege it. This is a sign to the house of Israel. As for you, lie down on your left side and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel on it; you shall bear their iniquity for the number of days that you lie on it. For I have assigned you a number of days corresponding to the years of their iniquity, three hundred and ninety days; thus you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. When you have completed these, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah; I have assigned it to you for forty days, a day for each year. Then you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared and prophesy against it. Now behold, I will put ropes on you so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have completed the days of your siege." (Ezekiel 4:1-8)
Ezekiel no doubt appeared to be a crazy man, playing with a brick and pretending it to be Jerusalem all the while he "plays army" and lays siege to it. On top of that, he lies on his side for an entire year and then turns over and lies on his other side for an additional forty days. During it all he cooks food on cow dung and drinks water from a pitcher. From all outer appearances he is either outrageously eccentric or a mad man. But in reality he is a faithful servant of the one true God, desperately appealing to a wicked people to repent and return.
If God will go to these great measures, what does it say about His compassion? Surely it powerfully illustrates His express desire "not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).
I hope that my God never calls me to anything as radical as He did Ezekiel to convey His message to His people, but if my purposes are His purposes then I'll do whatever He calls me to do. I pray that we each are of that mindset. If He so desperately desires the salvation of all people as to do the outrageous through His people, then may we each be willing to participate.
The words of the apostle Paul summarize it well: "Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God." (2 Corinthians 5:20)
May He mightily use us today to appeal to all who are in need of His salvation.
Steve
Ezekiel chapter four records two very interesting "object lessons" designed to attract the attention of God's disobedient people and lead them to repentance:
"Now you son of man, get yourself a brick, place it before you and inscribe a city on it, Jerusalem. Then lay siege against it, build a siege wall, raise up a ramp, pitch camps and place battering rams against it all around. Then get yourself an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between you and the city, and set your face toward it so that it is under siege, and besiege it. This is a sign to the house of Israel. As for you, lie down on your left side and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel on it; you shall bear their iniquity for the number of days that you lie on it. For I have assigned you a number of days corresponding to the years of their iniquity, three hundred and ninety days; thus you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. When you have completed these, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah; I have assigned it to you for forty days, a day for each year. Then you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared and prophesy against it. Now behold, I will put ropes on you so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have completed the days of your siege." (Ezekiel 4:1-8)
Ezekiel no doubt appeared to be a crazy man, playing with a brick and pretending it to be Jerusalem all the while he "plays army" and lays siege to it. On top of that, he lies on his side for an entire year and then turns over and lies on his other side for an additional forty days. During it all he cooks food on cow dung and drinks water from a pitcher. From all outer appearances he is either outrageously eccentric or a mad man. But in reality he is a faithful servant of the one true God, desperately appealing to a wicked people to repent and return.
If God will go to these great measures, what does it say about His compassion? Surely it powerfully illustrates His express desire "not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).
I hope that my God never calls me to anything as radical as He did Ezekiel to convey His message to His people, but if my purposes are His purposes then I'll do whatever He calls me to do. I pray that we each are of that mindset. If He so desperately desires the salvation of all people as to do the outrageous through His people, then may we each be willing to participate.
The words of the apostle Paul summarize it well: "Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God." (2 Corinthians 5:20)
May He mightily use us today to appeal to all who are in need of His salvation.
Steve
posted by steve @ 8:38 AM
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