ezekiel - part 1

So here it is. My first post with a spiritual bent. Wonder why I haven't written one yet? I just wasn't sure how to go about it.

So then I thought, my first post will probably be about what spirituality is, and how I became a spiritual person. (I hate the word religion and any derivative of it.) But that just seems too concocted. I think it's more fun if I don't spell it out for you and you have to guess. Although it will be pretty obvious from the content what I am :)

What if I just tell you what I've been learning, or thinking about, and you can read & think about it too. You can wonder if I'm right, or wrong, and what that means to you and your ideas of spirituality. You don't have to agree with me, and you can even argue with me; in fact, that would be awesome, I love to discuss!

So here we go. First post. Ezekiel, part 1. Warning! It's long!

I go to this church, it's kind of far from where I live but I love it. The teaching every Sunday is so powerful and provokes my thoughts to no end. Two recent sermons in particular still have me thinking. I think what made them so powerful is their sheer honesty. I love a preacher who can lay the truth out there with no apologies, the hard truth and not just the fuzzy warm feeling truth.

The first sermon was entitled "A Warning for the People of Faith." So you know right off, it can't be good news. To put in a nutshell, Ez. 4-14 is all about Israel, God's chosen people. They decide to rebel against God and start to reflect more of the world than of His Spirit. How do they do this? Physical idolatry, idolatry in the heart, arrogance, violence, wickedness in leaders & spiritual leaders. It gets so bad that God leaves them. His glory departs from them (11:22-23, 10:18-19). And then the judgment falls in chapter 9. In this vision, God shows Ezekiel that every man, woman, and child will be killed for their sins.

At this point I am thinking, wow. First, how nonchalantly I treat the problem of sin in my own life. I don't realize the horror of it, it brings death. Second, what a fearsome God we serve! He is a just God and must punish sin with death. And third, I think...look at us today. As a society. How we are not that much different from the Israel of Ezekiel's time. Aren't we proud? Aren't we all about us? Aren't we wicked - I mean the Governor of NY just got busted in a high end prostitution ring! Our own leaders.

I kind of have a sick feeling in my stomach at this point, when you look at sin so starkly, the bad feeling of it goes deep down in your gut. Not guilt, just an awe of how horrible it is. Is there any hope for us?

9:6 - Utterly slay the old and young men, maidens and little children and women;
But do not come near anyone on whom is the mark...

There is hope. All is not lost! God puts a mark on the foreheads of those who have separated themselves from the sins. And their lives are spared! They are a remnant. God's chosen people survive in this remnant (see also 5:3).

The church today is not the same as Israel. But in God's perfect plan, we see the parallels He so lovingly creates. When one comes to faith in the blood of Christ as the only payment for sin, He is sealed, marked by the Holy Spirit (Eph 4:30, 2 Tim 2:19). And in Rev 7:1-3, God seals all of His servants and rescues them from tribulation.

At this point, I'm feeling a lot better, because I know I'm sealed. And I see these parallels and think that God's plan is just so cool. But I'm still troubled, I still can't get over all the people God wanted to destroy, His very own special people. But then we read...(emphasis mine)

Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel?
For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies, says the Lord God. Therefore turn and live!

18:31-32. In the midst of all these judgments, sins, horrors...this glimmer of hope. This God of Love. He doesn't want anyone to die, He doesn't want to destroy. But He will, because He must carry out justice. But He leaves a way for a remnant, for a people of faith to be warned, and to repent. What an awesome God He truly truly is!

stay tuned for part 2 :)