"’God, the Master, says, I’ll do to you just as you have already done,
you who have treated my oath with contempt and broken the covenant. All
the same, I’ll remember the covenant I made with you when you were
young and I’ll make a new covenant with you that will last forever.
You’ll remember your sorry past and be properly contrite when you
receive back your sisters, both the older and the younger. I’ll give
them to you as daughters, but not as participants in your covenant.
I’ll firmly establish my covenant with you and you’ll know that I am
God. You’ll remember your past life and face the shame of it, but when
I make atonement for you, make everything right after all you’ve done,
it will leave you speechless.’" Decree of God, the Master. Ezekiel 16:59-63 (TM)

God spends much of Ezekiel 16 railing against Jerusalem’s "whoring" ways and unfaithfulness, proclaims punishment – but then ends up with this promise of the coming New Covenant when God makes atonement for us. It does leave me speechless. What "amazing grace" that, after all I’ve done, God still loved me enough to send his Son to make atonement for my sins.

"Son of Man, these people have installed idols in their hearts. They
have embraced the wickedness that will ruin them." Ezekiel 14:3a

Isn’t it interesting that God’s issue with the people of Jerusalem was not with the physical act of setting up an idol in their home, their temple, their city – but the fact that they set up an idol in their hearts. Jesus made the same distinction in His sermon on the mount. It’s so easy to focus our time, attention, guilt and shame on a sinful act – that we never deal with the heart-issue that motivated that act.

God isn’t as interested in cleaning up our acts as He is in cleaning up our hearts. When the heart is clean, the actions will follow.

"Also tell them, ‘I am drawing a picture for you. As I am now doing, it
will be done to all the people of Israel. They will go into exile as
captives.’ Ezekiel 12:11 (TM)

God asked Ezekiel to perform. He produced and staged a little street theater for the people of Jerusalem. Ezekiel was asked to bundle up his belongings in the street like he was being taken into exile and then spend the day digging a hole in the wall of his house. That is something that people will notice. Most people thought he was nuts. I imagine a few considered the message of Ezekiel’s act, and hopefully repented.

What Ezekiel did was the physical drawing of a picture for people to see. It was a metaphor, warning them of what was to come. Metaphors like paintings, theater, film, video, and music can express messages of truth in powerful ways that simple words can’t. When God’s prophets had spoken until they were blue in the face, God turned to staging metaphorical ‘word pictures’ to communicate truth through His prophets.

In our rapidly changing times, people have so many distractions to keep them from the truth. We are bombarded with so many messages that a simple sermon on Sunday morning gets easily lost in the noise. Since the Dark Ages, there has never been a more critical time for the Body of Christ to  experience a renaissance of God’s Creative Spirit within us. There has never been a more critical time for us to express truth in metaphor for a world that is increasingly deafened to the spoken Word of the Message.

Well, tell them this, ‘This is your Message from God, the Master. True,
I sent you to the far country and scattered you through other lands.
All the same, I’ve provided you a temporary sanctuary in the countries
where you’ve gone. I will gather you back from those countries and
lands where you’ve been scattered and give you back the land of Israel.
You’ll come back and clean house, throw out all the rotten images and
obscene idols. I’ll give you a new heart. I’ll put a new spirit in you.
I’ll cut out your stone heart and replace it with a red-blooded,
firm-muscled heart. Then you’ll obey my statutes and be careful to obey
my commands. You’ll be my people! I’ll be your God! Ezekiel 11:16-20 (TM)

When the girls were young and I had to punish them, there were always plenty of tears and wailing. Yet, there was always a point, when the punishment was over, when I pulled them on my lap and reminded them of my love. My paternal judgment was done. The lesson had (hopefully) been learned – and I initiated restoration in the relationship.

In the midst of God’s proclamation of judgment, through Ezekiel, there is a similar message of our Heavenly Father’s love. Yes, the punishment would be carried out. Yes, Israel would suffer as a consequence of its sin. But there would be repentance, restoration and a renewed life. What’s more, we see in His message a foreshadowing of the ultimate restoration. Through Christ’s sacrifice, once for all, our "hearts of stone" are transformed by the indwelling Holy Spirit into a living, blood-pumping, loving heart of flesh.

In the midst of the pain, there is always hope.

Then I heard him call out loudly, "Executioners, come! And bring your deadly weapons with you." Ezekiel 9:1 (TM)

I admit it. God’s judgment and divine retribution are difficult topics. The difficulty is only compounded by our politically correct culture in which we are slow to condemn evil, preferring to dismiss evil with an excuse or by blaming someone or something else. And yet, we are not given the luxury of choosing which parts of scripture we want to believe and which we don’t. God is not only loving and gracious, he is also holy and just. It’s a nice thing to want everyone to be good and believe that everyone is good – but evil exists, and we must deal with it.

He said, "Son of man, do you see what the elders are doing here in the
dark, each one before his favorite god-picture? They tell themselves,
‘God doesn’t see us. God has forsaken the country.’" Ezekiel 8:12 (TM)

I’ve noticed that some people have a hard time reading the Old Testament because they find it hard to understand or relate to an ancient culture. Yet, I don’t think things have really haven’t changed all that much. It’s really the same story.

I read Ezekiel and about how the people had turned their backs on God to worship idols like Baal and Asherah. They said to themselves, "God has forsaken the country – I’ll worship the sex-god Asherah." I think we do the same thing today, but in our intelligence and sophistication we’ve done away with the idols like Asherah and Baal – and we’ve gone to worshiping what they stood for – sex, carnality, selfishness – ourselves basically. "There is no god. So I’ll do my own thing." No more rules. No more morals. I’ll do what I want, when I want, with whom I want to do it.

At the root of it – it’s still idolatry. We replace the worship of God with the worship of self.

When I read Ezekiel with this reality in mind – it becomes a lot more personal.

They throw their money into the gutters.
   Their hard-earned cash stinks like garbage.
They find that it won’t buy a thing
   they either want or need on Judgment Day. Ezekiel 7:19 (TM)

The thing about money is that it gives me a feeling of control. If I’ve got money – then I can do what I want, when I want, with whom I want. If I’ve got money – I can acquire any and all the shiny new things my eyes see and my heart lusts after  – like that pretty little piece of fruit dangling from the Tree of Life in the middle of the Garden.

If I’ve got money – I’m alright. I’m good. I’m secure. Got the storehouse built up. "You can’t touch this."

The lust for Money is about my pride, it’s about control and it’s about my desire for a false sense of safety. That’s why it’s so insidious. That’s why it so easily wreaks spiritual havoc in my heart.

But there comes a day when no amount of money can save me – when nothing I have means a thing. That’s the Day Ezekiel wrote about. The Day was coming for Jerusalem – and eventually arrived. The Day is coming for me, too – for all of us.

Whatever I have and possess,
You have given me;
to you I restore it wholly,
and to Your will I utterly
surrender it for my direction.
Give me the love of You only, with Your grace,
and I am rich enough;
nor do I ask anything else besides.
-St. Ignatius