Crushed by Unfaithfulness

Crushed by Unfaithfulness

Ezekiel 6:1 – The word of the LORD came to me: 2 – “Son of man, turn toward the mountains of Israel and prophesy against them: 3 – Say, ‘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 the valleys: I am bringing a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places.

Verse 4 – Your altars will be ruined and your incense altars will be broken. I will throw down your slain in front of your idols.  5 – I will place the corpses of the people of Israel in front of their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars. 6 – In all your dwellings, the cities will be laid waste and the high places ruined so that your altars will be laid waste and ruined, your idols will be shattered, and demolished, your incense altars will be broken down, and your works wiped out.

Verse 7 – The slain will fall among you and then you will know that I am the LORD. 8 – “‘But I will spare some of you. Some will escape the sword when you are scattered in foreign lands. 9 – Then your survivors will remember me among the nations where they are exiled. They will realize how I was crushed by their unfaithful heart which turned from me and by their eyes which lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves because of the evil they have done and because of all their abominable practices. 10 -They will know that I am the LORD; my threats to bring this catastrophe on them were not empty.’

I tremble at these verses.  The altars built upon the high places.  The worship of nature providing beautiful environments for the worship of false gods which can neither see nor hear.  The sword will come against Israel at the core of their idol worship.  Their false gods will not be able to help them against their enemies.  All the talented work will be demolished and brought to nothing.  The mountains themselves will hear and bear witness to the carnage that will result from such rebellion. But for those who survive they will remember what they did to God, how they crushed Him with their unfaithfulness.

God will not be charged with wrongdoing.  We look at the violence and wonder how God would allow it.  Rather we should wonder how we could have left God who would have defended us against such violence – but instead we violently opposed God and crushed Him with our unfaithfulness doing our best to remove Him from our lives.  Without God there is no way to avoid a violent end.

Read the verses from Isaiah regarding the violence committed against Jesus, our Redeemer!

Isaiah 53:4 – But it was our pain he took, and our diseases were put on him: while to us he seemed as one diseased, on whom God’s punishment had come. 5 – But it was for our sins he was wounded, and for our evil doings he was crushed: he took the punishment by which we have peace, and by his wounds we are made well. 6 – We all went wandering like sheep; going every one of us after his desire; and the Lord put on him the punishment of us all.

All the violence that came against Israel was also heaped upon Jesus.  He took our pain!  He endured hunger!  He looked diseased, hemorrhaging from everywhere the whip touched, from the nails piercing his limbs to the spear that impaled His heart – all for the evil we’ve done!  

Awakened within the hearts of the survivors was a tremendous realization of wrong, not for the crimes committed against their people, but the crimes committed against God, breaking His heart, in rejecting all that He had done for them.

I witness the violent protests of people against people in our day and wonder where is the truth?  How can we behave the way we do towards others?  It brings to my mind these verses in Joel 2:

Verse 13 – So rend your hearts and not your garments, and return to the LORD your God. For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion. And he relents from sending disaster. 14 – Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave a blessing behind Him – grain and drink offerings for the LORD your God. 15 – Blow the ram’s horn in Zion, consecrate a fast, proclaim a sacred assembly.

Verse 16 – Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the aged, gather the children, even those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber. 17 – Let the priests who minister before the LORD weep between the portico and the altar, saying, “Spare Your people, O LORD, and do not make Your heritage a reproach, an object of scorn among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”