Jesus throughout the Scriptures: Exilic Prophets (1) (3)Pray Psalm 28.8, 9.
The LORD is their strength,
And He is the saving refuge of His anointed.
Save Your people,
And bless Your inheritance;
Shepherd them also,
And bear them up forever
Sing Psalm 28.8, 9.
(Angel’s Story: O Jesus, I Have Promised)
Our strength are You, O Savior, our strong defense and sure.
Anointed with Your favor, we rest in You secure.
Save us, and bless us, Jesus, upon us turn Your face.
With shepherd’s care, LORD, keep us forever in Your grace.
Read Ezekiel 4.1-17; meditate on verses 5 and 6.
Preparation
1. What did God instruct Ezekiel to do?
2. What seems to have been His purpose in this?
Meditation
God had sent many prophets to His people to warn them of the coming destruction of Jerusalem and their captivity in Babylon. His purpose was to bring His people to repentance.
But their hearts were hardened, and they did not listen to the prophets. Nevertheless, in His grace and forbearance, God called Ezekiel to proclaim His judgment against the people, not only by word but by forms of art: drawing the city on a clay tablet and depicting its destruction, and lying on his side for so many days, eating only meager rations.
The people rejected the Word preached. Perhaps their hearts would be more open to the Word depicted—or even, incarnated?
Many who observed the prophet would perhaps have been led to consider their plight from a different perspective. God used art throughout the course of Israel’s history to remind them of Who He is and what He required of them. Art—including poetry and song—can supplement and enliven spoken words, and even surpass them in certain ways.
For Ezekiel, as for other prophets as well, art was simply part of their toolkit for proclaiming the Word of God to the people of their day. Especially the visual arts—such as those that decorated the temple of the LORD—can speak to us powerfully when we use them for God’s Kingdom and glory.
We should expect that art can play a similar role in our day as well. The arts, because they are material and bodily, can incarnate the truth of God. The arts of the Old Testament pointed forward to the incarnation of our Lord Jesus. The art we make and use can, to a certain extent, do the same.
Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162“The arts, because they are material and bodily, can incarnate the truth of God.”
So everything about life can be used for God’s glory: “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10.31). That must surely include how we keep our homes, our yards—be they a small garden, a vast property, or a plant on the windowsill in an efficiency apartment—all bespeaks His creation and our tending of it. It also involves ourselves, our persons—man, woman, or child—and the godly reflection of Christ in our demeanor, clothing, habits, and lifestyle.
As Paul said, “I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more…I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you” (1 Cor. 9.19-22).
“And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (Col. 3.17).
Like Ezekiel, like Paul, like Jesus.
Keeping in mind that the results of all our labors in the Gospel, and work in our Personal Mission Field, are in the hands of the Sovereign and gracious Holy Spirit.
Jesus told a parable to describe this truth: There were two main characters in this story, a rich man clothed in purple and fine linen who fared sumptuously every day; and his counterpart, a certain beggar name Lazarus, full of sores. Both men died and the rich man no longer fared well, as he was in hell. However, Lazarus was now well fed, healed of his sores, and in the arms of Abraham in heaven. As it turned out, the rich man implored heaven to send Lazarus to ease his pain, and then send him on to alert his loved ones of the perils of hell. But Abraham told the man that it was too late, that if they had not already heard and believed Moses and the prophets, nothing would convince them differently: they would not be persuaded even “though one rise from the dead” (see the full story in Luke 16.19-31).
So, we press on. Doing all the work and speaking all the words that we have been told to do, with joy in our hearts, a longing to please our Savior, and content for however He chooses to use our efforts.
Ezekiel had a long, hard slog of a ministry calling which he did faithfully. Laying on his side cooking with cow dung was not a glamorous gospel—not much health and wealth—but he set the standard high for doing all things “without complaining and disputing” (Phil. 2.14).
The Bible is full of ordinary people who did extraordinary things because God called them to it and strengthened them to accomplish it. These people are our forebears, our family, our lineage.
And Jesus—first and foremost, the Premier Example—looking unto Him, “the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him Who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls” (Heb. 12.2, 3).
Keep on being art, making art, creating a template of glory that reflects Jesus, being thankful for our own callings in the Kingdom, be they ever so humble—grateful that Ezekiel’s wheelhouse is not our own.
Reflection
1. What opportunities will you have today to display the beauty of the Lord?
2. What has God given you as means for “making art” in your life? Give some examples of how you do that.
3. Why do you suppose most Christians don’t care much about the arts. How can you encourage your fellow believers in making themselves works of art for the Lord?
The prophet was to represent the siege of Jerusalem by signs. He was to lie on his left side for a number of days, supposed to be equal to the years from the establishment of idolatry. All that the prophet sets before the children of his people, about the destruction of Jerusalem, is to show that sin is the provoking cause of the ruin of that once flourishing city. Matthew Henry (1662-1714), Commentary on Ezekiel 4.1-8
Pray Psalm 28.1-7.
Paul wrote that we are “God’s poems” (Eph. 2.10, “workmanship” in the Greek is poema, poems). How might God use you today to incarnate His truth? What opportunities for “reciting God’s poem” to the world are before you? Commit yourself and them to the Lord in prayer.
Sing Psalm 28.1-7.
(Angel’s Story: O Jesus, I Have Promised)
I cry to You, our Savior, O, be not deaf to me!
LORD, speak to me with favor, lest I should dying be.
Hear now my supplications when for Your help I cry.
Receive these, my oblations, before Your throne on high.
LORD, count me not among those who walk in sinful ways.
With words of peace their tongue glows while evil fills their days.
Your works they disregard, LORD, while evil fills their hands.
Destroy them by Your Word, LORD, and let them no more stand.
Blessed be the Name of Jesus, for He will hear our prayer.
His strength protects and shields us with mercy and with care.
In You our heart rejoices; You help us by Your Word.
To You we raise our voices to praise and thank You, LORD.
T. M. and Susie Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
Other columns of interest this week: We continue reading excerpts from the book, Revived! in our Read Moore column. Why not listen in? Last week’s Crosfigell letter included a challenge to greater spiritual vision. And in our ReVision series, “Pray for Your Church”, we urged readers to pray that all things might be done for edification in the local church. And new in our bookstore, Let God Be True and Enjoying God, both free to download and share, and Ecclesiastes: A Matter of Perspective, also in free PDF format.
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
