Preparing for Easter: Hope for Restoration
Today’s Reading: Ezekiel 39:21-29
Have you ever blown it? I mean really blown it? Maybe you had the job opportunity of a lifetime. You went to the school you’d always hoped to attend. You got the job you always hoped for or married the person of your dreams, and then, because of a bad decision, or series of bad decisions, it all went up in smoke. As a result, you were filled with regret, shame, and disappointment...
The people of Israel knew what that was like. They were God’s people—chosen to honor Him and represent Him to the nations. God repeatedly told them He would be their God and they would be His people. And yet, because of their continual idolatry and sin, God exiled them to Babylon.
The prophet Ezekiel recounted this period in Israel’s history. In their sin and misery, the Israelites were reaping what they had sown.
But was that it for Israel? For the nations? For you and I in the ways we have gone off track in our own lives? Do we make one, two, or a hundred mistakes and then lose our way with God forever!
Not so with God! If we have breath, we have hope. If we’re not dead, God’s not done with us!
In Ezekiel 39:21-29 God reveals both His heart for the wayward nations and also for the people of Israel who had rejected Him.
God is clear that sin is the reason for Israel’s punishment. He says in verses 23 and 24:
“And the nations will know that the people of Israel went into exile for their sin, because they were unfaithful to me. So, I hid my face from them and handed them over to their enemies, and they all fell by the sword. I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and their offenses, and I hid my face from them.”Like a dog who had just been scolded, the people of Israel likely wanted to walk away from those words with their tail between their legs...
BUT - God’s gracious name and reputation was at stake. He was zealous for His holy name and to restore Israel’s fortune (v. 25). The result is that Israel would forget their shame and the unfaithfulness that they show God would be taken away (v. 26). What an incredible promise! God’s people would forget their shame.
This Easter season is probably one that will feel like no other in your lifetime because of the current situation with the Coronavirus. Given the physical restrictions on meeting together, you may be asking - how will I prepare my heart for the meaning and significance of the cross and resurrection of Jesus from the dead? Even if you don’t consider yourself a person of faith, you too may be more intrigued this year than ever about a God who claims absolute and total control over all events in the universe including the Coronavirus and death.
Despite the strangeness of this particular Easter season, many of us still wonder what to do with shame and regret that so many of us feel.
The same promise that God made to Israel in Ezekiel 39, that He would forget their shame, can belong to any one of us who will confess our need and look to Jesus – the one who bore shame in our place.
Hebrews 12:2 says that Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith. He endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. He took our shame and nailed it to the cross. Think about the significance of that truth: Our hope for restoration doesn’t depend on our making up for regrettable mistakes, but on looking to and receiving the One who stood in our place!
Because of Jesus, God will no longer hide his face as He did with Israel. As a result, you and I can turn our face to God. In the words of the old hymn, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.”
