"GOD DECLARES TO REBELLIOUS EXILES THAT HIS EVERY WORD COMES TO PASS."

Singing: (Psalms and Hymns are from the "Book of Praise" Anglo Genevan Psalter)
Psalm 73:1,7
Psalm 130:4
Hymn 11:3
Psalm 62:1,4,7
Psalm 131:1,2,3

Beloved Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Does you Father in Jesus Christ fulfill His Word, do what He says He’ll do? The question may sound strange to you, if only because we take it for granted that of course He does. But what, then, are we to think of the following?

Experiences as these makes one wonder whether in fact the Lord actually carries out His promises….

The people of Israel in exile struggled with exactly this question. Their debates on the matter resulted in a proverb: "The days are prolonged, and every vision fails" (vs 22). That is: one day follows another, but the promises of the Lord God –whether for blessing or for curse- do not come to pass. No, not that the people thought God lied altogether, for in vs 26 the people say that God’s promises are for the distant future. So: Yes, God will keep His Word, but He won’t do it today…. Either way, though, the result was the same, and that is that in real life our brothers and sisters of long ago did not see evidence of God’s doing what He said He’d do.

In the face of that mindset, brothers and sisters, the Lord God sent His Word again to Ezekiel. The punch of it is the word of our text: "… I speak, and the word which I speak will come to pass; it will no more be postponed…."

I summarize the sermon with this theme:

For a couple of years now Ezekiel had been passing on to the Israelites in exile the various messages God commanded him to pass on. He had done it so far through deed as well as through word. For example, Ezekiel had taken a clay tablet, portrayed a city on it (Jerusalem), and then set up siege works against this tablet-which-was-Jerusalem (cf 4:1ff). Then he had to explain this pantomime in words; , the people had to know that God would execute judgments against Jerusalem in the sight of the nations (5:8), would in fact kill a third of the people by pestilence and famine, a second third with the sword, and scatter the final third to all the winds (5:12). We’ve dealt with this material in the past months; it was very pointed prophecy.

What, though, had happened in the months and years since Ezekiel acted and spoke those words? What happened?? Nothing. Simply nothing. Jerusalem still stood, and was not even besieged. Her inhabitants were still alive and well, none scattered to the wind…. We can’t date with certainty how many months or years had passed between the portrayal of the clay tablet in chap 4 and the events of our text in chap 12, but we’re looking, it appears, at a couple of years. Ezekiel had spoken big words from God, but –though adequate time had passed- nothing happened…. Hence the cynicism among the people: "the days are prolonged, and every vision fails."

We understand that at stake here is not the sort of thing that happens regularly amongst friends. In a relaxed atmosphere you throw out some big words as to what you’re going to do, and your friends respond with: yeah, sure, we’ll see it when it happens…. In this instance God’s reputation as God is at stake! Recall: when the Lord appeared to Moses at the burning bush years ago at the cradle of Israel’s history, this God explained who He was with that incomparable name: I am who I am. That is: I am the God who does what He says He will do. And God did; with a mighty hand He did deliver Israel from Egypt. The prophet Isaiah some years later repeats the same message, like this: "the grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever" (40:8). It’s so promising!

This is the God who had come to Ezekiel, had come with all His majesty and splendor (recall the vision of chap 1, with its angels and wings and eyes and firmament and throne, etc). This is the God who spoke those big words of judgment on Jerusalem. But His words prove to be empty…, nothing happens.

So: the people didn’t take God’s words so seriously anymore. As I said before, we don’t know for sure how much time passed between Ezekiel’s prophecies concerning Jerusalem and the response of the exiles in chap 12, but it’s definitely not more than a couple of years. Notice, now, how God typifies the people’s response. Chap 12:2: Ezekiel dwells in the midst of "a rebellious house, which has eyes to see but does not see, and ears to hear but does not hear; for they are a rebellious house." That is: with their own eyes the people had seen the prophet’s preaching –think of the clay tablet under siege- and with their own ears they had heard the prophet’s explanation of his actions. But none of it generated a positive response among the people, none of his words prompted humility and self-examination and remorse for sin. They put all God’s words at a distance, observed that Jerusalem was still standing whole and hale, and so saw no need to work seriously with God’s warnings. It’s all for down the track, they said, if indeed it will happen at all. Vs 22: "the days are prolonged, and every vision fails." Vs 27: "The vision … is for many days from now, and he prophesies of times far off."

That is why, congregation, the Lord speaks those pointed words of our text. "I speak," says the Lord, "and [it] will come to pass; it will no more be postponed." God is the Lord, the I am who I am, and God is now going to spell that out to His rebellious people so that they learn to take seriously every word He has spoken. No longer will God delay carrying out His word; "in your days, O rebellious house, I will say the word and perform it," says the Lord God."

We are aware that the exiles’ reaction to God’s words through Ezekiel was not unique. The Lord God causes His word to go out today, with His promises of what He will do – be it in blessing those who show their gratitude for His saving grace in Jesus Christ, or in cursing those who live as if Christ’s work means nothing to them. But what happens? Not everybody in this world who hears the word of the Lord responds with trust in Him. In fact, we experience that it’s a struggle to wait for the Lord, we get impatient when we think He doesn’t act fast enough to carry out His promises. That can make one cynical toward God, even bitter.

Peter mentions this cynical attitude towards God’s promises in relation to the return of the Lord. Says Peter: "scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming?’" (2 Peter 3:3). Their point: God said long ago that an end would come, but the world’s been turning for thousands of years already, and there’s no change. So: make the most of this life…. It’s the reality we see around us today. The conviction that Christ will return does not live in society around us, and so people live for the day, making the most of this life. But that’s true not just of the ungodly! How many of us actually expect Christ’s return today – and live that way? We know God’s word, but we put it into the future, way down the track, "for many days from now" (as vs 27 says), and so we make the most of this life, building up our possessions….

But our Father in Jesus Christ, beloved, is faithful to His promises, is the I am who I am, the Lord who makes His Word come to pass. That brings us to our second point:

In the face of the exiles’ hardened rebelliousness against Him, the Lord God set out to demonstrate to His people that indeed every word He speaks shall stand. We read in vs 3 of our chapter that Ezekiel must enact another sign. This time the sign comes complete with specific detail. He has to prepare the sort of bundle that these exiles had themselves carried over their shoulder a brief six or seven years ago when they were marched into exile. He also has to dig through the wall, drag his exile’s baggage through the hole, set it on his shoulder, and march off into the approaching darkness – with his face covered so he can’t see the ground.

The explanation follows in vs 10: "this burden concerns the prince in Jerusalem and all the house of Israel." Details: the king of Israel shall carry his exile’s baggage on his shoulder at twilight. The Babylonians shall dig through the wall, breach the city, and so the king shall seek to disappear. But, God adds, "I will spread My net over him, and he shall be caught in My snare." God would bring the king to Babylon, but the king would not see it. The purpose of this message is caught in vs 16: "then they shall know that I am the Lord," Yahweh, the I am who I am - the God who keeps His word.

The thing is now, brothers and sisters, that within half a dozen years God’s word to the exiles in the beginning of chap 12 came to pass – very literally and very dramatically. The people said: God speaks, but nothing happens. Or the variation: that’s all for way down the track. Over against that cynical mindset amongst His people, the Lord places not a general prophecy, one so vague that you can make anything out of it. No, over against that cynicism the Lord places a very specific prophecy, one so particular that Bible critics today insist that this part of chap 12 simply doesn’t belong in chap 12 because it catches exactly what happened half a dozen years later and how could Ezekiel ever predict so clearly what was going to happen. But that, of course, is exactly the point. The people say that God’s word doesn’t come to pass, and so God gave a specific illustration to prove that His Word comes to pass in its details; every word of the Lord stands. You can read it yourself in 2 Kings 25, how the Babylonians dug through the wall of Jerusalem, how King Zedekiah fled by night, how the Babylonians pursued the king and caught him, how they pulled out his eyes and took him to Babylon – a place he lived but never saw. The people couldn’t get around it: God is the Lord, and so Yes, He keeps His Word.

The same holds true for the prophecy God commanded Ezekiel to speak in vss 17-20. Ezekiel had to "eat [his] bread with quaking and drink [his] water with trembling and anxiety." Point? That’s what would happen in Jerusalem. Again, you can read it for yourself in 2 Kings 25, that "the famine had become so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land" (vs 3). Jeremiah described the hunger in revolting terms:

You see, beloved, in a few short years God’s word would come to pass, not in a general sense where you could possibly argue that it just happens to turn out – a bit like palm readers or fortune tellers, who give prophecy so general that it’s bound to occur; no, the Lord’s word would come to pass very specifically, and so the people would be confronted with the fact that Yes, God’s word is true, God is the Lord.

There, beloved, you have the purpose, there you have the reason why God will cause His word to come true in a very specific sense. Our text: "I am the Lord." Notice the capital letters: this is God’s covenant name, Yahweh, the I am who I am. That is: He invariably does what He says He will do, and that’s the message God will compel the exiles to understand. Vs 15: when the people see for themselves that God’s word about the prince of Jerusalem going blind into exile comes about, "then they shall know that I am the Lord." God repeats it in vs 16: "Then they shall know that I am the Lord." So too with the second vision, about eating with quaking and drinking with trembling; when that happens –vs 20- "you shall know that I am the Lord." The exiles say that the God who made His covenant with them doesn’t keep His word, at least not in our day, and so they question His claim to the title ‘Yahweh’, the I am who I am. So their God-by-covenant will rub it under their nose, He’ll compel them to see for themselves that Yes, He does keep His word, He is faithful to His promises.

And that in turn, of course, means that the people have to take God seriously! If He does what He said He’d do, the people have to trust Him – in all His promises. He had said He would protect those who trust in Him, would punish those who hurt His people, and so the exiles must trust that it shall be so. Similarly, He had said He would punish His people’s disobedience with covenant curses, even destroying His own altogether if they hardened in unbelief; OK, then the exiles had to count on that happening. As it is, the exiles had already tasted something of God’s faithfulness to His word, for they had been punished for their sins, dragged off into a foreign land. But repent they had not, learned to take God’s word seriously they had not. So they were preparing themselves for God’s total destruction – according to God’s promise.

That brings us to our third point:

For: was there a reason why the Lord didn’t immediately carry out on Jerusalem the prophecies He announced through Ezekiel? Why did He delay?

The reason for the delay, brothers and sisters, is that God is long-suffering. As the Lord would say in chap 18: He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, and so urges them to turn and live. And see: God gives the space for this repentance! God had said that through Abram’s seed He would bless the world, but neither the seed of Abram in Jerusalem nor the seed of Abram in exile were godly, were living close to the Lord, were trusting Him. The one group deserved to be destroyed as much as the other. But God delayed, God postponed the judgment He announced on Jerusalem so that there might be room for repentance – if not for the Israelites in Jerusalem, then for the Israelites in exile who would see with their own eyes both God’s patience and His justice. Yahweh their God-by-covenant did not delight in the death of the wicked, and that’s why the people in exile did not see God’s justice poured out on Jerusalem straightaway; God gave them first another chance to repent. Yahweh their God-by-covenant would impress on His people in exile just how long-suffering He is, and that’s why He delayed His judgment – so that these exiles might develop greater awe and love for the God who is slow to wrath.

But the delay would not continue indefinitely! Especially now that the people misunderstood God’s purpose in delaying the announced judgment, the Lord hastened to impress on the exiles that He was not slow as some count slowness. Hence the material of our chapter; God drives home the message that His word is sure, it happens at His time. Half a dozen years yet, that was all. Then the people of Jerusalem and the people in exile would experience for themselves that they had to take God very seriously.

So it happened. A mere half dozen years later the Babylonians besieged Jerusalem, breeched the wall, captured the king, killed the people, destroyed the city, burnt the temple. Nothing, nothing was left of Israel’s pride and joy. Some of the people ended up in exile, scattered to the wind, but most were killed. Only a few of the poorest were left in the land.

What the message was for the exiles? This: God keeps His word. They had no choice but to take God seriously, and bend themselves under His promises. And see: they did! By the mighty working of the Holy Spirit, several of those in exile changed their cynical attitude toward God and His promises, and embraced God’s promises in faith, learned to place their trust in Him. This remnant ultimately became the faithful core which returned in due time to the Land of Promise, and from these was born –when the time was ripe by God’s clock (Gal 4:4)- was born the Savior of the world.

With the coming of Christ Jesus in the flesh and His triumphant work on the cross of Calvary so many of those promises of God in the Old Testament came to fulfillment. With the coming of the Son of God the Lord demonstrated so completely that His Word is sure; here was the ultimate evidence that He was the Lord, that He kept His word.

That is why for us today, brothers and sisters, the responsibility is the greater than it ever was for Israel to take seriously that our God is the Lord. Through the eye of faith we have seen God’s promises fulfilled with the birth and sufferings and death and victory of our Lord Jesus Christ. With the ear of faith we have heard the significance of God’s actions in Jesus Christ explained so many times over the years. All of that together impresses upon us that God is faithful to His promises, He keeps every word He ever spoke. He told us we were completely, perfectly safe in the hands of this Father-for-Jesus’-sake, and so it’s for us to trust that indeed we are completely safe – no matter the circumstance. He told us that He blesses those who bless His people, and He curses those who curse His own, and so it’s for us to trust that indeed the Lord will do precisely that – be it in His time and in His manner. He told us that the Savior who came in Bethlehem and triumphed on Calvary will return a second time, now to judge the living and the dead, and so it’s for us to trust that the Lord will come.

Peter already told us that throughout the New Testament dispensation scoffers will keep mocking the word of the Lord, will keep saying, "Where is the promise of His coming?", and they live and speak as if the Lord God will not keep His word. But this is what trust in God is all about, that even after twenty centuries one still awaits eagerly the day of Christ’s return – on the grounds that our Father in Jesus Christ is the Lord, the I am who I am. And that, of course, comes out in the way one lives, with the focus not on this life but on the promises of the God-who-is-faithful.

Shall we get impatient with God, restless because He hasn’t come back yet? Listen to Peter, beloved: "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). How marvelous! He keeps His word about coming again, but also wants not just that I believe in Him but others also. So He delays till the number of the elect is full. Shall I fault God for that, or be impatient with Him because of it?? Shall I conclude from God’s delay, motivated as it is by His longsuffering toward us, that He does not keep His Word after all?? Of course not!

So it is, beloved, for every promise of God. He is the Lord, and so keeps His word. No, not necessarily when we want Him to, nor how we want Him to. But keep every Word He spoke He certainly does.

In the midst of all the evils I experience in this broken life, it may well be that I do not see the truth of God’s promise in the manner or timing I wish. Yes, then the temptation arises to disbelieve God’s promises, to become cynical of God, and even to echo, in word or deed, the mindset of the exiles of old: "The days are prolonged, and every vision fails." But our Father in Jesus Christ would comfort us with the identity of our God: "I am the Lord. I speak, and the word which I speak will come to pass."

That’s His promise, beloved. So we shall have patience, and shall trust.