Scripture Focus: Ezekiel 7.10-11, 23-26
      10 “ ‘See, the day! 
         See, it comes! 
         Doom has burst forth, 
         the rod has budded, 
         arrogance has blossomed! 
      11 Violence has arisen, 
         a rod to punish the wicked. 

      23 “ ‘Prepare chains! 
         For the land is full of bloodshed, 
         and the city is full of violence. 
      24 I will bring the most wicked of nations 
         to take possession of their houses. 
         I will put an end to the pride of the mighty, 
         and their sanctuaries will be desecrated. 
      25 When terror comes, 
         they will seek peace in vain. 
      26 Calamity upon calamity will come, 
         and rumor upon rumor. 

Reflection: Prepare for the End
By John Tillman

2020 apocalypse bingo cards became a meme early in the year. For example, “I did NOT have ___________ on my 2020 Apocalypse bingo card.”

Australian fires, murder hornets, dual hurricanes, riots, pandemics, earthquakes, asteroids, and even the comic book villain, Galactus have all made appearances in the meme based on real or hypothetical threats that seemed to loom over the horizon of each month.

Hidden beneath the meme’s humor is a real feeling and a biblical truth: The end will come and we won’t like it.

I remember fellow seminary students pressuring a professor to endorse the “pre-tribulation” rapture which proposes Jesus will remove Christians from the Earth before the deadly tribulations described in Revelation. The professor (rightly, I think) felt that there was insufficient biblical evidence to say definitively one way or another, but the students persisted. The frustrated professor eventually turned to the pushy students and said, “Do you really think we deserve that?”

Christians are sometimes guilty of looking forward to the apocalypse like a private revenge fantasy. Just a hint: imagining everyone who was mean to us burning isn’t Christ-like. 

But even if our personal enemies burn, that won’t mean we won’t suffer too. Christians, just like the nation of Israel, can become complacent about the coming of judgment and can wrongly assume that being loved by God will preclude us from any loss or harm. 

Ezekiel is very descriptive of the terror of the end that is coming. Righteous people throughout scripture, like Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and others, suffer for the collective sins of nations. What makes us think we are more righteous than they?

One thing is sure. Biblical prophets warn that “The Day of the Lord” will be darkness and not light. (Amos 5.18) It will be a time of the outpouring of God’s wrath on the wicked and the guilty, including those simply guilty of living among people of unclean lips.

Whenever and however “the end” comes, we can be soberly prepared, watchfully vigilant, and unwaveringly hopeful. If we suffer, let it be for doing what is right. (1 Peter 3.13-17) If we die, we will be with the Lord. If we live, we will be transformed to meet him in an instant. (1 Corinthians 15.51-53) No matter the manner or form of our death, and no matter how or when our end comes, let us be prepared, knowing that to live is Christ and to die is gain. (Philippians 1.20-22)

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting
Happy are they whom you choose and draw to your courts to dwell there! They will be satisfied by the beauty of your house, by the holiness of your temple. — Psalm 65.4
– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle

Today’s Readings
Ezekiel 7  (Listen – 4:32)
Psalm 45 (Listen – 2:17)

This Weekend’s Readings
Ezekiel 8  (Listen – 3:21), Psalm 46=47 (Listen – 2:15)
Ezekiel 9  (Listen – 2:05), Psalm 48 (Listen – 1:28)

Monday’s Readings
Ezekiel 10  (Listen – 3:16), Psalm 49 (Listen – 2:10)

Read more about Living Is Harder
The truth is that living for Christ in the mundane and ordinary is far more difficult than dying for him.

Read more about Revelation of Love
No matter the evil forces, evil governments, spiritual powers, or societal pressures that grasp at us or stand in our way, we who answer Christ’s call will go home to Heaven.

Scripture Focus: Ezekiel 5.1, 3
1 “Now, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber’s razor to shave your head and your beard.

3 But take a few hairs and tuck them away in the folds of your garment.

Reflection: Exiles Near God’s Heart
By John Tillman

Though at times Ezekiel prophesies the future, at other times, he seems to be demonstrating and explaining what God’s current judgment means.

One of Ezekiel’s lived-out object lessons involves shaving off all of the hair from his head and beard. This enacted parable teaches us about God’s judgment and his love.

God embodies himself in our shame.
When God instructed Ezekiel to shave off his hair and beard, Ezekiel played the role of God and the hair shaved off represented the people being separated from God because of their sins. The shaving of the head was a common form of humiliation when done to an enemy or of mourning when done to oneself. Ezekiel shows us a shaved and mourning God who takes on himself the humiliation and shame of our sins. 

God’s vow of Salvation will not fail
Shaving the head was also a well-known way of marking the completion of an oath or a vow (Acts 18.18). This aspect of Ezekiel’s demonstration hints at the covenantal vow broken by the people—a vow that God alone can complete. God will uphold his vow to bring salvation. The promise made to Eve in Eden, to Abram in Ur, and to David in Bethel, would be fulfilled by Christ on Golgotha. God symbolically shaves his head ahead of time, knowing his faithful servant would complete the vow.

God holds the faithful exiles close to his heart.
Most of the hair cut off is burned, scattered, or cut up by a sword. But Ezekiel is instructed to save out a few hairs. He protects these, tucking them into his garment for safe keeping. These few hairs represent the faithful remnant, held close to God’s heart. They may even represent individuals such as Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and Daniel, prophets of the day who were faithful to God. Some of the hairs are burned, showing that even the faithful may still suffer during times of judgment. (Just as Daniel and Ezekiel live, but Jeremiah is eventually stoned.)

In Ezekiel’s depiction only a few will be saved and tucked close to God’s heart in his garment. In the course of history, however, the number of those saved, drawn back to his heart, and carried into new life will be an unnumbered multitude. (Revelation 7.9)

We praise God that he bore our shame, his vow of salvation is sure, and he tucks us close to his heart! Amen.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence
O Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on me, O Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on me, O Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world, grant me your peace. — Agnus Dei– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle

Today’s Readings
Ezekiel 5  (Listen – 3:28)
Psalm 42-43 (Listen – 2:32)

Read more about Different Kind of Exile
Living as outcasts in society has nearly always brought healing to the church through suffering.

Read more about The Mingled Prayers of Exiles
Pray today as the exiles prayed, with mingled sorrow and joy.
We weep for losses, sins, error, and struggle. 
We shout for mercy, comfort, redemption, and aid.

Scripture Focus: Ezekiel 4.1-4
“Now, son of man, take a block of clay, put it in front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it. 2 Then lay siege to it: Erect siege works against it, build a ramp up to it, set up camps against it and put battering rams around it. 3 Then take an iron pan, place it as an iron wall between you and the city and turn your face toward it. It will be under siege, and you shall besiege it. This will be a sign to the people of Israel. 
4 “Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the people of Israel upon yourself.

Reflection: Model of an Exile
By John Tillman

Ezekiel didn’t preach attempting to prevent the judgment of God—he already lived under it. Ezekiel is an exile. We have this in common with him.

Ezekiel served those who had already suffered exile. They had experienced sieges and been defeated in battle. They had been stripped of their property, family members, and clothing and marched ignominiously into slavery and servitude in Babylon.

In his acting out of the final siege of Jerusalem, however, Ezekiel introduces something other than the starvation, the deprivation of freedom, or the destruction these people had already experienced. He demonstrated the role of someone who would bear the sins of the city. 

The word translated “bear” can mean to lift or carry away. The people Ezekiel was serving had already been “carried away” into captivity. But part of Ezekiel’s message was that their sin would one day be carried away by another. The Messiah to come would bear their burdens, sorrows, and sins. 

Ezekiel did not just build a model of a battle, he gave us a model of how to minister to our fellow exiles and to the land in which we are foreigners. He cares for the exiles, cautioning them to not forget their God in this new land. He confronts them, refusing to avoid the hard truth that their sins brought destruction to the city, the country, and the people they loved. He also comforts them, teaching that there will be a time of restoration, healing, and peace.

As we worship God in this world, we may feel under siege. This should remind us that we are in a state of exile. No matter how comfortable we allow ourselves to become in our countries, our cities, or our cultures, we are from another place and represent another kingdom.

We must not avoid the difficult truths of our sins and the consequences that affect us in this falling empire of Babylon in which we live. We also must speak of the healing and comfort available in the Messiah, Jesus Christ, who bears our sins.

May we confront and be humbled by difficult truths about our sins.
May we be comforted by Christ who bears our sins.
May we construct for others actions that model what Christ does for us, his beloved exiles.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting
Your statutes have been like songs to me wherever I have lived as a stranger. — Psalm 119.54
– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle

Today’s Readings
Ezekiel 4  (Listen – 2:56)
Psalm 40-41 (Listen – 3:57)

Read more about Captivity, Exile, and Exodus
The return from exile narrative is a mirror-version of the Exodus from Egypt narrative.

Read more about Faithful Through Exile
How can God promise salvation when he also promises exile? Does he truly care about his people?