Coming Home
(Ezekiel 1:1~3)
God saved his people through Exodus and led them into the land of Canaan, flowing with milk and honey after waging a series of spiritual wars. However, the Israelites rejected Gods commands over and over, worshiping idols until they were taken captive to Babylon. This is what Ezekiel is about. We repeat our sinful follies. Yet the Lord of resurrection tenaciously puts us back on the right track to our eternal home, Jesus Christ as well as our earthly home. May this blessing be on us! How then can we come back home?
1. We need to be made captive. God makes us captives and emancipated gradually through three different stages until we recognize that we are relying on what we shouldnt. Ezekiel, though born into the family of a priest, wouldn’t have been inspired by the Word if he had not been a captive. The Word has also come upon me as much as I was made captive. God let me be a captive again by cancer now that I stand at the peak of my ministry, having preached the gospel more than for 30 years. In the midst of the sulfur fire of chemotherapy, I saw the gate of the heaven revealed to me. I faced my sinful nature more clearly. The more problems Gods selected one faces, the more clearly he sees his sins. This is his reward and the mystery of the Christ. God gives his beloved one his timely grace through the proper helping hands instead of leaving him alone. Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and Daniel helped Israel as prophets of their times through their different roles. Likewise, I also had some prophets around me, who trained me through their persecution or their far-away support. Others were my close range helpers like Daniel.
2. We need to acknowledge the time of our Babylonian captivity. Notice the phrase, ‘In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day (v.1). Wouldnt it be a blessing if the chronos of our captivity becomes a key to the heavenly kingdom by becoming Gods Kairos? Grasping the goal of our life is seizing Gods timing. The supreme goal of our life is holiness. In order for us to chase this holiness, God lets us become captives to our Babylon family, making us long for worship. The clue of this holiness is neither our earthly success nor achievement but understanding that everything that occurs in our life is actually what weve brought on ourselves We can attain this godly goal whether in health or in sickness or even on our deathbed. God has made everything beautiful in its time. (Ecc.3:11). Gods glory dwells in us when we recognize the Word and lower our wings over our sins.(Ezek. 1:24). Our obedient application adjusted to His time will lead our brothers and sisters back to their physical and spiritual home.
3. We need to let the Word dwell in us. Gods Word came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi. Buzi means to be despised and Ezekiel means God strengthens. The heavens are opened when we begin to understand the Word. The moment when Gods Word comes to us, letting our spiritual eyes open, his power dwells in us. We fail to recognize why we are living in fear and distress because we regard money, power, and prosperity as almighty power. Gods power dwelling in us means understanding our present situation through the Word and having no fear of the world. No matter how much our parents or household are despised by the world, we will become an Ezekiel when we truly understand Gods word.
I saw a married couple getting over their cancer by the power of the Word in a KBS documentary special. The husband was diagnosed with terminal colon cancer when his wife was in a postpartum clinic after delivering her first baby. Shocked by this news, his mother committed suicide. To make things worse, his wife was also diagnosed with a terminal cancer of lymphoma. After watching the couple sharing their story using our QTin, I had an interview with them. They said that they were touched by our prayer asking God to open our eyes to see our sins prior to healing our cancer. They were living in Gods time in the midst of their hardship, watching the heavenly kingdom open wide to them. They heard the Word and saw Gods glory coming to them. May God bless us to come back to our home, accepting our different stages of captivity as the result of our life.
'In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day, while I was among the exiles by the Kebar River, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. (Ezek.1:1)'
