Ezekiel 12:26-28 The word of the Lord came to me: 27 “Son of man, the Israelites are saying, ‘The vision he sees is for many years from now, and he prophesies about the distant future.’ 28 “Therefore say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: None of my words will be delayed any longer; whatever I say will be fulfilled, declares the Sovereign Lord.’ ”
The delay of the start of sports seasons has been very disappointing for so many sports fans. For some, they live to watch the games. No games, no reason to live. Or at least that is what they say. But they have hope that soon, seasons will start.
We don’t like delays in gratification. We want our pleasures and we want it now. We get upset when your regular fix of fun is delayed. The beaches are locked down. The clubs are shuttered. Churches are meeting online. Protests are happening! Yikes, what have gotten ourselves into?
We aren’t complacent about our pleasures. We fuss and fume when they don’t happen. We search for alternatives, something, anything that will meet the perceived need.
And on the other side of the coin, we do everything to avoid the consequences of the bad news. We fight against the perception that our freedoms are being eliminated. We don’t want to believe it, after all this is America! Land of the free and home of the brave.
But what about bad news that is of an even greater importance? What do we do with that news? Supposed the virus were to kill 50% of the population? How would we handle it then? Supposed it would kill three out of every four people? Would we change our behavior then?
But there is an even greater threat, an eternal threat that was dismissed by the ancient Israelites. The prophets had told them repeatedly that their way of behaving was unacceptable to the LORD. Their forays into idolatry meant betrayal that the deepest level of the human soul. And yet they persisted in that vain. They wouldn’t change their behavior.
Part of what fueled their hesitancy was the fact that there had been a gap between the threat of punishment and the execution of the punishment. The LORD had given them years to change, and they hadn’t changed. So they had become complacent. Since they didn’t see the hand of the LORD’s judgment, they just put change off until tomorrow.
It can be easy for us to do the same thing. We know being overweight is a bad thing for our health, and yet we don’t make every effort to lose the weight. (Sorry for getting personal.) We keep our shallow devotional life instead of diving in deep. (Sorry for getting personal.) We hear the call of God and we put Him on hold, waiting until it is a more convenient time.
So the LORD, through Ezekiel, says that He is going to narrow the gap between the prophecy and the fulfillment. The current generation, those who were living through the siege and exile would experience the events Ezekiel was portraying with his message. It was going to happen to them.
We might be tempted to say that Jesus hasn’t come yet, that it has been 2,000 years and it still hasn’t happened. We might be tempted to even say it isn’t going to happen, or that what we thought He meant when He said He was returning, isn’t what He actually meant. We choose to water down His call to be ready.
That is our job, being ready for His return. That is what we are to be about. We are to live in light of eternity. Eternity is our focus here and now, living is such a way that when we transition from here to there we won’t be shocked by our own change in behavior.
We are called to live holy lives, reflecting His values, His methods, His character, His attitude in everything we say and do. We don’t know the timing of our transition from here to there, so we need to be ready at every moment for the switch to be flipped which will turn on the light of eternity.
The Arnold Journey 