Ezekiel 28:25 “ ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: When I gather the people of Israel from the nations where they have been scattered, I will be proved holy through them in the sight of the nations. Then they will live in their own land, which I gave to my servant Jacob.
Advertising campaigns have changed our world. When we were traveling in China we were surprised to see all the Western brands for sale. Even Western restaurants could be found. People wore Western t-shirts with Western branding. It was surreal.
One street in particular had every high end retails store that you would see in any big metropolitan city, store after store after store. It was all there. Jewelry, clothing, electronics, brand named stores, every one of them. If you didn’t know you were in China, you might be fooled.
But we didn’t have to travel very far from that shopping area to get a very different story of China. Difficult living conditions and social pressure abounded. There really were two China’s, one they wanted us to see, and one they wanted to keep hidden.
Our lives often have this same dichotomy, the public and the private. The church has two sides, what we preach and what we sometimes live. Even atheists have two sides. When someone is dying, they still look up and ask the question “Why?” But who is going to answer them?
The ancient Israelites were the object of observation. The nations looked to Israel, for good and for bad. They were supposed to be this shining example of the LORD’s pattern for life. Their conduct was supposed to be a cut above all the rest, because the LORD was in charge. He determined right and wrong.
But Israel, along with the rest of the world, had chosen to make their own moral choices. So as a result, the LORD let the natural consequences of those moral decisions happen to them, even though this was God’s people. They missed the opportunity to be the example, so the LORD made them an example to the nations.
They went into exile as a way of redeeming them. They first served as an example of the LORD’s judgment, and then when they were to be restored, they would serve as an example of the LORD’s mercy and grace.
But for the Israelites, going into exile felt like a defeat. They had been boasting that the LROD would never let Jerusalem fall to the hands of their enemies, and yet this is exactly what happened. The LORD brought judgement, judgment that was spread to all Israel’s neighbors for their treatment of the Israelites.
So when Israel was restored to the Promised Land, all the neighbors would see this and know that the LORD was in charge. All this was spelled out in advance so all who wanted to see and hear could respond appropriately. They too could repent and be restored.
This is what the Church is supposed to be about today in our world. We are supposed to be examples of fallen, broken people who have been rescued by the mercy and grace of the LORD. And all this flows to us because Jesus took on Himself our exile and was restored on the third day. Now people are supposed to be seeing the mercy and grace of the LORD in our lives.
And when this mercy and grace is present, then people are drawn to our God. They see in us, not our own ability to raise ourselves up by the bootstraps, but the lives of impossibly broken people turned right side up. And this makes them thirsty for the Water of Life.
The Arnold Journey 