All too often we read the Bible looking for "me." Looking to hear how much God dotes on people. The Bible is not about "me" it is about God. It is a testimony about Christ Jesus. It is in the words of Dr. Jim Hamilton, "God's glory in salvation through judgment." That God incarnate lived a perfect sinless life, keeping the commands and laws of God but bearing the punishment of sinners upon the cross because their sins were imputed to Him; rising from the grave on the third defeating sin and death; ascending to His throne securing the salvation of His people and to restore all things.
Of course that is the essence of God's love. We should delight, rejoice and praise the living God for such a splendid undeserving love. But that is not all we should be concerned with. We should be standing in reverence, fear and awe at the holiness of God. When He acts in anger and judgment towards any that would defile and profane His name through sin. Through breaking His laws and violating His commands without any consideration for His glory and fearing His name.
Everyone, it seems these days, cares only about the love of God and cares nothing for His holiness, justice and glory. How many Christians are even aware that the book of Ezekiel only mentions the word "love" three times (according to Logos Bible Software in the ESV)? The first time is in 16:8 followed by 16:37 and finally 23:17. Yet only one passage is in reference to God's love for Israel and that implicitly (16:8). Now compare that with how frequently Ezekiel speaks of God spending and pouring out His wrath. 30 (twice in v. 13:13) times the wrath of God is mentioned. Let's not speak of the words "fury," "anger," and "judgment."
Perhaps what stands out the most is not that it takes sixteen chapters for the love of God to appear but what comes before it (and after)! Let's take a look:
Now I will soon pour out my wrath upon you, and spend my anger against you, and judge you according to your ways, and I will punish you for all your abominations. And my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. I will punish you according to your ways, while your abominations are in your midst. Then you will know that I am the LORD, who strikes (Eze 7:7–9).
Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations that they commit here, that they should fill the land with violence and provoke me still further to anger? Behold, they put the branch to their nose. Therefore I will act in wrath. My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. And though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them”(Eze 8:17–18).
“Or if I bring a sword upon that land and say, Let a sword pass through the land, and I cut off from it man and beast, though these three men were in it, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they alone would be delivered. “Or if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out my wrath upon it with blood, to cut off from it man and beast, even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, they would deliver neither son nor daughter. They would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness (Eze 14:17–20).
“Thus shall my anger spend itself, and I will vent my fury upon them and satisfy myself. And they shall know that I am the LORD—that I have spoken in my jealousy—when I spend my fury upon them. Moreover, I will make you a desolation and an object of reproach among the nations all around you and in the sight of all who pass by. You shall be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and a horror, to the nations all around you, when I execute judgments on you in anger and fury, and with furious rebukes—I am the LORD; I have spoken— when I send against you the deadly arrows of famine, arrows for destruction, which I will send to destroy you, and when I bring more and more famine upon you and break your supply of bread. I will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will rob you of your children. Pestilence and blood shall pass through you, and I will bring the sword upon you. I am the LORD; I have spoken” (Eze 5:13–17).These are just some passages that deal with God's wrath and fury and they come before the one mention of His love. Of course that is not to say one cannot see the implication that God loves His people because He certainly spared the repentant. Just imagine for a second that you were a part of the people that God did indeed set His love upon and spared. You still had to witness the fearsome wrath of God being poured out upon their friends and families and the pagan nations surrounding them; their first thought was not "God loves me." No, it was more likely, "holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!"
Yes there was that fear, awe, reverence at the holy wrath of God. This of course moved them to worship Him in fear and trembling yet rejoice in this great love of God that He had for them so they were not consumed by such great fury. Rather they received His blessings both temporal and in the future coming of Messiah, Christ the Lord- their only means of salvation.
When we look back and read such fear instilling passages of the great justice of God, our thoughts should immediately turn to the cross of Christ. For there we see as God declares in Ezekiel, "Thus shall my anger spend itself, and I will vent my fury upon them and satisfy myself. And they shall know that I am the LORD—that I have spoken in my jealousy—when I spend my fury upon them" (Eze 5:13) that that fury and anger of His was poured, in full, on Christ at the cross for all in Him. Where Paul declares:
And if by some chance preachers are bold enough to preach through Ezekiel and an unbeliever happens to be sitting in the pews (there is always a very good chance of that) they should be filled with fear, terror and trembling at the greatness of God. They should immediately hang their head, beat their chest and cry out for mercy ( Lk. 8:10-14). In repentance and faith they should make a mad-dash to the cross of Christ. For "everyone that calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved" (Ac. 2:21).But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus (Ro 3:21–26).
What we are seeing in much of contemporary Christianity is that many pastors think the sinners (if they are bold enough to admit that) biggest problem is that they "feel unloved." Nothing could be further from the truth. The non-Christians greatest problem is that he is an enemy of God. In defiance of the Almighty, under His condemnation and awaiting to consumed by that same great wrath of God for all of eternity. That fury which we see in Ezekiel is but a glimpse it. They need to hear of it so that may truly see "how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” (Ro 10:15). Yes indeed "faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ "(Ro 10:17).
Ezekiel is the revelation of God's holiness, justice and righteousness. In it we find how much He does extend His mercy, grace and love to those whom He wills. It is for His own glory and praise. As He often proclaims, "so that we may know the He is the Lord." Oh it makes it all that much more beautiful and precious. Got it? Get it? Good.
Soli Deo Gloria!
For His Glory,
Fernando
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