Joseph Patty; Associate Director of Student Ministry, Small Town Boy Who’s Lost in the City

Jeremiah 25:3, 5, 9, 11 

“For twenty-three years the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened […], saying “Turn now everyone from his evil way and from your evil deeds [….] Therefore […] I will send Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these nations around it [….] And these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.”

Jeremiah 52:9, 11, 13, 27

Then they captured the [Zedekiah, King of Judah] and brought him up to the king of Babylon, […and he did horrible things to him…] and the king of Babylon bound him with bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon and put him in prison until the day of his death [….] He burned the house of the Lord, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every large house he burned with fire […] So Judah was led away into exile from its land.

Ezekiel 1:1, 16, 26

“Now it came about in the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was by the river Chebar among the exiles, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God […There were 4 crazy looking wild-beast-beings with wings…] and there was a wheel on the earth beside each of the four beings [….] now [above] an expanse over the four beings was something resembling a throne […].”

Reflection:

Have you ever felt completely disoriented, not just in your senses but in your being? That is where Israel is in these passages. Here’s the scenario: the prophets told Judah and Israel that their end was coming for years on end. However, there were competing voices too. As Jeremiah told them to repent or judgment was coming, other prophets said, “Don’t worry about it! We’re God’s people. We’re in the promised land. We have God’s temple. God will protect us” (Jer 7). By the end of Jeremiah, we see the results. Babylon conquers Jerusalem, they destroy the temple, and they take all the educated, talented, and important people into exile in chains. As it turns out, just having a fancy building in the name of God doesn’t impress him. He calls his people to holy lives marked by justice and peace.

In their new world of exile, Israel faces a series of new questions: without our land, our temple, and our king, who are we? Has God abandoned us? Does God even have the power to save us? Enter Ezekiel. You can picture him sitting in foreign clothes next to this river somewhere in the middle of the Babylonian Empire, despondent and reflecting on his losses. Suddenly the heavens open up, and he sees a vision of these crazy four-headed beasts with wings and metal and these strange crystal wheels, and on top of them is a throne. All at once, it’s awesome, strange, and terrifying to think about, but what does it mean? 

God is riding on a chariot throne in the middle of the Babylonian empire. In a single, albeit strange, picture, God answers every question the Jews were asking. God’s throne was never tied to the temple. It was his grace to meet them there. He is king over the whole world, and his throne is mobile. He hasn’t abandoned us! No, he has come to meet us, even in exile. He is strong enough to save us, and his promises to restore us are true. Therefore, Israel’s identity is not found in these things to which they held so tightly (land, sovereignty, temple, etc.), but instead, their identity is found in God’s faithfulness. 

When I step into a new season of life and my whole world feels discombobulated, I usually need a recalibration in how I see God. Just as Ezekiel learned that God was not boxed into a temple but was grander than he ever imagined, God has to break out of my boxes, and I have to get re-centered in the sublime nature of God. It begs these questions: what boxes have you placed around God? Where have your foundations of identity shifted from God’s faithfulness to god-flavored substitutes? 

Prayer:

Glorious Father, often the world feels big and disoriented. I confess that sometimes I place you in a box. I ask you to break that box in my mind and my heart, so that I might know you as you are. Show me the foundations I rely on that are not you, so I can stand in you alone. I need you, Lord, and I trust that you are faithful. Amen.