It did not
take long for God to open my heart to his words, and uncover his words for my
searching heart to find and enjoy. Although his thoughtss contained many hard
things to consider, they were filled with such hope, and such faith-building
certainties, that I felt all the more encouraged to trust in the words of the
Revelation, that everything God says will happen, whether of judgment on his
enemies, or eternal blessings on his children.
This week I
have been going through the book of Ezekiel to see what I can learn about the
four living creatures of Revelation 4. Since Ezekiel’s visions included an in-depth
description of these creatures, they will be a significant commentary on what
the apostle John witnessed hundreds of years later.
As I
considered these things, I ran headfirst into this expression of how God felt
about the sinful state of his people during Ezekiel’s day. God described
himself like this: “…how
I have been broken over their whoring heart that has departed from me and over
their eyes that go whoring after their idols.”[1] I know that I have read through Ezekiel on other occasions, but
this was the first time God’s description of himself stood out as it did today.
I
looked this up in a few translations to see how others had tried to express
what God was saying in the original Hebrew. The NIV said that God had “been grieved”; the NKJV described God
as “crushed”; and the NASB said God
had “been hurt”. That is a pretty
overwhelming picture of how God was affected by the adulteries and idolatries
of his people.
This
picture reminded me of something my children have tried to describe as their
response to times they couldn’t escape that they hurt me. It was as though they
could bear with me being angry with them, but could not bear the thought of me
being hurt by something they did. Anger would give them something to hang on to,
perhaps to justify themselves, or to blame me for handling things wrong. But, for
me to simply be hurt by something left them defenseless. It put the spotlight
on whatever they had done to produce such an effect.
To
consider God describing himself as broken, grieved, crushed, or hurt over the
choices of his people, is disarming. How do we defend ourselves against such a reality?
And yet, isn’t this also a declaration of the depth of God’s love for his
people? We read these prophecies and recoil at the level of judgment they
contain. However, in the very expression of such lengthy prophetic messages is
the heart of God who offered every opportunity for his people to walk with him
in faithful-love.
And
then, consider where God’s broken heart took him, and try to fathom the
intricate wonders of the one God bringing about eternal redemption for people
who had crushed him with our adulteries of every kind, and meditate deeply on
the relationships of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit all relating to one
another in the redemptive work, the Father demonstrating his love for us in
that, while we were still sinners, the Son loved us and laid down his life for
us. Consider the heart of God when the Father had to forsake his Son in the
outpouring of his wrath against our sin, and the Son had to feel, for the first
time in eternity, that his Father had forsaken him as if he was sin
personified.
And
then come back to God’s revelation of himself as broken, crushed, hurt, and
grieved and consider how he cares about how we feel in our sin. What does he
say in his own words? He says, “The Lord is
near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed
in spirit.”[2]
Can such a thing be true, that the God who has been broken over our sin would
come near to those who are brokenhearted over their sin? Can the one who was
crushed because of our idolatries truly save the one who is crushed in spirit over
what we have done?
Oh how rich
the love of God appears to the brokenhearted. It is as though our eyes suddenly
become clear, and the mirage of worldly pleasures are suddenly exposed as the
desert of demons they really are. At the same time, the beauty of the love of
God grows before our very eyes, not as though becoming something different than
it has been the whole time, but that our eyes can now see it for what it is.
This is the
love that brought prostitutes out of their prostitution, and drunks out of
their alcohol-idolatry, and tax collectors out of their worship of money. It is
the love of the God who was broken over our sin, who sent his Son to be pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities,
chastised for our peace, and wounded for our healing.[3]
I write this to honor our God who revealed himself as someone who could be grieved by our sin, who loved with a love that could be broken over the adulteries and idolatries of those he loved, and would enter into such a sinful mess in order to redeem us, save us, deliver us, and restore us into his love. Let us be brokenhearted over our sin so that we can experience the love of the Savior who was broken because of our sin.
I write this to honor our God who revealed himself as someone who could be grieved by our sin, who loved with a love that could be broken over the adulteries and idolatries of those he loved, and would enter into such a sinful mess in order to redeem us, save us, deliver us, and restore us into his love. Let us be brokenhearted over our sin so that we can experience the love of the Savior who was broken because of our sin.
From
my heart,
Monte
© 2013 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good
News Publishers.)
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