Ezekiel 18

 

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!"

{Luke 13:34} (NIV1984)  

God is a God of love. A God who loves with an everlasting love, whose steadfast love endures forever. As we read these words of our Lord, describing the emotional desire of God to protect His people, to draw them into His shelter under His protection, we wonder why wouldn’t He just do it? Surely a sovereign, all powerful God, can do whatever He wants? How can He want something that doesn’t happen? He has done it! He has made the way! He has provided the means by which His people can run to Him and receive shelter! 

The issue is sin in our hearts and lives. So God provided a way for us to be clean of our sin and draw near to Him. That way is repentance. He gave us His Word through His prophets. He sent His Son to teach us and warn us. Are we willing to repent and draw near to God? Or are we the same as the people of Jerusalem? Are we unwilling to do it God’s Way? Do we ‘kill’ the prophets and refuse to listen to their words? Do we ‘kill’ God’s only Son and refuse to listen to His words? O friend, may we choose this day to listen, to obey, to repent! O friend, may we be drawn under the outstretched arms of the Most Holy God this very day. 

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
    will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. 

Psalm 91:1

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Revelation 21

 "And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God."

{Revelation 21:3} (NIV1984)

The Holy City comes down from heaven to earth. It is a place of holiness, of purity and of peace, health and joy. Unlike every other city that has ever existed on earth, there is no death, no deceit, no scams, no strife, no darkness. It is a place of light, for the blessed and only Ruler who lives in unapproachable light, provides the light in this City.  

Notice the wording; this is not a description of God coming to dwell with His holy people in an earthly city. No, it is the actual dwelling of God; descended unto the earth, in order that we may live where God dwells. It comes from heaven down to earth. 

Friend, I want to be in that City, do you? I want to dwell forever in the very presence of God with a multitude of people who love God and who have been made completely holy! Our bodies will be different. No longer bodies of death, but bodies that have been wonderfully changed; bodies of servants of the Most High God. 

Friend, I want to be in that City, do you?   Only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life will enter. All others will be cast into the lake of fire. May the words of this old chorus be true of each of us:

There’s a new name written down in glory,
And it’s mine, O yes, it’s mine!
And the white robed angels sing the story,
“A sinner has come home.”
For there’s a new name written down in glory,
And it’s mine, O yes, it’s mine!
With my sins forgiven I am bound for Heaven,
Never more to roam.

 {A New Name in Glory, C. Austin Miles, 1910}

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Isaiah 57

 "For this is what the high and lofty One says— he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite."

{Isaiah 57:15}  (NIV1984)

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are we when we realize that we have sinned. More than that, when we realize that we wanted to sin, and that in the depths of our hearts we wanted our way not God’s way! It doesn’t seem like a blessing! It seems like we are cursed, and cut off from God. Doubts come into our minds, and condemning voices speak to us. We feel like there is no hope, no way out, that God will be justified when He cuts us down. We want to please God, but…! We want to change our behaviour, but…! 

As we ponder our inner inclination toward sin, and as we ponder the great love our Saviour has for us, and how that love caused Him to die in our place, a great sorrow creeps into our spirit, and a desire to change accompanies it. This is the place of blessing! This is where our spirits are broken and contrite before Him. This is where this wonderful promise of God is fulfilled! 

The High and Lofty One, who dwells in a high and holy place, will come and dwell within us. Us? Yes, sinful us. Wherever He dwells, it is holy. He comes to revive, He comes to cleanse, He comes to heal, He comes to save.

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Psalm 48

  "For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end."

{Psalm 48:14} (NIV1984)

For ever and ever is a long time! We would do well to think upon 'for ever and ever' each and every day that we draw a breath. We sit in a class or an awkward situation and think, “Boy, that lasted for ever”, when really only a few minutes passed. 

For ever and ever is a long time! This is the promise of our God. That He will be our God for ever and ever. This life on earth with its short moments of joy and longer moments of grief and pain, pales in comparison to the truth that God is our God for ever and ever!

As this song of praise draws to an end, it brings our attention to God's guidance. His everlasting Presence means everlasting guidance. He dwelt with them in the desert in the fire and in the cloud and the fire and the cloud guided them. David testifies that “He guides me in paths of righteousness for His Name’s sake.” (Ps. 23) 

Our Lord came to guide the blind into life, and He told us that the Spirit would come and guide us into all truth. His everlasting Presence means everlasting guidance. Right now, in the situation you are in, He is there and His right hand is guiding you. 

Great is our LORD and most worthy of praise! Praise Him.

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Psalm 48

"God is in her citadels; he has shown himself to be her fortress."

{Psalm 48:3} (NIV1984) 

Here we have a bit of a puzzle. Citadels are the high peaks of a city, the defensive strongholds of a city. The city is built, a wall is built around it and there are strong places of defense that protect the city. The city itself is a fortress, built in such a way to protect the inhabitants. 

As I write this, my mind goes back to a trip with my family to the Citadel of Halifax. Built on a hill, built for defense. God is in her citadels. That is, His Manifest Presence dwells within the securest part of the city. David desired to have God inside the most secure place in his city, and brought the Ark of His Presence there. A person might be forgiven in thinking that the purpose of having God in the most secure place, is to protect God. But the truth is, that when God is in the citadels, then God becomes our fortress; that the Manifest Presence of God is what keeps us secure. He has a hold of us; we don’t have a hold of Him. 

The people would sing “He has shown Himself to be her fortress!” Can we sing this today? Can we look back on our recent history, and see where God acted in our defense? The key to the promise in this verse, is understanding that the people placed God in their strong places. Our lives are like a city and we have defensive positions built into our lives. 

Friend, have we surrendered those strong places to God? Are we holding on to those strong places thinking that we must protect ourselves? Oh friend know this truth: when we surrender the citadels of our lives to God, when we invite Him to dwell in those places, He becomes our fortress, He becomes our defense.  Praise His Holy Name!

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