With the exception of the cross, we might miss that God, long-suffering with the Israelites, says openly that he experienced pain (Ezekiel 36):
"Son of man, when the people of Israel lived in their land, they polluted it by the way they lived. I poured out my anger on them because of the polluted blood they poured out on the ground. And so I got thoroughly angry with them polluting the country with their wanton murders and dirty gods. I kicked them out, exiled them to other countries. I sentenced them according to how they had lived. Wherever they went, they gave me a bad name. People said, 'These are God's people, but they got kicked off his land.' I suffered much pain over my holy reputation, which the people of Israel blackened in every country they entered."Wherever we go, do we give God a bad name? And when we do, do we cause him pain?
God has a holy reputation to keep, and keep it he will, through whatever means he chooses.
He goes on to tell Ezekiel that he will bring back the Israelites, clean them up, give them a new heart and a new spirit, removing their heart of stone and replacing it with a heart that is God-willed, not self-willed.
Does he do this for the Israelites?
"Therefore, tell Israel, 'Message of God, the Master: I'm not doing this for you, Israel. I'm doing it for me, to save my character, my holy name, which you've blackened in every country where you've gone. I'm going to put my great and holy name on display, the name that has been ruined in so many countries, the name that you blackened wherever you went. Then the nations will realize who I really am, that I am God, when I show my holiness through you so that they can see it with their own eyes."As much as God cares for us, he cares about his reputation as well.
It is a weighty thought that God left us not only to carry the good news of Christ, but his very reputation as well.
Comments are welcome at feedyourstrength@gmail.com.
