Victory and Death

Ezekiel 4:1-3

“And now, son of man, take a large clay brick and set it down in front of you. Then draw a map of the city of Jerusalem on it. ² Show the city under siege. Build a wall around it so no one can escape. Set up the enemy camp, and surround the city with siege ramps and battering rams. ³ Then take an iron griddle and place it between you and the city. Turn toward the city and demonstrate how harsh the siege will be against Jerusalem. This will be a warning to the people of Israel.”

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I picked this part of Ezekiel chapter four for two reasons, two reasons that are completely wrapped up and twisted inside of each other. The first reason is what God told Ezekiel to do here is way too much like playing D&D for me to ignore. He had Ezekiel set up a miniature city of Jerusalem and build little toy walls, siege-works, battering rams, and the enemy camp. There are those who have the same hobby I do, with time and money enough to make full three-dimensional tabletops to play their games on. If I could, that is absolutely how I would love to play the game. So there’s the first reason, God was basically telling Ezekiel to play a little game of D&D for all of the people to watch.

As I said, the second reason I chose these verses is completely wrapped up and twisted inside of the first. Do you see God making a game as the sign to His people of the epic destruction that was going to come. I’m convinced the purpose of that little D&D-esque scene was to call out the fact that His children were living their lives like it was all a game. Living with the idea that there were win conditions, and that their win conditions had everything to do with earthly security and wealth, rather than with the strength of their relationship with God. I absolutely hear the Holy Spirit’s voice in my ear saying, “you think this is all a game? You think God and His law are just parts of your game, equal to, or worse, lesser than other parts of the game? You think you can push God aside, yourself to the fore, live however you like, and that He won’t keep His promises about what will happen when you disobey? You think these walls are your safety?”

Think about it. Think about those little miniature walls that Ezekiel would have built around the large brick that represented the “fortified” city of Jerusalem. Think about just how easily he could have crushed those twig and twine walls. I know God was giving His people, those that would listen, the remnant that would not forsake Him, a reminder that their city walls were just as flimsy and easily destroyed by His hand. God was reminding all those who saw that we are all just miniatures on His massive tabletop in the sky, so to speak. He can move us wherever He wants, put whatever obstacles in front of us that He wants, and destroy any or all of us, as well as the terrain around us, as easily as you and I think a simple thought. I’m convinced God was saying, “you believe my Word is just a game, let Me show You Who is this game’s Master.”

I’m convinced of it, because He did it. The siege of Jerusalem under the armies of king Nebuchadnezzar left everyone inside that city’s walls, famished, thirsty, dying, and riddled with disease. The walls that they thought were their protection became the very things that were their destruction. That which they thought kept all the badness out, kept them locked up inside a city that was dying slowly and painfully. That which they put their faith in became the means of their destruction. So it is with every human idol. Everything that isn’t God, that we put our faith in, can, and for some it will, become the very means of their destruction. If fame is our idol, we will learn that fame is both costly and fleeting. If money is our idol, we will never have enough, and in our mad scramble to accumulate it we may destroy our lives. If sex is our idol we will find unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections and diseases. And so it goes. Whatever mankind puts their faith in, if it is not God, they will find that the end of their game is horrible and painful. They will find that the idols they thought were their salvation are the miniature crumbling walls that lead to their destruction. Of those people our Savior says, they will be judged by the Truth they rejected. The flimsy lies that they told themselves to convince themselves that it was all a game will, at last, be the very source of their own destruction. What a woeful day that will be for many.

Yet, our Lord is love, and instead of allowing that destruction to come without warning, He sends warning ahead of time, allowing for the Spirit of grace to do His work. Praise Him! God tells His children what is coming, salvation for those that believe, destruction for those that continue to live their lives as if God was nothing more than one small piece of the game they play with their lives. For those of us who have been gifted His Spirit to know that life, far from being a meaningless game, is our time of grace to believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior from our failure to uphold the law, let us, now, in right relationship with God because of His blood, show God how dearly we hold that treasure. Let us praise God for telling us ahead of time what is coming. Let us praise Him by telling others who are still caught in the lie that life is nothing but a game.

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Father I praise and thank You for giving me Your Word and Spirit to know that life is not a meaningless game, but is instead our meaningful time of grace. That grace came to me at the great cost of Your only Son’s life, suffering, and death. For that I will never be able to thank You enough. Forgive me Father, for my tendency to still think and act as though life is a game I’m trying to win. Destroy such idols in me, Lord, and replace them with Your Spirit. Fill me with Your Spirit to lose, Lord. To lose myself, so that not only I, but others can win. Your Son has handed over His victory to us all. Become my strength to live a life that glorifies His Name, and by that glory let others be granted His victory. In His Most Holy Name I ask and pray. Amen.