The Day His Beloved Died
586 BC.
The year most
Jews will remember.
The year the
Temple in Jerusalem fell into the captivity of the Babylonians.
It was one of
the most touching moments in history.
The year that
God had to turn His face away from His beloved city.
It was also the
year that a prophet named "God will strengthen" lost "the desire of
his eyes" - his wife, the flesh of his flesh and the bone of his
bones.
He was foretold
of her death. In the morning, she was taken ill, and in the evening,
she died.
The messenger
had to bear the message and became the message itself.
The timing of
the death of Ezekiel’s wife coincided with the fall of Jerusalem!
Ezekiel was instructed by God not to mourn, not to weep nor to let
tears run down (Ezekiel 24:15-22).
It seemed to
portray the harshness and hardness of God. But looking beyond,
Ezekiel's sadness at the death of his wife was not able to match the
grief of God at the fall of His beloved Jerusalem. As Ezekiel was
commanded not to grieve, God was preparing Himself not to weep, nor
mourn for the death of His beloved.
All the angels
in heaven must be holding back their tears that day, not weeping nor
mourning. Heaven was silenced. That must be one of the saddest
moments in time.
Throughout the
years, believers in God have suffered for their faith, but in all
the sufferings, we know we are not alone. God is suffering too. He
wept. He was grieved beyond words. His heart is broken over sin. He
knew what we are going through. He has been there.
The price God
paid for His love towards us is the road down Via Dolorosa and up to
Mount Calvary. Every step and every pain bearing His name and His
love.
In times when
you doubt His love for you, remember Ezekiel's wife.
Additional Thought:
About 1970
years ago, (2003-33= 1970), Jesus died. God turned His face away as
His Son took on the sins of the whole world.
But He
was raised on the third day. He foretold this to His disciples.
From
that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to
Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests
and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. (Matthew
16:21, NKJV)
In 2 Peter 3:8,
we are not to forget "this one thing, that with the Lord one day is
as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." (NKJV)
If
counting from 33 AD, we are about 30 years to the "third day." If
counting from 586 BC, we are (586 + 2003)= 2589 years, already about
59% in the third day.
Jesus is still coming for His beloved. Jerusalem will be resurrected
like the valley of dry bones.
I read somewhere
that the wife of Ezekiel is called Chavah, meaning "first woman,"
the same name as Eve. If Jesus is the last Adam, could His beloved,
the new Jerusalem, be the last Eve?
And so it is written, "The first man Adam became a living
being." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
(1 Cor 15:45, NKJV)
Then I, John, saw
the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of
heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her
husband. (Rev 21:2, NKJV)