[Purple, 2009, JAVanDevender]
Ezekiel 21:27 Overthrown, overthrown, I will make it overthrown! It shall be no longer, Until He comes whose right it is, And I will give it to Him
Even in the midst of the most terrible things that can happen, God brings a shaft of light... a glimmer of hope... a rope to hang onto.
We cannot imagine the depths of pain, terror, horror and whatever other descriptors you might want to add, that attended the fall of Jerusalem. God says simply... "Overthrown..." But the instrument of destruction was a cruel and ruthless people... the Chaldeans who neither spared nor cared. Jerusalem was to fall... and viciously.
The capital city of God was not to rebuild again... not in the same way... anywhere in the near future. Seventy years would pass before the people would again trickle back in and begin the awful task of reconstruction. But the splendor was gone.... and would stay gone.... until.... until....
And there it was: the glimmer of hope, the ray of sunshine, the momentary parting of the clouds. "It shall be no longer until He comes whose right it is... and I will give it to Him." There would come a day when the true King.... the promised Son of David... would again ride through the gates of the fair city. There would come a day when glad hosannas would again ring out to the heavens... when children would laugh and wave palm branches... when the Lord Himself would say that if a proper glad welcome was not forthcoming that even the stones would cry out.
The promises of God are unalterable. The King did arrive for His first entry into Jerusalem. He came riding on a donkey... He came into His own things (John 1). In fulfillment of this and numerous other passages. He came... to set the people of God back on a right footing with God. To reveal that there is a God in Israel who neither slumbers nor sleeps nor forgets.
They received Him but did not know Him. They welcomed Him and then put Him to death. But God's promises still abide. Jerusalem belongs to Him. Jerusalem is His Church and though His first coming to His city meant the fall of Israel yet His promise is now to all who call Him Lord, whether Jew or Gentile, Male or Female, Slave or Free.
No matter where we are in our journey... no matter how big a shambles is our life... no matter how frustrating our walk or the level of despair we feel for our world and our future... yet this is certain. He was promised... He has come... and He will come again.... The One to whom it was promised.... The One for whom all things were created. The One who has bound Himself to us and shall not let us depart from Him. He Whom death could not contain nor the grave hinder. He is alive... He is coming back and when He does, God the Father will give Him all things... including us, as His subjects and brothers and sisters.
Maranatha, Lord Jesus.
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