Between the Past and Future

Scripture: In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth of the month, in the fourteenth year after the fall of the city—on that very day the hand of the Lord was on me and he took me there. Ezekiel 40:1

Observation: Ezekiel is about to get the vision for the new temple. He will be taken in the spirit to Zion, and an angel with measuring tools will show him the layout of a new temple, complete with the walls, courtyard, rooms, sacrificial stations and the temple proper. This vision begins by telling us not when this new temple will exist, but when the vision is being given.

This is the 25th year of exile. most of Ezekiel's prophesies occurred in the 6th through 14th years of their exile (the time between when he and others were part of the first wave of exiles, and when Babylon finally destroyed Jerusalem). We know the exiles will remain in Babylon for 70 years, and that Ezekiel will not live to return to the promised land. This vision, therefore, is given at an odd time. It is both many years since the temple was destroyed, and many many years until they'll be able to return and begin reconstruction. So why now?

Perhaps this timing has to do with exactly what the exiles are experiencing at that moment ... nothingness. More specifically, they are experiencing a time when there is neither a recent catastrophe from which they are recovering, nor a pressing opportunity for which they are preparing. They are somewhere in the middle, just ... quietly living faithfully, ideally following the instructions of Jeremiah.

With the absolute and final destruction of Jerusalem now well in the past, they no longer have some false expectation of returning. They have settled in, built homes, gotten jobs, and started families. They now just live in Babylon. They have returned their faith to Yahweh and set aside their idols and other gods. They cannot engage in rote temple rituals, so instead their faith and worship to Yahweh has become personal, and exists in their homes where they can discuss and teach the Lord's precepts and love to their children. They are in the midst of "getting it" ... the exile life means living for the Lord even when you are both far removed from the grandeur of his past, and cannot yet see his miracles in the future.

It is in that moment, between the past and the future - a timing that seems like an empty and meaningless 'present' - that the Lord offers hope.

Application: If I have learned anything about the Jewish exile, it is that it is the model for living as a Christian. As we - myself and all Christians - continue to live in a time and place where we are surrounded by pagens and don't have access yet to our heavenly home, and as we simply seek to keep Jesus and the Lord central in our lives, it is sometimes difficult to recognize this fact ... we are somewhere between the past and future, and while we may think that this 'present' is empty and meaningless, it absolutely is not. It is full of hope.

We have the vision of the future, a life both in heaven and in a perfected world where Jesus reigns after the second coming. We know the past, where Jesus was resurrected and defeated death, and therefore by his perfect sacrifice we receive grace from the Lord. And here - right here and now - we can help others have hope that both of those things are as true and as real as the very air they're breathing.

I need to remember to "lock in" as an exile every day. I need to live a life focused on Jesus, and focused on the Lord, while also living within the world as it surrounds me. I need to ignore cultural influence, political angst, and sinful distractions, yet also engaging with earthly work within the towns and cities and neighborhoods and social settings of this time and place. I need to allow the Lord to continue to bless me and my family within this world, without embracing this world and its indulgences.

I live between the past and the future; between the revelation of Jesus as Messiah and savior, and the return of Jesus as Lord and eternal king. And every day, I can find hope, and offer that hope to others.

Prayer: Lord, please forgive my weaknesses. There are clearly times when the present world gets to me, and gets into me, in ways that it should not. I ask for your forgiveness of my sins, and for your daily hope in my heart. I know I am an exile, temporarily denied access to my true home. May I do good work for your glory, and offer hope to others. Amen.