Reformátusok Lapja, 1972 (72. évfolyam, 1-7. szám)
1972-01-01 / 1. szám
REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA 5 prophet Ezekiel of a family of priests who settled down at the little city of Tel-Abib by the river of Chebar in the new world. Instead of the holy city: Jerusalem, God gave him this new heathen town. In place of the sacred Temple, Ezekiel served his God in a simple dwelling. And here, afar from his father-land, he experienced time and again that the God of the chosen people, whose service he had undertaken, is a holy and almighty God. If ever there was a servant of the living God who was tortured by bodily and spiritual maladies, then it certainly was Ezekiel. Now and then he suffered attacks of catalepsy, and was tormented by the most painful convulsions. As a result of his sufferings, he becomes tongue-tied and dumb. During all his afflictions he has dreadful visions: visions of Jerusalem falling victim to fire; its inhabitants dying of hunger and pestilence. The people of the country feel the numbness of death, and the Princes dress in clothes of dread. Both he and his people were given up to death. In this tragical experiencing of God’s power, all godlessness of his people, all their depravity, the utter misery of his own self are revealed to him. Under the hand of God, Ezekiel learns that nothing he has is really his. All that he possesses, he has received as gifts: his feelings, his thoughts, his will, his speech, his deeds, his spiritual and bodily strength, in order to manage them. God requires man to return all these Gifts whenever He wants to, or sees fit. Besides this powerful God who disposes freely of him, he is but a “son of man”; a poor, mortal miserable creature: nobody and nothing. And yet, to him, the child of dust, does the Lord of worlds say: “/ have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel.” Through that it was manifested that the Absolute and most holy God does not destroy all. No matter how disheartening and annihilating the power is in which His justice finds expression, it is every bit as consecrating and preserving. Jerusalem had to suffer destruction on account of her iniquity, but Tel-Abib stands firm, where God has revealed his will to his servant; where the spirit of the prophet opens to visions through sufferings; where the hand of God rests upon him whenever He wishes to speak to him. Most of his people have sinned and met their destruction, but the rest remains a sacred seed in foreign land, even in captivity. The chosen — no matter where they are — live through grace and out of grace. God’s will in this grace is always given “sub specie aeternitatis.” It is independent from space and time, therefore it is eternal and equally available for all the creatures of this world. This truth is expressed by the name “Israel” given to Jacob after his struggle for life and death with God and for God. The true meaning of the name is: warrior, soldier of God. (Gen. 32:28; Hos. 12; 4) So, the “House of Israel” means “communion of God’s warriors (soldiers, servants).” According to the conception of the New Testament it is “Acclesia, Church.” The House of Israel, the Ecclesia, the Church is built only where God wishes to dwell. Ezekiel believed, knew and saw all these. His name is proof of it; Ezekiel means “God will confirm”; that is, in spite of his mortal weakness and feebleness, God appoints him to be watchman merely through grace. Dear Christian Friends! You—no doubt—know that this saving and preserving power of God which appears before the sons of man as Grace, which made the helpless life of Ezekiel not only fit to live, but a blessed instrument, from the very beginning, has been a wonderfully functioning power in the life of our dear Zion. The history of our nation and of our Reformed Church; the numerous trials and probations both had to undergo; their wretchedness and exaltedness all are witnesses thereto. But, so does your life testify to this. The grief you have felt on losing any of your beloved-ones, or on suffering material loss, that have silenced the glorification of our beloved Zion at the Babylonian waters, are an eternal warning that God entrusted you with a mission, a service, a fate similar to that of Ezekiel. The divine command of (choice) electedness and service is addressed to you and me: “Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel.” II. It is good to know that the term “watchman” refers to war-conditions, too. In Jerusalem, watchman were placed in the towers built in the four corners of the city walls, who — under pain of death — had to take upon themselves the arduous and responsible task of guarding the city. The watchman knew that the peace, happiness, the lives and futures of their loved ones and of their fellow citizens depended on their vigilance and faithfulness. The least flagging of their attention, or any dozing off while on duty was sure to result in death for themselves and for the inhabitants of the city. The responsibility and weight of this mission was felt all the more by the prophet, because he was in a foreign land. Not because of the bodily dangers that threatened them, but because of the spiritual dangers. What could a sick old man have done to break the physical strength of the enemy? God did not expect him to protect the physical lives of his fellow laborers, friends and brethren, but to stand guard over their spirits. The people in captivity had everything necessary to eke out their earthly life; only those conditions were lacking which would have ensured the power of God over souls. The surroundings, the foreign customs, alien conceptions and heathen religious ideas had dulled their thoughts of the holy city, their faith in the true God, and their hopes of a happier future. They gradually fell prey to the cult of idols. They forgot the prayers learnt of fathers and accepted the adoration of foreign gods. This was the sin because of which God ordered Ezekiel to stand guard over the House of Israel. Numerous varieties of this sin can be distinguished; but they are all one and the same as regards their essence. No matter how they are classified, whether they are called murder, lechery, cheating, the swearing of false oaths, or modern morals according to the spirit of our age; they all contain a common characteristic which neither scholars, nor scientists, nor worldly potentates can obliterate: namely; that they all debase and degrade the heart, making it brutal and coarse. Iniquity is a dreadful power. It plunges the spirit into darkness and makes it defy and even deny God, its Creator. Our text calls this sin “unbelief.” In judging this sin, it makes no difference whether the perpetrator was an atheist from the very beginning, or had lived a life of grace till he sinned. The punishment for this sin is death. This is the point where every true Christian must stop. Here begins our responsibility. We cannot stand indifferently while around us human spirits fall into apathy and the hearts of brethren are seized and carried off by satan. We must take it quite seriously that God will once have us stand before Him and will call us to account for all the human lives gone astray. He will take us quite seriously, not only on account of the souls that have plunged into damnation, but first and foremost, because of His Word wherewith He selected and entrusted us and sent us to serve His glory. We must never forget even for a moment that we are responsible to God for this service. He chose us and made us watchmen that we might work for Him and with Him. He set each of us in his special sphere of
