As the footnote indicates, the Lord's words are not an
indictment against Ezekiel. When He asks
what do you mean by repeating this proverb, the "you" is plural, addressed
to the nation. What is wrong with the proverb? What is wrong is that it avoids personal responsibility. They are in exile and the proverb deflects
the blame to the sins of an earlier generation.
They are there because of the sins of the fathers, not their own
sins. It is instead cumulative, the sins
of the fathers and this generation are the reason they are there, they failed
to correct the situation. The Lord tells
the people that they need to deal with sin in their lives. They believe perhaps that they are righteous
compared with the wickedness of the previous generation or generations but that
isn't the standard. Their own lives fail
to live up to God's standards, they are being judged for their own sins. We need a new normal as a standard, not a
comparison with what we see around us if we are to make progress in
righteousness.
Jesus says He is praying for His disciples alone. The truth has been given to them and them
alone. They know what they need to know,
and it will soon be time for them to be the hope of the world, the only men in
the entire world who possess the complete truth. Is that an amazing idea? Without the Holy Spirit is there any hope for
either faithful transmission of that truth or that they will be able to stand
in that truth without Him in their midst?
They are to be the alternative community for the world and to the
world. We are heirs of that prayer. We are to be measured against Him. Righteousness is Jesus. We have a standard against which we are to
measure our lives, the standard of Jesus.
Within the midst of the world we are to reveal Him to the world through
not just our teaching of truth but our living out of truth. The world is intended to know Him and His will for the lives of all created in
His image through us. We receive the
benefit of an eternal inheritance but we also take on a great and serious
responsibility in that exchange.
Paul tells the Philippians that they are to be seen and known
in the world as different. They are to
be in agreement in the Lord. They are to
rejoice in the Lord always, in all circumstances, and Paul can speak with authority
as he wrote this epistle from prison and speaks all through the letter about
rejoicing and joy in spite of his situation.
They are not to be anxious, they are to be reasonable, they are to have
faith in all things and at all times and in that they are to have a peace that
passes understanding. That peace then is
seen by others, it "passes understanding" because it isn't based in
anything that is sensible, that is, known by the senses, it is a peace that
comes from knowing God. They are to set
their minds on things which build them up, encourage them, truly edifying
things. Finally, they are to practice
truth and when they do the God of peace will be with them. The body of Christ is meant to be a witness
to an alternative way of life.
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