We have recently recommenced reading the book of Ezekiel--this time, in large chunks at a time, rather than chapter by chapter. Ezekiel was an exile, having been "removed" from Judah to Babylon in one of the early Babylonian actions against Judah and Jerusalem. Other exiles would follow, ending up in the final siege and destruction of the city, and the terrible slaughter of the year 586BC.
It was in captivity that Ezekiel was called by God to be His prophet to the exiles, even as Jeremiah was called to be God's prophet to Judah. Jeremiah has been called the "weeping prophet" because of his heart-wrenching lamentations, mourning, and weeping over the stubborn Israelites and their refusal to listen to Jeremiah's warning of imminent destruction. If Jeremiah was the weeping prophet, Ezekiel was the suffering prophet, called by God to act out before the exiles Judah's heard-hearted refusal to listen to God, and the inevitable consequences that followed.
The first twenty-four chapters of Ezekiel document Israel's centuries of unfaithfulness and unbelief. The exiles, watching from afar, hoping for some relief, hated Ezekiel and his message of condemnation and threat--which is to say, they hated God. The nadir of Ezekiel's suffering comes when the Lord tells him that He is about to take his wife, but that he must not mourn for her.
"The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, behold, I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you at a stroke; yet you shall not mourn or weep, nor shall your tears run down. Sigh, but not aloud; make no mourning for the dead. Bind on your turban, and put your shoes on your feet; do not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men.” So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died. And on the next morning I did as I was commanded.The history of the Church, under both Old Covenant and New Covenant can be written as a pattern of repeated unfaithfulness and ultimately rebellion against God. God is faithful; men are unfaithful. To be sure, such a perspective does not encompass everything about the Church's history--by any stretch of the imagination--but nevertheless unfaithfulness is an abiding theme. One only has to consider the daily struggle against sin and temptation experienced by every believer to see why this has been the case.
And the people said to me, “Will you not tell us what these things mean for us, that you are acting thus?” Then I said to them, “The word of the Lord came to me: ‘Say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the delight of your eyes, and the yearning of your soul, and your sons and your daughters whom you left behind shall fall by the sword. And you shall do as I have done; you shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men. Your turbans shall be on your heads and your shoes on your feet; you shall not mourn or weep, but you shall rot away in your iniquities and groan to one another. Thus shall Ezekiel be to you a sign; according to all that he has done you shall do. When this comes, then you will know that I am the Lord God.’ [Ezekiel 24: 19-24]
There are compensating factors, however. In the modern world, in the West, religion is still understood to be a matter of conscience, of belief, and of the human heart. It is not something which can be compelled, nor dictated. Therefore, when churches defalcate, turning away from belief, they wither and die. People who truly believe come to hate the unfaithfulness and apostasy they experience in daily church existence. They vote with their feet. They leave. They seek the Living God elsewhere.
Those denominations and churches which long ago turned away from the authority of God and the Scriptures empty. It is a pattern which has repeated itself over and over. God's people are seeking Him elsewhere, since the church in which they once sought Him, found Him, and worshipped Him, no longer fears Him nor believes in Him. Their former church has become a mere human institution increasingly corrupted by men seeking a name and power for themselves.
The Anglican Church is undergoing just such a departure of exiles--believers who can no longer find a home in that place. This, from the NZ Herald:
Outspoken Anglican vicar Michael Hewat walked out of the church yesterday over its recognition of same-sex relationships - and other conservative Anglicans are warning of more departures if "recognition" eventually becomes "blessing". Mr Hewat, 54, was the executive director until yesterday of the conservative Anglican Affirm movement, which claims to represent a majority of active church-going Anglicans in Auckland and Nelson and a sizeable minority elsewhere.It would be myopic to ignore the avalanche of vitriol and hatred being poured out upon these Anglican Christians seeking to love God. According to Michael Hewat:
Affirm chairman Rev Max Scott said the church was now "completely divided" on the same-sex issue, which has been passed to a working party due to report in 2016 on a possible new liturgy to bless "right-ordered same-gender relationships". "If this process is not resolved satisfactorily to the biblically conservative group, then we would expect that there could well be further departures," he said. . . .
In West Hamilton, parishioners voted by 129-6 to "support Michael Hewat and the vestry in their decision of conscience not to sign the submission to general synod". Mr Hewat and his staff have moved temporarily to a nearby office and will hold services from tomorrow in the Simplicity funeral chapel.
"We are leaving the Anglican denomination but we are not going to be an independent church. We are looking to realign and we will apply in the near future to [join] another denomination." He said he could no longer submit to the general synod because he believed the resolution passed at Waitangi was contrary to both the Bible and the church's constitution.
He and his vestry wrote to Waikato-Taranaki bishops Helen-Ann Hartley and Philip Richardson on May 25 stating that they could not support the resolution. Bishop Hartley attended a meeting at the West Hamilton church on June 15 in which, according to Mr Hewat, she acknowledged on tape: "Scripture is clear that same-gender relationships are sinful." But she also pleaded with the congregation to support the unity of the church and respect the process it was going through to resolve the issue.
Amid the swirl of opinion around the Anglican General Synod's decision to commit to finding a way to bless gay couples, the epithets for orthodox Anglicans have mounted: anti-gay, homophobic, wrong, immoral, betrayers of Jesus, unloving, judgmental, intolerant, bigoted, ostracising, unjust and hypocritical. Doubtless an incomplete list, but enough to paint a nasty picture. The advice meted out is hardly less blunt: grow up and put your archaic house in order, get loving in the progressive sense - or get out.
There is no doubt that the wellspring of spiritual vitality, energy, and service of the Gospel in the Anglican Church has been amongst those who fear God, believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ, gratefully embrace the Gospel of eternal life in Him, and hold the Bible to be God's Word. In other words, these are the folk who believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who oppose are either too ignorant to know what the Bible teaches, or they do not care. They want, not a Christian church, but a social edifice raised to the glory of man's autonomy. "Christianity, love, fidelity, truth is what we decide and determine; God, the Lord, Jesus Christ and the Scriptures are all old-fashioned, simplistic, antiquated hooey."
Far too many leaders in that church, however, have sought the respect of man, and to accommodate themselves to an increasingly pagan establishment in society at large. Thus, the defalcations on "women's rights", secular feminism, homosexuality--all in the attempt to drag the church (as they see it) into the twenty-first century--which is to say, these false shepherds want to put as much daylight as possible between themselves and the God Who has revealed Himself in the Scriptures. They seek the approbation of Unbelief, not the commendation of God.
In order to become refined Israel had to walk through the valley of bitterness and judgement. Things have not changed. It is still the case. But in Ezekiel's day, if one mourned the unfaithfulness all around, where else could one go? But under the New Covenant, particularly in these days, there are plenty of exits, open doors and options for the faithful. The Refiner's fire is burning in every place, all the time.
The Church is always reforming. Therefore, some churches, wedded to idolatry, are emptying and dying.
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