An Amazing Transformation

by SMITH, K. | Category: N/a | Aug 2002

'They will say, 'This land that was desolate is become like the Garden of Eden; and the wasted, desolate, and ruined cities are now ... inhabited'' (Ezekiel 36:35).

This verse makes me think of the Great Fire of London in 1666, which destroyed a huge area of the English capital, including many of its most important buildings. Nevertheless, the utter devastation forced a re-building of the city in which destitute areas were replaced with glorious architecture such as Christopher Wren's city churches and St. Paul's Cathedral.

When Ezekiel wrote these words, it must have seemed even more as if it was all over for Jerusalem. The people had persisted in worshipping idols instead of the one true God who cared about them. They were exhausting the land by refusing to obey God's command to let it rest every seventh year and eventually God decided that enough was enough. If they would not give the land these sabbath years, He would take it from them and allow it to rest (2 Chr.36:14-21). The Babylonians marched in and took all but the feeblest Jews captive to the capital of their empire, thousands of miles away. The once majestic city of Jerusalem was besieged and systematically destroyed: 'the Chaldeans burned the king's house, and the houses of the people with fire, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem' (Jer. 39:8).

A waste land and a ruined city. It should all have been so different; it had all been so different, but they had messed it up and it was apparently gone forever.

Into this hopeless situation came the word of the LORD. It must have defied belief that the heap of smouldering ruins was going to become a great and protected city once again, where people would live in happiness and safety. Yet Ezekiel believed it. It must have seemed incredible that the barren place should become rich and beautiful and spill over with life and contentment. But this is exactly what God makes it His business to do. Within seventy years, a Jewish remnant went back to rebuild the city and the holy temple where men and women would once again worship God. An amazing transformation was on the way.

And God has not stopped making amazing transformations. Before we were saved, we were dead before God and our lives gave no pleasure to Him or lasting satisfaction to us. Then, the Lord Jesus came and gave us life to the full (John 10:10). Ezekiel was promised a garden and a city. The deserted place would not only grow crops, but be like the Garden of Eden, stocked to bursting with the choicest fruits imaginable. Mankind lost out on the Paradise of Eden when Adam disobeyed God and the human condition has been desolate since. The same disobedience and isolation from the blessings God longed to give to us has been enacted in every human life. Shut out of God's presence, only a lost eternity awaited us. When the Lord Jesus took the punishment for that disobedience, He made the way back from the desolate to the fruitful. We, too, have been promised a garden and a vibrant city. The Bible tells us of the New Jerusalem which God will bring from heaven at the beginning of a new eternal age: 'In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations' (Rev.22:2).

This tree was in the Garden of Eden (Gen.2:9) and will be there then. The Lord has given us back what we lost through our sin. In fact, He has given us something better. The city will be an amazing place, made of pure, translucent gold (Rev.21:18), lit up with the glory of the Lamb (v.23) and the famous pearly gates (v.21). Best of all, the Lord Jesus Himself will live there 'and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face' (22:3-4).

The God who says, '"Behold, I make all things new,"' (21:5) is still restoring desolate and ruined lives. Sometimes as Christians, we let what should be productive lives that bring pleasure to God become sterile, empty and ruined. Perhaps like the exiled Israelites, we feel that we've displeased God too badly, too shamefully, too often. Perhaps we even look at our condition, both as individuals and as a community of churches in which God has promised to live amongst his people, and imagine it's too far gone - that He can do nothing with it. Nevertheless, He is always regenerating, always restoring those who acknowledge their brokenness and complete dependence upon Him. Let's make sure we're daily admitting our helplessness before God and letting Him build something, grow something in our lives that pleases Him: 'the nations ... around you shall know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate. I ... have spoken it, and I will do it' (Ezek. 36:36).

SMITH, K. | Aug 2002
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