We are in Exile (Ezekiel 3:12-21)

The Spirit lifted me up, and I heard a loud rumbling sound behind me.  (May the Lord be praised in his place!)*  It was the sound of the wings of the living beings as they brushed against each other and the rumbling of their wheels beneath them.

The Spirit lifted me up and took me away.  I went in bitterness and turmoil, but the Lord's hold on me was strong.  Then I came to the colony of Judean exiles in Tel-abib, beside the Kebar River.  I sat there among them for seven days, overwhelmed.

At the end of the seven days, the Lord gave me a message.  He said, Son of man, I have appointed you as a watchman for Israel.  Whenever you receive a message from me, pass it on the people immediately.  If I warn the wicked, saying, 'You are under the penalty of death,' but you fail to deliver the warning, they will die in their sins.  And I will hold you responsible demanding your blood for theirs.  If you warn them and they keep on sinning and refuse to repent, they will die in their sins.  But you will have saved your life because you did what you were told to do.  If good people turn bad and don't listen to my warning, they will die.  If you didn't warn them of the consequences , then they will die in their sins.  Their previous good deeds won't help them, and I will hold you responsible, demanding your blood for theirs.  But if you warn them and they repent, they will live, and you will and you will have saved your own life, too."

God has definitely made a change in me since I read about the willingness of suffering and holy living in 1Peter 4.  Wow! My eyes were opened to the high value of the Gospel and of the Grace of Jesus Christ.  Loving is a lot more than loving people, but it is loving God foremost.  The religious minded people will come with all kind of excuses to make you do certain things so they can be justified. 

God's people are now in exile.  What does exile mean?  It means being forced out of your native land to a foreign country.  Being brought into captivity by the enemy from your native country.  Does that look any close to where the Church is today? Away from the Gospel message. She is held captive by the enemy of our soul to different sinful habits not able to free herself from them.  Or perhaps caught up in the worship of the idols of the world or sticking to strict rules and emphasizing certain rituals and ceremonies rather than the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  We have rejected the communion and abiding of the Spirit for our own righteous works.  Lust comes through our eyes you know? Or enticed by certain lotteries.  Isn't that worldly?  Or is it really holy?  Are we confused between the worldly and the holy.  Isn't it clear enough in the Bible?  Is religion keeping you barred away from the Holy Land?  Repent then, and go back to your origins where the wheels are within the wheels below the four living beings of the Gospels.  The will of God is not that far.  O to be with Jesus in the garden as he prayed to the Father...Not my will but thine.  Then again at the Cross where he found his purpose and then was raised to glory.  How far have we strayed from the land?  From the Holy Land?