In less than two months, our nation will remember the nearly 3,000 people killed in the terror attacks at the World Trade Center. Pat Robertson, by his own admission, says foolish things in public. But when he suggested that the two airplanes that brought down the towers were divine judgment on our land, many Christians couldn’t distance themselves fast enough from these remarks, especially as certain people in the media howled at the very idea.
No one completely knows the mind of God on matters like this. But I can’t help but wonder in light of all that is currently happening in our nation why so many Christians distance themselves from these types of remarks? Why are such conclusions considered foolish?
Were Robertson’s remarks offensive because God doesn’t punish sin? Is it because God never uses evil people with their own agenda to exercise His judgment? Is it because He would never ruin a city in some devastating way? Is it because some of the righteous perished with the wicked? Is it because the Lord never sends foretastes of his judgment to warn a wayward people of worse things to come? What was there about 9-11, biblically speaking, that made people so sure that this was not an act of severe mercy on the part of God?
“And I will make the land desolate, because they have acted faithlessly, declares the Lord God.”
Ezekiel 15:8
In the book of Ezekiel, we are given a very helpful window into the mind of God. The book is filled with prophecies of the impending judgment of Jerusalem and Israel. And I believe there is much for us to learn today about the ways of God as they are communicated through these warnings.
The book is divided into three sections. The first section is filled with warnings to God’s people. The second is filled with warnings to the nations. And the last is the promise of mercy and salvation for those who repent and surrender their lives to the Lord. Today we like to focus on the second and third section, but what about the first?
In chapter 15 we are given the image of a fruitless vine. The questions posed are breathtaking. They cut to the quick and lay bare the heart. God is asking His people to remember their purpose. What is the purpose of a vine? It is to bear fruit. Is there any other purpose for a vine? The answer given is, no. Unlike an oak tree, a vine’s worth is dependent upon the quality of its fruit. It has no other redemptive purpose. No one uses a vine to make furniture. No one cultivates vines to harvest the wood. In fact, as the parable reminds us, the only good one can obtain from a fruitless vine is fuel for a fire.
All of this is significant and quite shocking because how does Israel see herself? Routinely, Israel is likened to a vine that God planted with the aim of gathering fruit. In other words, God’s people see themselves a God’s choice vineyard. But what is the Gardner’s assessment of the vineyard? We are told that Jacob’s descendants have become fruitless. And consequently, like a barren plant, they are good for nothing but the fire.
This leads to the pivotal question. What is the reason for the bareness God’s people? Verse 8 gives the answer: “And I will make the land desolate, because they have acted faithlessly, declares the Lord God.”
Given all the cries for justice and the moral chaos raining down on our nation today, I can’t help but wonder. Could it be that the church is experiencing the same crisis as the people of God in Ezekiel’s day? Could it be that many within the church have become faithless? Could it be that for too long we have been so focused on preserving our nation, rights, comforts, and freedom to indulge the flesh (Gal. 5:13) that we have we forgotten what our sole purpose is in this fallen world? Could it be that the people of God then, and the people of God today, do not seriously ponder the possibility that God is awakening us to the possibility of far worse things to come because we are spiritually inclined to ignore the possibility that we are barren?
This, of course, is the tone deafness of our first parents Adam and Eve. One of the causes of their fall into sin was disbelief in the threat of divine judgment. God had said to Adam, “On the day you eat of it you will surely die,” and the devil flatly contradicted that in his conversation with Eve: “You surely will not die!” We see this same pattern today. The enemy’s first and primary argument for sin is you can sin and not suffer consequences. You will not be disciplined. Sadly, no other lie is more commonly believed than this one, even within the church.
Thankfully, as we continue onward in the book of Ezekiel, there is an alternative to wiping out Israel. And that was God’s plan to plant a good healthy vine from Jacob’s stock, a vine that would be the true Israel because it would bear the fruit that God intended when He established the vineyard of Israel. This vine—this true Israel—is the Lord Jesus Christ, and we are told in the New Testament that only as we abide in Him can we be fruitful (John 15:1–17).
In closing, I think it’s wise for us to take stock of our own faith in these last days. Without a doubt we are seeing the hand of God at work all around us. It is a firm hand. It has the feel of discipline and pruning for all our sins of oppression, favoritism, and pluralism. And yes, we need to wake up and realize that He is quite adept at using wicked people with their own agendas to bring about the kind of repentance that is needed in His people. We would be wise to stop critiquing the world’s unbelief (since this is all it knows) and be diligent in getting back to the basics of abiding in Christ. And that of course would be the work of bearing fruit, by faith, for the glory of His name, which is ultimately what will make this world a brighter and more beautiful place.