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Ezekiel 25:1-4a, 7b  The word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, set your face against the Ammonites and prophesy against them.  Say to them, ‘Hear the word of the Sovereign LORD.  This is what the Sovereign LORD says:  Because you said “Aha! ” over my sanctuary when it was desecrated and over the land of Israel when it was laid waste and over the people of Judah when they went into exile, therefore I am going to … [ bring many diasters upon you, including] … wipe you out from among the nations and exterminate you from the countries.  I will destroy you, and you will know that I am the LORD. ’”

When we are confronted with passages of Scripture that deal with the fact of God’s harsh judgement upon the world which he created ‘very good’, but which has subsequently been universally affected by the rebellion of sinful mankind which is an offence to his holiness, it is important that we consider these judgements in the context of the whole Bible story.

This particular harsh judgement is pronounced upon the Ammonites through Ezekiel, in the immediate context of the judgement being brought against God’s own chosen people, Israel, (by Babylon as God’s agent) because of their rebellious behaviour.  Before we begin to to feel too self-righteous and ‘holier than thou’ over Ammon (and Israel), let’s consider the Big Picture as is helpfully summed up by Timothy Dudley-Smith in his hymn:

“The Lord made Man, the Scriptures tell, to bear his image and his sign; yet we, by nature, bear as well the ancient mark of Adam’s line.

In Adam’s fall falls every man, with every gift the Father gave; the Crown of all Creation’s Plan becomes a rebel and a slave.

Herein all woes are brought to birth, all aching hearts and sunless skies; brightness is gone from all the earth, the innocence of nature dies.

Yet Adam’s children, born to pain, by self enslaved, by sin enticed, may still, by grace, be born again, children of God, beloved in Christ!

In Christ is Adam’s ransom met, Earth, by his cross, is holy ground; Eden, indeed, is with us yet, in Christ are life and freedom found!”

Three things are clear: Firstly, sin is universal; so divine judgement is universal.  As ‘Adam’s children’, we all have no better standing before our holy God than Ammon or even Israel.

Secondly, God himself has provided the only solution to this problem: the substitutionary, sacrificial death of his only Son for sin.  Ezekiel’s merciful warning to Ammon, along with several other sourounding nations, is quite consistent wth God’s general warning to all people in Psalm 2:2-6: “The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the LORD and against his anointed, saying, ‘Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.’ The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them.  He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, ‘I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.”  This warning is re-affirmed in the NT: “… now he commands all people everywhere to repent.  For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed.  He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead”  (Acts 17:30a-31). Jesus gave a similar warning in several parables (eg Matthew 25).

And thirdly, the particular comfort we get from Ezekiel is that, within this universal judgement, God has a special care and concern for his chosen people (his Church) and will bring particular Judgement against any who ridicule them or persecute them.  Yes, Jesus warned us about the harsh trearment we would expect in the ‘Last Days’, so let us take heart and find comfort in these things (nothing takes our Sovereign Creator/Redeemer by surprise!).  And as we are reminded of the terrible fate awaiting those who oppose us, rather than ‘rejoicing’ over the ‘pay-back’ that awaits them because of the way they are treating us, let us, instead,  be more zealous in praying for them and in sharing with them the Good News of how they too can escape the consequences of sin through repentance-and-faith in Jesus!

– Bruce Christian