Ezekiel 11:14-21
If you think about it, the word “comeback” is a versatile word. For example, it can refer to a team that has fallen behind in the score and yet scores enough points to win the game. For example, the record for the greatest comeback in the NFL belongs to the 2022 Minnesota Vikings, who fell behind the Indianapolis Colts 33-0 in the third quarter. The Vikings won the game in overtime 39-36.
A “comeback” can be a witty reply to an insult. Unbelievably, I found a few amusing examples in the normally bland Parade magazine:
- “I don’t have the time or the crayons to explain this to you.”
- “Don’t be ashamed of who you are. That’s your parent’s job.”
- “You are like a cloud. When you disappear it’s a beautiful day.”
- “Light travels faster than sound which is why you seemed bright until you spoke.”
That’s only four out of one hundred, folks.
It can also refer to someone who has overcome adversity to return to a previous level of success. One of country’s great philosophers, Mr. T, said, “To have a comeback, you have to have a setback.” We don’t like setbacks, but adversities are part of life and, as Mr. T observed, they can set us up for victory in life. Winston Churchill was a very quotable person. He is quoted as saying, “If you're going through hell, keep going.” Forward progress is often the only way out of adverse situations.
The greatest comeback in history belongs to Jesus Christ, who came back from the dead. Thanks to that comeback, we can have eternal and abundant life.
One of the top five historical comebacks is the return of the Jews from 70 years of captivity in Babylon. With God’s power they were able to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their nation. That comeback is the subject of our message today.
The Jews in captivity in Babylon would one day make a comeback and return to Jerusalem.
Context: God started warning His people about idolatry before they went in and took possession of the Promised Land. They were commanded to utterly dispossess the people of the land, scorning even the plunder as the LORD gave them victory over the Canaanites. He warned them not to intermarry with Gentiles. These commands were given to keep His people from worshiping the false gods of the Canaanites.
Over several generations, they increasingly failed to keep these commands. They fell into the sins associated with worshiping these idols. They forgot about God and failed to worship Him.
The LORD had warned them that the loss of their nation, their prosperity, and the land would be part of His righteous judgment on them. They would be taken captive by the Babylonians, becoming exiles and slaves in a foreign land.
Ezekiel served God before and during this period of exile called “The Babylonian Captivity.” It would last 70 years. In this section of Ezekiel, the exile has already happened. Some of the Jews remained in the ruins of Jerusalem, others were taken to Babylon, and still others, like Ezekiel, were punished by the puppet government left in Jerusalem with exile in Egypt. Chapter 11 is from a time when Jews were scattered in all these places.
1. God warned the cheaters. (14-15, 21)
The people remaining in Jerusalem weren’t the brightest bulbs on the Christmas tree. That’s not meant to be insulting, we learn this elsewhere in the Bible. 2 Kings 24+25 give account of the siege of Jerusalem and the sacking of the city. It tells us the Babylonians took the entire royal court captive and burned the great houses of the city. The people left behind were the ones who were on the lowest rungs of Jewish society, the folks deemed not worth the trouble of relocating them. 2 Kings 25:12 says, BUT THE CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD ALLOWED SOME OF THE POOREST PEOPLE TO STAY BEHIND TO CARE FOR THE VINEYARDS AND FIELDS.
Daniel tells the story of how he and other young men from prominent families were put to work in the palace of the king of Babylon, helping him to administrate the empire. Those left behind weren’t considered worth carting along to Babylon.
The “Leftovers” used the forced relocation of family and friends as an excuse to claim the property of the exiles. They said among themselves, “THOSE PEOPLE ARE FAR AWAY FROM THE LORD, SO N0W HE HAS GIVEN THEIR LAND TO US!”
Exiles or no, anyone who resorts to idolatry puts themselves under judgment. Ezekiel condemned idols as VILE and DETESTABLE. He warned those who practice idolatry that God would REPAY THEM FULLY FOR THEIR SINS. The question here is who’s being punished – the people left in Jerusalem or the people being taken into exiles?
The Leftovers tried to convince themselves that God’s favor was on them because they weren’t deported. They thought this allowed them to claim whatever land and other resources that remained. This was an excuse for their thievery.
Contrary to the Leftovers’ excuses, Ezekiel was to show that God’s favor rested on the exiles, particularly the ones who trusted Him and remained faithful. When He returned the exiles to the land, that would prove God’s favor rested on them. I, THE SOVEREIGN LORD, HAVE SPOKEN! Is swearing an oath on Himself, as there is nothing more powerful than God on which He could swear an oath.
2. God instructed the exiles how to stage an excellent comeback. (16-20)
His first instruction was to trust in the LORD while you endure exile. The SOVEREIGN LORD was the author of the exile; the Babylonians were His agents. His mercy did not cause Him to remove them from the exile; they had to experience the fullness of the Lord’s punishment of their sins. Instead, His mercy caused God to help them endure the full length of the seventy years of exile.
His second instruction was to trust in the LORD to restore your homes. God promised there would be an end to their exile, that when the 70 years had run their course, he would GATHER them BACK and return their lost lands to them. When we suffer loss, we need to remember that, even if it is a life-long experience, it is still only temporary. We need to remember that God is in charge; He has ordered all these things according to His timing.
His third instruction was to obey the LORD and get rid of all idolatry. God commanded them, when they had returned from a land where idols were worshiped by their conquerors, they were to get rid of every sign of EVERY TRACE of the influence of that culture upon them. As in v. 21, the idolatrous images are described as VILE and DETESTABLE.
With these commands, God gave His people the resource to keep them: they would receive a NEW HEART. It was their old HEART that got them into this mess. Their old HEART was STONY and STUBBORN. It was unfeeling, inflexible, insensitive, and unresponsive. This is the kind of heart with which we’re born. It is the kind of HEART that keeps us from loving others and loving God. It keeps getting us in trouble. This kind of heart was exemplified by the Jews who were left stranded in the ruins of Jerusalem.
It would take a NEW HEART that to get them out of captivity (captivity to the Babylonians, and more importantly, captivity to sin. Their NEW HEART was distinguished by its SINGLENESS. A divided heart is a person who hasn’t yet committed themselves to God. James 1:6-7 warns that a divided person should not expect to receive anything from God. God does not tolerate half-heartedness from His people.
The Bible tells us God is “jealous” in the sense that He refuses to share us with sin, the world, or Satan. He wants people who aren’t dazzled by the world, distracted by sin, or discouraged by difficulties. This is not a change of HEART that they achieved on their own. It was a gift from God, a transplant that He did for them.
The new heart is a frequent subject in Ezekiel (18:31; 32:39; 36:26; 39:39). It is a figure of speech that describes a fundamental shift in a person’s character. A NEW HEART is produced by the NEW SPIRIT that God puts within His obedient servants. This is the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, the part of God that guides and encourages us in godly living. The NEW HEART was exemplified by the people deported to Babylon. Ironically, God exiled these people to punish the nation and to put the best and brightest among his people under the protection of the Babylonian Empire.
The result of this heart transplant surgery was God enabling them to OBEY His DECREES AND REGULATIONS. Their obedience made it possible for them to TRULY BE His PEOPLE and for God to TRULY BE THEIR GOD. Love for God is manifest in obedience to His commands. The love of God is manifest in the change of life that empowers us to overcome adversity, becoming better, not bitter.
The Jews in captivity in Babylon would one day make a comeback and return to Jerusalem.
George Matheson was no stranger to adversity; he was deprived of his eyesight as a youth. Not allowing that to stop him, Matheson graduated from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland in 1862. His poetical pieces were collected and published in 1890. You may be familiar with his hymn "O Love that Wilt not let Me Go."
His hymn “Make Me a Captive, Lord” expresses the message we’ve received from the prophet Ezekiel this morning.
Make me a captive, Lord,
And then I shall be free.
Force me to render up my sword
And I shall conqueror be.
I sink in life's alarms
When by myself I stand;
Imprison me within thine arms,
And strong shall be my hand.
My heart is weak and poor
Until its master find;
It has no spring of action sure,
It varies with the wind.
It cannot freely move
Till thou hast wrought its chain;
Enslave it with thy matchless love,
And deathless it shall reign.
RESOURCES:
Comeback one-liners were retrieved from https://parade.com/1105374/marynliles/good-comebacks/, on 27 December 2024.
Comeback quotes retrieved from https://www.brainyquote.com/lists/topics/top-10-comeback-quotes, on 27 December 2024.
David L. Thompson, Cornerstone Biblical Commentary, Vol. 9, Ezekiel, 2010, p. 89-92.
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