Ezekiel, the prophet, ends his book with these words: “Yahweh is there”(48:35). Ezekiel was taken into Babylonian captivity and wrote to give his people hope that they would return to their homeland and would again have a temple. What a powerful statement of hope he gave to his people in those final words—Yahweh is there.It would have been easy for the people of Ezekiel’s day to think that God had forsaken them or had abandoned them forever. Symbolically, much of what Ezekiel wrote has a double meaning and looks forward to the church that the Lord would establish. Thus, those last words are a great encouragement for us today.
Yahweh is there with the church today!The church is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is a member of the godhead. “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you”(I Corinthians 3:16)? Yahweh is there! Ephesians 2:19-22 teaches the same thing. “So then you are…God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.” This makes the church holy and special. We must not think it is just like any secular organization or any other religious organization. There is only one church in which Yahwehdwells (Ephesians 1:22-23; 4:4). When there is only one of anything, it becomes more valuable. So, it is with the church! May we treat the church with the highest respect!
Because Yahwehis there, He will be with us as we work with and in the church. Paul explained this process in I Corinthians 3:6-9. “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers, you are God’s field, God’s building.” Because Yahweh is there we do not labor alone. Neither are we laboring only with human effort. God is there to bless the work!
Yahweh is there for the individual Christian.God not only sees the broad picture of the church as a whole, but He also is there for the individual. Speaking for God, the Hebrew writer said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you”(Hebrews 13:5). What a wonderful comfort!
We can say with the Psalmist,
O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O Lord, You know it all. You have enclosed me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it. Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me. If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night,” Even the darkness is not dark to you. And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You
(Psalm 139:1-12).
It doesn’t matter what our troubles are, Yahweh is there!It doesn’t matter where we are on this globe, Yahweh is there!It doesn’t matter how big the problem or how daunting the task, Yahweh is there!We are never alone. Yahweh is there!
Yahweh is there when we get to heaven. Jesus promised, “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also” John 14:1-3.
Let’s remember and take comfort—Yahweh is there!
