A friend recently asked why God allowed evil tyrants and dictators around the world to continue brutalizing people. In our own country why do immoral men and women, even in leadership positions, go without judgment? The only answer I could give was the Lord’s lovingkindness and longsuffering because He desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:4). He suffers long with wicked people giving every possible chance for them to repent. We are prone to give up on ourselves and others long before God does. Someone said if God was not longsuffering, the Bible would have ended in Genesis chapter three.
The Lord displayed His lovingkindness and longsuffering throughout the history of the nations of Israel and Judah. Solomon built a house for the Name of the Lord. When he dedicated the Temple, the glory of the Lord filled the house. Solomon proclaimed, “I have surely built You a lofty house, A place for Your dwelling forever” (I Kgs 8:11). In his prayer of dedication, he praised God for His lovingkindness. O Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like You . . . showing lovingkindness to Your servants who walk before You with all their heart (1Ki 8:23). For the next 410 years, God dwelt in the temple among His people during both good and evil times.
After the nation divided, not one good king ruled in Israel. In Judah where Solomon had built the temple and God dwelt, some good Kings reigned, but of the last nine all but two were wicked. Among the worst Ahaz; he desecrated the temple, robbed it of its treasures and destroyed many of the vessels. His son Hezekiah restored and repaired the temple. But then Manasseh considered the evilest of the kings built idolatrous altars in the Temple Courts and placed a graven image in the Temple. This cycle of evil and good continued until judgment for their sin came in 606 BC. King Nebuchadnezzar besieged the city and lead away the first group of captives taking the Temple vessels back to Babylon. The nation continued to sin, ruled by evil kings. In 597 BC, he took the second group of captives back to Babylon. Among them was the prophet Ezekiel. At some point, he must have turned and taken what he thought was his last look at the city and the Temple.
We can only imagine how Jerusalem looked after two sieges by the Babylonians. And the Temple?—what was its condition after more than twenty years of evil rulers not including earlier kings who robbed and desecrated the Lord’s dwelling place? Here we can see the lovingkindness and longsuffering of God more than any time in Israel’s history. Where was the Lord during the evil kings, the corruption, idols and invasions of Nebuchadnezzar? He remained in the Holy of Holies. He was still there.
However, in 592 BC during Ezekiel’s sixth year in captivity through a vision once again he saw Jerusalem. The hand of the Lord GOD fell on me there . . . the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem (Ezek. 8). Ezekiel witnessed the departure of the Shekinah, the divine presence, in stages from the temple, the temple courts, and finally from above the Eastern gate, (Ezek. 10-11). God’s glory was gone. Nebuchadnezzar returned in 586 BC and annihilates the city. Troops breached the walls, burned the Temple and the houses to the ground.
God’s Shekinah glory had departed, but the Lord did not abandon His people. In exile He told Ezekiel, “Therefore, tell the exiles, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Although I have scattered you in the countries of the world, I will be a sanctuary to you during your time in exile. I, the Sovereign Lord, will gather you back from the nations where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel once again’ (Ezek. 11:16, 17 NLT). After the destruction, Jeremiah looked down on the city and Temple now reduced to a pile of rubble and wrote the Book of Lamentations a funeral song describing the horror. In chapter three he turns to hope because of God’s lovingkindness. This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. The Lords lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail (vv21, 22). For the Lord will not reject forever, For if He causes grief, Then He will have compassion According to His abundant lovingkindness (vv31, 32).
Israel did return after 70 years, but the Shekinah glory of God would not manifest again until Christ came. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth (Joh 1:14). After His death and resurrection, He sent the Holy Spirit. Now we are the Temple of God. Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you (1Cor 3:16)? Just as He has been longsuffering with us, He is holding back the End because he doesn’t want anyone lost. He’s giving everyone [the tyrants, dictators, immoral men, and women] space and time to change. (2 Pet 3:9 MSG).Sustaining Word for the Week: What’s the condition of your temple? Say to yourself, “He’s still here.” Say it again out loud, “He’s still here”.