Ezekiel 4

What a strange chapter! One thing’s for sure: God certainly asked His prophets to do weird things at times. And I don’t know about you, but if I had answered the call to be a prophet, and the first assignment God gave me was to lay on my side(s) for 14 months, I might have to lodge a complaint!

Notwithstanding that part of that chapter, however, here’s what really caught my attention: “Now, son of man, take a block of clay, put it in front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it. Then lay siege to it: Erect siege works against it, build a ramp up to it, set up camps against it and put battering rams around it. Then take an iron pan, place it as an iron wall between you and the city and turn your face toward it.” (vs 1-3)

Obviously, this was to be a symbolic demonstration of the actual siege that was occurring against Jerusalem. (At the time he began his prophetic ministry, Ezekiel—along with many other Israelites—had already been taken into captivity in Babylon, but Jerusalem had not yet fallen to Nebuchadnezzar.) Of course, a siege meant that a wall was erected around the city so that nothing could come in or go out (in this case, it was nearly 18 months). Eventually, the people inside would begin to starve, and once they were weak and dying, it was much easier to conquer them.

But, in this prophecy of Ezekiel, God appeared to be trying to communicate to His people that the true wall which had been erected around the city had not been built by the Babylonians! The prophet Isaiah had warned the people, “Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.” (Isa 59:1-2)

God was trying to tell His people that the “iron wall” which had been erected outside of Jerusalem was the result of their sin. They had separated themselves from Him, and in so doing, they cut themselves off from the channel of blessings. If they were starving, if they were languishing, if they were suffering, it was because they had—time and time again—refused to allow God to protect and bless them. The walls that were built by the Babylonians around Jerusalem were simply a concrete manifestation of the spiritual wall that had already been erected by the Israelites.

But, placing the iron wall between Ezekiel and the city wasn’t the end of God’s instructions. After it was in place, God told Ezekiel to “turn your face toward it.” I love that!

All throughout the Old Testament, the face of God is synonymous with His compassion and care:

Turn us again, O God, and cause your face to shine; and we shall be saved. (Ps 80:3)
Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger. (Ps 27:9)
May the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. (Num 6:25)

And even though the Israelites had put up a wall (that might as well have been made of iron, it was so impenetrable!), God instructed His prophet to convey that His face was still turned toward His people behind the wall. Even in the midst of their stubborn rebellion, God hadn’t given up caring about His people. Though they were most certainly experiencing the dire consequences of separating themselves from Him, His heart was still tender toward them. His face was still turned toward them.

God doesn’t want to be separated from us any more than He wanted to be separated from the Israelites. The astounding thing is that He still leaves us free, however, to choose to separate ourselves from Him—if that’s what we want. But nothing, absolutely nothing!, can force Him to turn His face away from us. We are free to reject Him, we are free to put up that iron wall, but He is forever free to continue loving us.

And He does.