Whitewashed as Peace
Ezekiel 13:8-16
Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “Because you have uttered falsehood and seen lying visions, therefore behold, I am against you, declares the Lord GOD. My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and who give lying divinations. They shall not be in the council of my people, nor be enrolled in the register of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord GOD. Precisely because they have misled my people, saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace, and because, when the people build a wall, these prophets smear it with whitewash, say to those who smear it with whitewash that it shall fall! There will be a deluge of rain, and you, O great hailstones, will fall, and a stormy wind break out. And when the wall falls, will it not be said to you, ‘Where is the coating with which you smeared it?’ Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: I will make a stormy wind break out in my wrath, and there shall be a deluge of rain in my anger, and great hailstones in wrath to make a full end. And I will break down the wall that you have smeared with whitewash, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be laid bare. When it falls, you shall perish in the midst of it, and you shall know that I am the LORD. Thus will I spend my wrath upon the wall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewash, and I will say to you, The wall is no more, nor those who smeared it, the prophets of Israel who prophesied concerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her, when there was no peace, declares the Lord GOD.
Ezekiel has a tough job. In the midst of a culture that ignores truth and twists truth to mete their needs, he is called on by God to give truth. Everything he says will be despised, dejected and defamed. The current leadership of Israel was prophesying their own message. They were crying out “peace” when there was no “peace.” Ezekiel was telling Israel that as a result of their sin, God was going to punish them. They false prophets were telling them that Ezekiel was a crazy man and was lying to them. So, the nation is caught in between two different narratives. This often becomes the same situation in our culture today. We are constantly being bombarded with narratives that make claims as truth. False teachers want to tell us that God is a God of love and therefore there is no wrath, no punishment for sin, no consequences for your actions. Yet, the entire Bible speaks against that. However, the world would prefer to hear about all love and no wrath. That type of message fits their easy life style. They continually paint the world with a whitewash of peace paint. But, when the storms of life come by both the whitewash will be gone (being driven away by the rain), as will the wall (being demolished by the wind). God’s truth is like rain and wind. It comes in and destroys the lies and the false narratives of life. It is said like this:
Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
2 Corinthians 4:2
But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God.
The world wants to tamper with the Word of God’s truth. Yet, when we lean into it we are sanctified.
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