God's Comfort In Punishment

[Joyce]

We often hear of God's comfort in times of trouble, but what I have been struck with lately is the fact that in Ezekiel we read about how God punished Israel for Her grievous sins, but there are several passages of comfort in the midst of that punishment It is, in my opinion, just one more way God shows His love "even while we were yet sinners".

Ezek. 16:59-63 reads, "For thus saith the Lord God; 'I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, which hast despised the oath in breaking the covenant. Nevertheless I will remember My covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant......".

This is a truly poignant passage. It tells us that God will punish Israel, but it also comforts Israel by reminding them that they are God's covenant people and He will not abandon them forever.

There is another such comforting passage in Ezek. 36:3-11, "Therefore prophecy and say, 'Thus saith the Lord God; 'Because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that ye might be a possession unto the residue of the heathen.......Surely in the fire of My jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the heathen....which have appointed My land into their possession....... Therefore thus saith the Lord God; 'I have lifted up Mine hand, surely the heathen that are about you, they shall bear their shame. But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches. and yield your fruit to My People Israel....for behold I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and ye shall be tilled and sown: and I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it: and the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be builded: and I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings, and ye shall know that I am the Lord".

Let us also consider Ezek. chapter 11. Verses 5-11 record the prophecy of doom and destruction, but let us also consider verses 16-17, "Therefore say, 'Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come'".

Here is yet another passage wherein is recorded God's punishment of Israel for their sins, immediately followed by His comfort. We read in Ezek. 14:21-23, "For thus saith the Lord God, 'How much more when I send My four sore judgments upon Jerusalem.....Yet, behold therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth, both sons and daughters: behold they shall come forth unto you....... and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem.....And they shall comfort you, when ye see their ways and their doings......".

Ezek. 16:55 is another passage of encouragemnt and comfort, "When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughter shall return to your former estate".

What do you think?

In Christ,

Joyce