Scripture Daily

Context No. 3748 of 4322 · Ezekiel

Context · Reflection

Ezekiel 7:10-14: in context

10“‘Behold, the day! Behold, it comes! Your doom has gone out. The rod has blossomed. Pride has budded. 11Violence has risen up into a rod of wickedness. None of them will remain, nor of their multitude, nor of their wealth. There will be nothing of value among them. 12The time has come! The day draws near. Don’t let the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn; for wrath is on all its multitude. 13For the seller won’t return to that which is sold, although they are still alive; for the vision concerns the whole multitude of it. None will return. None will strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life. 14They have blown the trumpet, and have made all ready; but no one goes to the battle, for my wrath is on all its multitude.

Ezekiel announces that the day of judgment has arrived, and describes a moment when the ordinary concerns of life lose all meaning under God's wrath. Let not the buyer rejoice nor the seller mourn, for the day has come upon them all.

When judgment falls, the ordinary distinctions we live by, gains and losses, buying and selling, who has more and who has less, suddenly count for nothing. The buyer's bargain and the seller's loss are equally swept away. There is a sobering perspective here. So much of our energy goes into the small advantages and setbacks of daily life, the deal that went well, the one that went badly. But there comes a day, whether of judgment or simply of death, when all such things are leveled and none of them matters. This is not a counsel of despair but a call to weigh things rightly, to loosen our grip on the passing concerns that will not finally count, and to prepare for the day that will.

Am I giving my energy to passing gains and losses that will finally count for nothing, or am I preparing for the day when only my standing before God will matter?

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