How Come the Temple's Closed?

‘If disaster comes upon us—sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine—we will stand before this temple and in Your presence (for Your name is in this temple), and cry out to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save.’ (2 Chron 20:9)

The news in our land is all of things that bring on the woe these days. We might well wonder how Jerusalem in Isaiah's or Ezekiel's times could be any worse than what we see here reported daily. When Jesus spoke of the coming lawlessness, I didn't think that He meant that the murder of law enforcement officers would become an organized sport. I guess that I tried to limit what Jesus saw in His prophecy of lawlessness. Sure, kings and leaders and wanna-be leaders being above the law, we could all see that manner of lawlessness. This is not so uncommon in history, but deliberate and planned targeting of those who make a living of enforcing the law? What other horror does lawlessness have for us in the days to come?

In the days of Ezekiel, when the prophet saw the vision of God's presence leaving the temple, I can well imagine that, like now, not all of the people of Israel were so faithless as what God showed His prophet about Jerusalem, the big city. Perhaps in a nearby village such as Lachish or Libnah, a child came to his father one morning and asked, "How come the temple's closed?" What does the father say to his son at such a time as this? The temple closed because God left it in disgust over the sin in the land? The poor child expects to inherit this place, and must the father tell the truth that those who hear God's message know that soon a terrible siege followed by 70 years of exile will begin?

At one time, as we can read in our Bible verse today, Jehoshaphat led the people of Judah in prayer before the temple and God's presence. They faithfully waited in expectancy for God's salvation to arrive. Are there enough of us who remain faithful to God's salvation to pray for our nation today? Can we through prayer to the ever Faithful One turn this lawlessness around before it is too late? Since we do not know the hour and the day of the end, let us not give up hope in our Lord Jesus! Reports of revival happening right now in our land may not make it to the mainstream media, but that does not change the fact that God's Spirit of salvation is moving across our nation. Have faith in Him!

Bucky