Burning Symbols
“He then said to me: “Son of man, I am about to cut off the food supply in Jerusalem. The people will eat rationed food in anxiety and drink rationed water in despair, for food and water will be scarce. They will be appalled at the sight of each other and will waste away because of their sin.”
In today’s devotion, we see God instructing the prophet Ezekiel to act out a dramatic portrayal of the coming judgment on Israel and Judah due to their sin and rebellion. These symbolic acts are meant to represent the siege of Jerusalem and the spiritual condition of the people. Ezekiel is first commanded to lie on his left side for 390 days, representing 390 years of Israel’s sin. Then, he is to lie on his right side for 40 days, symbolizing 40 years of Judah’s sin. A day represents a year in each case. During this time, he is bound so he cannot turn over, symbolizing the bondage of sin. God then commands Ezekiel to eat a restricted and a scarce diet made of mixed grains and cooked over human excrements/feces, signifying the famine and defilement that will occur during the siege. Ezekiel is appalled to the unclean method and requests the method be changed, which God in His mercy allows him to use cow dung instead. This represents the desperate and humiliating conditions that the people will experience as a consequence of their rebellion against God. Through these extreme measures, God communicates the seriousness of sin, the certainty of judgment, and the spiritual devastation awaiting His people unless they repent and turn back to Him.
When I was in High School, I recall an image I noticed in my history class that I’ll never forget. It was a photograph taken in 1963, in the city of Saigon of Vietnam. The photo depicted a car and a fire right in front of it. Yet if you take a closer look, it is a man sitting calmly still as he is burning in front of a crowd of hundreds of people. What was taking place and who is this burning man?
His name is Thích Quảng Đức and he was a Buddhist monk. He stepped out from the vehicle in the photo, sat calmly down on the ground, poured gasoline on himself then struck a match and set himself on fire all without a single word. People around him were screaming and some were in utter shock, falling to their knees. The photograph shows his face calm and his body not flinching despite the fact that he was essentially burning to his death. Not once did he move from his position, or cry, or make any facial expression. He was completely still and silent the whole period he was slowly burning to death.
Was he crazy? Was he suicidal? No. It was done purposefully as a symbolic protest against the South Vietnamese government’s violent oppression of the Buddhist monks. It was a bold and extreme act to capture the world’s attention to an injustice taking place in Vietnam. The image did just that, the protest changed international opinion towards the South Vietnamese government and thus would affect the world’s opinion of whether they wanted to support the South Vietnamese government or not.
Shocking indeed but it was a visual symbol of a message the monk was trying to send. Ezekiel was also sending a visual symbol of an important message from God. It was extreme, it was bold, and it might’ve been viewed as crazy but it was to catch the attention of the Israelites who were simply no longer listening to mere words anymore and continuing in their rebellious sin.
But perhaps even more extreme then Ezekiel’s actions were the actions of our Lord Jesus Christ. His act was more brutal than one can imagine for it was suffering and death on the cross through crucifixion. Yet it was a symbol, not only for the people to pay attention and repent, but a symbol of hope that only through Christ can one be considered righteous through faith alone.
And when we recognize and acknowledge the brutality and sacrifice of the cross, that will change our perspective and actions in our everyday Christian life. We no longer fall into rebellion or sin because we remember the symbol of the cross, a symbol of unconditional love, mercy, and grace that was bestowed upon undeserving people. May we continue to consider that symbol, praising God for His sovereign grace.
