“…the name of the city from that day shall be,
The LORD is there.”

Ezekiel 48:35

Ezekiel Ch. 40-48 contain promises that pertain to the restoration of Israel after their years of captivity.  There is a temple, a city and the reallocation of the land among the tribes of Israel.

These promises, however, have more relevance for the people of God in this New Testament age than they had for ancient Israel.  

We know this for two reasons:

1. These promises were never fulfilled in Israel, while they rebuilt the temple, it was not this temple and while they repaired the walls of Jerusalem they did not construct the city that Ezekiel saw.  I consider that there is a relevance in the fact that Ezekiel never names the city; this points to a wider and fuller application than the geographical place known as Jerusalem.
2. We know that the vision which Ezekiel saw has respect to the New Testament Church because John also saw a temple and a city, with a river gushing forth whose leaves were for the healing of the nations.  The city that John viewed was the New Jerusalem, which came forth from God out of heaven.  Within this city God dwelled among men with Christ as the Lamb being the light thereof.  John’s vision is often seen solely as the final revelation of Glory, where the saved of all ages will gather.  While it certainly is a picture of the triumphant Church in Heaven dwelling in a place where the curse is no more, the city is also a picture of the Church on earth awaiting the return of Jesus Christ.  There are no contradictions with this dual application.  The Church in heaven and on earth are bound together.  One is a pale reflection of the other.  But when revival comes heaven visits earth and God dwells among men in a unique manner.  Therefore in Ezekiel’s city we do see a picture of a revived Church, particularly through his final words, Jehovah Shammah, the LORD is there.  The Jerusalem Ezekiel, saw was the city of the living God, the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21-22)

THE CITY REBUILT

Ezekiel sees a glorious city, the gates of which are named after the twelve tribes of Israel.  This mirrors The New Jerusalem, which also has twelve gates, indicative of the ancient tribes.   The New Jerusalem also has a foundation, consisting of the twelve apostles, teaching that this city is grounded upon the New Testament (Revelation 21:12-14)

The collapse of Judaism was in the purpose of God because it was His design to build His Church out of the ruins .  This is the new man which Paul wrote about, the binding of Jew and Gentile under one common head, Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:12-22).

The Church of Christ, however, constantly needs restoring, reviving and rejuvenating.  Revival is God’s way of doing something new and blessed among His people as His work is preserved for future generations.

Let us pray for the development of the city of God, for the renovation of the old walls and for the adding of living stones.

THE TERRITORY REDISTRIBUTED

With the Babylonian dispersal families had lost their inheritances.  These possessions were precious, being granted after the settlement under Joshua. But the enemy had come to seize their birthright.  Now there was a promise of redistribution.  They could claim what the enemy had stolen.

It is worthwhile considering what the enemy steals.  Worldliness steals the hearts and the affections of God’s people.  Pride robs us of our humility.  Sin robs God of His glory through our lives.  One wonders how many blessings we have lost as a result of our private and collective failings? As the Church becomes powerless, a sleeping giant, Satan causes havoc in society as thousands of souls rush headlong to Hell.

But when revival comes we reclaim the inheritance of God. Praise, prayer and preaching become the most serious matters on Earth.  Prayer meetings are full, souls are concerned, men and women and even nations are born anew.  The fire falls.

THE WORSHIP REESTABLISHED

At the heart of this city was the temple, the house of God.  A temple is erected for worship.  Therefore this city contained the promise that worship would be established once again.

Revival makes worship meaningful.  We have the greatest tendency to corrupt worship into a formalistic ritual.  We are called to have structure in worship.  This structure is laid down in Scripture.  But we can take the good structure and trivialise it into ritual, by going through the motions of a religion.  Reformed churches criticise modern worship trends with their instruments, bands, and shallow lyrics. We have a good reason to be concerned but this is by no means the only attack that worship suffers today. When reformed Christians degenerate worship into a formal ritual, without heartfelt and spiritual engagement – worship becomes singular unattractive because, as Paul wrote; “for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life” (2nd Corinthians 3:6). When worship becomes mere religion we need revival.

Revival always brings God’s people to the place where their worship is a meeting point with God; were we are before Him listening to His Word.  The Church exists for worship; ultimately revival will impact this area of Church life, primarily.  

THE PRESENCE RESTORED

The crowning point of this city, however, are the words of our text; Jehovah Shammah – the Lord is there.  This also parallels The New Jerusalem where the Lamb is described as being “the light thereof” and where the happy citizens “see his face” (Revelation 21:22 – 22:5).  It also corresponds to the vision that Ezekiel saw of the glory of God coming into the house, bringing the prophet to his knees (Ezekiel 43).

Jerusalem had fallen to Babylon because of the sins of the people – the glory had departed.  Now the Lord has returned.  His presence was restored.

In this New Testament God dwells constantly with his people, as Matthew Henry wonderfully described:

“That the gospel-church should likewise have the presence of God in it, though not in the Shechinah, as of old, yet in a token of it no less sure, that of his Spirit. Where the gospel is faithfully preached, gospel ordinances are duly administered, and God is worshipped in the name of Jesus Christ only, it may truly be said, The Lord is there; for faithful is he that has said, and he will be as good as his word, Lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the world. The Lord is there in his church, to rule and govern it, to protect and defend it, and graciously to accept and own his sincere worshippers, and to be nigh unto them in all that they call upon him for. This should engage us to keep close to the communion of saints, for the Lord is there; and then whither shall we go to better ourselves? Nay, it is true of every good Christian; he dwells in God, and God in him; whatever soul has in it a living principle of grace, it may be truly said, The Lord is There.”

When revival comes, however, His presence draws in closer, as His power falls.

There is probably no part of the British Isles that has been favoured with revival quite like the Isle of Lewis, the largest of the Outer Hebrides.

The first recorded revival in Lewis occurred in Uig. Rev Alexander MacLeod on arriving in the parish was so discouraged by the people that he suspended Communion for three years. At the first Communion season, after this interlude, only 6 people came forward to participate. The effect this had upon the full congregation, because there were between 800 and 1,000 Communicants on the roll, was memorable. Rev MacLeod wrote, of this day when revival came to Uig.:

“…there appeared as a shower of revival from the presence of the Lord through the whole congregation” 

Rev David Linden, Lewis, Land of Light and Life

In more recent years, between 1949 and 1952, revival broke out on this island and the neighbouring island of Harris when the preaching of Duncan Campbell was especially prominent.  

Before the revival came the Presbytery of Lewis, which governed the Free Church, issued a statement mourning low spiritual state of the people, while calling upon God’s people to examine themselves.  Duncan Campbell described the congregation slowly filtering home one evening, when the city of a young msn broken and convicted, filled the night air.  The people returned to Church “moved by a power that they could not resist”.  Many believed the revival began in the hearts of two elderly sisters who prayed earnestly for revival, Christine and Peggy Smith.  It was a certainly was a  revival of prayer.  The story is told of a prayer gathering in a barn where the house shook as one brother prayed for the waters to fall upon the dry ground.  Duncan Campbell said that following this prayer meeting “the whole community was alive with the awareness of God.”  This was a revival of praise.  One said of the singing, “We felt as if we did not ever want to stop.”

The work of the Spirit continued in Lewis into the later decades of the 20th Century.

In the 1970’s Stornoway Free Church added 100 Communicants over a 4 year period, while in the 1980’s, 154 were added over a similar time frame, many were teenagers.

God had come down among His people.  This is what we must long for and pray for.

Jehovah Shammah. The Lord is there.

Reference

Lewis, Land of Light and Life, Rev David Linden