Main Idea: God’s Word, although delayed in fulfillment, is certain to come.
A Look at the Text:
The Lord was sending Ezekiel to a rebellious people who could not see or hear (Ezek. 12:1-2). With this, the prophet was once again tasked with becoming a living illustration: he was to pack his bags and leave his home through a hole dug in the wall as if he were an exile (Ezek. 12:3-7).
This symbolized the coming captivity of Jerusalem and specifically the flight of King Zedekiah, their “prince,” who would flee his city in the middle of the night and still be caught (Ezek. 12:10-12).
But because the fulfillment of prophetic predictions had been long delayed, some of the people didn’t believe.
To this, the Lord revealed that His word would be performed; it would no longer be delayed (Ezek. 12:25,28). The proverb “Time passes, and prophecies come to nothing,” would be replaced with “The time has come for every prophecy to be fulfilled” (Ezek. 12:22-23, NLT).
Bringing it Home:
God’s delays are not His denials. The infinite Creator of all stands outside of time and can see all things at once, even if they be separated by millennia. The time between His promise and His fulfillment in His eyes is nothing at all.
The apostle Peter once unpacked this reality, noting that with the Lord a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day (2 Pet. 3:8).
It can be easy for many to think that God’s seeming inactivity is a promise that nothing is happening in the future, but that can’t be further from the truth. Just because God’s judgment was delayed didn’t mean it wasn’t coming—rather, it was divine mercy that prolonged that inevitable day.
So it is, even today. There is the promise in God’s Word that the Lord Jesus will return. There is the sure word of the great white throne judgment. Yet many believe that because it’s been two thousand years in the making, it’s not happening.
Fascinatingly, the apostle Peter spoke to this issue within the first century:
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance (2 Pet. 3:9).
Delayed judgment is not judgment denied. It’s a window of mercy for us to repent and believe. Let us never fall prey to thinking that the difference between our timeline and God’s means that He is not faithful.
Challenge:
Do I believe in God’s promises that are still to come?