Major Prophets - Ezekiel 37 & 47:1-12; Daniel 6 & 9:1-19

“He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.  We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:5-6)

LOVE gave a handful of guys some outrageously big messages to share with his wayward people.  All of them urged the people not to turn away from LOVE and that if they continued to do so, the nation would fall.  Confrontational, edgy, creative, provocative and profound, these guys were not to be messed with.

Isaiah saw a divine king coming, a suffering servant who would die to save his people.  Jeremiah saw LOVE’s judgment as inevitable but reassured the people that LOVE also had a rescue plan to bring them back from exile.  Ezekiel saw God supreme, known by his people and present with them in a new temple from which flowed a river of life.  He also saw us as a valley of dry bones that LOVE breathed life in to.

However, Israel chose to turn away from LOVE.  As their enemies gained strength they found to their cost that Assyrian power could not be resisted without LOVE.  Jerusalem was conquered in 597 B.C. and destroyed in 587 B.C.  The dream was finally over.  The surviving Jews were deported to live as exiles or remained as slaves.  But as the major prophets had said, when things go wrong and our dreams collapse, LOVE is never as far away as we think…

In Babylon, LOVE found four good-looking, clever, brave and sold-out-for-LOVE teenagers. Their leader was called Daniel.  He spoke profound wisdom to kings, fasted and prayed until his life depended on it, walked through fire, slept with hungry lions, saw angels, and had some of the most far-out visions it is possible to imagine.  Life with Daniel was never boring, often dangerous and always challenging.  A lot like our life with Jesus, who Daniel and these other prophets spoke about and prefigured for us.

Today let’s pray that we would remain faithful to Jesus.  Let’s pray for the revival of the church in the UK and for Christian faith to be restored at the heart of the nation.  Let’s also pray for our teenagers, because LOVE has prepared some Daniel’s amongst them who will have a critical role to play in the future.  Pray for our children, youth and student ministries, working hard to prepare future disciples and leaders who will have a deep faith in Jesus and follow him unswervingly as their model.

‘“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you.  Plans to give you hope and a future.”’ (Jeremiah 29:11)