[15] “If I cause wild beasts to pass through the land, and they ravage it, and it be made desolate, so that no one may pass through because of the beasts, [16] even if these three men were in it, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters. They alone would be delivered, but the land would be desolate.
[17] “Or if I bring a sword upon that land and say, Let a sword pass through the land, and I cut off from it man and beast, [18] though these three men were in it, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they alone would be delivered.
[19] “Or if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out my wrath upon it with blood, to cut off from it man and beast, [20] even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, they would deliver neither son nor daughter. They would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness.
[21] “For thus says the Lord GOD: How much more when I send upon Jerusalem my four disastrous acts of judgment, sword, famine, wild beasts, and pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast! [22] But behold, some survivors will be left in it, sons and daughters who will be brought out; behold, when they come out to you, and you see their ways and their deeds, you will be consoled for the disaster that I have brought upon Jerusalem, for all that I have brought upon it. [23] They will console you, when you see their ways and their deeds, and you shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, declares the Lord GOD.”
(Ezekiel 14:12-23 ESV)
ONLY their lives would be spared but they would not have offspring.
These four things the Lord can bring upon the land. Disaster WILL strike Jerusalem. BUT some survivors will be left in it, sons and daughters who will be brought out. This will be a consolation to you, when you see their ways and deeds, you "shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it." So Says the Lord.
I have to admit, I'm left thinking, what can I take away from this passage?
I think it would be so hard to go through all that. To see your friends and family die out around you, to live with the terror that each of these calamities would bring and then come out okay in the end.
To know that the only reason you survived was because of your faith and duty to God.
It would be so hard, and then in the end, a comfort.
But the comfort would be so hard come by you know?
To know you have faith, to wonder if perhaps you could have done something more. To have convinced your brethern to know and the love and follow the Lord as well.
But still a comfort, to have God's hand upon you, protecting you as none other. That would be such a comfort.
What say you?