“And the name of the city from that time on, shall be the Lord is there.”
– Ezekiel 48:35
That’s a great name for a city, the Lord is there, a place where God’s presence dwells. You think about this prophecy in Ezekiel chapter 48, this promise that God is going to manifest his presence among his people. And then you think about the promise that the Bible holds out to us, really from cover to cover.
From the beginning, Genesis one and two, we see God’s perfect presence with Adam and Eve, and that relationship marred by sin just three chapters into the Bible. And God promising that one day, man and woman through Jesus, who’s promised in Genesis 3:15, one day, sinful men and women will be redeemed and reconciled to God to enjoy his presence perfectly. So we turn to the end of the Bible, and we see Revelation 21-22. And how do they describe heaven? As the place where God dwells with us, and we dwell with God. He wipes away every tier from our eyes. And the old is gone, and the new has come.
And as we prayed about in Ezekiel chapter 47, the Tree of Life is a tree of healing for the nations. No curse anymore. God dwelling perfectly with his people, with all who have trusted in Jesus the redeemer who makes this possible. Oh, just think of all the different ways this leads us to pray this picture. God, we need your presence today. We want your presence in all your fullness that we can experience in this fallen world here.
God, help us to run from sin. Lead us not into temptation. Deliver us from evil. We want to live in the fullness of your presence today, even as we were praying in light of Ezekiel 47 and the fullness of your Spirit. God, we need you today. We need your help. We need your peace. And we need your joy. We need your wisdom. We need your guidance. And we praise you that you have made our bodies a temple of your Holy Spirit. In a very real sense, our bodies declare you are here, that we are not alone.
God, I pray especially for people who are walking through challenges and struggles and suffering, just difficulties today. God, I pray that they would know they’re not alone. That you are there, you are with them. You promise to give them everything they need for what they’re walking through, and you promise that one day, all of these trials and all of these sorrows, all of these sufferings and difficulties and challenges will be gone. That sin will be gone, that we will be with you in perfect communion with you, you with us, the dwelling place of God with man, and you will wipe every tear from our eyes. Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. We long for this day, for no more sin, no more evil, no more injustice, no more wars, no more suffering, no more death.
God, bring it about, we pray. And help us, we pray, to faithfully point people to you, to lead people to you in anticipation of that day. God, for people right around us, help us to boldly share the gospel today. We pray for people far from us, for the Yakut, people of Russia, half a million of them, hardly any followers of Jesus, most following all sorts of ethnic religions. God, we pray.
We pray that they would hear the good news of your grace in Jesus, and they would believe that they would, Romans 10, call on your name when they hear and they believe and that they would be saved. God, we pray that over the Yakut people of Russia and all the people groups of the world. We know that that picture and revelation involves multitudes that no one can count from every nation and tribe and tongue and people. Bring it about, we pray. And use our lives, our families, our churches, here to bring it about, even our prayers right now, for the Yakut people of Russia.
God, please hear our cries for them and answer. Save them that they might experience the joy of having the Lord who is there with them. They might be around the throne that day, even as we have that confidence today and in anticipation of that day to come in the future. Jesus, we praise you for making all of this possible, and we pray it according to your word in Ezekiel 48, in your name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
