And it came to pass in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to labor strenuously against Tyre; every head was made bald, and every shoulder rubbed raw; yet neither he nor his army received wages from Tyre, for the labor which they expended on it. Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Surely I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; he shall take away her wealth, carry off her spoil, and remove her pillage; and that will be the wages for his army. I have given him the land of Egypt for his labor, because they worked for Me,’ says the Lord GOD. ‘In that day I will cause the horn of the house of Israel to spring forth, and I will open your mouth to speak in their midst. Then they shall know that I am the LORD.’ “
Ezekiel 29:17-21
For a few weeks now we’ve been considering what the word of God has to say about the new year. As we’ve examined these texts in the order they appear in scripture, it’s been interesting to see how these New Year’s Day passages have followed the path of the spiritual experience for the believer. We first looked at two events that pointed us to “salvation in the new year” as the flood waters dried up and the tabernacle was first raised on New Year’s Day. As we noted in the last post, our spiritual experience doesn’t stop at salvation. Though justified before God now, we are still being continually conformed to the image of Christ through a process called sanctification. We saw “sanctification in the new year” as King Hezekiah began to cleanse the temple on New Year’s Day. Today, we see the final step in our spiritual journey, namely “glorification in the new year”!
In our text above, God gives revelation to His prophet Ezekiel on New Year’s Day concerning the lengthy warfare of Nebuchadnezzar and his army. In Babylon’s battle against Tyre, the Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge has this to say:
“Nebuchadnezzar was thirteen years employed in the siege. During this long siege, the soldiers must have endured great hardships; their heads would become bald by constantly wearing their helmets; and their shoulders be peeled by carrying materials to and from the works. St. Jerome asserts, on the authority of the Assyrian histories, that when the Tyrians saw their city must fall, they put their most valuable effects on board their ships, and fled with them to the islands, and their colonies, ‘so that, the city being taken, Nebuchadnezzar found nothing worthy of his labour.’”
After all that long labor, Nebuchadnezzar had nothing to show for his work! Doesn’t it feel like that in our Christian battle often times, dear soul? We labor and strive, yet we wonder if it does any good. No one seems to notice and there appears to be no benefit though the effort we put forth was great. No wonder Gal 6:9 encourages us to “not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” God wouldn’t put that in the Book unless we were often tempted to feel like our effort was in vain, but we must remember that when no one notices the labor, the Lord does! In fact, Mat 6 instructs us to labor in a hidden fashion in charitable giving, prayer, and fasting because “your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly”. (v. 3-4, 6, 17-18) In contrast, those who labor in such things to be seen of men “have no reward from your Father in heaven”. (v. 1) That’s good reason to rejoice and not grow weary in seemingly fruitless and unnoticed service!
God certainly pulls back the curtain at times and gives us a glimpse of what he’s accomplishing through and for His children, but even if we never see the fruit of our labor in this life, we are assured in Rev 22:12 by our Lord, “behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.” God said Nebuchadnezzar would be rewarded for his tireless warfare against Tyre “because they worked for Me”. Likewise, all who serve for the Lord’s sake will realize the full reward for their labor in the day of glorification. What is the expected reward? Rom 2:3-11 says those who patiently continue in well doing, those who work good, will receive rewards of “glory, honor, and peace”. Words like “immortality” and “eternal” in this passage show that these rewards will never fade away for these heirs of everlasting life! So, remember believer, no matter how things look outwardly, God is at work and rewards the labor of those who serve for His glory. In light of such glorious truths, “my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” (1Co 15:58)
Jamie