Conviction and Mercy

This word came to me:

This is my case against you, says the Lord: The virgin has become a prostitute, lying with anyone who will pay. You lie even with Satan himself, and store your treasure in vaults of concrete and steel! You worship wealth, and the cause of the poor does not come before you. The cause of the alien does not come before you. Though you speak my name with your lips, your heart belongs to another.

This is my case against you, says the Lord: You worship idols! Idols of gold, and of steel, and of concrete. Idols of destruction and vengeance. You say “In God we trust,” but you trust no one, not even each other. Your hearts are hard, and your minds think only of comfort and pleasure.

I have spared you the rod, says the Lord, because you are my chosen people. I have called you by name, but you have not answered. You have not walked in my ways. Now I can spare the rod no longer. Indeed, you will be disciplined with a rod of iron. Your enemies will surround you, and they will bring pain to you and your children, but they will not be the cause of your destruction. No, I, the Lord, will send fire and flood upon you. Your fields will lie desolate, your cities in ruins. Then you will know that your idols cannot help you. Wealth will not save you, nor will weapons.

In that day, says the Lord, you will look to the sky and pray, but I will not answer you. In that day, you will be broken as a pot is smashed upon the ground. In that day, you will see no hope. In that day the first shall be made last, and the greatest shall become the least.

But this I promise: when you have been purged with fire and cleansed with water, when you have paid your debt and changed your ways, when your hearts once again turn to me with sincerity, then I will hear your cries.

Can the prostitute again become a virgin? Can the one who created the universe not make new what has been soiled? I tell you, in those days you will say to me, “We have sinned, have mercy!” And I will have mercy, for you will not be entirely destroyed.

There will be a new Eden, a garden I shall plant in your midst, and you shall dwell there in peace all your days. You shall dwell with my Spirit in your hearts, and your eyes will no longer lust after idols. Neither gold nor steel nor concrete will turn you from my path.

In those days, the forests shall blossom and the plains shall bear fruit, and children shall play and sing with joy, for they shall know me in their hearts. In those days, there will be no poor among you, neither shall any seek to be rich, for your hearts shall seek justice and your hands will lift up one another, and your voices will praise the Lord, and joy shall fill the land. Then you will be the light I have called you to be, a light that shines to the world, for I will illumine you with the light of my Spirit, which will shine for all to see.