pramsay posted on September 20, 2007 05:09 1579 views

The Big Three

If you mention ‘The Big Three’ to some car dealers, they will probably think you’re referring to Chrysler, Ford and GM. If you are speaking to an American academic, she will probably assume you’re referring to Harvard, Yale and Princeton. If you happen to be listening to a WWII veteran, he will probably assume The Big Three means: Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin. If you’re in the presence of science fiction enthusiasts, (perish the thought!) they will automatically assume The Big Three are: Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke and Robert A. Heinlein.

But if you could roll back the calendar and have a conversation with God’s prophet Ezekiel and ask him about The Big Three, what would he say? Who were The Big Three from his perspective? Which three would automatically leap to the forefront of his mind?

In fact it happened on a certain day. Some elders visited Ezekiel hoping to receive some advice and perhaps some information on the future of Jerusalem. The Lord saw through the façade of these men and could see idolatry in their own hearts. Without mincing words, the Lord gave Ezekiel the words to be spoken at that moment. Ezekiel told them there was no way Jerusalem could escape judgment. Their sin was too great and too deep. Their hearts had embraced idols and now judgment was unavoidable.

Ezekiel said:

“The word of the LORD came again to me, saying, Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously,

then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof,

and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it:

Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it,

they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord GOD.

(Ezekiel 14:12-14)

The case of Jerusalem was so desperate that even the righteous lives of Noah, Daniel and Job would not prevent judgment from falling. Even if the three of them, noted for their righteous living and their intercessory prayers were among the inhabitants, they only would be spared – not the city.

What’s remarkable about this Big Three? Noah and Job had been dead for many centuries; but Daniel was still combing his hair, brushing his teeth and squinting in the sunlight in Nebuchadnezzar’s palace compound when his contemporary Ezekiel received these words from God. 

Often we refer to the great Christians of by-gone days, godly saints from the distant past, and preachers from previous centuries. Noah and Job would fit that category. But are there any great believers today? Does God only recognize believers from the past – dead people? No! Here’s the proof: God sandwiched between two dead Hall of Famers, a young, ‘very-much-alive’ Daniel. God’s Big Three. What an example of faithfulness and of single minded devotion to His God! How beautiful it must have been for the Lord to observe faithful Daniel surrounded by idolatry, pressured by peers and careers, not wavering in his convictions; not collapsing under pressure and refusing to compromise on anything.

You don’t have to die and go to Heaven before God recognizes your faithfulness and devotion to Himself. He is observing your life today as you live for Him in this godless world. How pleasing it is to the Lord as He watches you live your life today – surrounded by godlessness, pressured by peers and careers, not wavering in your convictions; not collapsing under pressure and refusing to compromise on anything.

If you have made some wrong choices and have a spotted record, confess it to the Lord and tell Him – from this day forward you want to walk faithfully in the path of His Will for your life.

By the way, which Big Three list appeals to you the most?

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