How familiar we all are with these two simple but incredible Greek letters. They represent the totality of everything and all that we believe and have faith in. But if we will just pause long enough to think about it, there is a critical question in the middle that needs to be answered… What’s In Between?

I have been spending a lot of my early mornings over the past couple of months reading Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. While their messages to Israel and Judah were different, there was a message that addressed the question facing us today. Isaiah was a prophet who declared the salvation of God, Jeremiah declared His Judgement, and Ezekiel declared His mystery and majesty. But all three brought a message that was directed at asking and answering our question. Let’s just look at it from one perspective… Ezekiel’s.

Ezek 7:27(b)… And according to their deserts will I judge them; and they shall know that I am the Lord.

God told Ezekiel that His people continually insisted on having their own way, but when He judged them accordingly they would know that He is Lord. Have you ever put yourself in the place of Israel and Judah? No, me either! But that’s what the Lord told me to do this morning. Because He has called me to prepare His bride for His return there was a key lesson in the voice of these three prophets that I needed to understand. And that lesson is reflected in what God set before Israel and Judah when He addressed What’s In Between?

In Chapter 7 of Ezekiel there are three things that seem to stand out:

1. We have a tendency to want to be liked by everyone but God is only interested in the truth and He will judge it accordingly. What we tend to think of as “our quirks” (What’s In The Backyard), God looks at as sin that He will judge as He judged the sin of Israel and Judah (Gal 3:24).
2. God has a innumerable ways of getting His message across to us. Just look at all that He told Ezekiel to do in order to paint a picture for them; how would you like to lay on your side in front of everyone for 390 days. God will use some strange things and strange people to reach us as well.
3. God has a job to do and in order to get the job done He will use those who are willing to say “Use Me.” I think that’s where we all fit in.

But, while we may be ready to say “use me,” do we stop and consider that it might not be that easy? Perhaps we should consider these three prophets? Maybe, however, we should first consider the question at hand… What’s In Between?

Unlike Israel and Judah, when we are judged it won’t be for our sin. As the bride of Christ we have accepted the price He paid as our bride’s price and our sins have already been forgiven. But, nevertheless we are going to be judged and that judgement is going to be based upon What’s In Between. As Jesus’ bride we have been called with a purpose, and that purpose is to get prepared for what is coming; His Kingdom. And the only way we are going to do that is if we submit to His judgement of our life each and every day; one day at a time. Today we need to die a little more to ourselves and submit a little more to His correction. But that can’t happen if we aren’t listening for His voice. That was Israel and Judah’s problem; they refused to give up their idols until they were judged and punished by God in Babylon (after that they never worshiped idols again). They had to face Jehovah-Makkeh, the Lord who smites, and because He is “immutable” (unchanging) He still smites today; He is constantly asking and judging us What’s In Between?

That question is one we need to focus on everyday as the answer lies in our life. God is our beginning and He is our ending (Alpha and Omega); no one or anything else is involved. But we are involved with everything In Between. I urge you to go back and read these three prophets and overlay their messages on the bride of Christ today. Overlay them on your life. We will be judged by our bridegroom on everything that happens in our life; In Between. As He reached out to Israel and Judah and had to smite them to get them to return to Him, so He will set challenges and trials before us to get us back on His path. How we respond to His challenges is what our judgement is all about.

These three incredible prophets were called and given an incredible challenge, and in the process they each had to consider the question of What’s In Between. It’s no different for us today, and if we want to hear what I am sure they each heard (in spite of apparently having no success if you judged by Israel and Judah’s response), then we need to be obedient to what God is asking of each of us. I am confident that the first words they heard were Well done thou good and faithful servant. Isn’t that what we each longs to hear when our pilgrimage down here is ended?

Well, the key is the answer we are developing to the question. What is important to us as we sojourn (wander) as pilgrims through this life?  Are we going to be able to look at His face and the rewards that He has set aside for us and say; Thank you Lord for letting me suffer, for not hearing everyone say my name, for not being the one that everyone held up in high esteem, or for going through all that stuff that made absolutely no sense to me? 

Yes, God has a job to do and it takes our going through hard times to allow Him to accomplish it. Our being nudged and sometimes pushed out of our comfort zone is what it takes in order for God to finish His work in us.

Eph 2:10 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

The word “workmanship” in the Greek is “poema,” from which we get our word “poem.” What we think God is leading us through is only about “pain,” but He views it as making each of us into His personal poem. And as He is about the task of doing His job (writing that poem in each one of us), we are not going to be made comfortable in the process. He has a job to do first “in us” and then “through us.” Are we going to let Him do that or are we going to be like Israel and Judah and fight Him all the way? One way or another He is going to get the job done because we are His (we are His bride), and in the process we are filling the pages of our poem. God has work to do and the sooner we let Him get it done the better it will be for us.

What’s In Between? The life we are living right here, right now. The pages of our poem will be filled with either wood, hay, and stubble or gold and silver (1 Cor 3:12-15). It’s our choice, and we make that choice every day by whom we choose to follow. Is today dedicated to our work and our self (wood, hay, and stubble), or is it dedicated to our bridegroom (gold and silver)?  We choose exactly what is In Between the Alpha and Omega… let us all choose wisely because we will one day have the answer given to us.