Reading: Ezekiel 22-24
Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain. And her prophets have daubed them with untempered morter, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord God, when the Lord hath not spoken. The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully. And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none (Ezek. 22:27-30).
The destruction of Jerusalem was not brought about by any one great cataclysmic sin or event but rather by the constant callous indifference of her people. Over a thousand years earlier, Abraham had pleaded with the Lord for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, saying, Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? And the Lord said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes (Gen. 18:24-26). The conversation continued with Abraham pleading for the lives of an ever-shrinking number of righteous men, ending with God agreeing to spare the two cities if He could find as few as ten righteous men living within. By all appearances, Jerusalem seemed to be in an even more desperate situation. In Jerusalem, God sought not ten righteous men but one. Yet just as in Sodom and Gomorrah, His search was made in vain. And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.
The people had become so comfortable in the trappings of their worldly lives that they no longer possessed the spiritual wherewithal to stand with God. They had become indifferent to the needs of others; they were content to live and let live as long as their needs and the needs of their families were met. God’s laws and commandments had been set aside in favor of manmade directives—directives that had regularly evolved based upon the whims and moral compass of the populace and its king.
We do not know for certain what convictions or beliefs might have been privately held by the citizens of Jerusalem, but we do know that no single soul was willing to publicly stand in the gap before Me (God). This issue is very much in evidence in the world of Christianity today. Too many people comfortably don the mantle of ‘Christian’ while simultaneously living for the world. They might be in church every Sunday, but they are wrapped up in other pursuits Monday through Saturday, with no time or inclination to stand in the gap. As the numbers of these self-absorbed, scripturally indifferent ‘Christians’ swell, the gap grows ever wider. What will happen when the day comes that the Lord seeks to fill that gap? Will there be anyone capable of answering His call?
Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone (James 2:17).
Thought for Today: Death is the cost of sin, and it is the only certainty promised in a life devoted to it.
Christ Revealed: In the denunciation of Israel’s false prophets (Ezek. 22: 25-28). Compare these words with those Christ spoke against the scribes and Pharisees. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees (Matt. 23:13-36).
Word Studies:22:7 they set light by father and mother = they treated parents with contempt; dealt by oppression with the stranger = treat oppressively and suffer extortion from a foreigner; they vexed the fatherless and the widow = they wrong the orphan and the widow; 22:12 gifts = bribes.
Pray For Staff: Tifany Parisi • Country: Bhutan (733,643) in the eastern Himalayas of central Asia • Major Languages: Sharchhopka, Dzongkha, Lhotshamkha • Public worship, evangelism, and proselytization are illegal • 75.3% Lamaistic Buddhist; 22.1% Indian and Nepalese influenced Hinduism; 2.6% Other (Christian, Muslim) • Prayer Suggestion: Call to the Lord for help; He will save you out of your troubles (Ps. 34:17).
Optional Readings: Revelation 12