More Reasons for Judgment
Ezekiel 22 gives us another perspective of the reason that God is
bringing judgment upon them. They have
been shedding blood among their people and worshipping idols. Again, this is not really anything
particularly new to us.
However, let’s look at this description in comparison to what
Jesus says in the New Testament about the greatest commandments. Jesus tells us that the greatest commandments
are that we should love the Lord will all of our heart, soul, and mind. The second greatest commandment is that we
should love our neighbor as ourselves.
Then Jesus says that the whole rest of the Law hangs upon these
principles.
Now, let’s look again at the condemnation of the Lord. First, God tells Ezekiel that He is upset
about the idolatry happening within the city.
They do not love the Lord with all their heart, soul, and mind. In fact, since they have brought idols into
God’s temple the case can be made that they do not love the Lord at all! The greatest commandment is broken.
With respect to the second commandment, we hear that the people in
Jerusalem are shedding blood. They are
violent towards one another. They are
not concerned about their neighbor and their neighbor’s well-being. The second commandment lies broken at their
feet. Both of the hooks upon which the
whole of the Law rests are not even available to the Hebrew people. God is upset because He literally has no
foundation within the Hebrew people upon which to build any kind of righteous
society.
As is easy to do in the prophetic books of the Bible, I cannot
help but look at our own society. Do we
not have idols that we have created and we worship? Can we honestly say that our society is
filled with people who love the Lord with all their heart, soul, and mind? Do we not treat each other violently? Do we not look for ways to step on or over
one another in pursuit of money, fame, success, popularity, and other
achievements in life? How concerned are
we as a country about the needs of our neighbor? Sure, we may be good in the obvious times of
need (tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes).
But do we live like we care about our neighbor? Or do we live like we just want our neighbor
to smile and say how nice we are? What
would God say about us?
As we read through the accusations of sin in verses 6-12, I can’t
help but continue to wonder about our country.
How much sexual sin do we have in our country, especially of late? Where will all that lead? How much has our society grown to the point
of no longer holding up our parents and the family unit in respect? How much lewd behavior has really become
unofficially acceptable in our society?
How much of our business and construction is based on the premise of
bribes and shortcuts? How much of our
economy is based on the idea of charging and collecting interest on
investments? When you look at this list
and hold it up against what our own country of America has become, how does the
comparison look?
Judgment Comes for the Hebrew People
As we look at verses 13-22, however, we can see a difference between
the Hebrew people and the rest of the world.
God promises to judge the Hebrew people and to use that judgment to
refine them. God promises to scatter
them among the nations, but also to purify them. In fact, God promises to consume their
uncleanliness. {I find that to be a really profound statement, since God Himself
cannot be unclean.}
But what does God promise to the nations? Nothing here in this chapter. In other chapters of the prophetic books we
hear that God’s opinion varies from nation to nation. Some nations are consumed and left
consumed. Other nations are judged but
allowed to continue to exist. As in all
things in judgment, it really depends on the righteous people within. So even if we are watching our own country
slide into moral decay, there is a call to be righteous. We should embrace God’s righteousness for our
own sake. We should embrace God’s
righteousness for the sake of our neighbor.
It could be the small righteous remnant that is the reason God judges
our country for our sins and continues to allow us to exist!
Stand in the Breech
As we look at the remaining verses in this chapter, I find a sense
of sadness within. God tells the Hebrew
people that they are like dross. They
are like metal that needs to be melted.
They need to lose their form so that God can remake the form. That part of the verses is actually a good
part. At least God can remake the form!
Where I see sadness is at the end of the chapter. The prophets of the people led the charge
into idolatry and general sin against one another. The spiritual leaders who were supposed to
look out for the people instead approved of and led the charge! The spiritual leaders who were called to
uphold the righteousness of God traded it in for the popularity of the people
as they endorsed the ways of the people.
I find it sad because the spiritual leadership of the people is simply
not leading.
God tells Ezekiel, “I sought for a man who could build up the wall
and stand in the breech before me for the land, that I might not destroy it,
and I found none.” He found none. God searched and found no man who was capable
of saving the nation. Well, not like any
man could save a nation anyway. But the
point is that the slide into sin had become too great. The slippery slope of sin had progressed
beyond the point of no return. They had
simply gone too far. The lesson to be
learned is that there is a point of no return in society.
Why? Primarily because
their spiritual leaders traded truth for a lie.
That thought shall haunt me the rest of this day.
<><
No comments:
Post a Comment