Friday, September 30, 2016

Ezekiel 22: Three In One

There are three different pronouncements from the Lord (each marked by the phrase "the word of the Lord came to me") shared by Ezekiel in chapter 22.

The three messages are -

The Reason For God's Anger (vs. 1-16): God builds His case against His people by listing their egregious behavior.  Among their many vile sins are bloodshed, idolatry, sexual immoralities, bribery, usury, profaning the sabbath, and their general nastiness that has broken the covenant.  The judgment and sentence?  "You have become guilty by the blood that you have shed, and defiled by the idols that you have made; you have brought your day near, the appointed time of your years has come. Therefore I have made you a disgrace before the nations, and a mockery to all the countries" (vs. 4).

The Crucible (vs. 17-22): Because of Israel's great sins, God considers them to have become like worthless metal, otherwise known as dross.  It's now time for the smelter to separate out the pure from the impure.  "Mortal, the house of Israel has become dross to me; all of them, silver, bronze, tin, iron, and lead. In the smelter they have become dross" (vs. 18).  The refining process implies the coming fire of judgment.  "I will gather you and blow upon you with the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted within it.  As silver is melted in a smelter, so you shall be melted in it; and you shall know that I the Lord have poured out my wrath upon you" (vs. 21 and 22).

Standing In The Gap (vs. 23-31):  Whereas Ezekiel had previously announced his encounters with God by uttering, "Thus saith the Lord," he apparently had inspired some pretenders.  They were doing the same thing, but speaking falsely for God.  In this section, the prophet reveals God's anger burning against the princes and priests for their poor leadership in leading the people astray.  God reveals that He was looking for anyone among the people to be His man and "stand in the gap" and build up the wall and its foundations, but there was no one.  "And I sought for anyone among them who would repair the wall and stand in the breach before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one" (vs. 30).

Followers of Jesus Christ believe that He was appointed to be that Divine Man who would stand in the gap for us and assuage God's wrath.  Recalling what Jesus has done by reconciling Jews and Gentiles together, Paul wrote, "For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.  He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace" (Ephesians 2:14 and 15).  Jesus is our man in the middle, the One who can stand in the gap!

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