Groanings

Ezekiel 9:6

Kill old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women, but touch no one on whom is the mark. And begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were before the house.

Ezekiel is taken in a vision to Jerusalem where he is shown the overwhelming debauchery and idolatry of his nation. He is then allowed to see God’s judgment as quoted above and in light of what he has seen he makes no cry against the justice of the verdict. In the place one would look for the holiest and most pious people were found the greatest evil. This lead God to require the executioners to begin in his house. The severity of the judgment is great and terrible, even the “little children” are not spared the wages of their sin.

As one studies history it does not take long before they will come face to face with the evil of man. The depth of sin is great and looking into the well of history we find that it is beyond finding out. To this we see that even our children are trained to see evil as good and good as evil. As we studied the life of Tyndale in our evening service, all my little girl could think of was how evil the people were that would strangle and burn a man simple for translating the bible that others could read it. What do we say to this? Do we hide from reality and quote the modern mantra that “men are basically good” and “children are born innocent”? Christians cannot do this great evil and deny the reality and testimony of scripture and history. Men are evil from their earliest thought, “In sin did my mother conceive me”, and to be so foolish as to believe men are basically good when the news and history cry out the contrary is absurd and reckless.

No, Christians must dwell in the reality that God’s grace has restrained us from being as evil as we could be. It is on this grace that Christians lean. The Grace of God to touch such wicked hearts as ours and turn them that they may actually enjoy the light and long to see it every day. This then is the mark of Christ that he has put and that he will spare from the everlasting torment found in the Lake of Fire. In the day of Ezekiel God’s grace was so great that any who would simply “sigh and groan” at evil was spared the sentence. In a day when sin is celebrated in every media outlet, personal and public, and those not wishing to dance to fiddler’s tune are ostracized and ridiculed, I wonder how many in our churches even sigh and groan at the sin we see around us? Or are we simple sad to see our building deteriorate because no one comes to church anymore? Will we share the only antidote for the poison that has permeated every aspect of our being, the news that God has come and died that we might live?

Judgment begins with those closest, those who should know and don’t. As churches become “white washed tombs” for those who are losing influence in culture those who seek God must be a “holy people” who congregate and assemble, and buildings become holy because “a holy nation, a royal priesthood” gather in them. That the Gospel would be preached not only from our pulpits, but around our tables, our water coolers, our desks, our front porches, and every other place God has put us. Let us pray with the spirit for our nation and our people with “groanings too deep for words” that revival will come and “Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”

CRUCE, DUM SPIRO, FIDO