Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 40:12 — 32.3MB)
Subscribe: RSS
Ezekiel 22:23-31
We invite you to join us for worship each Sunday morning at 9:30. You can download our service on iTunes or tune in for “The Good Word” each day on AM 1230 WSAL or on Hoosier Country 103.7 FM just after 8am. Our scripture this morning is only a few verses but what they say about standing in the gap could fill a library. Ezekiel preached from about 593 to 571 BC. He was a prophet in Israel during the time she was in exile to Babylonia for her disobedience and continual rejection of God’s Word. One might say America today is much like Israel in Ezekiel’s time. One might also say America’s destiny could be the same as Israel’s if America does not repent and turn back to the God who made her great! Notice that God speaking through His prophet Ezekiel makes it crystal clear that the national population was responsible for the national degradation. Pay attention to:
- The Misguidance of the Princes – v. 25. The princes were like our governors. The difference was there was no state government only federal government. They didn’t care about the people they governed; their only concern was personal gain.
- The Misdeeds of the Priests – v. 26. These were the seminary professors who were to teach the proper interpretation and practice of the law of God. However, instead of being men of The Word they had degenerated into nothing more than minions of the world profaning and desecrating the holiness of God and worship to Him!
- The Misconduct of the Politicians – v. 27. These officials were appointed by the high ranking nobility who were in fact to serve the people; instead the politicians made the people their slaves.
- The Misrepresentation of the Prophets – v. 28. These would have been the pastors of the day. They were to be examples of the moral and spiritual purity God expected from His people. Instead many became more interested in false prophecies, spiritism or delving into the spiritual underworld, and disregarding or whitewashing sin in general.
- The Misbehavior of the People – v. 29. If one reads vs. 25-28, then v. 29 is the only possible outcome. In any organization, it is true that as the leadership goes – so goes the organization. That is true whether the organization is one family, an entire nation, or an entire race! Now watch! Ezekiel turns from his miserable resume of the population, and he looks heavenward to hear:
- GOD’S INQUIRY (V. 30). Turn back to 13: read 1–7. As you know cities then had walls built around them for protection and defense from enemies. A breach or gap in the wall made it easy for the enemy to infiltrate and conquer the city. From a spiritual perspective a breach or a gap in the wall is an image that pictures how Satan can infiltrate and conquer the soul, to turn God’s people from Him and then destroy them. Here God was/is looking for God is looking for an individual who will in NT language “live a life worthy of the calling you have received, being an imitator of God.” Throughout Scripture we hear God issue such a proclamation at those times when cultures, societies, and nations had degenerated into moral and spiritual iniquity. People like Noah, Moses, Deborah – the only woman judge, Isaiah, Ezekiel, – all the profits, and finally and ultimately the Lord Jesus Christ have all stood in the gap – many of them standing alone – so God would withhold, or at least delay, His terrible judgment on the land and the people. Now notice:
- GOD’S INDIGNATION! 30, 31. It is expressed in the last 4 words of verse 30 – “but I found none.” We as a fallen race cannot begin to imagine what it must be like to God when He looks down on His creation and finds none righteous. I am still looking for a man among my people who should build up the wall and stand in the gap before me for the land that I should not destroy it – and I still find – none! I wonder if the reason there is no national spokesman for God in America today is because God sees America in verse 31 of Ezekiel 22!
If we can help you answer your spiritual questions, call us at (574) 643-9419.
