Ezekiel 9: 9 Then said he unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, The Lord hath forsaken the earth, and the Lord seeth not.
This verse is a response to the prophet Ezekiel following a question addressed to the Lord during a vision of a terrible massacre in Jerusalem. If we refer to the 8 verses which precede verse 9, we would understand that the wrath of God arose against Jerusalem because of the iniquity of the people which is summed up in three main points: the shedding of the blood of the innocent, the perversion of the people, and the rejection of the reality (existence) of God.
In fact if we omit the terms Israel and Judah in this verse we would have easily thought that this text is taken from one of the headlines of the news describing the reality of the world in which we live. Over the past few months we have seen with horror and astonishment how the number of lives succumbed to the weight of a deadly virus is increasing. To add insult to injury, the wickedness of the Human Heart made the situation worse by depriving their brothers of the right to life, either by the brutal use of suffocation by one knee on the neck, or by the shooting in a cowardly and arbitrary fashion.
It’s no secret that we live in a country full of blood! If art reflects culture, we don’t have to go beyond television shows and film producers to see the blood in the country. Our children see more murder and violence on the screens than they see acts of kindness and humanity.
Besides the mysteries of murder, and occult shows, the most popular television programs are based on violence, immorality, high-speed chases, robberies, deception, sexuality at work and other.
In front of all this spectacle of sin, God seems to be absent. In short, people look around and assume that God is not in the equation; with everything that is going on, how could he be present without reacting? And if He ever exists, He doesn’t care about us; He turns his face the other way; He turns a blind eye on us.
Dear friend, if you think so; let me remind you that God follows human actions on earth with attention. He didn’t turn a blind eye to Cain when he spilled his brother Abel’s blood. He will not turn a blind eye to the blood that we shed today. Life matters in the eyes of God; it was to give life that Jesus came to earth.
Ezekiel was the spokesman of God. God informed him of the judgment that was going to fall on Jerusalem. The church is the mouth of God on earth. We have to be the gateway to God’s justice. There is no neutral position when one opposes injustice. We must defend life from conception to the grave. It is with reason that We are against abortion, we must also denounce biblically the public and criminal execution of a man regardless of his color, his fortune or his origin. We Christians do not have a camp or a party; our camp is the camp of the elect, the camp of Jesus. Jesus is king forever; he will never go to elections; his judgment will be in accordance with justice. we must announce it to the men of our time.
The second reason for God’s judgment on Israel was the perversion of the people.
Historical research reveals that from a sexual point of view, this period in the history of Israel was comparable to the time of Sodom and Gomorrah. Like today, people assume that they are free from all moral and biblical constraints when it comes to their sex life. They believe that the Bible has nothing to do with their sexuality. They trust the court decision more than the word of God. The worst part is that even some in the house of God forget that they are the salt of the earth; they espouse these perverse practices and justify their action by twisting the meaning of the word of God. That’s why the Lord said to the angel of Ezekiel’s vision “Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began with the elders which were before the house. (Ez 9: 6).
Why start with the elders? It is because the elders were priests, pastors, preachers; they held the truth captive. They suffered the same fate as those they misled. It is a mistake to believe that the church is free from judgment and the punishment of sin.
There are those who believe that being a member or attending a church will somehow supernaturally grant them immunity from judgment. A man who dies as a member of the church, as a deacon or even as an elder without being truly regenerated will have the same fate that would have awaited him if he died outside the church.
This is why we read in 1 Peter 4: 17-18: For this is the time when judgment will begin with the house of God. Now, if it is with us that it begins, what will be the end of those who do not obey the Gospel of God? 18And if the righteous are barely saved, what will become of the wicked and the sinner?
The sin committed by members of the Church is in many ways worse than the same sins committed by the world as they have been exposed to the truth of the Word of God.
Hebrews 10:29 ” How much more severe a punishment do you suppose he deserves, who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded the blood of the covenant that sanctified him to be a common thing, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?”
Even if the false prophets of this century want to change the standard of what is normal, God’s standards for holiness remain constant. He will call men unto judgement for all that he has done while living in this body.
The rejection of God
Those of Ezekiel’s generation ignored the presence of God. They said that the Lord had forsaken the land, the Lord saw nothing (Ez 9: 9). It is a great mistake to think that the Lord is absent or that He is blind. The Bible tells us that the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cries. The Lord turns his face against the wicked, to cut off their memory from the earth … (Ps 34: 15-16). Only those who had the mark of God on their forehead were spared. Likewise, only those who have the seal of God through the Holy Spirit will be immune to the final judgment and the wrath of God.
2 Timothy 2:19 But the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who calls on the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
The only place of security and victory is under the blood of the Lamb.