“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 at the ancient men which were before the house” (Ezekiel 9:6).
TEXT — Ezekiel 9:5-11
Message
On the website of Preaching Today is found this story: In the town of Merced, which is named after the Spanish word for “mercy,” a bumbling robbery attempt was quickly brought to a merciful end. According to authorities, Stephan Stanley began breaking the glass in the jewellery department of a JC Penney store in Merced Mall. He was grabbed by two nearby men in the store, who attempted to hold him down to prevent him from getting away with any merchandise.
Angered at their intervention, Stanley tried to use pepper spray against his sudden captors, but instead, he sprayed himself. God’s judgment will eventually catch up with unrepentant sinners, while those who accept the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross will be saved. In today’s passage, God commanded judgment to be executed on the people of Jerusalem as a result of their wickedness. It also provides a sense of relief that those who were righteous and obedient to God would be set apart from experiencing the punishment. The narrative about backslidden Israel illustrates the same characteristics in our world today, where churches and so called Christian assemblies have shifted from the standard of righteousness and pure gospel in pursuit of other mundane things and ungodly practices.
The warrant for the execution of the judgment was signed in Ezekiel 9:5-7. The Lord instructed that the judgment should start from the sanctuary and with the leaders who had led Israel to sin. But before the judgment fell, an angel presented as an ink man was assigned to put a mark of distinction upon the righteous for preservation. In contrast, the bitter judgment will come upon the sinners. The destroyer was told not to spare anyone, male, female, young or old, despite Ezekiel’s plea for mercy because the sin of Judah was exceedingly great.
We must first learn that the omniscient God sees everything happening in the world and the church today. As it was with the case of Israel in this vision of Ezekiel, the sheep will be separated from the goats before the judgment so that the rod of the wicked will not rest on the lot of the righteous (Psalm 125:3). God is still seeking an individual who will stand in the gap like Ezekiel and take the gospel to the world while warning sinning church members to flee from the coming judgment.
Thought for the day
When divine retribution comes, there can be no hiding place for the sinner.
Listed among “500 most powerful people on the planet” by the Foreign Policy magazine in 2013, Pastor (Dr.) William F. Kumuyi is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM) headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. DCLM started in 1973 as a 15-member Bible study group right in Kumuyi’s apartment at University of Lagos where he was a lecturer. His revolutionary Bible teaching on personal holiness and commitment to evangelism soon gained so much traction and resulted in a widespread revival.
