Among the most terrifying stories in the Bible show up in today’s reading, Ezekiel 7-9. It starts with God declaring that “the end is upon you!” ‘Now,’ He continues, “you will get my anger; I will judge you, I will punish you, and I will not spare you or have pity.” If you have the audacity to keep reading, you will see doom, wrath, anger, judgment, violence, wickedness, pestilence, shame, and terror.
Reading through the horrifying list of proclamations against mankind has me looking for an out. Should I fall on my knees? Just ask forgiveness? ‘Just give me a minute, God, to explain myself. There is a perfectly good reason for all of this…’ But it is too late. There is no more time for excuses. The executioners have gathered near (EZ 9:1)
There are a few, however, that will survive the wrath. Who are they? How do you separate those who truly love God from those who just want a get-out-of-jail-free card? God has a way.
“Put a mark on the foreheads of the men that sigh and groan.” God cuts straight to the heart with this directive. Instead of saying, mark the men who ask for help, or mark the men who beg for mercy, he wants the ones that sigh and groan. The others are too easily masked by desperation. We will do anything when we are desperate. Mostly, we don’t feel guilty until we are caught. In these cases, we have one thing in mind. Ourselves. We will do whatever it takes to save our butts. I will say anything, do anything, and promise anything. God knows this.
To root out the committed, He implemented a simple test that examines the character of men’s’ hearts. Do they sigh and groan? Do you know what that feels like? Psalm 119:53 describes it as “Hot indignation [that] seizes me, because of the wicked.” And, “My eyes shed streams of tears” because they ignore you (Psalm 119:136). Those are both outward manifestations of pain, deep inside. It’s not physical pain; it’s heartbreak. It’s the kind of pain that drives us to our knees. Helpless, distressed, and desperate. Matthew Henry says it this way: those who will receive the mark “sigh in themselves as men in pain and distress, cry to God in prayer, as men in earnest, enormities that were abominations to God.” Those last words get to it, “abominations to God.” What are the marked so sick over? The destruction of beauty, the eradication of love, and the elimination of hope. These are the hallmarks of God himself.
Only one question remains. Will you be receiving the mark?