There are two methods for getting out of a traffic ticket. One feigns humility, and the other begs forgiveness. The first goes something like this, “you got me. I am an idiot. I deserve far worse than your ticket.” the second says, “Please don’t do this, I am so sorry. My wife is going to kill me. I have a newborn baby, and I’m trying to buy formula, and if you give me this ticket, I won’t be able to….”
Both methods are fake. I have every intention of speeding again. In fact, as soon as you, Mr. Police Officer, are out of sight, I will be blazing toward my destination. If you don’t give me this ticket, I still won’t like you, and I will brag to my friends about how I bested you.
Good police officers know these tricks. I imagine them having a big file somewhere that tags us. That way, when another cop pulls us over, he gets a picture of who we are. Next time, it won’t be so easy.
Ezekiel 7-9 presents us with one of the most terrifying stories in the Bible. 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? 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)
Some, however, that will survive the wrath. But 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 desperate. They got caught and are willing to do anything 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.