When the Storm Clouds are Building

When the Storm Clouds are Building.

Ezekiel 6-10

“Israel, the end has come. You will feel my anger, because I am judging you for what you have done.” 7:3

God had had enough. While God was patient and gracious towards his people, He had reached the end of His patience, and so, through the prophet Ezekiel, he pronounced a terrifying judgment. The judgment that was coming was devastation and terrifying, and it would leave the nation of Israel decimated and destroyed. One third of the people would die from sickness and famine, one third would die because of warfare, and the remainder would be cast into exile. The book of Ezekiel begins with one of the darkest and terrifying condemnations and judgments found in scripture. However, their destruction was not due to the misfortunes of war or the onslaught of a pandemic. The issue was neither political nor the result of national conflicts. The cause of their downfall was their rampant spiritual abandonment of God. Instead of being faithful in their obedience to God and to the commands given in the law, they had abandoned God and embraced the religious worship of the nations around them. Instead of being devoted to God and God alone, they embraced religious syncretism. As a result, God pronounces unparalleled judgment upon the nation. The greatest folly of humanity and the greatest act of spiritual arrogance is when we think God does not notice our sin and that God will accept all people, of all religions, of all time, without any judgment or condemnation of sin. God is infinitely gracious and is willing to forgive all our sin, but if we continue to embrace our sin and defy God’s law, there comes a time when judgment is poured out. In his famous sermon “Sinners in the hands of an Angry God,” which started a time known as the great revival, Jonathan Edwards warned, “The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked... It would be dreadful to suffer this fierceness and wrath of Almighty God one moment; but you must suffer it to all eternity.” 

However, just when it seems as if the storm clouds of judgment were blotting out all hope, God gives a glimmer of hope and the offer of grace. In 9:4 he commands the angel to “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and make a mark on the foreheads of the people who groan and sigh over all the abominations which are being committed in its midst.”  These individuals are those who did not embrace the idolatry but remained faithful in their worship of God. Consequently, God protected them from the judgment that was coming. Even in the outpouring of the hand of judgment, the hand of grace covers and protects those that seek him.

We look at our nation and all the conflict and division, and we look for political solutions. We believe that if we get the right leader elected or the right laws and policies passed, we can correct the downward spiral that seems to be plaguing our nation. But the problem goes far deeper. The problem is not political, but spiritual, and so the solution is not found in the halls of politics but in the humble submission to God. Instead of standing on the street corner calling people to vote for our party or condemning the other political party, we need to stand on the corner and call people back to the God of the Bible, offering people the hope of salvation through Christ and surrendering our lives to Christ so that he becomes our King.  Only then will we discover the answers to the division that is affecting our nation.