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Sighing and Crying Over Sin and Sinners

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How do you respond to sin and the sinful people around you each day?

In Ezekiel chapter 8, the prophet receives a vision from God and his spirit is led by God to the "door of the inner gate" of Jerusalem. This is where the Lord shows him the idolatrous actions of Israel. The people were worshiping all kinds of "creeping things, abominable beasts and all idols (v. 10)." There were others who did idolatrous acts in secret (v. 12). The women were "weeping for Tammuz" (Adonis - a Greek god, v. 14), and the men were worshiping the "sun toward the east (v. 16)." All these sins provoked God to jealousy (v. 3). God is a jealous God (Exodus 20:5), and He was not going to let these abominable acts to continue among His people and in His sanctuary. The result culminates in verses 17-18, where God responds, "...lo, they put the branch to their nose. Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them."

In chapter nine, Ezekiel's vision continues with the outpouring of God's judgement on this wicked people. Six angels are sent behind the Babylonian army to supervise the slaughter of the "old and young, both maids, and little children, and women (v. 6)." This shows that God uses the agents of evil (Nebuchadnezzar's army) to carry out His judgements. Each of these angels carried in their hand a "slaughter weapon," and one carried a writer's inkhorn. A strange item for an angel charged with slaying a wicked people, but thank God for the inkhorn!

The text continues to describe the duty of these angels to destroy and slay the remnant of Jerusalem, and all seemed hopeless for those of the city. But it was the duty of the inkhorn carrier that revealed God's mercy! According to verse four of chapter nine, he was to set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that "sigh and cry for the abominations that be done in the midst thereof." God proceeds to instruct these angelic supervisors to spare those marked by the writer's inkhorn! They were not be touched or harmed because they showed remorse and repentance by sighing and crying over sin and sinners.

Are you bothered and remorseful about sin or do you just continue your day unmoved and unaffected by the sinfulness that surrounds you? This passage clearly shows God's compassion and mercy toward those who are repentant and convicted about their sin and the sin of others. So my question to you is, "Have you been marked?"  If not, God's judgement is coming. Ironically, God directed the angels to "begin at my sanctuary" where the "ancient men" were. These men were to be destroyed first, probably because they bore most of the responsibility of Israel's sinful idolatrous acts. They knew the truth and failed to teach the generations that followed. The same will be true of so-called Christians today, who have forsaken their obligation to teach the truth to them that follow.

Our nation is in a similar situation to that of Israel in Ezekiel's day. We idolize just about everything in our culture. Remember that an idol is anything that replaces our time with God. God is a jealous God. He will not endure the sin of idolatry. His judgement on America is coming. Will you be spared? Has the carrier of the inkhorn marked you? If not, fall on your face and begin to "sigh and cry  for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof." Here you will find God's mercy.

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