October 22, 2020: Day 61 – Ezekiel 9

What a tragic chapter.  It reminds me of Abraham trying to deal with God in order to save the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18.  Read it again if you haven’t read that chapter in a while.  Abraham really goes to bat for the towns, even though ostensibly it is only to save his nephew Lot.  Look at the difference between that chapter and this chapter.  Tragedy is the only way to describe this chapter as we see Ezekiel in vs. 8 who is distraught as the killing is taking place and asks if he is going to destroy everyone.  God basically says yes, I am.  The guilt of the house is exceedingly great.  There is no way around that.

Notice that there is a differentiation between those who are upset with the current state of things and those who are just accepting it.  A mark is placed on those who are not happy with the mess that the people of Israel have gotten into.  The others have no mark because they are satisfied to live with what is going on in the culture around them and don’t feel like they can do anything about it anyway.

In some ways it takes us to today where we also have choices that we can make.  We can choose to be upset and unhappy with those times that it is obvious that as a society and culture we are moving away from the God’s desires, or we can throw our hands up in the air and put our heads in the sand and say there is nothing we can do so I am going to do nothing.  Those are the differences.  This chapter tells us that if we choose to remain neutral we will not get the mark of the Lord, which in the end is not a good thing.  Again, just like in Revelation where we read that God wants us to be either hot or cold, if we are lukewarm then the guy with the linen suit is going to find us.  As I said, a tragic chapter.