Thought from today’s Bible reading from Ezekiel 9-12.
“Then He cried out in my hearing with a loud voice saying, ‘Draw near, O executioners of the city, each with his destroying weapon in his hand.’ Behold, six men came from the direction of the upper gate which faces north, each with his shattering weapon in his hand; and among them was a certain man clothed in linen with a writing case at his loins. And they went in and stood beside the bronze altar.
“Then the glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherub on which it had been, to the threshold of the temple. And He called to the man clothed in linen at whose loins was the writing case. The Lord said to him, ‘Go through the midst of the city, even through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations which are being committed in its midst.‘ But to the others He said in my hearing, ‘Go through the city after him and strike; do not let your eye have pity and do not spare. Utterly slay old men, young men, maidens, little children, and women, but do not touch any man on whom is the mark; and you shall start from My sanctuary.’ So they started with the elders who were before the temple” (Ezekiel 9:1-6).
In punishing the people of Jerusalem, God would spare those who had received a mark identifying them as the ones who were still bothered by the sin that had become prevalent in the land. Unfortunately, after the faithful were marked and the rest were punished, Ezekiel alone was left (Ezekiel 9:8).
Those who were spared were the ones who would still “sigh and groan” over the idolatry that existed. Therefore, those who actively engaged in sin would not be the only ones to be punished. Those who condoned and accepted the sinful actions of others, even if they did not actively participate themselves, would also be punished.
Today, sin is still something that should cause us to “sigh and groan.” Paul had to correct the church in Corinth on this point. Regarding the man who was having sexual relations with his father’s wife, Paul said:
“You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst” (1 Corinthians 5:2).
Even if we do not practice sin ourselves, we still must not condone or overlook it. Sin is always a cause of mourning. If we mourn over sin, we will be more motivated to address and eliminate the sin.
Tomorrow’s reading: Ezekiel 13-15
[I’m using the Chronological reading plan on the Bible Gateway website if you’d like to follow along, too.]
Daily Notes & Observations contains all 365 articles from this series and is available in paperback from Gospel Armory.
