September 6
1 Samuel 31; 1 Corinthians 11; Ezekiel 9; Psalm 48
Ezekiel 9
Yesterday we saw in Ezekiel’s vision the debaucheries being committed in Jerusalem. Today we see God’s response.
In a new vision, the LORD commands six “executioners” and a seventh man with a writing tablet to go through the city and slay everyone who committed idolatry (1-2). Men and women, old and young, adult and child - almost all are slain (5-7). Only those who grieved and mourned the debaucheries (4) are spared (6). No middle ground here: there are only idolaters and those who mourn the idolatry.
Some reading this might accuse God of barbarity. Children slain? Really? But see the previous reading on chapter 8, and answer this: is our generation any different? Are we not full of sexual immorality, debauchery and idolatry? Do we not also live as if “the Lord does not see” (11)? And what is the result? How many children have been torn to pieces, vacuumed out of wombs and tossed in the trash, for our sexual “freedom”? How many teens regret having body parts amputated in the name of their “true sexual identity”? How drenched in the blood of injustice is our land?
It’s not a matter of whether blood will spill; it’s not a matter of whether judgment will fall. The question is which G/god demands blood, and whose blood that G/god demands. We demand that our children’s blood be spilled for our “freedom.” But the God of the Bible enters into our darkness for us, sending His Son to spill his own blood for our adulteries.
Note that the execution begins at the sanctuary (6). So that’s where our repentance must also begin. We worshiped our way into this; we must worship our way out.