The Mark!

A priest and a rabbi from local parishes were standing by the road’s side, holding up signs. The rabbi’s sign read, ‘The End is Near!’ On the other side of the road, the priest held up a sign which read, ‘Turn before it’s too late!’ They planned to hold up their signs to each passing car. ‘Get a job.’ The first driver yelled. The second, immediately behind the first, yelled, ‘Leave us alone, you religious freaks!’ Shortly, from around the curve, they heard the tyres screeching, followed by a splash. It was followed by more screeching and more splashes!  It is just a story, but it conveys an important point. The prophecies of God are those signs to caution us and turn us back to our Saviour.  It is tough to read prophecies of destruction, but in and through it all, we can see the heart of God.  While it pains God to see us suffer, it hurts Him more when He sees an unrepentant heart, rejecting His call repeatedly.  God is holy, and so He cannot condone sin even though He loves the sinner.  The prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel are signs for us today to take heed and obey!  

In Ezekiel chapter 9, we see God giving a vision to Ezekiel.  In that vision, we see an angel who looked like a man carrying a writer’s inkhorn.  He was commanded ‘to put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sighed and cried over all the abominations that were being done in Jerusalem’.  What does that mean?  It means that a group of people who did not participate in their wicked ways still lived in Jerusalem!  They did not participate in the idolatry of the people of Jerusalem. They sighed and cried over the abominable practices because they knew the way of the Lord.  They knew how God hated the sin of harlotry.  They remembered how the Lord had brought their forefathers out of Egypt.  The man in the vision marked all those who had a separated and sanctified life. Those without the mark were completely destroyed, but no harm came to those marked (Ezekiel 9:1-7).  

My friend,  we see so many worldly, unbiblical practices in the Christian community.  Do we live a life of compromise, or do we take a stand for the Lord?  That is the question we have to answer today. May the Lord find us worthy of the mark!

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