To Sigh and Cry

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To Sigh and Cry

By Terry Gray

When the nation of Judah was taken over by the Babylonian empire and its people were removed from the land, one of those taken back to Babylon was a young man named Ezekiel. He was a priest who was taken to a p.o.w. camp by the Kebar river. After a time, God began to give to him a series of incredible visions that would have to do with the future of Israel, all the way until the time of Christ's return and beyond. The visions included the northern kingdom, which had already been taken into captivity over one hundred years earlier by the Assyrians.

Let's take a look at a portion of one of the visions God gave to Ezekiel and see how it relates to our own individual Christian lives. There is an important lesson of character that must be learned and developed within the servants of God.

The beginning of this particular vision is stated in Eze-8:1-4. It states: "In the sixth year, in the sixth month on the fifth day, while I was sitting in my house and the elders of Judah were sitting before me, the hand of the Sovereign Eternal came upon me there. I looked, and I saw a figure like that of a man. From what appeared to be his waist down he was like fire, and from there up his appearance was as bright as glowing metal. He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head. The Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and in visions of God he took me to Jerusalem, to the entrance to the north gate of the inner court, where the idol that provokes to jealousy stood. And there before me was the glory of the God of Israel, as in the vision I had seen in the plain [NIV unless otherwise stated]." Ezekiel received this vision before the destruction of the Temple. Throughout chapter eight, God reveals to Ezekiel the abominations that are going on within the very Temple of God. The nation's religious leaders and elders had descended into every form of pagan idolatry that one could imagine. In 8:12, God asks Ezekiel, "Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? For they say, 'The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth [KJV].'" The phrase "chambers of his imagery" refers to the individual's mind and heart. They had become corrupted to the very core of their being. God says in verses 17-18, "Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a trivial matter for the house of Judah to do the detestable things they are doing here? Must they also fill the land with violence and continually provoke me to anger? Look at them putting the branch to their nose! Therefore I will deal with them in anger; I will not look on them with pity or spare them. Although they shout in my ears, I will not listen to them."

As a direct result of the collapse of the true worship of God within the nation, it had become filled with violence and immorality. Eze.9:9 says that the land was full of bloodshed and perverseness. The leaders and most of the people were saying "God isn't watching what I'm doing. He's gone way off somewhere.'' The "branch" of 8:17 refers to the Asherah, which was cut into the shape of a phallic symbol. The word "their", in verse 17 should actually be translated "my", referring to God's nose or nostrils. The entire nation was, in effect, taking their pagan worship and shoving it into God's face for Him to have to see. Does this scenario sound familiar? God's anger is aroused, as we saw in verse 18.

Ezekiel's vision continues in chapter nine, "Then I heard him call out in a loud voice, 'Bring the guards of the city here, each with a weapon in his hand.' And I saw six men coming from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with a deadly weapon in his hand. With them was a man clothed in linen who had a writing kit at his side. They came in and stood beside the bronze altar. Now the glory of the God of Israel went up from above the cherubim, where it had been, and moved to the threshold of the temple. Then the Eternal called to the man clothed in linen who had the writing kit at his side and said to him, 'Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.' As I listened, he said to the others, 'Follow him through the city and kill, without showing pity or compassion. Slaughter old men, young men and maidens, women and children, but do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.' So they began with the elders who were in front of the temple. Then he said to them, 'Defile the temple and fill the courts with the slain. Go!' So they went out and began killing throughout the city. While they were killing and I was left alone, I fell facedown, crying out, 'Ah, Sovereign Eternal! Are you going to destroy the entire remnant of Israel in this outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem?' He answered me, 'The sin of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great; the land is full of bloodshed and the city is full of injustice. They say, 'The Eternal has forsaken the land; the Eternal does not see.' So I will not look on them with pity or spare them, but I will bring down on their own heads what they have done.' Then the man in linen with the writing kit at his side brought back word, saying, 'I have done as you commanded.'"

Remember, although this particular vision deals specifically with the city of Jerusalem, God makes it clear in 9:9 that Jerusalem, in this context, is symbolic of all Israel, both then and in the future. Notice that by the end of chapter 9, the entire population had been destroyed; beginning with the religious leaders, who should have known better to begin with. That is, all had been destroyed except for one special group of people who had received a mark upon their foreheads and thereby received special protection from God. This special group of people were those who "sigh and cry for all the abominations [detestable things] that be done in the midst thereof [verse 4]."

What is our mental and emotional response to the many forms of evil that we see going on around us every day? Do we "sigh and cry" or "grieve and lament" as the righteous few of Ezekial 9 did; or do we just casually ignore the sins that pervade our society and say to ourselves, "Well, that's just the way it is."? There is nothing that we can do as individuals, or even as a church, to stop our society from committing the various sins that it does. But, our inner response to it and our attitude about it can reveal much about our character. Abraham's nephew Lot was a man who knew what it was like to witness the evils of a corrupt society, while, at the same time, trying to hold on to some kind of standard of decency. Lot was not a man who was begotten by God's Holy Spirit, yet, the Bible says in II Pet.2:8, "... for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard ... ". The word "tormented" is from the Greek word "basanizo", and can be rendered "pain", "suffering", or "torture". These are all words which indicate a very strong response to what we see and hear. If this is how Lot responded, then how much greater should be the response of those who have the "new creature in Christ" forming and growing within them, waiting to be born into God's Family.

One reason we do not have the inner hatred of sin that we should is because so much of what God calls evil is accepted by society today as a "good" thing. We become desensitized to sin and it starts to seem like the O.K. thing to do or think. Lot would probably have become this way had he stayed in the city much longer. He was so willing to hand his daughters over to the mob, that evidently, this desensitization had already begun taking place.

The only way that we can come to hate every form of evil enough to be moved to "cry and sigh" about it when we see it, hear it, or see the wretched effects of it in people's lives, is to always have firmly fixed in our minds and hearts the difference between right and wrong, good and evil. The dividing line should never be blurred. One major step we can all take is to guard what we let into our minds. The great speaker and motivator Earl Nightingale once said "We become what we think about." This is true. If we are continually allowing actions, words, and attitudes into our minds that glorifies that which our Heavenly Father calls evil, then guess what? We will, over time, become oriented that way in our own thinking. It will be subtle, but we will find it harder and harder to "grieve and lament" about the evil we see around us.

Our Lord warned us that in the last days people would go from bad to worse and that there would be so much wickedness around us that the love of many would wax cold. If you are not moved to cry out to God about the abominations, atrocities, and gross evils that happen in this world on a daily basis, then that may be a sign that the "waxing cold" process has already begun.

Where to begin? Well, begin by deciding to immerse yourself in prayer and Bible reading on a regular basis. When we fill our minds with good things, there is less room for the bad. Keep Phil. 4:8 as your motto about what you will let into your mind and heart. The "new creature in Christ" within us craves healthy spiritual nourishment, not worldly poison. Next, decide to look at things the world calls "good" and "enlightening" from the biblical viewpoint. They will then seem much less attractive. Study Psalm 119 and come to love God's Law as David did (although there is some indication that Hezekiah wrote this psalm). Come to see God's holy and righteous Law, not as a means to attain personal salvation, but as the revelation of God's standards about what is right and what is wrong. Last but not least, let the Holy Spirit develop empathy within you. Crucify the self with its evil desires and come to the point of being able to put yourself in the place of those who are hurting. Being able to see and to feel the hurt that people go through because of their own and other peoples sins will move you very quickly to be able to "sigh and cry" about the evil that takes place in this world. The less "self" there is in us, the more room there will be for Christ and for feelings for others. None of this is to suggest that Christians should go about in a state of continuous depression or dejection. Indeed, we should not. We should be the happiest and most joyous people in the world. But our happiness and joy comes from our being "in Christ", from what He has done for us and is doing, and from having an understanding of our Father's plan for humanity and being able to have a part in it. Our joy does not take place within us because of this world, it's values, our circumstances in it, or what it has to offer. So, it is possible to have inner joy and peace, and, at the same time, to "grieve over the ruin of Joseph" (Amos 6:6).

"Sighing and crying" over the things we see taking place in this world that are evil and tragic goes hand in hand with Jesus' instructions about prayer. He instructs us to pray for God's Kingdom to be established on the earth (Matt. 6:10). The motivation to do that comes from looking around at our present world (society) and seeing it in contrast to how it will be during Christ's rulership. Nothing will drive you to your knees to pray for Christ's return faster than viewing the panorama of human tragedy that is all around us, and feeling true empathy for those we see suffering the effects of evil that come from living in an ungodly society.

In conclusion, let's never find ourselves in a state of callosity about the things we see going on around us. To do so would mean that the love of Jesus Christ is not in us. After all, Jesus lamented over Jerusalem; knowing what the future held for the city and its people (Matt. 23:37-39). Instead, as the end draws near and wickedness increases, let us always be among that group that receives God's special care; those who sigh and cry.