I have searched for a man who will stand in the gap before Me.

Ezekiel 22:17-31 (NASB) from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ¹⁸ “Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to Me; all of them are bronze and tin and iron and lead in the furnace; they are the dross of silver. ¹⁹ Therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Because all of you have become dross, therefore, behold, I am going to gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. ²⁰ As they gather silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into the furnace to blow fire on it in order to melt it, so I will gather you in My anger and in My wrath and I will lay you there and melt you. ²¹ I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you will be melted in the midst of it. ²² As silver is melted in the furnace, so you will be melted in the midst of it; and you will know that I, the Lord, have poured out My wrath on you.’”

²³ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ²⁴ “Son of man, say to her, ‘You are a land that is not cleansed or rained on in the day of indignation.’ ²⁵ There is a conspiracy of her prophets in her midst like a roaring lion tearing the prey. They have devoured lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in the midst of her. ²⁶ Her priests have done violence to My law and have profaned My holy things; they have made no distinction between the holy and the profane, and they have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they hide their eyes from My sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. ²⁷ Her princes within her are like wolves tearing the prey, by shedding blood and destroying lives in order to get dishonest gain. ²⁸ Her prophets have smeared whitewash for them, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ when the Lord has not spoken. ²⁹ The people of the land have practiced oppression and committed robbery, and they have wronged the poor and needy and have oppressed the sojourner without justice. ³⁰ I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one. ³¹ Thus I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; their way I have brought upon their heads,” declares the Lord God.

In the first part of today’s text, God refers to the Israelites as dross, the impurities or by products of the refining of pure silver. Under the old covenant God responded to impurity, unrighteousness, sinfulness with His wrath. God is holy and pure. He will not tolerate impurity. When God gave the Israelites the law in Leviticus 11:43-44, He says: “ Do not render yourselves detestable… and you shall not make yourselves unclean... ⁴⁴ For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy.”  God called the Israelites to live and be holy as God Himself is holy. Over and over, in the Old Testament we see the accounts of the failure of the Israelites to live up to God’s holy standard, to become impure, like dross and suffer the wrath of God on their sin.

Because man was unable to remove the impurities from himself through the law, God, still requiring men to be holy, made a new way. Romans 5:8-9 says: God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.  We are justified by the blood of Christ. That means when God looks at us, in Christ, He no longer sees the impurities, the unrighteousness and sinfulness, He see us as new creations cleansed and pure in Christ. This justification happens the moment we receive Christ as our redeemer and Savior. Still, there is an ongoing process that God works in our lives to continue to remove the impurities from us. It is the process of sanctification, God exposing and melting away the impurities from our lives. While our justification in Christ is immediate, the process of sanctification, the removing of all the impurities and sinfulness from our lives, takes our entire lifetime here on earth.

 In Romans 8:28-29, Paul says:  And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. ²⁹ For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.       God does not cause all the evil and bad things that happen to people. But, He will use those things, He will cause those things to work together, with His redemption and His restoration, all the good and the bad things that happen in our lives working together, to conform us to the image of Christ. Everything that happens in our lives is used for our sanctification. As we release and surrender to God, all that is impure within ourselves we become holy and pure, as God and Christ are holy.      Malachi 3:3 says: "He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the LORD offerings in righteousness.    The Levites were the ones responsible for ministering before the Lord, to bring righteous offerings to God. We also are to bring righteous offerings and sacrifice to God.      Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. ² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:1-2) We are justified by the blood of Christ. We are sanctified, through the Holy Spirit, as we yield to God in all things, presenting ourselves to Him.

In the last part of today’s text God says: “Thus says the Lord God,’ when the Lord has not spoken. ²⁹ The people of the land have practiced oppression and committed robbery, and they have wronged the poor and needy and have oppressed the sojourner without justice. ³⁰ I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one. ³¹ Thus I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; their way I have brought upon their heads,” declares the Lord God.”     God still seeks for someone who will stand in the gap before Him for the land. God does not change. He cannot tolerate the sinfulness, unrighteousness and impurities in our land. His wrath will come. It is not the land though that God is really concerned with. In the beginning, in Genesis, He created the heavens and the earth and in the end, in Revelation,  He will create a new, restored, heaven and earth. God wants someone who will stand in the gap before Him, to pray and intercede on behalf of people. God gave dominion and authority over the earth, over the land to people. As the hearts of people are restored, as one by one the nations, the ethnos, every race, tribe and tongue, turn to God and become justified by the blood of Christ, as they begin the process of sanctification, the removal of impurities from their lives, the land too will be restored.

2 Chronicles 7:13-16 says:  “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, ¹⁴ if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. ¹⁵ Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. ¹⁶ I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.   This was a reference to the temple of Solomon, where God said He would take up residence. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says:    Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; ²⁰ you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.    In the same way that God promised to take up residence and hear the prayers offered from Solomon’s temple, He has taken up residence within us, believers in Christ and if we; will humble ourselves and pray and seek His face and turn from our wicked ways, then He will hear from heaven, and He will forgive our sin and will heal our land.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit thank You for both the justification and the sanctification that You have caused in my life. Today I stand in the gap and ask that You would reveal the redemption and restoration of Christ on the hearts of men, that they too may be justified by the blood and that through the sanctification of men You will heal our land.  Amen.