Blessed are those who mourn
Matthew 5:4
Our text is in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:4: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” How is it possible for mourners to be blessed and comforted? That is the Good News that only the gospel brings.
“What does the Bible mean by mourning?” Let’s look at some examples of mourning given us in the Bible.
In Genesis, you find a lot of mourning always over death, and that shouldn’t be a surprise because when God told Adam and Eve that they should not partake of the fruit of that forbidden tree , He said that in the day you partake of it, you will surely die. The Book of Genesis is filled with death; we would not then be surprised that it is filled with mourning because of that death. In Genesis 23, we see Abraham mourns for Sarah. Jacob, in a sense, erroneously mourns on account of the death of his son Joseph—he is not dead, but he rightly mourns at least his loss. The Egyptians mourned for Jacob at the time of his death, and David in 2 Samuel 1 mourned greatly over the death of Saul and his beloved friend, Saul’s son, Jonathan.
We see mourning throughout the Bible on the occasion of death, but not only death. For example, when Absalom is responsible for murder and flees from Israel to escape any possible consequences, David mourns his absence. In Numbers 14:39, when the Israelites come to Kadesh-Barnea and fail to go in and possess the land, they are told that that generation will die and will not enter into the land, and the people mourned; they mourned the loss of the benefits of the blessings that were literally within their grasp and were lost. They mourned deeply.
In Psalm 119:136, you find the psalmist mourning over the sins of God’s people. He says, “Tears stream down from my eyes, because they do not keep Your law.” Hosea 4:3 tells us that the land mourned because of Israel’s sin and because of the consequences that have come upon the land as a result of that. There are countless examples, and there is a transition in the Scriptures from the beginning in Genesis, where the mourning is focused on the loss of one who is loved (mourning that comes as a result of death), to mourning that has a more direct relationship to sin.
In the Bible mourning comes from the loss of a loved one, failure to receive the blessings as promised by the Lord and also it is a image used to evoke the deep anguish that we experience when God judges or appears to be angry, distant or silent. It is a quality we are not naturally motivated to seek. Since it is perfectly normal for human nature to seek the cheerful and joyous, we shrink from mourning and sadness.
Thus, it seems a paradox that Jesus calls those who mourn "blessed"! It is as if Jesus is saying, "Happy are the unhappy!" One might ask, "If the Christian is blessed, why does he mourn?" Or, "If he mourns, how can he be considered blessed?"
This beatitude is almost completely contrary to the world's logic. To people in all places and ages, men considered as blessed are the prosperous and happy. But Christ pronounces the poor in spirit and sorrowful as blessed.
Does God confer some benefit upon the character of those who mourn? Could Jesus be speaking of a certain kind of mourning different from the mourning associated with death, catastrophes, frustration of dashed hopes and other tragic events?
Grief over the death of a loved one or the suffering of some other personal tragedy is a highly visible, public, and even professional custom, is a well-attested practice in the Bible. We will not show the procedures here in any detail except to note that the Bible records some of the significant features. Jacob donned sackcloth following the "death" of Joseph (Genesis 37:34). In II Samuel 13:19, Tamar publicly lamented the loss of her virginity through rape by putting ashes on her head, tearing her clothing and crying. Deuteronomy 21:10-14 even directs the Israelites to allow a maiden taken in warfare to shave her head, pare her nails, remove her native clothing, and bewail being wrenched from her father and mother for a month. Other signs of mourning include:
* Covering the lower part of the face (Leviticus 13:45).
*Cutting the flesh and to some extent fasting (Jeremiah 16:6-7).
*Beating the thighs (Jeremiah 31:19; Ezekiel 21:12).
*Beating the breast (Luke 23:48).
The Bible records many more instances of the established cultural customs of those times.
This does not mean God endorses all of these customs, but He duly records what the people did. He makes vivid use of their practices for our instruction. His non-endorsement of many of these practices is verified by an admonition Jesus gives in the Sermon on the Mount.
"Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. "(Matthew 6:16-18)
This does not directly address the practice of visible, public expressions of grief, but the principle drawn from this passage nonetheless shows the balance God expects. The scriptures reveal that He is not against mourning a personal tragedy. But public display that focuses attention on the self does not have His approval. We can conclude that the mourning Jesus calls a blessing in Matthew 5:4 is most assuredly not the highly visible and dramatic kind seen in the above scriptures, but is a private, spiritual quality inseparably linked to the other beatitudes.
There’s one more thing we need to understand before we move on. The Beatitudes are not the Gospel because they do not actually explain Christ’s death and resurrection and how we may receive Him. But, on the other hand the Beatitudes tell us how to live after we receive Christ. So in the Beatitudes Jesus cuts right through the shallowness of our Christianity and exposes us as a people who might know all the right answers, yet do not know Him intimately.
In our earlier study we studied about, “Blessed are the poor in spirit”,…in other words, blessed are those people who understand they are spiritual beggars.
Now we will look into what does “Blessed are those who mourn” mean?
Again like the earlier study, for us to really understand what it does mean, we first have to look at what it does not mean:
a. Jesus does not mean, “Blessed are depressed, miserable, sad-faced Christians”.
Jesus is not talking about unhappy, hopeless and desperate people.
b. Jesus does not mean, “Blessed are those who are mourning over the difficulties in
life”.
(c) The Bible does not say that mourning by itself is a blessing.
In fact, some mourning is cursed.
For example, Amnon mourned because his lust was not fulfilled by Tamar
(2 Sam.13v2)
Ahab mourned because he wanted but could not get Naboth’s vineyard (1 Kings 21v4).
(d). Jesus is not talking about mourning the loss of a loved one.
(e). Jesus is not talking about going into a state of self-pity and false humility.
Jesus reminds His disciples that they cannot seek happiness the way the world does. True joy is not found in selfish ambition, excuses, or self-justification. An enviable state of blessedness comes to those who mourn over their own sin and over the sin of others. "These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word" (Isaiah 66:2).
If you want to life a fruitful life and if you want to be used by God in a significant way, you need to allow your heart to be broken by the things that break the heart of God.
The best way to understand this is to look at Jesus when He wept over Jerusalem as He looked at the city just before His end.
Luke 19:41-44 - As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace-but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you."
Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem because they rejected the chance to experience His peace.
• They had chosen to harden their heart, and therefore will remain in their lost condition. And as a result of their rejection, they faced impending judgment.
• When He was carrying the cross on His final journey, He tells those women who were mourning and wailing for Him: “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children.” (Luke 23:28)
• Weep because judgment is coming. Mourn for your sin.
You see, there is a great need in the church today is to cry instead of to laugh. Unfortunately we live in a world that’s constantly trying to convince us to shun mourning. The world’s says, “Forget your troubles, turn your back on them, do everything you can not to face them. Pain is bad; being happy is good. Things are bad enough as they are without you going to look for trouble – so don’t worry, be happy.”
The problem is that unless we grieve and mourn our sin and the sin of others, we’ll miss God and sin will gain a greater foothold on our lives. I say this because spiritual poverty should lead to godly sorrow.
The word for mourn that Jesus used here represents the deepest, most heart-felt grief a man can experience. The word carries the idea of deep inner agony, expressed by outward weeping. It’s a word used for mourning for the dead and lamenting a loved one. You know how you feel when you lose a close loved-one to death. That is the feeling Jesus is talking about.
.And when we do mourn over our sin and the sins of humanity, we will find comfort through His forgiveness. That’s a promise from God.
James 4: 8-10 – “ Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.”
Godly sorrow brings God’s forgiveness. Mourning over sin in our lives is essential to spiritual health. If you want to have a vibrant, authentic, relationship with God, then you must come face-to-face with who you are, grieve your condition, and turn to God.
Mourning should produce repentance. It is the motivation for repentance. If repent means to turn around, then it seems to me that we have to acknowledge that the first thing we must see is that the direction we are going is wrong And that it is ugly, and it is something God hates. Mourning is that prerequisite where you recognize and say, “God calls it sin,” and you, loathe it so that you turn from it.
In 2 Corinthians Paul said, “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” 2 Cor. 7:10-15
Jesus reminded his disciples through the prophet Isaiah that the Messiah would “comfort all who mourn” (Is. 61:2). This word “comfort” is the same word used in John 14:16 in reference to the Holy Spirit. Jesus tells us that He is our helper but that he is going to send a comforter. Jesus says, "And I will pray to the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, so that He may be with you forever.”
The idea is that God will bring comfort through confession and contrition. As we mourn and turn from sin to God he will give grace to wipe away our tears and fears.
But notice that comfort comes only after mourning.
When we honestly come to grips with the sin in our lives and in our country we will be comforted. It’s only those who mourn for sin who will have their tears wiped away by the loving hand of Jesus.
Jesus is saying to you, “Bring me the sorrow and the sins of your past now, and I will give you hope for the future now.”
What Is The Result For Mourning Over Our Sins?
In Ezekiel chapter 9 we see the result of grieving and mourning.
Going back to chapter 8, God is showing Ezekiel in exile in Babylon, the gross idolatry that was provoking His jealousy .
In Deut 31 told Moses that the people would take the land, grow fat, and then turn and serve other gods forsaking the Lord, then accusing Him of forsaking them . And God would judge them, turn from them, and scatter them. So here in Ezekiel, he showed them of the defilement of four groups of people covering all socio-economic strata of people, and ending with the worse - the leaders in the inner court of the temple worshiping the sun god with their backs turned to God. The presence of God begins to leave the temple at this point , making the first of three stages of departure. And in all of these things, God pronounces judgment without mercy.
Chapter 9 :1-14 outlines that judgment and gives the character of the only people who will survive it…only they will be saved - those who grieve and lament and mourn.
“ Then He called out in my hearing with a loud voice, saying, “Let those who have charge over the city draw near, each with a deadly weapon in his hand.” And suddenly six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his battle-ax in his hand. One man among them was clothed with linen and had a writer’s inkhorn at his side. They went in and stood beside the bronze altar. Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub, where it had been, to the threshold of the temple. And He called to the man clothed with linen, who had the writer’s inkhorn at his side; and the LORD said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who grieve and lament over all the abominations that are done within it.” Ezekiel 9:1-4
This chapter continues the theme of the previous chapters by recording the first stage of the exit of God's presence (Ezekiel 9:3).
The division of the chapter are:
(1) the supernatural executioners of Jerusalem are summoned (Ezekiel 9:1-3);
(2) Those who grieve and lament are protected (Ezekiel 9:4-7); and
(3) Ezekiel's intercession in not successful (Ezekiel 9:8-11).
In his vision Ezekiel heard the Lord ( Ezekiel 9:4) cry out loudly for the executioners (guards), who would punish the people of Jerusalem, to draw near to Him with their weapons in hand. The Lord had predicted that the people would cry out to Him for mercy with a loud voice ( Ezekiel 8:18), but first He cried out against them in judgment with a loud voice. Evidently Ezekiel's position at this time was in the inner temple courtyard, and the Lord spoke from inside the temple structure (cf. Ezekiel 9:3).
‘And behold six men came from the way of the upper gate, which lies towards the north, every one with his weapon for destruction in his hand, and one man in the midst of them, clothed in linen, with a writer’s kit hanging by his side (‘on his loins’). And they went in and stood beside the bronze altar.’
One man among them was clothed with linen.—he was among them, but not of them. There were six with weapons, and this one without a weapon formed the seventh. He was “clothed in linen,” the ordinary priestly garment, and the special garment of the high priest at the ceremonies on the great Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16); yet also used by others, and on other occasions, simply as a garment of purity and of distinction (comp. Daniel 10:5), so that there is no need here to suppose a priestly character attached to him. He carried in his girdle the “inkhorn,” i.e., the little case, containing pens, knife, and ink, commonly worn by a scribe. There is nothing mentioned which can give him any special identification. He is simply a necessity of the vision, a messenger, to mark out those whose faithfulness to God amid the surrounding evil exempts them from the common doom (compare. Revelation 7:3). They took their station “beside the brazen altar,” as the central point at once of the true worship of Israel .
This bronze altar was the old altar from Solomon’s temple which had been replaced with the altar by Ahaz, which he patterned on a Syrian altar (2 Kings 16:14), the old bronze altar being removed and put to the north of the stone altar for the king to ‘enquire by’ (2 Kings 9:15). But this old altar was the altar recognised by the Lord. This is another indication of how the temple had been defiled. God had not overlooked the replacing of His altar with a foreign altar. From the true altar His mercy and judgment would reach out.
The action is very significant. On that bronze altar had been offered sacrifices for Israel for many generations. There atonement had been made. It had also been a place of sanctuary when there was nowhere else to go men could flee to the altar (1 Kings 1:50; 1 Kings 2:28). But now the right of sanctuary was lost. The sacrifices had ceased. It was no longer a holy place. It was a place of sin and God was deserting His temple and His altar.
The seven entered by the way where the women were weeping for Tammuz (Ezekiel 8:14), and where the image of jealousy had its place (Ezekiel 8:5). They saw enough to stir their righteous anger.
Verse 3-4
‘And the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub, on which it was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writer’s kit hanging at his side. And Yahweh said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark (‘a taw’, in ancient Hebrew an X) on the foreheads of the men who sigh and who cry for all the abominations that are done in the midst of it.” ’
The movement of ‘the glory of God’ is also very significant. Being ‘on the cherub’ referred to the Ark of the Covenant of Yahweh. In the past the glory of God had regularly covered the Ark and the Tabernacle (Exodus 40:34-35). Now He leaves His throne in the sanctuary and moves to the threshold of the temple. He is at this point deliberately rejecting the temple and all it means. He is about to depart. Because now the temple had become a seat for sin.
He issues an order to those who had charge over the city, “to go forth and slay” the offenders; but strictly prohibited them from coming near to any person to whom these abominations had been a source of grief, and who had, in consequence of that, been “marked in the forehead” by a person expressly commissioned for that purpose.
God never forgets His own. Within the city there were still those who were faithful to Him and whose hearts were broken at what was going on. They sighed and cried at what they saw around them. True faith and true righteousness are always revealed by men’s attitude to sin and obedience to God. God had determined to put His protecting mark on them. None would harm those who were faithful to Him. His mark would be on their foreheads. Compare Revelation 7:3; Revelation 9:4; Revelation 14:1. Those with the mark were untouchable.
What is so significant about sighing and crying (KJV) over this world's abominable way of life?
Sigh, by way of definition, is Strong's #584, and it means "to groan," "to mourn," and "to moan." Its rather interesting first use is found in Exodus 2:23-25:
"Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of their bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them. "
Note from the context that our God is a covenant-keeping God. He remembers His covenant and acknowledges those who hear Him and those who sigh among His people. In the Exodus story, He moved to redeem them from their bondage in Egypt, making a distinction between them and their oppressors (Exodus 8:22; 11:7).
Cry is Strong's #602, and it also means "to groan." This word contains a great deal of emotional meaning. It involves a person's innermost feelings.
In order to sigh and cry successfully, we must believe God. This is vital. It means that we need to believe how He defines sin. For instance, we must never come to think that "weeping for Tammuz" (Ezekiel 8:13-14) is really not all that bad. God calls it an abomination! If He calls it that, that is exactly what it is, and we need to accept His definition.
For that matter what does "weeping for Tammuz" mean.
Tammuz is nowhere else mentioned in Scripture, but is identified by ancient tradition with the Greek Adonis, the beloved of Venus. Since Ezekiel saw this vision in September ( Ezekiel 8:1), these women may have been weeping for Tammuz because he was thought to die at the end of the summer but to rise again each spring. He became the personification of the seasonal death in Autumn and the rebirth of the crops in Spring. He was the god of fertility.
Thus far, the prophet has seen in the different courts of the Temple the general image worship of the people, then the creature worship of their elders, and now the corrupt and debasing rites of their women. Instead of weeping for the national sins, they wept for the idol of Tammuz. Women were very prominent in idolatrous worship (2 Kings 23:7; Jeremiah 44:9; Jeremiah 44:15-19).
Some people can see sin right before their eyes, they can hear it around them, they can live amidst it, but they can never sigh and cry over it because they refuse to allow God's law to be the standard of their behavior. Bible history is replete with examples of this, but we will look only at one. Who of the Jewish leadership—except for Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, and perhaps a few others—sighed and cried over the illegal trial that resulted in Christ's death?
In John 16:20, where He is speaking to His disciples on the evening before His crucifixion, Jesus says, "Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice." The world, rejecting God's standards, rejoices at injustice and sin. We in God's church must come to avoid partiality, mentioned in Leviticus 19:15, as we interpret the news and the social injustices that we see around us.
After all, God did not ask Ezekiel to identify Israel's sins in his tour of Jerusalem in Ezekiel 8. God identified the sin for him, even when it was committed in secret. God calls out the sins in His Word, defining the abominations in His law, and we need to know those laws and believe that they are indeed sin and abominations. But when we call those things that God terms as abominations as "alternate lifestyles", how can the Lord comfort us and bless us.
To sigh and cry effectively over the sins of Israel, we must know what those sins are. In this particular context, this means that we need to be watching and listening attentively, just as Peter says that Lot was tormented by what he saw and heard going on around him (II Peter 2:6-8). We need to be alert to what is going around us - especially in the church.
We cannot sigh and cry if we are like ostriches and bury our heads in the sand. This is a type of denial. We need to be awake and aware, not slumbering and not sleeping (I Thessalonians 5:6). We need to ensure that we interpret the events that we see and hear in the news in terms of God's law, for that holy law is the standard, the benchmark, by which we must measure the doctrines and practises of our church, the deeds of our church leadership, of our fellow church members , and of ourselves.
Of course, awareness of sin does not imply participation in it. We are fish out of water—odd men as it were—and we cannot sigh and cry over our sins if we are singing from the world's song sheet. To change the example, we cannot march in step with this world and simultaneously sigh and cry at its sins. That simply will not work.
So, while we are in the world, we are not of it. We are spectators and not participants. Though we are watching from the sidelines, we dare not even for a moment cheer the ways of a world that is oblivious to God's law—a world that considers the Law of God to be both odious and burdensome. It is a world that is eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage (Matthew 24:38), laughing and living it up while we are crying all the time. We cannot successfully sigh and cry before God if we are of this world, part and parcel of its sins. We must remain outside the world system.
We seal what we wish to guard securely. God will secure His people from the common judgment. God gives the first charge as to their safety, before He orders the punishment of the rest (Psalms 31:20; Isaiah 26:20-21). It was so in the case of Lot and Sodom (Genesis 19:22); so it was with the first-born of the Hebrews in Egypt who were not slain until Israel had time to sprinkle the blood-mark, ensuing their safety .
These men were ‘marked’ by God, marked as belonging to Him. And one of the clearest indication is that the Great Judgment of the last day will be individual and not by races, nations, or groups of any kind. Note too that there are only two classes, the saved and the lost. Another startling fact is that absolutely none shall be spared except those who have received the mark of protection from the Lord. This was the way it was in the days of the flood; and that is the way it will be in the final judgment.
God has never wanted the believer to behave like the others. They worshiped differently, they acted differently. Even in the N.T. God said that we were to be, "a peculiar people." The bible tells us to be separate from the world. That means when you get saved you change your lifestyle, you change your friends, and you change your hangouts. The distinction of the marking has reference wholly and only to character. No regard is paid to birth or position; they and they only are marked who mourned for the prevailing sinfulness, and kept themselves apart from it.
Verse 5-6
‘And to the others he said in my hearing, “Go through the city after him, and smite. Do not let your eye spare, nor have pity. Slay utterly (literally ‘slay to destruction’) the old man, the young man and the maiden, and little children and women. But do not come near any man on whom is the mark. And begin at my sanctuary.” ’
Then came the command for judgment. It was to be without mercy, without pity. None was to be spared. The judgment and wrath of God was to come on each one, from the oldest to the youngest. They were to start from the temple and showed no mercy to any individual who lacked the mark And it was to begin at His sanctuary where those who were supposed to serve Him had proved so utterly unfaithful. It is a serious thing to profess to be a leader of God’s people and to lead the people astray (1 Peter 4:17; compare Matthew 18:6; Mark 9:42; Luke 17:2).
But none who were marked by God was to be touched. They may suffer at the hands of men through persecutions, but not at the hands of God’s destroying agents. This underlines one of Ezekiel’s central messages. Judgment is individual. It is the one who sins who must die in judgment. Those who are faithful to God and His covenant will die (like all other men), but they will not die because of the judgments of God.
Verse 6
‘Then they began at the old men (elders) who were before the house.’ These would be the five and twenty who represented the priesthood, worshippers of the sun (Ezekiel 8:16). They were the most guilty because of their closeness to the sanctuary. These men who had had the most holy privileges had betrayed their trust.
Begin at my sanctuary - The first to be punished were those who had brought idolatry nearest to the holy place. The “ancient men,” i. e., the 25 men who had stood with their backs to the altar - Ezekiel 8:16 - were the first to be slain. The elders of Israel who were at Jerusalem were given to idolatry; but they were extremely anxious to conceal their practices from the eyes of men: hence they performed their idolatrous rites in some secret chambers of the temple, which they had enclosed with a wall for a more effectual concealment. But nothing is hidden from God who knew every thing that was transacted in the temple at Jerusalem: (Ezekiel 8)
Verse 7
‘And he said to them, “Defile the house and fill the courts with the slain. Go forth.” And they went forth and smote in the city.’
And begin at my sanctuary ..." (Ezekiel 9:6). The very place where one should have been able to find a few faithful believers in God was the holy temple; but here God commanded that the slaughter should begin there: " do not be afraid of slaying any person in it, for fear of defiling it; they have defiled it with their abominations, and now do you defile it with their blood " There is indeed a great responsibility upon those persons who know God's word and are responsible for teaching others. Peter says that this principle shall be operative in all of the judgments of God. "For the time is come for judgment to begin at the house of God: and if it begin first at us, what shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel of God?" (1 Peter 4:17).
"They began at the old men that were before the house ..." (Ezekiel 9:6) They could be identified these as "the sun worshipping priests. Apparently the directive to begin at the sanctuary was intended to imply that this was the seat of the worst sins."
"And he said unto them, Defile the house ..." (Ezekiel 9:7). This was accomplished by their filling the courts with dead bodies. "If to touch a corpse and then to worship without being sprinkled with the water of separation was to defile the tabernacle of the Lord (Numbers 19:13), how much more would the blood of corpses do so."
The house was to be deliberately defiled (compare Numbers 19:11; 1 Kings 13:2; 2Kings 23:16). It was no longer God’s temple. And God was leaving His Temple because of the sin that was practiced in it.
Verse 8
‘And it was so that while they were smiting and I was left, I fell on my face and cried out, and said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh. Will you destroy all the residue of Israel in your pouring out of your fury on Jerusalem?” ’
As Ezekiel watched every man in the temple around him smitten down one by one, until he was left alone, it was more than he could bear. And he cried out to God. Would there be no mercy for any, for the residue of Israel? Would not God leave but a few?
Ezekiel loved his people and their sacred city Jerusalem; and it is possible that he still might have been thinking that the "righteous remnant" so often mentioned by Isaiah, and which also vividly appears now and then in his own writings, would undoubtedly be found "in Jerusalem."
However, the events which Ezekiel saw in this vision appeared to the prophet as the end of any such possibility as that of a "righteous remnant" remaining in Jerusalem. The complete destruction of Jerusalem, as it began to unfold before the eyes of Ezekiel, broke his heart, because he probably thought there might not be left any remnant at all; and that appears to be the reason for his passionate, tearful and heartbroken intercession.
There is a similarity here to Abraham's intercession for Sodom and Gomorrah. Both intercessions were offered in the form of a question. Both were based upon previous promises of God. Here, the promise was that God would spare a remnant. With Abraham, the promise that God would not destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if 10 righteous men were found in it -Genesis 18:32. Here the tearful question is "Wilt thou destroy the residue of Israel?" With Abraham, the question was, "Wilt thou destroy the righteous with the wicked?" There is also a third similarity, namely, in the fact that both intercessions failed. Both Jerusalem and Sodom were destroyed, exactly as God promised. God did not violate his promise in either case. There were not ten righteous persons in Sodom; and in Ezekiel's case, God preserved a "righteous remnant," as he promised, only it was not in Jerusalem, but in Babylon!
(Ezekiel 9:9). God here gave the grounds for the utter necessity of Jerusalem's destruction. At first, we are surprised that God did not list such things as Israel's worshiping other gods, or their defiling the temple, or of their neglect of sacrifices, despite the fact of such sins being the source of all their wickedness. The wickedness mentioned here was,
(1) the land was filled with blood;
(2) the city is full of injustice, and
(3) they do not believe in an omniscient, personal God to whom every man must give an account. "
These terrible conditions were the end result of the peoples' false religion. Those who received that mark were the true "righteous remnant"; and they were in no danger whatever of being forsaken.
Verse 9
‘Then he said to me, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of injustice (‘bending’ of justice). For they say, “Yahweh has forsaken the land, and Yahweh sees not.” ’
These men left in Jerusalem and its surrounds had seen the previous judgments of God and the carrying away of the cream of the people, first of Israel and then of Judah. But they had not taken warning. Instead of repenting and turning to God they had increased their sinfulness. Instead of recognising that He had done what He had always promised they had interpreted it as meaning that God had forsaken the land and the people in it. Thus instead of becoming better they had become worse. Murder was rife. True justice was unobtainable. Might was right.
Verse 10
“And as for me also, my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. But I will bring their way on their head.”
So as there was no justice and mercy among the inhabitants of Jerusalem and its surrounds, so there would be no mercy from God. He would make them reap what they had sown, and there would be no restraint. His eye was and had been on them all the time. And now it would demand justice. "No creature is hidden from Him, but all things are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give an account" - Heb. 4:13
Verse 11
‘And behold the man clothed in linen, who had the writing kit by his side, reported the matter, saying, “I have done as you have commanded me.” ’
The marking of the righteous had taken place as God had commanded. Justice had taken its course.
Paul warns us in Hebrews 3:12-15:
Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today," lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: "Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion."
The mourning Jesus desires is the kind that exhibits a softness of heart that is ready for change in a righteous direction, one that knows it has done wrong and is eagerly willing to have it cleansed into holiness. We of this generation face an uphill battle because, through such media as television and movies and also through the social media -facebook twitter etc., we have vicariously experienced the breaking of God's law in unparalleled frequency and in vividly sympathetic ways. On the screen life is cheap, property is meaningless, sexual purity is scoffed at, stealing is fine "if it's necessary," and marital faithfulness is out of fashion . Where is God in it? How much of this world's attitudes have we unwittingly absorbed into our character? Is our conscience still tender? Is mourning over sin a vital part of our relationship with God?
Godly mourning plays a positive role in producing the changes God desires to produce His image in us. We need to pray with David, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me" (Psalm 51:10). He asks God to give him what did not exist before, that his affections and feelings might be made right, and that he might not have the callused attitude that led him to adultery and murder. A plea of this kind is one that God will not deny. If we are truly serious about overcoming and glorifying God, it is well worth the effort.
Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted.
