9 Then He cried out in my hearing with a loud voice saying, “Draw near, [a]O executioners of the city, each with his destroying weapon in his hand.” 2 Behold, six men came from the direction of the upper gate which faces north, each with his shattering weapon in his hand; and among them was a certain man clothed in linen with a [b]writing case at his loins. And they went in and stood beside the bronze altar.
3 Then the glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherub on which it had been, to the threshold of the [c]temple. And He called to the man clothed in linen at whose loins was the writing case. 4 The Lord said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, even through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations which are being committed in its midst.” 5 But to the others He said in my hearing, “Go through the city after him and strike; do not let your eye have pity and do not spare. 6 [d]Utterly slay old men, young men, maidens, little children, and women, but do not touch any man on whom is the mark; and you shall start from My sanctuary.” So they started with the [e]elders who were before the [f]temple. 7 And He said to them, “Defile the [g]temple and fill the courts with the slain. Go out!” Thus they went out and struck down the people in the city. 8 As they were striking the people and I alone was left, I fell on my face and cried out [h]saying, “Alas, Lord [i]God! Are You destroying the whole remnant of Israel [j]by pouring out Your wrath on Jerusalem?”
9 Then He said to me, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is very, very great, and the land is filled with blood and the city is full of perversion; for they say, ‘The Lord has forsaken the land, and the Lord does not see!’ 10 But as for Me, My eye will have no pity nor will I spare, but I will bring their conduct upon their heads.”
11 Then behold, the man clothed in linen at whose loins was the [k]writing case [l]reported, saying, “I have done just as You have commanded me.”
This whole scene almost reminds one of Sodom and Gomorrah, where God was about to destroy both cities and everyone in them. Then Abram asks if God wouldn’t spare the cities for just a few righteous, the number dwindling with each request. Each time, God searches for the righteous, but they are not to be found. Except here, God is ahead of Ezekiel as he asks, “Are you destroying the whole remnant of Israel?”
The man (probably an angel) with the “writing case” is already on the move, searching for people who “sigh and groan over all the abominations being committed.” And indeed, by the time God is done answering Ezekiel, the angel reports back that all those who detested evil had been marked. It was just as God had commanded, as other prophets had foretold there would be a remnant.
Now, it almost seems a low bar that God sets, marking those who sigh or groan, those whose hearts are disturbed or even broken, for the evil deeds being done in Israel. But maybe it isn’t such a low bar after all, for do our hearts groan at the evil deeds of this day? Are they broken over the sinful state of our world?
Certainly, I don’t thinking groaning about it gets us anywhere, and it certainly doesn’t save anyone from the grasp of sin. Rather, it is but a start, though a good one. For it would be easy to get complacent, to shrug things off as just one more in a long list of things that are wrong in our world. But may our hearts be attuned to God’s heart, and if they aren’t, we need to pray that He breaks our heart for the souls who are lost and hurting.
From there, don’t stop at groaning, but ask God what He would have you do. Prayer is a great place to start, as there are many people we could pray for, all the way from leaders in lofty positions, to the homeless person you just passed on the street. Don’t “miss the mark”, but let God move your heart, and then move you as well, with compassion and His love that is greater still.