Stand in the Gap

I read Ezekiel 22:30 last night, which says in the NIV

"I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none."

As I was driving to school today, this scripture resonated in my mind. Let's break this down. First of all, we see that God is searching for someone who will "build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land" - but what does that mean?

Let's consider the wall first. If we turn back to Ezekiel 13, we find that God had Ezekiel prophesy against the false prophets of Israel, one of the reasons being, in verse 5, that they "have not gone up to the breaks in the wall to repair it for the house of Israel so that it will stand firm in the battle on the day of the LORD." Verse 10 elaborates with the indictment that "when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash," and God then goes on to make it clear that whitewashing this wall is of no avail. So what does the context tell us about what the wall might be? 

Because the false prophets are charged with not repairing the breaks in the wall, it stands to reason that, firstly, the wall is something that already exists but is deteriorating and, secondly, that it is the duty of prophets (i.e. spiritual leaders) to repair this wall. Furthermore, we see that it is the duty of the prophets to build a strong wall, and not simply build up a flimsy wall and then make it look nice by painting it white. What was the purpose of walls in those days? Walls were primarily a tool of defense; they were the foundation of a city's protection from invading forces. The wall in this scripture symbolizes the righteous attitudes of the people, since this is truly the only protection that anyone has from God's judgement. The duty of the prophets was to speak the words of God to the people, so that they may repent and turn to follow Him as they should. The "breaks in the wall" are the sins of the people, and the job of the prophets was to repair the relationship of the people and their God. False prophets, however, would allow the wall to become weak by not proclaiming the things sent to them from God, but instead giving people made-up visions and feeding them flowery words to make them feel better about their current state of affairs - thus "whitewashing" or "glossing over" their vile actions with false prophesies. 

Therefore, in searching for someone who would "build up the wall," God was looking for a leader with the guts to stand up to the people, to decry the wrong that they knew they had done, and to remind them that they should repent and return to God. There is no way that anyone can take on this responsibility unless they themselves are following God's way.

Now lets consider the gap. We've established already that the weakness of the wall signifies a distancing of the people from the law of God, and therefore a distancing from God Himself. This is the "gap" - the space that had grown in between the covenant people and God. God searched for someone to stand in that gap, to be the bridge by which the people could cross back to the ways of their Creator. 

There has been a long history of men that have stood in that gap. Notably, there was Moses, who interceded for Israel when they turned to idolatry while he was up on the mountain. God wanted to utterly destroy the people of Israel and start over with a new line of people descended from Moses, but Moses begged and pleaded that God would continue to work with them. Many of the judges stood in the gap in their day. Elijah stood in the gap. These were men who answered the call of God by walking upright in the midst of wickedness. 

Now I'm going to emphasize another peculiarity of this verse - note that it doesn't say that He was looking for someone to "stand in the gap" - it says He was looking for someone to "stand before Me in the gap." To me, that makes the requirement so much more powerful. It accentuates the point that in order to be the one to stand in the gap, you have to be willing to stand before God on behalf of people who do not deserve His mercy (I say that they do not deserve His mercy because of the fact that the people knew better.) These were God's covenant people, and they knew better than to partake in the idolatry and sexual immorality that they were practicing, as well as the desecration of His Sabbaths; and yet they did it anyway. Because God could find no one to stand in the gap in this case, the people of Israel had to endure his wrath. I have no doubt that there have been multiple times throughout history when God has looked for someone to stand before Him in the gap. Indeed, there are times yet to come when he will look for someone to stand in the gap and build up the wall.

So now that this is understood, I can tell you what I was thinking about this morning that inspired this whole discussion. What meaning can there be for us today in this scripture? Jesus describes the end-time pouring out of God's wrath in Mark 13. In particular, notice in verse 20 that "If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them." And now recall what Jesus said in Luke 18:8 - "when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" Clearly, God is counting on his church to be there to build up the wall and stand before Him in the gap at the time of the end. 

What can you do to be building up the wall today? Don't whitewash the wall by justifying actions that you know are wrong - examine your life, ask God to search out the evil in you and give you the strength to cast it out so that you can be blameless. 

What can you do to get ready to stand before God in the gap? God does not measure us simply by what we don't do, but also by what we do - consider the description of the righteous man, who saves his soul, in Ezekiel 18:5-9. Notice that in verse 7 that he doesn't just refrain from robbery, he also gives to the poor. 

Therefore, prepare yourself by committing your life to God's service. When you see an opportunity to serve God, take it. If you see a way that you can do something to help someone, do it. Ultimately, there will come a time when God's judgement against this sinful world will not be stayed, and it will be as it says in Ezekiel 14:14, that even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in the country that God has set his hand against, they each would only be able to save themselves by their righteousness. Be ready.