Ezek. 5 - Dividing The Hairs

And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber’s razor, and cause it to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh, and divide the hair. (Ezekiel 5:1)

As I’ve looked at the prophecies of Ezekiel and have seen how they’re as pertinent now as they were some two-and-a-half millennia ago, there’s something that I’ve come to realize: they’ve been pertinent to every generation. What we’re seeing these days is no different than it was five years ago, twenty years ago, a hundred years ago, a thousand years ago. The Lord has always had His followers, as has the enemy; and there has always been conflict between them. However, something that sets this generation apart from all the rest is called timing. We’re in the time when all things are going to culminate, and the authority of the world that the enemy usurped through deception is going to be returned to God. Consequently, now more than ever Satan is increasing his assaults on the creation; and more and more people are falling prey to him. Tragically, that includes far too many who call themselves followers of Jesus.

Thus, we come to the account of the hair; and there are a couple of things that the Lord is letting us know through it. First: whereas this was something that was done during times of mourning, so He’s telling us that He’s been in mourning; not just during these days, but ever since He first gathered His people together. Many critics of the Bible make it a point to focus on what they call the negative aspects in an attempt to discredit God; yet those are what actually lend credence to Him. He’s not afraid to allow us to see the good and the bad, the positive and the negative, the light and the dark, because that’s reality. And because man has always been a mixture of good and evil, including those who are His followers, then He’s always been in mourning for those who have refused to come to Him, and for those who are His people, but who have gone astray. Thus, in these days, there are multitudes who claim to be His followers, yet who have allowed the filth of this world’s belief system to become mixed with what should be pure and undefiled.

Therefore, because many of those who are His people have allowed themselves to be seduced into believing that catering to the ways of the unregenerate is necessary to reach the unregenerate, then the unity that should be extant is relatively nonexistent. God will stand between those who are His true people and those who claim to be His true people, just as He stood between the children of Israel and the Egyptians at the Red Sea. You see, by integrating the ways of the world into the things of God, the enemy is being allowed into the camp unopposed. That’s why he was to divide the hairs. They were one when on his head and his beard, but they were divided when they were removed. And since there are those within the church who are walking in their own way and seeking to fulfill their own agendas, then the division that will happen won’t be the doings of the Lord as much as it will be the logical result of the rebelliousness.

God originally established the church and set her to be a light to the world and a place where He could be manifested to the creation. At first, she was just that; but it wasn’t long relatively before she began to go astray. As a matter of fact, even before Paul passed from this life, he told the elders in Ephesus:

Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my de-parting shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. (Acts 20:28 to 30)

So, right from the start the enemy was finding gaps by which he could gain entrance to God’s people, and he was taking full advantage of it. Therefore, since it has continued unabated, then the Lord has deemed it necessary to judge her, to cleanse and to purify her. As I’ve said before and will continue to say, there are multitudes of honest believers and ministers who are doing their best to walk as the Lord requires. But there are also many who are not. So, because there are many silver-tongued liars who have twisted the Word of God to justify their perversions, and many biblically illiterate believers who have fallen prey to them, then the body is far from what the Lord wants her to be. Consequently, there’s only one way to get her where He wants her to be. The getting there will be devastating, but the result will be glorious.

We need to understand something: the things that are befalling the world are those same things that will befall the rebellious in the church, simply because they’ve chosen to reject the Lord as their Head and have subjected themselves to the authority of the enemy. In essence, this is exactly what happened in the garden. The serpent was able to beguile the woman with “the lust of the flesh” (the tree was good for food), “the lust of the eyes” (it was pleasant to the eyes), “and the pride of life” (a tree to be desired to make one wise) (1 John 2:16 and Genesis 3:6); and he’s been able to do the same with far too many in the church (the woman). Through their choice, they’ll have opened themselves up to the pestilence, the violence, and the fear that being a subject of the kingdom of the enemy brings.

There’s something that exacerbates their rebellion, though, and it’s the fact that they once had claimed allegiance to the Lord before their treason. Now, let me clarify something here. None of them have come to the place of wanting to serve the enemy. In fact, just about all of them believe that they’re still serving God. That’s the deception under which they’ve fallen. The reality, however, is that, because, as I said, they’ve chosen to adopt the ways of the unregenerate in an effort to attract the unregenerate, they’ve alienated themselves from the Lord; and they’re totally oblivious to it. Thus, when His warnings of impending judgment are brought to them, many will reject them.

Not all, but many.

And that’s the reason that the Lord is mourning.