Standing in the Gap

God guided Ezekiel to confront Judah, “The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the sojourner without justice. And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none. Therefore I have poured out my indignation upon them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I have returned their way upon their heads, declares the Lord GOD.” [Ez 22:29-31]

As I read from Ezekiel this morning I recalled my US Army basic training days of long ago. I was among the last draftees of the Vietnam war era. One feature of our training stood out—a brief lecture on whether soldiers are required to obey illegal orders. The firm answer: “No!”

The context was the 1968 My Lai massacre in South Vietnam. Soldiers of the USA 23rd Infantry Division attacked two villages, expecting to fight a strong enemy unit. In the event the enemy forces were missing, yet the soldiers proceeded to kill about five-hundred civilians, including the elderly and women with children. A helicopter pilot tried to stop the killing but failed. When news eventually reached the States a controversy erupted. The soldiers had been sent to defend the very people they massacred. A trial followed and one of the army officers was convicted and given a life sentence, later commuted by President Nixon to three years of house arrest.

A separate and small event in my own army service also touched on obeying orders. On my first day as a new clerk in the 561st Military Police Company at Fort Meyer, Virginia, a Colonel called and I answered. He asked to talk to our top sergeant who responded, “Tell him I’m not in.”

Ouch—lying wasn’t part of my brief! So after a long time—probably thirty seconds—I said, “Sergeant Crawford, then you’ll need to leave the room.” I was an E-2—a private—and he was an E-8, so I expected a volcano to erupt! But Crawford picked up and completed the call. Then he slammed the receiver down and glared at me. “You will NOT answer the phone again!” Okay.

That memory is why I’m particularly alert to the news about Mark Kelly, a current Senator, former Astronaut, and retired Navy Captain. He’s being threatened by current political leaders with a demotion in his retired rank and with that, a reduction of retirement pay. Why? Because he publicly reminded those in the military today of the rule I learned over fifty years ago: soldiers are not required to obey illegal orders.

So, old stories and current news aside, is Ezekiel’s call still true for today? Or is it an ancient item only meant for Judeans in 587 BC, when Ezekiel spoke? When the people of Jerusalem were facing God’s judgment and under siege by the Babylonian army. Is God still looking “for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it”?

It still stands. And humanity—America included—will do well to listen. Here’s why. The Bible reveals a contest from Genesis chapter three to the end of the book of Revelation. It’s a contest between God and his adversary, the Devil. The profiles of the contest are obvious in a full-Bible reading. Moral corruption, both individual and national, displays the Devil’s hand: oppression, extortion, robbery, injustice, and more. In John 8:44 Jesus confronted the Devil’s base ambition, which is to distort God’s reality—to lie. “Whenever he speaks, he tells the lie…” The lie? In Genesis 3:4 he told Eve, “you can be like God, knowing [defining] good and evil.” Sin, in other words, is a demonic declaration of moral and spiritual independence from God.

The Bible then sets out the differences between God’s ways and the Devil’s ways. The ways of Adam versus Jesus. Of Noah versus everyone else. Of Abram after he believed God. Of Elijah versus Ahab. Of David versus Saul. Of redeemed Peter, James, and John versus Peter, James and John before they met Jesus.

So what does a “man in the gap” look like? Like David who rescued Israel by confronting Goliath. Of Elijah on Mount Carmel confronting Ahab’s hundreds of false prophets. Of Jesus confronting the Pharisees and Pontius Pilate. And who said, “I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice” [Jn 18:37].

Jesus also warned, “For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” [Mt 7:13-14].

Let’s go back to the question of corruption. We see it in others when they make selfish choices. Self-love is obvious to all but the lover. Like Adam and Eve who, after their rebellion, were self-conscious and self-focused—curved in on self—and dead to God. Now separated from the God who, alone, brings life and truth. His truth denies the lie that humans can replace God by determining good and evil for themselves. Seeking to do so is an active function of spiritual and moral death. And with death comes the decay of character and human culture. To stand in the gap is, by contrast, to say, “That’s wrong—it’s not of God but of the enemy.” It’s what I realized as I held the phone at Fort Meyer. It’s what the helicopter pilot recognized at My Lai.

Following the Truth—as ultimately revealed in Jesus—rather than embracing “the Lie” is never going to be a majority position. And being religious—“evangelical”—doesn’t make one a true follower of Jesus. But listening to God’s Holy Spirit using the Word, and loving the Son, offers a pathway needed in America today. The corruption unfolding around us is obvious as we read the Bible. We see the contrasts it offers between God and the Devil from beginning to end. So who among us are ready to stand up in the face of the Lie? Let’s go there. Ignoring God’s expressed indignation is hardly a pathway to success. Whether as individuals or as a nation.