"Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord" (Ezekiel 13:5).

The protecting hand of God is referred to in a number of scriptural passages as a hedge. The hedge serves as a fence or wall to protect that which it surrounds.

When the Lord told Satan about the uprightness of Job, Satan responded: "Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side?" (Job 1:10).

Here we find God's special protection and blessings described as a hedge. In this case, the Lord removed a portion of the hedge to try Job and to ultimately bring greater blessings to him. "Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy" (James 5:11).

Isaiah 5:1-7 compares Judah and Jerusalem to a vineyard the Lord planted, dressed and protected with a hedge. Due to the great sins of omission (not bringing forth good grapes) and the sins of commission (bringing forth wild grapes) the Lord said He would "take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up..." (Isaiah 5:5).

Ezekiel 13:5 and 22:30 show a situation where part of the hedge protecting God's people has been taken away. God's continual special blessings upon His children in this present world are greatly conditional upon their obedience to His word. In all aspects of their lives, they must largely conform to the law of the Lord. Truth and righteousness must be a hedge about them. To the extent these virtues are neglected, a gap is made in the hedge.

Unless someone stands in these gaps and maintains the hedge, the Lord will come in judgment. When the Lord looks today and tomorrow, will he find you and me stand- ing in the gap and making up the hedge? Perhaps we need to examine in more detail what makes up this hedge and find the places where the gaps exist. If we are unable to locate where the gaps appear, we will be unable to stand there. Remember, the Lord said, "I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none" (Ezekiel 22:30).

(Reference Daily Devotion for March 4, 2004)

"The year was 480 B.C. The East was on the move against the West. A colossal and terrible army, the greatest the world had ever seen, had poured across the Hellespont from Asia into Europe. Led by the all- powerful King Xerxes, the vast host included fish-scale armored Per- sians, camel-riding Arabs, chariot-driving Libyans, turbaned Cissians, balloon-trousered Scythians, high-heel booted Sarangians, and scores of other tribes and nationalities. Eighty thousand men rode on horse- back or in chariots; around them marched foot soldiers and archers beyond counting.

"When this Grand Army marched, it was said, the ground trembled. When they ate, it was as if locusts had devoured everything in their path. When they drank, it seemed that whole pools were dried up and entire rivers reduced to a trickle. The imperial Persian war machine was like nothing anyone had seen before. Simply to pass by the king in review took a full week.

"The Persian mission was revenge. Xerxes, the thirty-eight-year-old "king of kings," had set out from Susa, after four years of prepara- tion to avenge the defeat of his father Darius. In the process he in- tended to subdue Greece, nip the budding menace of Athens and Sparta, and expand the far-flung empire of Persia. Athens, of course, was not yet the shining city of Pericles, Phidias, Aeschylus, and Sophocles. The marble wonder of the Parthenon and the golden age of science, phi- losophy, democracy, and theatre lay in the future. Athens was merely a fractious little city. If anything, Sparta appeared to have greater military potential. But speculation on the future would have seemed absurd during those sweltering days in mid-August. Even if they united, the Greek city-states would have been no match for Xerxes' awesome force. But they were divided as well as unprepared. The quarrelsome Greeks were as much at war with each other as with the Persians.

"So it was that the Persian super-army of perhaps a quarter of a million soldiers (Herodotus said three million) was opposed by a hastily assem- bled, ragtag force of seven thousand Greeks from five city-states. But at their core were three hundred Spartans, trained to stand or die. ("Come back _with_ your shield or _on_ it," a Spartan mother told her son.) They were led by a fifty-five-year-old Spartan prince, Leonidas. And they took their stand in a narrow pass, twenty yards wide, bounded by the sea on one side and the five thousand-foot cliffs of Mt. Kalli- dromos on the other. Hot sulfurous springs, which the Greeks called Thermopylae, or Hot Gates, bubbled out of these cliffs at the narrowest place.

"For the Persians the whole encounter must have looked at first like a simple mopping-up operation, a tiny dust-storm scuffle. But for two days the unstoppables were stopped. Late on the second day, Xerxes, fearing a calamitous panic, sent in his crack division, "the Immor- tals" -- who were repulsed too at tremendous cost. For two long days the Persian horde had attacked and the heroic handful of Greeks had held firm.

"Then, disastrously, the Greeks were betrayed. By night a traitor led the Persians over the cliffs so that at daybreak Leonidas and his men were surrounded. The pass had been sold. The game was up. Death was coming as surely as the dawn. Dismissing most of his army, Leonidas led his own three hundred Spartans and a few others to a little mound from which they could make their last desperate stand and hold back the oncoming avalanche. There the little band fought to the last man and died. When their swords were gone, according to Herodotus, they fought on with their hands and their teeth. But before they died, they sent home the stirring message that has become their epitaph: "Stranger, tell the Spartans that we behaved as they would wish us to, and are buried here."

"Brief, laconic, and to the point, these last words came from a little band of Greeks who had no idea what was to come. They could not see how their example would trigger a surge of pride and inspire their fellow countrymen to decisive victories at Salamis and Platae, that never again would the Persians seriously menace Greece, and that in thirty short yearsthe city of Athens would rise to become the most influential city the world has ever known.

"Dedicated and courageous, they did their duty. They stood firm in the line of history, and today all free people enjoy a freedom that flows partly from their stand. As the French philosopher Montaigne said of Thermopylae two thousand years later, "there are triumphant defeats that rival victories."

* * *

"Will it be said of followers of Jesus Christ across the world, "Passerby, tell our Lord that we have behaved as He would wish us to behave, and are buried here"? For at the threshold of the third millennium of its existence, the Church of Jesus Christ confronts the greatest challenge it has ever faced. This challenge touches on behavior every bit as much as belief, yet it requires belief to inspire and stiffen that behavior.

* * *

"In the current situation, the church's deepest challenge is neither political nor ideological, and certainly it is not military [although, as Scripture points out, the preparations for this challenge have meta- phorical parallels to military preparations, i.e. the "armor" of the believer, etc.--EH] It is spiritual and theological and comes to a head where behavior expresses belief and deeds express words . . .. As each great civilization, guided and inspired by a different religion, com- petes to demonstrate its vision of the best way forward for humankind, it is plain that we cannot afford fuzzy thinking and half-hearted liv- ing . . .. Beliefs have consequences . . ..

* * *

". . . 'A time to stand' is a time to behave as our Lord would wish us to behave. A time to behave is a time to believe as he has taught us to believe. A time to believe is a time to move from small, cozy formulations of faith to knowing what it is to be called by Him as the deepest, most stirring, and most consuming passion of our lives."

"And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none" (Ezekiel 22:30).

Hopefully, we have not yet reached the condition that existed in the time of Ezekiel. I truly believe that there are a good number of Christians in America today that are serving as salt and light in the midst of cor- ruption and darkness. They are "blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom (they) shine as lights in the world" (Philippians 2:15).

However, there are so many who have been given this responsibility, who have become part of this world problem rather than standing against it. Others are slothful, lacking godly zeal, and do nothing but pray occasionally about the problems affecting our families, churches, and country.

This may be partially due a defeatist mindset that has spread throughout much of Christianity. Sure, we are told, there is ultimate victory through the return of our Lord Jesus Christ, but there is nothing you can do about the corruption around you. The defeatists tell us the Bible says things are just going to get worse and worse. Apparently our early American forefathers did not find the Bible saying that. In the Providence of God they went about fighting for the right against what seemed impossible odds. Things got much better for the Lord's church for over two centuries!

Most surely, the perfect solution to all our problems is the Lord's return. But the time of that event has not been revealed to us. Jesus gave certain signs that would take place before the end of the Jewish world that occurred in 70 A.D., and there may be similar signs before the end of time. One telling sign is the loosing of the Devil so that he will deceive the nations once more (Revelation 20:7-9).

Our responsibility remains the same regardless of when the Lord comes back whether it is tomorrow, next year or a thousand years from now. Jesus taught the lesson that his disciples should occupy until He comes (Luke 19:13).

In order to be able to stand in the gap and make up the hedge, one's life must be godly. A man, woman, boy or girl must have many of the traits that are given as qualifications for a minister or deacon. They must be "vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality... Not given to wine” (or any mind altering substance) (I Timothy 3:2-3). Read the other traits in I Timothy 3 and Titus 1:7-8).

Through Ezekiel, the prophet, God relates some of the reasons why he had poured out His indig- nation and fury upon Israel and Juda (Ezekiel 22).

Israel's prophets were cruel and were taking from the poor and needy to enrich themselves (Ezekiel 22:25). Her priests were neglecting their responsi- bilities, making no difference between the holy and the profane, etc. (Ezekiel 22:26). Her princes (leaders) were "like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain" (Ezekiel 22:27).

Israel's prophets were misrepresenting the Lord by speaking lies in His name (Ezekiel 22:28). The general population "used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully" (Ezekiel 22:29).

Was the Lord pleased with this situation? Was He standing by waiting for their sin to become so great that it would demand His righteous indignation? No!

God "sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none" (Ezekiel 22:30).

Is the Lord pleased with the suicidal path our county is currently traveling? As our society seems bend upon going against the way of righteousness and morality, is the Lord seeking for someone to stand in the gap and make up the hedge?

There are many hedges that have been broken down in our day. Am I willing to stand in the gap? Are you willing to stand in the gap?