Godsloveandlaw's Blog

The Lord’s last message foretold in Scripture, as we know, is the promised Elijah and his message (Mal.4:5). To come “before the great and dreadful day of the Lord”. At the very heart of this message is the specific instructions, that we must sigh and cry for all the abominations done in our midst (our own life and the church). But what exactly is sighing and crying? Let’s look deeper into this very important subject.

Before we establish from Scripture and SOP why we must do this, let’s look at the perfect example –our Lord’s example. In studying His short life here on earth, we see that His life was indeed filled with “sighing and crying”. We are told in (Isaiah 53:3) the following “He is despised and rejected of men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” He was often sighing, as he rebuked the pharisees and others for their sins and their hypocrisy. We also remember His weeping for  the stubborn rebellion of His people as He entered the city(Luke 19:41).

His life was not one of “looking the other way” at sin and hypocrisy. He dealt with it , in His midst. We who are striving to be like Him should certainly be like Him in this regard. In fact we shall see we are required to. Not because He is forcing us to, but because He sees that we do indeed love righteousness and truth, and validate it by our sighing and crying for sins. In other words, our conversion to living for Him is seen as real.

So with that, let us show the basis for this important commandment. As we are aware,  the inspired words come through the prophets. In this case, a clear command came through from  our dear prophetess-Ellen White. In Testimonies to Ministers, page 445, she said  that Ezekiel vision(Chapter 9)  and John’s vision (Rev. 7:1-4) were the same, in regards to the sealings of God that were to be done and completed BEFORE the winds were let loose. She also identified what those particular winds represented the Sunday law(with it’s subsequent times of trouble) (Test. for the Church, Vol. 5, p. 152).

So we see that the solemn chapter 9 of Ezekiel must be read, seriously studied and heeded now before the nations arise to begin to implement the Sunday law. It specifically says “..and the Lord said unto him (angel clothed in linen with a writer’s inkhorn) “Go through the midst of the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh  and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.” (Ezekiel 9:4).

EGW also said the following ” Study the 9th chapter of Ezekiel, these words will be literally fulfilled; yet the time is passing and the people are asleep. (Manuscript Releases, Vol. 1, p.260)

If we read further in Ezekiel 9, we find the disastrous consequents of those who don’t sigh and cry. So serious and solemn is this  that our Lord will do something unbelievable. Ezekiel reveals it from the Lord  “And I will do among you what I have never done, and the like of which I will never do again, because of your abominations (Ezekiel 5:9).

So it is clear that the Elijah message is so serious for us. We cannot be found turning away from it. Right now as we are being shown these instructions, we must heed them.

Let’s now look at some examples of sighing and crying, or the lack of. Recently I sat down with a leader among our church and we discussed “church”. I mentioned  that I thought it was wrong to leave the doors wide open to the sanctuary right after Sabbath school. There is hustling and bustling, noises, chatter, laughing, all coming right into the holy sanctuary. I told him it would be a good idea to keep the doors closed and have the door man watch them and help open for those entering.

His response to me was far from sighing and crying over this lack of reverence in God’s house. Instead he said the following “well, if you feel we’re not doing things right, maybe you can find a better church.”–Wow! Instead of seeing that this was an opportunity to show holy reverence to our Lord in HIS SANCTUARY, he basically was justifying lack of reverence as acceptable. Will he be found to be sighing and crying? All I can say is I fear for him.

Many of the abominations of which will cause us to sigh and cry are done right there in the sanctuary.  Ezekiel 9:11  says “Therefore as I live”, says the LORD  GOD. “surely, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable things and with all your abominations, therefore I will diminish you; My eye will not spare nor will I have pity.”

Think about this for a minute, if our Lord detested the abominations done in His sanctuary back in Ezekiel’s time, can we seriously think He has changed now?  “For I am the Lord, I do not change” (Mal 3:6)  That which is holy then is STILL holy today.

Some of the things that we can be aware of in His sanctuary are the following.

1) Paying our Tithes in the sanctuary on the Sabbath. See this link https://godsloveandlaw.com/2012/09/29/tithes-and-offerings-part-2-of-2/

2) Proper respectful dress. A while back I was in the foyer before service and saw a young lady walking around with a dress so short, you could almost see her underwear! She pranced around several times, then as she was walking by me , the Lord compelled me to stop her.We stepped off  to the side and  I said quietly to her ‘You know , you might want to dress a little more modestly , in God’s house next time.” She nodded and continued on her way. She was young, maybe 20, and I pray this was  wake up call for her.

3) Proper  silence in the sanctuary. That doesn’t mean we never say anything, but we watch closely our conversations, and keep to the bare  minimum. This includes cell phones, laptops, or other devices that we indulge in in the sanctuary. I recently saw a small child on the cellphone playing some worldly game all plainly seen in the sanctuary. Can the Lord be pleased with this?

4) Proper arrival to church. I recently sighed over a friend who walked into church with about 10 minutes left for the service.  I didn’t say anything to him but it sure bothered me. It showed great dis-respect or lack of preparation. If you were scheduled to meet the president of the US at an appointed time, would you show up an hour or more late? Almost all of us would never do that. Is the Lord less important?

5) Refrain from buying or selling on the Sabbath, this includes within the church on the Sabbath. As we mentioned before, peddling of God’s word is a big problem in our church. Travelling preachers or singers or speakers, often have CD’s or DVD’s for sale in the foyer after or even during service. We should sigh about this for sure.

6) Participating in “extra” events on the Sabbath. Recently our church picked the LORD’s day, let me repeat, the LORD’s day, to honor our members high school and college graduates. The last time I checked we are to honor our LORD on the Sabbath–not ourselves!  To some this may sound petty, but believe me, as surely as I live it is NOT petty to our Lord.

7)Keeping our conversations on the Sabbath focused on the Lord and His word.We should shun worldly business, events, gossip, etc. See (Isaiah 58:13)

The above are just some of the abominations that we must be aware of, in order to sigh and cry.

The opposite action of sighing and crying is to ignore it or worse, accept it and put a cloak over it by justifying it. When a sigher or crier comes to you, how do you respond? Do you pat them on the back and say ” Don’t worry about it, the Lord understands, He loves us and will work it out.” Is that sighing and crying for the abominations done in the midst? No, it surely is not. It is cloak covering.

Here are more words from EGW making clear the issue of sighing and crying. ” At the time when the danger and depression of the church are the greatest, the little company who are standing in the light, will be sighing and crying for the abominations that are done in the land…In a time when His wrath shall go forth in judgments, these humble devoted followers Christ will be distinguished from the rest of the world by their soul anguish, which is expressed in lamentation and weeping, reproofs and warnings. While others try to throw a cloak over the existing evil, and excuse the great wickedness everywhere prevalent, those who have a zeal for God’s Honor and a love for souls, will not hold their peace to obtain favor of any. (Test. for the Church, Vol. 5 P. 209-210)

“The class who do not feel grieved over their own spiritual declension, nor mourn the sins of other, will be left without the seal of God. (Test. for the Church, Vol. 5, p.211)

“… if wrongs are apparent among His people, and if the servants of God pass indifferent to them, they virtually sustain and justify the sinner, and are alike guilty and will just as surely receive the displeasure of God; for they will be mad responsible for the sins of the guilty.” (Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 3, p. 265,266)

In closing,  we must make a choice, do we sigh and cry as we are told to, with real conviction of the wrong and evilness of sin. Or do we ignore the Lord’s final message to us, thinking that we don’t need it. I plead with all,  to prayerfully consider these words you’ve read and take it seriously. Our days are near ending, and the Lord will settle the books with us. Will we be weighed in the balance and found wanting, or found an obedient servant of the Lord?

This entry was posted on July 7, 2012 at 5:40 am and is filed under Christian walk, Church, Ezekiel, God's sealings, Sighing and Crying. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.