The seal of God

The revelation given by our Lord to Apostle John talks about the last days. Let's look at a portion of the revelation.

Revelation 9:1-4 (NIV)
The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. And out of the smoke locusts came down upon the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.

Here John talks about a certain fearful judgement that can only be escaped if the seal of God is upon our foreheads. What is the seal of God? How do we get it? We see the answer in the following passage:

Ezekiel 9:4 (NIV)
"Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it."

God was executing judgement upon Jerusalem. He first sent an angel to go throughout Jerusalem to separate out people who did His will and those who didn't. Lot of detestable things were being done in Jerusalem. Those who looked at it, grieved about it, and lamented about it were given the seal of God on their foreheads. They were spared the terrible judgement. Those who did nothing about the detestable things were severely punished, as we see in the following verses:

Ezekiel 9:5-6 (NIV)
As I listened, he said to the others, "Follow him through the city and kill, without showing pity or compassion. Slaughter old men, young men and maidens, women and children, but do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary." So they began with the elders who were in front of the temple.

Judgement started right from the house of God. Even the elders who were in the front of the temple were not spared, if they failed to do His will.

We are now living in the last days. The second coming of our Lord is imminent. Sin has increased in the world. Detestable things are happening everywhere. What are we doing about it? Do we just ignore them and go on with our lives? Do we judge those who do such things as evil, and just avoid them? What should be our attitude in these terrible times?

God expects us to grieve over the sins of people and intercede for them with Him. He is looking for people to stand in the gap and intercede for people. Only those who do that will be eligible to receive the seal of God on their foreheads and escape the terrible judgement.

The Lord says: "be holy for I am holy". Shun evil ways. Be holy in His sight. Be burdened for friends. Intercede for them. Stand in the gap. Receive His seal.