NOTES for Eze 22:1-31
The accusations against the city of sinners, so familiar to readers, are suddenly interrupted by a question: who could stand in the breach of the fortress wall to shield the people from God’s wrath? Truly, His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. We are accustomed to expect the punishment of sinners as a manifestation of justice; we are ready to accept God’s mercy, which surpasses every notion of justice. But what the Lord reveals to us here surpasses all human understanding. One could even say that it is precisely passages such as these, which people would hardly have devised on their own, that testify that the Bible is the Book of Revelation.
Thus, even after showing us what we are worth and what we deserve, the Lord is so unwilling that we should perish that He Himself calls us to stand before Him and intercede for those who are perishing. And if we are created in His image and likeness, then our humility before Him consists not in self-abasement, but in agreeing with God and accepting the responsibility placed upon us.
And the day will come when He Himself, having become like us, will show us the example by standing in the breach on Golgotha.