Make a Wall

Ezekiel 22:30 And I sought a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none.


This has prophetic messianic implications: And I sought a man among them (Jesus)who should build up the wall (The Church) and stand (Intercede) in the gap (The breach caused by sin) before me that I should not destroy it...(the land)

From my earliest memory this passage has also been interpreted as the Lord seeking men/women to intercede in prayer on behalf of God's people. But this morning a phrase in a preceding passage jumped out at me that suggested an expanded interpretation, at least for me.

V. 26 "Her prophets plastered them with untempered mortar". The untempered mortar represents the false and unrighteous teaching claimed by the prophets to have come from the Lord. What struck me was the word "them" being the "people" of course, but more importantly the people represent the "wall" being plastered with untempered mortar (held together by false teaching). In this context it appears God is searching for a man (or men and women) who will build a wall (a group of people held together with righteous teaching from the Lord) who will stand in the gap (the breach that allows evil to invade) before God in the land, so he would not destroy it (the land).

In this passage I see a symbolic picture of the church carrying on the intercessory work of Jesus as His Body. It also suggests a "challenge for leaders" to rise up in the church...God is looking for a man (or a woman) who will build up the wall (mobilize God's people) to stand in the gap (not just hold back, but now overcome the invasion of evil due to Adam's sin by reconciling people to God, made possible only by the sacrifice of Jesus).