Ezekiel 13:5, commentary and pictures

The gaps and the hedge picture a breach in the defenses of the house of Israel that faithful leaders should have repaired, and the rebuke falls on false prophets for failing to go up and make up that hedge, leaving the people unprepared to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord. That failure is seen when people inquire about the seventh-day Sabbath, for false shepherds evade the truth, shift their positions, and mislead their flock into error and ruin instead of preparing them to stand in the coming conflict.

A great work must still be done for God's people now in the gathering time so they can stand, while those claiming to be Adventists yet rejecting present truth crumble and are divided and scattered. This breaking up opens the eyes of the precious jewels among them who were deceived to see their true state, and when messengers present truth in its beauty and harmony they are ready to listen, leave former associates and errors, embrace the precious truth, and take a stand where they can define their position.

The house of Israel must be fitted to stand by seeking wisdom and a fuller knowledge of present truth, and listening to false doctrines diverts the mind from that preparation. Standing in that battle requires drawing near to God and becoming holy through preparation before the time of trouble, and those who neglect it will have no shelter when the plagues fall and no time then to change.

That readiness means purifying the soul by obeying the whole truth and accepting being hewed by the prophets rather than thinking the condition is better than it is. It is victory over every besetment, all pride, selfishness, and love of the world, and over every wrong word and action, because God is holy and only holy beings can live in His sight and dwell in His presence. The refreshing and latter rain cannot afterward fit the unprepared, for the refreshing needed to live in the sight of a holy God is received only by those already victorious. Those neglecting preparation will come up to the falling of the plagues seeing they needed to be hewed and squared for the building, when there will be no time to do it and no Mediator to plead after the declaration fixing the unjust, the filthy, the righteous, and the holy in their state.

Making up the breach and standing in the gaps means being washed and living in newness of life by ceasing from breaking God's commandments since 1844 and from following the Pope in keeping the first day instead of the seventh. It means going down into the water to be baptized into the faith of the shut door and the keeping of God's commandments and into faith that Jesus is coming to sit on the throne of His father David and to redeem Israel. Those baptized as a door into the professed churches must be baptized out of that door again into that same faith, and all not baptized since 1844 must be baptized before Jesus comes. Some will make no progress until that duty is done, after which they must live anew unto God and serve Him faithfully.