Ezekiel 9:1-11
1 Then He called out in my hearing with a loud voice, saying, "Let those who have charge over the city draw near, each with a deadly weapon in his hand." 2 And suddenly six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his battle-ax in his hand. One man among them was clothed with linen and had a writer's inkhorn at his side. They went in and stood beside the bronze altar.
3 Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub, where it had been, to the threshold of the temple. And He called to the man clothed with linen, who had the writer's inkhorn at his side; 4 and the LORD said to him, "Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it."
5 To the others He said in my hearing, "Go after him through the city and kill; do not let your eye spare, nor have any pity. 6 Utterly slay old and young men, maidens and little children and women; but do not come near anyone on whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary." So they began with the elders who were before the temple. 7 Then He said to them, "Defile the temple, and fill the courts with the slain. Go out!" And they went out and killed in the city.
8 So it was, that while they were killing them, I was left alone; and I fell on my face and cried out, and said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Will You destroy all the remnant of Israel in pouring out Your fury on Jerusalem?"
9 Then He said to me, "The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of bloodshed, and the city full of perversity; for they say, The LORD has forsaken the land, and the LORD does not see!' 10 And as for Me also, My eye will neither spare, nor will I have pity, but I will recompense their deeds on their own head."
11 Just then, the man clothed with linen, who had the inkhorn at his side, reported back and said, "I have done as You commanded me."
The wicked were not written on their foreheads to identify as the LORD’s, while the unrepentant and unrighteous were written off for judgment and destruction. This calls to mid Revelation 7:2, 9:4, 14:1 in the final judgment where those marked as God’s people are delivered from the justice of due punishment for their sins of idolatry and immortality in rejecting God’s righteousness in Christ alone. Here Ezekiel heard God called six executioners and one scribe to the altar of atoning sacrifices for their mission. God’s glory moved from the cherub over the mercy seat to the threshold where He would send them from there into the city. His glory had enough of the abominations and would leave there so His wrath could be poured out without mercy on all not marked clearly as His own. Those who were marked were the ones who were repentant and grieved over the state of all those defiling the worship and honor of the LORD with abominable desecrations of idols and immortality in God’s stone temple and their own fleshly ones. They were held to account just as all will be in the end. The good news now as then is for the righteous marked as God’s by His work of grace and not our sullied and ineffective works. The executioners stated from the sanctuary and marched into the city to kill all not His and their bodies filled the temple court where they should have been worshiping and finding atonement for sin. Ezekiel fell prostrate and begged for understanding of why so many had to suffer the wages of sin, which is death for all not chosen and set aside by God (Romans 6:23). The reason was all had turned from Him to sin (Romans 3:23) and had not repented. They earned their wages. It was their just due. Only those seeking refuge who God had already identified as His would and will survive the judgment. This is the reason the gospel was preached to them then and us now that the remnant will be saved. The righteous in Christ are never written off because they are written on by God as His forever. All others are. Amen.
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