CHAPTER 9

(594 B.C.)

JUDGMENT COMMANDED; THE RIGHTEOUS MARKED FOR DELIVERANCE

¹He cried also in my ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them who have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand. (One should consider the loud voice of Verse 18 of Chapter 8 with the loud voice in Verse 1 of this Chapter. The former loud voice represents an unrepentant heart which demands mercy, with the latter loud voice guaranteeing judgment.

The phrase, Cause them who have charge over the city to draw near, refers to the seven supernatural beings who will mark each individual person for death or life, depending on their relationship with Christ. This gives us a view into the spirit world of the action of God concerning events.)

²And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lies toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one Man among them was clothed with linen, with a writers inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the Brasen Altar. (These seven beings were evidently supernatural. Even though Ezekiel spoke of them as men, they were, in reality, Angels. Six were ministers of wrath and one of Grace. And one Man among them was clothed with linen, seems to imply that He was part of the six. However, the original Hebrew sets Him apart from the six, making a total of seven. Because He was clothed in linen, which symbolizes Righteousness, and because His Ministry was to set a Divine mark upon all who judged and bewailed the abominations that were practiced in the City and Temple, this white-robed Minister pictures Israels True and Great High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ [Rev., Chpts. 7, 14].)

³And the Glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the Cherub, whereupon He was, to the threshold of the house. And He called to the Man clothed with linen, which had the writers inkhorn by His side (the One doing the calling seems to be God the Father, while the One to Whom He called is God the Son);

⁴And the LORD said unto Him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men who sigh and who cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. (This refers to the entire righteous population which was small.)

THE DEATH OF THE GUILTY

⁵And to the others He said in my hearing, Go you after Him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have you pity (the others refer to the six who were slated to mark for Judgment, as the One was slated to mark for Salvation and Protection):

⁶Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at My Sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house. (These Angels did not actually kill these people, but only marked them for destruction; this action was unseen and unfelt by the individuals involved. The few who were marked for righteousness were to be spared.

Begin at My Sanctuary, proclaims the fact that Judgment begins at the House of God [I Pet. 4:17]. There is a throb of anguished love in the words, My Sanctuary.)

⁷And He said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the dead: go you forth. And they went forth, and killed in the city. (As stated, the Judgment would begin at the House of God.)

⁸And it came to pass, while they were killing them, and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord GOD! will You destroy all the residue of Israel in Your pouring out of Your fury upon Jerusalem? (And I was left, refers to all the Priests marked for death except himself. As is obvious here, almost all the people, including the Priests, were marked for destruction.)

⁹Then said He unto me, The iniquity of the House of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, the LORD has forsaken the Earth, and the LORD sees not. (While it is true that the Lord does not see the sins which are washed in the Blood of the Lamb, still, He most definitely sees the sins of the Believer which are unconfessed and for which there is no Repentance [Jn. 1:6-10].)

¹⁰And as for Me also, My eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will recompense their way upon their head. (Three times it is declared that pity will not be shown [8:18; 9:5, 10]; but this is not the triple language of pleasure, but of agony. It is Love compelled to keep reminding itself of the sad necessity of Judgment.)

¹¹And, behold, the Man clothed with linen, which had the inkhorn by His side, reported the matter, saying, I have done as You have commanded Me. (As stated, The Man clothed with linen was most probably a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ [II Tim. 4:1]. The inkhorn by His side proclaims the names of the redeemed written in the Lambs Book of Life [Rev. 20:15].)