It’s TIME to WEEP over the UNGODLINESS among GOD’s PEOPLE
August 28 Bible Reading: Ezekiel Chapters 7-9
It’s TIME to WEEP over the UNGODLINESS among GOD’s PEOPLE
"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; 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." 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. 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." (Ezek
9:3-6)
In this vision God took Ezekiel back to Jerusalem to show him
the wickedness of God’s people. The glory of God moved away from the Holy of
Holies and began to depart from the temple fulfilling the saying: “Ichabod—the glory has departed” (1 Sam.
4:19–22; Jer. 7:1–15). Without the glory of God, the temple was just another
building; and without the presence of God in our lives, we are just like other
people (Exod. 33:12–16).
In Ezekiel chapter 9, six executioners are seen coming from
the north (the direction from which the Babylonians were to come) to destroy
the idolaters among God’s people. The man clothed with linen may symbolize grace. The glory cloud
(symbol of God’s presence) leaves the holy of holies in the temple, grieved
away by the idolatry of the people. Those faithful Jews who sighed and cried
being opposed the idolatry were sealed by a mark on their foreheads so that
they would not be killed.
According to Bible scholars, the sign (or, mark) on the
forehead was the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet (tau), which the rabbis
said suggested completeness. It is also the first letter of torâ (law). Feinberg
notes a fascinating parallel of this incident with that mentioned in Revelation
7:1–3: “Christian interpreters have seen
a somewhat prophetic allusion to the sign of the cross. In the earlier script
the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet (taw) had the form of a cross. Ezekiel,
of course, could not have thought of Christian symbolism nor is the passage a
direct prediction of Christ’s cross. It is a remarkable coincidence, however.”
Then the executioners began to slay the idolaters, starting
with the elders of Israel, but God’s command has one restriction: “Do not come near anyone on whom is the
mark,” says God. The literal fulfillment of this judgment is recorded in 2
Chronicles 36:17–19. God’s judgment proceeds without exemptions, as it did when
the death angel struck all the homes which did not have blood on the doorpost
(Exodus 12:13). Those who demonstrated a righteous attitude through true
repentance and remorse were marked out from the hardened rebels and spared from
the punishment.
Let us note that God’s judgment will begin with His people (v. 6b). Those who obey God’s commands and weep over the ungodliness among God’s people will be spared (see Rev. 7:2–4; 9:4; 14:1). "For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?" (1 Peter 4:17)
