Eze 9:3 | KingComments | STEP | The vision Ezekiel sees continues here. Now he hears the LORD calling, not to him, but to men who are to punish the city ( ). These men are angels (cf. ). They are to draw near because they are to execute His judgment which He announced at the end of the previous chapter. For this they must be armed with a destroying weapon which they must have in their hands, ready for immediate use. The Hebrew word for destroying weapon implies that it is an instrument used to destroy something. Six men come forward from the north ( ). That they come from the north shows the direction from which God’s judgment is coming. The Babylonians will come from the north and destroy Jerusalem. There is a seventh Man with them. He stands among them and is clothed in linen. Linen clothes are priestly garments ( ; ; cf. ) that symbolize the holiness of God. This seventh Man has no destroying weapon in His hand, but a writing case at his loins. He is not to destroy, but to protect from destruction. He is the Angel of the LORD, in Whom we recognize the Person of the Lord Jesus, “who rescues us from the wrath to come” ( ). Then they all go in and stand beside the bronze altar. The bronze altar is a picture of the cross and sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus. Christ’s death is the means by which God can offer grace to repentant sinners. Those who refuse that salvation will themselves suffer God’s judgment and perish. Their place next to the bronze altar indicates that the judgment that will be executed on Jerusalem is in perfect accord with the righteousness of God’s judgment that struck the Lord Jesus on the cross. When the men who are to execute the judgment have entered together with the Man with the writing case, “the glory of the God of Israel” goes up from above the cherub ( ). It goes from the cherub to the threshold of the temple and starts, as it were, its way out. Here we see the first indication that God is in the process of leaving the temple, His house. What should the glory of God have found on the threshold? The gatekeepers. But no faithful gatekeeper stood up for the glory of God when the four forms of idolatry described in the previous chapter were introduced into the temple and practiced there. No Pinehas arose to remove these abominations ( ). When God’s glory is on the threshold, He calls to the Man Who is clothed in linen and Who has the writing case at His loins. He instructs the Man to pass through the midst of the city and put a mark on the foreheads of those who sigh and groan over all the abominations which are being committed in the midst of the city ( ). The whole city is full of idolatry, but there is a remnant who does not participate in it. Not only do they not participate in it, but they suffer from it. They suffer inwardly, they “sigh”, and express it loudly, they “groan”. To them, the word of the Lord applies: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” ( ). Do we suffer at the sight of all the horrors happening around us and do we keep far away from them? The LORD knows them, just as the Lord Jesus in all times of decay knows the few who are His own ( ). The Lord Jesus – He is the Man with the writing case – is to put a mark on the foreheads of those who mourn. That mark will protect them from the destroying weapon of the six men who will pass through the city after Him to destroy. It is not a mark of blood on the doorposts of their houses, as at the Passover ( ), but a personal sign of the cross on their foreheads. The Hebrew word translated “mark” is tav , which is also the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This letter corresponds to our letter ‘t’. In Ezekiel’s time this letter was written in the form of a cross, as we also recognize in our letter ‘t’. We can see in it the application that the believers in Jerusalem are kept from judgment by the sign of the cross applied to their foreheads by the Man clothed in linen. In the future, during the time of the great tribulation, believers will receive a similar mark on their foreheads ( ). In contrast, apostates will bear the mark of the beast on their foreheads ( ). A spiritual application of the cross on the forehead for us is that we live in self-judgment and no longer set our mind on the things of the flesh, of man, but on those of God.

‏ Ezekiel 9:3

The Man With the Writing Case

The vision Ezekiel sees continues here. Now he hears the LORD calling, not to him, but to men who are to punish the city (Eze 9:1). These men are angels (cf. Gen 18:2 ; Gen 19:13). They are to draw near because they are to execute His judgment which He announced at the end of the previous chapter. For this they must be armed with a destroying weapon which they must have in their hands, ready for immediate use. The Hebrew word for destroying weapon implies that it is an instrument used to destroy something.

Six men come forward from the north (Eze 9:2). That they come from the north shows the direction from which God’s judgment is coming. The Babylonians will come from the north and destroy Jerusalem.

There is a seventh Man with them. He stands among them and is clothed in linen. Linen clothes are priestly garments (Exo 28:42; Lev 16:4; cf. Dan 10:5 ; Dan 12:6) that symbolize the holiness of God. This seventh Man has no destroying weapon in His hand, but a writing case at his loins. He is not to destroy, but to protect from destruction. He is the Angel of the LORD, in Whom we recognize the Person of the Lord Jesus, “who rescues us from the wrath to come” (1Thes 1:10).

Then they all go in and stand beside the bronze altar. The bronze altar is a picture of the cross and sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus. Christ’s death is the means by which God can offer grace to repentant sinners. Those who refuse that salvation will themselves suffer God’s judgment and perish. Their place next to the bronze altar indicates that the judgment that will be executed on Jerusalem is in perfect accord with the righteousness of God’s judgment that struck the Lord Jesus on the cross.

When the men who are to execute the judgment have entered together with the Man with the writing case, “the glory of the God of Israel” goes up from above the cherub (Eze 9:3). It goes from the cherub to the threshold of the temple and starts, as it were, its way out. Here we see the first indication that God is in the process of leaving the temple, His house.

What should the glory of God have found on the threshold? The gatekeepers. But no faithful gatekeeper stood up for the glory of God when the four forms of idolatry described in the previous chapter were introduced into the temple and practiced there. No Pinehas arose to remove these abominations (Num 25:6-9).

When God’s glory is on the threshold, He calls to the Man Who is clothed in linen and Who has the writing case at His loins. He instructs the Man to pass through the midst of the city and put a mark on the foreheads of those who sigh and groan over all the abominations which are being committed in the midst of the city (Eze 9:4).

The whole city is full of idolatry, but there is a remnant who does not participate in it. Not only do they not participate in it, but they suffer from it. They suffer inwardly, they “sigh”, and express it loudly, they “groan”. To them, the word of the Lord applies: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Mt 5:4). Do we suffer at the sight of all the horrors happening around us and do we keep far away from them?

The LORD knows them, just as the Lord Jesus in all times of decay knows the few who are His own (2Tim 2:19-22). The Lord Jesus – He is the Man with the writing case – is to put a mark on the foreheads of those who mourn. That mark will protect them from the destroying weapon of the six men who will pass through the city after Him to destroy. It is not a mark of blood on the doorposts of their houses, as at the Passover (Exo 12:7 ; 13), but a personal sign of the cross on their foreheads.

The Hebrew word translated “mark” is tav, which is also the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This letter corresponds to our letter ‘t’. In Ezekiel’s time this letter was written in the form of a cross, as we also recognize in our letter ‘t’. We can see in it the application that the believers in Jerusalem are kept from judgment by the sign of the cross applied to their foreheads by the Man clothed in linen.

In the future, during the time of the great tribulation, believers will receive a similar mark on their foreheads (Rev 7:3 ; Rev 9:4 ; Rev 14:1). In contrast, apostates will bear the mark of the beast on their foreheads (Rev 13:16-17 ; Rev 14:9 ; Rev 20:4). A spiritual application of the cross on the forehead for us is that we live in self-judgment and no longer set our mind on the things of the flesh, of man, but on those of God.