This is the heart of Ezekiel’s message, and it must have broken his heart to deliver it. Read the book of Lamentations and see how thoroughly the Lord “dealt in fury” with His people. Jeremiah was an eyewitness of the destruction of Jerusalem, and what Ezekiel predicted, Jeremiah saw fulfilled.
The remnant spared (9:1–4). In his vision, Ezekiel was still in the temple in Jerusalem when he heard the Lord summon six “men” to prepare the way for the slaughter. These were probably angels who appeared as men, the angels assigned to the city of Jerusalem. Daniel learned that there were angels in charge of nations (Dan. 10:12–21), so it isn’t unusual that Jerusalem should have six guardian angels. These angels were appointed to execute God’s judgment in the city. But with the six angels was a seventh person bearing the equipment of a scribe, clothed in linen as though he were a priest. On the basis of his garment (Dan. 10:5; Rev. 1:13), some students have identified this man as the Lord Jesus Christ who came to preserve His faithful remnant, but this is only conjecture. On his belt or sash, the scribe wore a leather or metal container, about ten inches long and an inch and a half square, in which were reed pens and a container of ink. In ancient cities, the scribe would register the citizens and identify the aliens. These seven angels congregated at the altar of burnt offering, the place where the fire of God’s holy judgment consumed the sacrifices. The fire declared the holiness of God, but the blood sacrifice on the altar declared the grace of God.
At this point, the shekinah glory that had been on the “chariot throne” (Ezek. 8:2, 4) moved from the throne to the threshold of the temple, in preparation for leaving the temple. It’s interesting that the glory of God should be associated with the judgment of a polluted city, but it is for His glory that God judges sin. It is also for His glory that God graciously saves those who put their trust in Him (Eph. 1:6, 12, 14). The Jewish people who had God’s glory dwelling among them didn’t seek to glorify Him by obeying His will, so He received glory by punishing their sins.
The scribe-angel was commanded to go through the city and mark the people who lamented and grieved because of the sins of the city. No matter how dark the day, God has always had His faithful remnant who obeyed His will and trusted Him for deliverance, and Ezekiel was among them (Ezek. 6:11; 21:6; see Ps. 12:5; 119:53; 136; Isa. 66:2; Jer. 13:17; Amos 6:6; Mal. 3:16.) The marking of people will also be a feature of the end times (Rev. 7:3; 9:4; 13:16–17; 20:4). Believers today are “marked” by the Spirit of God (Eph. 1:13–14) and should be “marked” by holy lives that glorify Christ.
The rebels judged (9:5—10:7). The other six angels were to follow the scribe-angel and kill everybody on whom he didn’t put the mark, and nobody was to be spared because of sex or age. The word for “mark” in the Hebrew text is the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet (taw or tau), which in that day was written like a cross (X). The angels see to it that God’s plans are fulfilled for individuals and nations, but they perform their duties invisibly, unseen by the people whose lives they affect. It was now the year 592 BC (8:1), and the city of Jerusalem wouldn’t be taken until 586 BC. Some of the inhabitants had already died of famine and pestilence, but when the Babylonian army broke through the walls, many more were to be slaughtered with the sword (5:8–13).
“Begin at my sanctuary” seems like a strange order, but it was the idolatry in the temple that had aroused the anger of the Lord. Often in Scripture you find God sending judgment, not because unbelievers have sinned, but because His own people have disobeyed His law! Twice Abraham brought judgment on innocent Gentiles because he lied about his wife (Gen. 12:10–20; 20:1–18). Aaron the high priest led Israel into idolatry and three thousand people were slain (Ex. 32:1–6, 26–29). David committed adultery with Bathsheba and then murdered her husband, Uriah, and his sins brought years of trouble to his family and the nation. A crew of Gentile sailors almost drowned because of the disobedience of God’s prophet Jonah. God’s people are to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Matt. 5:13–16). If there were more salt in this world, there would be less decay, and more light would mean less darkness. Our good works glorify the Lord, but our sins invite His discipline. Peter warned believers in the first century that “judgment must begin at the house [household] of God” (1 Peter 4:17), a warning we need to heed today as our Lord’s coming draws near.
A corpse was an unclean thing to a Jew, so corpses in the temple would defile the house of God. These people had defiled God’s house by their wicked lives, and now they would defile it further in their terrible deaths. The idolaters would be as dead as the idols they worshipped (Ps. 115:8). When the prophet Ezekiel saw this scene, he fell on his face to intercede for the remnant God had promised to protect. This attitude is the mark of a true shepherd (see Ezek. 4:14; 11:13). Abraham interceded for Lot in Sodom (Gen. 18:16ff.), and Moses interceded for his brother Aaron and the idolatrous Jews (Ex. 32:11ff.). The prophets asked God to spare the people of Israel, and Jesus prayed for the ignorant people who crucified Him (Luke 23:34). God informed Ezekiel that the land was defiled by innocent blood and the city was full of injustice, and the time had come for the people to reap what they had sown.
In response to Ezekiel’s concern and prayer, the Lord revealed His glory once again, just as it had been revealed when Moses dedicated the tabernacle and Solomon dedicated the temple. The glory cloud left the chariot-throne and hovered over the threshold. The Lord commanded the scribe-angel to enter between the wheels and take coals from the fire that was there and to scatter the coals over the city of Jerusalem. Not only would the city be visited by famine, pestilence, and sword, but it would be burned by the Babylonian army. This was not a fire of purification, such as Isaiah experienced (Isa. 6:5–7), but a fire of condemnation (2 Kings 25:8–9).
The glory revealed (10:8–22). Ezekiel described the vision of God’s glory that he had seen on the day of his ordination (vv. 15, 20–22). One new feature is the fact that the living creatures were “full of eyes” even as the wheels were, which suggests God’s omniscience (see 1:18). God’s providential working in this world is not aimless or haphazard. Everything is done “according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will” (Eph. 1: nkjv). Another new feature is the identifying of the wheels as “the whirling wheels” (Ezek. 10: niv).
One problem that this new description presents relates to the description of the faces of the cherubim in verse 14. In 1:10, each cherub had the face of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle; while in 10:14, the face of the ox is apparently replaced by the face of “the cherub.” The so-called contradiction is only apparent. From where Ezekiel was standing, he saw a different face of each of the cherubs. “The cherub” must have been the one that gave the coals of fire to the scribeangel. We might paraphrase it, “The first face I saw was of the cherub and it was an ox, since the faces I saw of the other three cherubim were of a man, a lion, and an eagle.” Each face was indeed the face of the cherub since each of the living creatures was a cherub.
God’s glory departed from the threshold and stood over the throne-chariot which was on the right side of the house (v. 3), as though the Lord were calling His glory back to His throne. At the same time, the chariot-throne arose and stood at the door of the east gate of the temple. There Ezekiel would see some of the leaders of the nation engaged in worshipping the sun, and the Lord would judge one of them.
Ezekiel was learning that the most important part of the nation’s life was to magnify the glory of God. The presence of God in the sanctuary was a great privilege for the people of Israel, but it was also a great responsibility. The glory of God cannot dwell with the sins of God’s people, so it was necessary for the glory to leave, and the sanctuary and the people to be judged.