The Gospel According to Ezekiel, Chapter 9

Foundational Principles: God's Tolerance of Sinners

Ezekiel has been given visions of the coming destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of Babylon. This is the spiritual reality of what will take place because for 430 years, Israel and Judah committed sins worse than the nations around them. They knew God's law—a glorious revelation that points to Jesus Christ, exposes sin, and shows our need for God. Yet they agreed with it only for a time, then incorporated what God declared wrong.

Idolatry is not just bowing to images but owing our lives and affections to anything pleasing to the senses. All sin reduces to idolatry. The elders in Jerusalem carved images in their imaginations, committing idolatry in their minds and carrying it out physically. They valued sin more than God.

God's tolerance of sinners stems from his intolerance of sin. This is why he spares the remnant—the elect—while judging the reprobate. Christ's death was necessary because of God's intolerance of sin. As Romans explains, God is both just and justifier. The cross allows God to tolerate sinners by bearing their sins. If our sins are placed on Christ, we are set free from the lifestyle of sin, living as the elect do here.

The Vision of Judgment (Ezekiel 9:1-11)

Then he cried out in my hearing with a loud voice, “Draw near, O executioners of the city, each with his destroying weapon in his hand.” And behold, six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his weapon for slaughter in his hand, and with them was a man clothed in linen, with a writing case at his waist. And they went in and stood beside the bronze altar.

And the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub on which it had been, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writing case at his waist. And the Lord said to him, “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it.”

And to the others he said in my hearing, “Pass through the city after him, and strike. Your eye shall not spare, and you shall show no pity. Kill old men, young men, virgins, little children, and women, but touch no one on whom is the mark. And begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were before the house.

And he said to them, “Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain. Go out.” So they went out and struck in the city. And while they were striking, and I was left alone, I fell upon my face, and cried, “Ah, Lord God! Are you destroying the whole remnant of Israel in the outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem?”

Then he said to me, “The guilt of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great. The land is full of blood, and the city full of injustice. For they say, ‘The Lord has forsaken the land; the Lord does not see.’ As for me, my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity; I will bring their deeds upon their heads.”

And behold, the man clothed in linen, with the writing case at his waist, brought back word, saying, “I have done as you commanded me.”

These are angelic beings carrying out God's destruction. The man in linen is a scribe with an inkwell and pen to mark the remnant. The devastation is city-wide, but the remnant is spared amid the chaos. Ezekiel cries out for them, and God responds that the iniquity is great—the land filled with blood, the city with perversion. They say, “The Lord has forsaken the land and does not see.”

This judgment slays old men, young men, maidens, little children, and women—no respect for age, gender, or status. Even virgins, highly esteemed in society, are not spared. Nothing inherent in us stays God's hand because of sin's gravity.

Our conscience recoils, especially at “little children” or infants. We recall Jesus welcoming children, praise from infants' mouths, David's trust while nursing. Yet parents did not bring children to worship Yahweh. All are guilty: “The soul who sins shall die.”

The impression should not be “What a horrible God” but “What a horrible thing sin is.” God takes no delight in the wicked's death; he judges justly. We cry for justice when wronged—why snub our noses when God does? For 430 years, God showed grace, giving opportunity to repent.

The Mark of Protection

Amid destruction, an angel marks those who sigh and groan over abominations. This mark spares them from wrath. It is not earned by works—Old Testament saints were approved by faith. It depends on God's choice.

The mark is the Hebrew letter tav, the last letter of the alphabet, originally shaped like a cross. Jesus is the Alpha and Omega, Aleph and Tav. This foreshadows the cross of Christ, the shepherd's mark protecting his sheep from God's wrath.

Responses to the Vision

Fix Your Gaze on God's Glory

The purpose of Ezekiel is to display God's glory as most valuable. Before acting, ask: Does this glorify God? Is it holy?

Exercise Gratitude for Sovereign Protection

Thank God for choosing you, providing Christ as the buffer against wrath. If you believe the gospel and care for Jesus, that evidences regeneration. Agree God's ways are holy; confess sin.

Forgiveness enhances God's intolerance of sin. Seeing judgment due you placed on Christ motivates saying no to sin.

Imitate the Marked Remnant

They mourned over sin in their nation, like Ezekiel on briars and thorns. Are you depressed by sin in your life and others? Test spiritual growth by your affections toward sin.

The remnant did not appear overnight—they lived in fellowship with God. Closer relationship pricks the conscience more. They endure the catastrophe, seeing God's intolerance of sin, growing in sanctification—like church discipline fostering fear of sin.

God tolerates sinners intolerant of sin.

Magnify God's Glory

And they will sing of the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord. (Psalm 138:5)

Greatness in Christianity is God's glory—not material prosperity. Do all to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). Magnify as a telescope brings the vast near. Benefits: permanent satisfaction. Drawback: sin looks worse, pricking more.

What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory? (Romans 9:22-23)

Live from the overflow of receiving God's glory.