Ezekiel 9

“So it was, that while they were killing them, I was left alone; and I fell on my face and cried out, and said, ‘Ah, Lord God! Will You destroy all the remnant of Israel in pouring out Your fury on Jerusalem?’ Then He said to me, ‘The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of bloodshed, and the city full of perversity; for they say, ‘The Lord has forsaken the land, and the Lord does not see!’ And as for Me also, My eye will neither spare, nor will I have pity, but I will recompense their deeds on their own head.’ Just then, the man clothed with linen, who had the inkhorn at his side, reported back and said, ‘I have done as You commanded me.’” Ezekiel 9:8-11 (NKJV)

When a newspaper wrongly published in advance an obituary of Mark Twain, he wrote in the paper the next day, “News of my death had been greatly exaggerated.” In contrast, Judah’s obituary was no exaggeration. The fall of Israel in the 8th century B.C. and that of Judah in the sixth century B.C. are foretastes of the coming of another day, the Day of the Lord.  John saw this day and warned of it.

“And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:15 (NASB)

Ezekiel has been taken from the banks of the Kebar River in Babylon to the Temple in Jerusalem. There, he showed how far the Israelites had fallen from their true faith. Their worship had become thoroughly idolatrous. God’s patience had run out. Executioners had done their work. First to fall were the elders and then the city itself. The destroyers showed no pity. The Day of Judgment had arrived…and what a day it was. Ezekiel prophesied the death of Jerusalem. This had been Judah’s obituary – in advance!

Every follower of Jesus should have the burden of lost souls that Ezekiel had. The certainty of judgment should make us all fall on our knees and plead that souls be gathered into God’s Kingdom. Ezekiel laid hold, not of God’s reluctance, but His willingness and promise to save.

The return of the seventh angel, having accomplished what he had been asked to perform, indicates that the wrath is tempered with mercy. It is a further incentive for us to pray, knowing that, unlike the prayers of the unbeliever, God hears the prayers of His children.

“Therefore I also will act in fury. My eye will not spare nor will I have pity; and though they cry in My ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.” Ezekiel 8:18 (NKJV)

By “children,” of course, the Bible talks of those who follow the Lord, as He requires, through faith in the Messiah and obedience to His Word.

“Jesus answered, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.’” John 14:23 (HCSB)