Ezekiel 9:1

Ezekiel 9:1 says, He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand.   God cried out loud to Ezekiel so he couldn’t ignore the message even if he wanted to.  At times, we may not want to hear what God has to say, but He will always speak in such a way we cannot ignore His word to us. God told Ezekiel to have all the ones who were in charge of the city to come close to him with their weapons.  These were not the army of the Chaldeans, but the angels who should have been protecting Jerusalem.  God told Ezekiel to call them closer.  We may think that as Christians, even if we are being disobedient God, that He will always physically protect us, but this may not be the case.  He may remove His protective hand or even angels that may have been protecting us, and send His judgment instead, but if He does, as it was with the people of Isreal then, it will be because of our sin against Him.   

Verse two adds, And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brasen altar.  Six men, or angels according to Mathew Henry, came into the city by the each of the six gates of the city of Jerusalem, with their swords drawn.  One amongst them was said to be clothed in linen with a writer’s inkhorn by his side.  This one with them was Jesus Christ according to Matthew Henry and He will write our names His book of life and He also is the author of all scripture even though many different men wrote it down. Matthew Henry also points out that the city of Sodom was destroyed by two angels, but six were sent against Jerusalem, which signified that the judgement of Jerusalem would be three times greater than that of Sodom, even though they were all said to come by the higher gate.  I believe that this was because the people of Sodom were not God’s people, but the people of Jerusalem were supposed to be. I believe those who are followers of Christ are held to a higher standard than those who aren't and God may allow us to be punished even more than them for our sins after we are saved.  I don’t think that we will suffer the everlasting punishment that those don’t accept Jesus Christ as their Savior will, but we will be held accountable for sins that we commit after we accept Him.  The people of Jerusalem were supposed to be God’s people, but they had rebelled against Him, so their punishment was to be even greater than those who were sinning but who weren’t a part of God’s people.  I know that the Bible says that when we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord that all our sins are washed away and we have the death penalty of sin removed, but we are also told that when Jesus Christ returns to claim the church and sends sinners away to everlasting punishment that we will then have to give an accounting for what we have done after we ae saved.   

Verse three continues, And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer's inkhorn by his side;  The first thing that happened was that the glory of God was removed, and when we turn away from God, we will no longer be glorifying Him even though we will always be His child if we have accepted His gift of salvation.  Even though they came in by the northern gate, they stood around the brazen altar, where sacrifices were made, and atonement was supposed to come.  They were not sent to act out of anger but were sent to punish the people of Israel because they had turned away from God.   It would seem that the one clothed in linen with the writer's inkwell was not one of the six angels.   

Verse four concludes, And the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.  Ezekiel was then told that the One clothed in linen was to go through the city and put a mark on the forehead of all the men that were still true to God. These would be the remnant of Israel that would be spared, and it wasn.t because it they were better than others because of their own merit, but they were better because of their faith in God.  God puts His seal on us once we become a follower of Christ, and we should be heartbroken at all the worshipping of idols that goes on in the world today.