Ezekiel 9:5, commentary and pictures

The command sends destroying agents after the marking angel through Jerusalem to strike down everyone without the mark, sparing no one out of pity. Those sent are Christ's angels with slaughtering weapons, ministers of divine wrath in the day of judgment and the last plagues. Those who bear the mark are spared and passed over for deliverance, while all without it are cut down without exception for age or sex. The mark is the seal of the living God placed on those who sigh and cry over abominations, grieve over sin, humble themselves before God and are separated from sin and sinners. The slaughter begins at God's sanctuary, falling first on the church and on unfaithful ancient men and leaders before the house, and it will be literally fulfilled very soon, so every soul must now be converted, obey all God's commands and be sealed through Jesus before probation closes.

Vision and Command

The command sends the others after the marking man through the city, through Jerusalem, to strike and kill without letting the eye spare or showing pity. The order comes after the mark has been placed on those who sigh and cry over the abominations among God's professed people, and it directs the executioners to follow through and smite the unmarked. The marked are protected, recorded in heaven as overcomers and passed over from the slaughter, while judgment begins at the sanctuary and distinguishes them from the unmarked. The scene shows the severity of God's judgment, separating the faithful who grieve over wrongdoing and humble themselves before God from those whose corruption brings judgment upon them.

Those sent are armed agents of judgment, Christ's angels commissioned to execute His judgments in the last work to be accomplished for this world. They are ministers of destruction and executioners, including the armed angel ordered to go through the city after the angel with the writer's inkhorn to kill without sparing or pity. Their slaughtering weapons represent the angel of death.

The vision portrays the day of divine wrath upon the living wicked, a judgment associated with the seven last plagues. It belongs to a most startling revelation of last-day distress in which the sea and the waves roar and men's hearts fail for fear, the earth is moved and the mountains are carried into the midst of the sea with roaring troubled waters literally transpiring. In that time plagues, pestilence, famine, and death perform their terrible mission.

The Seal That Spares

Those who bear the mark are marked for deliverance and passed over in safety, while all without the mark are struck without sparing and without pity and are cut down without exception for age or sex. The executioners are ordered to follow through Jerusalem after the man who marks the faithful and to smite utterly old and young, maids and little children and women, sparing everyone upon whom is the mark. This is the last work of judgment for this world, beginning at the sanctuary and falling first on the ancient men before the house and on those who claimed to guard the people spiritually, with none of the wicked spared and their ways recompensed upon their head. The same warning reaches those who have received the light of God's word but have not obeyed it or represented Christ, who face judgment for neglecting responsibility.

The marked are those who sigh and cry over the abominations, who grieve over wrongdoing and spiritual decline in the church, who deeply oppose sin and seek God's purity and honor, who humble themselves before God and are separated from sin and sinners. Those who humble themselves are especially remembered, while those who join the follies, vanities and sins of the age receive no mark and whose corruption brings judgment upon them. The church is the first to feel this judgment, beginning with its leaders, and those who do not grieve and mourn over sin are left without God's seal. Such sighing and crying belongs with solemn conduct and a faithful, saving influence in the last days.

The mark is the seal of the living God, the same sealing John saw, placed before the destroying work amid roaring seas, failing hearts, moved earth, and plague, pestilence, famine and death performing their mission. It is a mark of redemption that angels but not human eyes can read, the sign of the cross of Calvary, meaning the sin of transgressing God's law is taken away. Its bearers are God's special possession, recorded in heaven as overcomers, covered by God's shelter and protected by the Lord, while those not covered are left without protection when the slaughter comes. The destroying angel must see that seal in the foreheads before sparing, and those who have it wear the wedding garment and are obedient and faithful to all God's commands.

Each person's course determines whether he receives the seal of the living God or is cut down. Those not firmly established in present truth remain unprotected in the sealing time when the slaughter comes. Those ashamed of Christ and choosing the world over Him are among those appointed to be cut down by the armed angel sent after the angel with the writer's inkhorn to kill without sparing or pity, while those marked on their foreheads are passed over. The saints are marked before the slaughter begins and, though still mortal when it takes place, are kept safe from wrath by being sealed before the plagues are poured out, for the final outpouring comes when it is too late to repent or receive cleansing from sin.

Judgment Beginning at Sanctuary

The stroke without sparing or pity begins at God's sanctuary and house, so the church is the first to feel God's judgment. The executioners are ordered to follow the marking man through Jerusalem and through the city, and after the faithful grieving over abominations are marked for deliverance, the unmarked are struck without exception. In the closing sealing work this separates those who deeply oppose sin and seek purity and honor from those whose corruption brings recompense upon their own head.

The destruction falls first on the ancient men before the house. It begins among those who claimed to guard the people spiritually, the false spiritual guardians and leaders, including unfaithful stewards in responsible positions in the very courts of the temple. The church feels it first beginning with its leaders, while those who do not grieve over spiritual decline and mourn over sin are left without the seal.

This is the fate of men in responsibility who have not glorified God by faithfulness and integrity. They sit deciding what the people should have and should not have, take away the key of knowledge, refuse to enter in themselves and hinder those who would enter. At the appointed time the Lord God of Israel does this work most thoroughly, sending His agents after the marking work to smite only those without the mark. It belongs to an age of rejection of grace and far-spreading ungodliness under a cloak of Christianity continuing until Christ comes to be glorified in all them that believe, and it proves and tests God's people that He may discern between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not.

Last-Day Fulfillment

The chapter will be literally fulfilled, and its fulfillment is very near. While it approaches, God's people are asleep. Destroying angels are already permitted to bring disaster and destruction, as a warning of the fearful events approaching in the closing scenes of earth's history.

The marked saints are still mortal when the slaughter takes place. Their safety from the terrors of God's wrath rests on being sealed before the plagues are poured out, with those bearing God's mark spared by those sent to kill. Each person's course determines whether they receive the seal of the living God or are cut down, for the final outpouring of God's wrath comes when it is too late to repent or receive cleansing from sin. Soon, very soon, every case will be decided for eternity.

The chapter stands among solemn warnings pointing to stern realities that will shortly come to pass, yet these warnings are neglected like the many warnings of God's word. It warns of judgment among the events soon to take place, and calls every soul to prepare. It belongs to a chapter about the Lord's judgment which is to be studied alongside Ezekiel 2 and Revelation 5.

Call to Repent and Prepare

The warning is directed to people who have had great and important truths revealed to them and have received the light of God's word, yet refuse to humble their souls, to be converted, and to obey. It is for those who will not bring those truths into individual experience and who fail in their responsibility to represent Christ. God will not bear with such ones much longer, for the time is short. He is calling them to hear His message, to receive it, and to be converted now before it is too late.

The command summons ministers to awake and take in the situation, since the work of judgment begins at the sanctuary. It calls every soul to prepare in view of judgment among the events soon to take place. That unsparing judgment is bound up with the duty to warn people of their sin and with God's reckoning for unjust acts, recompensing their ways upon their head. Sparing is bound up with solemn conduct and with bearing a faithful, saving influence in the last days.

Protection in that execution comes through Jesus, who shields those who have prayed for deliverance and whose sins have been washed away by His blood. The spared are those who love Jesus and keep His commandments. They wear the wedding garment and are obedient and faithful to all God's commands. Those ashamed of Christ and choosing the world are among those appointed to be cut down.

Institutions also stand under this judgment against persisted unrepented wrongdoing, which will humble the men responsible for them. They will escape its effect only if their leaders humble themselves in a thorough transformation of heart.

Parents and Children

The order to follow the marking man through the city and strike without letting the eye spare or showing pity is executed utterly against all who lack the mark, with no exception for age or sex. The coming destruction reaches old and young, men and women, maids and little children who are unmarked. Even children are reached by the judgment when parents let them drift into worldliness. Only those bearing the mark are spared, while the destroying angel soon slays utterly both old and young.

Parents must therefore protect their children from corrupting influences and train them in the Lord's nurture and instruction and bring them to God. They are to separate children from wicked influences, correct their tempers, and teach obedience. They are to make their children mind them and treat the parental word as law, and to correct what they neglect in their children. Otherwise children will be weighed in the balances and found wanting when the destroying angel slays without sparing or pity.

The mark of believing parents will cover their children when the children are brought up aright. It covers them when they are brought up in the Lord's nurture and instruction and separated from wicked influences.