Ep. 190. Ezekiel 8-9 | A Man Clothed in Linen

EPISODE 190

A MAN CLOTHED IN LINEN: EZEKIEL 8-9

Remember in Ezekiel 8-9 that the prophet has a vision of things back in Jerusalem. He gives us the timeline here of the fifth day, the sixth month, and the sixth year of exile. God showed the prophet what was happening hundreds of miles away, back at home. Remember that false prophets in Babylon told the Hebrew people that they would only be in exile for another two years. Remember also that there were false prophets in Jerusalem sending messages to the exiles that they would soon be restored to Judah. This chapter also closely corresponds with Jeremiah's letter to the exiles in Babylon back in Jeremiah 29, saying that they would spend seventy years in exile.

Ezekiel was shown the glory of God departing from the temple and leaving the city of God. It would have been a heartbreaking vision. He also sees God call for six warriors to come and bring judgment on Jerusalem starting at the house of the Lord. But before God sends judgment, he first sends a man with a writing case at his side to put a mark on the foreheads of everyone who grieves over the sins of Jerusalem. The six warriors were forbidden from laying a hand on those marked for God. Similarly, God made a way of escape for Noah and his family; he rescued righteous Lot before destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, and he will gather the wheat in his barn before he burns up all the weeds. God will NOT destroy the righteous along with the wicked, but will always make a way of escape.

ADDITIONAL READING: Proverbs 7:9; 1 Samuel 4:19-22; Revelation 9:4; Revelation 14:1: 1 Peter 4:17-18