Let's go back to Ezekiel chapter
9. The title of the message tonight
is One Man and One Mark. One Man and One Mark. There's
been two times, including this one, chapter 9, two chapters
that we've read in the book of Ezekiel, and you'll find another
one in chapters 10 and 11 as we go through this and you read
through them. As you're reading, you sort of think you might be
reading out of the book of Revelation instead of the book of Ezekiel.
But as all scripture is closely related, these books are closely
related. I don't believe these things
that God revealed to his prophet Ezekiel
are all to be relegated to the future, but they certainly have
parallels with the future and the final ultimate fulfillment
of all things will be in the future for the church, for God's
people when Christ comes again. But there's so many people who
do not see any fulfillment in these prophecies in the New Testament
church and they are there. Or even in Ezekiel's day, we'll
see that. But if you think about this,
this passage here, it starts out with something that is so
negative and so sad and so tragic. And that is God's wrath against
the sinfulness of man. God's justice coming down upon
Judah and Jerusalem And we know that God is always right. God
is always just. He never does anything wrong.
You read on over there, he talks about slaying the old and the
young, the maids, the children, the women. And people say, well,
that's just not fair. Somebody asked one time, said,
why does God condone genocide? When he told, for example, King
Saul to go in and slaughter all the people, even the children.
Say, why does God condone genocide? Well, it's not genocide with
God, it's justice. But let me just remind you something
on that issue. Every life that is taken out
of this world, God's the one who takes it. It's the Lord who
gives, and it's the Lord who takes away, whether we're eight
or 80. That doesn't matter. God is the giver and the taker
of life. Now, we know there are second
causes and responsibilities that come about, but God is the ultimate
one who gives life and takes all life, whether it's 20,000
or whether it's two or one. So understand that. And Job understood
it, didn't he? When he's talking about his family,
he said, the Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away. Blessed be
the name of the Lord. God doesn't do anything wrong.
But this is justice. Look at what he says. He cried
also in mine ears with a loud voice. This is emphatic. This is important. And he said,
cause them that have charge over the city to draw near. The ones
who are in charge, the nobles, the princes. even every man with
his destroying weapon in his hand. And it says, and behold,
six men came from the way of the higher gate, the north gate.
Now the destruction of Jerusalem, Judah was coming from the north.
The north normally signifies the throne of God. So in other
words, even though Babylon, the wicked empire and nation of Babylon
was the instrument, the human instrument that God would use,
to execute His justice upon a sinful nation. They themselves being
sinful too and later on they'll get their just deserts too. It's
God who's doing this. This is work of the providence
of God. The wheels are turning. We're
going to talk about that later on in the next couple of chapters. The wheels are turning. Remember
the wheels within the wheels over in chapter 1. That's God's
providence. That's God's plan and purpose.
God working all things after the counsel of his own will.
So here's these six men. Six, as you know, is the number
of man. Six is the number that indicates
the sinfulness of man. They talk about the 666, you
know, in Revelation. And that's what that's all about.
It's a symbol. I've had people, you know, you go up to a store
and buy something, and if the price end up being $6.66, they'd
want to change it, either add or take it away, because they
just don't want to, well, that's superstition, all right? I don't
have any problem with giving somebody $6.66 for a product. In fact, I'd almost force it
on them, you know, they will, you take it, you know. But it
has nothing to do with that kind of thing. It's not superstition.
But it is a symbolic number that indicates that man falls short
of perfection, that he is always iniquity. He never measures up
because seven is the number of perfection. Now there is a seventh
man here. And these six who execute judgment
upon Jerusalem for the sinfulness, And incidentally, one of the
reasons we see this as so tragic is because we know this, that
if we were in that, if God were to give us what we deserve, we
would get that judgment too, wouldn't we? But there's a seventh
man here. It says in verse two, behold,
six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lie toward
the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand. These executors
of God's justice. And then it says, and one man
among them was clothed with linen. Well, who is that man? Well,
that man is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He
is the seventh man among these. He stands apart from the six,
just like the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who is holy, harmless,
undefiled, and separate from sinners. He's unique. He's not just a man, but anytime,
listen, anytime you see in the scriptures, the scriptures emphasizing
the humanity of Christ, it's not doing that in order to deny
his deity at all. It's emphasizing something important
that we need to know. And that's this, that there is
a man in glory. That's this, that there is one
God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Now, He's not only man. He's
not only sinlessly perfect man, glorified. He's God-man. Whenever
you see passages of Scripture emphasizing His deity, it's not
doing that so as to deny His humanity. He's both. But there
is a particular emphasis here for
the comfort of God's people amidst all of this slaughter. Amidst
all of this judgment against sin. One who appears. One man. How do you know he's the Lord
Jesus Christ? Well, he's clothed with linen. What does linen represent?
Linen represents perfect holiness. Perfect, clean, sinlessly pure
righteousness. That's what it means. Remember
over in Revelation 19, it talks about the bride of Christ. The
bride made herself ready. And she was clothed in... Glistering is the... It says
white there. White linen. The word white literally
means glistering. Linen. Because her garment is
the wedding garment. That was bought and made. for her by the Lord Jesus Christ,
her husband. And that's the imputed righteousness
of Christ. That's the accounted righteousness
of Christ. That's a real righteousness.
And here he stands, this one man among them, literally that
means he's in the center of them. He's the center of this whole
thing. Everything relates to him. relegates
to him in fact you could even say this judgment relates to
him because God has appointed a day in the which he will judge
the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained
in that he had given assurance and all men and that he raised
him from the dead that's Christ act 1731 that's why we need to
repent that's why we need to turn from our works and our ways
and submit to Christ as the Lord our righteous Christ as He set
forth the man, the perfect God-man, the Redeemer of His people. That's
the one man among them, the one central man. That's who this
is talking about. I'll tell you, isn't that amazing
how the Lord reveals His Son to His people. He says, one man
among them was clothed with linen with a writer's ink horn by his
side. And that's just a horn, like
you saw, a hollow horn filled with ink. And there's going to be some
writing here. This God-man, this one man, this one mediator who's
the one way, the one truth, the one life, the one righteousness
of his people, the one redeemer, clothed with linen to mark his
office. as distinct and unique from the
other six who were executors of God's wrath. And that linen
garment is also indicative of the high priestly garment. This
one man among them is the high priest of the covenant. Not of the old covenant, but
of the everlasting covenant of grace. And therefore, he intercedes
as high priest in heaven for his people. And he has that garment
of the high priest, that linen symbolizing righteousness. Old
John Gill says this, that this is Christ, the Son of God incarnate,
the Redeemer and Savior of his people, but also the Judge of
the earth. And these subordinates, these
six subordinates, as he was in the midst of them, and he appears
as a man, and that speaks of his incarnation as one. Why did
he have to be man? To redeem his people. That's
why. Salvation is, this one man, what
we're going to see, he's got the riders in corn. Now what
that means is, is this, it means that salvation is exclusively
assigned to him. To him alone. And so here, here
they come. These, these seven, with this
one man, six and one, And he's got the ink horn. Now what's
he going to do with that ink horn? Well, in this writing,
it gives you a lot to think about, doesn't it? It gives you a lot
of references. For example, I think about the
elect of God, chosen before the foundation of the world, whose
names were written in the Lamb's Book of Life before the world
was. And who better to write those names in the Lamb's book
of life but the Lamb Himself? He's the Lamb of God. And as this judgment is executed
by Him through the six, they go out to bring destruction because
of sin coming from the way of the North. That's the way that
the idolatries of Israel were seen from the same corner. That's
the way that comes the judgment, Babylon. But look down at verse
two again, it says, he had the riders in corn by his side and
they went in and stood beside the brazen altar because it all
revolves around the redemptive glory of Christ. The brazen altar. What is the brazen altar? That's
where the lamb was slain by the high priest. That's where the
blood was poured and the entrails of the lamb were burned. You
remember the high priest took that blood from off the brazen
altar in a basin and he brought it into the holiest of all, the
holy of holies where the mercy seat is and he sprinkled the
blood with a brush made with hyssop. He sprinkled it over
the mercy seat. Now what he is saying here is
everything that means anything to us when it comes to the end
of all things. Now what is everything that means
anything to us when it comes to the end of all things? I'll
tell you what it is. Am I saved or am I lost? That's it. Now you got a lot of concerns
here on earth right now in your day-to-day lives. What you're
gonna eat tomorrow, what you're gonna wear, how you gonna pay
for this, what are you gonna get for doing this? You got all
children to take up your time, all that. You got all kinds of
cares, all things to think about. But when it comes to the end
of all things, This is the only thing you've got to think about.
It's the only thing I've got to think about. Am I condemned
before God justly because of my sins or am I justified before
holy God in Christ? It's all that will matter. Now,
the answer to that question, the judgment of my person and
my works is going to be determined right here through this brazen altar. And
the issue is this. It comes in the form of a question.
Do I have a righteousness that equals the demands of God's law
and justice? And if I do, that righteousness
had to come from the brazen altar. Can't come from me. Can't come
from you. It can't come from a lifetime
of morality and sincerity and dedication. Anything wrong with
a lifetime of sincerity and morality and dedication? No. If it's the
right motive and the right way and the right standard. But that's
not where righteousness comes from for me or for you. It comes
from the brazen altar. It comes from the cross. That's
what that... The cross of Christ. Where he
offered himself without spot to God. to redeem his people
from their sins. To bring out the satisfaction
of the justice of God. And there it is. And so he says
in verse 3, and the glory of the God of Israel was gone up
from the cherub. Now the cherub, you remember
cherubs Angelic beings, heavenly beings,
we don't really know exactly what, I mean, there's a lot of
speculation and there have been guys wasting their time writing
whole books on it. Think of them as messengers or
ministers, servants, that's what it is. And I believe that they're
more indicative of the preachers of the gospel, the apostles,
the prophets and the preachers of the gospel. We saw them in
chapter 1. Those who had wings and how they
flew all over the earth. Not literally, symbolically.
But that's what this is. And he was gone up from the cherub. In other words, the glorious
God of Israel. The glorious Shekinah. You know
what the Shekinah is now. That's the greatest manifestation
of the glory, the honor, the majesty, the truth of God that
shines forth in Revelation. It's not only God as He is, that's
part of it, but it's God as He does, as He acts. I know God is holy, therefore
everything He does is holy. God is righteous, therefore everything
He does is right. You see, that's the Shekinah.
And it's gone up from the chair because every time a minister
stands forth and preaches the gospel of God's grace in Christ,
he's setting before himself and before his hearers the Shekinah
glory of God. And if you can see it by the
power of the Holy Spirit, if God's revealed it to you, what
a blessing it is to be a partaker of that. to be a participant
in that. It's like the priest going into
the holiest of all. Now how do we do that? By the blood of Jesus. For in
him dwelleth the Shekinah, the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
And this majesty, this Shekinah, remember back in the temple,
now you see at this time Jerusalem and the temple are still standing,
but they're about to be destroyed. They're on the brink of destruction.
Remember that song in the 60's, we're on the eve of destruction,
well that's what this is. They're on the eve of destruction.
And the Shekinah glory of God dwelt between the cherubim over
above the mercy seat. And those cherubim, the cherub,
they were clarion callers of the glory of God in Christ. And
so, This Shekinah is about to be removed. And we're gonna talk
about that in the next chapter or two. The glory of the Lord
departing. You remember what the word for
the glory of God, the departing and the glory of God is? You
remember that? I think you can read it. I think it's 1 Samuel
chapter two or chapter four. I'm gonna look at that later,
but it's Ichabod. Remember that? I can't think
of her name now, the woman who named her child Ichabod, because
the glory of God departed. And that's what's going to happen
here. It's going to be removed, a token of his being able, about
to depart from the temple. Short time. And he says, look,
the glory of God, verse 3, of Israel gone up from the cherub
whereupon he was to the threshold of the house. He's getting ready
to leave. He's at the door. And he called to the man clothed
with linen. Now this is the Godhead working
through the Son, all right? Which had the writer's incorn
by his side. Now this is Christ as the servant
of the covenant. Now remember we read over in
John chapter 17, this is, now listen, this is no diminishing
of his person. Jesus Christ is God-man, co-equal
with God in every attribute of deity. He's not a sub-par God. He's not a lesser God. He is
very God of very God, and he is every bit man without sin. But he's getting his marching
orders here as God-man, the mediator, the servant of the covenant.
So you remember over there in John 17 in his high priestly
prayer, he said, I have finished the work which thou gavest me
to do. That's what he's talking about.
Now mainly he's talking about the work of redemption here.
But it also includes the work of going out and calling his
people unto himself, gathering his sheep into the fold, those
whom he redeemed, and his work of judgment. The father hath
committed all judgment to the son. And look at verse four. He says,
and the Lord said unto him, go through the midst of the city,
through the midst of Jerusalem and set a mark or mark a mark
upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all
the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. Hear this divine man. And let me tell you something,
now when I say that, you gotta realize that that's the, this,
Jesus Christ is the only person that that can be said about.
This divine man. Listen, even as a regenerate
person, you can't call me a divine man. Because with me, those two things
are opposites. You can't be God and man at the
same, but that's what he is in his person. And so he is given his marching
orders. And what he's saying here, it's
his responsibility not only to redeem his people from sin, which
he accomplished at Calvary's Cross, paid the price, put away
sin. What did Daniel say in Daniel
chapter, what, 4 or chapter 9? Yeah, verse 24, He made an end
of sin, He finished the transgression, He brought in everlasting...
He did all of that. He established an everlasting
righteousness of infinite value which not only secures the salvation
of all His people, all the elect of God, but demands it. Demands it. Do you know that if He died for
you, His blood demands your salvation? Now think about that. I mean,
it actually demands it. There's no way it can be stopped.
One sacrifice for sin accepted with the father. This is my beloved
son in whom I'm well pleased. And how do you know the father
except he raised him from the dead? And he ascended unto the
father on high and sat down at the right hand of the father.
But not only is it his responsibility to redeem his people from sin,
it's his responsibility to find them and to mark them. To mark them out. Over in the book of 2 Timothy,
just read this to you. 2 Timothy 2. The apostle is dealing with heresies. within the church. And you know
in another place, I think it's somewhere in 1 Corinthians, I'd
have to look it up. I didn't mark it down. He makes this statement,
there must be heresies among you. You know what heresy, the
word heresy there in 1 Corinthians means schisms, means divisions. And he said the reason that there
must be divisions is that they which are truly of the Lord might
be made manifest. Those who are going to stay with
Christ and his people. would be made known. But he's
talking about here in 2 Timothy 2 about schisms brought on by
confusing false doctrine. Here's a couple of people here.
Verse 17, Hymenaeus and Philetus, he says. Verse 18, who concerning
the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past
already and overthrow the faith of some. In other words, they
get some to go with them. Literally that word overthrow
there means make shipwreck. But look at verse 19. Nevertheless,
the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, and you
could say it this way, this mark, the Lord knoweth them that are
his. And let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from
iniquity. God knows his people. Christ
knows his sheep. He said, I know my sheep and
am known of mine. and it's his responsibility to
bring them all into the kingdom That's what he said. Remember
in John 17 that we read there, he said, as thou hast given him
power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as
many as thou hast given him. What did he say in John 6? Verse
37, all that the father giveth me shall come to me and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. He went on to say,
and this is the will of him that sent me that of all which he
hath given me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up again
at the last day. That's what's going on back here
in Ezekiel. What is he doing here in this
prophecy to the people of Ezekiel's day? I'll tell you exactly what
he's doing. He's assuring them that even though Israel failed
miserably and is under the judgment of God, that the true people
of God, his elect from the foundation of the world, are safe and secure
and have nothing to worry about. in salvation. We look at our country and we
say this country's going to hell in a handbasket. And I agree. I agree with that. But the Lord has already set
a mark upon the foreheads of some of his people. And you know
what? He's going to continue to do
so as long as his people are on this earth. This mark. People go a lot of different
directions with this. Set a mark upon their forehead.
Well, the forehead in the Old Testament is emblematic, symbolic
of the mind. It's the mind. Now, and you have
to understand that the Hebrews thought differently than we modern-day
Americans think. When we think of the mind, we
think of something like pure intellectualism or just mental
stuff. Well, you know, we'll say things
like this, and I understand what we're saying when we make this
statement, and we have to be careful on these things. You
say, well, it's one thing to believe it here and another thing
to believe it there. Now, an Old Testament Hebrew
would have never understood what you're talking about when you
say that. They say, what do you mean, believe it here in your
chest? You don't believe in your chest, you believe in your head.
They didn't think like we did. When they thought of the mind,
they thought of the whole inner person, the inner man, the heart
itself. That's what they thought. And
so the forehead represents the mind. It represents not just
what I give mental agreement to, but what I really believe
and know to be true. to the point that it reaches
to not only a memory segment in my head, but it reaches to
my affections, it reaches to my will, it reaches to my motives,
it reaches to my goals, it drives me, motivates me, and that's
what they would mean by it. And so He sets a mark upon their
heads. You could say it another way
in Ezekiel when we get to chapter 36. And Jeremiah spoke of it
too. He said, I'll write the law on
their hearts. I'll give them a new spirit,
a new heart. That's what it is. That's what
this forehead represents. It's a mark that He puts within
their hearts. Over in Revelation 7, We have
similar language. And this is not to relegate what
Ezekiel says just only to the future. It is in the future.
But it's in his day too. Look at verse 1 of Revelation
7. It says, After these things I
saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, just
like the four servants, the four cherubs, holding the four winds
of the earth, and the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on
the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending
from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried
with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given
to hurt the earth. These were angels of judgment. And the sea,
and he says, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor
the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their
foreheads. What is he talking about? He's
talking about Christ by the power of the Spirit in the new birth,
giving them new life, spiritual life, a new heart, bringing them
to Christ in faith and repentance. Look over Revelation 14 verse
1. He says, and I looked, and lo,
a lamb stood on the Mount Zion with Him, and 144,000, now that's
a symbolic number of the entire race or the entire population
of God's elect people, Jew and Gentile, having His Father's
name written in their foreheads. You see that? Written in their
foreheads. This is a mark. What is it? It's
the mark of salvation. It's the mark of the blood. This
mark can be described different ways. It's the mark of the blood.
What did God say? When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. It's the mark of God's mercy
and grace. Look back here at verse 4. He
says, He set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh
and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst. He's
talking about Repentance there. He's talking about sorrow over
sin. He's talking about Holy Spirit
conviction. That's what it is. It's the mark
of conviction. It's the mark of sorrow. Not
unto despair, but sorrow that leads unto life because it's
the mark of spiritual life. It's an understanding that God
gives us. The natural man, he cannot know
the things of the Spirit of God. He doesn't understand them, neither
can he know them. They're spiritually discerned.
This mark is set within your mind, your forehead, your heart.
You can understand some things. I'm not saying you understand
everything. No, we don't understand everything. We understand some
things we didn't understand before. We understand who God is and
His holiness and His justice. We understand our sinfulness
and that if God were to judge us based on our best efforts
to keep the law, we'd be damned forever. And most of all, we
understand the way of salvation by His grace in Christ. to the
point we mourn like that old publican, God, be merciful to
me, the sinner. New heart, new eyes, new ears. Mark of faith in Christ. That's
what this mark is. And he tells them in verse 5,
he says, to others, he said in mine hearing, go ye after him
through the city and smite. Let not your eyes spare, neither
have you pity. This is the agents of judgment.
And he says, slay utterly old and young, both maids and little
children and women. You see, all of us deserve death.
All of us. There's no innocence on this
earth. That's right, there's no innocence here. Not on this
fallen, cursed earth. We fell in Adam. The ruination,
even in our birth. We're born dead in trespasses
and sins. And so if there's any hope, here
it is, look here. Slay utterly old and young, both
maids and little children, but come not near any man upon whom
is the mark. The mark of the blood. The mark
of God's grace. And he says, begin at my sanctuary,
begin at the temple. Peter said it, judgment, it's
time for judgment to begin at the house of God. And then they began at the ancient
men which were before the house. And he said to them, defile the
house and fill the courts with the slain. Go ye forth. And they
went forth and slew in the city. And then this last part is just
simply a restatement of the reason why God is doing what he's doing,
because of sin. He told them, he said, I'll give
you the recompense of your ways. And he said, Ezekiel cried out,
are you going to destroy the residue of Israel? And God said,
well, their sin is exceeding great. They're full of blood
perverseness. Verse 9, the Lord hath forsaken
the earth and the Lord seeth not. What that is, there's two things. The Lord hath forsaken the earth
and the Lord seeth not means this. It means that I'm not going
to be held accountable for this. And now, isn't that the thought
of our day? You see, that's why people deny
the Gospel. That's why they deny the Lord
God, the justice of God. They don't think they're going
to be held accountable. And so he says in verse 10, And as for
me also, mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but
I will recompense their way upon their heads. Their way is the
way of man, the way of works, the way of sin. And so he says in verse 11, behold,
the man clothed with linen, which had the inkhorn by his side,
reported the matter, saying, I have done as thou hast commanded
me. Christ is going to finish his
great work. He's finished his work of redemption.
That's what he said in John 19, 30. It's finished. What work
is he doing? Well, two things. He's ever living
to make intercession for his people. so that we cannot ever
be lost again. We cannot ever be condemned.
We cannot ever lose what we have in Him and by Him and from Him.
And secondly, He's calling His people into the fold. And when
that's all done, when the last one of His sheep is brought into
the fold, He's coming again to destroy this world, to make His
enemies His footstool, and to gather his church unto himself
in eternal glory.