Similarities between the destruction
of Jerusalem witnessed by Ezekiel and the judgements of
The Great Tribulation affecting the
entire world.
Ezekiel and John
Ezekiel lived among the Jewish exiles
in Babylon; the Apostle John was exiled on Patmos. Both were separated from the
land/areas being judged and punished, though John was witnessing events far in
the future.
The first seven chapters in Ezekiel
lay out God’s evidence against the people of Judah and Israel which brings
about the much-deserved judgement, recorded in Ezekiel chapters 8-11.
Ezekiel 8:3-Ezekiel’s call:
3He
stretched out the form of a hand and caught me by a lock of my head; and the
Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in the visions of
God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court, where the seat of the idol of
jealousy, which provokes to jealousy, was located.
Revelation
4:1-John’s call:
1After these things I looked, and behold, a
door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had
heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, “Come up
here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.”
Four corners-may
signify complete areas of destruction
Ezekiel 7:1
1Moreover,
the word of the LORD came to me saying,
2“And you, son of man, thus says the Lord GOD to the land of Israel,
‘An end! The end is coming on the four corners of the land.
Revelation 7:1
1After this I saw four angels standing at the
four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no
wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree.
Jerusalem’s
judgment is recorded beginning in Ezekiel 9:1-2
1Then He
cried out in my hearing with a loud voice saying, “Draw near, O executioners of
the city, each with his destroying weapon in his hand.”
2Behold, six men came from the direction of the upper gate which
faces north, each with his shattering weapon in his hand; and among them was a
certain man clothed in linen with a writing case at his loins. And they went in
and stood beside the bronze altar.
This ‘certain man in
linen with a writing case at his loins’ is quite possibly a Christophany, an
image of the Pre-Incarnate Christ. Just as Christ in Revelation is seen as ‘a
son of man’, a lamb as if slain, a conqueror coming mounted on a horse with his
robes dipped in blood, the ‘certain man in linen’ has a writing case, possibly
a symbolic identifier for Christ (The
Word). His actions in Ezekiel chapter 9 show that this may be Christ.
Ezekiel 9:3b-4
And He called to the
man clothed in linen at whose loins was the writing case.
4The LORD said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, even through the midst of Jerusalem,
and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the
abominations which are being committed in its midst.”
Only Christ or an
angel given knowledge by God would know the minds and hearts of those in Jerusalem
who ‘sigh and groan over all the abominations’. These would be God’s people,
the sheep known by their Shepherd.
The marking of these
people for special protection from the judgement about to fall on their city is
echoed in Revelation 7:2-3
“2And I saw another angel ascending from the
rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried out with a
loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the
sea,
3saying, “Do not
harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants
of our God on their foreheads.”
This group is the
144,000 sealed from every tribe in Israel. They are found with Christ in Revelation 14:1
1Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was
standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand,
having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads.
Ezekiel 9:5-6
speaks to the six men with shattering
weapons:
5But to the
others He said in my hearing, “Go through the city after him and strike; do not let your eye have pity and do not
spare.
6“Utterly slay old men, young men, maidens, little children, and
women, but do not touch any man on
whom is the mark; and you shall start from My sanctuary.” So they
started with the elders who were
before the temple.”
The man in linen
notes in Ezekiel 9:11:
11Then
behold, the man clothed in linen at whose loins was the writing case reported,
saying, “I have done just as You have commanded me.”
Next, the man is
charged in Ezekiel 10:
“1Then I looked,
and behold, in the expanse that was over the heads of the cherubim something
like a sapphire stone, in appearance resembling a throne, appeared above
them.
2And He spoke to the man clothed in linen and said, “Enter between
the whirling wheels under the cherubim and fill your hands with coals of fire
from between the cherubim and scatter them over the city.” And he entered in my sight.”
In Revelation
chapter 8 we find:
“5Then the angel took the censer and filled it
with the fire of the altar, and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals
of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.”
Notes: these are a
few similarities, but hardly a complete list-the rest of Ezekiel deals with
future Judgement all the way through history.
In Revelation, we
have three series of judgements: Scroll with seven seals, seven trumpets and
seven bowl judgements.
Scroll with seven
seals- may symbolize ‘the written
Word’, satisfying the sins against Christ.
Seven trumpets- may symbolize ‘voice of God’, satisfying
the sins against God the Father-throughout Scripture the voice of God is said
to be like the sound of trumpets:
Exodus 19:16-19, Revelation
1:10, Revelation 4:1
Seven bowls being
poured out- may symbolize satisfying
the sins against the Holy Spirit which is described as being ‘poured out on all
flesh’:
Isaiah 44:3, Joel
2:28-29, Zechariah 12:10
It seems that the
destruction of Jerusalem may be an approximation in miniature of the worldwide
judgements found in the book of Revelation. In both cases God shows exactly WHY
Judgement is due.
And He is honored and
glorified.
