Visions of Abomination and Six Men seen
In the 8th chapter of Ezekiel, the prophet saw the visions of God when he sat in his house with the elders of Judah sitting before him. The hand of the Lord God fell upon him there.
Similarly, let us see the visions of God through our prophetic eyes as we sit in our houses for fellowship and worship of God along with the other saints of God in the Body of Christ. If we want to see the visions of God, it is necessary to have the fellowship of the other saints in the Body of Christ.
Between earth and heaven
The Spirit of God has to lift us up between earth and heaven so that we can see the visions of God. This means we have to be in the presence of God to see the heavenly visions. We have to forget the cares of this world and the bliss of heavenly enjoyment if we have to see the visions of God. At times, we are either pulled down by our labor in the world or gravitated towards the heaven through our worship. But God wants us to be lifted up between earth and heaven so as to be alone with Him and to hear Him. There has to be a balance of both these experiences.
Vision means not merely seeing through our eyes while sleeping or while praying. It is both seeing and hearing God in our spirit as we meditate on His Word. These days, we find many servants of God labor in His Vineyard or worship God in church or fellowship meetings. But hardly do they find time to sit at His feet with Bible in their hands in order to see and hear God in their spirit. Unless they see and hear God in their spirits, they cannot give God's messages i.e. prophetic messages to the people.
Jerusalem and the House of Israel
Ezekiel directs his prophecies against the nation of Israel whom God chose for Himself. The Spirit lifted him up between earth and heaven and brought him to Jerusalem. Similarly, under the New Covenant, the people of God redeemed by the Blood of Jesus Christ are in Jerusalem, the Body of Christ. The Christian nations which are laid on the foundation of the Bible by their founding fathers who framed the respective constitutions of their nations are the house of Israel. God blessed these nations in an abundant measure because these nations were founded on the Word of God. In the past, many missionaries in these nations were led of the Spirit to evangelize the whole world. There are indeed many Christian nations like U.K, USA, Australia, Canada, etc. Further, the individual peoples residing in different nations who have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior also form part of the house of Israel under the New Covenant.
The prophet is taken by the Spirit to Jerusalem to see through the visions of God what is happening in the house of Israel. Similarly, let us see through the prophetic eyes of the Body of Christ, the Jerusalem under the New Covenant "the abominations that the house of Israel commits"
Seat of the image of jealousy
The prophet is brought "to the door of the north gate of the inner court, where the seat of the image of jealousy was, which provokes to jealousy" (Vs.3). The seat of this image is seen first by the prophet "in the entrance" (Vs.5). Similarly, let us be led by the Spirit to come to the north gate of the inner court in the Temple of God. We find the seat of this image set in the inner court and in the entrance.
It is the seat of great political and economic powers that these nations wield to subjugate the whole world. They joined hands in forming formidable military and economic alliances. They made many treaties amongst themselves to consolidate their powers over the other nations. The seat of this image situated "in the entrance" of the Temple of God eclipses the light of the glorious gospel and the glory of God. In verse 4, we find that the glory of the God of Israel was there". Today, the millions in the non-Christian nations are not able to see the glory of God in the entrance of the Temple of God because the seat of this image is preventing these millions from approaching the Temple of God.
Abominations on the Wall
The prophet is led by the Spirit to peep through a hole in the wall and was then led to dig into the wall. Whatever is done in the secret places, the same is exposed in the light because there is a hole in the wall. Abominations done in the dark are exposed in the light. Let us labor to know what our political leaders do in their secret chambers because God has provided a hole in their walls. Let us further penetrate this wall by digging through this hole. A prophet has the eagle's eyes. Nothing is hidden from the prophet.
Let us look at the abominations portrayed on the walls of these nations which make God "go far away from My sanctuary".
Every sort of creeping thing
The prophet sees the "wicked abominations which they are doing there" (Vs.8). The people of God in these nations can see through their prophetic eyes on the walls of their nations "every sort of creeping thing". Nothing can escape their eyes. They can see abominations like remarriage of divorced people during the life-time of divorced spouses, gay-marriages, homosexual sin, premarital sex by youths claiming as boy or girl friends, extramarital relations by spouses, etc.
Abominable beasts
People are spiritually killed by abominable beasts let loose by Satan. In these nations, many cults like astrology, witchcraft, black magic, Satanism, etc. are spreading like a wild fire. These beasts annihilate the people spiritually.
All the idols of the house of Israel
All kinds of idols of this world are seen here. Science and technology are their idols. Material prosperity has become their way of life. God has been relegated to the background and these idols have since taken the place of God.
Elders of the house of Israel
Then the prophet sees what "seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the room of his idols" (Vs.12). The political leaders of these nations do many things in the dark – which are quite contrary to the Word of God or the doctrines of Christ Jesus. They serve their own idols in the place of God. They have no concern for Christ and His Church, the Body of Christ. Of course, they worship "a Christ" in their churches who is not the One as revealed in the Bible.
They say, "The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land". When God judges their nations through the sword of their enemies or through the natural calamities on account of their sins and iniquities, they bemoan saying, "The Lord has forsaken the land". They do not see their own actions in the light of the Word of God. Divine judgments have not corrected them. They have become spiritually blind.
There are only seventy elders who do such abominations. This shows that there is a remnant of about 30% in their midst who follow the ways of God.
Let us look at the consequences of the decisions taken by the rulers of these Christian nations in waging wars against other nations and in shedding the blood of thousands of people including their own countrymen. All these are abominations in the sight of the holy God.
Greater abominations
The Spirit then asks the prophet to see "greater abominations" at the door of the Temple of the Lord. To the dismay of Ezekiel, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz (a Sumerian god). In the Temple of God, people are supposed to worship the true and living God, and not to worship a god who is dead. Women represent people who are weaker in their spiritual life. In these nations, there are great multitudes who are nominal Christians steeped in dead religious practices and customs. They follow Christian religion and not Christ Jesus. They weep for a dead god. They do not rejoice in the living God. In the sight of God, this is a great abomination. If a non-Christian who does not know Christ worships an idol in place of the true God, it can be termed as ignorance. But if a person who has heard the gospel of Christ but has not accepted Christ as his/per personal Savior, it can be termed as a greater abomination in the sight of God.
The prophet is then asked to watch "between the porch and the altar" (Vs.16). There were about 25 men with their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, and they were worshiping "the sun toward the east".
The wicked abominations are found only on the walls. But the greater abominations take place in the very realm of the temple of God. The backs of these leaders are toward the temple of God and their faces toward the east.
The rulers of these nations amend their respective constitutions so as to give pre-eminence to their idols. In order to establish their political hegemony over the whole world, they want to relegate God to the background and to give preeminence to their idols. Their idols are nothing but political and economic powers by which they can control the other nations. They interfere with the ways of God and alter His laws to suit their conveniences. They usurp the authority given to the Church by Christ and the Father. They are not supposed to do anything between the porch and the altar of the Temple.
They worship the creature i.e. the sun in the place of the Creator. It is God Who gave them His wisdom to discover the hidden energies and resources of this universe. Atomic energy, solar energy, electric energy, etc. were discovered by men from the hidden sources of this universe. The ultimate source of all energy is the sun. In the absence of sun, the life in this universe cannot exist at all. The rulers of these nations do worship the sun in place of God by giving preeminence to the creatures like science and technology, gold and silver, etc.
The fury and judgment of God
Jehovah tells the prophet, "Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it a trivial thing to the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have filled the land with violence; then they have returned to provoke Me to anger. Indeed they put the branch to their nose.
Therefore I also will act in fury. My eye will not spare nor will I have pity; and though they cry in My ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them" (Vs.17-18).
Vision of Six Men
Visions of abominations
In the 9th chapter of Ezekiel, we find that God commanded six men to execute divine judgment on the chosen people of Israel. One of them, clothed with linen, had a writer's inkhorn in his hand. God commanded this man, "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" (Vs.4). God then commanded the other five men, "Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark….." (Vs.5-6)
The six men in the vision are those chosen by God for doing God's will. The names of these men or their nationalities are not revealed here. They are neither spirits nor angels but men in flesh. Each of the five men holds "a slaughter weapon in his hand". God chooses five men to execute His wrath on the rebellious nation of Israel. They are not literally five men. This means that God chooses a small group of men to execute His judgment on the thousands of His people. This small group of people is so merciless that they kill old men, children and women. This group is equipped with deadly weapons for destroying the rebellious children of God.
Man clothed with linen
God is a sovereign God. He chooses "five men" to punish His own people. However, there is another man who is different from these five men. He is clothed with linen and holds a writer's inkhorn in his hand. He is a man of God and a true minister of the Word. This shows that there are still a very small group of God's ministers through whom God wants to protect those who are obedient to Him – who "cry for all the abominations" committed in the courts of the Temple of God as seen by Ezekiel in the earlier vision.
The ministers of God likened to the man clothed with linen are humble and lead a very simple life. They are commonplace people like John the Baptist crying in the wilderness. They prefer to remain in the wilderness. If the people of God want to save themselves from the hands of these five men, they have to go to the wilderness in search of such ministers of God. These ministers preach the truth with the result that those who hear the truth are convicted of their sins and iniquities and thus repent in sackcloth. Those who obey the truth would get a mark on their foreheads.
The five men execute divine judgment only after the man clothed with linen puts his mark on those people who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done in the temple of God. The man clothed with linen puts a mark on the foreheads of them who cannot tolerate such abominations that take place in Jerusalem. The five armed men shall not come near any one on whom this mark is put.
Dearly beloved, will you heed to the true ministers of the Word who are still a minority in your nation preaching the truth? Will you sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done in your nation by the church leaders, ministers of the gospel and the political rulers?
Intercession by the prophet
We find the prophet falls on his face and pleads before God for not judging His people. But God is stubborn and does not relent. He simply tells the prophet, "The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, The Lord hath forsaken the earth, and the Lord seeth not"
No prophetic intercessor can stand in the gap and plead to God for saving the rebellious children of Israel, who have hardened their hearts without repentance, from the hands of these five men. Finally, the man clothed with linen, which had the inkhorn by his side, reports the matter, saying, "I have done as Thou hast commanded me".
-Job Anbalagan