Man with the Writer’s Inkhorn
“Go 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 ” (Ezekiel 9:4).
The passage in Ezekiel chapter nine has intrigued Bible Students for many years. It describes a man clothed in linen who is instructed by God to go through Jerusalem and mark the foreheads of those who mourn over the abominations of Jerusalem. In examining the surrounding context we see a very sad picture of the sins being committed by God’s ancient people.
Residing in Babylon, the prophet Ezekiel was given a vision of what was transpiring some 500 miles to his west, in the temple of Jerusalem. In Ezekiel chapter eight the Lord showed him the idols and pagan worship that had been brought into the temple courtyard and hung on its walls. He then led Ezekiel to the entrance of the temple proper and showed him women weeping for Tammuz, a pagan idol. Finally the Lord brought the prophet into the inner court to see 25 men standing with their backs to the temple of the Lord, worshipping the sun.
The Lord’s words to Ezekiel were, “Do you see this, son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they have committed here, that they have filled the land with violence and provoked me repeatedly? … Therefore, I indeed will deal in wrath. My eye will have no pity nor will I spare; and though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, yet I will not listen to them” (Ezekiel 8:17, 18, NAS).
It is difficult to imagine the temple being used for anything more deplorable than idolatry. Could there have been any more inappropriate place on earth to worship the sun, with backs turned to the temple of God? There is little wonder that God would be angry, especially because of who was committing these abominations. Israel was in a unique position before God, having His special favor. They were given His divine laws. But now they turned their backs on Him, preferring to worship inanimate objects. They should have known better. They bore a greater responsibility for these sins than any other idolatrous nation.
This is the context for what follows in chapter nine. There we read God’s condemning words and prophecy of destruction. He said, “Draw near, 0 executioners of the city, each with his destroying weapon in his hand. Behold, 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 He called to the man clothed in linen at whose loins was the writing case. The 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. But 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. 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” (Ezekiel 9:1-6, NAS).
This was the decree of God, that Jerusalem would be destroyed. Six men from the north with shattering weapons would come and carry out God’s punishment. But before that destruction could proceed, a man with a writer’s inkhorn was instructed to mark out those faithful Jews who mourned the abominations being committed in the temple. Who was this special man, and who were the ones that would receive the “mark?”
NEAR TERM FULFILLMENT
There is, of course, a near term fulfillment to this prophecy. We see its first fulfillment in Jeremiah chapter nine.
“Now when Jerusalem was captured in the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah … Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came to Jerusalem and laid siege to it; in the eleventh year of Zedekiah … the city wall was breached… The Chaldeans also burned with fire the king’s palace and the houses of the people, and they broke down the walls of Jerusalem. As for the rest of the people who were left in the city, the deserters who had gone over to him and the rest of the people who remained, Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard carried them into exile in Babylon. But some of the poorest people who had nothing, Nebuzaradan … left behind in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at that time.
“Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave orders about Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan … saying, ‘Take him and look after him, and do nothing harmful to him, but rather deal with him just as he tells you.’ Now the word of the LORD had come to Jeremiah while he was confined in the court of the guardhouse, saying, “Go and speak to Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I am about to bring My words on this city for disaster and not for prosperity; and they will take place before you on that day. But I will deliver you on that day, declares the LORD, and you will not be given into the hand of the men whom you dread. For I will certainly rescue you, and you will not fall by the sword; but you will have your own life as booty, because you have trusted in Me, declares the L0RD’ ” (Jeremiah 39:1, 2, 8-12, 15-18, NAS).
Nebuchadnezzar’s army, coming from the north, was sent to destroy Jerusalem and the temple. This is the direct fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prophecy of the six men with destroying weapons who also came from the north. Notice, too, that in the Jeremiah account a remnant from Jerusalem would be saved. These were the poor who did not support Zedekiah’s rebellion, or take part in Jerusalem’s idolatry. Jeremiah tells us that Nebuzaradan, the captain of Nebuchadnezzar, actually gave to them lands and vineyards for a possession. Presumably these were lands and vineyards owned by those Jews either killed or taken captive to Babylon. These poor, but faithful Jews, correspond to the mourners of Ezekiel who receive a figurative mark in their foreheads.
Jeremiah 21 helps us to identify the man with the writer’s inkhorn as it was fulfilled in Israel. There we read that King Zedekiah had sent two men to inquire from Jeremiah what would happen when Nebuchadnezzar came against Jerusalem. He wanted to know if the Lord would deliver them as He had done in the past.
The answer from God, through Jeremiah, was that there would be no deliverance. Jerusalem would be destroyed and many of the inhabitants of the city would be killed. Survivors would be taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar.
Jeremiah the Prophet before the King of Judah
Then the Lord makes an interesting statement through Jeremiah. “And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus says the LORD; Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. He who dwells in this city will die by the sword and by famine and by pestilence; but he who goes out and falls away to the Chaldeans who are besieging you will live, and he will have his own life as booty” (Jeremiah 21:8, 9, NAS).
There was a way out, a way to be saved from the coming destruction. The first step was to leave Jerusalem. The next step was to “fall away to the Chaldeans.” This phrase means, “to surrender to the Chaldeans.” The Contemporary English translation says, “The Babylonian army has surrounded Jerusalem, so if you want to live, you must go out and surrender to them.”
The verse ends with an interesting statement that we read elsewhere. The Lord said that the one surrendering to the Chaldeans would “have his own life as booty.” Booty is spoil. In other words, his spared life would be his spoil. That phrase used here in chapter 21 is the exact phrase used later, in chapter 39, of the man that God had told Jeremiah about, Ebed-melech. As a faithful man of God Ebed-melech obeyed Jeremiah, left Jerusalem and surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar. As a result, his life was among those saved from the destruction of Jerusalem. But he was an Ethiopian, not one we might expect to find deliverance from destruction.
These saved ones are those who obeyed Jeremiah’s message, left Jerusalem, and surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar. They are depicted in Ezekiel chapter nine as the ones who received the mark in their foreheads. They were expressing their faith in the word of the Lord related by Jeremiah. They would not be destroyed by the invading army, represented by the six men with shattering weapons.
In the first fulfillment of this prophecy then, the man with the writer’s inkhorn was the prophet Jeremiah. He was used by the Lord to call the faithful out of Jerusalem, safe from the coming destruction. He gave the words of the Lord that, when received, distinguished faithful Jews from those who defended the evil ways of Jerusalem. So in this amazing 0ld Testament prophecy it is important that we first see the immediate application to those who actually heard the message.
GREATER FULFILLMENT
As with many prophecies, there are multiple fulfillments to Ezekiel chapter nine and the vision of the man with the writer’s inkhorn. As we read through Ezekiel chapters eight and nine, we notice that the word “abomination” is mentioned multiple times – seven in fact.
The Lord was disgusted with the abominations being committed by Israel. That conduct is what precipitated Ezekiel’s vision of the coming destruction. But there is a clear Gospel Age application to this vision as well. In Daniel chapter 12, the prophet talks about “the abomination that maketh desolate.” Also, in chapter eight, Daniel speaks of a “little horn” that would defile the sanctuary and cast truth to the ground.
The corruption of Christianity through the Papal system is the antitypical parallel to what happened in the temple at Jerusalem where idols were brought into the temple of God and where people turned their backs on the sanctuary and worshipped the sun. There has been a defiling of the Gospel Age sanctuary with false worship, idolatry, and other corruptions. Truth was “cast to the ground.” Just as God’s anger was kindled by the corrupted worship in Israel, so He looks at the Gospel Age desecration of the spiritual temple with similar contempt.
There is a clear parallel between the destruction of ancient Jerusalem and the destruction of nominal spiritual Babylon. Upon the destruction of Spiritual Babylon we read “and the light of a lamp will not shine in you any longer; and the voice of the bridegroom and bride will not be heard in you any longer” (Revelation 18:23, NAS).
At one time Babylon had been a golden cup in the Lord’s hand (Jeremiah 51:7, Revelation 17:4), but now, as a result of her abominations, she is condemned to the same end as ancient Jerusalem. Notice the similar expressions used of Jerusalem that we read in the Revelation account. “I will take from them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp” (Jeremiah 25:10).
The parallel is clear. The destruction of Jerusalem in the days of Jeremiah is a figure of the destruction of nominal Christianity in the harvest of this age. As there was a messenger sent to forewarn the faithful in olden times, so there has been a messenger to call the faithful out of Babylon. The call mentioned in Revelation is the antitypical message given by the Lord through Pastor Russell, the antitypical Jeremiah. “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues” (Revelation 18:4).
Pastor Charles Russell
The Lord gave specific directions to the faithful. In order to have their lives spared they would have to leave Jerusalem and surrender to Nebuchadnezzar. Similarly, the work of calling out the Lord’s people of our day has been through the writings and work of the antitypical man clothed in linen. The writer’s inkhorn is a very fitting symbol for the prolific writings of the Harvest Messenger.
FAITHFUL ONES
The ancient Israelites who surrendered to the Babylonian army were in essence saying, “We give ourselves up to you in recognition that your destroying army is a punishment from God. We will not defend Jerusalem.” To continue the symbolism we ask, “What is pictured by the faithful Jews surrendering to Nebuchadnezzar?
The answer may be seen in the reason for surrendering. Like the faithful ones who left Jerusalem, we know that in the destructive process of spiritual Babylon we are seeing God’s just and righteous sentence. We accept it as such. We do not defend the systems of man nor do we get involved in politics or the military. We surrender to the coming trouble because we know that it is God’s judgment, and that in the long run it will be for the good of mankind. We leave Jerusalem, a picture of nominal Christian churches, and accept the Lord’s judgments as just and good. But there was an Ethiopian man who shared in the deliverance of Jerusalem, a man of faith. We see in him a harvest lesson that the Lord is no respecter of persons. He sends out the call and any of faith can respond.
Like the prophet Jeremiah, Bro. Russell was used by God to do a special work of separating out those who have not been in sympathy with nominal religion. The mark of God is initially received by those who leave the city of nominal Christianity. However, receiving the “mark” of God must involve more than simply leaving the city. Understanding the truth is the first step in having God’s stamp of approval, but it is a process which indicates that the truth must change us from within. It must teach us to live life in full consecration. Such a lifestyle will set us apart for holy service.
Six Men
Why does the prophecy in Ezekiel chapter nine specify that there were six men with shattering weapons? One possibility is suggested by their very work. Their purpose was to destroy Jerusalem. We have seen the antitypical application to this in a general way. It is a picture of the destruction of nominal Christianity. More specifically, Revelation 16 says that the destruction of Christendom will be accomplished by seven plagues. Before the destructive work of Jerusalem could begin, the message to come out of the city had to be given. This work was assigned to the man in linen. Thus there are actually seven men who take up the Lord’s work of destroying the temple and the city. This may correspond to the seven plagues of Revelation 16.
If that connection is true, then we have the first plague on Babylon identified as the work of Pastor Russell. His message accomplished a number of things. By calling out the Spirit Begotten, the preserving influence of the saints has, for the most part, been taken out of the system. This would have a debilitating (or plaguing) affect. Second, the Harvest Message contains very specific truths relating to the corruptions of Papacy. Volume Two details God’s dealing with “The Man of Sin.” These elements of the Harvest Message have also had a plaguing effect. The tearing down process began by laying this foundation of truth that has continued as the remain- ing six plagues have taken shape, ending soon in Babylon’s complete destruction.
Commenting on Revelation chapter seven where we see 144,000 saints sealed in their foreheads, Adam Clarke says, “There is manifestly an allusion to Ezekiel 9:4 here. By sealing we are to understand consecrating the persons in a more special manner to God, and showing, by this mark of God upon them, that they were under his more immediate protection, and that nothing should hurt them. It was a custom in the east … to stamp with a hot iron the name of the owner upon the forehead or shoulder of his slave.”
Thus, the seal of God not only shows His approval, but it also shows His ownership. We belong to Him. We have consecrated our lives to do His will. We wear His mark where everyone can see it. We are His slaves, willing to obey His commands and represent His word.
The work of the man with the writer’s inkhorn will be accomplished once all the 144,000 are sealed. The work involves hearing the call to leave the city, obeying the call, and faithfully living a life of sacrifice in the true worship of our king. Let it be said of us that “These are they which follow the Lamb, whithersoever he goeth” (Revelation 14:4).
– Bro. Tom Ruggirello