Today we’re going to look at the first half of a lengthy vision. And it’s a doozy.

😐🤚🏼 I got a question…

Yeah?

😐 Ezekiel said he was sitting in his house and he had house guests.

Yeah…

🤔 And then this divine figure grabs him by the hair and hauls him hundreds of miles across the desert back to Jerusalem.

Yes.

🤔 Did the elders SEE him fly out of the room?

😃 Cuz that would be awesome!

That’s a very good question. He didn’t fly out of the room physically. Ezekiel was bodily in his house, but his soul was flying on Yahweh airlines. It was very similar to Peter’s vision in Acts 10:10 when he “fell into a trance.” In both cases the men were experiencing the unseen spiritual realm while remaining physically in one spot. I suspect that to the people around him, Ezekiel might’ve looked like he was frozen, or even paralyzed, “staring off into space.” We know this because of the last 2 verses in the vision narrative when he “comes back.”

“And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me in the vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to the exiles. Then the vision that I had seen went up from me. And I told the exiles all the things that the Lord had shown me.” Ezekiel‬ ‭11‬:‭24‬-‭25‬ ‭ESV‬‬

This is a spiritual vision, not teleportation like Philip the Evangelist or Elijah.

Did you notice the Being who picked him up by the hair? It was “the hand of Yahweh.” And the description of what he saw- the shining human form, the radiance, the fire- it matches what he saw in his first vision of the One on the throne.

I bring this up because when Ezekiel – who is being carried by Yahweh – arrives in Jerusalem…

“And look! There was the glory of the God of Israel like the vision that I saw in the valley.”
‭‭Ezekiel‬ ‭8‬:‭4‬ ‭LEB‬‬

We have 2 Yahwehs in the same scene: the One carrying Ezekiel by his hair and the One he’s seeing on the cherub-throne with the wheels (“the vision that I saw in the valley”).

This is one of the places in the OT where we have “The Two Yahweh Figures” as Dr. Michael Heiser called it. (If you’d like to dig into that, here is a link to a full lecture from Dr. Heiser on that topic.) And in case you don’t fancy a lecture, let me assure you, this is not suggesting polytheism. If you’ve been following the blog since Genesis, you’ll recall that we have already encountered the divine “Angel of the LORD” Whom the Patriarchs and Moses regarded as Yahweh. In the burning bush narrative, we saw the two distinct figures: Yahweh AND His Angel.

Tour of the Idolatrous Temple – Part 1

Yahweh begins Ezekiel’s tour at the north gate. The temple faced the east but there were gates on the north, south, and east of the complex that surrounded the temple. Here’s a reconstructed floor plan:

🤔 It looks kinda like a microchip or a semiconductor or something that goes in a computer.

Wow. Now that you mention it, it kinda does. Interestingly, this diagram was drawn by Isaac Newton.

😲 THE Isaac Newton? As in the guy who discovered gravity when the apple 🍎 fell on his head?!

The very same. He was also a committed Christian and loved to study the scripture. Here’s a link to his work on Solomon’s Temple.

Anyway – in this diagram you can see the northern gate on the right side. In the vision, Ezekiel enters here and sees “the image of jealousy.” Some suggest that it may have been an Asherah pole, but I don’t think it matters which god it was. It was an image that stirred jealousy in Yahweh, hence the terminology. It would be like a husband finding a picture of another man in his wife’s phone – an image that provokes jealousy.

From the north gate, Ezekiel proceeds toward the temple court. There was a hole in a wall; probably the wall of one of the many rooms surrounding the temple. Ezekiel digs through the wall and sees the 70 elders burning incense to images of creepy-crawly gods in the dark. They actually thought that Yahweh had abandoned them- like He had gone off to some other land and wasn’t able to see them.

This isn’t as foreign an idea as it may seem at first glance. Have you ever encountered a person (or maybe you have BEEN the person) who felt like they had messed up so bad that there was no way God would want anything to do with them? “God doesn’t care about the likes of me.” A person who believes God has abandoned them is adrift without a moral compass. But it was NEVER true that God had abandoned them. They were the ones to abandon God.

Ezekiel is led back to the northern entrance to the courtyard and there are women “weeping for Tammuz;” possibly because it’s around September of the year and it’s very dry and the god Tammuz was thought to provide rain. Maybe they thought that by pouring out the “rain” from their eyes they would get his attention. They’re seeking another god for what Yahweh provides.

Finally, the last straw… He sees a group of about 25 men standing smack in front of the holy place – with their backs to it! – and they are worshipping the rising sun. Average Joes weren’t allowed in the temple court. Now, they may have been average Joes. A lot of things were being permitted in the temple court that God never sanctioned. But, it’s very possible that these sun-worshiping men were priests.

I used to live in San Marcos, TX. And in one of the parks you would often see a shirtless, white-haired man who worshipped the sun; or at least that’s what it looked like he was doing. His skin was bronzed and he was as lithe as an athlete. When I would drive past the park it was not unusual to see him out there with his hands raised to the sun, gesticulating and engaging in some kind of tribal dance. He was known locally as “The Sun God.” But there was this other guy in the park, “Frisbee Dan,” (known for his signature short-shorts and boonie hat). And Frisbee Dan and The Sun God got into a bit of a local tiff.

It’s one thing for The Sun God to do his dances and aggravate Frisbee Dan. It’s a whole other thing when priests turn their backs to the Holy Place and worship the sun right on the front porch of the One who made the sun. They knew better.

It’s one thing when heathens insult the holiness of God or make light of the Gospel of Christ. It’s a whole other thing when the spiritual leaders turn their backs on the LORD and look to other sources for blessings or guidance. They should know better.

So, because of all of these abominations, the slayers are called in.

This chapter gives us imagery that is vital for understanding content in The Revelation.

Seven men appear. Angels. Six are executioners carrying their weapons and the seventh is a scribe.

“And the Lord said to him, “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it.””
‭‭Ezekiel‬ ‭9‬:‭4‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Behind the scribe come the executioners. They kill every person who does not have the identifying mark.

Ask yourself some questions:

“Who killed the people in Jerusalem? The Angels or the Babylonians?”

“Who killed the people from God’s perspective?”

“Who or what caused death from the perspective of those in the city?”

“Can these two different perspectives be true at the same time?”

“What are the implications about the rise and fall of nations for the present and future? Might the ones perceived as enemies, plagues, or problems be physically carrying out something that Yahweh has already ordained in the heavens?”

🫤 K. Now my brain hurts.

Ok. Let’s shift gears and think about this “mark” that the scribe angel put on the foreheads on those who wept over sin.

In Hebrew, the word for “mark” is the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet: Tav.

Wanna know what that mark looked like that the angelic scribe was putting on the foreheads of those who were loyal to Yahweh?

I hope you’re sitting down…

🪑

Here’s the paleo-Hebrew letter Tav:

Y’all- They were marked with a CROSS!

😲🤯

Now think about what Jeremiah has been preaching back in Jerusalem – about how God is going to make a New Covenant with His people. Let’s look at how the writer of Hebrews quotes that passage from Jeremiah 31:33…

“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭8‬:‭10‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭12‬:‭2‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The marking of the forehead is an indicator of the THINKING of the person who is marked. It only goes on those who think like Yahweh. They share His grief and sorrow over sin. The cross has been stamped on their MINDS, (and consequently, their behavior). Paul said Christians should have “the mind of Christ,” (Phil. 2, 1 Cor. 2:16).

Ezekiel was seeing in the spiritual realm. There is no reason whatsoever to suppose that this Tav on the forehead was visible in the natural realm, as if the angelic scribe was like a priest on Ash Wednesday…

Okay…

You now have a key in your hand. 🔑

And it opens this: 🔒

“Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.””
‭‭Revelation‬ ‭7‬:‭2‬-‭3‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.”
‭‭Revelation‬ ‭9‬:‭3‬-‭4‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.”
‭‭Revelation‬ ‭14‬:‭1‬ ‭ESV‬‬

This is a group that is likewise given a protective mark (called a “seal”), by an angelic servant. And we’re told what the mark is. It’s the Father’s name. His “signature.” Tav. Paul says that believers in Jesus are “sealed” by the Holy Spirit (see Eph. 1:13 and 4:30, 2 Cor. 1:22).

Everyone else around these sealed people in Revelation is slated for destruction. Don’t get into the weeds worrying about who exactly these sealed “144,000” people are. They are children of God because God is their “Father.” They are partakers in the New Covenant with the LORD’s name (which is a way of saying HIM) written in their minds. Revelation is prophecy just like Ezekiel. I doubt that this “seal” is visible to anyone outside the supernatural realm.

And if one group can have a supernatural “mark” on their foreheads…so can another.

“And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain. Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.”
‭‭Revelation‬ ‭13‬:‭15‬-‭17‬ ‭ESV‬‬

If we think that “the Mark of the Beast” has to look is something like this…

…we are in BIG trouble.

It’s not going to be THAT obvious. C’mon, Saints. Let’s not be naive. Even most rank sinners would say “No thanks” to having a big ol’ 666 tattooed on their heads.

What if the “mark” of the Beast is the infernal copycat of the “mark” that Yahweh put on HIS faithful followers? Satan is the great copycat after all. If the redeemed have the Heavenly Father’s name in their foreheads, it makes complete sense that the damned have their hellish father’s name written in their foreheads too. If the saints have “the mind of Christ,” the rebels have “the mind of the Beast.” Or, as I suspect, “the hive-mind of the Beast.”

What if it’s not even a physical mark? John is seeing things in the spiritual realm just like Ezekiel. What if it’s a mark of loyalty visible only in the spiritual realm? What if it has way more to do with your MIND and thinking than the skin on your brow?

🤔 So… what about the hand? Revelation says the mark was in the hand or forehead.

If your forehead is about your mind and thinking, what is your hand about?

🤔 Uh… what you DO?

Bingo.

And those who are loyal to Yahweh and His Messiah Jesus are distinct from other humans based on:

• 🧠 What we believe (how we think)
• 🫲🏽 What we do (our behavior)

It’s basically our faith and our works.

🤔 So the Mark of the Beast is about people thinking and doing according to the Beast?

It could be. I don’t know. And neither does anyone else. But it’s a biblically sound possibility that should at least be on everyone’s radar.

Prophecy is for verification that Yahweh is the Most High and so that we will know HE is the One Who “declares the end from the beginning.” It’s not so we can foreknow every detail before it happens.

Ezekiel’s vision is the ONLY counterpart in the Bible to the scenes in Revelation where people receive a mark in their foreheads. We dare not attempt to interpret Revelation without FIRST studying our Old Testament prophets.

If the destruction of Jerusalem is a microcosm of ‘The Day of the LORD” (Judgment Day), then it would make a lot of sense if there were people marked to be spared from Judgment in both instances. And that’s exactly what we see in Ezekiel 9 and Revelation 7.

In the next post we’ll explore the aftermath of the slayers where God (again on His sparkling, living, Cherub-throne) reluctantly leaves His city.