Dr. Lawrence Butler, The Bridge Church, Pembroke

As we saw in our last study, Jerusalem was filled with idolatry.

It had spread to the leadership of the people, even to the point that the elders and priests in the temple had turned away from the worship of Jehovah. It is beyond question that God will not tolerate such wickedness in His house. Chapter 9 begins to reveal the Lord’s reaction to this sin.

This section of scripture opens with a call from Jehovah to those spiritual beings who were over the city. Six angelic beings responded, each with a “destroying weapon” in hand and ready to obey. A seventh being also showed up with some type of writing utensil. They stood beside the “brazen altar” in the temple. This altar was used to offer animal sacrifices to the Lord and represents the place and time of judgment. Judah had enjoyed Jehovah’s blessings for so long it seemed they thought they had some type of entitlement to it, regardless of their behavior.

Please notice before any command of judgment was given that the glory of God moved off the cherub on the Mercy Seat which was on the top of the Ark of the Covenant. This meant God was leaving His people and the temple.

Judgment was then pronounced against Jerusalem as the being with the writing tool was instructed to mark those who were unhappy with the wickedness of their city. They could be easily identified because they were weeping and praying over the sins of their people. When this was accomplished, the other angelic beings were commanded to start killing those who were without the special mark of the first being. Please notice the first to be judged were the elders at the sanctuary.

It is my conviction that many of our churches today would not be where they are spiritually if leaders had simply stood for righteousness some years ago. Prolific writer Leonard Ravenhill wrote in Why Revival Tarries, “The tragedy of this late hour is that we have too many dead men in the pulpits giving out too many dead sermons to too many dead people.” If we allow the Lord to withdraw His Spirit from our churches as He did with Judah, we shall suffer the same fate of eternal loss.