Mourning Sin and the Man in Linen Marking You

9:11. 

That's the number you dial when you sense trouble.

We all find ourselves in trouble at one time or another. Our actions bring pain and sorrow upon ourselves and others.

We are selfish. We lie to enhance our standing with others. We steal what is not ours. We minimize God and His Word in our lives. We're envious, jealous, and haughty. We live the way we desire and refuse to acknowledge our allegiance to God.

We get angry when we don't get our way. 

In short, we are sinners. 

However, the Good News is that God loves sinners and sent His Son to deliver us from our sins.

"Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst." (I Timothy 1:15)

So it would be prudent for all of us to ponder this important question. 

Does God accept every sinner regardless?

The Bible reveals that Jesus accepts and blesses only those sinners who dial up 9:11.

Ezekiel 9:11 is the Bible's 9:11.

"And, behold, the Man clothed with linen, which had the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying, "I have done as You have commanded me." (Ezekiel 9:11). 

I'll explain why this Bible verse is so important for the deliverance of your soul from God's judgment.

Ezekiel 9 records a vision that God gave to the prophet Ezekiel. Ezekiel had been captured by the King of Babylon and is now living in exile as a prisoner. The year is 591 B.C. and the Temple in Jerusalem is still standing.

But not for long.

Five years later (586 B.C.) God would use the wicked Babylonian army (e.g., "the Chaldeans") to destroy His Temple and the city of Jerusalem because of the wickedness and sins of the people.

The Glory (God's Presence) was departing Jerusalem (see Ezekiel 8).

In Ezekiel's vision, he sees seven men enter the city, "and one Man was in linen with an inkhorn around His waist" (Ezekiel 9:2). An inkhorn was a container full of ink, sometimes the horn of an animal. A feather with a pointed stem would be the natural pen.

The Man in linen was sent by God to "mark with ink" the people in Jerusalem who were "grieving, weeping and in deep sorrow" over the detestable things they'd done (Ezekiel 9:4). The other six men were executioners who were to "destroy by death" those without the mark (Ezekiel 9:5).

God told the six men:

"Utterly slay old men, young men, maidens, little children, and women, but do not touch any man on whom is the mark."

The Seventh Man, the Man in linen with the inkhorn around His waist, is an Old Testament type of Jesus Christ. The Man in linen had a specific mission.

"Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it." (Ezekiel 9:4) 

The people of Jerusalem had done some abominable things. All of them. But there are some who are "grieving, weeping and in deep sorrow" over the detestable things they'd done (Ezekiel 9:4).

Ezekiel 9:11 tells us the Man in linen did as He was commanded, and all those marked with ink were saved from destruction.

God delivers only those sinners who grieve over their sin.

The "mark" that the Man in linen puts on the foreheads of those in mourning translates the Hebrew word TAV (also spelled "taw" or "tau" when transliterated into English). In addition to meaning a "mark," this is the name of the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

The TAV is an equal-armed cross + (as in the upper right corner of the diagram to the right). The Man in linen with the "cup of ink" or "inkhorn" (KJV) marked people with a sign in the shape of a cross.

The Man in linen died for those who mourn over their sin.

The only people delivered from destruction via "the mark of the cross" are those who mourn over sin.

"Blessed are they who mourn," Jesus said, "for they shall be comforted" (Matthew 5:4).

To be a Christian doesn't mean you've never done anything wrong.

No.

To be a Christian - to be one who is saved from the coming destruction - means you've been marked by the Man in linen with the cross because you mourn over your sin.