Before God sent fire to exercise His judgment, He sent His angel to mark out His seekers (9:4). He marked out those who sighed and cried over all the sinfulness and evils in the city of Jerusalem. God told His angel to mark them out so that they would not be killed by the sword, be affected by the pestilence, be devoured by any beast, or suffer the famine. Only the marked-out ones would remain alive. Hallelujah, today it is the same! Some dear seekers have really been marked out by God. No matter how much other Christians fight, they refuse to be a part of it. The fighting among other Christians does not damage them, nor do they suffer any shortage of spiritual food, nor do they have any kind of spiritual disease. This is marvelous!
Praise the Lord that He does have some marked-out ones! At the beginning of the Lord's recovery in this country, in 1962, some brothers and I prayed day after day for all the seeking ones. We prayed that the Lord would bring the seeking ones to His recovery. Who are the seeking ones? They are the ones marked out by God.
In the midst of God's judgment He preserved a remnant (6:8). Most were killed by the sword. Others died by the famine, by the pestilence, or by being devoured by the beasts. The rest were scattered in the captivity and preserved as a remnant. Today it is the same. Not only has God marked out the seeking ones, He has also preserved and kept a remnant. I do believe that the people who will come into the church life in this country will be the remnant, the seekers marked out by God. All those who are marked out by God will be brought into the recovery. This is the remnant.
God said that even in the captivity He would be a sanctuary to them for a little while (11:16, lit.). He became, not a permanent sanctuary like the one in Jerusalem, but a temporary sanctuary to all the captured, scattered people. If you tell people that Christianity has become degraded, some may argue with you by saying that they have the Lord's presence in their meetings. We must admit this fact. It is true that the Lord is a sanctuary for a little while to those in the captivity. We should not say that they do not have the real presence of the Lord at all, but we must say that it is only a temporary sanctuary. Here and there, in some of the homes, in some of the little groups, they have the Lord's presence in a temporary way as a temporary sanctuary for a little while. But no one should be satisfied with that temporary sanctuary. Rather, that temporary sanctuary should be a calling to come back to Jerusalem—back to the permanent sanctuary.
The Lord in His mercy promised the captured ones that He would bring them back to the land (11:17). He even told them that He would bring them back to the highest mountains of Israel (20:40). We know that the high mountains typify the resurrected and ascended Christ. Today, our experience of Christ and enjoyment of Christ in the local churches is very high. Our Christ is really on the highest mountains.
Furthermore, in this section on God's judgment, in His mercy He also predicted something concerning Christ. Even in the word of judgment, Christ is predicted. In 17:22-23 there is a prediction concerning Christ. In this chapter, the house of David is likened unto a single twig. First of all, a branch of that tree, Jehoiachin, was cut off. Later, another branch, Zedekiah, was set up and was also cut off. Eventually, Ezekiel 17 tells us that on the top of that cedar tree, there was one tender twig, one tender branch, which was cropped and planted on the top of the mountain. It became a high cedar. By reading carefully, we can realize that this tender twig is Christ. Christ belongs to the house of David. Christ is a tender branch of the cedar of David who was cut off by being crucified. By His resurrection, He was planted on the mountaintop and became a great cedar tree. This was not only a kind of prophecy, but also a kind of promise given by God to the discouraged people. At that time, the house of David was fully discouraged and disappointed. But Ezekiel predicted that out of the house of David there would be a tender twig set upon the mountaintop which would become a great cedar tree. That was an encouragement and a promise to the house of David concerning Christ.
Ezekiel 21:10 is another verse which most translators believe refers to Christ. It is a difficult verse to translate, but the best rendering is, "the scepter of my son despises all trees." This is undoubtedly based on Genesis 49:10 which says something concerning the scepter of Judah. The scepter of Judah is Christ. In Ezekiel's time, the cedar tree, the house of David, was cut off and burned. Some people, however, still made mirth, being joyful, saying, "The scepter of my son despises all trees." This means that while Ezekiel was prophesying and telling the people that God was going to burn the people of Israel, including the house of David, even denying the tribe of Judah, some of them made mirth saying, "We have Christ, we have the scepter of God's Son who despises and surpasses all the trees." God's reply was that since He was going to burn everything, should they make mirth by saying this? Thus, this verse refers to Christ the scepter of Judah. It refers to the power and authority of the Son of God.
Ezekiel 21:27 then says that Christ is the One who has the right to inherit the kingdom of Israel. At that time God was overturning the kingdom and nation of Israel until the One who has the right to inherit would come. This One is Christ. Finally, in Ezekiel 29:21, Christ is the horn of the house of Israel. God will bring forth the horn of the house of Israel.
Thus, you can see while the judgment of God was on His people and while they experienced much disappointment, God prophesied that Christ was their hope and their encouragement. Although they were under the judgment of God, they should not be disappointed, but encouraged by Christ and with Christ. Even under God's judgment, they had God's mercy and God's Christ! Hallelujah for God's mercy and God's Christ!