Ezekiel 9:8

I was left--literally, "there was left I." So universal seemed the slaughter that Ezekiel thought himself the only one left [CALVIN]. He was the only one left of the priests "in the sanctuary." fell upon my face--to intercede for his countrymen (so Nu 16:22). all the residue--a plea drawn from God's covenant promise to save the elect remnant.

SALVATION never shines so brightly to any man's eyes as when it comes to himself. Then is Divine Grace illustrious, indeed, when we can see it working with Divine power upon ourselves. To our apprehension, our own case is always the most desperate and, therefore, mercy shown to us is the most extraordinary! We see others perish and wonder that the same doom has not befallen ourselves.

THE vision of Ezekiel which is recorded in the previous chapter brought to light the abominations of the house of Judah. The vision which follows in this chapter shows the terrible retribution that the Lord God brought upon the guilty nation, beginning at Jerusalem. He beheld the men of slaughter who come forth with their weapons. He marked them begin the destroying work at the gate of the Temple. He saw them proceed through the main streets and not omit a single lane—they utterly slew all those who were not marked with the mark of the writer's inkhorn on their brow. He stood alone—that Prophet of the Lord—himself spared in the midst of universal carnage and, as the carcasses fell at his feet, and the bodies stained with gore lay all around him, he said, "I was left." He stood alive among the dead because he was found faithful among the faithless—he survived in the midst of universal destruction because he had served his God in the midst of universal depravity. We shall now take the sentence altogether apart from Ezekiel's vision and appropriate it to ourselves. And I think, when we read it over, and repeat it, "I was left," it very naturally invites us to take a review of the past I t also very readily suggests a prospect of the future and, I think, it also permits a terrible contrast in reserve for the impenitent. I. First of all, then, my Brothers and Sisters, we have here a pathetic reflection which seems to invite us to take A SOLEMN REVIEW—"I was left." You remember, many of you, times of sickness, when cholera was in your streets. You may forget that season of pestilence, but I never can—when the duties of my pastorate called me to continually walk among your terror-stricken households and to see the dying and the dead.

SALVATION never shines so brightly to any man's eyes as when it comes to himself. Then is Divine Grace illustrious, indeed, when we can see it working with Divine power upon ourselves. To our apprehension, our own case is always the most desperate and, therefore, mercy shown to us is the most extraordinary! We see others perish and wonder that the same doom has not befallen ourselves. The horror of the ruin which we dreaded and our intense delight at the certainty of safety in Christ unite with our personal sense of unworthiness to make us cry in amazement, "And I was left." Ezekiel, in vision, saw the slaughter men smiting right and left at the bidding of Divine Justice. And as he stood unharmed among the heaps of the slain, he exclaimed with surprise, "I was left." It may be the day will come when we, too, shall cry with solemn joy, "And I, too, by Sovereign Grace, am spared while others perish." Special Grace will cause us to marvel. Emphatically will it be so at the Last Dread Day. Read the story of the gross idolatry of the people of Jerusalem as recorded in the 8th Chapter of Ezekiel's prophecy, and you will not wonder at the judgment with which the Lord at length overthrew the city. Let us set our hearts to consider how the Lord dealt with the guilty people. "Six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lies toward the north, and every man with a slaughter weapon in his hand." The destruction worked by these executioners was swift and terrible—and it was typical of other solemn visitations. All through history the observing eye notices lines ofjustice, red marks upon the page where the Judge of all the earth has at last seen it necessary to decree a terrible visitation upon a guilty people. All these past displays of Divine Vengeance point at the coming judgment even more complete and overwhelming.

THE vision of Ezekiel which is recorded in the previous chapter brought to light the abominations of the house of Judah. The vision which follows in this chapter shows the terrible retribution that the Lord God brought upon the guilty nation, beginning at Jerusalem. He beheld the men of slaughter who come forth with their weapons. He marked them begin the destroying work at the gate of the Temple.

Left - The prophet was left alone, all who had been around him were slain.