Ezekiel 7:20

Ezekiel 7:20 says, As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty: but they made the images of their abominations and of their detestable things therein: therefore have I set it far from them.  God was speaking about the temple now.  It had been a beautiful house of God and the people of Israel thought it would bring them protection, but they had polluted it with false gods and false teachings.  No matter how beautiful the temple was, if God had been left out of the worship that was going on there, it offered no sanctuary from the forces of the world.  We may have a beautiful church sanctuary, but if we are worshipping false gods or are not teaching and obeying God’s word, it will never be a sanctuary from the evil of the world. God said He set the temple far from them, which happened when they were in captivity.  If we start to worship false gods in our church buildings, we will be far away from God, and He may let us stay there.   

Verse twenty-one adds, And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall pollute it.  God said He was going to give the temple over to strangers and that they would pollute it, which was really better than God’s chosen people polluting it.  The strangers would not understand all that the temple represented, whereas the people of Israel should have, but they had polluted it.  When the people of Israel polluted the temple with idols and false teachings, the temple was just a beautiful building, because God wasn’t there. No matter how beautiful our sanctuaries may be, if God is not the focus of our worship service when we gather in His name in word only, it is just a beautiful building,   

Verse twenty-two continues, My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place: for the robbers shall enter into it, and defile it.   God said He was going to turn His face away from the temple and that these strangers, who were the Chaldeans, would pollute the temple, even God’s most holy place, and that they would take everything that was used in worship to enrich themselves. They would see them as no more than any other gold and silver, and if they weren’t being used to worship and glorify God, they really weren’t any different.  Our body as followers of Christ is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and we need to do all that we can to never pollute it.