Ezekiel 8:1

Ezekiel 8:1 says, And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord God fell there upon me.  Ezekiel said he was sitting in his house with the elders of Judah there with him.  They were in captivity in Babylon by this time and that the hand of God fell on him.  They may have been captives in a foreign land, but since Ezekiel was still faithful to God, God had not deserted him.  No matter what our earthly situation may be, if we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, God will always be with us.  Matthew Henry points out that this vision continues through chapter eleven. 

Verse two adds, Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of his loins even downward, fire; and from his loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the colour of amber.  Ezekiel was once more seeing a vision, this time of a likeness of one who was fire from his waist on down and of his waist on up of a brightness the color of amber. This was fourteen months after Ezekiel’s first vision.  As Christians, God should be speaking to us continually and sometimes it may take months for what He has told us was going to happen actually happens.  If nothing else, we can say this about Jesus Christ’s return.   

Verse three continues, And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy.  Ezekiel said this being he saw took him by the head and lifted him up between heaven and earth.  Then, the Spirit brought a vision of Jerusalem to him.  Matthew Henry says that whether Ezekiel stayed lifted up or was laid down in a trance is not clear, but he was receiving a revelation from God either way.  As followers of Christ, we should be lifted up spiritually above the cares and concerns of the world as we are in communion with God through the work of the Holy Spirit in our life.   

Verse four states, And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw in the plain.  Ezekiel said that the glory of God was there where he had been lifted, as it had been when he had his vision in the plain before.  This is something that the false gods that the people of Judah were worshipping instead of the only real God could never do.  We need to carry with us a sense of the holiness of God that cannot be found anywhere else nor in anything else.   

Verse five adds, Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry.  Ezekiel said he was told by God to look to the north and when he did, he saw the gate of the altar of God and the image of jealousy in the entry way.  We are not told what this image was, but it signified jealousy, representing the disobedience of the people of Judah who had not remained true to God.  God will never allow anyone to worship other gods without holding them accountable, especially if they are doing it in a place that is supposed to be a place where He is worshipped.  

Verse six concludes, He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? but turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations.  Ezekiel said God told him to look at the great abominations that the people of Judah had been committing that had caused God to move far away from His sanctuary.  He was also told to look again, and he would see even greater abominations.  If we have allowed false teachings or false gods to come into the church, God may move far away from us.  We may see some of these abominatios easily, but if we look closer, we may see even greater abominations, and in both cases, it will be by the revelation of this by the Holy Spirit and not by our own ability.  God was showing Ezekiel that He was justified in His punishment of the people of Judah because they had rejected Him, just as He is justified in allowing people to go away to everlasting punishment if they don’t put their faith in Jesus Christ.  

Ezekiel 7:23

Ezekiel 7:23 says, Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.  Ezekiel was then told to make a chain that was to be used to represent the crimes and violence of the people of Israel.  The people had been guilty of shedding the blood of others without any good cause.  We as followers of Christ are called on to reach out to people with the gospel, which will only want what is best for them, no matter who they are.  Yet too often we would rather see them killed than converted I believe.   

Verse twenty-four adds, Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled.  God told Ezekiel that He was going to bring the worst of the heathen, which is the worst of the Gentiles, and they were going to take the houses of the people of Israel.  He also said that he was going to take away the pomp of the strong men and that their holy places would be defiled.  The temple was supposed to be the holy place of God, but they had made it a holy place for false gods, and it was not going to stand as God’s temple any longer. As Christians, if we defile our worship places with idols instead of keeping it as a holy place for God, we should not be surprised if God gives them over to the people of the world.   

Verse twenty-five continues, Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none.  God told Ezekiel that destruction was coming to the people of Israel and that even though they were looking for peace, they would not find it.  One day, when Jesus Christ returns, everyone will be looking for peace, but for many it will be too late to find it.  

Verse twenty-six states, Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumour shall be upon rumour; then shall they seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients.  God said that when the destruction came on Israel that mischief would increase as would rumors, and that people would need a prophet and that the law that the priests were supposed to proclaim would perish.  Also, the older men, who should have been able to offer them encouragement would have nothing to offer because the people of Isreal had not been faithful to God for so long.  Since they had not listened to the prophets, priests, and older men when they were giving them God’s word, He was not going to offer them words of encouragement now that His judgement was upon them.  Those who do not listen to and accept God’s call to salvation when it comes will one day find out that it is too late to do so once He comes in judgment.   

Verse twenty-seven adds, The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled: I will do unto them after their way, and according to their deserts will I judge them; and they shall know that I am the Lord.  Instead of rejoicing in God’s blessing in giving them power in the world, the king and princes would be in mourning in desolation, and all the people of the land would of Israel would be troubled.  This would all be because of their sin and not because God had suddenly turned His back on them.  God had blessed them with a land flowing with milk and honey, but they had turned away from Him and had started worshipping other gods, and this was the result of their sin.  As the church, we are called to be the people of God today, but if we become so in name only while worshipping false gods, then whatever judgment we face from God will be from our own refusal to obey His word.

Happy New Year

I am going to pause in our study of Ezkiel today a wish everyone a happy New Year.  We have the beginning of a year with nothing written on it yet.  It is up to each individual what they will write on this year each day.  Oh, I know there are forces beyond our control that will affect aspects of our lives, but they should not change who we are as followers of Christ.

First, we should reach out to God by the leadership of the Holy Spirit in everything that we do, and we should never be intimidated into doing anything less than what He calls us to do.  "The just shall live by faith," is something we find recorded several times in the Bible (Romans 1:17. Galatians 3:11, Hebrews 10:38, Habakkuk 2:4) so this is what we need to be doing, living by faith and not sight.

Next, we should be reaching out to our neighbors with the love of God.  This is true of those who are poor and downtrodden in particllar.  I don't believe we can say that we are living by faith in God and hate our neighbors. I don't believe that God sees people as worthy or unworthy of His gift of salvation based on where they were born.  The whole world ad all of creation are His and at one point, He pronounced it all good, and when mankind rebelled against Him, He sent Hid only begotten Son to die to redeem all who put their faith in Him and not just for select people from select countries.  We need to be reaching out to all with the love of God and not with hatred from a feeling of moral superiority.

Last, let's make this coming New Year one in which we live our life guided by God's love and not mankind's hatred, where we really do love our neighbor as ourselves, realizing that none of us deserve God's mercy, since we are all sinners saved by grace.  Happy New Year to all.

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.