Ezekiel 8-10 - Departed

Bad theology quickly leads to darkened life.

Photo credit: Jordon Conner via Unsplash

SINCE WE LAST LEFT OFF... Through a series of vivid signs, Ezekiel, who had already been carried away to Babylon, portrayed Jerusalem’s coming siege, famine, judgment and full exile of the remnant, making clear that the city’s destruction would not come because the LORD was absent or weak, but because His people had filled the land with idolatry, violence, and covenant unfaithfulness.

Ezekiel 8-10 (NASB95)

8 It came about in the sixth year, on the fifth day of the sixth month, as I was sitting in my house with the elders of Judah sitting before me, that the hand of the LORD GOD fell on me there.

² Then I looked, and behold, a likeness as the appearance of a man; from His loins and downward there was the appearance of fire, and from His loins and upward the appearance of brightness, like the appearance of glowing metal.

³ He stretched out the form of a hand and caught me by a lock of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court, where the seat of the idol of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy, was located.

⁴ And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the appearance which I saw in the plain.

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⁷ Then He brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall.

⁸ He said to me, “Son of man, now dig through the wall.” So I dug through the wall, and behold, an entrance.

⁹ And He said to me, “Go in and see the wicked abominations that they are committing here.”

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¹² Then He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are committing in the dark, each man in the room of his carved images? For they say, ‘The LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken the land.’ ”

¹³ And He said to me, “Yet you will see still greater abominations which they are committing.”

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[Ezekiel is then shown three different instances of people practicing idolatry within the Temple courts]

9... ³ Then the glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherub on which it had been, to the threshold of the temple...

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⁹ Then He said to me, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is very, very great, and the land is filled with blood and the city is full of perversion; for they say, ‘The LORD has forsaken the land, and the LORD does not see!’

¹⁰ “But as for Me, My eye will have no pity nor will I spare, but I will bring their conduct upon their heads.”

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10... ⁴ Then the glory of the LORD went up from the cherub to the threshold of the temple, and the temple was filled with the cloud and the court was filled with the brightness of the glory of the LORD.

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¹⁸ Then the glory of the LORD departed from the threshold of the temple and stood over the cherubim.

¹⁹ When the cherubim departed, they lifted their wings and rose up from the earth in my sight with the wheels beside them; and they stood still at the entrance of the east gate of the LORD’S house, and the glory of the God of Israel hovered over them.

Belgic Confession of Faith

Article 1: The Only God

We all believe in our hearts

and confess with our mouths

that there is a single

and simple

spiritual being,

whom we call God—

eternal,

incomprehensible,

invisible,

unchangeable,

infinite,

almighty;

completely wise,

just,

and good,

and the overflowing source

of all good.

Summary

We catch up with Ezekiel as he’s caught up by his hair - a lock of his head, and the Spirit lifted him up between earth and heaven and brought him to visions of God in the Jerusalem temple. There he once again beholds the glory of the God of Israel.

But Ezekiel’s not just brought there on a field trip to see the sights. The Spirit commands him to peek through a hole in the wall and see the wicked abominations that they are committing here. Ezekiel then sees the elders of Israel, sitting in the dark with their carved images, each thinking that the LORD doesn’t see them because He’s forsaken the land. 

These elders of Israel had forgotten their basic theology - that the LORD is omnipresent (in all places simultaneously) and omniscient (all knowing). The LORD had seen all of Israel’s abominations, and He’d had enough of their iniquity, for their theological ignorance had led to a land filled with blood and a city full of perversion (bad theology has consequences!).

So the LORD moved out of His temple, but not all at once. It begins with the glory of the LORD moving off of the cherub whose wings formed His throne above the ark of the covenant (often referred to as the mercy-seat). With His presence no longer contained by the thick curtains surrounding the Most Holy Place, the entire temple was filled with the cloud and the court was filled with the brightness of the glory of the LORD.

But He didn't linger long, and by the end of today’s passage, the LORD’s glory departed, rising up from the earth on the wings of waiting cherubim.

  Dig Deeper  

We live in a world not at all unlike these dying days of Israel. You've likely heard of people deconstructing from their faith - that is, giving up on the core theological doctrines the Bible teaches because they don't think God is present anymore (or never was).

This is why building up and regularly reinforcing your theology is so important! One lesson the Old Testament teaches repeatedly, as it does today, is that God's patience is not infinite. There does come a time where His glory (not His presence) departs from people and even churches.

Don't let this happen to you! Keep reading scripture and hearing it proclaimed so that you never lose sight of the LORD's glory and turn to the idols that surround you.

But the LORD doesn't withhold His glory forever. On Thursday (Ezekiel 43) we'll read about how the LORD's glory came back through the very same east gate from which it had left the temple. It came back to a people who had once again been made holy by the blood of Christ, and the LORD promises to live among them forever!

AAA Prayer (About)

• ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who's glory is far beyond anything we can imagine;

• ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will never tear down the theology you've learned and that you'll keep building it up through God's Word;

• ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

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