Tag: Ezekiel 7-11
Glory departure!
Scripture reading for August 20th: Ezekiel 7-11
“In the sixth year, in the sixth month on the fifth day, while I was sitting in my house and the elders of Judah were sitting before me, the hand of the Sovereign Lord came upon me there. I looked, and I saw a figure like that of a man. From what appeared to be his waist down he was like fire, and from there up his appearance was as bright as glowing metal. He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head. The Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven in visions of God he took me to Jerusalem. . .” Ezekiel 8:1-3
Ezekiel had a “hair-raising” experience and was taken about 800 miles away to the north entrance of the temple. He was instructed by the “angel” to dig into the wall of the temple. As he dug through the wall he saw a doorway and was told to go in and look. There he saw many “wicked and detestable” idols that had provoked God to jealousy and wrath and the seventy elders worshiping them!
Ezekiel was told that the elders did not believe that God saw them and that he had forsaken Israel. He saw a group of women worshiping Tammuz, a fertility goddess and men worshiping the sun. God had enough of their unfaithfulness and the time of judgment had come. As the elders had believed, so they received. The glory of God departed from above the cherubim where it had been and moved to the threshold of the temple. (Ezekiel 9:3) The Lord instructed the angel with a writing kit to go through the city and mark all who grieved over the sins of the temple and city. All others were to be killed without pity!
Ezekiel saw the Lord order an angel to take burning coals from between the wheels beneath the cherubim and scatter them over the city. Then the glory of the Lord departed from the threshold of the temple and moved to the east gate of the Temple, stopping there. (Ezekiel 10:18-19) Finally the cherubim escorted the glory of God to the Mt. of Olives on the East of the city. God slowly withdrew His glory from His idolatrous people who would not listen or repent!
The Glory departs!
Scripture reading for August 18th: Ezekiel 7-11
“In the sixth year, in the sixth month on the fifth day, while I was sitting in my house and the elders of Judah were sitting before me, the hand of the Sovereign Lord came upon me there. I looked, and I saw a figure like that of a man. From what appeared to be his waist down he was like fire, and from there up his appearance was as bright as glowing metal. He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head. The Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven in visions of God he took me to Jerusalem. . .” Ezekiel 8:1-3
Ezekiel had a “hair-raising” experience with a glowing angel. He was taken about 800 miles away to the north entrance of the temple. He was told to dig through the wall where he saw a doorway. As he entered, he saw many “wicked and detestable” things that had provoked God to jealousy and wrath. The seventy elders of Israel were worshiping idols right in the temple! (Ezekiel 8:9-12)
Ezekiel was also shown a group of women who were worshiping Tammuz, a fertility goddess and a group of men worshiping the sun. These leaders believed God had forsaken them and did not see what they were doing. Next Ezekiel saw the glory of God go up from above the cherubim and move to the threshold of the temple. (Ezekiel 9:3-7) The Lord instructed an angel with a writing kit to go through the city and mark all who grieved over the sins of the temple and city. Then all others were to be killed without pity!
Ezekiel saw the Lord order another angel to take burning coals from between the wheels beneath the cherubim and scatter them over the city. Then the glory of the Lord departed from over the threshold of the temple and moved to the east gate of the Temple and stopped there. (Ezekiel 10:18-19) God was moving out and judgment was being scattered over the city. (Ezekiel 11:13)
The last vision of God’s glory was when the cherubim escorted the glory of God to the Mt. of Olives on the East of the city. God slowly withdrew His glory from an idolatrous people who would not listen or repent! (Ezekiel 11:22-24) Check out your heart today and invite the God of Glory to fill you with His presence and light!
The End Has Come!
Scripture reading for August 20th: Ezekiel 7-11
Ezekiel had a hard message to preach to the people of Judah who were in captivity. In today’s reading he announced that the end had come! God was finally forced to act and judge the land because the people of Judah failed to listen and repent. Judgment must always begin at the house of God. Why? Because those with the most light are most accountable for their response!
What were the terrible things done in Judah by it’s leaders? Ezekiel cites violence and the idolatry brought on by wealth as trigger points. (Ezekiel 7:10-13) People went through the motions of religion but were really trusting in their own strength and wealth. Materialism has a way of creeping in and taking God’s people captive. In this tragic end, the people’s silver and gold would not be able to help or save them. (Ezekiel 7:19-22) During the extreme famine, no amount of wealth would be able to buy food.
Another sin was violence and the shedding of innocent blood. (Ezekiel 7:23-27) The land must be purged of these sins and what men sow, they will reap! These sins, when persisted in, bring about a blindness and confusion concerning God and His holy word. People will look for God’s counsel and mercy but not be able to find it. God must judge them so that they know that He is the Lord who is in charge!
As this judgment of the end was prepared and executed, Ezekiel was taken by the hair and transported to Jerusalem. There he was given a vision of what was really going on in the city and temple among it’s religious and political leaders. (Ezekiel 8:2-6) All kinds of idolatry and pagan practices were being done by the so-called leaders of the nation. With judgment on the doorstep and the end at hand, they were seeking help from worthless idols! They were worshiping nature and the sun instead of the Creator of heaven and earth! (Ezekiel 8:16-18)
Ezekiel then got to see the Glory of the Lord being escorted out of the temple and city by some awesome creatures with wheels and wings. (Ezekiel 10:1-5) The worst form of judgment on God’s people, is the withdrawal of God’s presence and glory from their lives. Without God’s presence, all that exists is sin and darkness! That is truly the “end” we all want to avoid!
The Glory departs!
Scripture reading for August 20th: Ezekiel 7-11
“In the sixth year, in the sixth month on the fifth day, while I was sitting in my house and the elders of Judah were sitting before me, the hand of the Sovereign Lord came upon me there. I looked, and I saw a figure like that of a man. From what appeared to be his waist down he was like fire, and from there up his appearance was as bright as glowing metal. He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head. The Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven in visions of God he took me to Jerusalem. . .” Ezekiel 8:1-3
Ezekiel had a “hair-raising” experience with a fire-glowing angel. He was taken about 800 miles away to the north entrance of the temple. There he saw an image or idol that provoked jealousy–the jealousy of God! The glory of God appeared to him there as well, just as he had experienced earlier when the Lord had called him to be his spokesman! (Ezekiel 1:27-28) Ezekiel was called by the angel or very possibly a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ (theophany) to dig into the wall of the temple. As he dug through the wall he saw a doorway and was told to go in and look. There he saw many “wicked and detestable” things that had provoked God to jealousy and wrath. The seventy elders of Israel were worshiping idols right in the temple!
Ezekiel was told that the elders did not believe that God saw them and that he had forsaken Israel. He was also shown a group of women who were worshiping Tammuz, a fertility goddess. He was shown another group of men worshiping the sun. God had had enough of their unfaithfulness and unbelief and the time of judgment had come. As the elders had believed in their hearts, so they received. Ezekiel saw the glory of God go up from above the cherubim where it had been and move to the threshold of the temple. (Ezekiel 9:3) The Lord instructed the angel with a writing kit to go through the city and mark all who grieved over the sins of the temple and city. Then all others were to be killed without pity!
Ezekiel saw the Lord order an angel to take burning coals from between the wheels beneath the cherubim and scatter them over the city. Then the glory of the Lord departed from over the threshold of the temple and they moved to the east gate of the Temple and stopped there. (Ezekiel 10:18-19) God was moving out and judgment had been scattered over the city. It was a sad scene and Ezekiel cried out to the Lord for mercy! (Ezekiel 11:13) He was given a word of hope that God would send his people away, but would be a sanctuary for those who trusted Him in the countries where they were scattered. He would bring them back again to their land and it would be cleansed from the idols.
The last vision of God’s glory was when the cherubim escorted the glory of God to the Mt. of Olives on the East of the city. God slowly withdrew His glory from an idolatrous people who would not listen or repent! Check out your heart today and invite the God of Glory to fill you with His presence and light!