The Exit of God’s Glory

Ezekiel 8-11

Introduction:

On one occasion when my wife was home on break during her college years, her family discovered some unwelcomed critters in their house’s chimney. A mother raccoon had crawled in seeking refuge for her and her babies. Misty’s dad didn’t want to hurt the animals, nor did he want them living in his chimney. He asked the animal control officers what to do. They suggested he soak a rag with ammonia and put it along with a long pole down the chimney to assist the baby raccoons in getting out. That evening, around dusk, Misty’s dad did what he was instructed to do and sure enough, out poked the head of the mother raccoon followed by her babies. The story does not end here.

A family down the street had just become empty nesters. They decided it was a good time to redecorate their home and celebrated their ability to purchase all white carpet and furniture and drapes since they no longer had kids around to get everything dirty. Where did those raccoons go? You guessed it, they went down the chimney and into this family’s newly decorated living room. They tracked soot and dust everywhere. You can imagine how horrified this couple was when they found these raccoons and their black tracks all over their brand new, all white room. It is a horrible thing when animals get into places they don’t belong. They can so quickly make a gross mess of everything.

Significantly more horrific than finding dirty raccoons in an all white living room is the discovery Ezekiel makes when God gives him a vision of what is happening in God’s temple.

In the place where only God’s glory belongs, Israel set up idols.

Only God’s glory belonged in His temple—He is the LORD. An idol didn’t belong there. Israel should be worshipping and serving Him exclusively. They should be set apart from those around them. Instead, they are trying to be like everyone else by worshipping multitudes of gods. In Ezekiel 8-11, we read of the sharp contrast that existed between the glory of God and the defilement of His name by the idol worship among His people. Because of the defiled, defiant, idolatrous practices of Israel, God is going to judge His people if they don’t repent.

Ezekiel has a vision of God’s imminent judgment of Israel for her detestable practices.

Ezekiel is in exile sitting in his house with the elders of Judah. At that moment, 14 months after his first vision, he sees a figure like that of a man, a manifestation or theophany of God, whose appearance is like that of fire and glowing metal.

Ezekiel is given a glimpse of God’s glory, reminding him that even though the nation has defiled the dwelling place of His glory in the temple, His glory has not been diminished or tarnished—He is still the same.

The figure Ezekiel sees stretches out what looks like a hand and takes Ezekiel by the hair. The Spirit of God lifts Ezekiel up between earth and heaven and gives him a second vision. While Ezekiel’s body physically remains in Babylon, he is taken up in a vision to the city of Jerusalem. Ezekiel’s vision of what is going on in this city contains four different scenes. In the first scene, Ezekiel is confronted with the wicked, abominable acts of the people in the temple.

Scene #1-Vision of the abomination in the temple (Ezekiel 8:1-18).

Ezekiel is transported by the Spirit to the temple where he sees the following:

          The idol of jealousy is worshipped in the north gate.

The idol at the north gate called “the idol of jealousy” is thus named because of the affront it is to God. God is provoked to jealousy as an idol of a foreign god receives worship that should be His alone as He is the LORD. After seeing this idol, the LORD says to Ezekiel, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing—the utterly detestable things the house of Israel is doing here, things that will drive me far from my sanctuary” (Ezekiel 8:6)? God shares His glory with no one. If an idol inhabited the temple, where only God’s glory belonged, God would have to leave. As shocking as it was for Ezekiel to see an idol in the temple, things would only get worse. The LORD said to Ezekiel, “You will see things that are even more detestable” (Ezekiel 8:6).

Pictures of beasts and idols on the inside of the temple walls.

Ezekiel is shown what is going on behind closed doors. He is led through the gateway of the temple to the court entrance. There he sees a hole in the wall and is told to dig into the wall. On the other side of the wall, he sees a doorway. Inside the door, Ezekiel sees portrayed all over the walls all kinds of crawling things, detestable animals, and all the idols of Israel.

In the place where only God’s glory belongs, Israel has set up a pantheon of idolatry. Before these portrayals on the wall stand the elders of Israel. What are these 70 men, the leading men of Jerusalem, doing behind closed doors? Each of them has a censer in his hand from which a fragrant cloud of incense is rising. In the darkness, each of the elders of Israel is positioned at the shrine of his idol of choice, worshipping it instead of the LORD.

Israel’s leaders are acting as if God is absent and can’t see what they’re doing (Read Ezekiel 8:12).

How can these men think they can get away with insulting God as they are? Their eyes are off of the LORD and His glory. Because they have lost their focus, they develop a mistaken view of God. They come to believe the ridiculous notion that God can’t see what they are doing in the dark, behind closed doors. They think that God has left and is not around.

When God’s people get their eyes off the LORD and forget that He is always watching, it leads to defiant and defiled living. What Ezekiel sees is terrible, but what is to come will be even worse. The LORD says to him, “You will see them doing things that are even more detestable.”

                     The god Tammuz is worshiped by women in the north gate.

After a look inside the courts of the temple, the Spirit of the LORD brings Ezekiel to the north gate where he sees the god Tammuz being worshipped. This god was believed to be the deity of spring vegetation. The apparent death of all vegetation in the Middle East during the hot, dry summer months led the people to believe the power who had produced all these blessings died! In response, a dramatic lament for the dead god was held on an annual basis. Tammuz was mourned by women who represented his bereaved mother, sister, and young widow. It was also believed that in the spring, Tammuz would emerge victoriously from the underworld and bring with him life-giving rains.

Worship of the true Provider of spring vegetation had been replaced by detestable adoration of a pagan deity. The worship of the Creator was replaced by the worship of the cycles of creation and the gods believed responsible for those cycles. As horrible as this was to see these women acting as they were, things would only get worse. God said to Ezekiel, “Do you see this, son of man? You will see things that are even more detestable than this.”

                     A group of men are at the temple door worshipping the sun.

From the north gate, Ezekiel is led into the inner court. There he sees about 25 men at the temple’s entrance between the portico and the altar. The location of these men in the temple is the place where the priests should have been weeping and crying out to the LORD to be merciful and spare them (See Joel 2:17). Instead of crying out to God, these men are bowing down to the sun in the east.

It is significant to observe that because the temple faced the east, if a person stood at the altar and faced the entrance, he would be looking west. But these men are facing east. They have turned their backs on God and are bowing in worship to the sun. These men have disowned the LORD and are treating Him with utter contempt.

The scenes Ezekiel observes in the temple are disturbing and horrible, but the wickedness is not confined to that area alone. The entire land is filled with violence and the people are continually provoking God to anger. They are “putting the branch to their nose” (Read Ezekiel 8:17). Whether this phrase is a reference to a ritualistic act associated with the worship of other gods or something else is not clear. What is clear is that Israel’s actions are a great offense to God—so great that He is about to unleash His anger.

Ezekiel 8:18- “Therefore I will deal with them in anger; I will not look on them with pity or spare them. Although they shout in my ears, I will not listen to them.”

          Message: God’s anger is about to be unleashed on the house of Judah.

Yes, God is compassionate. He shows pity on those who deserve none. Yes, the LORD spares His people over and over again, graciously delivering them from their enemies. Yes, God hears His people when they pray and is faithful to answer. But, it is also true that God is holy and just. The LORD is gracious, but this does not negate the fact that there comes a point when the defiance of God’s people becomes so great that He says, ENOUGH, IT IS TOO LATE NOW. Israel is not quite there, but they are awfully close. If they do not repent in response to Ezekiel’s visions and messages, there will be judgment. When God determines enough is enough:

                     They will not be looked on with pity.

                     They will not be spared.

                     They will not be heard.

God’s glory would depart, and along with His glory would go the exercise of His pity, deliverance, and listening ear on behalf of His people. Since God will never share His glory with a bunch of idols, if Israel chooses to have their idols remain in the temple, He will have to leave.

Have you ever heard somebody say in frustration, “I just wish God would leave me alone and let me do my own thing?” Our response to such a statement should always be, “Oh, no you don’t! That is one wish you never want to have God fulfill.” Life does not look pretty when God stops extending His pity, when He refuses to deliver us, and stops listening because of our defiance. When God leaves us to ourselves to do our own thing, we bring destruction and ruin upon our own heads.

With idols in the temple, God’s glory is about to depart (Read Ezekiel 8:6)

Scene #2-Vision of the man with the writing kit (Ezekiel 9:1-11).

God calls the guards of Jerusalem to come with their weapons.

In the second scene of Ezekiel’s vision, he hears the LORD call out, “Bring the guards of the city here, each with a weapon in his hand.” In response to God’s call, Ezekiel sees six men come in direction of the upper gate. Each has a deadly weapon in his hand.

A man dressed in linen with a writing kit comes along with these men.

The LORD instructs the man with the writing kit, “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.”

He is charged to mark the foreheads of those lamenting what is going on.

Those mourning the activities going on in the temple and in the city of Jerusalem are those who are remaining faithful to the LORD.

Their lament demonstrates concern for God’s name and reverence of Him in His glory. Those who show deep concern over Israel’s apostasy are marked by the man clothed in linen and later spared.

Those with a mark are to be spared.

Those without a mark are killed without pity and their bodies piled in the temple courts.

God instructs the six men with deadly weapons to follow the man dressed in linen and go throughout the city killing those without the mark. They are not to show any pity or compassion. They are also not to make distinctions based on age or sex—the old, the young, men, women and children with no mark are to be killed. The slaughter would begin at the sanctuary with the leaders and proceed from there. While those without the mark are to be killed, those with the mark are not to be touched.

Did you notice that it is not only those who are participating directly in the idolatry in the temple who are to be executed? Those who show no concern for what is going on in the temple are also passed by when the mark is being given. Everyone who isn’t bothered by the idolatry and abominations going on in Jerusalem is to be slaughtered. It is not only idolatrous actions that God judges, but also “I don’t care—it doesn’t bother me—it’s really O.K.” attitudes.

God is not only troubled when we act like pagans, but He is equally concerned when we aren’t bothered by defiant and defiled actions happening around us? What is our attitude? Do we find ourselves laughing at and being entertained by the abominable practices of our day, or do we lament when we see people acting in rebellion against God? What does our attitude say about us?

After all those without the mark were killed, their bodies were to fill the temple courts. The bodies of those who had defiled the temple with their idolatrous actions and attitudes would later litter the temple and defile it.

After finishing His instructions, the LORD told the men to GO and so they went killing throughout the city. While they are killing, Ezekiel is left alone. Ezekiel falls face down and cries out to the LORD, “Ah, Sovereign LORD! Are you going to destroy the entire remnant of Israel in this outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem” (9:8)?

Ezekiel is concerned God’s outpouring of wrath will destroy the entire remnant of Israel.

God must deal with their exceedingly great sin.

The city of Jerusalem is full of bloodshed and injustice. Its people are acting as if God is absent and can’t see what is going on. They think they can do whatever they want without getting caught and without consequence. God’s holiness and justice demands His judgment. God determines that He can’t look on His people with pity or spare them any longer. He will bring down on their own head what they have done. If they do not turn from their idolatry and turn to the LORD, a horrible judgment is on its way.

Message: God is about to slaughter the idolaters.

In Ezekiel 8, God warns that the detestable things done in His sanctuary would drive Him out. In chapter 9, we see God making His preliminary move out of the temple as His glory moves from its position by the ark to the temple’s threshold. God is not just walking away and leaving His people. He is doing what He must do because of Israel’s defiance and defilement.

God’s glory moves from its position by the ark to the temple’s threshold

(Read Ezekiel 9:3).

Scene #3-Vision of the coals of fire (Ezekiel 10:1-22).

In the third scene of Ezekiel’s vision, he sees the likeness of a throne of sapphire above the expanse that was over the heads of the cherubim. His attention is again focused on God! In the midst of all that’s happening, it’s easy to get our eyes off God and into what’s going on! Our focus needs to be brought back onto the LORD!

The LORD instructs the man dressed in linen, “Go in among the wheels beneath the cherubim. Fill your hands with burning coals from among the cherubim and scatter them over the city. And as I watched, he went in” (10:2).

The man clothed in linen is commanded to take coals of fire from the wheels of the cherubim and spread them over the city.

Ezekiel watches as the man goes in amongst the cherubim and carries out the LORD’s command, taking fire from amongst the wheels that would be scattered amongst Jerusalem.

What is the significance of this act? The LORD has a message for Israel.

Message: From the same glory of the LORD defiled by Israel, judgment is going to come—God is about to destroy the city.

Again, Ezekiel’s account of his vision gives us a glimpse of the God’s glorious presence where there is radiant light, cherubim all around, and the sound of their wings that was as loud as the voice of God Almighty when He speaks.

Also of significance in Ezekiel 10 is the progressive movement of the glory of God. He continues to move away.

Ezekiel 10:4- “Then the glory of the LORD rose from above the cherubim and moved to the threshold of the temple.”

Ezekiel 10:18-19- “Then the glory of the LORD departed from over the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim. While I watched, the cherubim spread their wings and rose from the ground, and as they went, the wheels went with them. They stopped at the entrance to the east gate of the LORD’s house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them.”

God’s glory moves from the Holy of holies to the east gate of the LORD’s house (Ezekiel 10:18-19).

Scene #4-Vision of the judgment of the leaders of the city (Ezekiel 11:1-13).

Before God’s glory departs from the city, it stops at the eastern gate while Ezekiel is given another glimpse of the sin of Jerusalem’s inhabitants. Ezekiel also receives two messages, one relating to the prospects of the people in Jerusalem and the other of those already in exile with him.

Ezekiel 11:1-4—“Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the gate of the house of the LORD that faces east. There at the entrance to the gate were twenty-five men, and I saw among them Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, leaders of the people. The LORD said to me, ‘Son of man, these are the men who are plotting evil and giving wicked advice in this city. They say, ‘Will it not soon be time to build houses? This city is a cooking pot, and we are the meat.’ Therefore prophesy against them; prophecy, son of man.’”

The city gate is the traditional place in which the leaders of a city would administer justice and oversee legal matters. What were the leaders discussing there?

The leaders are gathered together to plot evil and give wicked advice.

They’re saying it is a time of peace and safety.

There is always someone out there who wants everyone to think that all is well when in fact God has said, “Judgment is coming.” These men are telling people that good times are around the corner— it is time to build houses. Houses are built in times of peace and safety. Encouraging home building at this time is an outright denial of the coming judgment and destruction of Jerusalem earlier prophesied by Ezekiel.

The leaders think of the city of Jerusalem as a pot and them as meat in the pot. They are telling the people they are safe in the city, like meat in the pot. Because of this false message and the false optimism being spread amongst the people, God tells Ezekiel to prophesy against them.

Ezekiel alters the elders’ imagery of meat in the pot. It is not the wicked leaders who are the meat in the pot. Rather, it is those who the defiant, rebellious leaders killed and threw into the streets who are the meat in the pot. The slain righteous are the worthy men, not the leaders still living. Though the elders thought that they were secure within the pot of Jerusalem and that times of peace and safety were ahead, the fact is, they would be driven out.

What is coming is anything but peace and safety.

Ezekiel 11:8-12—“You fear the sword, and the sword is what I will bring against you, declares the Sovereign LORD. I will drive you out of the city and hand you over to foreigners and inflict punishment on you. You will fall by the sword, and I will execute judgment on you at the borders of Israel. Then you will know that I am the LORD. This city will not be a pot for you, nor will you be the meat in it; I will execute judgment on you at the borders of Israel. And you will know that I am the LORD, for you have not followed my decrees or kept my laws but have conformed to the standards of the nations around you.”

As Ezekiel is prophesying, Pelatiah, one of the leaders in sin, dies.

Pelatiah’s death is a confirmation of Ezekiel’s prophecy and a foreshadowing of the judgment that would soon destroy all of Jerusalem’s wicked leaders. Upon Pelatiah’s death, Ezekiel again asks, “Ah, Sovereign LORD! Will you completely destroy the remnant of Israel?”

Ezekiel fears that the result of his prophecy will be the total extermination of the people.

God’s response this time around is much different than how he responded to Ezekiel when he first asked this question.

God promises to preserve a remnant (Ezekiel 11:14-20).

The LORD assures Ezekiel that the remnant would not be destroyed. He also corrects a false notion of the day. The people left in Jerusalem think God is punishing those taken captive. They think they were left behind because “they were especially pleasing to God.” They say of those exiled, “They are far away from the LORD; this land was given to us as our possession” (11:15). All those left in Jerusalem are sure God will never leave His chosen city or let it fall! In reality, God took the remnant to Babylon to preserve them. Those left behind in Jerusalem who are never exiled are the ones who are destined to die.

The proof of God’s blessing of the remnant in captivity is twofold. His blessing is evident in what He has already done for them. Though they have been sent far away from Jerusalem to other countries, God has not abandoned them. Though they have lost access to the sanctuary in the temple, God Himself has been a sanctuary to them in their place of exile.

God’s blessing of those in exile is also evident in what He would do for them in the future. The remnant could look forward to a national restoration to the Promised Land.

Ezekiel 11:17—“This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again.”

Israel’s physical return to the Promised Land would be accompanied by spiritual renewal. The remnant will remove idolatry from their land.

Ezekiel 11:18- “They will return to it and remove all its vile images and detestable idols.”

God promised He would meet the conditions needed for Israel to receive His blessings by giving them new hearts and a new spirit. As the result of their new, undivided heart, Israel will keep God’s laws. They will be His people and He will be their God and bless them.

Ezekiel 11:19-20—“I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.”

What God would do for the remnant as the display of His compassion and grace did not erase the present reality of sin in Jerusalem. While the remnant in captivity could look forward to blessing and restoration, those in Jerusalem who were devoted to vile images and detestable idols could expect only judgment for their sin. God is going to bring down on their own heads what they have done.

After a final reminder of coming judgment, God’s glory continues its departure. This departure signals the fact that Jerusalem is doomed.

The glory of the LORD is seen departing from the city and standing on the Mount of Olives (Read Ezekiel 11:22-23).

From the Mount of Olives, we understand God’s glory departed.

What lessons do we learn?

Keep your eyes on the LORD in all His glory!

          Getting our eyes off the LORD leads to defiled and defiant living.

Don’t believe everything is going to be o.k. when God’s people are rebellious.

Don’t be desensitized to coming judgment by messages of peace and safety. Don’t believe those who say everything is going great and will be o.k. when the people of God are acting in a disobedient, rebellious manner. Everything will not be fine and dandy when we are living in sin. When living in defiance, we need to repent of our sin and turn to God.

Keep in balance God’s holiness and grace.

This balance is so important. When we ignore the fact God is holy, we develop a casual attitude toward sin. We think we can get away with defiled and defiant living without consequences. We forget that it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of an angry God. When God determines that our sin is so excessive that He will stop showing compassion, stop sparing us of the physical consequences we deserve, and stop hearing us—we are in trouble. We don’t want to go there! Instead, we want to depend on God’s Spirit to help us live holy lives that glorify Him.

While remembering God’s holiness is important, be careful not to go to the extreme of ignoring His grace. When we forget God is gracious, we want to run away from Him and hide rather than confessing our sin that we might be forgiven and restored to fellowship. When we try to hide from God, we fail to entrust our lives to the only One who can help us. Another common response when we forget about God’s grace is to think that set apart living depends on us, that we can do what God expects on our own. This of course leads to defiant and defiled living, as we can never pull off what only God can do when we trust Him to transform us.

Be set apart and don’t try to be like everyone else.

We are forced to make a choice. We can’t have it both ways. We can’t live like the world around us like Israel did and follow God at the same time. We have to choose. Do we want to follow the living God and remain faithful to him? OR Do we want to be like everybody else and live for the things they live for? The choice is one each of us must make.