Not Fearing Going Up
Ezekiel 8:1-6
1 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.
2 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.
3 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.
4 And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw in the plain.
5 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.
6 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.
In the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month Ezekiel and the Elders of Judah sat before him.
The Hand of the Lord now falls upon Ezekiel.
This is Ezekiel’s second vision of a series of visions in the sixth year of captivity.
This was approximately about five years before the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem.
Ezekiel 8:2 says:
2 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.
The fiery appearance that Ezekiel saw had the likeness of a man.
He was the God of Israel and was accompanied by the Glory; He was the one who spoke to the Prophet in this vision.
Ezekiel 8:3
3 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.
All of this was in a vision, but you have to understand that to Ezekiel he was feeling exactly what he was describing.
I kind of understand what it means to be caught in the Spirit and have the Spirit of God take you somewhere in a vision.
You hear, you can feel, you have all of your senses.
In verse three, it says that the hand of God took him by the lock of his hair and took him and was showing him something.
The phrase “the image of jealousy “was probably the asherah which was set up to the Brazen Alter, this was an idol.
This idol was upon a pedestal wounding with jealousy the love that shone forth in the Glory of God.
Ezekiel 8:4
4 And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw in the plain.
The Holy Spirit is careful to emphasize that it is the Glory of the God of Israel which they had forsaken for this stone idol.
God wanted to point out the things in the people that were coming before Him in their lives.
Ezekiel 8:5
5 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.
Some of the religious leaders had placed this idol at “the gate of the Alter”.
This was the Brazen Alter where the Temple sacrifices were supposed to be offered for the sins of the people typifying Calvary.
How many Idols have we added to the Cross?
These idols were doing a lot of damage to God’s Sanctuary; they were letting things in a place that was to be Holy, separated for the things of God.
The phrase in verse six, 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.
This is referring to God leaving the temple as Ezekiel was shortly going to outline.
This was now a God deserted place; His visitation would be one of judgment and as a destroyer.
Ezekiel 8:7-8
7 And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold a hole in the wall.
8 Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door.
The door speaks of Christ at the temple; the door seems to be boarded up with a wall.
The Prophet was demanded to dig into the wall, break down the wall so that the door would be plainly visible.
I have entitled this today: Not Fearing Going Up
Sometimes we are afraid to proclaim the Word that God speaks to us.
A lot of times we let idols into our temple.
Just as Ezekiel was commanded to dig into the wall, maybe we need to dig into our walls that we might be able to see the door which is Jesus.
If we want to go up in the things of God, we can not worry or fear what the enemy might try to intimidate us with.
The reason that I preached this today:
Dream 8-12-08
I dreamed I was in an airplane, or maybe a shuttle of some kind. A man had given me a check for $100 to clean the windows on this really tall building. The check was in a visor-like contraption. The vehicle was an open vehicle; the one side did not have a door. It would have been easy to fall. The check, if not careful, could have been blown away by the wind. I was going up and I was cleaning windows one by one. There was a man with me and for some reason he did not want me to clean the windows. He kept trying to scare me. He was trying to make me think that I was going to fall. I knew that he wanted my check. I knew that he did not want me to receive what was mine. It had already been given to me. I moved the check out of the visor and out of the man’s grasp. I put it in a safe place where it would not blow away. I was not going to fear going up. I was going to do what I was paid to do. I continued to go up doing my job.
Interpretation
Airplane or shuttle means a ministry that God has given me.
A man gave me a check; check means (bank)-faith (currency of the Kingdom of God)
Hebrews 11:1
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Luke 17:5
5 And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.
The man in the vehicle with me represents the enemy, he tries to intimidate and scare us.
Satan wants what God has given us and will try to put fear in us.
Ezekiel knew what was his and he trusted in the things of God.
Mark 4:40
40 And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?
Cleaning windows from the outside that I might be able to see into the inside of the plan of God:
We need to make sure that, as a people of God, we have no idols between us!
Us and God!
I already received my check because God has paid me in full; Jesus gave His life for me and you.
God took Ezekiel by His Hand and showed him what the people needed to fix in their lives.
God, by His hand, is showing us what we need to do in order to go up in the things of Him.
I am not going to fear going up because that’s what God’s plan for me is.You ought not to fear going up because that’s what God’s plan for your life is.
Closing
I believe in God-given dreams and God-given visions.
I want to be able to see into what God is trying to do within my life.
I want to see clearly!
Clean your outside windows so you can see the inside of God’s plan for your life
If you are interested in seeing some God given dreams that God has given people in our church go to:
http://www.ourchurch.com/member/w/windoffaithdrea/
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