Ezekiel 8:1-12 KJV 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. [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. [9] And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here. [10] So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about. [11] And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up. [12] Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth.
l. INTRODUCTION -- THE BACKGROUND SURROUNDING THE TEXT
-Ezekiel was somewhere in between the ages of 25-30 when Judah was taken into captivity. He along with 10,000 others lived in exile in Babylon during the time frame of his writings.
-The Babylonians attacked Jerusalem in the neighborhood of 597 B.C. In 586 B.C. a third deportation of Jews would be taken out and carried to Babylonian to serve their captors.
-He was a man who was very troubled at what was occurring in Jerusalem because of the captivity that had taken place there.
-He had to endure the death of his wife and the hard-heartedness of those to whom the prophet was called to preach to. In fact, tradition indicates to us that he was ultimately killed by one of the Israelites princes whom he had rebuked for idolatry.
-This was Ezekiel’s day. It was hard, it was demanding, it was costly, but this faithful prophet continued to raise his voice as loudly as he could in an attempt to gain the attention of the wayward Jews.
A. He Marched to a Different Drummer
-Ezekiel certainly marched to the beat of a different drummer. The Bible very clearly stipulates to us some very strange things that this prophet did to gain his hearer’s attention.
• He drew a small map of Jerusalem on the ground and then set up toy soldiers with armies complete with battering rams to show how Israel was going to be taken down (4:1-3).
• He lay on the ground on his left side for 390 days to symbolize the sin of the Northern Kingdom. Each day was symbolic of a year (4:4-5).
• He then lay on the ground of his right side for 40 days to symbolize the sin of the Southern Kingdom. Each day was symbolic of a year (4:6).
• He cooked a very scant meal with mixed grains and then cooked it over cow dung. This object lesson was to show how scarce that food was ultimately going to be (4:9-17).
• He shaved his head and beard. Then he divided the cuttings into three parts. One part was burned, a second was cut up with a sword, and a third was scattered to the wind. All of this was to give Judah and Jerusalem a picture of their trouble. One third of the people would die by fire in a siege, one third would die by the sword, and one third would be scattered to the winds (5:1-4).
• He dug an entrance through the city wall. He took some of his baggage and placed it outside his home. In the evening he dug an escape hole through the wall. As he went through the hole, carrying the baggage, he covered his face. This was significant of the exiles having to hurriedly leave their homes. The hole in the wall symbolized their desperation to leave the doomed city. His covered face depicted Zedekiah, Judah’s last king, who was blinded by Nebuchadnezzar (12:1-16).
• He trembled as he ate (12:17-20).
• He would weep in public (21:1-7).
• He took a sword and had an imaginary fencing duel (21:9-17).
• He drew a map of the Middle East and traced two routes on it (21:18-22).
• He boiled a pot of water until the meat and vegetables were cooked. He then tossed it out and let the pot keep cooking until the whole pot was burned out to eliminate the rust and scum (24:1-14).
• He remained tearless at his wife’s funeral at the command of God (24:2).
-All in all, one quickly notes that this prophet was willing to do the radical for God. That is the way the prophets operate. Rarely are you confused about the message that they bring to us.
• If I could only do that with this message.
• If I could pull on the cloak of a prophet.
• If I could slip on his sandals for a while.
• If my voice could ring with authority and passion.
• If God could grant me the role of a prophet for a little while, then I would be able to convey to you what I feel that God has directly put into my spirit.
ll. A TEMPLE FULL OF CREEPING THINGS
-Ezekiel when this particular prophecy had been given had been in Babylon under the hands of captivity for one year and one month. The captivity had begun earlier but he had been exiled for 13 months.
-One would think that under the hand of captivity that Judah would have turned back to God but instead their idolatry had only heightened.
A. Deeds In the Dark
-The Spirit of the Lord had taken Ezekiel from Babylon to the Temple in Jerusalem. This is the way that things work with the prophets, God can show them things about the wicked actions of men. The men can be performing vile acts, seemingly in the dark, but God can bring their “secrets” to light.
Romans 2:16 KJV In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
Isaiah 29:15 KJV Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?
Job 24:13-17 KJV They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof. [14] The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief. [15] The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face. [16] In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light. [17] For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.
Ecclesiastes 12:14 KJV For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
-This is why that we need apostolic anointing for this Church. So that there will be such a presentation of the Word that sin will be confronted and convicted. God is concerned with what goes on in the “dark.” We must make it to heaven!
B. The Glory of God Is Out of Place
-Very early in this vision, we note that the glory of the Lord is no longer present in the Temple.
• In fact, this glory is no longer even within the courtyard of the Temple.
• It is not present on the streets by the Temple.
• It is not within blocks on the Temple.
• In fact, the glory of the Lord is not even in the city of Jerusalem.
-Ezekiel’s passage gives us the revelation that the glory of the Lord is confined outside of Jerusalem and is even beyond the gate. This is what happens when a carnal, cold, dead formalism takes over a church, God’s entrance is blocked.
C. A Hole In the Wall
-Ezekiel could not even go through the door of the Temple anymore. The path to worship had been so defiled that Ezekiel had to go in another way. He had to go through a hole in the wall to worship.
-Oddly, they have all of the proper things in the right place.
• They had a leader, Jaazaniah, who was the son of Shaphan, one of Josiah’s reformers.
• They had the censers in their hands.
• They had the smoke.
-The elders should have been the guides of the young men but instead they are found with their secret practices of idolatry in their private chambers.
-But what he saw through this hole in the wall was horrible. They had all of the forms of worship except two things were out of kilter. First, they were in the dark. Secondly, the glory of the Lord had left them.
-I am uncertain of what left first, the light or the glory. But needless to say, when the light left and the glory was gone, a cheap substitute filled the house with “worship.” Keep in mind that there will always be a sense of worship, but the object of that worship can be so defiled and twisted that if you keep up the worship, soon enough you can get used to the darkness and the lost glory.
-All of this defiled worship is occurring in the dark. They are worshipping the creeping things which God had earlier condemned as an abomination in Leviticus.
Ezekiel 8:6 KJV 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.
-There is a pattern with this abomination:
• Leviticus 5:2 -- You are unclean!
• Leviticus 11:21 -- What was previously mentioned as unclean is now an abomination.
• Leviticus 11 -- Stipulates four times that these “creeping things” are an abomination to God.
-Notice the progression of this pattern. Unclean. . . . Abomination. This is how sin works with our lives. You cannot control sin. There is something horribly wicked about sin. It will go from something unclean to an abomination!
Just as recently as this week, I was doing some private devotions and during that time, I always try to read things that confront my own life. I happened to get an article from Leadership Journal, written by Gordon MacDonald. His writings always have provoked me, in fact his book Renewing Your Spiritual Passion was probably one of the first books that I ever purchased.
His article was about those involved in ministry who did not finish. It was a probing article in fact it was such an article that when I got through with it, I had an impromptu prayer meeting. My prayer was this: God, help me always to be terrified of sin. Never let me feel like that I can let down things in my life to make provisions for my flesh. Startling, yes! Convicting, yes!
I dare say that some would say, you ought not to read things like that that cause you to think about such matters. You should only read things that are motivating and uplifting, but the fact of the matter is this: Heaven is a long way from here and I will only get there when I keep walking the path that I am walking now.
From the Pulpit Commentary (Ezekiel, Vol. 12, p. 149): As Ezekiel went from one chamber to another, he came upon a continually descending series of scenes of wickedness. The worst were last. Sin is never at a standstill. It is a dark and turbid torrent that swells and blackens as it flows. The man how begins with a slight lapse from virtue is on the road to a greater abomination. Herein is the danger, the fatal insidiousness of evil. If the sinner saw the whole course of his future from first and at once he would start back with horror. Yet while he lingers and toys with sin it is silently coiling about him with more and more direful entanglements.
-One finds the constant progression throughout Ezekiel 8.
• Idol worship at large.
• Idol worship in the Temple.
• Idol worship in the Sanctuary.
-Once the idol gains a foothold in our lives it will not be satisfied until absolute destruction has occurred. At some point, you will worship the creeping things.
D. The Origin of the Creeping Things
-The worship of the creeping things, particularly this beetle, had come from Egypt. An alliance had developed between Jehoiakim and the Pharoah (2 Kings 24:33-35). This always happens when alliances are made with Egypt.
-The Pharoah is a type of the devil.
• Pharoah ruled Egypt in opposition to God. Satan rules this world in opposition to God.
• Pharoah enslaved the nation of Israel. Satan enslaves all of man.
• Pharoah tried to induce Israel to compromise. Satan tries to induce man to compromise.
• Pharoah was judged when Israel was redeemed. Satan was judged when the saints were redeemed.
• Pharoah continued his opposition after he was judged. Satan is continuing his opposition during this age.
• Pharoah was destroyed in the Red Sea. Satan is going to be cast into the lake of fire.
-Egypt is a type of the world. Israel had to leave Egypt for the plan of God to be enacted. We must leave this world if we are to be saved.
lll. A SOUL FULL OF “CREEPING THINGS”
-Just as the Temple of Ezekiel’s day became filled with creeping things, so to can our soul be filled with “creeping things.”
Ezekiel 8:10 KJV So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed upon the wall round about.
-To look backwards in the Old Testament, one finds in Leviticus 11 some of the things that the Lord told Moses to write down as creeping things.
-One of the things that one finds there is vultures. Specifically, in Leviticus 11:14, there is the mention of the vulture or what we commonly would understand to be the buzzard.
A. Characteristics of Buzzards
1. They Live Off of Dead Things
-The buzzard only eats things that are dead and rotting. They have no appetite for the things that are real and alive.
-They have no passion for the things of God.
2. They gorge themselves on the dead so they cannot even fly.
-The buzzard is a glutton for the dead things. He will eat so much of the dead things that he cannot even fly.
-It is hard to fly when you are so gorged on the things of this world. Your appetite for the world will always limit your relationship with God.
-You will become what you eat, whether that is physically or spiritually.
• What does your spirit feast on?
• What are your thoughts on?
• What are your ambitions?
• What are you saying?
• Where are you living?
3. They will vomit up the dead things.
-The buzzard will vomit up the dead things on anything that comes around them. Whether it is an animal approaching them or another of their kind, they will vomit all of the horrible contents on to those approaching them.
4. They have no feathers on their heads.
-The buzzard has no feathers on his head because of the fact that he is always getting down into things that are rotten and infested with germs.
-What a horrible way to live, always soiled with the dirtiness of the dead.
lV. CONCLUSION
-Note extra material on legal pad for stats.
Philip Harrelson
April 23, 2006
barnabas14@yahoo.com
