SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/26/2014
8:49 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The Temple
is Defiled PT-2B
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ezekiel
8:7-16
Message of the
verses: We will look at the second
part of the second sub-point from the main point listed above in the “Focus”
part of this SD.
The Idolatry of the People was Exposed PT-2 (Ezekiel
8:7-18): “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." 10 So I entered and looked, and behold, every form of
creeping things and beasts and detestable things, with all the idols of the
house of Israel, were carved on the wall all around. 11 Standing in front of them were seventy elders
of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them,
each man with his censer in his hand and the fragrance of the cloud of incense
rising. 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." 14 Then He brought me to
the entrance of the gate of the LORD’S house which was toward the north; and
behold, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz. 15 He said to me, "Do
you see this, son of man? Yet
you will see still greater abominations than these." 16 Then He
brought me into the inner court of the LORD’S house. And behold, at the
entrance to the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about
twenty-five men with their backs to the temple of the LORD and their faces
toward the east; and they were prostrating themselves eastward toward the sun. 17
He said to me, "Do you see this, son of man? Is it too light a thing for
the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they have committed here,
that they have filled the land with violence and provoked Me repeatedly? For behold, they are
putting the twig to their nose. 18 “Therefore, I indeed will deal in wrath. My eye will have no pity
nor will I spare; and though they cry in My ears with a loud voice, yet I will
not listen to them."”
Just a thought before we begin to write about what is in
these verses, and that is I was just wondering as I looked at these verses what
was the Lord thinking while all of these things were going on that He was
showing Ezekiel. As I look at the
attributes of God I realize that He is a God of wrath, and His wrath was about
to be seen as these verses indicate, but as I look back at all of the things
that God had done for the nation of Israel and then look at these awful things
that they were doing which were totally against what He had taught them I have
to believe that this surely saddened the heart of God, and many times I don’t
think about how this kind of things affected God. When God was pouring out His wrath on His One
and only Son as He hung on the cross I realize that He knew that this was done
for every person who would ever be saved, and yet it had to bring heartache to
God to do this, to see His Son take on all of the sins of the world, to become
sin for us so that we can have His righteousness, I still believe that this was
so very difficult for God to do this.
Now when I sin, and the Word says that we all sin “8 If we say that we
have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we
confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we
make Him a liar and His word is not in us (1 John 1:8-10).” This too has to break the heart of God to see
me sin, for after all He has done everything for me, and even put His Holy
Spirit in me to aid me in living a life that is pleasing to Him, and yet I
still sin as all believers do. My point
in all of this is that I am looking at, or at least trying to look at what God
is actually feeling when He saw and then showed to Ezekiel all of the abominations
that were going on in Jerusalem during this period before He destroyed the
temple and the city through the Babylonians.
As we look at verse seven we can understand why Steward
Briscoe entitled his chapter in his commentary “The Hole in the Wall.” What Ezekiel sees on the other side of the
wall after he breaks through is more of the abominations that God is showing
him. In this case it was a secret
chamber and there were seventy elders who were burning incense to various
idols, who images were painted on the wall.
Let us look at a couple of verses from Exodus and also Numbers that
speak of how what Ezekiel saw was suppose to happen: “9 Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and
Abihu, and seventy of the
elders of Israel, 10 and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement
of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself Exodus (24:9-10).” No we will look at several verses from Numbers
11:16 and following: “16 The LORD
therefore said to Moses, "Gather for Me seventy men from the elders of Israel, whom you
know to be the elders of the people and their officers and bring them to the
tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you. 17 “Then I will
come down and speak with you there, and I will take of the Spirit who is upon
you, and will put Him upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people
with you, so that you will not bear it all alone.” Again we see the number seventy in this
passage, now I know that seven is the number of perfection, and I would believe
that this was why the Lord used seventy men and because Satan is a copycat
trying to be like God he used seventy men whom Ezekiel was looking and copying
some of the things that are found in these verse we have looked at. Paul writes about “creeping things” in Romans
chapter one:: “18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in
unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known about God is evident within
them; for God made it evident to them. 20
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His
eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood
through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not
honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations,
and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became
fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the
form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. 24 Therefore God gave them over
in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be
dishonored among them. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and
worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed
forever. Amen (Romans 1:18-25).”
This is what these men were doing, and it indicates how far they fell. The reason they were in this room is because
they did not believe the Lord saw them there, so they forgot about the fact
that God is omnipresence.
Now we will look at the women at the gate who were worshiping
“Tammuz” as seen in verses 8:13-14.
Steward Briscoe writes “Tammuz, a pagan god of nature, had been imported
to make up what was presumably lacking in Jehovah. A large part of the worship of Tammuz, which
was closely related to ideas of vegetation and fertility, was mourning that he
had died and become the god of the underworld.
His followers plated gardens where they wept for and worshiped him. Isaiah may have alluded to this when he
referred to the people’s futile gardening efforts (Isa. 17:10-11).
Now we will look at the next abomination that Ezekiel saw
from verses 15-16 which was “that of twenty-five men at the door of the temple,
between the porch (entry) and the brazen altar, openly bowing down to the sun.” (Dr. Wiersbe)
What these men were doing, which was worshiping the sun, they were doing
it in the open and what they were doing was worshiping the creation instead of
worshiping the One who created. “1 Then
God spoke all these words, saying, 2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you
out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 "You shall have no other gods before Me. 4 "You shall not make for yourself an
idol, or any likeness of
what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the
earth. 5 "You shall not
worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting
the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth
generations of those who hate Me, 6 but
showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My
commandments (Exodus 20:1-6).”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: “Therefore
consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity,
passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry (Colossians 3:5).” Idolatry begins in the mind before it extends
to the body, for the body only does what the mind wants it to do.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
“Therefore if you have been raised up
with Christ, keep seeking
the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on the things on earth (Colossians 3:1-2).”
Memory verses for the
week: 2 Peter 1:1-2.
1 Simon Peter, a
bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of
the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus
Christ: 2 Grace and peace be multiplied
to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Two” (Luke 5:7).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who said ‘launch out into the
deep, and let down your nets for a catch.’?”
Answer in our next SD.
11/26/2014 9:54 AM
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