Things aren’t always as they appear, are they? Sometimes things look great and end up being in terrible shape while others appear terrible and end up being great blessing. One example of this truth is seen in Martin Luther’s trip to Rome. In the year 1510, Luther was given the opportunity to go to Rome, which was the opportunity of a lifetime in his own eyes. Now, this was prior to Luther’s understanding of justification by faith alone, so Luther was entrenched in doctrines and a way of thinking that he would go on to reject. But he was almost overwhelmed at the joy of going to the city where Peter and Paul both ministered, Jesus walked, etc. This was an opportunity to see priests who were more educated than him, more dedicated than him, and more spiritual than him, Luther no doubt thought.
However, Rome proved to be nothing like he thought. When Luther arrived, he found the priests rushing through Mass as if it were trivial. Others mocked the event altogether by saying things like, “Bread art thou and bread thou wilt remain, and wine art thou and wine thou wilt remain.”1 He was overwhelmed at the worldliness and indifference he found there. Up close, Rome was nothing like it had appeared to Luther at a distance. The trip that promised so much joy and blessing was full of disappointment and only served to give Luther doubt.
Then again, as Luther would go on to reject the notion that he could somehow merit righteousness but could only be credited with righteousness through faith in the crucified and risen Lord, I think we can say that the trip that looked to lack blessing was actually full of blessing. After all, who knows how deeply this trip was used of the Lord to move Luther to discover the truth of justification by faith alone? Again, things aren’t always as they appear.
One could look much further back in history, however, to find another example of this reality taking manifesting itself in Ezekiel 8-11. In Ezekiel 8-11, like Luther, we find Ezekiel taking a pilgrimage to his beloved city, Jerusalem (in a vision), and finding disappointment at the corruption in the city and heartache at the coming judgment. But we’ll also see that, like Luther, Ezekiel eventually came to see that he was being blessed by the Lord far more than he ever realized.
So, what I long for us this morning is to walk through those same realities and emotions that Ezekiel walked through in this vision. I think we’re meant to read these chapters and consider the things Ezekiel was shown, feel the disgust and pain of sin and judgment, be overwhelmed at the Lord’s holiness, and finally realize the Lord’s blessing in a way we may not have considered before as we realize anew this morning that things are not always as they appear.
With that said, let’s begin by looking at chapter 8, where we see:
The chapter begins fourteen months after Ezekiel’s initial vision of the Lord in chapter one, and in this chapter he has another vision. This vision is quite different in a number of ways, however. Ezekiel is sitting in his house as an exile in Babylon with the elders of Judah sitting with him (8:1). We don’t know why? Perhaps they’re wanting to know if he’s had any more words from God. But, as he’s with them, he’s suddenly caught up in a vision where the hand of the Lord plucks him up by his hair and takes him to Jerusalem. Again, this is probably happening in a vision, so Ezekiel doesn’t physically go to Jerusalem, but he is there in this vision to see what’s going on.
And as he sees Jerusalem in this vision, the Lord shows him all of the sinful actions that are taken place there, and it is detestable. First, Ezekiel is taken to the gateway to enter the inner court that faces north, and there he sees an idol. Specifically, in 8:5 it’s called “the image of jealousy,” which probably means that it was an image that provoked the Lord to jealousy.
You see, right there in the Lord’s temple, there was an image, an idol, which had been forbidden by God. Yet, not only did the people have this idol, they were trying to mix in the worship of this idol with the worship of the Lord. But the Lord will have none of it. And he tells Ezekiel that he’ll see still greater abominations (8:6).
Then, Ezekiel was brought in the vision to the entrance of the court, and there was a hole in the wall. So, Ezekiel is told to dig it out big enough to go in. Then, once he goes in, he sees engravings on the wall of “every form of creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel” (8:10), and in front of these engravings were elders of the city (a couple of whom Ezekiel knew), burning incense.
Now, imagine Ezekiel’s thoughts at this point. He had been training for the priesthood, and now he gets a glimpse into life in the temple. This is like Luther getting to go to Rome. But, also like Luther’s trip to Rome, what he finds are these elders (respected teachers of the people) burning incense to engravings of animals. They were exchanging the glory of the Creator for the worship of created things. But the Lord adds, “You will see still greater abominations that they commit” (8:13).
Ezekiel is then brought in his vision to the entrance of the north gate where he finds women weeping for Tammuz. You see, Tammuz was a pagan deity, whom it was believed died and was resurrected with the harvest. Therefore, the ritual was to mourn his death at certain times of the year in order to bring about the next harvest. That is, those in Jerusalem were not only combining idol worship with worship of the true God, and not only were they worshiping created things, but they were also relying on pagan gods to provide for them things that God alone could provide. And the Lord adds, “You will see still greater abominations than these” (8:15).
Finally, Ezekiel is brought into the inner court of the temple where he sees twenty-five men bowed down, literally with their backs to the temple, worshiping the sun. And the Lord promises his wrath.
Now, what is this to do with us? After all, I would guess that few if any of us might have some kind of image we’ve carved out for worship, or have engraved on our walls animals that we burn incense to, or mourn for some pagan deity, or worship the sun. And, besides that, our worship doesn’t revolve around the temple anyway, does it? And that’s where Ezekiel sees these corrupt acts of worship taking place. So, again, how does this affect us?
Well, I think we answer this by noting the very thing that does make our worship in the New Covenant different from worship in the Old Covenant. It is indeed true that to worship as believers in the New Covenant, we don’t have to go to Jerusalem or be in a temple. Rather, Paul tells us in Romans 12:1 that our worship is rather devoting ourselves entirely to the Lord – our love, obedience, and devotion. That is our spiritual act of worship.
What this means, then, is that when we place something alongside our devotion to the Lord in terms of value and commitment, then we are really not that different from those worshiping the image of jealousy in the temple. It means that when we put our trust in things for our security, then we’re really not that different from those ladies mourning for Tammuz. It’s good for us to ask ourselves what is it that has our devotion. Would someone be able to have a vision of our lives, seeing the things we are devoting our times to and doing when we think no one is looking, and be able to identify that our utmost devotion is toward the Lord?
We also need to realize that just as the Lord points out in 8:17 that these who are worshiping the sun are also filling the land with violence, so when the Lord is not our greatest devotion, it will show itself in other sins. Sin does not remain isolated in our lives, but it is like a cancer that spreads. Let us this morning, recognize our commitment to things more than our commitment to God as detestable, and let us repent this morning. But should some of us not be moved to repent or feel comfortable with our sin, then it’s good to be reminded of the next thing Ezekiel sees. In chapter 9 we see:
This point actually begins at the end of chapter 8, where the Lord says in 8:18, “Therefore I will act in my wrath. My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. And though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.” God is going to judge this people for their detestable sin.
The judgment is pictured for Ezekiel, though, in very picturesque terms. Ezekiel hears a loud cry in his ear, “Bring near the executioners of the city, each with his destroying weapon in his hand” (9:1). Ezekiel then sees six men, armed with weapons to slaughter. And there was a seventh man, clothed in linen, with an instrument for writing. This man in linen was instructed to pass through the city and “put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it” (9:4). Then, the six men, armed with weapons for slaughter were instructed, “Pass through the city after him, and strike. Your eye shall not spare, and you shall show no pity. Kill old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women, but touch no one on whom is the mark. And begin at my sanctuary.”
And sure enough, after the one man marks anyone righteous, the six others go out with their weapons and bring destruction upon the people, starting with the elders who were before the temple.
Now, what does this vision mean? After all, isn’t the judgment going to be when the Babylonians lay siege to the city and then destroy the inhabitants, like we saw pictured last week? Yes. But what this vision shows is that when that happens, it will be because God is judging his people. Again, as we saw last week, the destruction of Jerusalem is no accident of history, but the judgment of God. This vision was affirming to Ezekiel again that God is judging his people, he controls who is judged and how, and if any are spared, it will be because of his doing.
This is a good reminder to us that the righteous judgment of God is certain, isn’t it? Again, we saw this as recently as last week, but it is easy to forget. With every passing day and the turn of the calendar from year to year, it is easy to forget that judgment is coming. With every day of delay scoffers will mock the idea that there is a day of judgment. But it is certain. This pattern we see here has happened before. Noah and his family were spared, but the world was once flooded. Lot was spared, but Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. Jerusalem was conquered, but those marked as righteous were saved. And so it will be again. History has pointed again and again to this truth.
Therefore, in light of judgment, let us be a people who (like those marked by the men in linen) are characterized as grieving, sighing, and groaning over sin. The temptation will be for us to be pulled into it and accept it as normal. The fact that everyone around us suggests that exalting one way for salvation is unkind or that denouncing homosexuality as sin is bigoted will always be pressing on us (among numerous other sins). But our need is to expose ourselves continually to God’s Word so that we rightly discern what is good and what is sin, and then to grieve and groan over the wickedness done among us. May we respond to the sin of our day not by accommodating it, but by mourning over it.
It’s as if, by seeing these six armed men, Ezekiel is getting a peek into the reality that will be carried out by the Babylonians. He sees that it is really the Lord who is doing this destruction, carrying out his merciless judgment. But that’s not all he witnesses. He also sees:
One of the things Ezekiel witnesses throughout this vision is the glory of the Lord leaving the temple. We can watch the progression from these verses:
8:4 – “And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw in the valley.”
9:3 – “Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub [i.e., above the ark of the covenant] on which it rested to the threshold of the house.”
10:4 – “And the glory of the LORD went up from the cherub to the threshold of the house, and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was filled with the brightness of the glory of the LORD.”
Then, Ezekiel sees the same vision of God’s throne he saw in chapter 1, but this time the four living creatures he identifies as cherubim (10:15). And the glory of God leaves the temple and moves onto this throne of God above the cherubim:
10:18-19 – “Then the glory of the LORD went out from the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubim. And the cherubim lifted up their wings and mounted up from the earth before my eyes as they went out, with the wheels beside them. And they stood at the entrance of the east gate of the house of the LORD, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them.”
Then, as the glory has moved from the temple to this moving throne, we read that it is then taken away from the temple to a nearby mountain:
11:22 – “Then the cherubim lifted up their wings, with the wheels beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them. And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city and stood on the mountain that is on the east side of the city.”
You see, prior to the judgment being carried out on the city and its inhabitants, the Lord was removing his presence, glory, and protection. When Jerusalem was destroyed in 586 BC, some may have looked and thought the God of Israel had not been able to defend his people. But the reality is that God had already left. And he had left because of the sin of the people. This is why the Lord had said to Ezekiel in 8:6, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel are committing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary?” The Lord was withdrawing his presence, glory, and protection.
But is there anything like this for us? That is, does the Lord still operate in the sense that the Lord extends his presence, glory, and protection to his people or withdraws it? I think there is. You see, though there is no temple, the imagery of the temple doesn’t disappear when we get to the pages of the New Testament. Rather, it is the church (the people of God) who are called the Lord’s temple. Thus, for example, Paul tells the Ephesians in Ephesians 2:19-22, “
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”
That is, the church is the dwelling place of God. Yes, he indwells us individually as believers so that our bodies might be called the temple of the Holy Spirit. But there’s also a sense in which we have his presence, glory, and protection as a corporate people, the church. For this reason, it is extremely dangerous to find oneself outside of the church. In fact, Paul writes to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 5, as he tells them to exercise discipline and remove an individual from the church, “When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord” (1 Cor. 5:4-5).
Where does Paul get this idea that removing someone from the church somehow removes them from the Lord’s protection so that they are now prey for Satan to destroy their flesh? I think it’s from the imagery of texts like Ezekiel 8-11 where God removes his presence, glory, and protection from the temple so that the people might face judgment.
In Ezekiel 8-11, God is readying Jerusalem to face his merciless judgment. And yet, that’s not where our text ends. Rather, just as we see the departure of God’s presence, glory, and protection, we end the text seeing:
There are two questions that help us to see the fullness of what the Lord wanted Ezekiel to see in this vision. The first one is asked by Ezekiel himself. He first asks it in 9:8, after he sees the six men going about slaying the people of the city. Immediately after they strike the city, we read that Ezekiel fell upon his face and cried, “Ah, Lord GOD! Will you destroy all the remnant of Israel in the outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem?”
Then he asks it again in chapter 11. In this chapter, the Lord has shown Ezekiel more of the atrocity of Israel’s sin in the city. He sees another twenty-five men sitting at the entrance of the gateway, a number that Ezekiel knows personally, and the Lord points out their wickedness and arrogance. These are men, the Lord says, who “devise iniquity and who give wicked counsel in this city” (11:2). They tell people not to build houses, most likely encouraging them to focus on fighting against Babylon (while they should actually be surrendering). And they’re committing great evils, even killing people in the streets (11:6).
So, why don’t they fear God? Because they think they’re save in the walled city of Jerusalem where the temple is. That is, they don’t realize that God’s presence, glory, and protection has already left the temple. Therefore, they say, “This city is the cauldron, and we are the meat” (11:3). Now, that might sound bad, but they’re actually saying that we are protected like meat put in a cauldron to be shielded from wild animals. They were arrogant, and they didn’t think anything could happen. Therefore, the Lord tells Ezekiel to prophesy against them, telling them that the Lord will destroy them by the sword, for they have not obeyed him (11:4-12).
So Ezekiel prophesies, but even as he prophesies, a man he knows falls dead under God’s judgment. It is a heartbreaking scene, so Ezekiel falls down and cries out again, “Ah, Lord GOD! Will you make a full end of the remnant of Israel?” (11:13).
Now, let’s ask the question, “What does Ezekiel mean by this?” Well, the prophets had long foretold that though God judged his people, he would leave a remnant. He had determined that he would not allow all his people to be destroyed but would preserve a remnant. And it was obvious to Ezekiel that those back in Jerusalem were the remnant. After all, Jerusalem was the city where the Lord dwelt. Jerusalem had the temple where the people worshiped. Jerusalem was where God was. Ezekiel and the other exiles had already been discarded over in Babylon, but surely God wouldn’t wipe out Jerusalem?
That was Ezekiel’s question. That’s why he couldn’t understand why God was going to destroy the inhabitants of the city.
But there’s another question we could have. Why does Ezekiel say that the vision of the Lord’s throne he sees in chapter 10 is the same as the one he saw by the Chebar canal in chapter 1, when there is a clear difference? In chapter 10, he sees a vision of the throne of God just like we see in chapter 1. In fact, he stresses this point again and again. After describing the four creatures with the four faces we saw in chapter 1, Ezekiel says, “These were the living creatures that I saw by the Chebar canal” (10:15). Then again in 10:20, “These were the living creatures that I saw underneath the God of Israel by the Chebar canal.” And again in 10:22, “And as for the likeness of their faces, they were the same faces whose appearance I had seen by the Chebar canal.”
So, I think we get the point, these creatures were the same creatures he’d seen at the Chebar canal. But there is one noted difference. In chapter 1, he notes that these were simply four creatures. But not here. Here, he notes that they’re cherubim. He calls them Cherubim in 10:15-16 and 10:18-19. Then, after noting that these were the same four creatures he saw by the Chebar canal, he adds in 10:20, I knew that they were cherubim.”
And what’s more, you’ll remember the four faces were that of an ox, a lion, an eagle, and a man. But listen to how he describes them in 10:14, “And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of the cherub, and the second face was a human face, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.” Do you see? Now, instead of seeing an ox, he sees a cherub. And he’s identifying these creatures as cherubim. Why is he doing it? Why is it significant?
Well, I think the answers to these two questions (about the remnant and about the cherubim) go together. The reason I think it’s significant that Ezekiel realizes that these are cherubim is because he knows that cherubim are present where God’s presence are. You see, above the ark of the covenant where the Lord dwelt with his people, were cherubim. Maybe it’s because he’d not seen it before since he’d not been in the most holy place in the temple, but now he realizes it. And what this means is that if these are cherubim, then God was present with them – with the exiles in Babylon.
And this is confirmed when God answers Ezekiel’s question about the remnant. You see, Ezekiel thought surely the remnant must be those back in Jerusalem, not those scattered in Babylon. And those in Jerusalem thought the same thing. In fact, they had said to the exiles on their way out (it seems), get out of here, far from the Lord, for he is giving us your land. But the Lord answered Ezekiel’s question about the remnant, saying,
Son of man, your brothers, even your brothers, your kinsmen, the whole house of Israel, all of them, are those of whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ‘Go far from the LORD; to us this land is given for a possession.’ Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: Though I removed them far off among the nations, and though I scattered them among the countries, yet I have been a sanctuary to them for a while in the countries where they have gone.’ Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.’ And when they come there, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations. And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
You see, God wasn’t destroying the remnant. And his presence was still with his people. But he was with his people in Babylon because the remnant was the exiles. Those in Jerusalem thought the city was their sanctuary, and they were wrong because God’s presence had left them. And those in exile thought they were cast away because they were far from the temple, but God was with them. Those in Babylon might have thought they lost everything, but they had the one thing that mattered most. They had God, present with them.
And this morning, if your faith is in Jesus Christ, then you have the one thing that matters most – God’s presence, his approval, his blessing. It might feel like so many around you have all the things you’re tempted to look for in order to feel secure, but if they don’t have the Lord’s blessing through Christ, then they live with a false sense of security. But if you feel like you’ve lost everything and have been tossed aside while trusting in Jesus Christ, then God is your sanctuary.
Things aren’t always as they appear. Therefore, let us this morning remember that Christ lived, died, and was raised for us. And let us realize that if our faith is in Christ and his work, then we are spared from God’s judgment, have God’s presence and blessing, and have God himself as our sanctuary. Let us then come to the table and give thanks this morning. Amen.