Ezekiel 8New International Version (NIV)
Idolatry in the Temple
8 In the sixth year, in the sixth month on the fifth day, while I was sitting in my house and the elders of Judah were sitting before me, the hand of the Sovereign Lord came on me there. 2 I looked, and I saw a figure like that of a man. From what appeared to be his waist down he was like fire, and from there up his appearance was as bright as glowing metal. 3 He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head. The Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and in visions of God he took me to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court, where the idol that provokes to jealousy stood.4 And there before me was the glory of the God of Israel, as in the vision I had seen in the plain.
5 Then he said to me, “Son of man, look toward the north.” So I looked, and in the entrance north of the gate of the altar I saw this idol of jealousy.
6 And he said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing—the utterly detestable things the Israelites are doing here, things that will drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see things that are even more detestable.”
7 Then he brought me to the entrance to the court. I looked, and I saw a hole in the wall. 8 He said to me, “Son of man, now dig into the wall.” So I dug into the wall and saw a doorway there.
9 And he said to me, “Go in and see the wicked and detestable things they are doing here.” 10 So I went in and looked, and I saw portrayed all over the walls all kinds of crawling things and unclean animals and all the idols of Israel. 11 In front of them stood seventy elders of Israel, and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan was standing among them. Each had a censerin his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense was rising.
12 He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? They say, ‘The Lord does not see us; the Lord has forsaken the land.’” 13 Again, he said, “You will see them doing things that are even more detestable.”
14 Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the Lord, and I saw women sitting there, mourning the god Tammuz.15 He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? You will see things that are even more detestable than this.”
16 He then brought me into the inner court of the house of the Lord, and there at the entrance to the temple, between the portico and the altar,were about twenty-five men. With their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, they were bowing down to the sun in the east.
17 He said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a trivial matter for the people of Judah to do the detestable things they are doing here? Must they also fill the land with violence and continually arouse my anger? Look at them putting the branch to their nose! 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.”
Let's get right to it. Ezekiel is just hanging out at home when God straight up picks him up by his hair and takes him into the center of Jewish worship, the sacred temple in Jerusalem. Let's address this burning man-like figure who comes to Ezekiel. People like to talk about the wrath of God against sin. They like to condemn others who do not believe like they do to the eternal flames of hell. Let me propose what I believe about God and fire. I see Jesus as consumed by the scorching fires of God's eternal love. God's love and God's wrath are the same. His wrath is His love directed at the lies that separate us from Him. We can either choose to be consumed by the full-force of His love and allow our falsehoods and the ugly lies that replace the truth of our identity be sapped up in His holy passion for us, or we can see His fire as torment and refuse to submit to it. That alternative is hell.
In this incredible passage Ezekiel is confronted with the God on fire- the man Jesus- and then he is confronted with some pretty sketchy stuff in the temple. God reveals to Ezekiel "the idol that provokes jealousy." We do not know what provoked God to jealousy back in Ezekiel's day- I'm sure there was a host of false gods in the surrounding cultures, but I will tell you what I believe is that idol that is provoking jealousy TODAY in AMERICA. It is the God Mammon. Money. Its Jesus is preached in churches as the prosperity gospel and we are about to see the full force of it played out in our national leaders.
When evangelical leaders like Franklin Graham say that they believe God placed Trump in office, I will say, "Sure, God let us have exactly what we asked for." Just like when the nation of Israel got fed up with prophets speaking to them to lead from God's authority and then they just demanded a king. God complied and all the peace, security, and prosperity that they enjoyed faltered. Idolatry took over. God fed them good things, but they demanded junk, and then they got to eat their fill of idolatrous junk.
Now I'm not saying our nation is Christian or ever was for that matter, contrary to the assertions of many. What amazes me is that after Ezekiel is shown the idol that provokes jealousy the rot and filth in the Temple just keeps going. He literally digs a little deeper to see creepy crawly things behind a hole in the wall. Then he looks to see that all the elders have turned their back on the presence of God! And it gets more and more detestable from there. The complete divorce from holiness continues, But God asks, AS IF THIS WAS NOT BAD ENOUGH, must they ALSO fill the land with violence and other things that arouse my anger?
So we have made Money our American and Christian God. That should be bad enough. Then the leaders turn their backs on God. There's all sorts of creepy crawly yuck of who knows what going on behind closed doors- pornography, adultery, homophobia, etc. etc... But then we allow VIOLENCE in the land by letting the cops gun down our black men in the streets without any accountability and they are never brought to justice! Just like we allowed white men to lynch black men with impunity decades ago. And the thing is God says, "You think this doesn't make me angry? Like it is some trivial matter?"
That is exactly how I feel when I have tried to bring these issues up to Christians. Like it is so trivial they cannot be bothered to give it any thought or a dignified response, let alone to speak up against it. And then there is always the comfort of the temple. This is the great refuge to escape accountability. But God sees what is going on there too. He is crying out for justice in the streets and holiness in the temple. That's ok though if the Church won't have it. He says God's not going to respond to them if they won't clean up the moral filth in their temple.
You know I'm not a wrath of God preacher. I pretty much stick to the love of God as a priority myself. But it's so interesting to me that all these evangelicals lined up behind Trump and now we have more wealth concentrated in his cabinet than is even conceivable! In such an affront to the true Lord Jesus we have the most blatant prosperity preacher praying at the Inauguration. It is like a huge in your face billboard announcing the reign of Mammon and it is such a stench! What were you thinking Trump would give you people? Humility? Fairness? Decency?
So I post this just to let you know we're going to see what it looks like to lose our soul for the sake of the world. We will see what happens when we choose not to take up the cross to follow Jesus, but we go the way of the rich young ruler who walked away, wealth in pocket. It's not trivial that we allow injustice. If we will not proclaim Christ the rocks will cry out. Like the blood of Abel that cried out from the earth, the blood of our black sons and brothers and husbands cries out for justice. The filth we thought was hidden in our mega churches is being exposed.
Now is the time to repent because we're not fooling anyone, especially not God. Our faith in Money- one nation under the almighty Dollar- I mean God- is going to fail us in these coming days. Christ beckons and he doesn't let you haul all your stuff when he bids you come follow. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer says, "When Christ bids a man, he bids him come and die." We have cheapened his Gospel and sold out. He says "Return and I will heal your land!" Those words aren't for the drug addicts and the prostitutes and the women in the abortion clinics. Those words are for the people in their fancy clothes sitting in their beautiful churches.
You cannot serve both God and money.
Jesus spoke most often and most directly about money.
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