What happens when God's own people corrupt His sacred space with pagan practices? Ezekiel's temple vision provides a startling glimpse into divine patience reaching its limit.
The prophet receives a disturbing revelation of what's happening in Jerusalem's temple: women openly weeping for the pagan deity Tammuz, while men turn their backs on the sanctuary to worship the rising sun. These weren't secretive acts but brazen displays of spiritual unfaithfulness in the very place dedicated to Yahweh. The parallels to contemporary religious compromise are unmistakable.
Throughout our discussion, we wrestle with a perplexing question: How could people who had witnessed God's miracles and received His law repeatedly return to false gods? This pattern of spiritual amnesia resonates today as churches incorporate cultural elements that contradict biblical teaching. We examine the fine line between sincere religious practice and false worship that merely imitates true devotion.
What makes this passage uniquely comforting amid its severe warnings is God's protection of the faithful minority. Those who "sigh and groan" over the abominations—who recognize and mourn the corruption around them—receive a protective mark. This foreshadows the New Testament concept of believers being sealed by the Holy Spirit, a reminder that even in times of judgment, God preserves those whose hearts remain true to Him.
The ultimate message of Ezekiel's vision speaks directly to modern believers: God's patience with corruption has limits, but His recognition of genuine faith never fails. As we navigate a world of competing spiritual claims, this ancient prophecy challenges us to examine what truly captures our devotion and whether we're grieved or comfortable with compromise in our worship.
Join us as we reason through these challenging passages and discover timeless principles about authentic worship, divine justice, and the mercy extended to those who remain faithful when surrounded by spiritual corruption.
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May God Bless you!! - Glenn and Steve
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Hello and welcome to Reasoning Through the Bible.
We have a ministry where we goverse by verse through the Word
of God.
We have teaching materials soyou can help your church to have
lesson plans.
Check out our website atreasoningthroughthebiblecom and
you'll find all of our resourcesthere.
Today we're working our waythrough the book of Ezekiel.
(00:41):
If you have your Bible, open itto Ezekiel, chapter 8.
Ezekiel is in the midst of avision that God is showing him
of the temple in Jerusalem.
God is revealing to Ezekiel amessage that he will repeat to
the Jewish leaders in Babylon.
The message is that the templeis full of very detestable
(01:03):
things.
Last time we saw that in thevery holy place in the temple in
Jerusalem, they had images ofunclean animals and idols there.
Today we're going to find outwhat the people that are
supposed to be worshiping Godare doing, and we're going to
find that it's equally severe,equally bad.
(01:26):
Steve, can you read Ezekiel 8,verses 13 and 14?
Speaker 2 (01:32):
And he said to me Yet you will see still greater
abominations which they arecommitting.
Then he brought me to theentrance of the gate of the
Lord's house, which was towardthe north, and behold, women
were sitting there weeping forTammuz.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Tammuz was a pagan deity that was part of the
annual plant cycle, where theplants would grow in the spring
and then die in the fall.
So worship of Tammuz, thispagan deity they would rejoice
in the spring, when life comesback, then mourn in the fall,
(02:12):
when the plants start dying forthe year.
So mourning or weeping forTammuz means that these women
were participating in a paganawful worship practice.
Tammuz was an idol.
They were lamenting for an idol.
They were participating in apagan worship service inside the
(02:36):
very temple grounds.
Steve, how could people get tothe point where they're so
misguided that they'reparticipating in pagan worship
services inside the very TempleMount in Jerusalem?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Glenn this is something that has perplexed me
for years and it still does.
Here are people that have ahistory of the creator of the
world, creator of everything,the most high God, the God of
Israel, yahweh.
He has taken them and all themiracles that he did, bringing
them out of Egypt, bringing theminto the land.
(03:11):
We've gone through those, aswe've gone through the books of
Exodus and Judges and Joshua andet cetera, and throughout their
history he has shown himself tothem through these miracles.
Yet the people continue to goback to these idols, and it's
something that has justmystified me through the years.
(03:33):
I don't really know how toexplain it, but for some reason
they just keep getting luredback to these false idols and
these false gods that reallyhaven't done anything for them.
Even when they were doing thegolden calf, as we ended the
last session, they wereattributing the golden calf the
(03:55):
god of what Aaron had built, ofthe golden calf to bringing them
out of Egypt.
So that was just within a fewdays of them coming out of Egypt
.
So I don't know.
I really don't know how toexplain it, but I do know that
we need to guard against it.
We need to guard against it ifwe come to a place where we
think God has forsaken us orleft us, we need to stay
(04:17):
faithful and look back on thetimes where he has guided us and
been with us and keep faithfulto him, because he is going to
stay faithful to us.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
It's amazing to me as well that people can see and
taste of the true things of God.
They can see all of thewonderful, wise things that he
reveals to us and see his handand learn about his great things
in the scriptures, and yet theycan also get so far from him.
(04:49):
They care more for an idol thanthey do the God of the universe
.
It's just amazing to me as wellthat people will pray before a
statue when God has commanded somuch to keep these images out,
that people will participate ina pagan worship service and do
so inside of where true worshipshould happen.
(05:12):
Now, steve, again, as we saidmany times, it's real easy for
us to point fingers at ancientIsrael.
Are we any better than thesepeople?
Speaker 2 (05:21):
We're always vulnerable to do those things
and so we have to be on guard,as I mentioned before.
But we have churches today that, as I again mentioned last
session, that have statues thatthey venerate different things
that they're supposed to do.
Yeah, we're vulnerable to ittoday and, of course, the people
(05:44):
use the word venerate.
They don't say we worship them,we honor them, but really, when
you get down to it, much of thestuff they're doing is they're
worshiping these saints becausethey want to have them intercede
for them in communicating withGod.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
How can I check myself and how can I check my
church and see if we havesuccumbed to some of this as
well?
How can I tell if I am guiltyof bringing in pagan things from
the world into my?
Speaker 2 (06:13):
worship.
If we're going directly to Godand worshiping God directly,
that's it.
That's all we have to do.
Anything else that we bringinto it, or anything else that
we say that we need to haveintercede for us other than
Jesus Christ, then it's an idol.
It's something that can comebetween us and God.
That's the way that we cancheck ourselves.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Just to remind ourselves of where this is in
Jewish history, these practiceshad been going on for quite a
long time.
God had sent prophets, andIsrael had ignored them.
He had judged them differentways, and they would always come
back to this idol worship.
God went on and on with Israel,but here in Ezekiel and in
(07:01):
Jeremiah, he finally gets to apoint where he says no more, it
will stop here, and that's theharsh message of the book of
Ezekiel and the harsh message ofthe book of Jeremiah.
Here's the question for us,though.
If God gets to the point withIsrael where, okay, he's allowed
(07:22):
this sin, this pagan worship,to go on for a very long time
and not acted, but he gets to apoint with them where he says no
more, it's going to stop here.
We have these harsh judgmentsin this book.
Is he going to let us off thehook if we incorporate these
(07:43):
things into the church?
In other words, we at thechurch can say, hey, we've been
doing this for a very long time.
God's never judged us up to now, and we just feel like that's
the best thing for us.
If we turn our backs on God,are we going to get away with it
?
Speaker 2 (07:59):
We're not going to get away with it.
In the last session it was asecret place that God showed
Ezekiel the hole in the wallthat led to a secret room.
That's how the elders the 70that were there that were
described it.
This is a secret place that Goddoesn't know anything about,
and they had idols there andcarvings on the wall.
(08:22):
It hasn't changed in our day.
If, in our worshiping today andI use that word loosely from the
standpoint of some of thethings that are going on in
supposed Christian churches andmaybe specifically I could say
progressive Christianity in ourday there's mocking of God and
(08:43):
they're saying the same type ofthings.
God is going to overlook whatwe're doing.
God doesn't really care aboutthese things that we're doing in
secret, and I can tell you it'snot in secret.
There's nothing that we do thatis in secret from God.
He knows everything.
God says explicitly I will notbe mocked.
(09:07):
The people with progressiveChristianity and the other areas
that are mocking God.
There's going to be an answerto it at some day.
There's going to be a judgmenton it, and I wouldn't want to be
standing next to some of thesepeople that are openly mocking
God and the things that they doIn this account in Ezekiel,
(09:29):
chapter 8, we just saw the womenwere off doing this pagan
worship practices for this pagandeity.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
let's read verses 15 and 16 and see what the men were
doing.
It's not any better.
He said to me Do you see thisson of man?
Yet you will see still greaterabominations than these.
Then he brought me into theinner court of the Lord's house
and behold, at the entrance tothe picture of our temple, we
(10:14):
find that the main gate to thetemple court was on the east
side of the temple.
The men were standing on theporch of the temple proper with
their backs to the temple andturned their faces towards the
east, and it says they wereprostrating themselves
worshiping the sun.
(10:35):
This is just completely amazing.
Again, to turn towards therising of the sun, towards the
east, they had to turn theirbacks on God.
To worship this creation, thesun, they had to physically turn
their back on God.
They were worshiping the Son.
(10:57):
It just floors me that they're,as Romans 1 says, they're
worshiping the creation ratherthan the Creator.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Yes, it floors me as well that they once again think
that they can get away with thisRight there in the shadow of
the temple.
It's a brazen slap on the faceof God is the only way I can
describe it.
It just makes you think whatare going through people's heads
whenever they do these type ofthings?
Speaker 1 (11:26):
And we tend to see these people here.
Make note.
These people were sincere andthey were religious and there
was probably somebody standingon the sidelines saying, ezekiel
, these people are doing theirthing and you do your thing, and
we need to be very pluralistichere.
We need to get along and goalong.
(11:47):
Why be judgmental?
Well, the Lord, god says Icreated these people, I created
the universe, I gave you thetrue path and you're rejecting
it for these falsehoods.
These people were stillreligious.
They were religious, but theywere falsely religious.
Not all paths lead to God.
(12:08):
There is a true path and afalse path, and these men were
confused.
They had fallen out of the trueway into a false way.
Just because they're religiousdoesn't mean it's true.
There is a false way.
If we ask ourselves, whatconfusion do we see today?
(12:30):
Steve, I can think of a fairlylengthy list.
Yahweh, the true God of theBible, is not Allah.
It's not the same God.
Our God is not the same God asan idol.
People today pray in front ofstatues and prostrate themselves
in front of idols, and it'sfalse worship, says the one true
(12:55):
God.
Jesus said I am the way.
No one gets to the Father, butby me.
Now I always have to remindpeople I didn't make that up.
I wasn't saying that it's Jesus.
He said I am the way and nobodygets to the Father but through
him.
We either accept that andsubmit ourselves to the one true
(13:16):
God or we're going to have somesort of mixture of false
worship and will ultimately bejudged for that.
We will not get off the hook,just like these people didn't
get off the hook.
The criticism of today is thatGod is jealous.
Why should we give respect to ajealous God?
(13:38):
Well, my friend, he created theworld.
We're living on his planet,breathing his air.
He made us and he can lay outthe truth for us.
We can go and accept falsehoods, but we're not going to find
our way to God, we're not goingto find our way to heaven, if we
insist on false worship.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
I think, glenn, that there's one area where we get
off base from the New Testamentperspective.
We have John 3.16.
That says God so loved theworld that he gave his only
begotten son that whoeverbelieves in him shall not perish
but have everlasting life.
So we take that verse and it'sa true verse.
God did love the world so muchthat he came himself in Jesus
(14:24):
Christ and lived a sinless lifeand died and was buried and
resurrected and lives today sothat we could have eternal life.
But there's people that juststop there and they don't want
to talk about the judgment ofnot following God or not
worshiping God.
(14:44):
And then they go to theopposite extreme and say well, I
don't want to worship any typeof a God that's going to punish
me if I don't worship him.
That's not what we're saying.
There's a balance between thetwo.
God loved the world that heprovided a satisfactory
sacrifice, but there'sconsequences to the sin.
(15:05):
There's consequences for notfollowing him, and many times
not following him means doingabominable things in his sight
worshiping other gods,worshiping other creation, just
like these men were doing.
They were worshiping the sun,something that was created by
(15:26):
God.
There's a balance between thetwo.
We tend to in our day and age,just want to look at the loving
side.
But, as you've been pointingout, god is saying now, at this
particular period.
But, as you've been pointingout, god is saying now, at this
particular period enough isenough.
I'm not going to allow itanymore.
And there's a future day comingin our future that God is going
(15:46):
to say the same thing Enough isenough.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
And there's going to be judgment as for all the
abominable things that y'all aredoing.
I've got a kind of a homelyillustration that I think will
help us realize the significanceof what's going on here.
Let's say you fall in love andthe person that you're falling
in love with you want to getmarried.
So all the preparations formarriage, and you actually do
get married and the marriage isa real happy time.
But then, two or three daysafter the marriage, your spouse
(16:16):
says well, I know I married you,but I want to go hang around
with all my old lovers too.
Then they take off every nightand they're gone across town for
somewhere.
And when they come back, youask them well, where'd you go?
And they say, well, that's noneof your business.
I mean, I want to stay marriedto you, but where I go is it's
not really any of your businessas long as I'm still married to
(16:37):
you.
What kind of a marriage is that?
Is that a true marriage?
Would it make you angry?
I mean, how is the averageperson going to respond?
Well, steve, that's not amarriage.
And you could see where God saysokay, I brought you out of
Egypt.
I created you as a nation, Igave you the truth.
I set you up.
I defeated your enemies, I gaveyou the true path.
(17:01):
Now you're continually bringingin and worshiping somebody else
.
You can see that's not arelationship.
That's why God can finally sayI'm drawing an end to this.
And it happened.
After this Babylonian captivity, the Jewish people never had
idol worship again.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Yeah, but look to what extent that it cost them.
It cost them being taken offinto captivity, their city and
their temple being torn down andransacked.
Their kingdom had becomedivided, and all of that land
was under occupation andremained under occupation for
(17:40):
hundreds of years after that.
So at what cost was it thatthey finally got this urge to
worship other idols out of them?
It was a tremendous cost, butit does show the length and
extent that God will go to inorder to bring people back to
(18:01):
himself.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
So in this vision, god showed to Ezekiel what was
going on in the temple inJerusalem.
And then, in chapter 8, verse17 and 18, god gives the message
to Ezekiel of hisinterpretation of this.
He said to me do you see this,son of man?
Is it too light a thing for thehouse of Judah to commit the
(18:23):
abominations which they havecommitted here, that they have
filled the land with violenceand provoked me repeatedly?
For, behold, they are puttingthe twig into the nose.
Therefore, I indeed will dealin wrath.
My eye will have no pity, norwill I spare, and though they
cry in my ears with a loud voice, yet I will not listen to them.
(18:47):
Steve, this sure seems likeGod's pretty angry.
I sure wouldn't want to be onthe other end of his wrath.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
No, me either.
So, as we've talked about,there's a way to not experience
that wrath is to believe in theLord Jesus Christ and trust on
him.
God has provided a way out ofthat.
The people that are going tofeel his wrath are people that
have rejected him and they'vebeen told that this is going to
happen.
But I know I wouldn't want tobe on that end either.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Steve, here's a question.
I've asked this before, butI'll ask it again.
Israel God approached them andsaid I'm choosing you.
They were God's chosen people.
Today, god's working throughthe church.
We are God's chosen people.
Will God spare us if we fallaway and disobey into the same
type of sin, if we?
Speaker 2 (19:36):
have true belief and true trust in Jesus Christ.
We're told that there's nothingthat can take us out of his
hand, that we have protection,and some of them people refer to
that as once saved, alwayssaved, and there's been some
debate through the ages as towhether or not that's valid or
not.
(19:57):
I happen to believe that it isvalid.
So, from that perspective, no,we're secure in Jesus Christ and
we're going to be protected andwe're going to be taken Now.
That said, I also believe thatwe're indwelled with the Holy
Spirit whenever we become abeliever and that the Holy
(20:18):
Spirit is constantly going to bedrawing us back.
My testimony is I went througha period of time where I wasn't
in close relationship with JesusChrist and I wasn't doing real
bad things, but I had walkedaway a little bit from him and
then I came back later and I'vehad a close relationship ever
(20:39):
since.
To your exact question, glenn,was God going to let us off the
hook?
If we're true believers, we'regoing to face a judgment.
It's called the Bema SeatJudgment but that judgment
doesn't have anything to do withour salvation.
It does have to do with ourrewards.
I think there's going to bemany, many people that are going
to lose rewards or not haverewards that they could have had
(21:02):
by the way that they act oncethey are Christians.
There's still a judgment that'sgoing to happen, but it's not
going to be a wrathful judgment.
That's going to happen to usthat are in Christ, the body of
Christ, the so-called church.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Up to now in the book of Ezekiel, god has been
describing why he is angry withthe Jewish people, the people of
Israel.
Chapter 9, we're still in thisvision.
But in chapter 9, god startsmeting out his judgment and
punishment.
We've seen why he's angry.
(21:39):
Now we're going to see whathe's going to do about it.
And it's not very pretty.
As a matter of fact, it's quiteugly.
We're going to have a veryunpleasant chapter here.
In chapter 9, god is going tomark out those who are his own,
and God puts a mark on his ownand all the others get killed.
God's glory is also going toleave the temple in the process
(22:03):
from chapters 9 through 11.
The glory of God leaves thetemple and God is removing his
blessing from the Jewish people.
God is being just here.
He is finally giving them whatthey deserve.
Steve, can you read the firstfour verses of Ezekiel, chapter
9?
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Then he cried out in my hearing with a loud voice,
saying Draw near O executionersof the city, each with his
destroying weapon in his hand.
Behold, six men came from thedirection of the upper gate,
which faces north, each with hisshattering weapon in his hand,
and among them was a certain manclothed in linen, with a riding
(22:45):
case at his loins, and theywent in and stood beside the
bronze altar.
His loins, and they went in andstood beside the bronze altar.
Then the glory of the God ofIsrael went up from the cherub
on which it had been to thethreshold of the temple, and he
called to the man clothed inlinen whose loins was the
writing case.
The Lord said to him Go throughthe midst of the city, even
(23:09):
through the midst of Jerusalem,and put a mark on the foreheads
of the men who sigh and groanover all the abominations which
are being committed in its midst.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
We have here, in verse 1, god bringing in
executioners, and theexecutioners are going to go to
Jerusalem.
He tells them to bring theirweapons.
So the executioners arebringing their weapons.
It's no secret what they'reabout to do.
In verse 2, six executionerscome plus a man with a writing
(23:40):
case.
So the writing case is God isgoing to have him put a mark on
the forehead of those that aretruly following God, the ones
that are mourning for all of theabominations, and all the
others are going to get killed.
That's the purpose of the manwith the writing instruments.
God is going to mark out thosethat are to be saved, the true
(24:04):
believers, the ones who actuallyare following him.
All the others are going to beexecuted.
Steve, I submit that in our daywe can take a great lesson here.
This is in the midst of Godpouring out his wrath on an
unbelieving and disobedientworld.
Here, at least to people, wecan take comfort that, in the
(24:26):
midst of a time when God isgoing to pour out his wrath, god
still knows who it is thattruly loves him and will follow
him.
And he's going to take a penand write our name in the book
of life.
And God is also going todocument what's going to happen.
He knows, he keeps records andhe marks out those that are
(24:49):
really his children.
Even in a time where God ispouring out his wrath, we have
some comfort in knowing that Godis going to do it justly and if
we but submit to him and lovehim, that he will put a mark on
them protection, just like whenthey were coming out of Egypt.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
The blood on the doorpost and the lentils was a
sign for the death angel to passover their house and a sign of
protection for those who wouldtruly believe.
Whenever they did that and putthat markings on their doorpost
and the sacrifice, that markthat said I'm a believer in
Yahweh and I follow him and Ifollow his directions these same
(25:38):
people, as you pointed out,glenn, they're weeping and
mourning over all the abominablethings that are going on in the
city.
They're true believers.
There's a remnant, there'salways a remnant of believers in
God In our day and time.
Glenn, I'm glad to say thatwe're a remnant, that we're
believers in Jesus Christ and wefollow him, and that we have
(26:02):
that seal and that marking on us, as you just so poignantly put
out, that we're going to beprotected from God's wrath
whenever it comes.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
Once again, verse 4 has the instructions that God is
giving out here put out thatwe're going to be protected from
God's wrath whenever it comes.
Once again, verse 4 has theinstructions that God is giving
out here.
It says go through the midst ofthe city, even through the
midst of Jerusalem, and put amark on the foreheads of the men
who sigh and groan over all theabominations which are being
committed in its midst.
So again, god is marking outthe ones that are grieving, the
(26:34):
ones that are sighing andgroaning over all of the false
worship and false abominationsthat are in the city.
The ones that are not botheredby it don't get the mark and are
going to be destroyed.
They're going to be executed.
In our day we have also peoplewho ignore God's law and don't
(26:56):
really care whether there'sabominations inside the church.
We also have people that lookaround and mourn because of sin.
They mourn over their own sin,they mourn over the failures of
the church and they're grievedover the condition of themselves
and the people around them.
(27:16):
Those are the people that, eventoday, god recognizes.
When our heart is torn overfalse worship and false things
that have crept into our worship, that's when we have a heart
that the Lord loves.
King David committed sins, butGod said that's a man after my
(27:37):
own heart.
Why?
Well, because David, whenconfronted with his sin, grieved
.
Read the Psalms.
He grieved, so the same is truefor us, is it not, steve?
In our day, we have people thatare just going through the
motions worshiping and they'redancing around abomination,
thinking that that's okay, butjust because it's religious, and
(27:58):
we have people that theirhearts are torn because of all
the failures of the church.
Today and still today.
Nothing has changed since allthe way back in Ezekiel's day.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
If you're at a church that is doing pagan things in
their worship and what's beingpreached from the pulpit is not
in line with the word of God andyou're not stirred in your
heart and mourning or disturbedlike these people were here,
then you should do a heart checkbecause you should have
(28:29):
something stirring in you sayingthis isn't right and I
shouldn't be here.
I need to go find a place whereI can truly worship God.
If you're not at that place,then you need to do a heart
check.
If you've never been a believerbefore, then you can be saved
from God's wrath.
You could have a heart whereyou are sensitive to these
(28:51):
things that are being doneagainst God by simply believing
in the Lord Jesus Christ, whathe's done through his death,
burial and resurrection.
Your name can be written in thebook of life and a seal can be
put on your forehead.
That will give you a protectionand you'll have a relationship
that won't be like any otherrelationship that you've ever
had before.
If you feel that tugging inyour heart from the Holy Spirit,
(29:14):
then heed the Holy Spirit andsurrender yourself and believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and youshall be saved.
Is what the Scripture says.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
All the way back here in Ezekiel, in these dark
corners of the Word of God, wefind such wonderful, wonderful
messages, oh, that we would notneglect such great teachings,
steve.
There's still more.
Everywhere we go we find somereally gold nuggets.
We're going to keep doing thatas we continue to reason through
(29:43):
the book of Ezekiel.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Thank you, so much for watching and listening.
May God bless you.
Hello and welcome to Reasoning Through the Bible.
We have a ministry where we goverse by verse through the Word
of God.
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Today we're working our waythrough the book of Ezekiel.
(00:41):
If you have your Bible, open itto Ezekiel, chapter 8.
Ezekiel is in the midst of avision that God is showing him
of the temple in Jerusalem.
God is revealing to Ezekiel amessage that he will repeat to
the Jewish leaders in Babylon.
The message is that the templeis full of very detestable
(01:03):
things.
Last time we saw that in thevery holy place in the temple in
Jerusalem, they had images ofunclean animals and idols there.
Today we're going to find outwhat the people that are
supposed to be worshiping Godare doing, and we're going to
find that it's equally severe,equally bad.
(01:26):
Steve, can you read Ezekiel 8,verses 13 and 14?
Speaker 2 (01:32):
And he said to me Yet you will see still greater
abominations which they arecommitting.
Then he brought me to theentrance of the gate of the
Lord's house, which was towardthe north, and behold, women
were sitting there weeping forTammuz.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Tammuz was a pagan deity that was part of the
annual plant cycle, where theplants would grow in the spring
and then die in the fall.
So worship of Tammuz, thispagan deity they would rejoice
in the spring, when life comesback, then mourn in the fall,
(02:12):
when the plants start dying forthe year.
So mourning or weeping forTammuz means that these women
were participating in a paganawful worship practice.
Tammuz was an idol.
They were lamenting for an idol.
They were participating in apagan worship service inside the
(02:36):
very temple grounds.
Steve, how could people get tothe point where they're so
misguided that they'reparticipating in pagan worship
services inside the very TempleMount in Jerusalem?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Glenn this is something that has perplexed me
for years and it still does.
Here are people that have ahistory of the creator of the
world, creator of everything,the most high God, the God of
Israel, yahweh.
He has taken them and all themiracles that he did, bringing
them out of Egypt, bringing theminto the land.
(03:11):
We've gone through those, aswe've gone through the books of
Exodus and Judges and Joshua andet cetera, and throughout their
history he has shown himself tothem through these miracles.
Yet the people continue to goback to these idols, and it's
something that has justmystified me through the years.
(03:33):
I don't really know how toexplain it, but for some reason
they just keep getting luredback to these false idols and
these false gods that reallyhaven't done anything for them.
Even when they were doing thegolden calf, as we ended the
last session, they wereattributing the golden calf the
(03:55):
god of what Aaron had built, ofthe golden calf to bringing them
out of Egypt.
So that was just within a fewdays of them coming out of Egypt
.
So I don't know.
I really don't know how toexplain it, but I do know that
we need to guard against it.
We need to guard against it ifwe come to a place where we
think God has forsaken us orleft us, we need to stay
(04:17):
faithful and look back on thetimes where he has guided us and
been with us and keep faithfulto him, because he is going to
stay faithful to us.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
It's amazing to me as well that people can see and
taste of the true things of God.
They can see all of thewonderful, wise things that he
reveals to us and see his handand learn about his great things
in the scriptures, and yet theycan also get so far from him.
(04:49):
They care more for an idol thanthey do the God of the universe
.
It's just amazing to me as wellthat people will pray before a
statue when God has commanded somuch to keep these images out,
that people will participate ina pagan worship service and do
so inside of where true worshipshould happen.
(05:12):
Now, steve, again, as we saidmany times, it's real easy for
us to point fingers at ancientIsrael.
Are we any better than thesepeople?
Speaker 2 (05:21):
We're always vulnerable to do those things
and so we have to be on guard,as I mentioned before.
But we have churches today that, as I again mentioned last
session, that have statues thatthey venerate different things
that they're supposed to do.
Yeah, we're vulnerable to ittoday and, of course, the people
(05:44):
use the word venerate.
They don't say we worship them,we honor them, but really, when
you get down to it, much of thestuff they're doing is they're
worshiping these saints becausethey want to have them intercede
for them in communicating withGod.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
How can I check myself and how can I check my
church and see if we havesuccumbed to some of this as
well?
How can I tell if I am guiltyof bringing in pagan things from
the world into my?
Speaker 2 (06:13):
worship.
If we're going directly to Godand worshiping God directly,
that's it.
That's all we have to do.
Anything else that we bringinto it, or anything else that
we say that we need to haveintercede for us other than
Jesus Christ, then it's an idol.
It's something that can comebetween us and God.
That's the way that we cancheck ourselves.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Just to remind ourselves of where this is in
Jewish history, these practiceshad been going on for quite a
long time.
God had sent prophets, andIsrael had ignored them.
He had judged them differentways, and they would always come
back to this idol worship.
God went on and on with Israel,but here in Ezekiel and in
(07:01):
Jeremiah, he finally gets to apoint where he says no more, it
will stop here, and that's theharsh message of the book of
Ezekiel and the harsh message ofthe book of Jeremiah.
Here's the question for us,though.
If God gets to the point withIsrael where, okay, he's allowed
(07:22):
this sin, this pagan worship,to go on for a very long time
and not acted, but he gets to apoint with them where he says no
more, it's going to stop here.
We have these harsh judgmentsin this book.
Is he going to let us off thehook if we incorporate these
(07:43):
things into the church?
In other words, we at thechurch can say, hey, we've been
doing this for a very long time.
God's never judged us up to now, and we just feel like that's
the best thing for us.
If we turn our backs on God,are we going to get away with it
?
Speaker 2 (07:59):
We're not going to get away with it.
In the last session it was asecret place that God showed
Ezekiel the hole in the wallthat led to a secret room.
That's how the elders the 70that were there that were
described it.
This is a secret place that Goddoesn't know anything about,
and they had idols there andcarvings on the wall.
(08:22):
It hasn't changed in our day.
If, in our worshiping today andI use that word loosely from the
standpoint of some of thethings that are going on in
supposed Christian churches andmaybe specifically I could say
progressive Christianity in ourday there's mocking of God and
(08:43):
they're saying the same type ofthings.
God is going to overlook whatwe're doing.
God doesn't really care aboutthese things that we're doing in
secret, and I can tell you it'snot in secret.
There's nothing that we do thatis in secret from God.
He knows everything.
God says explicitly I will notbe mocked.
(09:07):
The people with progressiveChristianity and the other areas
that are mocking God.
There's going to be an answerto it at some day.
There's going to be a judgmenton it, and I wouldn't want to be
standing next to some of thesepeople that are openly mocking
God and the things that they doIn this account in Ezekiel,
(09:29):
chapter 8, we just saw the womenwere off doing this pagan
worship practices for this pagandeity.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
let's read verses 15 and 16 and see what the men were
doing.
It's not any better.
He said to me Do you see thisson of man?
Yet you will see still greaterabominations than these.
Then he brought me into theinner court of the Lord's house
and behold, at the entrance tothe picture of our temple, we
(10:14):
find that the main gate to thetemple court was on the east
side of the temple.
The men were standing on theporch of the temple proper with
their backs to the temple andturned their faces towards the
east, and it says they wereprostrating themselves
worshiping the sun.
(10:35):
This is just completely amazing.
Again, to turn towards therising of the sun, towards the
east, they had to turn theirbacks on God.
To worship this creation, thesun, they had to physically turn
their back on God.
They were worshiping the Son.
(10:57):
It just floors me that they're,as Romans 1 says, they're
worshiping the creation ratherthan the Creator.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Yes, it floors me as well that they once again think
that they can get away with thisRight there in the shadow of
the temple.
It's a brazen slap on the faceof God is the only way I can
describe it.
It just makes you think whatare going through people's heads
whenever they do these type ofthings?
Speaker 1 (11:26):
And we tend to see these people here.
Make note.
These people were sincere andthey were religious and there
was probably somebody standingon the sidelines saying, ezekiel
, these people are doing theirthing and you do your thing, and
we need to be very pluralistichere.
We need to get along and goalong.
(11:47):
Why be judgmental?
Well, the Lord, god says Icreated these people, I created
the universe, I gave you thetrue path and you're rejecting
it for these falsehoods.
These people were stillreligious.
They were religious, but theywere falsely religious.
Not all paths lead to God.
(12:08):
There is a true path and afalse path, and these men were
confused.
They had fallen out of the trueway into a false way.
Just because they're religiousdoesn't mean it's true.
There is a false way.
If we ask ourselves, whatconfusion do we see today?
(12:30):
Steve, I can think of a fairlylengthy list.
Yahweh, the true God of theBible, is not Allah.
It's not the same God.
Our God is not the same God asan idol.
People today pray in front ofstatues and prostrate themselves
in front of idols, and it'sfalse worship, says the one true
(12:55):
God.
Jesus said I am the way.
No one gets to the Father, butby me.
Now I always have to remindpeople I didn't make that up.
I wasn't saying that it's Jesus.
He said I am the way and nobodygets to the Father but through
him.
We either accept that andsubmit ourselves to the one true
(13:16):
God or we're going to have somesort of mixture of false
worship and will ultimately bejudged for that.
We will not get off the hook,just like these people didn't
get off the hook.
The criticism of today is thatGod is jealous.
Why should we give respect to ajealous God?
(13:38):
Well, my friend, he created theworld.
We're living on his planet,breathing his air.
He made us and he can lay outthe truth for us.
We can go and accept falsehoods, but we're not going to find
our way to God, we're not goingto find our way to heaven, if we
insist on false worship.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
I think, glenn, that there's one area where we get
off base from the New Testamentperspective.
We have John 3.16.
That says God so loved theworld that he gave his only
begotten son that whoeverbelieves in him shall not perish
but have everlasting life.
So we take that verse and it'sa true verse.
God did love the world so muchthat he came himself in Jesus
(14:24):
Christ and lived a sinless lifeand died and was buried and
resurrected and lives today sothat we could have eternal life.
But there's people that juststop there and they don't want
to talk about the judgment ofnot following God or not
worshiping God.
(14:44):
And then they go to theopposite extreme and say well, I
don't want to worship any typeof a God that's going to punish
me if I don't worship him.
That's not what we're saying.
There's a balance between thetwo.
God loved the world that heprovided a satisfactory
sacrifice, but there'sconsequences to the sin.
(15:05):
There's consequences for notfollowing him, and many times
not following him means doingabominable things in his sight
worshiping other gods,worshiping other creation, just
like these men were doing.
They were worshiping the sun,something that was created by
(15:26):
God.
There's a balance between thetwo.
We tend to in our day and age,just want to look at the loving
side.
But, as you've been pointingout, god is saying now, at this
particular period.
But, as you've been pointingout, god is saying now, at this
particular period enough isenough.
I'm not going to allow itanymore.
And there's a future day comingin our future that God is going
(15:46):
to say the same thing Enough isenough.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
And there's going to be judgment as for all the
abominable things that y'all aredoing.
I've got a kind of a homelyillustration that I think will
help us realize the significanceof what's going on here.
Let's say you fall in love andthe person that you're falling
in love with you want to getmarried.
So all the preparations formarriage, and you actually do
get married and the marriage isa real happy time.
But then, two or three daysafter the marriage, your spouse
(16:16):
says well, I know I married you,but I want to go hang around
with all my old lovers too.
Then they take off every nightand they're gone across town for
somewhere.
And when they come back, youask them well, where'd you go?
And they say, well, that's noneof your business.
I mean, I want to stay marriedto you, but where I go is it's
not really any of your businessas long as I'm still married to
(16:37):
you.
What kind of a marriage is that?
Is that a true marriage?
Would it make you angry?
I mean, how is the averageperson going to respond?
Well, steve, that's not amarriage.
And you could see where God saysokay, I brought you out of
Egypt.
I created you as a nation, Igave you the truth.
I set you up.
I defeated your enemies, I gaveyou the true path.
(17:01):
Now you're continually bringingin and worshiping somebody else
.
You can see that's not arelationship.
That's why God can finally sayI'm drawing an end to this.
And it happened.
After this Babylonian captivity, the Jewish people never had
idol worship again.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Yeah, but look to what extent that it cost them.
It cost them being taken offinto captivity, their city and
their temple being torn down andransacked.
Their kingdom had becomedivided, and all of that land
was under occupation andremained under occupation for
(17:40):
hundreds of years after that.
So at what cost was it thatthey finally got this urge to
worship other idols out of them?
It was a tremendous cost, butit does show the length and
extent that God will go to inorder to bring people back to
(18:01):
himself.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
So in this vision, god showed to Ezekiel what was
going on in the temple inJerusalem.
And then, in chapter 8, verse17 and 18, god gives the message
to Ezekiel of hisinterpretation of this.
He said to me do you see this,son of man?
Is it too light a thing for thehouse of Judah to commit the
(18:23):
abominations which they havecommitted here, that they have
filled the land with violenceand provoked me repeatedly?
For, behold, they are puttingthe twig into the nose.
Therefore, I indeed will dealin wrath.
My eye will have no pity, norwill I spare, and though they
cry in my ears with a loud voice, yet I will not listen to them.
(18:47):
Steve, this sure seems likeGod's pretty angry.
I sure wouldn't want to be onthe other end of his wrath.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
No, me either.
So, as we've talked about,there's a way to not experience
that wrath is to believe in theLord Jesus Christ and trust on
him.
God has provided a way out ofthat.
The people that are going tofeel his wrath are people that
have rejected him and they'vebeen told that this is going to
happen.
But I know I wouldn't want tobe on that end either.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Steve, here's a question.
I've asked this before, butI'll ask it again.
Israel God approached them andsaid I'm choosing you.
They were God's chosen people.
Today, god's working throughthe church.
We are God's chosen people.
Will God spare us if we fallaway and disobey into the same
type of sin, if we?
Speaker 2 (19:36):
have true belief and true trust in Jesus Christ.
We're told that there's nothingthat can take us out of his
hand, that we have protection,and some of them people refer to
that as once saved, alwayssaved, and there's been some
debate through the ages as towhether or not that's valid or
not.
(19:57):
I happen to believe that it isvalid.
So, from that perspective, no,we're secure in Jesus Christ and
we're going to be protected andwe're going to be taken Now.
That said, I also believe thatwe're indwelled with the Holy
Spirit whenever we become abeliever and that the Holy
(20:18):
Spirit is constantly going to bedrawing us back.
My testimony is I went througha period of time where I wasn't
in close relationship with JesusChrist and I wasn't doing real
bad things, but I had walkedaway a little bit from him and
then I came back later and I'vehad a close relationship ever
(20:39):
since.
To your exact question, glenn,was God going to let us off the
hook?
If we're true believers, we'regoing to face a judgment.
It's called the Bema SeatJudgment but that judgment
doesn't have anything to do withour salvation.
It does have to do with ourrewards.
I think there's going to bemany, many people that are going
to lose rewards or not haverewards that they could have had
(21:02):
by the way that they act oncethey are Christians.
There's still a judgment that'sgoing to happen, but it's not
going to be a wrathful judgment.
That's going to happen to usthat are in Christ, the body of
Christ, the so-called church.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Up to now in the book of Ezekiel, god has been
describing why he is angry withthe Jewish people, the people of
Israel.
Chapter 9, we're still in thisvision.
But in chapter 9, god startsmeting out his judgment and
punishment.
We've seen why he's angry.
(21:39):
Now we're going to see whathe's going to do about it.
And it's not very pretty.
As a matter of fact, it's quiteugly.
We're going to have a veryunpleasant chapter here.
In chapter 9, god is going tomark out those who are his own,
and God puts a mark on his ownand all the others get killed.
God's glory is also going toleave the temple in the process
(22:03):
from chapters 9 through 11.
The glory of God leaves thetemple and God is removing his
blessing from the Jewish people.
God is being just here.
He is finally giving them whatthey deserve.
Steve, can you read the firstfour verses of Ezekiel, chapter
9?
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Then he cried out in my hearing with a loud voice,
saying Draw near O executionersof the city, each with his
destroying weapon in his hand.
Behold, six men came from thedirection of the upper gate,
which faces north, each with hisshattering weapon in his hand,
and among them was a certain manclothed in linen, with a riding
(22:45):
case at his loins, and theywent in and stood beside the
bronze altar.
His loins, and they went in andstood beside the bronze altar.
Then the glory of the God ofIsrael went up from the cherub
on which it had been to thethreshold of the temple, and he
called to the man clothed inlinen whose loins was the
writing case.
The Lord said to him Go throughthe midst of the city, even
(23:09):
through the midst of Jerusalem,and put a mark on the foreheads
of the men who sigh and groanover all the abominations which
are being committed in its midst.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
We have here, in verse 1, god bringing in
executioners, and theexecutioners are going to go to
Jerusalem.
He tells them to bring theirweapons.
So the executioners arebringing their weapons.
It's no secret what they'reabout to do.
In verse 2, six executionerscome plus a man with a writing
(23:40):
case.
So the writing case is God isgoing to have him put a mark on
the forehead of those that aretruly following God, the ones
that are mourning for all of theabominations, and all the
others are going to get killed.
That's the purpose of the manwith the writing instruments.
God is going to mark out thosethat are to be saved, the true
(24:04):
believers, the ones who actuallyare following him.
All the others are going to beexecuted.
Steve, I submit that in our daywe can take a great lesson here.
This is in the midst of Godpouring out his wrath on an
unbelieving and disobedientworld.
Here, at least to people, wecan take comfort that, in the
(24:26):
midst of a time when God isgoing to pour out his wrath, god
still knows who it is thattruly loves him and will follow
him.
And he's going to take a penand write our name in the book
of life.
And God is also going todocument what's going to happen.
He knows, he keeps records andhe marks out those that are
(24:49):
really his children.
Even in a time where God ispouring out his wrath, we have
some comfort in knowing that Godis going to do it justly and if
we but submit to him and lovehim, that he will put a mark on
them protection, just like whenthey were coming out of Egypt.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
The blood on the doorpost and the lentils was a
sign for the death angel to passover their house and a sign of
protection for those who wouldtruly believe.
Whenever they did that and putthat markings on their doorpost
and the sacrifice, that markthat said I'm a believer in
Yahweh and I follow him and Ifollow his directions these same
(25:38):
people, as you pointed out,glenn, they're weeping and
mourning over all the abominablethings that are going on in the
city.
They're true believers.
There's a remnant, there'salways a remnant of believers in
God In our day and time.
Glenn, I'm glad to say thatwe're a remnant, that we're
believers in Jesus Christ and wefollow him, and that we have
(26:02):
that seal and that marking on us, as you just so poignantly put
out, that we're going to beprotected from God's wrath
whenever it comes.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
Once again, verse 4 has the instructions that God is
giving out here put out thatwe're going to be protected from
God's wrath whenever it comes.
Once again, verse 4 has theinstructions that God is giving
out here.
It says go through the midst ofthe city, even through the
midst of Jerusalem, and put amark on the foreheads of the men
who sigh and groan over all theabominations which are being
committed in its midst.
So again, god is marking outthe ones that are grieving, the
(26:34):
ones that are sighing andgroaning over all of the false
worship and false abominationsthat are in the city.
The ones that are not botheredby it don't get the mark and are
going to be destroyed.
They're going to be executed.
In our day we have also peoplewho ignore God's law and don't
(26:56):
really care whether there'sabominations inside the church.
We also have people that lookaround and mourn because of sin.
They mourn over their own sin,they mourn over the failures of
the church and they're grievedover the condition of themselves
and the people around them.
(27:16):
Those are the people that, eventoday, god recognizes.
When our heart is torn overfalse worship and false things
that have crept into our worship, that's when we have a heart
that the Lord loves.
King David committed sins, butGod said that's a man after my
(27:37):
own heart.
Why?
Well, because David, whenconfronted with his sin, grieved
.
Read the Psalms.
He grieved, so the same is truefor us, is it not, steve?
In our day, we have people thatare just going through the
motions worshiping and they'redancing around abomination,
thinking that that's okay, butjust because it's religious, and
(27:58):
we have people that theirhearts are torn because of all
the failures of the church.
Today and still today.
Nothing has changed since allthe way back in Ezekiel's day.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
If you're at a church that is doing pagan things in
their worship and what's beingpreached from the pulpit is not
in line with the word of God andyou're not stirred in your
heart and mourning or disturbedlike these people were here,
then you should do a heart checkbecause you should have
(28:29):
something stirring in you sayingthis isn't right and I
shouldn't be here.
I need to go find a place whereI can truly worship God.
If you're not at that place,then you need to do a heart
check.
If you've never been a believerbefore, then you can be saved
from God's wrath.
You could have a heart whereyou are sensitive to these
(28:51):
things that are being doneagainst God by simply believing
in the Lord Jesus Christ, whathe's done through his death,
burial and resurrection.
Your name can be written in thebook of life and a seal can be
put on your forehead.
That will give you a protectionand you'll have a relationship
that won't be like any otherrelationship that you've ever
had before.
If you feel that tugging inyour heart from the Holy Spirit,
(29:14):
then heed the Holy Spirit andsurrender yourself and believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and youshall be saved.
Is what the Scripture says.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
All the way back here in Ezekiel, in these dark
corners of the Word of God, wefind such wonderful, wonderful
messages, oh, that we would notneglect such great teachings,
steve.
There's still more.
Everywhere we go we find somereally gold nuggets.
We're going to keep doing thatas we continue to reason through
(29:43):
the book of Ezekiel.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Thank you, so much for watching and listening.
May God bless you.
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