Idols

While sitting in his home Ezekiel the Prophet  is shown by God in a vision, of Idolatry taking place there ,  Abominations in the Temple.

This vision of the Temple is the second of the four great visions found in  his book, the time setting is just about September of 592 B.C. The Prophet is shown a vision of Idol worship within the Temple of God, at different locations.

 Ezekiel: 8:1-18  God shows The Prophet Ezekiel,  that there was  Idolatry in the Temple . The Prophet is taken in vision and given revelation what was happening  in a place were no such thing should ever be found.  

                                                                                    

 The First case of idolatry that he witness   with his back to the alter of God, he sees and looks upon an "image of jealousy" .Ezekiel:8:5-6.  God speaks that there are "Greater Abomination" still to be reveled. 
 

  The Living Quarters

Then the prophet is shown a wall with a hole in it and is told to dig through it. This wall was part of the Temple which formed a group of apartments where the Priest lived when their shift ministered at the Temple .It was their private place. Ezekiel:8:7-13

 It is then Ezekiel sees a door, he enters in , and there he sees a room of 70 men "standing in the dark". 70 which was the number of members of the Sanhedried of Israel , the very governing council , one of the persons, the Prophet  is acquainted with , "Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan was standing among them". It is implied that Jaazaniah's being among the idolaters  is a amazement to Ezekiel. It maybe ,that the cause of Ezekiel surprise is that the family Jaazaniah came from the Shaphan Clan,which had been loyal to God and supportive to the work of Jeremiah the Prophet, Jeremiah:26:24 

It is the  Sanherdied which bore the responsibility  to prevent this sort of idolatry from occurring ,yet they were secretly involved in it.Each one holding a censer in their hands offering  the incense  to their idol in the darkness of their private place.

 On the Wall

Here it is seen, that there are images painted, or engraved  on the wall, and men worshiping , and "a great cloud of incenses rises up among them" .Ezekiel:8:11. 
It is in the hidden place behind closed doors, where they live, that  there is idolatry in the Temple of the Great God.

The astounding thing  here is, that those who are revealed as idolaters are  persons who derived their position  from the Temple, they are to be the guardians of the pure worship of God. Outwardly they were seen in the Temple as being servants of God, yet inwardly, secretly, they had something which they worshiped, something they believed was hidden from view, but God lays bear the hidden  things. He is the one who sees the heart. Deep down they have abandon their devotion and faith in God.

Ezekiel:8:12-“ the Lord does not see us,  the Lord has forsaken the land”- They some how think that God is not aware , that this sin is hidden, they rely on being clever and their wit to cover their sin.They convince themselves that if a problem is to found it is not with them.

They have told themselves that God was not aware of their Idolatry, openly they were seen publicly as having piety and uprightness, they had all the right things to say, did that which would attract proper attention,  yet in their private lives ,behind the wall of their heart they were worshiping an idol(s) of their own making right in the Holy Temple of  Almighty God.

Dedicated to Their Idol

This worship was no casual fascination, they are not persons who have become temporally interested and or are  just dabbling in something,   these persons  are given over to their own desires.  Ezekiel:8 “a great deal of incenses” – that is they were devoted, they worshiped theses idols , constantly . Yet they thought it was unknown.

“the Lord does not see”  they believed that this idolatry  was hidden from view.

These men were breaking the very first Commandment, they put something before their God, and turned to a idol(s) as the object of their devotion.

Yet God was revealing it to his prophet through the Holy Spirit

In the Spirit Ezekiel is taken to the North gate of the Temple and  sees erected there an idol, he is then moved into the court, and sees "woman weeping for Tammuz", a pagan deity from Mesopotamia. Ezekiel:8:14-15

Between the Porch and Alter

At last the Spirit places Ezekiel  between the "porch and alter", this is the place which be reserved for the Priest. Here in this place he is shown 25 men "with their backs to the temple facing east , worshiping the sun". Here of  all places, where the ministry of the anointed and consecrated priesthood should be leading in the worship of the Great God ; we view  the greatest offense .Ezekiel:8:16

the Church

Is what we read here only history or can this happen even now ? Can this be among the people of God, today, in God’s Temple, which the Church,  of which we are all apart of? 2Corinthians:6:16 

All Christians  have been made part of the Priesthood of God, do we secretly, or worse shamelessly conduct ourselves openly revealing an resident idol of our heart? Do we  have a devotion to an idol? 1Peter:2:5,9 . 

Is there something in our lives that we are putting before our Lord Jesus? It could be even something that we assume is holy or in our own minds has God's blessing. But consumes our time and resources. Idols can be found in unlikely or unsought for places. Even ministry or doctrine another person can be transformed into an idol an given an inappropriate place in our lives and become the object(s) of our devotion . Maybe idols can be found behind the closed doors of our hearts. We may not even recognize the idols that could be set up in our lives.

The Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to address this very issue of idolatry in the Church as a caution to all Christians so we might all keep our minds on Jesus above all, that we are always in proper practical relationship with our Lord.
He writes that  the Church and idols are two non-compatible things, the Worship of Jesus Christ and idols, we can't serve both, and only Jesus is worthy of our worship.2Corinthians;6:16

 Unseen Idol(s)

 The idols that we  might believe are unseen, to those around us, that are hidden from view behind a wall of piety, our fellow Christians may not see them, and we may tell our selves that no problem exist, we can be The  70 who worshiped behind closed the wall in "the dark" worshiped idols “where they lived”. Paul implores us all not to make idols in our lives. 2Corinthians:6:16

Anything We Put First

An idol is what ever we put fist in our lives that is what we “offer much incenses “ to,  it can be anything, power, position, a person, a cause, or an idea,a doctrine, an agenda. 

Is there a Room of Idols behind the wall of piety somewhere in our lives ?What ever we are devoted to in the heart, that is the secret place where we really live,  our place of residence, there is something there,  and  if its not Jesus, than  its an idol.Greed, even lust is idolatry. Colossian:3:5,

We might tell ourselves “the Lord does not see”, that is it is hidden from view,  we may not even be aware that it is there ourselves . Again, is there something we are putting before Jesus Christ, something that keeps us from our walking out the Christian life as we are called to do? This is something all of us must ask our selves , especially the clergy, are we like those who derive our identity from our position(s) in the Temple of God?

It could be easy for any of us to do so, we can mistake "our purposes" for the will of God and be dedicated to fulfilling  them,  raising  "a great deal of incenses" .
 

God Can Show Us

God reveled to Ezekiel His prophet that there was idolatry in the Temple of God, His Church, and He can and  will do the same  through the gift of discernment. God shows His servants , even in our times, though we may tell our selves “the Lord dose not see” He does see all us. We all need to candidly ask the Holy Spirit, to mercifully  show us any idols in our lives .

In Our Heart

Those Ezekiel saw are described by Jesus  Matthew 15:8,  they worship with the mouth but the heart was  far away,  they walked in the Temple courts, derived their place and position from it but unfortunately  it was all  show.

If we have an idol in our heart, something we place above our Lord, it will eventually manifest in our words and action;  Matthew:15:18-19 it is "out of the heart," the idol’s presence is made manifest if there is one in our heats it will be known.

Ecclesiastes: 3:11-God set eternity in our hearts, this eternal emptiness this longing, can only be filled with Himself in the way it needs filled; yet humanity will attempt to fill this void with something other then Jesus. If Jesus is ruling our hearts it will be made evident in the fruit of our lives.

Do we have a room of idols in our hearts? It is in the heart of humanity, where the idols are hidden away, from the eyes of others, but not from the Lord God.

Idols Have No Value

Hebrews: 7:8- “what value” is there in idols? , they will pass away, they do not build up they can not deliver us or they bring only contention and division, they can not deliver us nor help us in times of need.

The Holy Spirit calls on all Christian to examine our hearts is there a room of idols is there anything there that we are placing before our Lord Jesus?

No Room for Idols

All Christians, each and all of us,  need to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to them, if we have a room of idols in the Temple court of our lives and the Temple of the church; is there something we are putting first above Him?  This speaks to us all. Let only our Lord Jesus be the true object of our devotion and worship.

1John:5:21 "Little Children,keep yourselves from idols.Amen"

Rev.Todd Crouch, Pastor

The Fountain of Life Church a Congregation of Grace Communion

Washington, Pennsylvania

Fountain of Life Broadcast heard on RKP Radio 1710 & 1670 AM in Washington, Pa.and 1710 AM in Bentleyville , Pa. And online around the world at www.rkpradio.com