Section Navigation (click to expand)
Scroll to current section
Scroll to current section

Ezekiel 8:1-11:25

 

At the 5th day of the 6th month of the 6th year of Zedekiah’s reign (Ezek. 8:1), Ezekiel is arrested by the Spirit of Prophecy! And let it suffice the reader to know that there is no other Prophet in all of Biblical Church History that so clearly and intentionally illustrates the earth-changing event: the Glory of God departing from the Church! The stoutest men on earth would be breath-taken with astonishment if only they could understand the meaning of it all! But, as Daniel lamented of the all-too-often estate of things, one must confess: “to us belongeth confusion of face” (Dan. 9:7-8), and, “yet made we not our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand Thy truth” (Dan. 9:13)! May it never be of us, dear saints! We, above others, stand in need of understanding and truth because we may be that fateful generation upon whom the end of the World is come (1 Cor. 10:11)! Therefore, may God open up our minds to understand the scriptures (Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures” – Luke 24:45).

The 8th Chapter of Ezekiel details the defilement of the Temple (Church Impurity: Ezek. 5:11, 8:6, 17-18, 9:6-7) in a momentous and unforgettable way. My reader, the Glory of the LORD was manifest and present before the eyes of Ezekiel as the Prophet was conducted throughout the Temple to behold the abominations therein! However, before we look at this astounding account, one may wonder why Ezekiel’s ministry was so focused upon the Evil Figs if in fact he was the onsite Prophet on behalf of the Good Figs? My reader, God was willing to demonstrate the power and magnitude of His wrath upon the Evil Figs so as to win the heart of the Good Figs! Can you argue with Him about it? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction” (Rom. 9:22)?

My reader, because the eyes of the Good Figs were upon the Evil Figs, and because the Good Figs adored the doctrine and practice of the Evil Figs, or, in other words, because the Good Figs desired the lot and livelihood of the Evil Figs – the gaze of the LORD’s angry countenance was turned upon the Evil Figs to do them harm! The full magnitude of God’s infuriated jealousy targeted this population of people! I say again, to liberate the heart of the Good Figs, the Evil Figs became the target of Ezekiel’s prophecies and the subject of God’s unimaginable fury. In so doing, if the LORD won the heart of the Good Figs it would result in their embracement of the judgment of God via their Captivity in Babylon. Compelling them to appreciate the judgment of God via the Babylonian Captivity, the LORD proceeded to prophesy of the woeful future of the Evil Figs with meticulous detail that is undeniably miraculous. Then, once the astounding details of the prophecies were fulfilled according to the prophesying of the Tribulation Prophets, the Good Figs would be forced to acknowledge the Author of it all (Remember this, and shew yourselves men: bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors. Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.” – Isa. 46:8-11).