Ezekiel 8–11

0:00 In the year 1510, a 27-year-old Augustinian monk named Martin Luther walked 700 miles across the plains over the Alps to reach the great city of Rome. Like so many other people of his age, he had dreamed about this trip, this pilgrimage for his entire life. This was the holy city. This was the center of the faith.

0:31 This was the place where the apostles bled for the name of Jesus. When he first caught sight of the spires of the city from the road, he dropped to his knees and cried, Hail, holy city of Rome. What he expected to find when he arrived there was holiness. Holiness like nothing he had ever seen before in the countryside of Germany. holiness that he could barely even imagine. What he found, though, was corruption. He found Roman Catholic priests rattling through the mass as fast as possible so they could squeeze in another one and get more paying customers through the door. He found them sneering at the sacraments as they performed them. He found clergy living in open immorality. He found people venerating relics that were just obviously fake, and yet they had to pay for it anyway. Building after building, room after room, it got worse, and by the end of the trip, Martin Luther was utterly and completely disgusted.

1:34 The seeds of the Reformation that he was going to launch seven years earlier had been planted. In fact, Luther later wrote, later on in his life, if there is a hell, then Rome is built over it. And it's deeply ironic, isn't it? Martin Luther showed up at the Holy City expecting to find holiness, and he left in disgust. He never saw the church the same way again. Well, today we're going to be talking about something just like that as we continue our series on the prophet Ezekiel.

2:06 Let me invite you to take a Bible, turn over to Ezekiel chapter 8. We're going to be looking at four chapters of the book today. If you're using one of these red pew Bibles that you can find in front of you or under your chair if you're up in the balcony, we're going to be on page 696, at least for the beginning of this. We're about three sermons into the book of Ezekiel. We're going to be making our way through this book over the course of the summer. Let me give you just a kind of quick reminder of where we are in the book. The book of Ezekiel was written about 2,600 years ago by a prophet who was one of the exiles originally from Jerusalem, But he had been taken by the Babylonian army into exile, along with a whole bunch of other Jews, to the city of Babylon.

2:49 And over a course of time, he prophesied to those exiles in Babylon about what was happening over in Jerusalem and what was going to happen in the future. And all of those oracles, all those prophecies, were compiled together into this book that we have now called Ezekiel. Now, the book of Ezekiel is not just a compilation. We can approach books of the Bible like that sometimes, as if they're just, you know, a grab bag of fortune cookie, you know, fortunes. You just pull out a verse, and you read it, and you say, what does this mean to me?

3:19 And that's how we think we're supposed to read the Bible. That is not how we're supposed to read the Bible. If there's any part of the Bible you're supposed to read like that, it's Proverbs, and that's about it. Literally, Proverbs is kind of a grab bag of wisdom. Ezekiel is not that. Ezekiel has a shape. It's got something that it's doing. It's telling a story. So far more than just like a bowl of sort of judgment spaghetti with a few meatballs thrown in here and there of grace. The way you should think of Ezekiel is more like a sword, right? It's got a balance to it. It's got a center point. It's got a weight and a point.

3:49 It's got a hilt. It's going to accomplish something. So what's it doing? Well, the whole book of Ezekiel is organized around one massive event. One massive event organizes the entire book. The first part of it looks forward to that event. The second part of it looks backward at that event. And what is the great event that it's organized around? Well, it's the final fall of Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar and the armies of Babylon. So chapters 1 to 24 are all judgment.

4:20 It's all looking forward to. It's all warning about this time when the armies of Nebuchadnezzar are going to come and destroy the city of Jerusalem. So you just get warning after warning of God telling them, the city's going to fall, and here's exactly why it's going to fall. Well, that happens at the very beginning of chapter 24. And then from 25 all the way down through 32, there's this kind of movement from 25 to 32. You get judgment still, but this time it's not judgment on Jerusalem anymore.

4:52 That's already fallen. What you get are judgments that are falling on the surrounding nations as this one little guy, this fugitive, escapes the fallen Jerusalem and makes his way through all these different nations over to Babylon to tell the exiles, hey, the city has fallen. And as he makes his way through all these nations, judgment kind of falls. I mean, he's like outrunning the judgment, you know, one little nation at a time as he runs to Babylon. Well, finally, in 33, he arrives. He tells the exiles, including Ezekiel, the city has finally fallen.

5:24 And then, in 33, the book just changes. Not quite on a dime. It's like Ezekiel kind of keeps talking these oracles of judgment. It's like he doesn't quite hear what the fugitive has said. But the middle of 33, he kind of goes, judgment, judgment, judgment. Wait, what? Restoration, restoration, restoration, restoration. As soon as it sort of registers to Ezekiel that the city's fallen, everything changes and the whole tenor of the book changes well today we're going to look at four chapters that are still in chapters 1 through 24 so we're still in the first half the the judgment half of the book last week we looked at chapters 4 through 7 where God starts sounding the alarm and he's got Ezekiel acting out these prophecies and these devastating oracles against the city it's just it's just you're gonna fall you're gonna fall you're gonna fall and here's why that's what we looked at last week today we're going to look at chapters 8 through 11 8 9 10 and 11 and it's literally one of the most dramatic passages in the whole book so look down at your

6:28 bible 8 9 10 and 11 we're not going to read the whole thing that would just take too long but I do want to give you just a kind of flyover of what you're going to expect today what we're going to see. So these four chapters are one single vision that Ezekiel is given by God. So it runs from the very first verse of chapter 8, where the vision begins, all the way to the very last verse of chapter 11, where the vision ends. And if you want to look at those two verses, the first and the last, you can see the vision begins, the vision ends. It's one big thing. And what's going on in the vision is that Ezekiel who's sitting in Babylon is picked up in a vision he says by a lock of his hair so it's kind of like that right he gets picked up by the spirit by a lock of his hair and in a vision is shown what is happening in the temple in Jerusalem now big question does the Lord actually take him to the temple doesn't really seem like it he calls it a vision but does that

7:34 mean that it's not real well no it seems like God is giving him a vision still sitting in Babylon but a vision of what is really happening in Jerusalem that seems to be what's going on so let me give you a flyby of it this whole thing is called the the vision of the temple it's not super creative. That's just what scholars have called it. It describes it. It's accurate. That's what we call it, the vision of the temple. In chapter 8, Ezekiel gets a look inside the various precincts or areas of the temple, the outside, the inside, the further inside. He has to dig through a wall at one point to get to a secret chamber. And basically in chapter 8, what you have there are four escalating scenes of abomination. So they get worse and worse and worse as you go through chapter 8. And it's got this refrain where God keeps telling him, but you're going to see even greater abominations than what you've already seen. It kind of runs like a refrain through the entire chapter. In chapter 9, judgment falls. So these six angelic figures who are called executioners of the

8:38 city are called together by God and they're sent out to destroy the city. But there's one extra guy, a guy with a writing case on his waist. So it would be charcoal or pencil or something. And he's told to go through the city and you get a little spark of grace from this guy with the writing kit. We'll talk about him a little bit later. In chapter 10, you really have the beginning of the most dramatic thing that goes on here. The glory of God begins to leave the temple, which is a dramatic moment because the glory of God has rested in the temple since Solomon built it.

9:14 Remember in the story, Solomon builds the temple and they have this prayer service and the glory of God. You may have heard the phrase the Shekinah glory of God. This bright flashing light comes down and takes up residence in the holy of holies of the temple. Well here in Ezekiel chapter 10, that Shekinah glory lifts up out of the temple and begins to leave and go over the mountains out of the city. That starts in chapter 10. And then in chapter 11, the glory of God kind of pauses and looks back at the city, gives one final judgment on Jerusalem's leader. It gives a stunning promise of grace for the exiles over in Babylon, like Ezekiel. And then finally, at the end of the chapter, the glory of God, the presence of God finally departs for good, and the city is doomed.

10:04 So that's where we're going. Here's the main idea. I think this is the thing that these chapters are seeking to press into our hearts. It's pretty simple. Your sin, your rebellion against God is intolerable to him. Your sin is intolerable to God. But there is grace that is greater than all our sin your sin is intolerable to god but there is grace that is greater than all our sin so i want to work our way through these four chapters with three points roughly kind of making our way through it we're also going to be having to jump around just a little bit so you're really going to be helped by having a bible open in front of you so uh if if your plan has been to just kind of sit and listen to me talk i promise at some point in this sermon you're just going to get lost because you're not going to know what I'm talking about. But if you've got a Bible open in front of you and you'll just kind of follow along to the places that I tell you to

11:08 go, read along with me as I'm reading, you'll be able to follow along a whole lot more easily. So three points. Number one, mostly looking at chapter eight, an intolerable offense. An intolerable offense. Number two, a devastating departure. And then number three, an astonishing grace. So an intolerable offense, a devastating departure, and an astonishing grace. All right, let's jump into it. Number one, an intolerable offense. Basically, we're going to look at chapter eight here, and then we're going to skip over to the beginning of chapter 11 and see something that God says there that helps us understand why the offense is happening in the first place.

11:53 So look down with me at chapter 8. So chapter 8 of Ezekiel opens with God grabbing this prophet Ezekiel, young man, grabs him by the hair, and takes him across the desert in a vision to the temple in Jerusalem. And basically, like I said, what happens, what follows is a guided tour of horrors. This is a haunted house of horrors in the temple of the living God. And throughout the chapter, you get four scenes, each one worse than the last. And if you want to see that phrase, look down at verse 6, where God tells him, you will see still greater abominations.

12:25 He tells him that three times because he says it after each of the first three things. And then the last one, you just get this horrific picture of insult to God. So let's take a look at it. Look down with me at chapter 8, verse 1. In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house with the elders of Judah sitting before me, the hand of the Lord God fell upon me. Then I looked, and behold, a form that had the appearance of a man. Below what appeared to be his waist was fire, and above his waist was something like the appearance of brightness, like gleaming metal.

13:00 He put out the form of a hand and took me by a lock of my head. And the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the gateway of the inner court that faces north, where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw in the valley. Then he said to me, Son of man, lift up your eyes now toward the north. So I lifted up my eyes toward the north, and behold, north of the altar gate in the entrance was this image of jealousy.

13:33 And he said to me, 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? But you will see still greater abominations. okay so that's the first thing that Ezekiel sees he's taken in the spirit in a vision over to Jerusalem he sees the glory of God in the temple where it's supposed to be right God is still with his people but then God says turn your eyes to the north gate of the temple and look what's going on there and Ezekiel says yeah I see it what it is is what he calls an image of jealousy now that doesn't mean that the image is jealous what it means and you can see it in the text is that it is an idol that provokes the lord to jealousy it provokes the lord to want his people back because they've given themselves over to this idol well what is what is the idol well we don't know exactly what it is most likely guess is that it's a statue of an old canaanite fertility god named

14:35 asherah so if you've read the old testament you may have heard of asherah poles so the people of Israel would worship this goddess Asherah and they would build these sort of totem poles or like carved poles with images of this goddess on them and they'd put them on top of the mountains and they would worship them on the high places. And so when the good king comes along, they'll tear down and cut down the Asherah poles. So maybe that's what this was. It may have been an Asherah pole, but you notice where it is. It's been set right in the north gate of the temple, kind of kind of guarding the temple against any kind of invading army that might come from the north, which is where all of Israel's enemies came from, right? So the people's trust is now not in the God who sits in the center of the temple, but it's in this Asherah goddess totem pole that they've stuck in the gate of the temple. Whatever it is, it's an idol right there in God's front yard, Right there on his doorstep.

15:32 And God says to Ezekiel, do you see? Do you see what they're doing? What they're doing here, and if you look at verse 6, he says, they're going to drive me out of my sanctuary. This is supposed to be a place of holiness. It has become a place of corruption and idolatry. And look what he says there at the end. You will see still greater abominations. Look what comes next, verse 7. So he brought me to the entrance of the court. And when I looked, behold, there was a hole in the wall. Then he said to me, Son of man, dig in the wall.

16:04 So I dug in the wall, and behold, there was an entrance. He said to me, Go in and see the vile abominations that they're committing here. So I went in and saw. And there engraved on the wall all around was every form of creeping things and loathsome beasts and all the idols of the house of Israel. And before them stood 70 men of the elders of the house of Israel with Jeazaniah, the son of Shaphan, standing among them. Each had his censer in his hand, and the smoke of the cloud of incense went up. And then he said to me, Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in his room of pictures?

16:38 For they say, The Lord does not see us. The Lord has forsaken the land. He said also to me, You will see still greater abominations that they commit. So what's going on there? Well, the leaders are worshiping other gods. Probably, as far as we can tell, this was an Egyptian practice. They would create these little sort of, you know, cubby holes or alcoves all around a particular room. And each one of them would have either drawn or painted or maybe even tiled in an image of one of the gods of Egypt.

17:14 So the reason he mentions animals is because the gods of Egypt were often animal-shaped. So they had a god who looked like a frog and a god who looked like a fly and a god who looked like a bull and a dog. and, you know, all these different animals. And that's what Ezekiel sees. He sees the elders of the house of Israel engaged in idol worship of these Egyptian gods. So you see what's going on. You got Canaanite Asherah pole out in the entrance to the temple. Inside the temple, you've got Egyptian gods being worshiped by the elders of Israel.

17:47 And it gets even worse. Look at verse 8. Look at verse 8. He said to me, son of man dig in the wall so I dug in the wall and behold there was an entrance now what does that mean what that means is that these 70 elders of Israel intended what they were doing to remain secret at least this part of it they intended for it to remain secret they've literally walled off their idolatry they've bricked it up they've hidden it behind plaster and so when Ezekiel digs through he gets to see the secret hear what they say too the lord does not see us the lord has forsaken the land they were foolish enough to think that if they just close in the walls and brick up the entrance and do their deeds in secret god would not see i mean look at it in verse 12 look at why they say they're doing this

18:50 The Lord doesn't see us. The Lord has left. This is a particularly insidious form of atheism, isn't it? Because it's not the kind of atheism that says God does not exist. These elders know that God exists. They just don't care. It's not that they think God is non-existent. It's that they think he's non-relevant to them. The Lord doesn't see us.

19:22 He doesn't care. I mean, ultimately, that's the essence of idolatry, isn't it? It's not so much a denial of the existence of God. It's not so much a high-handed, God, I don't think you exist, or God, I'm not going to worship you. It's not denying the reality of God. It's just subtly, slowly, a little bit at a time, more and more denying the relevance of God. You just start to live your life as if he doesn't matter. As if he doesn't see.

19:55 But friends, part of what the Spirit is trying to get across to Ezekiel's readers and part of what he's trying to get across, therefore, to you and me is that, friends, he does see. He sees everything. He sees it all so clearly that he tells Ezekiel, dig through the wall right there and let me show you what's going on. On the other side. You think your dark room is secret? God knows the images that are on your walls.

20:36 Chapter 11, he says, I know the things, every one of them. I know the things that come into your mind. the whole thing ends with that same refrain in verse 13 you will see still greater abominations then you get the third thing starting in verse 14 he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the lord and behold there sat women weeping for tammuz then he said to me have you seen this oh son of man you will see still greater abominations than these that's the third one scene three it's a bunch of women sitting at the north gate of the temple and they're they're doing what's called weeping for Tammuz. Now, what is that? Well, it's an ancient pagan ritual, probably Babylonian in origin, actually, where this god called Tammuz every single year would die in the wintertime, and then he would rise again in the spring, and he was supposed to sort of be bringing the recurring death and life of the crops, right? So he's a sort

21:39 of agriculture God. And one of the rituals that his people would carry out is that when he died in the winter, so to speak, they would have this gigantic mourning ritual for him. They would weep for Tammuz, as it was said, in the hope that he was going to rise again and bring the crops in the spring. And that's what they're doing. They're worshiping this Babylonian agriculture God because they say Tammuz has died again, and now we've got to mourn for him. Now I want you to think about what's happening here these women had taken a place where you're supposed to mourn your own sin before a living god and they had turned it into a shrine for ritual mourning over a dead pagan deity in other words they've swapped the worship of the living god for for lamenting over this dead pagan false god i want you to remember too where this falls in the story The elders have just declared the Lord has forsaken his people.

22:38 He doesn't see because he's not even here to see. That was their contention. That's why we need to do this. And so what do they do? They go looking for another God. And it's always the next move of an idolatrous heart, isn't it? Once you've decided, once you've made the move to say that God doesn't see, God doesn't matter, God is irrelevant, guess what you'll do? You're not going to leave that throne vacant, friend. the human heart is made to worship and something is going to sit on that throne. So if you decide the God of the Bible is irrelevant or doesn't matter, you're going to eventually find a replacement. You're going to find something to worship. And here in Israel, they found just about everything. We got a Canaanite God out in the front yard. We've got Egyptian gods in the center of the thing. We've got a Babylonian God that's being wept for ritually out in the courtyard.

23:29 they just went and found everything and anything to replace the god that they had abandoned well in verses 16 to 18 you get scene 4 really the worst of all he brought me into the inner court of the house of the lord and behold at the entrance of the temple of the lord between the porch and the altar were about 25 men with their backs to the temple of the lord and their faces toward the east worshiping the sun toward the east and he said to me have you seen this oh son of man is it too light a thing for the house of judah to commit the abominations that they're committing here that they should also fill the land with violence and provoke me still further to anger behold they put the branch to my nose 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 so so here's the scene you had 25 men in the inner court of the temple itself so right outside the holy of holies and what they've done is that they have turned their backs to the holy of holies they've turned their backs to the presence of God so that they can look forward and worship

24:32 the son and you see what's going on there these guys have not wandered into this accidentally it's not like they just happen to be talking to one another and their backs are accidentally turned to the sanctuary of God that's not the point but they have deliberately made a choice They've decided to stand in the most sacred place in Israel, the place where God's presence dwells. And they have physically turned around and turned their backs to him. And they're worshiping a created thing rather than the creator, just like a bunch of pagans.

25:09 And then there's verse 17, the sort of capstone of the whole thing. Look at the very end of that. Most of your Bibles there are gonna say, Behold, they put the branch to their nose, which some people have thought, well, maybe that's some sort of ritual thing where you stick a branch to your nose, but I don't think that makes much sense. There's no record of anything like that, and it's just kind of silly looking anyway. Why would you ever do that? No, what it means is they have put the branch to my nose, which is to take a branch of a tree, and they've shoved it up God's nose.

25:41 Now, raise your hand if you've ever been around a toddler. Toddlers will get their little sharp fingernails and sometimes, every once in a while, shove it so far up your nose that it bleeds. And you want to chuck the toddler across the room. But the toddler doesn't know they're hurting you. The toddler doesn't know how much that hurts. The toddler is just doing what they do. They explore your face, right? That's what they do. But these people, God says, have not done this by accident.

26:15 They're not just exploring. They've taken a branch of a tree and shoved it up God's nose as an insult. And it's enraging to him. And so he says there in 18, Therefore, I will act in my wrath. I want to show you one more thing. The offense gets even worse because it's not just a matter of what they're doing in the temple. It's a matter of what they're doing in their hearts. So flip one page and go over to chapter 11, verse 1.

26:46 11 verse 1. The Spirit lifted me up, brought me to the east gate of the house of the Lord, which faces east, and behold, at the entrance of the gateway, there were 25 men, probably the same 25 men. And I saw among them Jeazaniah, the son of Azur, and Pelletiah, the son of Benaiah, princes of the people. And he said to me, Son of man, these 25 guys are the ones who devise iniquity and who give wicked counsel in this city. These are the ones who say the time is not near to build houses. The city is the cauldron, we are the meat.

27:17 Now, what does that mean? Well, there's a famous verse in Jeremiah who has already prophesied by this time over in Jerusalem, right? He's over in Jerusalem, and he prophesies a little bit to the people of Jerusalem. He also prophesies to the exiles in Babylon. But one of the things that he says is, listen, guys, your exile is going to last a long time. You're going to be in Babylon a long time. And there's a famous verse where he says, you know what you ought to do while you're in exile? Don't sit around waiting for rescue. That's not going to come for a very long time. What you should do is build houses and plant gardens.

27:50 And these people who are in Jerusalem hear that prophecy from Jeremiah and they say, you know what? The time is not near for us to build houses like that because we are not going into exile. We are safe here in Jerusalem. And then they have this, it's a weird analogy, but you can kind of see it if you look at it. This city is the cauldron and we are the meat. In other words, the city is this pot that is keeping the meat safe and warm. And we are the choice cuts of filet mignon that are safely steaming in the pot like a hot tub, right?

28:27 We're safe. We don't need to build houses in Babylon like those exiles. They're the ones who are in trouble, not us. The city is the cauldron, and we are the safe, choice, prime cuts of meat. That's how they're thinking. Well, Ezekiel lets them have it in 5 through 12. But then look at verse 13. This one guy, it came to pass while I was prophesying that Pelletiah, the son of Benaiah, died. And when he did, I fell down on my face and cried out with a loud voice and said, Ah, Lord God, are you going to make a full end of the remnant of Israel?

29:02 So for some reason, this guy, Pelletiah, dying, says to Ezekiel, The judgment is starting and it's going to be bad. Now, why does Pelletiah's death signal that to Ezekiel? Why does he fall on his face and cry out, God, are you going to make an end of all of us? Well, a couple of reasons. I mean, one, Pelletiah is just one of these 25 guys. So he's a choice cut of meat in his own mind, and yet, bam, he drops down dead. God makes a show of him by causing him to drop dead when he had been saying, I'm a choice cut of meat safe in the city.

29:36 Nothing can happen to me. That's one thing. The other thing, though, the other thing is that Pelletiah's name means Yahweh delivers. That's what it means. Yahweh delivers. And all of a sudden, that great hope, that great prayer for delivery drops dead. It's a sign of judgment. The hope of the nation, the hope that Yahweh was going to deliver them all is dead on the floor. So what do we do with all of this?

30:10 All of this is an intolerable offense to God. So what are we supposed to do with it? Well, I'll tell you. And this is where it gets personal because the fact is, let's be honest, you and I and all of us all have our little dark rooms, don't we? You have a little dark room somewhere in your heart. You know it, I know it, and God knows it. The walls of your heart on all sides are engraved with your own images. The things that you give attention to.

30:41 The things that you are tempted to worship instead of God. The things that you're tempted to find security in rather than God. Maybe they don't look like idols. Maybe you wouldn't even call them idols. They almost certainly don't look like creeping things and beasts. Not many of us are putting our faith and our trust in a dog or a snake or a frog. That's not what we do. But a house, a car, a bank account? A reputation, a friendship, a relationship? Oh yeah, we put our trust in those things all the time.

31:19 They're the things you turn to for comfort, for escape. When you think God isn't watching. I mean, I don't know what it is. Maybe it's the relationship that you know isn't right, that you know is ungodly and that you shouldn't be in, but you've told yourself it's private and it's yours and God doesn't need to be involved. And maybe it's what you look at on your phone after everybody else in the house is asleep. Maybe it's the novel that you read that makes you long for a lie that doesn't actually exist.

31:59 Maybe it's the version of yourself that you perform when you're together here with us at church that has almost nothing at all to do with who you are at home. I don't know. But what I can tell you is that the lie underneath all of those things, the lie that holds up those dark rooms full of pictures in our lives, is always the same lie. The Lord does not see. He's not relevant here. This part of my life is somehow walled off.

32:33 But friends, you see what happened in these chapters, right? And God told Ezekiel, dig through the wall because he already knew what was happening on the other side of it. And the offense was intolerable. Your offense, let's be honest, is intolerable and so is mine. God has seen every room and every room is worse than the last. And what comes now in the book of Ezekiel is the consequence. It's not arbitrary. It's not an overreaction.

33:04 It's not an explosion of anger in God. It's the only thing a holy God can do when his own house has been turned into something vile. He leaves. And that's the second point. Number two, a devastating departure. Looking mostly at chapters 9 and 10. So chapter 9 starts on an ominous note, but it's not an unexpected note. It's kind of something that we've been waiting for for a long time. We've got judgment falling, thing after thing after thing, right? And promise after promise and warning after warning.

33:35 And it finally comes here at the beginning of chapter 9. Look with me there. Then he cried in my ears with a loud voice saying, Bring near the executioners of the city, each with his destroying weapon in his hand. And behold, six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his weapon for slaughter in his hand. And with him was a man clothed in linen with a riding case at his waist. And they went in and stood beside the bronze altar, just waiting for orders, basically. Six men with these destroying weapons.

34:06 We don't exactly know what those are, probably a sword or a club or something like that, but it's definitely something for killing. Weapons of slaughter, they're called, because judgment is about to begin. But then, you saw it right there in the middle of verse 2. Right when you're expecting this judgment to just be poured out all over the city, something wild happens. Look at 2 again, chapter 9, verse 2. So the six men come, and with them, right in the middle, with them was a man clothed in linen with a writing case at his waist. So he doesn't have a sword. He doesn't have a club for destruction.

34:37 He's just got a pencil or something, a piece of charcoal that he's going to write with. Six guys go in. They stand beside the bronze altar. And look at three. Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub on which it rested to the threshold of the house. So this is the first movement of the glory of God to leave the temple. He goes up from the cherub, that's the Ark of the Covenant, where the glory would sit, right? He goes up and he moves to the threshold of the temple. So he's moved to the outside door. He's about to leave, but he hasn't left yet. It happens in stages.

35:08 We'll talk about that later. But keep looking at this guy. Number four, the Lord says to this guy with the writing case, pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it. Interesting. One guy with a writing kit, a piece of charcoal, goes throughout the city first before the destroyers come and puts a mark on the foreheads of everybody who's repentant. Everybody who groans over the abominations being committed. He marks them on the head.

35:40 Now, the mark, what is it? Well, the Hebrew word underneath it tells us exactly what it is. It's the Hebrew letter tau or tav, however you want to say that. But it's basically the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet. They had an alphabet just like we do. You know, ours is A, B, C, D, E, F, G, X, Y, Z, right? Theirs was Aleph, Beit, Gimel, Dalet. Tau was the last one of those. What's interesting is that do you know in ancient Hebrew, archaic Hebrew, not the kind you study in seminary, but ancient Hebrew, what the tau looked like?

36:13 It looked like a cross. Interesting, huh? It looked like a cross. This angel figure with the writing kit goes throughout the city and anybody who's repentant, anybody whose faith is in God, he marks them on the forehead with a cross. Now, is that a direct prophecy of the cross of Jesus Christ? I think it'd be pretty hard to make that point. There's nowhere in the New Testament that sort of picks that up and uses it. So, you know, if this is a pass, there is no receiver downfield in the New Testament.

36:47 You know, it just doesn't complete. So you can't build a whole lot on it. But I think what you can say, you can get there sort of indirectly. Because what this looks like, and almost certainly what it's referring back to, is the blood of the lamb that was put on the doorposts at the Passover, right? So if you hid, when they were in Egypt, if you hid underneath or behind the blood of the lamb, the angel of death would pass over and you would not be killed, and your family would not be killed. You hid under the blood of the lamb. Well, what is it that you hide under here? It's this mark that's put on your forehead in the shape of a cross.

37:20 It's a call back to Passover. And the Passover, of course, is very much looking forward to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. If you're a Christian, friend, the mark on your forehead that God has put there, if your faith is in Jesus and you've repented of your sins, then the mark that's on your forehead that God has marked you with is not so much a letter of the alphabet, but it is a death. It's a death, kind of just like that cross.

37:51 God has marked you with the death of Jesus Christ. He counts Jesus' death as your death. It's wonderful, isn't it? Because what we deserve for our intolerable offense against God is, in fact, to die. And yet God comes and marks us. No, you're not going to die. Because Jesus has already died for you. You're marked with a cross. It's not the Hebrew letter tau, but you are marked with the cross of Jesus Christ.

38:28 Praise God for that. Well, you look on through chapter 9 and then into chapter 10. Once the judgment is carried out, once the slaughtering angels go throughout the city and do what God has commanded them to do in judgment, the glory of God finally leaves. Now, I alluded to this a little bit earlier, but let's talk about it some more. This whole thing happens in stages. And I think it's in noticing the stages. The way God leaves, not all at once. It doesn't just pop up into the heavens and he's gone.

39:00 He leaves in stages. And there's time in between each one of the stages. I think it's just heartbreaking. Because essentially what you have is the Lord leaving the center of the temple and going out to the outer door. And then he pauses and he looks back. And then he moves out to the edge of the precincts of the city. And he pauses and he looks back again. And then finally, when there's no more warning to give and when there's nobody that cries out in repentance, he goes out to the mountains on the horizon. It's incredible, isn't it, how slowly God leaves.

39:37 Despite the intolerable offense, it's incredible how slowly he leaves. He lingers at every moment. He gives every opportunity for somebody, anybody from the city to turn around and cry out to him, to say, stop, stay, come back, God. But nobody cries out, nobody repents, nobody turns. And finally, from the mountains way out to the east of the city, out on the horizon, God looks back at Jerusalem one last time, and then he goes.

40:13 It's a devastating irony that's at play here. Isn't there? Because the people in the middle of that temple in their dark room, do you remember the justification that they gave for why they were doing what they were doing? With the glory of God right above them, right? But the justification that they gave is that the Lord has forsaken the land. He's left his city. He's abandoned us. and now God makes that true their lie about God becomes reality because they through their behavior made it reality they treated God as if he had left and so he actually leaves listen the worst thing that can happen to you in this life is not suffering the worst thing that can happen to you in this life is not suffering it's not financial ruin it's not the death of somebody you love it's not failing to realize your dreams

41:18 the very worst thing that can happen to you in this life is for God's presence to depart from you everything else you can survive that you can't and I think the terrifying thing to realize about this passage is that you can drive God out without ever even realizing that you're doing it now I'm talking to you now if you're if you're not a Christian if you've spent your entire life sort of holding God at arm's length. If you're a Christian, you're not going to drive God away. He's already, he's told you that a thousand times. But if you're not a Christian and you've been holding God at arm's length, you can drive him away without even realizing you're doing it. Room by room, image by image, one turned back at a time. One ignored sermon at a time until the glory is gone and you didn't even notice him leaving. And the crazy thing is, if and when the

42:22 Lord ever does that, you won't even care. You'll sit there and you'll listen to a sermon like this and you'll say I just don't care your heart will be so hard that the departure of God the silencing of the whisper of his spirit calling you to Christ will feel like relief to you but friend listen to me if you're here this morning and you're not a Christian and you've been holding God at arm's length and you do still care, if you do still hear that whisper, then friend, it is not too late. I don't know where God is with you today. I don't know if he's at the threshold calling to you or if he's out at the east gate. I don't know if he's on his way out to the mountain.

43:20 What I do know is that wherever he is, just like in this story, he's looking back and he's waiting and listening for you to just say stop please come back and save me he's looking for you to take the hand of Jesus if you do that for if you do that I promise you he will hear and he will come everyone everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved that's a promise from the throne. Israel never did that. And so the glory departed. The temple was left empty and the city was exposed to ruin. It's devastating. And if it all ended there, the whole thing would just be completely hopeless. You just put the Bible down and that's it. But right before the final departure, right at the edge of the mountain, God turns around and says something that nobody, nobody, after all this judgment and warning and sin and intolerable offense, he says something

44:22 nobody would have expected and that's the third point number three an astonishing grace so look with me at the second half of chapter 11 starting in verse 14 so the word of the lord this is just before the glory departs and excuse me entirely the word of the lord came to me 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 in other words they look at these exiles and they say ha get out of here guys we don't even want you here go to Babylon go far from the Lord to us he says to us this land is given for a possession see the people still in Jerusalem the people who thought themselves the choice cuts of meat in the pot are saying about the exiles they they've gone far from the lord they're out of the city they're out of the pot they've been thrown out in the yard but we

45:26 we're the ones still in the pot to us this land is given in other words we're the insiders and they're the scraps they're the trash but god says no look at verse 15 or 16 therefore say thus says the lord god though i removed them the exiles far off among the nations and though i scattered them among the countries yet i have been a sanctuary to them for a little while in the countries where they have gone i mean that's sweet isn't it because the people in Jerusalem are saying, they're trash. They're garbage. They're thrown out from the place of the Lord. God says, no, no, no, no, no. I'm the one who sent them there. I'm the one who scattered them among the nations. And at every step of the way, at every place that they've gone, I have been a sanctuary for them. For a little while, as long as they're there, I have been a sanctuary to them.

46:29 Have been, past tense. In other words, it's not like they went into exile and God says to the people in Israel, I'm going to go now, now that they're in exile, I'm going to go be a sanctuary to them because they really need me. It's not that. He went before them. He was there when they got there. He didn't wait for the temple to be empty. He went to Babylon ahead of them to meet them there in their suffering. The people who thought they were discarded, they're the ones God has been living with. you can see it right the reversal is total the ones who thought they were safe in the pot are being judged and the ones who thought they were abandoned are claimed and look at 17 to 20 because God says what he's going to do for them this remnant of Israel look look let just let your eyes kind of fall over 17 to 20 so first he says he's going to give them a new land so when these people in Jerusalem are saying the land has been given to us God says no no no I'm going to give the exiles a new land. That's verse 17. I'll give you the land of Israel. And this time they're

47:32 going to make it clean. They're not going to do all the idolatries that you've done. They're not going to do all the abominations that you guys have done. I'm going to give them the land and they're going to make it clean. Second, he says he's going to give them a new covenant. See that, right? Verse 19, I'll give them one heart, a new spirit I'll put within them. I'll 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. That's starting to be covenant language. And then you get the big one. They shall be my people and I will be their God. And that's the covenant in a nutshell right there. He's going to give them a covenant. Now what covenant is that? Well, it's not the old one. That's been shattered already. No, it's a new one because he's going to give them a new heart. I'll remove the heart of stone from their flesh. I'll give them a heart of flesh. God doesn't just forgive. This is glorious. God doesn't just forgive and then slap you on the backside and tell you to go give it another shot.

48:37 I'm afraid that's what too many people think about Christianity. That it's just a matter of God wiping off the problem from your slate and giving you another chance at it. But praise God, he doesn't just give us a clean slate for us to just mess it up again. Nah, he gives us Jesus' slate. And that's the whole point of the gospel. I mean, it's glorious. I mean, think about what's happened in this whole vision from 8 through 11. The divine glory left the temple through the east gate.

49:09 And the question is, in the book, as they watch the glory of God depart over the mountains as Ezekiel watches, the great question is, does God ever come back? Does he ever come back to his people? What do you think? Does God ever come back to the temple? Well, yeah, he does. But when he comes back, he doesn't come back as a shining cloud. He comes back as a person. John chapter 1, the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

49:40 And we have seen his glory. The Shekinah glory that left through the east gate and went over the mountain came back from the same direction and entered the temple in the person of Jesus Christ. Okay, but one more step to this, and it's critical. There's one more step to this. Yes, it's true that the presence of God lives in Jesus. Jesus is God. He is the presence of God. He's the true temple. But you know what the next step is theologically?

50:13 Well, Paul says that because we are united to Christ, the presence of God now lives in us the body of Christ the church here's how Paul puts it do you not know that you you plural you the church do you guys not know that you guys are God's temple and God's spirit dwells in you see the point that the Shekinah glory of God wasn't finally interested in living in a building. He didn't return to a temple. He took up residence in his people. And that's the ultimate meaning of that new heart that God gives in chapter 11, verse 19.

50:59 It's God's Spirit dwelling in us, making us the temple that the old one was always supposed to be. That's the glory of the gospel and where this story is pointing. See, think back to what we said at the beginning. Martin Luther walking into Rome and expecting it to be the holiest city on earth. But he left in disgust. But his disgust doesn't end in despair, does it?

51:33 No, it led to the Reformation seven years later, an entire remaking of the church. You know, in a little picture, that's exactly what God does here. He walks through his temple, room by room, building by building, precinct by precinct, and he finds it all intolerable, and he leaves in disgust. But he never leaves his people. Not those who are truly his. He never leaves his people. He goes to Babylon, to the exiles, to the ones who know that they need him and have their trust in him, and he promises not just to patch the old system together with duct tape and chicken wire.

52:07 No, he promises to remake his people entirely. To give them a new heart so that they can live in a new covenant with him. So here's the last question for you this morning. Where are you in all of this? Where is your heart in all of this? Are you the person that's in the dark room burning incense to images that you think nobody else sees? Friend, if that's you, I promise you God sees all of that.

52:40 He always has. and maybe that's not you maybe you're the you're the one in the pot thinking of yourself as a choice piece of meat smugly confident in your church membership or in your Christian family or in your heritage thinking all that makes you safe and I promise you the pot won't save you read ahead in Ezekiel and look at what God does to the pot.

53:15 But maybe, on the other hand, you're one of the exiles. And that's what Peter calls us, after all, right? Strangers and exiles in this world, broken, displaced. Maybe even wondering if God's forgotten you. Well, again, friend, if that's you, I promise he hasn't. He's been your sanctuary all along. He got there before you did. And the grace that meets you there, even as you walk in exile, the grace that meets you there is far, far greater, praise God, than all your sin.

53:55 Let's pray. Our Lord, we thank you and praise you that you are the great Savior of the world. That you, Jesus, became man. You, the second person of the eternal trinity, became human. And you lived the life that we ought to have lived. And you died the death that we deserved for our sins. And then on the third day, you rose again. So that united to you by faith, by calling out to you in trust and reliance, we too might rise to newness of life and to the hope of the resurrection.

54:30 Our Lord, we pray that you would help us remember these things. We pray that you would cause our hearts to swell with gratitude to you for what you have done. and giving us the new covenant and giving us new hearts so that we can live in it. We pray all these things in the name of Jesus, our Savior and Redeemer, and always to His honor and glory. Amen.