EZEKIEL 8

TEXT TO REFLECT ON 

And 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 twenty-five men, with their backs to the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east, worshiping the sun toward the east. Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations that they commit here, that they should fill the land with violence and provoke me still further to anger? EZEKIEL 8:16, 17

REFLECT

In Ezekiel 8, God through a vision, takes Ezekiel on a behind the scenes tour of what was going on in the Temple. The Temple represented the heart of the nation. These were scenes that were hidden from human eye, but were actually happening behind closed doors. At each gate, Ezekiel saw greater and greater abominable forms of idol worship. This culminated in the inner court of the Temple, the holiest place. There, Ezekiel saw 25 men with their backs to the Temple, worshipping the sun. The 25 men represented the chief priest and the 24 priests - the entire priesthood. The message was clear - the entire priesthood was worshipping the sun in the innermost and holiest place in the Temple, and turning their backs on Yahweh. Judah had rotted right to the core.

But there was something worse than the worship of the sun and idols. What angered God most was that violence was rampant in the land. Idolatry was bad; but violence was even worse. And that evoked fury in God.

Implicit in this passage is the correlation between the worship of created beings whether of idols or of the sun, and violence. It appears that God was telling Ezekiel that violence in the land was the direct result of the people's idolatrous worship.

Let us be clear: 'worship' is not merely about asking a certain deity, whether of Yahweh or of any idol, for favours. Worship is about enslavement. We become slaves of that which we worship. The apostle Paul, in his many letters to the churches, makes clear that we are slaves of who or what we worship - whether of the Lord Jesus Christ or of demons or of the powers and principalities. Whoever we worship becomes our master. We serve and obey that which we worship. 

Hence worship has direct consequences on our conduct. Who we worship determines how we live our lives. God's vehement objection to idol worship is not merely a 'petty' jealousy. He is not angry simply because mankind preferred someone else to him, as we sometimes see petty jealousy. It is not a lover's tiff. Rather, when people worship evil powers, they become enslaved to evil. The result is violence in the world. It is a departure from the life of Jesus, the Prince of Peace.

RELATE

The battle for allegiance continues in our day. The world and her systems calls us to serve her. The apostle Paul describes these powers as "the rulers, the authorities, the cosmic powers over this present darkness, the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." (Ephesians 6:12). These are the powers that enslave their worshippers and cause them to bow to their values and their ends. Hence the urgent call to "not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world." (1 John 2:15-16). We worship the evil powers of the world when we love the things of the world. And we give ourselves as slaves to the powers of the world when we worship the world. When we do so, we will slavishly pursue the things of the world. Peace is never a priority in the world, whatever we may profess. Ultimately we will resort to violence to get what we want.

It is therefore of graver importance than we think, that we choose who we give our allegiance to. It is not merely a matter of which god giving us better 'returns on investment' (ROI). Who we choose to worship and serve will determine the direction of our life, and the ultimate end that we face. 

REST

All the way my Savior leads me,

What have I to ask beside?

Can I doubt His tender mercy,

Who through life has been my Guide?

Heav’nly peace, divinest comfort,

Here by faith in Him to dwell!

For I know, whate’er befall me,

Jesus doeth all things well;

All the way my Savior leads me,

Cheers each winding path I tread,

Gives me grace for every trial,

Feeds me with the living Bread.

Though my weary steps may falter

And my soul athirst may be,

Gushing from the Rock before me,

Lo! A spring of joy I see;

From the Hymn All The Way My Saviour Leads Me by Francis Crosby 1875

Chiu Ming Li