The Glory of God and the Image of Jealousy — Carter Conlon

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Ezekiel’s Vision of the Glory and the Image of Jealousy

Ezekiel Chapter 8, please, if you'll turn there. Old Testament, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, then Ezekiel. Ezekiel Chapter 8, my message title is The Glory of God and the Image of Jealousy. The Glory of God and the Image of Jealousy.

Let's pray together. Jesus, I thank you for the abiding anointing of the Holy Spirit. I thank you, Lord, for your strength and your power. I thank you, God, for the incredible grace that you give me to speak this message, the incredible grace you give us as a church to hear it.

I pray, God, always that you keep me in the balance where I do not justify the wicked nor condemn the righteous. I pray that the impassioned heart of Jesus Christ be heard in every word. I ask you, Holy Spirit, to overshadow me, all strengths and all weaknesses, overshadow me and give me the grace to disappear.

Lord, this is not an hour to hear from man. This is an hour to hear from you. I'm asking you, Holy Spirit, to animate me. I'm asking you, God, that everything that is said, accentuated, even in the manner in which it is said, come from your heart.

Lord, speak to us. Speak to us. God, the hour is very late and I'm asking for that kind of an anointing, a quickening, not only to speak, but a quickening to hear every heart, every life. God, help us to understand that this is incredible grace speaking to us.

Lord, it's grace that you would even condescend to become a man and take our sins upon you. Lord, it's grace that you'd even speak to us in spite of our numerous failings. You love us. God, help us now.

God, help us to hear this word in the light of that love. And I thank you for it from the depths of my heart in Jesus mighty name. Ezekiel chapter eight, please, if you would. Ezekiel chapter eight, beginning at verse one.

I came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house and the elders of Judah sat before me that the hand of the Lord God fell there upon me. And then I beheld in low a likeness as the appearance of fire from the appearance of his loins, even downward fire and from his loins, even upward as the appearance of brightness as the color of amber.

And he put forth the form of a hand and took me by a lock of my head and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that look at towards the north, where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoked the jealousy and behold, verse four, the glory of the Lord God of Israel was there according to the vision that I saw on the plane.

Then said he unto me, son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way towards the north. So I lift up mine eyes the way towards the north and behold northward at the gate of the altar, this image of jealousy in the entry.

Separation from Idolatry and the Call to Glorify God

Now, beloved, last week, the Holy Spirit called us to fast and the reason of the example he set before us was Esther, who was willing to be identified with her people and to obey God for the sake of others, even at her own personal risk of loss.

And of course, in her case, even the risk of death. But she made a choice to be identified with God's people in a very darkened hour when there was great need for the testimony and the intervention of God in the lives of people who are destined to be slaughtered.

We also spoke last week of separation from all that offends the person of the Holy Spirit and the work of God in us. Second Corinthians, chapter six and verse 16, Paul said, What agreement has the temple of God with idols?

You are the temple of the living God, and God has said, I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people. In verse 17, the Holy Spirit, through Paul, then says, Wherefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you.

Now, remember, from last week, the context of touch not means handling an object to the point where it begins to exert a modifying influence upon your behavior and your character. We use the illustration, perhaps above sporting events, because last week or the week before was the end of the year football game.

And I was sharing that it's it's not wrong to watch a sporting game, but it is wrong when you handle it to the point where it begins to exert an influence on your person. It's wrong when it comes to the point where the choice comes between going to the house of God to worship the living Christ, who's invited us into fellowship and watching a football game.

There's something wrong in America when half the churches in the south are closed down because nobody would come on on the football final night. There's something wrong with the culture when this type of thing begins to get a hold of people.

And the Lord says you have to come out. You have to make a separation. Don't touch these things to the point where they begin to exert an influence upon your character and they begin to change you into an image other than which God has destined for your life.

We are left here on this earth after we come to Christ to be a testimony of the power and the grace of God. There's no other reason. We're not here to have a good time. We're here to glorify God. And yes, it is a good time to glorify God.

There is no other life. There is no other pathway that brings more peace and contentment into the soul than to know that you are in the divine will of God, in the absolute hand of God, that you have the power of God literally being manifested in and through your life.

There's no greater life. There's no possibility of higher attainment in our our human experience than to be gripped and led and fashioned by the spirit of almighty God into the very image of our savior Christ.

No higher calling, no higher glory. There's no greater revelation than to know the heart of God for fallen man and to begin to be moved not by compulsion, but by compassion, because the heart of God is now in you.

The heart of God is in me. It casts out that fear that the humans, as it is of this life, want to impose on everyone and cause the church of Jesus Christ to tower down before it and to lose its testimony.

No greater strength than to have that compassion of God that literally compels us to stand in the presence of whatever authority and say, you've given me a choice to obey God. And man, there is no choice.

I must obey God. He is the only one that I will serve. He said, if you come out from under this exerting influence of the culture as it is around you, I will be a father to you. And the word in father we studied last week means I will be revealed to you.

The word is paterna in the Greek, and it means I'll be revealed to you as one that you can have faith in. The moment you come out, the moment you make the choice to be, as we heard this morning, a counterculture to what's going on in the world around us today.

God Almighty says, I will reveal myself to you as a one that you can trust in. There'll be an explosion of understanding in your inner man. I will begin to take you from image to image and glory to glory.

There'll be no walls too high that by the power of the Holy Ghost, you can't leap over them. There'll be no challenge too great for God has spoken that it will happen. The one who created the universe guides us now.

And when he speaks something, there's no power of hell that can stand against it. For what comes out of the mouth of God is true. It is infinite. It cannot be changed. It is all powerful. He said, if you come out, I'll receive you to myself.

I'll bring you into intimate communion. I'll reveal myself to you as one that you can have faith in. And he says, you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. And the word Lord Almighty translated in the Greek text means an all ruling, absolute and universal sovereign.

I revealed myself to you, says the Lord. I'll reveal myself to you as a father that you can trust in. I'll bring you into intimate communion with me and I will show you that I am in absolute control. Your heart will become founded in a trust that's not found in anything in this world.

There'll be an abiding trust come into your heart. I thank God for that trust in my heart with everything that's in me. I thank God that the Lord has enabled me to build my theology from heaven backwards.

I'm already seated at the right hand of God in Christ Jesus. I'm already more than a conqueror before I even go into the battle. I'm not limited by the frailties of this human body. I am in Christ and Christ is in me.

He sits at the right hand of all authority. All power is given to him. He is the head. We are his body. This is a glorious church. This is a glorious state to be in. Hallelujah. I thank God for that understanding.

I thank God for the knowledge that before I even go into the battle, I'm already on the other side. Oh, it may be fierce and I may come through with a scar or two, but that is nothing. Paul says that temporary sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be even compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.

Oh, I see through a glass darkly. James says, but one day I'm going to know, even as I am known, one day there's going to be an explosion of glory in my mind. I'm going to appear in the in the presence of almighty God and there'll be an ever increasing revelation of knowledge until that day he begins to speak.

He begins to lead. He begins to prod. The literal God of the universe comes and takes up residence within me. I think if the Church of Jesus Christ could just get a hold of that fact alone, that could be revolutionary.

The Holy Spirit is not a fuzzy feeling. The Holy Spirit is not some cosmic dust that comes down when we hit the right note in our worship times. The Holy Spirit is God almighty himself, who created the universe with his spoken word, who lives inside of me now.

His residence is in me. I am the temple of the Holy Ghost. Hallelujah. This is just a building. It's a nice building, but it's just a building. When we go, God goes with us because he no longer dwells in temples made with human hands.

We have now become the temple of the Holy Ghost. Now, some of the concepts that I've been speaking about were emphasized clearly throughout scriptural history, and the children of Israel were very familiar with them.

But something had gone terribly wrong, because in Ezekiel chapter eight, here are a people already in captivity, looking now for a word from God. Remember, Ezekiel was a prophet, as it is, who went with the second deportation from Babylon.

Babylon, Israel was captured, or Judah was captured by Babylon in three stages, three successive stages. The first stage, Daniel and his friends went, and the second stage, there was numerous others, and among them was Ezekiel.

He was in Babylon when God gave him his call, his prophetic call. On the other side, awaiting the third deportation is Jeremiah and the people that are left. And Jeremiah is warning the people about the coming judgment.

But their hearts are so hard now. They've heard so much gospel. They have so resisted the word of God. And even now in Ezekiel's house, the elders of Judah have come and they're standing before him or sitting actually in his living room.

And they're saying, give us your word from the Lord. And if you really study the commentaries on this, nobody is quite sure what kind of a word they're looking for, because both in Jerusalem and in Babylon were a myriad of false prophets.

And whenever judgment is coming to a nation, you will always see the rise of false prophets, the good time Charlies of the Christian kingdom, that it's nothing but wonderful prosperity and health and happiness for many, many, many years to come.

But there will still be a Jeremiah and an Ezekiel in the midst of it. And these men came and were sitting before Ezekiel. And it is possible they're looking for a confirmation of the false prophets that are in Babylon who are telling the people this is only temporary.

This is just a minor defeat. We're only going to be here for a little while and that we're going to go back home again. And no, Jeremiah is telling them the Lord through Jeremiah. No, this is going to be a lengthy stay.

This is going to be 70 years. And God has decreed a time of chastising because of the rebellion of the people of God. And they're sitting now before Ezekiel and people who are in captivity. And now they're looking for the word of God.

And isn't that tragic that they're so resistant to God? There was no shortage of God's word when they were on the other side. Beloved, you don't have to wait until you're in captivity to hear from God.

And God forbid that that should be the case of anybody here today, that the enemy has to overpower you and you have to be brought low and in a place of captivity before you might even whether or not it's even in truth, turn and say, is there anybody out there who's hearing from God?

Does God have another word for me? Now, the Lord begins to answer this, this inquest and Ezekiel chapter eight, as we go on, there is a vision that Ezekiel has of a man. And the Bible is clear about this.

This is a theophany. This is a pre-incarnate Christ as it is appearance of God in bodily form. He comes down and he reveals himself in a way that in a way that mankind can see him. You see, if there is no revelation of God, we have nothing to compare, for example, the temple with.

We have nothing to compare our state with unless we know who God is. The best thing that any preacher in this church can do for you is every time you come into this house is to open this book and reveal the character of God, whether you like it or not.

But to give a clear revelation of Jesus Christ, because if there is no clear revelation, we have absolutely nothing to compare ourselves to. And as Paul says to some of the Corinthians, you begin comparing ourselves among ourselves.

And there's no wisdom in that. It just leads to depravity and foolishness. And so first God comes in a manner that that exhibits his glory. And Ezekiel says later on, this is the same glory that I saw in the plane when God called me.

This is the same glory I witnessed when I was commissioned and when God began to speak deeply into my heart. Then he takes Ezekiel, not physically, but he takes him spiritually. I'm sure the elders of Judah are sitting there watching this.

Ezekiel is lost now in the presence of God and the spirit of God as it is transports him back into Jerusalem, takes him right to the temple. And says, I'm going to show you now why my glory is leaving my people.

I want to show you why my glory is leaving my temple. And he goes into the temple in verse four. He sees two things. He says, and behold, the glory of the Lord of Israel was there as as a spirit of God himself transports in the spirit Ezekiel into the temple.

Ezekiel sees the same glory, the same glory that he's familiar with, the same presence of God, this manifestation of God is in the temple. He sees it and he recognizes it. And he said, it's according to the vision that I saw on the plane.

But he sees something else in verse five. He said to me, son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way towards the north. So I lift up mine eyes the way towards the north and behold northward at the gate of the altar, this image of jealousy in the entry.

So he sees both the glory and that which conforms to the Christ. Really, it is Christ. I mean, because you cannot separate God from himself. He's three persons, father, son and Holy Spirit. So it's correct, in effect, to say this is Christ that's standing before him and he takes him in.

He sees this glory, but he sees another image of jealousy. There are two things in the temple now. There used to be just one. Remember in Solomon's day when the temple was dedicated, there was just an image of glory.

God's glory came. Nobody could stand to minister. They sang God is good and his mercy endures forever. The promises of God were clear. Heaven seemed open. The people were encouraged. Josiah, only 30 years before, had tried to bring the temple back to this former glory.

He had taken out the idols in the images and he had burned them and stamped them to straw and thrown them in the brook. But now we're down to 30 years later and Ezekiel is taken by the spirit into the temple.

And this image of jealousy is now they're sharing this temple with the glory of God. The Hebrew calls it that outrageous statue of jealousy. It's an image which has been made that is contrary to the very laws of God.

Now, in Exodus chapter 20, let me just read it to you. Verses three and four paraphrase is mine. The Lord said to his people, you will not make an image and bow down to it. For I am a jealous God. You will not make an image.

You will not bow down to anything other than me. Isaiah 42, 8, the Lord says, I am the Lord and that is my name and my glory. Will I not give to another? And neither my praise to graven images. Now, the Lord says, I've got to take you, Ezekiel, on a tour and I have to show you some things that are going on in my temple.

Hidden Idols and Secret Chambers of the Heart

And for this reason, my glory is about to depart from my people. In Ezekiel, chapter eight and verse seven, he said, he brought me to the door of the court. And when I look, behold, a hole in the wall.

Now, this court is an inner room in the temple, and this is an inner room that was once used for storage. But apparently by this time it has become a living quarters for many of the ancients of Israel, which are not necessarily the priests.

But there are people who should be have a knowledge of God and should be leading the people in ways of righteousness. And he goes in and he says, I want to show you there's something hidden in the temple.

You see, when God comes to a people, he will always go to the hidden things in the temple. You and I are the temple of the Holy Ghost. If we're sitting in the presence of God, you can be sure because of the depth of his love for you that he will go to the things that are hidden in the temple, little rooms, little places blocked off where nobody who's walking in can see them.

But God sees them. We all have these little areas in our life. We try to hide them perhaps from time to time throughout our Christian life. And nobody we think sees them. But we forget that we're under the eye of the all seeing God.

Twenty four hours a day. It never changes. He takes him in and there was a little hole in the wall. And he said to me, son of man, dig in the wall now. And when I dig in the wall, behold the door. He said to me, go in and behold the abomination, the wicked abominations that they do here.

So I went in and saw and behold every form of creeping thing and abominable beasts and all the idols of the house of Israel portrayed on the wall roundabout. And there stood before them 70 men of the ancients of the house of Israel.

And in the midst of them stood Jezaniah of the son of Shaphan with and every man is centered in his hand and a thick cloud of incense went up. And he said to me, son of man, have you seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark?

Every man in the chambers of his imagery or that means his imagination. For they say the Lord seeth us not. The Lord has forsaken the earth. So he takes them into the secret place as it is deep within the temple.

And in this place there are images. And these images really are idols. They are visions of the mind, as it is, that are in these people's minds and they are worshiping them. But they're doing it in secret.

I'm sure they would come out of this little room and join everybody at the altar of sacrifice and come out for the Day of Atonement and put on a big celebration of being the children of Jehovah God. But then they would go back into these little rooms and they would stand these these leaders of God's people and they would be worshiping these images.

And it's amazing when we begin to understand that these images can represent a lot of things. They can be success. Perhaps one man's impression of success does not correspond to God. So he he creates an image of of what he sees himself being as a successful man of God or perhaps just a successful man.

Another is maybe an image of ambition, unsurrendered ambition. This is what I'm going to be. This is what I'm going to do. Oh, I know that the gospel calls me to deny myself. But nevertheless, I have this little range of ambition that's before me.

And they're offering up incense to it. They're offering up prayer to these these unsurrendered images in the heart. Another man could be or woman could be an image of lust. Perhaps these I'm trying I'm thinking of all the Christians that the Holy Spirit comes to.

And late at night, they're locked away in some little room thinking nobody sees it and clicking on to these things with their fingers and looking at these images before them and offering up incense of of worship and devotion.

You see, whatever you give your time to, whatever is forming your character is becoming an idol in your life. And I just see so many people of God in our generation are absolutely captivated. They're playing the hypocritical game in the house of God.

And they've got these little secret rooms. The glory is departing and they don't know it. The glory is leaving. God's word is standing against them. And here they go about their daily activity. They still come to the house of God.

They still have a semblance as it is of being some form of a leader with a vision or knowledge. But they have this little room. And because of this little room, the glory of God is departing from them.

And Christ himself is weeping over them as when he stood in the Mount of Olives and said, oh, Jerusalem, if you had known what kind of a visitation had come your way, if you had known what could have been yours.

I think of this little image of vengeance that some stand before these ones who are forgiven a great deal, but they they build this little image of this. My day is coming. My vengeance is coming where those who have harmed me are going to pay and others, all types of self images of the person that I am, the person that I will be someday.

And this is what the ancients are doing. And they they had a statement going on in their heart. They said the Lord seeth us not, for the Lord has forsaken the earth. Now, I've heard it said and I've preached it myself that because they were full of unbelief, that they had begun to worship these images.

But I think it's the other way around. If I read it in the right order in scripture, this is what I feel the Holy Spirit showing me. No, it's the images that produce the unbelief. It's these these images that they were worshiping that took the faith of God right out of their hearts.

And they began to have this impression that God didn't see them in what they were doing and that God was powerless, unconcerned. He had forsaken the earth. And this was the deep abiding testimony in their heart.

Yet they were going through the motions. Now, listen to me. There are people here today. You're going through the motions. You've clapped your hands. You stood when the youth choir sings. You get excited by the things of God.

But deep inside of you, you feel, God, you don't even know where I am. You don't know who I am. You've forsaken me. You see, this is not just this isn't happenstance. It quite often comes because you're spending the rest of your week before some other God.

You're worshiping something other than the Lord Jesus Christ. You don't spend quality time with God. You're not an active seeker of God. You're not in his word. You're not imploring the Holy Spirit to open this word and illuminate it to your mind and your heart and your understanding.

You're not asking God to take up his residence and and become your all in all. You're not saying, Lord, God, for me into the image of Christ and coming into the house of God, full of unbelief, singing the songs of Zion.

But the glory is departing. Chapter eight, verse 14, he said, he brought me now, he said, I'll show you even greater things. He brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord's house, which was towards the north.

And behold, there were women sat there weeping for Tammuz. Now, Tammuz was a a god of vegetation. In the heat of the summer or in the late fall, when vegetation died, Tammuz died and everybody would weep and wail for poor old Tammuz had died once again.

And then when the rains came and the weather got favorable and then vegetation would rise out of the earth and Tammuz would live again. And there'd be this time of great rejoicing. And he was also a god of fertility.

So it's it's this fertility God who just ever lives and dies and lives and dies. And here are these women on this this roller coaster of false and vain hope. Beloved, I want you to listen very carefully.

I'm not trying to be funny, so there's no need to laugh. But it is no coincidence that soap operas are made for are designed for women in the afternoons. And these things are this idol of Tammuz, this this vegetation as it is, these these romances that live and then they die and live and die.

And women sit there and weep and live their lives through these idols. Live their lives through this death. And I wonder how many how many sitting here today, when the Holy Spirit has visited you and as a matter of fact, you're a Christian, he lives in you and has had to watch you sitting in front of Tammuz, weeping, weeping at foolishness, weeping at lies, weeping at adultery and fornication and all types of evil, let on this this roller coaster of vain emotion, trying to find some kind of solace because you're in a loveless marriage or a hopeless relationship or you have a a pitied self-image.

And so you sit in front of this thing and you watch you, you listen to this, this idiocy of these relationships that live and then they die and you cry when they die and then you rejoice when they live and you cry when they die.

You even phone each other and talk about Tammuz. What's the state of Tammuz? The Holy Spirit said the glory is departing for these things. How long do we hear truth and not respond to it? How long? You see, there comes a time when you end up on the other side of truth.

You're on the other side. You're in captivity and looking back and God comes to you and pleads. That's what the role of Jeremiah was in Isaiah and others who God raised up. And it's a pleading with the people of God.

The glory is going to depart. You're going to end up in captivity. When difficulty comes, you're not going to be able to stand, turn from these things and turn to the living God. He took him further and he said, he brought me into the inner court for 16 of the Lord's house and behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord between the porch and the altar were about five and 20 men with their backs towards the temple of the Lord and their faces towards the east and they worship the sun towards the east.

Now, these are the priests of the temple, as the commentators described them, and they have their backs to the altar of God. They're looking away now from the creator and they're looking to creation to satisfy their need.

They're moving in the opposite direction. Everything in their theology is now about health and wealth and success and prosperity. They're looking away. The cross is behind them now. We sing that song, you know, the work, the cross before me, the world behind me.

That's the proper perspective. In other words, I'm going on to find the will of God. And even if it causes pain, I'm going to embrace it. But the theology is now reversed. The cross is behind and the world is very clearly before them and they're worshiping ease and they're worshiping comfort and they're they're worshiping success and they're worshiping everything that the creation has to offer them.

And we're living at that time right now. Beloved, we're living at that time in America. You don't believe me just if God forbid that you should have to ever do it. But just look at Christian television for half a day and you're going to see it.

You're going to see the sun worshipers. You're going to see them very, very clear. There's no cross, no blood, no offense, no gospel, no call to self-denial, nothing but success and prosperity and health and wealth and happiness.

And of course, it all comes by giving your money to me. That's the gospel they preach. Verse 17. The Lord says to Ezekiel, have you seen this, O son of man? And is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here, for they fill the land with violence?

They fill the land with violence. The Bible says in Proverbs 29, 18, where there is no vision, the people perish. And what that means in the Hebrew context is where there is no real sight of the divine presence.

That's actually the original, more the original translation, where there is no real sight of the divine presence. The people become unruly, lawless and begin to run wild. In other words, where there is no manifestation of Christ in his church.

And among his people in the New Testament, the Bible says the Holy Spirit is the restrainer. He is the one that keeps this world from breaking into an unspeakable lawlessness. But it's not just an ambiguous restraint that is sort of trails itself on the wind.

The restraint, the Holy Spirit is in his church, he's in the church of Jesus Christ. The restraint that God manifests to the evils of society around me are in me, they're in you. And if there is no real sight of God through his church, the people around become unruly, lawless and begin to run wild.

And God's glory must depart from this type of religion. It departs gradually. He departs reluctantly. You'll see if you took the time to see his departure was in three, actually four stages. He leaves the Holy of Holies and then goes to the door, then mounts the chariot of the cherubim and then leaves gradually and heads over to the Mount of Olives.

He he does not leave quickly. He does not leave hastily because it's God's desire to have a people. Now, in first Corinthians 316, Paul says, Do you not know that you're the temple of God and that the spirit of God dwells in you?

And if any man defiles the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. I believe that the book of Romans tells us very, very clearly the form that this departure takes.

Reprobation and the Loss of the Glory

Let me just read it to you for time's sake. Romans 128. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, there are people like this who will sit under the word of God, but they don't want God to be part of their daily experience.

We heard this morning they have a form of godliness, but their life totally lacks the manifestation of God's life and power. God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient.

A reprobation. Here's the evidence of the departure of the glory. It's a crooked thinking about God. It's a crooked thinking about holiness, a crooked thinking about life in general, as God sees it being filled with unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness.

In other words, they will reach out and become greedy. They will bear grudges and come under no conviction, full of envy. They'll see somebody in the church body that is getting a better position than them.

And they will they will be eaten up with envy at what God is doing in somebody else's life. Murder. Bible says anyone hates his brother, he's a murderer. Debate. You ever run into doctrinal debaters who ruin every prayer meeting you've ever attended?

That may be evidence of a reprobate mind. That's a mind that doesn't really want truth because the end of truth is a peaceableness. There's a joy. There's a deep abiding presence of God. There's a something comes into your spirit that says, I don't have to win every argument.