Re: Naked Bible 117: Ezekiel 8-9
This will be short and simple. Heiser’s lesson on these two chapters is one thing. While listening to it, I was struck by something related for us today.
Ezekiel has a vision of all the abominable idolatries of the Covenant Nation. We know that Josiah had destroyed all the garbage his grandfather had placed in the Temple, nasty stuff that his father failed to removed. So far as we know, Josiah was more thorough than any other king in the history of the nation. Yet, what Ezekiel saw is that some of that nasty stuff got brought back.
This vision takes place after the first and second exile at the hands of the Babylonian Emperor. The third wave will see the destruction of the Temple and remnants of the City of Jerusalem. The vision Ezekiel sees here indicates the catastrophic loss of life that is coming in the city. Only those who mourned the insult to God were spared. You could make the argument that this is what the vision indicates God will do, regardless of what the Babylonian troops know about the true worship of God.
All the rest would be slaughtered without mercy. They would have no protection. The reason should be quite clear: They were supposed to be His people. They had an ostensible claim to His name, despite how they abused the privilege.
What will happen here in the US when things get difficult in the coming years? We have a whole raft of people claiming His name, claiming His Covenant. Yet, they are engaging in all sorts of abominations. Perhaps it isn’t literal idolatry in most cases, but there doesn’t seem to be very many mourning the burden of garbage weighing down the churches.
We don’t have a Babylon coming to attack because the US is a Babylon. The US is destroying itself. Still, what will happen when His judgment afflicts those who claim His name while still clinging to the idolatry of feminism, materialism, and all the other marks of worldliness? Who will be spared?
