The Glory Departs

[Sung Psalm: 119:153-160]

[We regret that there are dropouts in this sermon.]

What did you see this week? As you watched your friends and colleagues – did you see the idolatry in the rebellious house of Israel? Did you learn anything about their “room of pictures”?

What are the pictures that motivate them? Where do they put their hope and their trust?

But of course, as we saw last week, if you are going to dig through the wall (as Ezekiel did), then you need first to see the glorious vision of Christ. Because outward appearance can be deceptive.

If you had gone to Jerusalem in 592 BC, you probably would not have seen anything of what Ezekiel saw in chapter 8. According to Jeremiah (who lived in Jerusalem) the idolatry in the city was not “obvious.” What Ezekiel sees in his vision is what is really going on – not what you might see on the surface.

Do not judge by outward appearances. If you lived in 592 BC – you would see the once-proud elders of Jerusalem in exile, now laboring as farm-hands in the fields of Babylon, and you would see those in Jerusalem taking over the houses and lands of the exiles.

Who controls the future of Jerusalem?

And today, who controls the future of the church?