The Vision of the Abomination at the Temple

Hello My Friend; Good day.

Our reading for today is from Ezekiel chapter 8. Ezekiel is now in captivity, but God is showing him the vision of how the elders, men, and women corrupted and defiled the Temple of the Lord. Here in the vision God brings him back to Jerusalem to show him the sins that were committed there (verses 1-4). The elders of Israel were worshipping all manners of images in a secret chambers; the women were weeping for Tammuz; and the men were worshipping the sun right in the Temple of the Almighty God ! We do not mean to be redundant here, but imagine sins of the leaders even at the very presence of God. Same things are happening in our day and time when Church leaders belong to secret cults, yet they are the ones leading members in worship. They themselves know that they worship Satan, yet they come and deceive themselves in the midst of innocent followers of Christ.

After Ezekiel had seen all these abominations, God asked him in verse 17: "Hast thou not seen these o son of man! and could thou have thought ever to see such things done in the temple of the lord? Here God makes the Prophet the judge. God is appealing to the prophet's good sense of judgment. There is a saying in Ibibioland in Nigeria like this: "okop etop idiok owo ibupke ntak". This means that when people here about the anger or bad things that that person did, they should inquire about the reason. The people who went to steal "ekom" sat at the root of ekom to eat it so that when the owner of "ekom" comes to meet them there, what will he do? In this vision God showed His prophet the height of the abuse and insult the leaders indulged in to bring the Lord to the level of unrepentant anger. Matthew Henry quotes Dr. Lightfoot commenting on this situation as saying: "They put the branch to their wrath, or to his wrath, which means they are still bring more fuel to the fire of Divine wrath which they had already kindled." God in His fury said, "though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them; for their sins cry more loudly for vengeance than their prayers cry for mercy."(Matthew Henry's Commentary page 1043).

Prayer for today: Dear Lord, we sing in the hymn: "what can wash away my sin?" The answer is "nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. O! precious is the flow that makes me white as snow; No other fount I know, Nothing but the blood of Jesus." Remember that Lord and forgive the sins of your people in the Name of Him whose blood can make us whole again. Amen.

Apostle Ndueso Udoiwod.