God’s Glory Departs

One day, while Ezekiel was sitting with the elders of Judah, the LORD’s hand came upon him. In a vision, the Spirit lifted him to the temple in Jerusalem, where he saw the idol of jealousy standing at the north gate. God showed him that the people were committing detestable acts in His sanctuary.

And he said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing—the utterly detestable things the Israelites are doing here, things that will drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see things that are even more detestable.”
Ezekiel 8:6 (NIV)

Ezekiel was led through a hole in the wall and saw a secret room where seventy elders of Israel worshipped images of unclean creatures and idols, believing the LORD could not see them. He then saw women mourning the pagan deity of fertility, Tammuz, and later twenty-five men in the inner court bowing to the sun with their backs turned to the temple of the LORD.

They say, ‘The LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken the land.’
Ezekiel 8:12 (NIV)

Why do people act like there is no God when their “prayer requests” are not answered? We often treat our relationship with God as a give-and-take arrangement, dropping our faith the moment His will conflicts with ours. People tend to show reverence only when God acts in their favour, forgetting that He carries us through every waking moment. This was exactly the attitude of the Israelites: weary under foreign rulers, they refused to understand why God had allowed their defeat. Instead of question their own life choices, they credited the success of their enemies to foreign gods and began adopting those gods as their own.

Similarly, there are many things in our lives that don’t go according to our plans: our careers, tussles in our families, losing our loved ones, and not getting blessed according to the standards of the world. In all this, rather than come to God to understand His plans for us, we assume that He is not listening to our prayer requests or, worse, that He doesn’t exist, and turn to pagan gods.

Now, unlike the Israelites living in Mesopotamia, our pagan gods might not be gods in the traditional sense, but they take many forms. We turn to the ways of the world to find solutions to our problems, and that is the biggest betrayal of God’s path. Just like the Israelites, we have turned our backs on God and are welcoming the pagan ways to get our desires fulfilled at the expense of our relationship with God.

The LORD’s Judgement

Ezekiel heard the LORD call out for those appointed to execute judgement on Jerusalem. Six men entered from the north gate, each carrying a deadly weapon, accompanied by a man dressed in linen with a writing kit. The glory of the God of Israel moved from above the cherubim to the temple threshold, and the LORD instructed the man in linen to go through the city and mark the foreheads of all who grieved over the detestable sins being committed there

The LORD then commanded the others to follow after him and kill without pity—old and young alike—but to spare anyone who bore the mark. Judgement was to begin at the sanctuary, and so they began with the elders standing before the temple. The LORD told them to defile the temple courts with the slain, and they went out and carried out the command throughout the city.

As the slaughter continued, Ezekiel fell facedown and cried out, fearing that the entire remnant of Israel would be destroyed. The LORD replied that the sins of Israel and Judah were exceedingly great, the land filled with bloodshed and injustice, and that the people claimed the LORD did not see. Therefore, He would show no pity but bring their deeds back upon their own heads. Finally, the man in linen returned and reported that he had completed the task as commanded.

So I will not look on them with pity or spare them, but I will bring down on their own heads what they have done.
Ezekiel 9:10 (NIV)

We are often told it is never too late to come to God and that He loves us all, but is there ever a point at which He will no longer forgive our sins? Even Jesus spoke about this, saying that every sin will be forgiven, but going against the Spirit of God will not be tolerated. Jesus said this to the teachers of the Law and temple leaders who knew God very well and were actively ignoring the leading of His Spirit in their lives. The same was happening with the Israelites, who were the chosen people of God. God had made His dwelling among their camp after sanctifying them. They very well knew who God was and what He wanted from them, but continuously abandoned walking with Him for their own excursions with the ways of the world. Through Ezekiel, God made it clear to His chosen people that their disregard for His ways and their rebellion against His Spirit would carry consequences. As a just God, He would fulfil His word and bring judgement upon those who persisted in their wrongdoing.

Today there are groups who call themselves the followers of Christ, but not only do they not walk in His ways, but most of them don’t even bother to understand what He is asking of them. They assign a spiritual guide to lead them rather than trust the Spirit of God to lead them. Their rebellion will not go unpunished; just like God’s judgment came upon the chosen Israelites, it will come upon those who call themselves the chosen people of God but continue to live ignoring the leading of His Spirit.

The Glory Departs

Ezekiel looked and saw a throne-like figure of lapis lazuli above the cherubim. The LORD instructed the man clothed in linen to go among the wheels beneath the cherubim, gather burning coals, and scatter them over the city. As the man obeyed, a cloud filled the inner court, and the glory of the LORD moved from above the cherubim to the temple threshold. The temple and its courts glowed with His radiance, and the sound of the cherubim’s wings echoed like the voice of God Almighty.

At the LORD’s command, a cherub took fire and gave it to the man in linen, who then left. Ezekiel noted the beautiful, eye-filled cherubim and their wheels moving in unison, each cherub having four faces: cherub, human, lion, and eagle, which were the same creatures he had seen by the Kebar River.

Then the glory of the LORD departed from the threshold of the temple and positioned itself above the cherubim. As Ezekiel watched, the cherubim rose with their wheels beside them and stopped at the entrance of the east gate of the LORD’s house. Above them rested the glory of the God of Israel. Ezekiel recognised them as the same cherubim he had seen in his earlier vision, each moving straight ahead in complete unity.

Do we even recognise when God’s glory departs from our midst? In a simple phone call, the moment the connection breaks, we know instantly that we are no longer in communication. The Israelites struggled to realise that God’s glory had withdrawn from them as they were no longer in communication with Him. They continued to give themselves over to the pagan world around them, assuming that God was blind to their actions. They observed the festivals established by Moses, but their lives bore no obedience to the commandments God had given. In many ways, our present world mirrors this pattern. As the holiday season approaches, we immerse ourselves in every possible tradition and celebration, yet fail to notice how easily we drift from the God those festivals were meant to honour.

However, the most important part we don’t want to do and hide behind our traditions; we don’t want to give our hearts to God and surrender our will to the leading of His Spirit. The same was missing with the Israelites that Ezekiel was called to prophesy against, and unfortunately, the same is applicable for us even today. We are so busy in following our respective religions that we are not realizing that the Glory of God is departing from our midst.