Scripture

I saw a figure that appeared to be a man. From what appeared to be his waist down, he looked like a burning flame. From the waist up, he looked like gleaming amber. He reached out what seemed to be a hand and took me by the hair.

Observation

Ezekiel has a vision of a man glowing like a fire and like amber. The man reaches out and Ezekiel is lifted up and transported to Jerusalem to the north gate of the Temple. He sees an idol there that distresses the Lord.

The Lord then takes Ezekiel to a hidden room where the leaders are burning incense to idols. These leaders are saying that the Lord doesn’t see them because He has deserted the land.

In another part of the temple, twenty-five men are facing east, bowing low to the ground to worship the sun.

The Lord tells Ezekiel that because the people of Judah thumbing their noses at him, he will respond with fury.

Application

The glory of the Lord is something we cannot comprehend. Ezekiel describes a man whose upper half is like glowing amber and his lower half is like a flame.

At the transfiguration, Jesus is described as wearing a robe that is wider than any bleach could make it.

These images of light, brilliant white, sparkling gems and so on are to communicate that God is majestic and glorious in ways that human language cannot describe

Ezekiel sees all of this and then is shown something utterly repugnant: visions of idolatry taking place in the temple. The temple was God’s dwelling place and the priests and leaders of Judah had corrupted it with these vial practices.

As followers of the Lord and bearers of his image, we must flee from all forms of idolatry.

Listen

Lord, what else would you say to me about this chapter?

Keith, the unredeemed human heart is deceitful above all things. When people try to follow me in their own strength, the flesh corrupts them and what seems to be good at the start ends in degradation. This has sunk many in ministry,

Listen! To walk with me and last the distance, a person must be born again so that the old heart of the flesh is circumcised and replaced by a new heart, a heart born of the Holy Spirit.