Rev. David Holwick Z
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
August 5, 2012
Ezekiel 8:4-12
|
I. Wonderful things?
A. I love Egyptian stuff.
1) My highlight was a tour of Egypt in 2002.
a) I crawled inside two pyramids and even lay down in a
pharaoh's sepulchre. (I probably wasn't supposed to.)
b) I explored the temples of Luxor and the tombs of the
Valley of the Kings.
2) The one thing I didn't do is the tomb of Tutankamen.
a) It is a pretty small tomb, which is why it was
overlooked for so long.
b) It is amazing it was discovered at all.
In 1922 archaeologist Howard Carter was completing nearly fifteen
years of digging in the famous Valley of the Kings in Egypt.
He was hoping to find the royal tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamen.
Having found nothing, his days of digging were coming to an end.
Money was running out.
Then workers discovered sixteen stairs leading into the earth.
Thousands of baskets filled with rocks and sand had to be carried
away, but eventually a door was found at the end of a long
passageway.
Carter drilled a small hole in the door and stuck an iron-testing
rod into a dark, blank space.
He then inserted a candle into the hole and peered in.
As his eyes grew accustomed to the light, details emerged into
his view.
He saw strange animals, statues, and everywhere the glint of gold.
He wrote, "For the moment, I was struck dumb with amazement."
A partner asked, "Can you see anything?"
Carter replied, "Yes, wonderful things."
#1957
c) I didn't tour King Tut's tomb, but I did see his golden
treasures in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
B. The Prophet Ezekiel had a different experience.
1) He also tunneled through a wall, at an angel's command.
2) But instead of seeing wonderful things, he saw images
that turned his stomach.
3) The spiritual reality he encountered is what we face as well.
II. They always end up in Jerusalem.
A. God's city is for visionaries.
1) Jesus was transported there during his temptation in the
wilderness.
a) Was he physically taken there, or was it a vision?
b) No one knows for sure, but other parts of the temptation
suggest it was all done spiritually.
2) Mohammed, the founder of Islam, went to Jerusalem this way.
a) He never set foot there, but he went by vision in what
is called his Night Journey.
b) Supposedly his flying horse carried him from Mecca to
Bethlehem and then to Jerusalem.
c) From the temple area Mohammed ascended into heaven on
his winged horse, met with God, and came back down.
d) He convinced doubters he had really been in the city by
giving details only a visitor would probably know.
3) Ezekiel is the earliest to visit Jerusalem by vision.
a) At the time of his experience he was sitting in his
house in Babylon, 14 months after being exiled.
1> This whole time he has been doing one of his
"skits," laying on his side while facing a dirt
model of Jerusalem.
2> He probably did this right outside his home, but
didn't do it 24 hours a day.
b) Right now he is inside meeting with leaders who have
been exiled just like him.
1> By now they saw Ezekiel as a prophet and they
wanted a word from the Lord.
2> He responds by receiving a vision from God.
B. Ezekiel's vision is dramatic, as usual.
1) The angel actually grabs him by his hair and drags him to
the inner court of the temple in Jerusalem, which is
hundreds of miles away.
2) There he sees the glory of the living God.
a) But he also saw something else, something very
disturbing: the total corruption of the Jewish faith.
b) Four levels of society are shown to be involved.
III. The spiritual garbage is deep and wide.
A. First, he sees an idol in the inner temple area. 8:3
1) From the Bible we know that some of the kings actually
set up foreign idols in this area.
2) It was their way of sucking up to the superpowers that
held sway over them.
3) So the king thought political expediency was more important
than true faith.
a) It is interesting that Ezekiel sees the glory of God
here.
b) Despite the corruption, God has not given up on them --
yet.
B. Second, Ezekiel is told to dig through a temple wall. 8:7
1) He finds a hidden door, and inside he sees walls carved
with creepy-crawly things.
2) They may have been animals that were considered unclean,
like snakes or scorpions.
3) Or, it may have been images like Howard Carter found in
King Tut's tomb.
a) Egyptians worshipped many kinds of animals.
4) Who is worshipping in this hidden room? 8:11
a) The elders of Israel, including Jaazaniah son of Shaphan.
1> His father Shaphan had helped King Josiah reform
the Jewish faith.
2> His son was now going in the opposite direction.
b) The elders have a cynical approach to God.
1> He doesn't see them.
2> He failed them by letting their enemies win.
C. Third, he sees women mourning for Tammuz in the temple area. 8:14
1) Tammuz was a foreign fertility god.
2) They mourn for him, then he is reborn.
D. Finally, he sees a group of men worshipping the Sun. 8:16
1) Notice how they have turned their backs on God and the
temple.
2) The idolatry is only part of it.
a) Their corrupted worship is backed up with corrupted
lifestyles.
b) The angel bemoans the violence that fills their land.
1> Aurora is nothing new!
IV. How defiled is the church today?
A. Many Christians have become discouraged about trends they see.
1) Some denominations have abandoned the historic faith.
a) You can believe just about anything, or nothing at all,
and still be a member in good standing.
b) One of the most liberal denominations in America has
lost 23% of its membership in just 10 years.
2) Others have let society set their agenda.
a) Whatever the current fad is - green energy, homosexual
rights, anti-war, immigration - that is what they
focus on.
b) They want to be relevant, but it doesn't really deal
with the conditions of your soul.
3) Still others cater to weird beliefs.
a) We have the Church of the Mystic Light in Flanders.
1> Very unusual stained glass windows.
2> They communicate with spirits, I presume.
b) Ancient pagan beliefs are actually very popular.
1> A young transient I helped with the Deacons' Fund
this week says he runs into a lot of people
who worship trees and other aspects of nature.
2> Some combine it with Christianity, which doesn't
really mesh.
B. The real problem is actually in regular churches like ours.
1) If you dig into our walls, you find lots of activities
but not necessarily much spirituality.
a) Jesus can get lost in the structure and organization
and scheduled events.
2) Often we have everything except God's presence.
a) The saddest thing Ezekiel saw was the departure of God.
1> In 10:18, the cherubim leave the temple.
2> In 11:22-23, God's Spirit leaves the city.
3> This was a bigger disaster than losing their nation
or their temple.
b) Would God's Spirit ever leave Ledgewood Baptist?
V. What would a hole into your soul reveal?
A. Many Christians lead a double life.
1) Outwardly they are your standard middle-class believer.
2) But inwardly they harbor secret sins.
a) Maybe, like the Jews, they feel God has let them down.
b) Or they have let something vile come into their life.
B. God sees what happens in the dark.
1) Do you have creepy-crawly things hanging around?
a) Is the world shaping your faith?
b) The evidence will be seen in the fruit of your actions.
2) You have some religion. Do you have God?
=========================================================================
SOURCE FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
#1957 “Wonderful Things,” Dynamic Preaching (www.sermons.com),
Winter 1992; derived from Jim & Doris Morentz, Minister’s Annual
Preaching in 1989.
This and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
=========================================================================
Copyright © 2026 by Rev. David Holwick
Created with the Freeware Edition of HelpNDoc: Single source CHM, PDF, DOC and HTML Help creation