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Secret Sins Part 2 Series
Contributed by Thomas Swope on Jan 14, 2010 (message contributor)
Summary: A study of chapter 8 verses 7 through 18
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Ezekiel 8: 1 – 18
‘Secret sins’ Part 2
“7 So He brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, there was a hole in the wall. 8 Then He said to me, “Son of man, dig into the wall”; and when I dug into the wall, there was a door. 9 And He said to me, “Go in, and see the wicked abominations which they are doing there.” 10 So I went in and saw, and there—every sort of creeping thing, abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed all around on the walls. 11 And there stood before them seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, and in their midst stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan. Each man had a censer in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense went up. 12 Then He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the room of his idols? For they say, ‘The LORD does not see us, the LORD has forsaken the land.’” 13 And He said to me, “Turn again, and you will see greater abominations that they are doing.” 14 So He brought me to the door of the north gate of the LORD’s house; and to my dismay, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz. 15 Then He said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? Turn again, you will see greater abominations than these.” 16 So He brought me into the inner court of the LORD’s house; and there, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs toward the temple of the LORD and their faces toward the east, and they were worshiping the sun toward the east. 17 And He said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it a trivial thing to the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have filled the land with violence; then they have returned to provoke Me to anger. Indeed they put the branch to their nose. 18 Therefore I also will act in fury. My eye will not spare nor will I have pity; and though they cry in My ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.”
Many suspense movies have these secret chambers. You pull down a book and the entire wall slides open to reveal a whole major command center. How intriguing that even in these biblical days the people tried to hide their secret activities.
God showed Ezekiel first hand how the people had slid down to this worthless idolatry and wickedness. God’s Holy Spirit also works within us and uncovers the evil that lurks in our thoughts, words, and actions. We see here that we also can turn God away by the disgracefulness of our live as we reject His commandments. I heard someone once say that at judgment day our entire lives will be reviewed. If this will happen then how do you feel about having this done? Are there secret things you think are over and done with? Buried? What are your thoughts about having this movie out for all to see?
I am sure Ezekiel has seen enough, but God bumps it up another notch. ‘But you will see yet other abominations’.
“7 So He brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, there was a hole in the wall. 8 Then He said to me, “Son of man, dig into the wall”; and when I dug into the wall, there was a door. 9 And He said to me, “Go in, and see the wicked abominations which they are doing there.”
No one would suspect to find a door hidden behind masonry, although the hole in the wall may suggest that the door was there and had been hidden behind a covering of stone and earth. The fact that it was hidden would point to the degradation-taking place in the room because it had to be kept secret even from the debased worshippers in the Temple and was possibly only used at night
“10 So I went in and saw, and there—every sort of creeping thing, abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed all around on the walls. 11 And there stood before them seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, and in their midst stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan. Each man had a censer in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense went up.”
I guess they thought that since Yahweh was worshipped in the daylight hours, it was okay to use His Temple to do other religious observations at night. I was once on a Board of Directors of a supposed Christian based organization that took care of abused children. At one meeting it was brought up for approval that this organization rent one of its building to a cult. I spoke up against this proposal. The entire board agreed with we save the President. He said that he would continue to bring this request at each board meeting until approved. Oh well, so much for rules and protocol of Board of Director meetings. So, I exited stage left, and told him to have a nice life without me, as I handed in my resignation.