April 20, Ezekiel 6
"And I will stretch out my hand against them and make the land desolate and waste , in all their dwelling places, from the wilderness to Riblah. Then they will know that I am the LORD." - Ezekiel 6:14
Those of us who have buried loved ones who died of cancer despise that word. We also especially despise the word "metastasis," that is, the spread of the cancer from its origin point to other parts of the patient's body. When the cancer has spread, it is much harder to treat and more likely to lead to death.
Idolatry was the chief sin and the ugly root that produced the degrading fruit of gross immorality among the Israelites in both the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Like a growing cancer, it spread from the capitals of the nation until it defiled and doomed the entire nation.
Chapters 4 and 5 were close focused on the wrath of God that was coming to Jerusalem, the heart of the Jewish nation. But Chapter 6 broadens the scope of the wrath to the entire country, from border to border. The cancer of idolatry had spread to the mountains and hills, the high places where the altars to the idol gods were prominent. It had also infested the waterways and the valleys, where the Israelites had even sacrificed their own children to the false gods. The idolatrous malignancy had invaded all their dwelling places. It stole their hearts, corrupted their minds and defiled their bodies. They were so hardened in their obsession with the idols that no warning, threat or plea from the prophets could reach their obstinate hearts. And so they were doomed to be destroyed. Their hearts were whoring hearts that had departed from God. Their eyes were whoring eyes, infatuated by the sensuous appeal of the so-called worship of the fertility gods.
When God's wrath could no longer be restrained, the idols, their altars and the high places where the Israelites had worshiped them would be destroyed. Nebuchadnezzar's army would be God's sword. That sword would slay the idol worshipers and their corpses would lie on the ground before their ruined idols that would be powerless to help or protect them. God's justice and righteousness demanded that he do what he promised to do to the people if they would not turn from their sins. It was heart-breaking to God to see his once holy people forsake him and turn to idols. It gave him no joy to send the invaders to destroy their land and people. But when the Israelites had grown worse in their sins than the Canaanites had been, God unleashed his wrath and destroyed them.
The awful death and devastation would remind Israel that the LORD was God. The victims would realize it, but it would be too late. The survivors, scattered to other lands, would recognize the truth about the LORD their God. Their idols would be loathsome to them, as they recognized they were worthless imitation gods.
Idolatry ruined the people in both Israel and Judah. It led them to commit other sins, and separated them from God. We recognize it about them, but do we see the same tendency in our world and time? We and our neighbors may never worship the same idols that the ancient Israelites did, but whatever comes between us and our God becomes our idol. It may be pleasure or indulging our flesh (which was the core of the idol worship that ruined Israel.) It may be riches that cause us to turn away from God. It could be any sin that we allow to steal our hearts and wills away from the Lord.
As Paul wrote many years after Ezekiel, "Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come." May God show us grace and save us from following their bad example. As Jesus taught us, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." Let's be vigilant and let no idol steal our hearts and God's place in them from us.
Copyright © 2024 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Today in God's Word—April 2024
East Tallassee Church of Christ
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