Ezekiel Series
When the Glory Goes
Ezekiel 9-11
You will note in verse 3, mention is made of the glory of the God of Israel. The glory of God is one of the prominent features of the prophecy of Ezekiel. We will find several visions of the glory of God throughout Ezekiel.
Actually, glory is one of the key concepts of the whole Bible. I did a study a number of years ago on the word, glory, and I found out that the word, glory, in the Old Testament and in the New Testament occurs almost 400 times.
In Romans 9th chapter and 4th verse, when it is talking about the advantages that belong to the children of Israel, among the things it names are these: In chapter 9, verse 4, it says about the Israelites to whom pertains the glory. The glory of God was peculiarly attached to the children of Israel.
The word, glory, is the Hebrew word, kabod. Its root meaning is the idea of weight or worth. The weight of something was that which gave worth to it. So the
Bible talks about the glory of God. The glory of God means the worthy weight of God in all of its splendor when God chooses to reveal himself to his people.
Wherever God is, it is glory. Whatever God does, it is glorious. You can trace this concept of the glory of
God in the life of His people all through the Old Testament.
In the Old Testament you may remember that when the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt and were going through the wilderness to the Promised Land, the Bible says there was a glory cloud that met them and led them. By day, it was a cloud. At night, it was a pillar of fire. This glory cloud, which was a symbol, a representation of the presence of God in all of its splendor among His people, directed and illuminated and protected the people of God all the way through their wilderness wanderings.
When they constructed that portable place of worship known as the tabernacle, when all of that was completed and the sacrifices and offerings had been made, the Bible says that glory cloud, the glory of God, fell in that tabernacle and God's presence was manifested through that glory cloud.
When the permanent building was built, the temple, the same thing happened. They constructed the temple and when the sacrifices were made the Bible says the glory of God fell. That is, the presence of God came and dwelt in that temple.
So you can follow all the way through the Old Testament. When you get into the New Testament you will find the glory of God revealed in a person. That person is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. In Second Corinthians 4, verse 6, it says, "For God who commanded light to shine out of the darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ."
When Jesus came into the world, God's presence, God's glory, was uniquely in this world.
When Jesus was born on the hillside, the angels of the Lord came and announced the birth of Jesus and the angels rejoiced and said, "Glory to God in the highest."
In John 1, verse 14, the Bible says, "The Word (talking about Jesus) was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld the glory as of the only begotten of the father."
In Hebrews 1, verse 3, the Bible says that Jesus Christ is the brightness of god's glory. When you really want to see the glory of God in all of its splendor, you see that revealed in the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ.
All through His ministry you see the glory of God. When He did his miracles He manifested His glory. That's what the Bible says. When Jesus died on the cross, we have a unique revelation of the glory of God. The Bible says had they known they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. It was Jesus, the glory of God, dying on that cross.
He was buried and three days later the Bible says he was brought back again from the dead. In the book of Romans 6th chapter it says that He was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father. When He went back to heaven, the Bible says that he was received up into glory. The glory of God is the worthy weight of God in all its splendor when He chooses to reveal himself to his people.
In the book of Ezekiel we have a rather unique presentation of this glory of God. I'm going somewhere, hang in here with me. Ezekiel has a series of visions of the glory.
In fact, up until this ninth chapter, there are four visions of the glory of God.
In chapter 1, right before God calls Ezekiel to be a prophet, he has this vision of the glory of God. He sees the wheel in the wheel. He sees the living creatures and the cherubim and all of that.
In verse 28 it says, "It was the likeness of the glory of God." Ezekiel had a vision of the glory of God. God knew Ezekiel was going to have a tough ministry and he wanted him to get a little glimpse of the glory before he set out into his ministry.
On two occasions, in chapter 3, the glory of God is manifested again to Ezekiel to encourage him. You need some sense of the glory of God if you are going to serve the Lord in this old wicked world in which we live.
When you come to the 8th chapter, Ezekiel is carried in the spirit over to Jerusalem to the temple. In the 4th verse, the first thing Ezekiel sees when he gets to that temple is the image of jealousy. Right along side of it, in verse 4, he sees the glory of the God of
Israel. There is an idol and there is the glory of God at the same place. God basically says, "My glory is not going to remain where sin is."
In the 8th chapter, basically we have the reason why
God's glory is not going to say with the children of
Israel. God is not going to share His glory with an idol. If the people of God allow idols in their hearts to come between them and the Lord, then God's presence departs from them.
Not that they are lost again, not that they lose the holy spirit, but I'm talking about in New Testament days, God's presence in power and victory and glory in your life. You can lose the glory of God. (That would be a good place to say amen).
Ezekiel, in chapter 9, 10, and 11 has this bone-chilling vision of the departure of the glory of God.
Ezekiel sees the glory of God over the cherubim at the mercy seat right in the holy of holies. Then he sees the glory of God at the threshold of the door. Then he sees the glory of God at the eastern gate of the city. The last time Ezekiel sees the glory of God is on the Mount of Olives and it is getting ready to leave the earth. He sees the departure of the glory of God because of the sins of the people.
The glory of God, God's presence in power and blessing, can leave a nation. When a nation loses its sense of God-consciousness and a nation scorns God and belittles God and reduce God to just another God in their pantheon of gods, a nation can lose the glory of God.
The Bible says righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. It's a terrible thing when a nation loses the glory of God.
That's where America is tonight. Our nation has lost the presence and the power and the glory of God. It can happen to a church. A church can lose the glory of God if it's not very careful. It can happen to a home. Here is a home that once this family was living for the Lord and they were serving Jesus.
They let idols get into their heart and the glory of God is lifted off that home and it's just a shell of what it used to be.
It can happen to a Christian. You've seen it happen, haven't you? Here was a Christian and the glory of
God was on his or her life. Living for the Lord, serving the Lord, the presence of Christ was in their life. Then maybe they began to prosper. Or maybe they got to moving up in the social world. Maybe any number of things happened and they began to neglect the word and they began to neglect prayer and they began to forsake the assembling of themselves together in the house of God.
The next thing you know, God's glory has departed from them. That's what Ezekiel sees in these three chapters.
I want to go over it quickly and then make some applications. Let me just give a heading to each one of these chapters and watch the glory as it goes.
I. PUNISHING.
We learn in chapter 9 that God is a God who punishes sin. It says in verse 1 that there are six men who are to be appointed. It says that there were men who were to have charge over the city.
Some wonder if these may be angelic beings. We don't know. But their job is to have weapons of slaughter and weapons of destruction. They are going to mete out punishment in the city.
In chapter 8 we see the abominations and the sins.
In chapter 9 we see God punishing those sins. So these six men are sent out with their weapons of punishment, their weapons of slaughter. Sin always is punished.
Think about the things that are happening in America. Natural disasters. Etc. . .
Do you think maybe this is a punishment from God? I don't' know. I'm not God. I'm just raising the question.
There's another man in verse 2; a man who is clothed in linen. This could be a pre-incarnate revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Some Bible teachers believe this is the Lord Jesus. He has a writer's inkhorn.
That was either some kind of metal palette that would have places for reed pins or inkwells of red and black ink. It may have been an animal horn that would have places for pens and ink. In those days that's the kind of writing instrument they would use to register people. So this one, whoever he may be, the Lord Jesus or whoever, is assigned before the punishment begins, to go over the city.
In verse 4 you see what he is to do. He is to set a mark upon the foreheads of those people in the city who sigh and cry for all of the abominations of chapter 8. He's talking about the godly remnant. God always has His remnant. In every generation, God has His faithful people. God has that group of people who love the Lord.
I want to tell you what's holding America together tonight is that godly remnant of people who love Jesus Christ and who hate sin and love righteousness. That's what is keeping this country from going down the tank right now. That's the only reason America is surviving right now, that godly
remnant who are broken-hearted by the sin and the evil that is in America.
In every time there are people whose hearts are broken by the sin. So he says, put a mark on them. God has a way of putting a mark on those who belong to Him.
In the book of The Revelation, we saw it in The Revelation chapter 7. Remember that 144,000 and they were sealed on their foreheads. In this day in the Bible says in Ephesians 1, verse 13 that when we believed we were sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise. Not a mark on the forehead, but the presence of the Holy Spirit in your heart.
The Bible says in Ephesians 4, verse 30, "Grieve not the Holy Spirit whereby you are sealed until the day of redemption." I'm sealed! Praise God! I have the mark on my soul.
He said to put a mark and the Hebrew word for mark is the word, talo. That particular word used for a mark in those days of the form of a cross. Mark the people with the mark of the cross.
Do you have the mark of the cross on your life? The Bible says if we will follow Jesus we are to deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and follow him. You have the mark of the cross on your life.
Galatians 6, verse 17, Paul said, "Let no man hereby anymore trouble me, I bare in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ." Is the mark of Christ upon your life? If it is, then you will be broken-hearted because of the sin of the day and sin of the land.
After the remnant have been marked and set apart for protection, they begin to go and the punishment comes. God says specifically in verse 6, "begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house."
He is saying you start at the house of God. In First Peter 4, verse 17 the Bible says, "For the time is now come that judgment must begin at the house of God." That's where God always starts. God judges His house.
It's no minor matter to be a part of the house of God; to be a member of the fellowship of a church. That's serious business. God deals with sin in the midst of His people. You can just mark that down. The greater the responsibility, the more the accountability. Those of us who know Jesus and the truth of the Bible, we just can't play around with sin. God will deal with that sin.
Notice this first vision in verse 3. Look at what happens. It says, "And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, (mercy seat in the holy of holies) to the threshold of the house."
That glory just picks up and moves from the mercy seat to the doorsteps of the temple. The people still didn't get it.
In verse 8 Ezekiel falls on his face and begs God. God said unto him in verse 9, "The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness."
He is telling why punishment is coming. This what the people were saying. "The Lord has forsaken the earth. The Lord sees not." But the Lord does see. He sees everything. You can't hide from God. There are no secrets from God. Do you think you are getting away with what you are doing?
No. God's eye is on you. That is a troubling truth to those who have sin in their life. It is a terrifically encouraging truth to those of us who need God's presence and God's power in our lives to know that His eyes are upon us.
Chapter 9, the glory of God punishing. Chapter 10 is
the glory of God
II. LINGERING.
You have here another vision of the cherubim and the wheels and all of that, similar to chapter 1. You have some added details I'll not go into. But in this chapter there are two more visions of the glory of God. But you are going to see here the glory of God lingering.
In chapter 9, the glory of God lifted up from the cherub and went to the threshold. So the last time we saw the glory, the glory was at the threshold. But now look at what you see in verse 4 of chapter 10.
Wait a minute. It had already gone to the threshold. Do you know what has happened?
The glory of God has gone back to the cherub. Then it says it went up from the cherub and now goes to the threshold of the house.
"The house was filled with the cloud and the court was full of the brightness of the Lord's glory." God's presence.
Do you see what is happening? It's as if the glory of
God is saying, “I'm getting ready to go, but I don't want to go. It's as if the glory of the Lord is lingering, hoping the people will repent.
If you are playing footsie with sin, God doesn't want to leave your life with his power and his blessing. He is reluctant to go. He will linger. He will give you every chance.
You go on down through the chapter and you have a new vision of the cherubim and all of those kinds of things. The man with the linen gets some coals of fire from the cherubim and puts it in his hands. But as you move down to chapter 10, verse 18, here's the third vision of the glory. Watch this.
"Then the glory of the Lord departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubim."
The glory was at the mercy seat, went to the threshold, went back to the cherub, back to the threshold. Now notice where the glory goes. The glory departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubim, goes back to the mercy seat, and then in verse 19 the cherubim "lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in m sight; when they went out, the wheels also were beside them, and every one stood at the door of the east gate of the Lord's house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above."
Do you see what is happening? The glory is leaving; but the glory is lingering. He is reluctant to leave.
Look at chapter 11. I want to call chapter 11 the glory of God
3. DEPARTING
Look at verse 1, "moreover the spirit lifted me up, and brought me unto the east gate." That's where the glory has just gone. Ezekiel says, "I went and I looked eastward; and behold at the door of the gate five and twenty men, among whom I saw."
He names a couple of them. These were the religious leaders. They are standing there at the east gate of the temple.
In verse 2 he said, "Son of man, these are the men that devise mischief, and give wicked counsel in this city." They are making up sin plans. Here are twenty-five religious leaders. They are standing at the east gate. They are making up sin plans and they are giving ungodly counsel to the people. Here's what they say in verse 3.
"It is not near; let us build houses: this city is the
caldron. And we be the flesh."
We're fine. God is not going to judge sin. That's the day we are living in. people don't want to believe God will judge sin today. People want a namby-pamby God today. I know God is love.
That's the greatest truth in the Bible. But the same Bible that says God is love, also says God is a God who punishes sin. You can't sin and get by with it.
But they said, "Oh, it's not near. Let's build houses.
Everything is fine. This city is the caldron and we are the flesh."
What in the world does that mean? Basically these men were telling the people -listen, we are just like a choice piece of meat in the soup pot. We are just as safe as a piece of meat in the soup pot.
Well, verse 4. By the way they were saying we're the choicest pieces of meat. Those poor old people who have gone into exile they are the bits and pieces and the scraps. God said to Ezekiel, "Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy o son of man." In verse 5 the spirit of the Lord fell on him and said, "Speak."
In verse 6, ye have multiplied your slain in this city, and ye have filled the streets there with the slain."
He is saying that all this judgment has come, all this punishment has come, and you think everything is fine.
In verse 7 he says, "Your slain whom ye have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and this city is the caldron."
He says, I'll bring you out of the midst of it and look at what he says in verse 11. "This city shall not be your caldron, neither shall ye be the flesh in the midst thereof; but I will judge you in the border of Israel.
He is saying, not only are you not the choicest meat in the pot, but you are not even in the pot. They weren't as safe as they thought they were. I don't know where America gets the idea that somehow we are just immune from everything.
I want you to see this fourth vision. By the way,
Ezekiel is overwhelmed by it all and starting in verse 16 God gives him a series of promises, I wills.
He says in verse 16, "I will be a little sanctuary to you."
In verse 17, he says, "I will gather you and give you the land." He promises to restore Israel back to its land.
Then in verse 19 he says, "I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you."
Look at this fourth vision in verse 22.
"Then did the cherubim lift up their wings, and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above. And the glory of the lord went up from the midst of the city and stood upon the mountain which is on the eastside of the city." That's the Mount of Olives. From there God's glory departed. See the picture?
God's glory lifted up from the mercy seat and went out to the threshold of the door. It went back to the mercy seat as if to say, "I don't want to go." Went back to the threshold of the door. Then went from the threshold of the door out to the east gate. Then from the east gate to the Mount of Olives and the glory of God went back to heaven.
God gave later on to Ezekiel a brighter picture. Keep your place here and look at chapter 43. Look at what
God told Ezekiel would happen one day. Verse 1 says, "Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east: and behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east. . ..and the earth shined with his glory."
Verse 4, "And the glory of the Lord came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east. So the spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court: and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house.
God said to Ezekiel, "one of these days the glory is coming back." We know that when Jesus came the first time, a measure of that prophecy was fulfilled. When Jesus came back, the glory was back on the earth and we know when he comes the second time, the Bible says his feet will stand in that day on the mount of olives and Jesus Christ will march down from the mount of olives and will sit as king of kings and Lord of lords in the millennium temple in Jerusalem. The glory will be back on the earth to stay.
Let me make some applications for you. We need a revival as a nation. When the glory comes back, that's just another way of saying revival. When the glory is restored into a nation that means revival.
Some people say that revival is sweeping America. George Barna, the church growth expert who does surveys, says there is no evidence for revival in America. Some people think just because folks are falling in the floor and barking like dogs that it's revival.
The Holy Spirit does not bring you down to the level of a dog; he lifts you up to the level of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let me tell you when we are going to know we are having revival in America. We will have a revival and know we are having a revival when there is again an awesome sense of the presence of God in this land.
When there are multitudes of people who come to Christ, revival always results in souls being saved.
When there is a pronounced improvement in the morality of America, we will know revival has come to America.We can pray for it. The Bible says Psalm 85, "Will thou not revive us again, that glory may dwell in the land."
Look at chapter 11 and I want to close with this. God promises in verse 19, "I will give them one heart and
I will put a new spirit within you. I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh.
That is an Old Testament equivalent of what Jesus was talking about in John 3 when he said ye must be born again.
Do you know how to have the glory of God in your life? Repent of your sins and by faith receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior and when you do that the Bible says you are born again. God gives you a brand new heart.
