Pat-pat-pat-pitta-pat. I could hear the incessant dripping of our old, leaky bath tub faucet from across the hallway, curled up in bed, desperate for silence to quicken my slumber. Pat-pat-pat. No matter how many times it had been 'fixed', our antique plumbing always managed to spring another irritating leak. The bathroom would become unbearably humid as the hot water continued to escape, drop by drop. Mineral deposits had built up and calcified around the drain, the tell-tale remnants of our tub's frequent and annoying habit. Pitta-pat. Tomorrow, I resolved. Tomorrow that ancient faucet would be ancient history!
Little did I know the extent of the work that needed to happen to replace the trickling relic. Several hours, sawed-through pipes, and a hole in the wall later, the plumber finally turned our water back on. The leak was fixed! But now the pipes of our shower stood exposed, an unsightly glimpse beneath the surface of our home. Before my husband patched the hole in the dry wall, I would glance nervously into the dusty, gaping darkness, expecting some horrific, creepy-crawling thing to slither out from the depths underneath the house. That broken, busted wall made me appreciate the things that are blessedly hidden from my sight!
The prophet Ezekiel received his own unsightly glimpse, not into a bathroom wall, but into the very temple of God. In a vision, the Spirit of God transported Ezekiel to Jerusalem where he stood at the northern entrance to the inner court of the temple (Ezekiel 8:3). There, the Lord showed Ezekiel the idol of jealousy (v.5)—a man-made image erected and worshipped in the temple courts. As bad as this blatant idolatry was, God warned Ezekiel he would see things even more detestable, greater and greater offenses that would drive God's Presence far from His sanctuary (v. 6).
The Lord then instructs Ezekiel to dig into the temple wall and see the wicked and detestable things the leaders of Israel were doing inside (v. 7–9). All over the walls of God's holy temple were portrayed crawling things and detestable animals, and the elders themselves were burning incense, each at the shrine of their own idols (v. 10–12). These leaders had lost their faith—they believed God no longer saw them and, in turn, were desperately seeking alternatives!
God finished Ezekiel's disconcerting tour of the temple by showing him two further examples of idolatrous practices: worship of the fertility god Tammuz, and sun worship (v. 14, 16). As a result of these abominations, God prepared to judge the people (Ezekiel 9:1–2). However, before God's judgment, He instructed that those who grieved and lamented the detestable things happening in Jerusalem be marked, and thereby spared (v. 4).
Ezekiel's vision is of special concern to the believer, for Scripture says, "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple" (1 Corinthians 3:16–17). We are the temple of a holy God—therefore, growing us in personal holiness is the means by which God gives us more of Himself! Let’s see what we can learn from Ezekiel.
The first thing we see in Ezekiel's vision is this: Anything that vies for the Lord's rightful place in our hearts is an idol. We may call it our passion, guilty pleasure or hobby, but God knows better. And we would do well to understand that provoking our Lord to jealousy drives a wedge in our relationship with Him. May we petition the Lord to give us a heart of undivided devotion that we may declare with the psalmist, "Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth I desire besides you" (Psalm 73:25, emphasis added)!
The second application we find is it may take some effort to see the truth of things in our hearts. Just as Ezekiel had to dig into the wall to discover the detestable things happening in the darkness, so we too may have to do some digging to unearth the roots of our sin. We must be careful not to allow external ritual to become the cloak of polluted thoughts, desires and activities within.
We may convince ourselves that because no one else can read our thoughts or see into our hearts we're "getting away with it", but the truth is "no creature is hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account" (Hebrews 4:13). God sees behind our walls…and yet He loves us still! He sees it all, and the more we surrender to the reality of His constant presence, the better equipped we will be to take our thoughts captive before Him (2 Corinthians 10:5) and to flee to His throne of grace for help in our time of need (Hebrews 4:16)!
On the flip side of God's piercing omniscience is His great mercy in "hemming us in", or in only allowing us to see portions of the truth at a time. Like the walls of the temple, our limited human perspective protects us from seeing at once the full extent of our depravity. It guards us from a reality too crushing for us to bear, and points us to the magnificent grace of our Lord and Savior who daily bears our burdens (Psalm 68:19)!
Finally, Ezekiel's vision points us to the hope we have in Christ! Even in the midst of judgment, God knows and protects those who are broken-hearted over wickedness and sin. We can find encouragement in the fact that God did not mark these people because they were righteous or innocent, but because their hearts were repentant.
We will never plumb the depths of our sin so as to be able to say, "I know them all!" Were we to count them, we would find them without number. But when we place our hope in Christ, in the word of truth and the gospel of our salvation, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13). We are spared our rightful judgment not because we're "good people", but because we have a good God!
As we draw closer to Jesus we will inevitably become more aware of our sin. Like peering behind the walls, we will find things we do not like—things that frighten us, things we would rather leave covered up. But in the balance of God's perfect justice, the cross of Christ tips the scales of our sin every time!
At the cross, our sin is removed as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). At the cross, our sin is cast into the depths of the sea and remembered no more (Micah 7:19; Jeremiah 31:34)! And though we battle it daily, at the cross our sin has met its defeat. So rejoice, believer! We are indeed great sinners who have committed great offenses, but we have a God who is greater by far! Let us again join in the psalmist’s song and declare, “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised!” (Psalm 96:4).
My Lord, I pray for a heart fully and completely devoted to You! Show me my idols—reveal to me the things or people I’ve allowed to take Your rightful place on the throne of my heart. May the desires of my flesh and the temptations of the world pale in comparison to the surpassing joy of knowing You, my Lord and Savior! Grant me a greater desire to worship You in holiness and purity, and the humility to consider myself with sober judgment. Thank You, O God, for shielding me from the full weight of my sin! Thank You for bearing my burdens, and for working in my heart gently, graciously, and in Your perfect time. Equip me to fight my sin with the strength and courage that come from living in the truth of Your great grace! In Jesus’ name, amen.
Reflection Questions
- What are some things that vie for your devotion to Christ? How do you combat them?
- Has the Lord done some “deep digging” in your life, either recently or in the past? How has your faith been affected by this experience?
- Read these passages: “…even the darkness is not dark to You; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with You” (Psalm 139:12), and, "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). How do these verses encourage you when faced with the darkness of both the world and your own heart?