Gluten Free & God Seeking: Looking at the Spiritual Meaning in Ezekiel's Visions - What Ezekiel 14:3 Shows Us About Israel's Captivity

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Looking at the Spiritual Meaning in Ezekiel's Visions - What Ezekiel 14:3 Shows Us About Israel's Captivity

God keeps His Word. God had warned the children of Israel if they worshipped the gods of the Canaanites, they would lose the land of Canaan. It's surprising to me that after walking through the Red Sea, eating manna, drinking water out of a rock that followed them for 40 years, and seeing God's victory again and again in so many battles that the Israelites got ensnared by the ugly looking gods of the people of Canaan!!

And even after Elijah had the show down with Baal on Mt. Carmel, the Israelites still kept forsaking God. In Ezekiel 6:9 God tells us this hurt Him--"...how I am broken with their heart of idolatry, which turned away from Me...." Finally God had no choice but to let them be taken captive by Assyria and Babylon.

I learned in chapter 14 of the Life-Study of Ezekiel that Ezekiel was taken into captivity around 606 B.C. when Nebuchadnezzar came and captured King Jehoiachin.

About 11 years later when King Zedekiah of Judah rebelled against Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar came with his army and destroyed the temple and burned the city of Jerusalem. Through the Israelite's idolatry, God had lost His place on the earth!! That was a huge blow to God's purpose. In chapter 13 Witness Lee talks about the reasons the Israelites became so degraded: Here is an excerpt from the section on page 144 on how idolatry still snares people today:

"We should not consider that an idol is always an outward image. Idols are substitutes for God. Ezekiel 14:3 says, Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart.... a scholarship, education, money, clothing, a wife, a husband, children--all these can be idols, something or someone that we love more than God and that replaces God in our life. Whatever is more important than God is an idol. The first reason for the fall and degradation of Israel was their idolatry" (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of Ezekiel. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1998, Print).

In this section he also reminds his readers that all spiritual degradation begins with idolatry. And this parallel is clearly seen in Revelation 2:4 where the Apostle John points out to the believers in Ephesus that their failure was due to their losing their first love for the Lord. Our heart are so important, and this word makes me think of a song that is more like a prayer called Lord, Keep My Heart. We're prone to loving other stuff, the only thing we can do is to ask the Lord to turn our hearts from everything else and love Him.

Other posts on the Major Prophets

Life-Study of Isaiah:
You can listen to excerpts of Witness Lee's speaking the Life-Study of Isaiah on Life Study of the Bible with Witness Lee. You can also read the online Life-Studies of Isaiah and check out other resources available to enhance your study of the Bible on Living Stream Ministry's website.

How Can the Son in Isaiah 7:14 & 9:6 Be the Mighty God?
Seeing Christ as the Great Light in Isaiah 9:2
Why is Christ Called the Cornerstone in Isaiah 28:26?
Taking a Closer Look at Isaiah 53 - Christ's Crucifixion Foretold - Part 1

Taking a Closer Look at Isaiah 53 - Christ's Resurrection &Ascension Foretold - Part 2 of 2

Life-Study of Jeremiah & Lamentations: