In Eze 8 God shows the prophet the great abominations the house of Israel was committing including the imagine of jealousy (a votive statue where child sacrifices were offered 16:20-36;20:26;31;23; 37...it was performed in the name of Yahweh as well as other gods.)
Child sacrifice was a Judean practice in the seventh century BC, though forbidden by God in the Scripture: Lev. 20: 1-5) The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Say to the people of Israel, Any one of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones. I myself will set my face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given one of his children to Molech, to make my sanctuary unclean and to profane my holy name. And if the people of the land do at all close their eyes to that man when he gives one of his children to Molech, and do not put him to death, then I will set my face against that man and against his clan and will cut them off from among their people, him and all who follow him in whoring after Molech...
and that Greater Abominations, than the imagine of jealousy (an idol), were being committed and revealed to Ezekiel: He saw every sort of creeping thing, abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed all around on the walls. seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, and in their midst stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan. (one of the wicked princes of the people) Every man with a censer in his hand, a thick cloud of incense in the room of their idols saying, "the LORD does not see, the LORD has forsaken the land.
The people of Israel turned to every sort of wicked perverse pagan diety and idol. Even placing them in God's temple and worshipping and praying to these false gods which in reality was the worship of demons. (1 Cor. 10:20)
Then Ezekiel was shown greater abominations: women at the North gate weeping for Tammuz. A Sumerian fertility god similar to the Greek god Adonis.The cult of Tammuz promised rich provision in the form of grain and sheep. A false god and idol to which the Israelite woman baked cakes to the Queen of Heaven. The moon, which rules by night, as the sun is the king that rules by day; and which was much worshipped by the Heathens, whom the Jews imitated.
Then God showed Ezekiel an even greater abomination: In the inner court of the LORD'S house, at the door of the temple 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.
And God said to Ezekiel, “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.(meaning:"They put the branch to their nose" is an allusion to a then familiar practice of holding a branch before the mouth during devotions: The branch was supposed to be odoriferous (having an unplesasant or distinctive smell) and was carried in succession in honor of the idol.
God's reaction to their sacrilegious and profane worship to false gods and idols? 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.”
Well there's something you don't hear among the Christian church. God will not hear us. But there is a distinct reason why He doesn't hear. When we ask for things for our own selfish pleasures, he will not hear us. Also, when we want things that are not in the will of God, He also doesn’t listen. When we make vain repetitions with words after words that never touch our hearts, He may not listen. But when we ask according to His will, with our hearts, and in His name, He will hear, and we will receive.
James 4:3: “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.”
Matthew 6:7: “And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.”
1 John 5:14 “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”
John 16:23-24: “And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”
There comes a time when God says enough. God is gracious, merciful and very patience with His people. But to those to whom much is given much is required. The Jews (Israelites) were chosen by God to be blessed by Him. The Israelites, received the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; Yet they doubled God, like their first parents in the garden, and lusted after the gods of the pagan peoples around them. They turned away from honoring , worshipping and obeying the One True and Only God, to worshipping the idols of the heathean nations around them. And because of that God demanded retribution for a faithless people.
In Ezekiel chapter 9 We read that the wrath of God was carried out by those who have charge over the city. Six men with a deadly weapon in their hand, a battle ax , to deliver God's punishment with swift and effective means. One of the men among them, clothed with linen and a writer’s inkhorn at his side. Was called of their LORD to “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.” (these would be spared God's wrath for they moaned over the abominations the nation was commiting)
The other men were told “Go after him (those who committed abominations) through the city and kill; do not let your eye spare, nor have any pity. Utterly slay old and young men, maidens and little children and women; but do not come near anyone on whom is the mark;
Ezekiel says, "I stayed there while the men went to kill the people. I bowed with my face to the ground and said, “Oh, Lord God, in showing your anger against Jerusalem, are you killing all the survivors in Israel?”
God replied, “The family of Israel and Judah has committed many terrible sins! People are being murdered everywhere in this country, and the city is filled with crime. That is because the people say to themselves, ‘The Lord has left this country. The Lord cannot see what we are doing.’ So I will not show any mercy or feel sorry for them. They brought it on themselves. I am only giving them the punishment they deserve!” (Eze 9:8-10)
The punishment for all those who worship, bow down and pray to false gods of this world continues to this day. God has provided a way to forgiveness and an acceptance before Him in the Kingdom of God. The One prophesied of in the Old Testment. Born of a virgin, born under law. Immanuel--God with us. The Word who was with God and the Word who is God. The Word who became flesh and dwelt among us. To fulfill the law and the prophets.
For God made Him who had no sin to be a sin offering for us. So that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. One whose goings forth are of old from everlasting. A child born, a Son given, Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father (for He and the Father are one) and Prince of Peace.
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Jesus Christ who proclamed, "I Am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no One comes to the Father except through me. He is the Only sacrifice acceptable by which anyone gains salvation.... "If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." Those who are chosen by grace through faith have a citizenship in heaven. These are those given everlasting life. But those who have not the Son shall not have life, but the wrath of God abides on them. They shall be absent from the presence of God and the glory of His power in eternity.
Jesus the Christ himself said, " do not fear those who kill the body but can not kill the soul. But fear him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell." For the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ the Lord." (Matt. 10:28)
And again the Lord Jesus warns with these words: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. (Matt. 7:13-14)
God has provided a Way. God has given us his Truth. God promises us Life Everlasting through the Only Name under heaven by which anyone is saved. From the wrath of God which is coming. The judgement that will be meted out on the whole world. And remember God is not a man that he should lie. What God has promised He will deliver and He will fulfill.
For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. (2 Thess. 1:7-8)
Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. (Rev. 20:14-15)
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.(John 1:12-13)
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavily burdened [by religious rituals that provide no peace], and I will give you rest [refreshing your souls with salvation]. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me [following Me as My disciple], for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest (renewal, blessed quiet) for your souls. For My yoke is easy [to bear] and My burden is light.” (Matt.11-28-30 AMP)
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