Theological Commentary: Click Here
Discipleship Focus: Approval
- Approval: We all need to feel as though we are accepted. When we seek the approval of God, our Up is in the right place. But when we seek the approval of other people besides God, we open the door to pursuing false gods and risk putting someone or something other than God in our Up position.
Ezekiel 10
is an easy chapter to walk away from feeling confused. If we focus on the cherubim and their description,
that’s exactly what we’re going to do.
After all, can you easily figure out what Ezekiel is describing here in
this vision?
However, if
we take a step back and accept that the vision of the cherubim is difficult to
understand, then we can see the bigger picture.
The chapter opens with a promise of purification. The man in chapter 9 who placed the marks on
the foreheads of those who mourned is given a new task. He is to take fire out of the altar and
scatter them onto the city. We are
tempted to see this as a sign of destruction.
But remember that where the prophets are concerned fire is usually a
symbol of purification. Remember the
call of Isaiah? It is a coal from the
altar that purifies him.
What can we
conclude, then? Even though Jerusalem is
judged, it will be purified. There is
redemption in the future. After judgment,
God’s people will find approval once more.
While this
chapter opens with a good note of promise, it ends on a really sad note. The presence of the Lord leaves the
temple. The Lord decides that it is time
to get up, move, and let the Hebrew people fend for themselves against the
Babylonians. What is really sad is the
reason why. Remember that this set of
chapters is all rooted in the idolatry going on in the chapter. The people choose to worship something else. When they do that, they lose the approval of
God.
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