The Presence & Absence
Ezekiel 10
Emmanuel Christian Church 2.25.24
INTRODUCTION: The questions before us this morning are these- “What
happens when God shows up.” and “What drives God away?”
Now, to be sure, God is ever present, and not subject to
circumstance or human actions. BUT, there have been times when God
has chosen to reveal Himself in dramatic action AND times when He has
chosen to remove Himself from direct human contact.
This presence of God and absence of God are clearly embedded in
Ezekiel chapter 10.
PROPOSITION: God does nothing without purpose. After we answer the
two “What?” questions, we’re going to deal with the even more important
question of “Why?”. It is in the answer to that question, we will discover
the purpose and point of Ezekiel chapter 10.
“What happens when God shows up?”
Ezekiel 10:1 I looked, and I saw the likeness of a throne of sapphire
above the expanse that was over the heads of the cherubim. 2 The LORD
said to the man clothed in linen, “Go in among the wheels beneath the
cherubim. Fill your hands with burning coals from among the cherubim
and scatter them over the city.” And as I watched, he went in.
Ezekiel 10:3 Now the cherubim were standing on the south side of the
temple when the man went in, and a cloud filled the inner court. 4 Then
the glory of the LORD rose from above the cherubim and moved to the
threshold of the temple. The cloud filled the temple, and the court was full
of the radiance of the glory of the LORD. 5 The sound of the wings of the
cherubim could be heard as far away as the outer court, like the voice of
God Almighty when he speaks.
Ezekiel 10:6 When the LORD commanded the man in linen, “Take fire
from among the wheels, from among the cherubim,” the man went in and
stood beside a wheel. 7 Then one of the cherubim reached out his hand
to the fire that was among them. He took up some of it and put it into the
hands of the man in linen, who took it and went out. 8 (Under the wings of
the cherubim could be seen what looked like the hands of a man.)
Ezekiel 10:9 I looked, and I saw beside the cherubim four wheels, one
beside each of the cherubim; the wheels sparkled like chrysolite. 10 As for
their appearance, the four of them looked alike; each was like a wheel
intersecting a wheel. 11 As they moved, they would go in any one of the
four directions the cherubim faced; the wheels did not turn about as the
cherubim went. The cherubim went in whatever direction the head faced,
without turning as they went. 12 Their entire bodies, including their backs,
their hands and their wings, were completely full of eyes, as were their four
wheels. 13 I heard the wheels being called “the whirling wheels.” 14 Each
of the cherubim had four faces: One face was that of a cherub, the second
the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an
eagle.
Ezekiel 10:15 Then the cherubim rose upward. These were the living
creatures I had seen by the Kebar River. 16 When the cherubim moved,
the wheels beside them moved; and when the cherubim spread their
wings to rise from the ground, the wheels did not leave their side. 17
When the cherubim stood still, they also stood still; and when the
cherubim rose, they rose with them, because the spirit of the living
creatures was in them.
Whaat happens when God shows up? We have a vision of the ultimate
reality taking place in the hidden realm of the spirt.
- This picture is very similar to the one we first saw back in Ezekiel
chapter 1.
- It makes VERY clear to us that there is more to reality than that which
we can see with our physical eyes or apprehend with our other four
senses.
- It impresses us with the fact that what takes place in the realm of the
spirit is far more significant than human events on earth!
- 155 years earlier, the prophet Isaiah had a very similar vision that helps
to answer the “Why?” question of God’s purpose.
Isaiah 6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a
throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2
Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they
covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they
were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the
LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” 4 At the sound of their
voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with
smoke.
Isaiah 6:5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean
lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the
King, the LORD Almighty.”
Isaiah 6:6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand,
which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my
mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away
and your sin atoned for.”
Isaiah 6:8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send?
And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
- The year is 750 BC.
- God is calling Isaiah to be His messenger and prophet to His people
Israel.
- The vision that Isaiah sees is nearly identical to Ezekiel’s, but we are
given details that help us answer the question as to WHY God would
choose to make such an appearance.
- God wanted Isaiah, Ezekiel (and us) to know that He is NOT LIKE US.
- God is ultimately POWERFUL in EVERY REALM of existence- both
earthly and heavenly.
- God is ultimately PURE in His MOTIVES and MORALS.
- God wanted Isaiah, Ezekiel (and us) to know that WE, along with the
rest of HUMANKIND have a real problem with SIN.
- The response of both Isaiah and Ezekiel to the appearance of God is
immediate and physical. Ezekiel collapses to the ground and Isaiah
cries out loud!
- What Isaiah says in that moment reflects the purpose of God in
making His appearance:
Isaiah 6:5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean
lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the
King, the LORD Almighty.”
APPLICATION: When God shows Himself to us, when we see Him for
who He really is- we come to the harsh reality of who we really are:
BROKEN SINNERS IN NEED OF A SAVIOR!
If you never come to that realization, you’ll never be able to
accept the salvation that is only available through the offer made by
Jesus.
TRANSITION: Now to our second question: “What drives God away?”.
Ezekiel 10:18 Then the glory of the LORD departed from over the
threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim. 19 While I
watched, the cherubim spread their wings and rose from the ground, and
as they went, the wheels went with them. They stopped at the entrance to
the east gate of the LORD’s house, and the glory of the God of Israel was
above them.
Ezekiel 10:20 These were the living creatures I had seen beneath the God
of Israel by the Kebar River, and I realized that they were cherubim. 21
Each had four faces and four wings, and under their wings was what
looked like the hands of a man. 22 Their faces had the same appearance
as those I had seen by the Kebar River. Each one went straight ahead.
Ezekiel 11:22 Then the cherubim, with the wheels beside them, spread
their wings, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them. 23 The
glory of the LORD went up from within the city and stopped above the
mountain east of it. (The Mount of Olives, 600 years later, the angels
would attend Jesus on the eve of His betrayal…)
“What drives God away?” The answer to that question is revealed in the
experience of the prophet Samuel 250 years earlier:
1Samuel 4:1 And Samuel’s word came to all Israel.
Now the Israelites went out to fight against the Philistines. The Israelites
camped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines at Aphek. 2 The Philistines
deployed their forces to meet Israel, and as the battle spread, Israel was
defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand of them on the
battlefield. 3 When the soldiers returned to camp, the elders of Israel
asked, “Why did the LORD bring defeat upon us today before the
Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the LORD’s covenant from Shiloh, so
that it may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies.”
1Samuel 4:4 So the people sent men to Shiloh, and they brought back
the ark of the covenant of the LORD Almighty, who is enthroned between
the cherubim. And Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with
the ark of the covenant of God.
1Samuel 4:5 When the ark of the LORD’s covenant came into the camp,
all Israel raised such a great shout that the ground shook. 6 Hearing the
uproar, the Philistines asked, “What’s all this shouting in the Hebrew
camp?”
When they learned that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp, 7
the Philistines were afraid. “A god has come into the camp,” they said.
“We’re in trouble! Nothing like this has happened before. 8 Woe to us!
Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? They are the gods
who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the desert. 9 Be
strong, Philistines! Be men, or you will be subject to the Hebrews, as they
have been to you. Be men, and fight!”
1Samuel 4:10 So the Philistines fought, and the Israelites were defeated
and every man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great; Israel lost
thirty thousand foot soldiers. 11 The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s
two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.
1Samuel 4:12 That same day a Benjamite ran from the battle line and
went to Shiloh, his clothes torn and dust on his head. 13 When he arrived,
there was Eli sitting on his chair by the side of the road, watching, because
his heart feared for the ark of God. When the man entered the town and
told what had happened, the whole town sent up a cry.
1Samuel 4:14 Eli heard the outcry and asked, “What is the meaning of
this uproar?”
The man hurried over to Eli, 15 who was ninety-eight years old and
whose eyes were set so that he could not see. 16 He told Eli, “I have just
come from the battle line; I fled from it this very day.”
Eli asked, “What happened, my son?”
1Samuel 4:17 The man who brought the news replied, “Israel fled before
the Philistines, and the army has suffered heavy losses. Also your two
sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been
captured.”
1Samuel 4:18 When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backward off
his chair by the side of the gate. His neck was broken and he died, for he
was an old man and heavy. He had led Israel forty years.
1Samuel 4:19 His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant
and near the time of delivery. When she heard the news that the ark of
God had been captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were
dead, she went into labor and gave birth, but was overcome by her labor
pains. 20 As she was dying, the women attending her said, “Don’t
despair; you have given birth to a son.” But she did not respond or pay
any attention.
1Samuel 4:21 She named the boy Ichabod, saying, “The glory has
departed from Israel” — because of the capture of the ark of God and the
deaths of her father-in-law and her husband. 22 She said, “The glory has
departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.”
APPLICATION: The priest Eli and his two sons Hophni and Phinehas all
had the same problem: a low regard for their own personal problem of
sin. It was recorded of Hophni and Phinehas: “Eli’s sons were wicked
men; they had no regard for the LORD.” 1Samuel 2:12
And as Israel’s spiritual leadership had become wickedly corrupt, so
had the rest of the nation. Thinking that the Ark of God was some kind of
secret weapon to be used against their enemies, they had foolishly failed
to realize that their sinful rebellion had long since driven God’s presence
from the very object in which they had placed their trust.
Eli’s daughter in law nailed it right on the head when she said “The
glory has departed from Israel.”!
CONCLUSION: When God shows up- His purpose its to clearly prove that
we are sinners in need of a Savior. When God departs, it’s simply because
we’ve failed to admit that fact.
God’s Word through the prophet Isaiah:
Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your
sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.
God’s promise to us through Jesus:
James 4:7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will
flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash
your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9
Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to
gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
