Prophecy
What Have You Seen?
Matthew 5:8
God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they
will see God.
NLT
Have you seen this?
This is God's question to Ezekiel. He says to the prophet, “Hey Mr. Watchman - do you see what the people are doing? Can you believe this stuff?” The implication is that God is about to send Ezekiel forth with a new message. And, not to repeat myself, but the church should be worrying that God is asking the same question today. Do you see what is going on in the world around us? Can you believe some of the things "religious" leaders are doing and promoting? The church should go forth and warn the people about the coming disaster and judgment!
Is it?
Ezekiel 8:15
Then He said to me, "Have you seen this,
O son of man? Turn again, you will see greater abominations than these."
Turn around and look around you. Consider all of the abominations taking place today. It is only by God's grace and the power of the Gospel that we, the church, may be successful in our quest. What did God find to be a greater abomination that a false idol in the Temple court, false idols on the Temple walls, and the worship of the god of fertility?
Ezekiel 8:16
So He brought me into the inner court of the Lord's
house; and there, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the
porch and the altar, were 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.
Backs to the Temple - this is the same as turning your back to God. Whether it is an outright, obvious turning from God or something more subtle, like a change in doctrine within the doors of the church, modern man is like the men of Jerusalem. Modern man worships the sun God.
I think of Carl Sagan and his Cosmos television series. Sagan made it clear that he worshiped the creation and did not see a creator. Science was his god.
Sun gods, fertility gods, rain gods pervade the religions of history. Yet, the sun is nothing but a part of creation. Where is the creator? Sagan's god could be named the sun god.
And what of those who see a “god” but fail to identify him with Jesus? These worship Tammuz or Baal or any of a variety of deities created by mankind over the course of human history. In these days since September 11, 2001, I am particularly struck by the idea of men praying facing to the east. From the US, Mecca is east. Every day, five times a day, “good” Muslims kneel to the east worshiping Allah. My daughter goes to a Christian school located in a fine Christian church. Across the street, easily within eyesight sits a mosque. This is the modern day equivalent of the kneeling men, backs to the church, praying to the east. They worship a false god, be he the sun god or some other variety.
Not all Muslims are terrorists. Most are fine citizens. But, all are lost sinners. The final choice is not based upon being a terrorist or a model citizen. The final choice is based upon being a believer or a non-believer in Jesus. Which side of this choice do you fall on?
