In Ezekiel 14:1 we find that certain elders of Israel have come to the prophet in order to hear words from God.  Before they could speak to the prophet, God spoke to him regarding the spiritual condition of the men sitting before him.  In short, they had allowed Satan to take over their minds.  He had dangled things of the world before them and they had embraced them, making them, in the eyes of God, their idols.  From verses 1-4 we learn that God takes a totally different view of what man thinks about, talks about and is about than does man himself.  The message the Lord teaches us in verses three and four is that anything that stands between man and God, no matter how normal, or even good it may be, becomes an idol if it in any way takes man’s attention away from God.  As the Apostle Paul tells us in Philippians 4:5, moderation is the key.  The Lord tells us that anything, if it becomes too important to us, becomes an idol–a “stumbling block before our face.”  The idol then stands between us and God, rendering us unworthy of contact with Him.  And when we inquire of (pray to) the Lord He deals with us according to “… the multitude of their (our) idols.”  This explains why the vast majority of prayers go unanswered.  Sin separates man from God and makes our heaven as iron, which prayers cannot penetrate (Lev. 26).

Modern man has numerous idols from which to choose–the internet, television, recreation, entertainment, success, job, social status, religious status, money, possessions, etc.  None of these things are in and of themselves sinful.  But even food, if indulged in to excess, becomes an idol.  Family and friends, if allowed to become too important, become idols in the eyes of God.  A man answered Christ’s call to follow Him.  However, before leaving he wanted to return home to bury his father.  Jesus told him to “Let the (spiritually) dead bury the (physically) dead, and come, follow Me” (Mat. 8:22).  When Ezekiel’s wife died the Lord told him not to weep for her, but to get on with the work he had been called to do (24:15-19).  This is why we are told to “count the cost” of following the Lord.  And there is a cost.  Read Persecution, that word being the key.

In 14:5,6 the Lord tells Ezekiel (and us) that He wants to speak to the heart of His chosen people because, through their idolatry, they had become “… estranged (separated) from Me.  Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord, repent, turn from your idols, turn away your faces from all of your abominations.”  This command also applied to the “strangers” (converted Gentiles) in their midst (vs 7).  In verses eight through eleven God warns that idolators who come to a prophet for Truth will be made a sign and a proverb so that all will know that He is the Lord.  If the prophet is also an idolator, the Lord will treat him in the same way as the idolator who comes to him (the prophet) to hear God’s Word.  Why?  “That the house of Israel (the church today) will go no more astray from Me, neither be polluted any more, but that they may be My people and I may be their God.”

Note that being called God’s people does not nullify His command to obey Him.  Adam and Eve were His people, but they removed themselves from that vaulted status by disobeying Him.  Nothing has changed.  The prophets and the apostles, both hearing Truth from the same God, warned both Israelites and converted Gentiles that they must obey God in letter and spirit in order to receive His promises.  Read Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 28, Ephesians 2:20; 4:13, Matthew 5:17,21; 6:22; 12:46-50; 15:9; 19:17, John 8:31; 14:15-23; 15:10,13,14, Isaiah 41:21; 59:2, I Peter 2:9; 4:17,18, Titus 2:14, Romans 2:13, Amos 3:3, Jeremiah 31:31-33, Hebrews 8:8-12, James 2:10.  Note that in these Scriptures all of God’s promises are conditional–OBEDIENCE COMES BEFORE REWARDS.  NO OBEDIENCE–NO REWARD.  Adam and Eve were promised eternal life in paradise IF THEY OBEYED GOD.  But they placed an idol (self-direction) in front of their faces, thereby estranging themselves from God, thereby nullifying His promises.  Their desire for self-direction is known as pride, which is also known as idolatry (worship of self).  All sin is idolatry, which is deliberate rebellion against the first commandment in God’s Law: “YOU SHALL HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME.”  James 2:10 reminds us that to break one of God’s commandments is to break them all, thereby making one an worker of iniquity.  Recall that the rich man was rejected because he broke one commandment.  What does this say to all those who break commandment #4–God’s 7th day (Saturday) Sabbath commandment? which makes on a worker of iniquity.  Recall that Jesus said He does not know (intimately) workers of iniquity (Lawlessness) even though they call Him “Lord, Lord” and do “wonderful things in Your (His) name.”  For example, Sabbath iniquiters go to church every week.  But they go on Sunday–the day sun worshipers pay homage to their god–they place their sun god before the true god.  Recall that the five foolish virgins had at one time been wise.  They had at one time had oil.  Then they placed an idol(s) between themselves and the Lord, thereby estranging themselves from Him.  We all know how that ended.

In Ezekiel 14:12-19 the Lord proclaims what He will do to idolators who place anything between themselves and Him.  He says that even if Noah, Daniel and Job were alive, those righteous men could only save themselves when He poured out His wrath on idolators.  COVID-19 readily comes to mind.

As the Apostle Peter tells us in I Peter 4:17,18, judgment begins in the church, and that only the righteous within the church will be saved.  We must continuously compare (judge) our walk with the walk commanded by the Lord.  First John 2:6 identifies that walk as “walking as He (Jesus) walked.”  In 3:6 John tells us that we must be continually purifying ourselves so as to be as pure as the man Jesus was pure.  We purify ourselves “by the washing by the water by the WORD” OF GOD (Eph. 5:26).  In Revelation 3:21 Jesus tells us that in order to join Him in the Kingdom of God we must “overcome (temptation) even as I (He) overcame.”  By overcoming Satan’s “fiery darts” of temptation He qualified to join His Father on His throne where He remains to this day.  Will we believe these Holy Scriptures?  Or will we place idols before our faces? thereby separating ourselves from the Giver of eternal life.  We must walk as Jesus did in this life in order to join Him in the next life.  Life and death are choices that only we can make.  Let us choose life.  L.J.