Estranged Through Their Idols

Today’s Passage – Ezekiel 14 – 16 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – click here to view the text from the Blue Letter Bible website)

(Second Milers also read – 2 Corinthians 9 – 13; Psalms 11 – 15; Proverbs 3)

Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 34:6

Read the “0903 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

“4 Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols; 5 That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.” (Ezekiel 14:4-5)

Ezekiel is writing at the time when the Babylonians were invading Jerusalem and taking her inhabitants into captivity. There were actually three deportations. Daniel was taken captive along with others in 605 BC, Ezekiel was part of the group that was deported in 597 BC, and the final deportation and destruction of the City of Jerusalem took place in 586 BC. Ezekiel was ministering to captives who were already in Babylonian exile, but his messages from God were applicable to the people who still remained in Jerusalem. These earlier chapters (1 – 24) were written before the final destruction of Jerusalem. Though  Ezekiel prophesied much about God’s judgment, he also gave them hope through his prophecies of a future restoration of Israel.

The English word, “estranged,” carries the idea of severed relationship. We say that a child is estranged from his parents if they have broken off communication and no longer have any kind of connection. The Hebrew word (נָזֹרוּ – zûr) translated “estranged” here is used 77 times in the Old Testament in its various forms, but most of the time it is translated into the words, “strange,” or “stranger.” God is saying that the people of Judah and Jerusalem had become distant from Him because they had strayed into idolatry. They were close to idols but distant from God. They were unfamiliar with God because they had wandered away from him, searching for something else. 

The practical application that I saw in these verses is that many people today who claim to be Christians are estranged from God. They are completely unfamiliar with who He is and what He expects from His children. In the news today there are many in our nation who are advocating for abortion rights. Many of these folks say they are believers, yet they are supporting a position that is completely against the heart of God, whose desire is to protect the innocent. This is just one example. Another illustration is the way many Christians have sided with the Palestinian people who are supporting Hamas in their quest to exterminate the Jewish people. How can a Christian side with people who hate Israel and want to see them wiped off the face of the earth? These so-called Christians think the way they do because they are estranged from God; they do not know Him, they are unfamiliar with His Word, and they have no clue what He wants. 

The people referred to in the illustrations from the previous paragraph are predominantly unbelievers, even though they may claim to be Christians. However, there are also many true believers who can become estranged from God simply because they do not spend the time to get to know Him. This is why it is so important for Christians to daily spend time in the Word of God and also to be united with a good, Bible preaching church. The world, the flesh, and the devil are consistently pushing us in a direction away from the Lord, but a good church and daily fellowship with the Savior will keep us close.