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Idols of the Heart:
God gave Ezekiel supernatural insight into the hearts of these leaders. There were many leaders who were idol worshippers. Their idols were not evident outwardly, but in their hearts. This secret idolatry made them to stumble into iniquity. The charge against them is that they have been infected by their Babylonian environment and the attractions of its idolatrous religion. Nothing had changed outwardly in their allegiance to the Lord, but they had taken idols into their hearts."Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the Lord Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other'" Deuteronomy 4:39 (NKJV).
"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" Ezekiel 8:16 (NKJV). God promised to oppose such double-hearted men. God knew the truth about those who pretended to serve God on the outside but were filled with idolatry on the inside, and He would oppose them and judge them according to that truth.
The word of the Lord revealed to him that whatever their outward attitude might be, they were at heart idolaters, and he was charged to declare to them that while idolatry remained in their heart they were necessarily estranged from the Lord throughout Scriptures. They were like the people in Isaiah’s day who drew near to God with words but not with their hearts. "Therefore the Lord said: “Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths; And honor Me with their lips, But have removed their hearts far from Me, And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men" Isaiah 29:13 (NKJV).
Jesus said that the Pharisees in His day were guilty of the same sin."'Thesepeople draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men" Matthew 15:8-9 (NKJV).
God promised that the ones with such hidden idolatry and sin in their life would receive an answer from Him, but it would be an answer of judgment. It would be an answer according to the multitude of his idols. Because they are all estranged from Me by their idols: This was why their hearts were distant from God. As an unfaithful spouse might give their heart to another, so Israel unfaithfully gave their hearts to the idols of the Canaanites and other surrounding nations. "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor [b]sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God" 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 (NKJV). Repent, turn away from your idols, and turn your faces away from all your abominations: This was God’s word to those among Israel who sought Him. If they inquired of Him, God had a simple response: repent. Then God defined repentance as turning away from idols and abominations."Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Repent, turn away from your idols, and turn your faces away from all your abominations. For anyone of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell in Israel, who separates himself from Me and sets up his idols in his heart and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity, then comes to a prophet to inquire of him concerning Me, I the Lord will answer him by Myself. I will set My face against that man and make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of My people. Then you shall know that I am the Lord" Ezekiel 14:6-8 (NKJV).
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