Search the Scriptures, April 21

In chapters 9-10, we begin to see God actually beginning to depart from his own home, his own Temple, the place he had chosen as the spiritual center of life on earth. 9:3] Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub on which it rested to the threshold of the house. Now God’s glory has lifted from its place above the cherubim, the angels who were right above the ark of the covenant in the Most Holy Place.

The angel gives Ezekiel a tour of the city and shows him that the people themselves had become spiritually corrupt, so the cultural leaders, the spiritual leaders, and the people themselves all wanted God gone.

10:4-5] And the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub to the threshold of the house, and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was filled with the brightness of the glory of the Lord. And the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard as far as the outer court, like the voice of God Almighty when he speaks.

God gives them one last display of his splendor and his power before he leaves, one last attempt to reach their hearts. Then we’re told 10:19] And the cherubim lifted up their wings and mounted up from the earth before my eyes as they went out...And they stood at the entrance of the east gate of the house of the Lord, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them. This was the gate that faced the Mount of Olives. The glory of the Lord and the warring angels stood there for a time. Again, we see the reluctance of God to withdraw his presence from his people, giving them one last chance to turn.