Jan. 14 - What happens in ... stays in ... ?

From the First Lesson for this day, Ezekiel 8:1-18

When I was young, I loved superheroes. Beyond their super powers, I think what enthralled me were their secret lives.

Did Lois Lane really not recognize Superman as Clark Kent just because he wore glasses?

Was Mary Jane really clueless when Peter Parker developed the skills and physique of the Spiderman?

How was it possible for Batman to drive so fast into the Bat Cave?

The thing about secret lives is that they almost always get found out. They rely on secret-keepers. Superman's family hid is secret. Alfred kept mum as he ironed the Bat Capes.

For superheroes, secret lives are pretty tame. The superheroes are fiction anyhow and their fantastic powers are mere fantasy.

Real people with secret lives are a different matter altogether. This is the issue Ezekiel is speaking to in this chapter: "I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire... And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem... the glory of the God of Israel was there..."

To glorify something is to draw attention to its attributes and when God appeared to Ezekiel in fire and amber, He was glorified in His attributes merely by His Presence. God's Presence is glory.

In short, God has no secret life. He is Who He is.

What a contrast to the scenes God's glory revealed to Ezekiel. Wickedness in Jerusalem, wickedness in the Temple, evil in the Holy of Holies.
* "Behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry... seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here..."
* "Behold a hole in the wall... Then said He unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door... Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here. So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed upon the wall round about."
* "There stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel... with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up... for they say, the LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth."
* "Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do... behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz."
* Behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD... were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east."
* "They have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose."

In short, Israel had a secret life. A secret life that was no secret to God.
* The image of jealousy - provoking God to anger
* Idols and creeping things (demons) - in God's Temple
* Weeping for Tammuz, a Middle Eastern god of death and dying
* Worshiping the sun - these were the clergy doing this!
* Inciting violence and anger, flouting God's Will

Ezekiel's judgment wasn't on sinners. It wasn't on people who hadn't heard. It wasn't on the outside-looking-in. God's judgment was on "the house of Israel." It was on their secret life.

How to prevent a secret life? The Lord gives us a few directions:
1) Walk in the Light as He is in the Light. There are secrets in life but we are not to live in the secrets.
2) He is the Truth. Knowing Him, we know the Truth and there are no secrets in the Truth.
3) Glorify Him. Seeing God in His Glory, as Ezekiel saw Him, extols His attributes. He has no secret attributes.
4) Understand that God's Temple is in my heart. Is there a secret hole? A secret door? Idols and creeping things? Those things can't abide where the glory of God dwells.

A practical thing: Don't go where you secret life may rear its head. If alcohol is a problem, don't drink. If sexual temptation is a secret life, don't go to strip clubs. If anger simmers in secret, learn ways to cope. If lying covers secret stories, tell the Truth and the secret life will vanish.

Christians are not superheroes. Our secret lives are not part of some grand fantasy. Our secret lives are an abomination. Allow the glory of God back into the Temple of my heart and the secrets will pass away.