THUMBING OUR NOSE AT GOD
Ezekiel 8:17,18 He said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a trivial matter for the house of Judah to do the detestable things they are doing here? Must they also fill the land with violence and continually provoke me to anger? Look at them putting the branch to their nose! Therefore I will deal with them in anger; I will not look on them with pity or spare them. Although they shout in my ears, I will not listen to them.”
The Southern Kingdom of Israel had pushed God too far, and now God was so angry at them that even if they would shout in his ears he would not listen to them. Their idol worship had been going on for many years. God had sent many prophets to convict them of this sinfulness, but they rejected them and even kill some. Now to make matters worse their religious leaders that once were to serve the Lord now did an unthinkable thing in God’s sight. They had set up the idol Tammus across from the Eastern Gate that led into the temple of the Lord, and now thumbed their nose so to speak at God as if to say they didn’t believe he could stop them. Their irreverent act of insulting the Lord had become an unforgivable sin.
Now God would make them pay for their arrogance dearly. When Babylon would finish God’s judgment on Judah and Jerusalem, their great walls of defiance and protection along with the temple would be torn down and burned. God would remove this generation from their Promised Land, and God’s presence just as he punished the Hebrews that rebelled from him by not going into the Promised Land. Only Joshua and Caleb would be able to escape the 40 years of wanderings in the desert. Now after 70 years in exile God would be starting with a clean slate so to speak. With this new start God hoped for true repentance, and loyalty to him alone by the Hebrews.
Incurring God’s anger is never a smart thing let alone to purposely and irreverently insult him. Sad to say Israel did it again and this time it was even worse. The religious leaders and the people turned their back on God’s only begotten Son Jesus Christ, and put their thumb to their nose by saying let his blood be on us and our children. They not just missed the mark of receiving Jesus as their Lord and Savior, but they spit in his face mocking his divinity. For almost 2,000 years the Jews have been paying the price for thumbing their nose at Jesus. And as we look to the Book of Revelation, they will not have a true change of heart towards him until about halfway through the seven years of tribulation when the 144,000 Jews begin a revival for Jesus.
I believe Jesus spoke of the punishment for their rejecting and thumbing their nose at him in Mark 11:20. In it we see where Jesus cursed a fig tree and it withered or began to die from its roots. I believe the fig tree represented Israel and the root system was the law that the religious leaders trusted in to find reconciliation with God. Because of their rejection of him, they would find the law instead of setting them free of their burden of guilt would bring their demised. Only Jesus could give the living water that would bring them life that would come by grace. To this very day Jews and people all over the world are trying to live up to their hope of being good enough to find forgiveness and reconciliation with God only to find the dryness and death that comes with it. All these people have turned their backs on God. They have turned from living water to embrace death.
These people are not the only ones that are thumbing their nose at the Lord. People all over the world and even governments are turning their backs on Jesus. God does not care how sincere they may be in their efforts in life. The only thing that matters in God’s sight is doing God’s will, and this is on a national level as well as a personal level. This is why we see God’s great wrath coming on the entire earth during the seven years of tribulation just before Jesus returns.
While there may be very little we can do on a global or national level, we can still respond to Jesus ourself. To reject Jesus is to thumb our nose at God. Are you willing to experiences the consequences that this will bring?
Prayer: Heavenly Father, please forgive us for any times that we have purposely rejected your will. Please help us to always be passionate about doing your will now and forever. We love you Heavenly Father!
