Reformation Sunday - Ezekiel 13:17-23

Theme:Idolatry Hits Close to Home through Identity

1. Man tries to identify with God by idolatry

2. God defeats idolatry by changing man’s identity

It’s an interesting coincidence that Reformation Day and Halloween happen to fall on the same day each year. I don’t think anyone planned this, but the events of Halloween, especially as it’s portrayed in our culture, are always a good reminder of the significance of the Reformation. For Christians at the time of Luther and other Reformers, the devil was a very real threat and temptation was depicted as a life or death consequence. If you’ve ever seen any Reformation-era artwork, you’ll understand what I mean. It’s common to see images of skeletons, demons, and depictions of death in graphic detail. There was no censorship of these things at that time because Christians wanted people to fear these things.

Today, it’s common to see the devil, demons, witches, and sorcerers portrayed in a much lighter way. Even this last week I saw one of the popular, lovable characters from the Peanuts cartoon illustrated as a fictitious Satan in costumes with horns and pitchfork. I’m not trying to be overly zealous about cartoonish depictions at Halloween and act like they are the fast track to hell. But, these characterizations of Satan, who is a very real threat, can have the unintended effect of desensitizing us to his ploys and plots. 

This is why a passage like 1 Peter 5:8 is a good reminder around Halloween and Reformation time. It fits with the meaning of both days: Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. This describes the true nature of Satan. This is why he continues to be a very real threat to us today. The Lord’s call to be alert has not ceased to apply to your life. Today, as we think of the events of the Reformation, we consider a real-life case example of how Satan stalks and prowls as a lion. The image itself is abstract in many ways, to learn from it we also need to apply it to the ways that it fits our lives. We see it today from the prophet Ezekiel:

Ezekiel 13:17-23 "Likewise, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people, who prophesy out of their own heart; prophesy against them, 18  "and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: "Woe to the women who sew magic charms on their sleeves and make veils for the heads of people of every height to hunt souls! Will you hunt the souls of My people, and keep yourselves alive? 19  "And will you profane Me among My people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, killing people who should not die, and keeping people alive who should not live, by your lying to My people who listen to lies?" 20  ‘Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I am against your magic charms by which you hunt souls there like birds. I will tear them from your arms, and let the souls go, the souls you hunt like birds. 21  "I will also tear off your veils and deliver My people out of your hand, and they shall no longer be as prey in your hand. Then you shall know that I am the LORD. 22  "Because with lies you have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and you have strengthened the hands of the wicked, so that he does not turn from his wicked way to save his life. 23  "Therefore you shall no longer envision futility nor practice divination; for I will deliver My people out of your hand, and you shall know that I am the LORD."’

We see in these verses just how seriously the LORD God takes false teaching. We’re not told the specific teachings of these false prophetesses, but we are given some details. Ezekiel describes the use of some type of ornamental charm that had some spiritual significance. The Hebrew term used in verses 18 and 20 indicates a bracelet that was worn. The prophetesses had taught the people that these bracelets had some type of magical or spiritual power. God says they were using these bracelets to hunt and trap souls. His message of deliverance was that He would free the trapped souls and expose the false teachers for what they were.

It’s common to read a portion of the Old Testament like this and forget to apply it to our lives. It seems strange to our ears that God’s people could fall for such a foolish trick. Enchanted trinkets are quickly exposed by our highly educated and trained Christian minds. But the deeper you dig into the background of this type of idolatry, the more you can see how it affects our lives.

Anyone who knows the basics of Reformation history can see the parallel to this text. At the time of Luther and well before, the Roman Catholic Church had led people astray from God’s truth through magical charms like relics, rosaries, and indulgences. Though far distant from Ezekiel’s age, the time of the Reformation was shrouded in mysticism and spiritual ritual. Church leaders regularly connected the divine to material things, and led church members to believe that these ordinary items had some significant purpose.

In substance, both examples are the same – they are times when Satan, the roaring lion, hunted peoples’ souls and led them away from Christ. The details were different to be sure, but the motives and factors were very much the same. Every scenario involving idolatry also reveals something about identity. What we mean by identity is how we view ourselves, especially in relation to God, or what many non-believers would refer to as the divine realm. No matter what a person’s religious belief is, we all have some type of identity in relation to the divine. The major question is how that identity is formed and understood.

Ezekiel depicts the common example of idolatry and its bearing on identity. Mankind, in an attempt to associate or be identified with God, attaches a significant meaning to something worldly. This is done in an attempt to reach up to God and find our identity with Him. The most common worldly objects are correctly called idols. We might think of statues made of wood, stone, or precious metal. Indeed, that type of idolatry still is practiced in many parts of the world today.

But in those cultures which have exposed the futility of such common idols, other more nuanced and complicated types take the same place. So, we see in the Reformation how the Roman Catholic Church began to attach spiritual significance to the saints, or objects from the saints. Simple items like a necklace of beads or even a piece of paper became the most sought after and necessary relics in the Christian’s life, all because of what they could supposedly do for their identity before God. Even the most sacred of the Lord’s own worship institutions – His Holy Supper – was denigrated into an idolatrous feast that shifted the focus from Jesus’ one sacrifice on the cross to mankind’s ability to conjure up divine miracles on the spot. It was the same as the charm bracelets that the LORD so vehemently condemned in our text – common worldly objects meant to displace God’s true Word.

How does this fit into our lives? That answer is perhaps the most difficult because idols today have shifted and changed even more than in Luther’s day. It’s also challenging because it takes an honest Christian to identity. You have to be open with the cavities in your heart that are leading you away from God. You have to be willing to be brutally honest with your thoughts, words, and actions and take the road less traveled in your assessment of your life. That road means blocking out the natural reaction of justifying what you have done and what false beliefs you have allowed in your heart. No one does this naturally. The people of Israel didn’t. Medieval Christians resisted too. That’s why they fell into traps that seem so easily avoidable to us. To understand how idolatry affects you today, you have to listen to God and block out your sinful flesh’s natural reaction. And if you open your ears to listen, as Jesus so often pleaded with the crowds to do, you will see answers in God’s Word that help your life.

Notice from Ezekiel, the root cause behind the various idolatrous symptoms. From the first verse of our text: Likewise, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people, who prophesy out of their own heart… This wasn’t the only place, either. At the beginning of chapter 13, when Ezekiel was condemning the false male prophets, he said the same: “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy out of their own heart,`Hear the word of the LORD!'" 3 Thus says the Lord GOD: "Woe to the foolish prophets, who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing!”

There we see the core rot of the sinner’s heart. This is what false teaching delights in and what it feeds upon. This is the singular sign that Satan has devoured and conquered – that a person trusts their own heart over God. False teachers are evil because they lead hearers to this kind of attitude. Simple, obedient faith that follows God at every Word He speaks is supplanted by subjective feeling and desire. This is the true indication of idolatry and it’s the common thread in all false teaching from the beginning of time.

In what ways does this strike your life? It could be anything that becomes more important than God. Money, power, popularity, tradition, anger, pride, your job, a house or a car, and so on. You have help in recognizing what it may be in your life by heeding the same lesson God is giving here. Idolatry causes us to establish our identity in ourselves, and then force that into God’s plan. Conversely, faith humbly trusts the identity that Jesus bestows upon us as His children. And God defeats idolatry by changing our identity to be more like His.

God described this to Ezekiel as liberating believers from the snares and traps of the Devil. ‘Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I am against your magic charms by which you hunt souls there like birds. I will tear them from your arms, and let the souls go, the souls you hunt like birds. 21  "I will also tear off your veils and deliver My people out of your hand, and they shall no longer be as prey in your hand. Then you shall know that I am the LORD.

We are free from false spiritual charms because of Jesus Christ. We are released from the captivity of false teachings and vain messages of deliverance. By faith, God reassures and strengthens believers with the one true gospel message of salvation in His Son, Jesus Christ. This has freed you from slavery under the constraints of God’s law that you couldn’t keep on your own. This is the good news that brings joy and comfort to even the most hardened sinner who repents. This is how Jesus changes our identity to be like His. It’s the only way to accomplish this great quest of the divine that all people seek. It’s not about reaching up to God by our rudimentary efforts, but Him coming down to us in tender love and forgiveness.

This is our identity, and it’s the only one that contains no idolatry – for it trusts in Jesus Christ alone.

Romans 10:6 But the righteousness that comes from faith speaks like this: Do not say in your heart, "Who will go up to heaven?" that is, to bring Christ down 7 or, "Who will go down into the abyss?" that is, to bring Christ up from the dead. 8 On the contrary, what does it say? The message is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. This is the message of faith that we proclaim: 9 If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.   

When you are on the lookout for signs of idolatry in your life – think of your identity. Is it in the many charms of our affluent culture – money, possessions, status, power and the like? Is your identity in the charms of sophistication and wisdom – do you feel attached to God because of how much you know, or how well you can rationally reconcile your faith in your mind? If these things describe the identity you have as a believer – beware – because that means you’re being hunted by the lion.

Rather than having that sad and desperate end to your faith – take comfort in the reality of the gospel of Christ. This is not something you chose. This does not come to you on your terms. This is not magic or superstition. The gospel begins and ends with Jesus – it’s all about what He has done for you by the most committed and unconditional love ever. And that means your identity comes from Jesus, not yourself. That means it’s delivered by His Word – not some mystical charm of body or mind. And that means you have the gift of everlasting life in heaven.   

Galatians 2:16 "knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. 20 "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.  

That’s quite an identity indeed, and it’s yours only through Jesus Christ. Amen.