Lead for Gold

The prophet Jeremiah asks a pointed question:

"Has a nation ever changed its gods?" — Jeremiah 2:11

His answer is devastating — Israel did exactly that. They traded the living God, their Glory, for worthless idols. Ezekiel shows us just how far this fall went.

Judah's Great Sin (Ezekiel 8)

In a vision, God transports Ezekiel to the very temple in Jerusalem — and what he sees is heartbreaking. The same sacred space where God's glory dwelt had been filled with abominations. An idol of jealousy stood at the altar gate. Elders of Israel secretly burned incense to carved images of unclean animals. Women wept at the temple gates for Tammuz, a Babylonian god whose "death" they mourned every dry season and whose "resurrection" they celebrated with the autumn rains. And worst of all, priests stood with their backs to the temple, bowing eastward to worship the sun — an object God himself had made.

The tragedy is the contrast. God's glory was right there in the temple. Yet the people looked everywhere but to Him.

God's Glory Departs (Ezekiel 10)

Because of this, God's glory — which had filled the tabernacle, which had rested over the Ark — slowly lifted and left. And when the Babylonians came and tore the temple down, it was not because God had been defeated. It was because the people had already left God first. This too had been foretold centuries earlier in Deuteronomy 28.

The Same Temptation Today

Paul describes the same pattern in Romans 1 — exchanging truth for wickedness, God's glory for images, the Creator for the creature. We are not so different from ancient Judah. We face the same pull toward lesser things that promise more than they can ever deliver.

But the good news is this: Christ took upon himself the full weight of God's wrath against our idolatry. To minimise that wrath is to minimise the cross. And God's promise in Ezekiel 11 still stands — He will give His people a new heart. That is our hope. Repentance is not merely remorse; it is a genuine change — turning from lead, and returning to gold.

Speaker: Dr. Mark Lehman