The Chambers of our Imagery or His kingdom Come
Ezekiel 8:12 “Then said He unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? For they say, The Lord seeth us not; the Lord hath forsaken the earth.”
Notice that it is “in the dark”…..yet it is in their thought life!
A man’s god is that to which he gives final obedience.
In the chamber of your imagery……what is portrayed upon the wall round about?
To what do you give obedience there?
(It can be plans or dreams you have had for years….kept separate from your regular plans…..just sitting there…..and your desire for them….and or resentment that they never happened…..
……instead of bringing them to the Lord and surrendering to His Will or time for them.)
(It can be associations that we have hung on to, even though they are hinderances in our spiritual life.)
(It can be lusting after things, people, or to be like someone else….instead of who the Lord has made you.)
The literal interpretation of the last verse in the fellowship book of 1 John:
1 John 5:21 “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.”
1 John 5:21 (Amplified version) “Little children, keep yourselves from idols….false gods…from anything and everything that would occupy the place in your heart due to God….
…from any sort of substitute for Him; that would take first place in your life.
Amen, so let it be”
To have spiritual reality, every idol must be destroyed….otherwise we may be shown in the day of judgement….when all is revealed….to be just like the Pharisees in Jesus day:
Matthew 23:27 “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.”
Christ must reign in me.
And that is brought about by:
Romans 5:17 “For if by one man’s offense death reigned by one; Much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by One, Jesus Christ.”
Notice, it is “which receive”…..it is in the present tense.
Paul began the chapter talking of being justified by faith….so he is speaking to those who are born again….(once your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, nothing can erase it….but you must be born again)….
…yet he stresses that we must continue to receive the the overflow of His grace and righteousness,….that we must continue to grow in grace….in order to have the reality of His kingdom come within me,…you,…us.
Man has multiple faces…..his face at home, his face at work, or with his buddies, or his face in church…..
…but a true Christian strives to conquer that within him which makes him a hypocrite to his Lord.
He sets aside to God…..not only his outward actions…..speaking the truth, being right in our dealings;….
….but he sets aside to God….all his inward attitudes and seeks to be honest before God there.
Now is Light shining in…..now is the Holy Spirit’s power given…..now is Christ’s kingdom come within us…..and we become an influence of righteousness, wherever we are.
Will we willingly open up our whole lives to Christ? And deal with the chambers of our imagery……till we have His kingdom come within us……and are prepared for His kingdom to come to the earth one day.
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 