Confronting the Enemy Within Part 2 of 7
PART 2 of 7
An excerpt from Chapter 5 in David Orton's book,
"Snakes in the Temple: Unmasking Idolatry in Today's Church"
“But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ”
2 Cor 11:2-3 NIV
Ezekiel’s Vision of Snakes in the Temple
A prophetic-intercessor friend recently visited a respected church in a particular city. It belonged to a reputable Pentecostal denomination, but during the worship, her eyes were opened and she saw, in the spirit, a large serpent along the length of one whole wall. And as they left the service, the carpark was swarming with writhing baby serpents.
What was the significance of this? And how could a “Spirit-filled” church, looking respectable by man’s estimation, become a habitation for serpents – for demons?
In Ezekiel chapter 8, the prophet saw a vision of Israel’s idolatry. He was taken, in the Spirit, to Jerusalem, right into the inner recesses of the temple:
“6 And he said to me, ‘‘Son of man, do you see what they are doing—the utterly detestable things the house of Israel is doing here, things that will drive me far from my sanctuary?…”
7 Then he brought me to the entrance to the court. I looked, and I saw a hole in the wall. 8 He said to me, ‘‘Son of man, now dig into the wall.” So I dug into the wall and saw a doorway there.
9 And he said to me, ‘‘Go in and see the wicked and detestable things they are doing here.” 10 So I went in and looked, and I saw portrayed all over the walls all kinds of crawling things and detestable animals and all the idols of the house of Israel. 11 In front of them stood seventy elders of the house of Israel… Each had a censer in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense was rising. 12 He said to me, ‘‘Son of man , have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? They say, ‘The LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken the land.’” (Ezk 8:6-12 NIV, emphasis mine)
“I saw portrayed all over the walls all kinds of crawling things”
Hidden deep within the walls of the temple, in a dark and secret room, the elders worshiped false images. The KJV describes the room as, “the chambers of his imagery”, or the NIV as “the shrine of his own idol” (v 12). Every private home at this time had a room or closet dedicated to the secret worship of images. This room, in the temple, was so secret, though, that the prophet was instructed to dig through a small hole in the wall to discover it (v 7-9). Without any correspondence to the design of Solomon’s temple, it appears to have been purpose built for their secret and idolatrous practices.
Snakes on the wall!
Inside the room Ezekiel saw images covering the walls of “crawling things, detestable animals and all the idols of Israel” (v 10). The Hebrew term for “crawling things” (‘remes’) refers to all small animals such as rodents, and especially reptiles. Ezekiel, like my intercessor friend, saw among other creatures snakes on the wall of this hidden room.78
Though what Ezekiel saw was hidden, it was a blatant rejection of the Lord’s covenant which prohibited idolatry of “creatures that move along the ground” 79 (the noun form of ‘crawling things’ which also carries the meaning of animals that glide along the ground - snakes). Although the outward ceremony of the temple was maintained the secret worship of snakes and other creatures was, in fact, an out-and-out rejection of the Lord’s covenant-love.
However, despite the hidden practice of snake worship, from the outside nothing had changed. The temple looked the same. To the naked eye, it was still the holy place of God’s presence. This is the very essence of deception – an external appearance of spirituality, but an altogether different reality within.
78 Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, Vol 2 p 850ff
79 Deut 4:15-18; ISBE p 268, 2514; 2 Kings 21:9; 2 Kings 17:17; 21:6; Schulz p 92
…. an excerpt from David Orton’s book, "Snakes in the Temple: Unmasking Idolatry in Today’s Church".
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