First, we need to see the basis of God's judgment upon His people. God's judgment upon His people was based upon three things: His righteousness, His holiness, and His glory. In the first section of Ezekiel, in the vision of the appearance of the glory of the Lord, we saw three main things. First, we saw a throne which looked like a blue sapphire, signifying the righteousness of God. We also saw the fire, which signifies God's holiness. Furthermore, we saw the glowing electrum which signifies the glory of the Lord. These three things give us three basic colors. The throne in the appearance of sapphire was blue, the fire was red, and the glowing electrum was yellow. When these three basic colors shine, reflect, and refract together, they give the appearance of the rainbow. The righteousness, the holiness, and the glory of God are the basic elements with which God exercised His judgment over His people.
In Ezekiel 2—24 there are some negative things which are versus the righteousness, the holiness, and the glory of God. God's glory is contrasted with the idols in 8:2-4, 10, and in 9:3. In the vision, Ezekiel was brought to Jerusalem and entered the temple. Before him the glory of God and the idols were contrasted. On the walls were the images of the idols, and over the temple was the glory of the Lord. How could the glory of the Lord tolerate the presence of the images of the idols? Those images were called the "provoking" images because they were provoking God's jealousy (8:3). Our God is a jealous God; He will not tolerate any idols. Because of the idols in the temple, the glory of God was withdrawing step by step, leaving the temple, the city, and the people. In the last step the glory of the Lord left the temple and the city, stopping on the Mount of Olives on the east side of the city (11:23). This is the same place where the Lord Jesus ascended to the heavens. The glory of the Lord stopped on the mountain and waited, but eventually it left the mountain and went back to the heavens. That was the departure of the glory of the Lord.
God's judgment upon His people is based first upon His glory. Anything that is versus His glory will provoke His judgment. I do not like to be a bad man and to speak negatively of others, but I must speak the truth. Do you not realize that today all of Christianity is under God's judgment? The whole situation in Christianity is provoking God's jealousy because it is full of idols. If you go into a Roman Catholic Church, you will see that it is full of idols. Even other so-called Christian churches also have idols. In some of the churches, you will not see physical idols, but you will see other kinds of idols. With some their work for God is an idol. With others Bible teaching or evangelism is an idol. In every corner of Christianity, there is an idol. If you love your work, your activity, or your practice more than the Lord, that is an idol. Based upon this principle, we can realize that Christianity is filled with idols. This is why I say that the situation in Christianity is provoking to God and under His judgment. God's glory cannot tolerate the idols.
God's holiness is God's separation and sanctification. God's holiness is versus dross. As God's elect, Israel should have no dross, but instead be pure gold, pure silver, and a pure treasure. But God's people became dross (22:17-22). Therefore, they needed a fire to burn them. The Lord said that He would put the city of Jerusalem and the people of Israel into a furnace to burn them. What does this mean? This is God's holiness versus the dross. God's holiness cannot tolerate any kind of dross. Look at today's Christianity. Where can you find a pure treasure to God? Nearly everywhere you look there is only dross. Christianity needs the burning of God's holy fire to burn out the dross.
The love, kindness, and humility that many Christians express today with one another is a kind of dross because it is altogether according to their flesh. In their love, there is no pure gold. In their humility and kindness, there is no pure gold. It is not pure; it is a mixture; it is the flesh. Today they love, but tomorrow they hate. This means their love is not pure and holy. What they have is only the flesh doing good things and expressing something in a good way. Though it may be a good expression, it is still the flesh. There is no dealing of the cross and no dealing of God's holiness. All these things need to be burned and judged. They need God's judgment by fire. Not only does our hatred need to be burned, but also even our love needs to be burned. Not only does our pride need to be burned, but also our humility needs to be burned. Where in Christianity is any pure gold? Nearly everywhere there is only dross.