“And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there like the vision that I saw in the Valley.”
– Ezekiel 8:4
The reason I read this verse is because, well, this whole chapter, Ezekiel 8, is basically a tour, in a sense, that God takes Ezekiel on and God shows Ezekiel all what’s called the great abominations that God’s people were committing against Him. All of their sins described over and over again as abominations.
When we see the glory of God and love the purity of God, it will lead us to hate our sin against Him.
But the reason I read verse four and want to lead us to pray according to it, “Behold, the glory of the God of Israel, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there like the vision that I saw in the valley”. The whole picture here is that is Ezekiel sees such a clear contrast between God and all of His glory and all of His holiness and all of His splendor and beauty and purity and perfections.
Seeing the Glory of God
And that enables him to see how horrible these abominations are, these sins are against God. When we see the glory of God, the more we know the holiness of God, the more we will hate sin, the more we will see how serious sin is. If we ever find ourselves being casual with sin, thinking sin is no big deal, it is definitely an indicator that we have lost sight of how glorious God is.
The more we see and know God for who He truly is, the more we will hate sin in our lives and see it as the abomination that it really is. And so we pray, God, help us. We want to see and know your glory more and more and more and more. All throughout Ezekiel and other places that have been in your word recently, in Exodus 33- 34 in 1 Kings 19, we praise you for these demonstrations of your glory, revelations of your glory that you gave to Moses and Elijah and Ezekiel and Isaiah in the old Testament.
Ezekiel 8:4 Encourages Our Eyes to Open to See God
And then what we read in John 1:14, that we have seen your glory in Jesus. And even for those of us who have not seen him face to face, like those disciples did in the New Testament, we praise you for the picture we have of your glory in Jesus, on the words of scripture, in the words of scriptures. We praise you for your glory and we say we want to see and know your glory more and more today.
God, open our eyes wider. God, I pray this over every single person listening right now, open their eyes wider. Open my eyes wider to see more of your glory. To see more of your beauty and your splendor and your perfections and your purity, who you are. God, help us to see you more and more and more clearly. And in this, God, help us to hate sin more and more and more severely God, help us to hate it. Help us to run from it. Help us to flee from it. Please help us not to flirt with it. Help us not to give into temptation to it.
Ezekiel 8:4 Prays for Confession of Sin
So God, help us to run from sin, we pray. God, help us to confess sin quickly when we sin against you. To hide in your grace and to praise you all the more for your grace. God, we pray that you would help us to see you more truly, completely, fully, Holy. To see ourselves more rightly, more humbly and to see sin in all of its severity. To turn from it so that we might know you and love you with all our heart, soul and mind and strength and enjoy you to the full in all of your beauty and glory and splendor and holiness and purity and perfections. All glory be to your name. Oh, God, help us to see and know your glory more. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
