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The idolaters were facing the absolute worst of circumstances, which they had brought upon themselves. They had exhausted the patience of the Lord. The day of grace was removed from them, even though they would go to seek the Lord, they would not be able to find Him. Hos. 5:6 The Lord would have no more of their backsliding ways. He had called unto them in every possible way, but they would not return unto Him. His hands had been outstretched in calling and willingness to receive them but they persisted in performing their rebellious, sinful and obnoxious acts of idolatry. They were free thinkers, doing whatever came to mind. The multiplicity of sacrifices in a great variety of places only angered the Lord. Their total disregard for the dietary teachings of the Law was an action which they flaunted in the face of the Lord. Their attitude was that they were holier than others who were defiled in their sight. Their works, their offerings, rather than being a sweet smelling savor to the Lord, became an irritating, obnoxious smoke in His nose. They grossly polluted the spiritual atmosphere. Isa. 65:2-5.
The Lord withdrew Himself from them. In other words He cut them off from being the people of God. They had violated every statute of righteous that He had presented to them. There was no longer an acceptance on His part for the sacrifices and offerings which they would make. He was satiated with them. He found no appeasement or delight in their offerings. He would not, nor could He find pleasure in them appearing before Him. He looked upon their keeping of days, months and Sabbaths as iniquity, for their hearts were not in their actions. The Lord said that He would close His eyes to their acts of worship and prayers. For their hands were full of blood. Isa. 1:11-15 What an indictment the Lord laid before them.
When the Lord chooses to secrete Himself from a people, He said that He would not hear them and will hide His face from them. The very possibility of such a situation developing is frightening. That was the status which Israel had reached. Mic. 3:4 He will make Himself obscure by hiding in a cloud. Covering Himself so that the prayer of the back-sliding unrighteous nation cannot penetrate it. Lam. 3:44 Even a prayer of desperation and loud shouting will not be able to attract His attention. Israel had no one to blame but themselves. They knew that worshiping idols and all the actions which accompanied it would provoke the Lord to fury. The Lord declared that He would not spare them nor have pity on them. Eze. 8:18 The sin of Israel had reached such huge proportions that they had completely exhausted the patience of the most patience being in the whole of the universe. His mercy and His grace has a boundary beyond which He will not tolerate the vile actions of mankind, even those which are called His people. When the cup of iniquity reaches its full, there is judgment. Rev. 17:4.