10:1ff Chapters 8–11 depict God’s glory departing from the Temple. In 8:3, 4, his glory was over the north gate. It then moved to the entrance (the “threshold,” 9:3), then the south end of the Temple (“the right side of the house,” 10:3, 4), the east gate (10:18, 19; 11:1), and finally the mountain east of the Temple (11:23), probably the Mount of Olives. Because of the nation’s sins, God’s glory had departed.
10:2 God’s perfect holiness demands judgment for sin. The cherubim are mighty angels. The burning coals scattered over the city represent the purging of sin. For Jerusalem, this meant the destruction of all the people who blatantly sinned and refused to repent. Shortly after this prophecy, the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem by fire (2 Kings 25:9; 2 Chronicles 36:19).
10:18 God’s glory departed from the Temple and was never completely present again until Christ himself visited it in New Testament times. God’s holiness required that he leave the Temple because the people had so defiled it. God had to completely destroy what people had perverted in order for true worship to be revived. We must commit ourselves, our families, our churches, and our nation to follow God faithfully so that we never have to experience God’s abandoning us.