Quote for Sunday 16 June 2024   ^#808

Ezekiel is commanded to communicate God's word, whether or not the people hear him. The nation of Israel were persistently rebellious. If people persist in rebellion and rejection of divine light, there is a penalty. There is also great sorrow in God's heart in bringing judgment.

The preacher needs to be different from the rebels to whom he is sent. God says, you need to be different so that your message is backed by a life that is different from those to whom you are speaking. Our life and lips should be in harmony.

There is no greater mistake to suppose that because we are constantly handling God's word, we are therefore feeding on it for ourselves. It is possible to acquire an intellectual knowledge while the heart is entirely unaffected.

Has the busyness of life taken away the sweetness of the word of God?

Two preachers are preaching in this same period: One to those in captivity (Ezekiel), the other those yet to go into captivity (Jeremiah). One is a hard-nut preacher, the other pleads and weeps. God uses every means to speak to his people: If they need a message of tenderness with tears, they can have that. If they need someone to stubbornly confront, he will give them that. God goes to great lengths to reach his people, yet they refuse his word.

A watchman would stand on the walls of a city and watch for the approach of an enemy. If he warned the people, then he had discharged his duty. If he failed to warn, then he would be held responsible. If he warned and they ignored, then they are responsible.

Ezekiel was to be a watchman for the entire nation, warning them of impending judgment. There were also false prophets who failed to warn Isarel; their message was of peace when there was no peace.

Downloads: 01

What is a Christian? Can we say that a Christian is a work of poetry created by God alone? Can we say that we are bearing the fruit of the Spirit? What wilt Thou have me to do?

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The occasion, election, and Lord's delight as seen in this verse. Evil often begins in the church and spreads into the whole of society. How does the fear of God help us? What does it mean? The Lord stoops down and listens to his people who fear him.

Downloads: 01

This section begins by describing the colour of this divine throne, the colour of a sapphire stone. Sapphire is blue in colour, so the heavenly throne is blue. The throne is occupied, there is one seated upon it, the director of the chariot throne.

Ezekiel must have been astonished at such a vision. All his tradition and training would have led him to expect that the glory of the God of Israel would have been hidden behind the veil in the most Holy Place. The last place he'd expect to see it is among Gentile nations and moving in the world. Note that he did not see God, but rather the likeness of the glory of God; else he had been consumed.

Ezekiel's response is just like John on the isle of Patmos, falling on his face. This is where God can use a man, when he is humbled and down on his face. God only ever uses little men who are small in their own eyes, who recognise the greatness and glory of God.

Man needs to remember that he is dust. To keep him reminded, Ezekiel is called son of man (i.e., son of Adam), who was made of the dust of the ground. 90 times God refers to him as Son of Man — i.e., don't ever forget who I am nor who you are.

Sometimes it's hard to persevere when there is very little response from the people to whom you speak. It's easy to get discouraged. Jeremiah was so discouraged that he wanted to quit. Nothing is harder for the servant than to see no results. How do we compare to Ezekiel? Do we persevere when there are no visible results?

What's required of the prophet is to deliver God's message. He can't be responsible for the results. We need to recognise that, too. We cannot effect the results. God does that.

Downloads: 01

Ezekiel describes a shining material like an alloy of gold and silver. Gold is the colour of diety, and silver the colour of redemption. So this one on the chariot can be seen as having the divine purpose of redemption. Amber is the first of four colours we are going to see in this colourful description of the throne chariot. There is nothing dull about the Lord.

There are four living creatures with four faces, four wings, and four wheels. There is clearly a repetition of the number four to grab our attention. Four is a number of universality, e.g., four winds. These cherubim show us that this throne is moving with the idea of judgment in view. Their wings were joined one to another, indicating harmony in movement and keeping a straight course (no turning) in the execution of God's commands.

The four faces are reflections are four views of Christ as presented by the gospel writers: Man is the gospel of Luke (behold the man), Lion is the gospel of Matthew (behold your king), Ox is the gospel of Mark (behold my servant), and Eagle is the gospel of John (behold your God, soaring in the heavens).

The tabernacle was built according to the pattern given on the Holy Mount to Moses. Solomon's temple was built according to the pattern given to David by the Lord. Paul said, "What I received of the Lord I have delivered unto you", so Paul was given a revelation of the pattern for the Church.

God's throne is based on perfect righteousness and purity. No hidden agendas, no mixed motives. Sometimes courts have an agenda than actually finding out what is true, but the throne of God acts in perfect purity and righteousness.

Downloads: 01

There is very little known about King Nadab, so why preach a sermon about him among the other kings? What can we learn from such a small amount of text? The reading is from Luke chapter 12 and then the sermon shifts to focus on I Kings 15.

In this chapter verses 1-3 provide and introduction and background, verses 4-14 are the vision of the four cherubim, 15-25 are a vision of the throne chariot, and verses 26-28 are a vision of the divine throne.

Ezekiel's service was characterised by the hand of the Lord being upon him (i.e., God's enabling) and the word of God coming to him (God's enlightening).

In the beginning of Ezekiel's ministry he is given a vision of a likeness of the glory of YHWH. He fell on his face like a dead man, just like John on the isle of Patmos when he saw a vision of the glorified Jesus Christ. Saul of Tarsis also saw the glorified Lord Jesus and fell on his face. A vision of the glory of God will certainly impact a man's life. It will bring him to realise he is just dust in the presence of God.

In this session we consider the definition of glory and how it affects men. To help define glory we will review some of the common themes of men who saw the glory of God as recorded in Scripture. Then we look at various Scripture passages that offer further perspectives on the definition.

Ezekiel's vision is so challenging to understand that there are a wide variety of expositions people have made on what it could mean. In other words, people today have as much trouble trying to understand what it could have been as Ezekiel himself had in finding the words to describe it.

In this passage we have a Question that shows the foolishness of what they are doing (Are ye come out, as against a thief...?), a Statement that points out the hypocrisy (I was daily with you...), and an answer.

Even the best men and best kings are still just men. We see that bad kings sometimes did good things, and good kings sometimes did bad things. Much the same as Peter, as much as he loved the Lord, said some bad things in betrayal of his faith.

Ezekiel is the prophet of the glory of God. He is one of the "major" prophets, along with Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel. He was born during the time of Josiah's revival, approximately 600 years before Christ. His ministry ran from 593 BC to 571 BC, and many believe that he lived from 623 BC to 559 BC (~64 years).

At age 25 he was taken captive in 597 BC by Nebuchadnezzar along with the cream of Judian nobility. Daniel was taken in 605 BC, so Ezekiel was part of a second wave of deportations into Babylon.

God calls him and says, I'm not sending you to a people of a strange language, they would listen to you, but I'm sending you to your own people and they won't listen to you. His name means, God strengthens. When God calls a person to service he will himself enable the one whom he calls to fulfil that service.

In this introduction we will look at several parallel between Ezekiel and the apostle John, and two possible outlines for the chapter.