Ezekiel has just been told by God that he will be a prophet. Imagine what you would feel like if God told you that you will be a prophet. Would you be happy?
Ezekiel is really upset. He doesn’t tell us why. Look at Ezekiel 3:14 and the phrase, “the hand of the Lord was on him,” gives us a clue. It is highly possible here that Ezekiel is feeling some of what God is feeling about Israel. Remember that for centuries Israel had turned its back on God. Centuries of betrayal. We have to consider the wider scope of God’s relationship with Israel. Go back hundreds of years, reading the accounts of the leaders of Israel in 1 & 2 Kings, and we see loads of wickedness and unfaithfulness on Israel’s part. Time and time again, God, heavy in heart, longing for a loving relationship with his people, would give Israel another chance to repent, to change and restore relationship with him. God would send prophets to call the people to repent. If you read the books of 1 and 2 Kings, you get to a point where you start thinking, “Enough already! God, you are being too gracious and too forgiving to these people. Punish them!” Finally, God does allow Israel to be defeated and exiled. But imagine what it took relationally and emotionally for God to get to that point. You know how you feel when you are mistreated by the same person a couple times? You know how frustrating it can be?
It seems Ezekiel is feeling some of that, as the hand of the Lord is on him, and that makes Ezekiel bitter and angry.
We get a bit of a cliffhanger here in chapter 3, verse 15. Ezekiel has just had an astounding experience. What does he do when he goes home? Nothing. For a whole week, he is just overwhelmed. I get that.
Does Ezekiel say to his family and friends, “You will never believe what just happened to me”? Or is he quiet? Are his family members concerned about him? Can they tell that he is changed? Do they have a sense that the hand of the Lord is on him? Do they know he is angry and bitter? Does Ezekiel see them in a different light? Can he hide his anger and bitterness at the fact that his countrymen are rebellious and obstinate and stubborn?
What do you do when you have had a life-changing experience, and you have to return home? You’re not the same. Things will never be the same. And worst of all, you will have to talk about the job God just gave you, and that means you will have to confront your loved ones. But not just a small group of 5 or 10 people, you’re going to have to talk to the whole community of 10,000. While it might sound awesome to have the hand of the Lord on you, to have the Spirit empowering you, to be able to fly…I might trade all that for peace and simplicity. For Ezekiel, he takes a week to stew in his feelings, overwhelmed, because life is about to get difficult. Like I said, I get that. Maybe you are overwhelmed with life, and you just want to sit, to be alone.
But like Ezekiel, it seems to me that to one degree or another, we Christians all have a prophetic responsibility. We cannot just sit, overwhelmed, avoiding the responsibility.
I started this five-part blog series asking “Are there prophets among us?” There really are prophets among us. There are some of us who have a prophetic gift. But even those who don’t have the prophetic gift, we have the joyful privilege to be people who speak the truth in love. Let’s talk about both of these situations.
First, the prophetic gift. Our Leadership Team has taken what is called the APEST gifts assessment. APEST stands for apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers, which Paul teaches in Ephesians 4:11-12. Prophets are those who tell the truth, those gifted by God to discern and see truth. Prophets have the heart and goal of truth speaking for the purpose of hope and restoration to God and the ways of His Kingdom. When people attempt to sweep sin under the rug, as we people often do, prophets lift up the rug and say, “See that under there, that’s not right.” That’s what Ezekiel was commissioned to do. We need prophets in our day to do the same. We should be people who embrace learning the truth about ourselves, about our church. Of course I try to do some of that prophetic work in my blog posts, hopefully allowing the word of God to be the prophetic message. But we also need individuals who can speak the truth in love to us. Are you a prophet? Consider taking the APEST test or using it your church family to find out.
Also, second, to those who do not carry the gift of prophesy: the message is still that God is the same God as the one who interacts with Ezekiel. He is always with us. He desires truth. He desires repentance. He gives grace. He wants us to live lives that are not fearful, but to live lives that are hopeful and to pursue Him and truth. So speak the truth in love. Again just because you’re comfortable with being bold, that doesn’t mean you’re a prophet. Though you might be comfortable with being bold, that doesn’t mean you’re loving in your boldness.
What does it mean to have a relationship with God? Is it just an intellectual concept that has little bearing on our real day-to-day lives? How do flesh and blood people have a meaningful relationship with invisible spirit? As a result, does God feel distant? Does it feel like God is something we read about in the Bible or hear about in stories, but God is maybe not a being that we can have a relationship with? Some people have said that having a relationship with God is like talking on the phone with no one on the other side of the line. You’ve had that experience before, probably. You’re talking, and then the call drops, but you don’t realize it, and you just keep chatting away. Some time goes by, maybe a few seconds, and you don’t hear any audible response from the person on the line. You look at the display and sure enough, the call dropped. For the last bit you have been talking to no one. Is that what your relationship with God feels like?
As we saw learned in the previous post, God said that he would strengthen Ezekiel to the difficult prophetic task he commissioned Ezekiel to. What happens next seems like the opposite, like talking on a phone line gone dead. Look at Ezekiel 3, verses 12-15.
Just like that the vision of God’s presence is gone. God’s presence is equally as amazing in its exit as it was in its entrance. Take notice that the Spirit is involved in Ezekiel’s life again, lifting him up. We will see that the Spirit is a major theme in this book, and in Ezekiel 2:1-3:15, the Spirit is vital to Ezekiel’s prophetic commissioning. When we read that the Spirit lifts Ezekiel up, I wondered, “Didn’t the Spirit already do that back in chapter 2:2? He did. In 2:2, the Spirit lifted Ezekiel from face-down position to standing position. Now the Spirit lifts him further, likely into the air!
After the Spirit lifts Ezekiel up, God’s lightning table/chariot leaves with an amazing sound. Notice the short exclamation of praise in verse 12. We can envision Ezekiel writing about this later, and he is still amazed, bursting forth with praise to God, simply in response to his memory of the vision of the glory of God. That alone tells me that the vision was amazing, something that Ezekiel would never forget.
God, though, is now gone. After giving Ezekiel a profoundly difficult mission, and after telling Ezekiel that he should not be afraid because he, God, was going to strengthen Ezekiel to the task, God leaves. Doesn’t that seem like the opposite of what God should do? Maybe you feel like that. Do you look around your world and wonder where God is? If so, you’re not alone. Read Psalm 13, for example, as David laments feeling abandoned by God.
But as we keep reading Ezekiel is not really abandoned by God. In verse 14, the Spirit lifts Ezekiel again! It seems that Ezekiel is flying now, and the Spirit takes him away. This is amazing supernatural stuff. It also shows that God is still with Ezekiel. He has not left him alone. His Spirit is with Ezekiel, empowering Ezekiel, and the same is true for us. While this experience would have been shocking for Ezekiel, it is commonplace for us. God has given us his Spirit to live with us. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6, our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit. Have you become jaded or bored with the idea that God’s Spirit is with you? Do you feel like it is an idea, but not really impacting your life? Next week we’ll talk about this further, as the Spirit continues to have a real manifestation in Ezekiel’s life.
Notice Ezekiel’s response. Is he thrilled and excited like the skydiving parasailers that whoop with joy as they fly over my backyard some weekends, on their way to a landing at nearby Smoketown Airport? If the Spirit was truly transporting Ezekiel through the air, like the text suggests, you’d think he would be wide-eyed and loving life. He is flying! But nope. Ezekiel is bitter and angry, with the strong hand of the Lord upon him.
What? Why is he bitter and angry? Especially as the strong hand of the Lord is on him, shouldn’t he be full of love? Instead the strong hand of the Lord is on him, and Ezekiel is really upset. He doesn’t tell us why. But that phrase, “the hand of the Lord was on him,” gives us a clue, which we’ll talk about in the next post.
For now, let’s take a moment to think about our relationship with the Spirit of God. Be amazed by the reality that God is with us. You and I are temples of the Spirit! We should dwell on that truth and be just as astounded as Ezekiel likely was as the Spirit flew him from the Kebar River back to Tel Abib where he lived. We should be filled with joy and hope and excitement that we get to have such a close relationship with God the Spirit!
Have you ever felt that God has given you a task that is too difficult? I think Ezekiel felt like that. As we have been learning in our study of the life of the prophet Ezekiel, God shows up in a shocking way with even more shocking news for Ezekiel. It was news that Ezekiel would be God’s prophet. Let’s continue studying Ezekiel 2:1-3:15 (which we previously started here) to see how this might apply to our lives when we feel God has given us a task that seems too difficult.
In Ezekiel 2:8, where we left off in the previous post, God says something strange to Ezekiel: “Open your mouth and eat what I give you.” God is going feed Ezekiel? Can you imagine how amazing food straight from God must be? It would have to be the best food ever, right? I love nearly every kind of food. Have you ever said that you love a certain kind of food so much that you could eat it every day? Pizza, Burgers, Steak, Mac & Cheese, Pasta, Mexican…Tiramisu. What is your favorite food that you could eat every day? Wouldn’t you think that food from God would have to be even better than that? Well, let’s find out. Read Ezekiel 2:9-3:1.
What? A scroll? God is giving Ezekiel a scroll to eat? Scrolls were often made of leather of some kind. It would bad enough if it was made of paper. At least you can eat paper. Do you remember in elementary school, when kids would eat a whole sheet of paper, scrap by scrap. It is bland, but you can do it. But leather? I mean, I guess it is theoretically possible, bit by bit. Have you heard of the guy who ate an entire car bit by bit? His name is Vinni Bucci from Atlanta, and there is a documentary about it on Amazon. Is that what God is doing with Ezekiel?
No, as we read in verses 2-3, the scroll tasted like honey. Remember that this is a prophetic vision, so we should look for symbolism, and thankfully, the symbolism in this part of the vision is clear. By giving Ezekiel a scroll to eat, God is symbolically putting his words in Ezekiel! Furthermore, in the Bible, honey sometimes symbolizes abundance or prosperity. The Promised Land of Palestine was said to be flowing with honey. This is first indication of God preparing Ezekiel for the prophetic task. God will give him the words to say.
What words of honey will God say through him? We read in 2:10 that on the scroll were written words of lament, mourning and woe. That’s not honey. That’s not the sweet words of good news. Instead God’s message will be a very unhappy one. We don’t yet hear any specifics of the message. That is to come. For now Ezekiel is receiving his prophetic commission to speak God’s word, and it will be a difficult word.
Next God describes to whom he is commissioning Ezekiel to prophesy. Look at Ezekiel 3, verses 4-11. You’d think God would commission Ezekiel to prophesy to the horrible enemy Babylonians, right? They need a dose of holy fire from God, so that God will set his people free!
Uh…no. As we have heard before, Ezekiel is to prophesy to his own people. He will not prophesy to people from a different culture, nation or language. Even though Ezekiel lives in enemy territory, Babylon, he is to preach to his countrymen, to the Jewish exiles living in Babylon. This got me thinking about the mission trips I’ve been on, and you know what I discovered? It is much, much easier for me to talk about Jesus to strangers far from home, than it is for me to talk about Jesus with my neighbors. That might be a personality thing, but I suspect it goes beyond that. I feel more free to talk with people in another country because I know that I am there for that purpose, and I am almost certainly never going to see that person again. I feel a lot more free and bold to launch into a conversation about faith in God. There is very little risk.
But at home, I actually have to live next to people. I have to see them every day. There is significant relational risk. To me, the prospect of having a conversation about faith with neighbors, coworkers, family or friends feels very intimidating. What if they look down on me? What if it gets awkward? By asking Ezekiel to prophesy to his own countrymen, I think God is giving Ezekiel the much more difficult job.
God says as much in verse 7. Israel is hardened and obstinate, and they will not listen to Ezekiel. Of course they won’t listen to Ezekiel, God knows, because they haven’t listened to God. If I’m Ezekiel, I’m growing less and less thrilled about this job by the minute.
Remember when God came to Moses in the burning bush and told Moses that he had a job for him? That task was leading the people to freedom from slavery. Moses got a commission to be a hero. Ezekiel? He is getting the job of being a confrontational prophet to his own people who will not listen to him. That’s three strikes right there. Confrontational prophet…very difficult job. Strike one. Prophet to your own people…very difficult job. Strike two. People who are guaranteed to not listen to you…very difficult job. Strike three.
To use baseball terms, Ezekiel is not just behind in the count as he steps up to the plate. He has already struck out. Surprisingly, that’s what God wants him to do. He is saying, Ezekiel, I want you to go up to bat and strike out. Or to use non-baseball terms, God is saying, “Ezekiel, I commission you to a very difficult job, and it won’t go well. You will not succeed. But I want you to do it anyway.”
How would you feel about that? Not good.
Except that God says something else. Look again at verses 8-10 where God says, “Ezekiel, I am going to make you ready for this. I am going to strengthen you for this task. Sure Israel is hardened, but I am going to make you hardened too.” In other words, God is saying, “Ezekiel, I am in this with you. I am for you. I am preparing you. This is not me sending you to be shredded apart. I am going to strengthen you to the task!” In the same way, God is with us! No matter if we have the gift of prophecy or of any of the other gifts, it is the same God, and He is always with us. God promises that he will strengthen us to the task. Even if we do not feel strengthened, even if we do not feel ready, excited or qualified. We can step forward in obedience, knowing that God is with us and strengthening us.
Because of this promise, Ezekiel was probably shocked by what happens next. Check back to the next post to find out. Does God say one thing, then do the opposite?
Have you ever felt like God is asking you to do something, but it is too hard? With Ezekiel on his feet, God talks to him, giving him a new job. What kind of job? Will it be fun? Or will it be difficult? Read Ezekiel 2, verses 3-8.
God calls Ezekiel to be a prophet, and specifically to prophesy against his own people! Remember that Ezekiel is living in Babylon, far, far away from Israel. So God does not mean that Ezekiel will be traveling back to the land of Israel, to Palestine. Instead Ezekiel will prophesy to the 10,000 Israelite exiles he lives with in Babylon.
What is Ezekiel to say? It’s not a fun message. Have you ever had to deliver bad news? Maybe you’ve had to tell someone they were not hired for a position. Maybe you’ve had to confront someone about their mess-up. Even if you had to do it many times, telling people bad news is still difficult. Confronting people about their sin or their error is particularly difficult. It could be that you are holding a friend or a family member accountable. When they cross a line they weren’t supposed to cross, often we feel like it is just easier to let it go. But God says to Ezekiel, “You are going to tell Israel the truth.”
That’s what a prophet is, a truth teller. Sometimes prophets tell the future, but in the Bible, prophets rarely forecast the future. The vast majority of prophetic messages are truth-telling, with the distinct purpose of bringing hope and restoration in our relationship with God and a return to living in the ways of His Kingdom. Often the prophecy has a future condition: if you continue down this road, you will face major trouble. But if you return to God, you will receive his blessing.
Do prophets still exist in our world today? Certainly there are people who call themselves prophets. There are people who predict the end of the world, or people who have a variety of other predictions. Some might be well-meaning, and they might believe that they hear messages from God, but it’s hard to know.
Instead in Ephesians 4:11-12 we read that God gave some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds/pastors and teachers for the building up of the church. Did you hear that second role in the list? Prophets. Paul wrote that God still gives the prophetic gift as a means of building up the church. It seems to me, therefore, that there is a strong biblical case to be made that people can have a prophetic gift, and the use of that gift is vital for the strengthening and the building up of the church.
So what is the prophetic gift? In the Bible, as we see not only here in Ezekiel, but also through the New Testament, the prophetic gift is primarily a truth-telling gift, calling people to return to God and living according to his ways. It is the gift of looking at the situation around them, or examining the lives of the people around them, then responding to that situation or people based on the truth of the word of God. Is there sin? A prophet says, “That is sin.” Is there disunity? The prophet says, “That is disunity.” Is there injustice? The prophet says, “That’s injustice.” Prophets tell the truth.
In this, prophets are a gift to those they are interacting with. Although, rarely are they received that way. But, looking back, people will see and know that a prophet was with them – a gift – a truth teller who was perceptive and was used of God for the purpose of directing people towards hope and restoration to God and His ways.
That is what God commissions Ezekiel to do. Notice the words God uses to describe Ezekiel’s message: Israel is rebellious. Count how many times God says they are rebellious. Five times!
Specifically they are rebellious against God. Their fathers (leaders) have been in revolt against him, and still were in rebellion up to the very day that God shows up to Ezekiel beside the river in Babylon.
God has a lot more to say, and none of it is good. Israel is obstinate and stubborn. They are like briars and thorns and scorpions.
God is pretty clear about the message that Ezekiel will share! In verse 4 he is to say to them, “This is what the Sovereign Lord says.” Do you think Ezekiel is cheering at this point? “Yeah, Lord! This is what you have for me say! Let’s get started!!!”
I’m not so sure, especially when we consider the relational dynamic of Ezekiel’s life. He was part of a group of 10,000 Jews living in faraway Babylon, part of a subculture within a foreign culture, part of a network, a support system of people that were trying to make ends meet, trying to preserve their Jewish way of life among the Babylonians. These were his people. His lifeline. His family and friends. For five years they had been in exile, forging bonds of friendship and family in the land of the enemy. Unless you’ve ever been uprooted and had to move to another place or culture, you might not understand what this situation feels is like. My family and I had one year’s experience of it when we were missionaries in Jamaica. It is a lonely, strange spot to be in. You search for those with a bit of similarity to you and try to form new norms. It is highly likely that is what Ezekiel knew. Though the exiles longed for a return to Palestine and Jerusalem and all that was familiar in their lives, they established a new normal in Babylon. You know how we have China Towns in our big cities, or Little Italys? They were establishing a new Israel within Babylon, and they had to form tight bonds in order to preserve that new Israel.
In that community, Ezekiel was all ready to start his life as a priest. Then God suddenly breaks into Ezekiel’s life and says, “I have a job for you. You know that tight-knit group of people you have made a new family with here in Babylon? Those friends you love? You know that support group who you have locked arms with as you try to make it here in enemy territory?” Ezekiel knows them well. “Yeah, Lord…”
God says, “I am sending you to tell them that they are rebellious, obstinate, and stubborn.”
How would you feel if you were Ezekiel in that moment?
On the one hand, you’re dealing with the emotion of this surprising vision of God showing up. That alone is a lot for a person. You’re probably scared, yet the vision is also amazing, and maybe you’re curious. You know God is a God of love, thus you might be partly delighted, wanting the vision never to end. You’ve just had the Holy Spirit fill you and physically lift you up, which must have been awesome, and a bit freaky. Your body just stood up without you controlling it. Then God speaks to you! Who knows what it was like to hear his voice. Awe-inspiring? You likely feel fear, excitement, and joy. All of the above. You know what you are experiencing is super rare. Hardly anyone in history has been privileged to experience the presence of God like this, and even more rare is to hear God talking.
But when God talks, he tells you to prophesy against your own people, your own network, your own friends, your family. Are you so in awe that you are thinking, “Yes, yes, yes, I’ll do anything you ask, Lord?” Or does the reality of having to confront your people have you thinking, “No, no, no, why can’t I just be a priest like my father before me? Isn’t that also a great way to serve you, Lord?”
I bet Ezekiel is feeling all of it, and more. His emotions are probably all over the place. God knows exactly what he is asking of Ezekiel, and more than that, he knows how Ezekiel is feeling. Look at what God says repeatedly starting in verse 6, “Do not be afraid…do not be afraid…do not be afraid.”
It doesn’t matter if the people listen to Ezekiel or not. Do not be afraid. It seems to me that Ezekiel needed that reminder. So do we. Do not be afraid. It is easy to let fear get the best of us when we know we should speak the truth to people. Of course there are probably some of you who are super quick to speak what you believe to be truth to people, and perhaps you should maybe be a bit more afraid! Some people have no problem speaking whatever comes to their mind. That doesn’t mean you’re a prophet. You might just be bold.
But what if Ezekiel didn’t feel bold? He still had to preach his message of “Israel, you are rebellious, obstinate and stubborn.” Maybe he was naturally bold. We don’t know. What I do know is this: If I had to preach that message to our church family every week, and in every email, I think I would start to feel nervous, afraid. How would you feel if all I did was tell you over and over again how wrong you are? If all I did was accuse you of being rebellious and stubborn? Would you keep reading the blog? I wouldn’t.
Yet it seems that’s what Ezekiel is to do, whether the people listen or not. At this point, if I’m Ezekiel, I’m thinking that I don’t know if I would want God to break into my life in a glorious vision. It would be one thing if God broke into my life and said, “I am going to bless you! I am going to rescue you. I am going to make you wealthy and healthy and wise. I am going to make life easy for you.” Nope, he is basically saying to Ezekiel, “You are going to be my prophet, and that means life will be hard for you.” I would be thinking, “Lord, why can’t I just be a priest? This prophet business doesn’t sound fun.”
No doubt about it, following the way of God is always the best way. But that doesn’t mean it will necessarily be the easy way. God is calling Ezekiel to a life of prophetic hardship. So he says to Ezekiel in verse 8, “Listen to what I say to you. Don’t rebel like your rebellious people.” It is likely that Ezekiel already had a heart to love and serve the Lord. If you are standing there, like Ezekiel was, with the powerful glory of God in front of you, I think Ezekiel would say, “Oh I promise, God. I absolutely will not rebel.” The much more difficult reality for Ezekiel will be when he actually has to live the life of a prophet to his family and friends, telling them they are sinful. Maybe then Ezekiel will start having second thoughts about this prophetic business. If he ever has those concerns, God’s words, “Do not rebel,” will hopefully serve as a motivation for Ezekiel to stick with what could likely be a hard life.
Then God says something that is…well…strange. Check back to the next post to find out.
What comes to mind when you think of a prophet? I think of guys like Elijah and John the Baptist, and they are wearing clothing made out of animal skins, holding staffs of wood, and their hair is out of control. They have a personality to match. Bold. Courageous. They make loud and authoritative proclamations. They sometimes do miracles and confront hypocritical leaders and oppressive kings.
Imagine if someone like that showed up in our day and age. Would we listen to them? We would likely say they are out of their minds. In my city’s center square, there’s often a guy shouting into a megaphone that everyone is going to hell. I admire his boldness, but I disagree with his method. But I have to ask, is he a prophet? Then there are doomsday preachers. These so-called Christian prophets predict the end of the world, and they never get it right. Are they prophets?
When I think about prophets, what I don’t think about is you, the reader. You might think, “Why would you think of any of us????” But let me ask a question: “Is it possible that there is a prophet among us?” Don’t think so?
I think there are. I actually think it is highly likely that there are more than one prophets among us! What we will learn today from Ezekiel just might help us find out. Open a Bible and turn to Ezekiel 2.
As you turn there, let’s review Chapter 1. Five years prior to the events of Ezekiel 1 and 2, Ezekiel was part of a group of 10,000 Jews that the powerful nation of Babylon exiled from Jerusalem, forcing them to walk 900 miles and live in Babylon. Ezekiel was the son of a priest, so there in Babylon, in the year of his 30th birthday, the year that sons of priests become priests themselves, God appeared to Ezekiel in an amazing vision. Ezekiel was very familiar with the idea that God’s presence was located in the temple in Jerusalem, so it would have been a major shock to encounter God in Babylon. At the end of chapter 1, while seated on his throne which was riding on this majestic lightning fire table chariot, God speaks to Ezekiel, and Ezekiel falls flat on his face.
That’s where we pick up with chapter 2, verse 1. Pause reading this post and read Ezekiel 2:1-2.
God calls Ezekiel, “Son of man.” This is the first of 93 times that title will be used for Ezekiel. Jesus also used this title of himself sometimes, but it doesn’t seem there is any intended connection between Jesus and Ezekiel. Instead this term refers to Ezekiel’s humanity. In a scene the like this one, it is very appropriate. With the unparalleled glory of God there before him, Ezekiel’s humanity is obvious. There is a vast difference between ourselves and God. This is the difference between divinity and humanity. In the presence of divinity, humans cannot stand, and Ezekiel is laid out flat on his face.
The difference is so stark that Ezekiel cannot even move in God’s presence. What God tells Ezekiel next is “stand up and let’s talk.” I find that amazing. God could easily just talk with Ezekiel while Ezekiel is face down on the ground. God would have no problem communicating to Ezekiel in that state. But God doesn’t want to do that. Instead God wants to talk with Ezekiel face to face. Think about that. This is just one of the many ways God shows us in the stories of the Bible that he values us and a relationship with us.
You might have heard the verse, “No one can see God’s face and live.” (Ex. 33:20) That describes the intensity and purity of the presence of God. We simply cannot survive if we were to face God’s holiness. So why does God want Ezekiel to stand up to talk? Is this a death sentence for Ezekiel?
No, because Ezekiel can’t stand up! It seems he is physically unable to move, the presence of God is so overpowering. But God has a solution. God’s Spirit enters Ezekiel and raises Ezekiel to his feet! We’ve already talked about how the Holy Spirit is a major player in the book Ezekiel. We already saw in Ezekiel chapter 1 how the Spirit guides the lightning chariot/table of God. Now the Spirit empowers Ezekiel to stand in God’s presence. This is important for us to take note of because we Christians know that we are temple of the Holy Spirit. Hold that thought. There’s more of the Spirit to come. The Spirit’s raising of Ezekiel to his feet indicates God’s desire for relationship, even face to face. So why didn’t Ezekiel die? It could be that this was just a vision of the presence of God and not the actual thing. Or perhaps God preserved Ezekiel’s life because of the mission he had for Ezekiel. Maybe there is another reason. No matter, what we see in this encounter is the relationality of our God.
Now with Ezekiel on his feet, God talks again. What does he say next? We’ll find out in the next post.
Do you tell the truth? Of course you do…or do you? Are there times when you might fudge a bit on the truth?
I suspect that all of us struggle with lying here and there, but for the most part we are committed to telling the truth. I ask the question, though, because there are times when telling the truth is very tricky.
For example, what do you do when a friend or spouse asks, “How do I look?” and you think their outfit doesn’t look so great? Worse, what do you do when a spouse or friend says, “Do you think I’ve gained weight?” You know they have gained weight, but red flags are flying, saying, “LIE! LIE! LIE! Get yourself out of this trap. Tell them they don’t look like they’ve gained even an ounce.” Harder still can be those situations in life when a person in your life is behaving badly, and you know need to talk with them, but you are afraid of alienating them or offending them. Should you speak truth to them? What if you lose them? What if they stop talking to you?
It’s complicated, emotional and we can clam up, while the person continues their bad behavior. These are difficult situations, and while we might not tell outright lies in those scenarios, we can avoid the truth. Does that resonate with you? What do we do about it? As we continue studying Ezekiel, the next passage describes God’s commissioning of Ezekiel to that very role, the role of a professional truth-teller. There will be much we can learn from God’s commissioning of Ezekiel that will help us as we consider the oftentimes difficult task of truth-telling.
Open a Bible to Ezekiel 2:1-3:15, read it and on June 28’s post, we begin discussing how it applies to our lives.
We started this five-part series on Ezekiel 1 asking, “How long has it been since you encountered the presence of God?” Has it been a long time? Maybe you can’t say that you’ve ever experienced the manifest presence of God?
We’ve been following the vision of Ezekiel 1, and so far Ezekiel has encountered four living creatures, terrifying and amazing, that seem to make a flying lightning fire table. As the table approaches closer to Ezekiel, what he sees on top of the table takes the vision to a totally different level. Read Ezekiel 1, verses 25-28.
Guess what? We learn that this flying table is not a flying table. It is instead a majestic transportation vehicle for a throne. God’s throne! And presence of God is there!
This is astounding on many levels.
First, the vision itself is amazing and indescribable. So much power and speed and light. This is unlike anything Ezekiel saw before, and he has a hard time describing it. Notice how often he says it is “like” something. He is grasping at the edges of his ability to find words for this. The throne was like sapphire. The figure was like a man. It appeared as glowing metal. Like fire. Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds. He literally cannot describe it, so he has to say that the presence of God was so amazing that it was kinda like this and kinda like that, but there is truly nothing that can fully describe it.
Why? Because this is the indescribable glory of the presence God! What this means is that our normal understanding of God’s glory is likely nothing close to what it actually is like. Our images of God are far too basic. When people actually encounter the glory of the presence of God, they are just simply shell-shocked. There are no words. That is what Ezekiel sees on the banks of Kebar River in Babylon, and he is dumbfounded.
Wait…the Glory of God? Is in Babylon??? This was new. And shocking. This is the second way that this vision of the glory of the presence of God is astounding. God’s glory was supposed to be 900 miles away in the temple, in Jerusalem. Not in Babylon. What does this mean??? We don’t know yet what it means. Ezekiel doesn’t know yet. But the disaster of Jerusalem’s downfall, the horrible 900 mile walk to Babylon, and the five years of exile have given the Jewish exiles a lot of time to wonder if God’s presence was gone, false, or impotent against powerful Babylon. But shock of all shocks, the presence of God is now there in Babylon!
So Ezekiel does what everyone in the Bible does when the glory of the presence of God shows up. He falls face-down on the ground. That is the appropriate response. Have you ever experienced that?
The palpable presence of God is sometimes called the Mysterium Tremendum, the Tremendous Mystery of the reality of God. Ezekiel in no way expected to encounter it there in Babylon. His worldview, from the day he was born, to that very day 30 years later, taught him that the presence of God was found only in the Temple in Jerusalem. This really was for Ezekiel a tremendous mystery. It broke his worldview into pieces. God was in Babylon? What does this mean?
We’ll explore the meaning of God showing up more fully in the chapters to come. For now, chapter 1 concludes with another surprise, God speaks! But it is a cliffhanger. What will God say? When we begin chapter 2, we’ll find out.
For now, I suspect that we need a dose of what Ezekiel experienced. We don’t need God to explode out of heaven on his flaming throne chariot. Instead, we view our relationship with God from a different vantage point, that of the new covenant between God and his church. What I am referring to is that we need to realize the amazing presence of God that is always with us.
This past week I participated in a prayer workshop. It was excellent. The presenter reminded us that God’s presence is not something we only encounter on special moments. We Christians are always in his presence. The Spirit of God lives with us. As Paul wrote in 1st Corinthians 6, our bodies are the temple of the Spirit.
What can it look like for us to be astounded by the glory of God in our regular lives? Or are we so distracted that we rarely think in terms of encountering God? Ezekiel absolutely did not expect to encounter God that day. My guess is that most of us rarely think we will encounter him either. What a travesty! Especially when God’s Spirit lives with us.
This is where silence in prayer can be so helpful. In the last few years, this is something I have been learning about prayer: we need to make room to be silent and enjoy the presence of God’s Spirit who is already with us. One of the ways to do that is to fill our minds with Scripture. Could be a verse. Could be a phrase. Could be a word. At the prayer workshop, the presenter read us Psalm 131 and asked us to think about the words of the Psalm. Was there any word or phrase that was most meaningful to us? Then we were to remember that word or phrase as we sat quietly and enjoyed the presence of God. My word from Psalm 131 was “hope.” The presenter suggested that if our minds wandered, as mine definitely did, then we could remember the Bible verse or word to retrain our hearts and minds on God.
Additionally, in the silence we can listen if God might speak. Not that he must. But in those moments, primarily, we are remembering who he is, his glory, his presence.
In the past I’ve written about Brother Lawrence who sought to practice the presence of God in all the moments of his life, whether he was at work, or with friends, or by himself. He attempted to maintain an ongoing conversation with God, aware of God with him, at all times. His book The Practice of the Presence of God is free online, as it is 400 years old. It is quite encouraging. Practice is a key word. We can and should practice the presence of God with us.
In the previous post about the vision of Ezekiel 1, Ezekiel watches shocked as four living creatures powered by the Spirit of God fly out of a thunderstorm into close proximity to him. Now read verses 15-21 where Ezekiel describes these astounding beings further.
Near the feet of each creature, Ezekiel sees some unique wheels, covered in eyes, symbolizing the all-seeing knowledge of God. Each wheel is actually made of two wheels intersecting at right angles. The wheels don’t turn, but they do move with the living creatures, forward, backwards, up and down, as the Spirit guides them. This is a major theme in Ezekiel, the work and leading of the Spirit. Clearly, God is in this vision.
What Ezekiel describes next is that the four angelic creatures do not travel independently of one another. Instead, in unison, they form a very unique mode of transportation. This vehicle almost seems like a table in which each of the four living creatures are like a leg of the table, and each leg has wheels. But this table doesn’t just move along the ground. It flies, because the living creatures have wings, and more than that, it flies incredible fast, as fast as lightning. Most importantly of all, it is led by the Spirit.
Let’s keep reading, as the vision unfolds further. Read Ezekiel 1, verses 22-24. Now the table top comes into view. The NIV calls it an “expanse, sparkling like ice.” That word “expanse,” is sometimes translated by our English word, “firmament.” The same Hebrew word is used perhaps most famously in Genesis 1, which describes the creation of the universe. In Genesis 1, verse 6, we read that God created an expanse, or firmament, that separated waters below and waters above, and it was called sky. Symbolically this expanse refers to the separation between the dwelling of humanity and the dwelling of God. Now connect that idea to the table in Ezekiel’s vision, as it is a hint. What does it mean? Stay with me, as we’ll find out in tomorrow’s post.
For now, Ezekiel writes that the movement of the four creatures’ wings is essentially like a motor powering this astounding table, and they make a super loud noise. Ezekiel can barely describe it, so he tries three ways. It sounds like the roar of rushing water, or like the voice of God Almighty, or like the tumult of an army on the move.
This is quite a vehicle! It is powerful, it is led by the Spirit.
Interestingly, the four living creatures stop their movement, lowering their wings. Then the vision goes to a totally different level, which we’ll learn about in the next post.
This week we began studying Ezekiel chapter 1 (starting here), and so far in verses 1-4 we have learned that Ezekiel was part of a group of 10,000 Jews that were exiled from the city of Jerusalem to Babylon. After five years of living there, on the banks of the Kebar River, Ezekiel sees an ominous storm cloud.
In Ezekiel chapter 1, verses 5-14, we read that Ezekiel sees, bursting out of the storm, four living creatures, and they are bizarre to say the least. Each creature, though humanoid in form, has heads with four faces, three of which are animals. Each creature also has two sets of wings. Notice in verse 13 where Ezekiel tells us the creatures are glowing like burning coals or torches. Not only that but fire moves between them, and lightning flashes out of the fire. Finally, the creatures are moving fast, back forth like lighting.
There is a precedent for these creatures, especially when you consider their wings. They resemble the wings of the cherubim that were on the Ark of Covenant in the temple of God. The Ark of the Covenant was basically a fancy box that held (see Hebrews 9:4) the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 25:16), a jar of manna (Exodus 16:33-34), and Aaron’s staff (Numbers 17:10). It was kept in the most holy place of the temple in Jerusalem. On its lid were angels, called cherubim, that had wings a lot like the wings of the four living creatures in Ezekiel’s vision. But the four living creatures in Ezekiel were much more complex, with four wings each, whereas the cherubim on the Ark only had two wings.
What are we to make of this vision so far? On one hand, it would be amazing to see. I looked up a couple videos on YouTube to see how artists rendered it. When you read the vision, what do you picture in your mind? It’s really wild, right? How would you draw it? There were lots of options on YouTube, and I have no idea if any of them are even close. The vision is glaring with bright light, moving so fast, that it is hard to know what Ezekiel saw.
Furthermore, we would do well to remember that prophecy is often highly symbolic. In a vision a prophet might see one thing that means something else. This is why prophecy can be daunting. We don’t want to understand it incorrectly, but it is very easy to misunderstand. I think this is why we often avoid it. As we dive into Ezekiel, I cannot guarantee that I am going to interpret it right. But I’ll certainly try!
Let’s look at some options for understanding what symbolism might be present in the four living creatures. First, there are four of them. This could represent the four corners of the earth, which of course does not have any corners. But in the ancient world the idea of the four corners of the earth referred to “everywhere on earth.” Symbolically, then, that can refer to completeness. Why completeness? Perhaps that what God is trying to communicate through this vision will have world-wide, or complete, significance.
Second, the creatures themselves are also likely symbolic. The four animals of the four faces of each creature likely refer to the apex of four categories of animals. Humans are the rulers of all creation. Lions are the king of the beasts. Oxen are the strongest of the domesticated animals, and eagles are the rulers of the skies. So there is great strength and power represented in these creatures. Whatever the vision is trying to communicate, it will indicate great power and strength.
Third, look at verse 12, where we read that the living creatures follow “the spirit.” In Hebrew the word “spirit” literally means “wind” or “breathe,” but it is also used for the Spirit of God. Therefore, it really seems the idea Ezekiel wants us to understand is that these four creatures are following the Spirit of God.
I imagine Ezekiel is watching this vision dumbstruck. Things are about to get even more wild. Check back to tomorrow’s post to find out how.
In the previous post, we began studying the book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible. In chapter 1, verse 1, Ezekiel tells us that he was among exiles by the Kebar River. Psalm 137:1, a psalm written by exiles in Babylon says, “By the rivers in Babylon, we sat and wept, when we remembered Zion.” Zion is another name for Jerusalem. We don’t know precisely what body of water the Kebar is, or where it is located, but it was likely a canal connected to the great Euphrates River. In the ancient world, rivers were often places of prayer, and it seems that was the case for the exiled Israelites. They would go to bodies of water like the Kebar and long for a return to Jerusalem.
There, Ezekiel tells us in verse 1, the heavens open up and he saw visions of God. That one phrase is amazing. He saw visions of God. I thought about that and wondered if I would want to see visions of God. On the one hand, I do, out of curiosity’s sake. I also do because it would help me deal with lingering doubts. Yes, even we pastors have lingering doubts about the existence of God. And we, too, would love God to just break out of the heavens and reveal himself in a vision. But on the other hand, whenever there are visions in Scripture, the visions pretty much freak people out. My guess is that if God gave us a vision, it would freak us out too. There is a safety in the routine experience of life. Ezekiel had that routine too. Even there in Babylon in exile. From the moment this vision arrives, though, Ezekiel’s routine changes. What results is anything but a mundane life. Ezekiel is about to describe the vision for us, and I’ll think you’ll see why it is so life-altering.
Before describing the vision, notice how verse 1 is written in the first-person, where Ezekiel refers to himself as “I,” but in verses 2-3, someone else is writing, talking about Ezekiel in third person, “him.” This is the only place in the entire book that a narrator speaks. Verses 2 and 3 are likely a later editorial comment by a scribe or compiler, helping us understand the context of this amazing vision.
In verse 2 the narrator repeats what we already knew about the exile, as I mentioned in the previous post. Then the narrator adds that the events of Ezekiel 1 take place five years into the exile, an important detail to keep in mind. In verse 3, the narrator reveals that Ezekiel was the son of a priest. That answers why Ezekiel was exiled in the first place, because he was in a priest’s family, and the Babylonians, when they defeated Jerusalem, carted off the priests.
But there’s more we need to consider about priests that relates to Ezekiel’s situation. The Mosaic Law, in Numbers 4:3, mentions that the earliest a person qualified for the priesthood was their 30th year. So when you tie that fact to Ezekiel’s reference in verse 1 to “the thirtieth year,” it seems to confirm that he was 30 years old when this vision came to him. What this means is that instead of becoming a priest, God has a different plan for him. We read in verse 3 that the word of the Lord came to him, that God’s hand was on him, and thus Ezekiel would become not a priest, but a prophet.
With those details in mind, look at verse 4 which is where Ezekiel begins to describe the vision he received there in Babylon beside the Kebar River. In Ezekiel 1, verse 4, we read: “I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north—an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light.”
So far, the vision doesn’t seem like a vision at all. It seems like a normal meteorological event. A bad thunderstorm. Wind, clouds, lightning. Nothing out of the ordinary yet. We had some of these this past week where I live in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and you’ve seen them too where you live.
As we keep reading in the middle of verse 4, the vision begins to take an unusual turn: “The center of the fire looked like glowing metal…”
Now that is not a normal thunderstorm! Something is in the middle of the storm, and it is glowing like metal that has been heated super-hot. What is it?
Engaging Scripture 