Trinity Baptist Church

 

Ezekiel is a young man, thirty years of age. It is the age when priests begin their ministry. They served for twenty years; from the age of thirty to the age of fifty. We know he is a priest because we are told that in the third verse. He is called Ezekiel the priest. He has received his training. He has been prepared. He is ready to inaugurate his ministry as a priest among the people of God who have been carried into captivity.

 

What Ezekiel doesn't know is that the Lord is getting ready to change his career. Some of you may have had a career change; an unexpected career change.

 

Look at the 2nd chapter, the 5th verse. In the last part of that 5th verse the Lord says to Ezekiel, "Yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them."

 

He is a priest; yet God is going to change careers on him and he is going to be a prophet.

 

Notice in these first three verses, which are introductory, that we are given the period of time involved. We are also given the place where Ezekiel was when the Lord called him. He is at a period of time which is shortly after he had arrived in Babylon as a part of the exiles who had been carried into captivity. He was about twenty-five years of age.

 

He's been there about five years.

 

You will notice that it is also in the 5th year (verse

2) of King Jehoiachin's captivity. The Babylonians invaded the land of Palestine and carried away a number of the people into captivity. In about six years from this particular time in chapter one, the city of Jerusalem is going to fall. So, God is calling a prophet to deliver a message to His people who are in exile.

 

In one sense of the word, we are living in an age when a church is in exile. The church is in the midst of a culture which has placed the people of God into exile.

 

Get the picture. Ezekiel is in a foreign land. He is 600 miles away from home. Just imagine yourself if you are in a concentration camp in Iraq or Afghanistan. That's what you have here in Ezekiel. He is living in a community alongside the river of Chebar. That was an irrigation canal that flowed from the Euphrates River and it was south east of the city of Babylon. So he is living in a concentration camp among the exiles of the Lord.

 

It is a time when there are two kinds of people, as we will see. Among the exiles who were there in Babylon who had been carried away from Jerusalem in the land, there were two kinds of people. There were some people who were living in denial. Even though they were in captivity, even though they were in dire circumstances, they really refused to see the situation they were in.

 

Kind of reminds me of modern America. All of the things that are taking place around us: 9/11; all of the things that are going on make it apparent that we are a land under the displeasure of God.

Yet, some people just want to go on in denial as if everything is fine.

 

So, to that segment of the people, Ezekiel is going to deliver a message of judgment. In the 1st 24 chapters of the book of Ezekiel, we will have the fall of Judah. He will make prophecies before the siege of

Jerusalem and it will be a message of judgment. You read the first 24 chapters of Ezekiel and you will get a lot of judgment.

 

But there is another group of people who are in exile. On the one hand there are those who are living in denial; they won't see the signs around them of the displeasure and judgment of God; they are just mired deeper and deeper into their idolatry and immorality.

 

On the other hand there are people who are in despair. They feel like God has totally deserted them. They see the signs of the times. They see the dire circumstances they are in and they know that it is a judgment of God upon them. So they are living in despair.

 

So, to that group of people, God is calling Ezekiel to deliver a message of hope. In chapters 33-48, we have a preview of the millennium and a preview of when God returns to His people in great splendor and glory. So he has a two-pronged message.

 

In the middle of that, in chapters 25-32, we have the foes of Judah and there are prophecies concerning the nations around them.

 

 

 

I want you to notice what happens to Ezekiel. Ezekiel says in verse 1 that at that particular time and in that particular place that "the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God." God parted that curtain between earth and heaven. God pulls the curtain apart and allows Ezekiel to get visions of God.

 

Ezekiel is going to have a tough ministry as we shall see next week in the 2nd chapter and on into the 3rd chapter. When the Lord calls Ezekiel to be a prophet, he makes it very plain to him that he is going to have a tough time. It's not going to be an easy ministry.

 

As we shall see, Ezekiel is going to be a rather unusual preacher. He is going to have visions. He is going to act out sermons. Ezekiel is a most unusual character.

 

When you study the Old Testament prophets you will find that they were unusual men. Ezekiel is the most unusual of them all. In fact, for a period of time, God tells him he can't speak. So, for days and months, he doesn't speak unless God gives him a message. The elders would come down to the little hut, evidently where Ezekiel was, and when God had a message Ezekiel would speak it, but other than that, you would see Ezekiel in the grocery store. "How you doing Ezekiel?" Silence.

 

For a period of time God told him he was to be on his right side. And for days he's over on his right side. Then God tells him to get over on his left side. He lays on his left side. His wife dies and God tells

Ezekiel, "Ezekiel your wife is going to die, but you can't cry."

 

He acts out sermons. He uses visual effects. He portrays different things and he improvises and acts it out with visual effects. He shaves his beard and his head. He's an unusual preacher. He is going to have a tough job because he is going to preach and for the most part the people aren't going to pay any attention to him.

 

In other words, God calls Ezekiel to preach. "Ezekiel,

I want you to preach, but I want to tell you something. They aren't going to pay any attention to you. That's a great way to start your ministry, isn't it?

 

There are a couple of phrases that occur in the book of Ezekiel which are the keys to understanding it.

 

One of the phrases is “the word of the Lord came.” That occurs 50 times in the book of Ezekiel. It occurs in this first chapter. Verse 3 says, the word of the Lord came.

 

Another phrase is “they shall know that I am the Lord”.

 

That occurs 70 times in the book of Ezekiel. The word of the Lord came. They shall know that I am the Lord.

 

Notice another thing. He says in the last part of verse 3, "and the hand of the Lord was there upon

him." Where? In Babylon. Where? In captivity. Where it seems there was no hope.

 

So, in the year he was to begin his ministry as a priest, God is getting ready to call him to a ministry that is going to be tough; that is going to be difficult. So before that ministry begins God just opens up heaven and lets Ezekiel have visions of God.

 

This is very often the case when God calls his men to preach. Do you remember Isaiah? In Isaiah 6 he says, "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high and lifted up." God gave him a vision of the glorious throne.

 

In the book of The Revelation, John on the island of Patmos, God gave John an unfolding of the future of the world and all of the tribulation. Before that happens, do you remember what happens in chapter one?

 

God gives John a vision, a revelation, of the glorified

Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Before Ezekiel can undertake this kind of discouraging and disheartening ministry, God wants him to get a little glimpse of the glory; to see the majesty and the splendor of our great God. Ezekiel will come back to this vision of glory. As he goes through his ministry, from time to time, you will find that Ezekiel goes back to it.

 

I want you to see this vision which God gives to Ezekiel. We are told what this vision is. We don't have to wonder what the vision is. Look at verse 28 of the 1st chapter. Right in the middle of chapter 1, we are told what this vision is.

 

"This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord."

 

 

 

If you don't understand anything else about this vision and believe me there's a whole lot there not to

Understand, you can understand this: what Ezekiel gets in chapter 1, before he inaugurates his prophetic ministry is a vision of the glory of the Lord.

That's what this is all about.

 

Look at verse 4 in chapter 1. "And I looked and behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire unfolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire."

 

As this vision begins he sees a storm and a whirlwind coming up. Same thing happened to Job in Job 38. When God got ready to speak to Job, the Bible says that the Lord spoke to Job out of a whirlwind. Same thing in the book of The Revelation. Several times in The Revelation, God opens up heaven and John says, "I saw thunders and lightenings and flashes and earthquakes."

 

Same thing here.

 

What we are going to read here, don't try to draw a picture of it. It will drive you crazy. What you are going to read here is the attempt of human language to describe the indescribable. This is literal truth depicted in symbol. Look at the words he uses.

 

In the last part of verse 4 he says, "Out of the midst thereof AS the color of amber." 

 

Verse 5 - "Out of the midst thereof came the likeness of. . .And this was their appearance." 

 

 

In the latter part of verse 7 - "They sparkled like the color of burnished brass." See those words of comparison? 

 

As. Likeness. Appearance. Like. He's trying to say that this is the language of symbol. It is literal truth presented in symbol. A vision of the glory of the

Lord.

 

There are three basic elements in this vision of the glory of the Lord. The first element is in verses 4-

14. The first thing Ezekiel sees in this glory of the

Lord is

 

 

I'm not going to begin to try to tell you what each one of these things means. I don't have a foggy clue what they mean. Everybody has a different idea about what they mean. Here is my approach: Don't get hung up on every little detail. Keep in mind that this is the language of symbol.

 

What is that all about? He just has a vision of the cherubim. We know that he is talking cherubim in verse 4-14. 

 

Go over to the 10th chapter of Ezekiel and verse 15. "And the cherubim (the 's' shouldn't be there.

Cherub is singular.

 

In the Hebrew, when you want to make something plural, you add “im” cherubim) were lifted up. This is the living creature I saw by the river of Chebar."

 

 

 

Now drop down to verse 20. "This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the

river of Chebar: and I knew that they were the

cherubim."

 

In chapter 1 when it talks about the four living creatures, he is talking about cherubim. When we think about a cherub, we think about a little fat angelic looking creature. But in the Bible, a cherub and the cherubim were guardians of the throne of God. They were guardians of His holiness. When the cherubim showed up it was an indication that God is present. They were executors of the will of God.

 

The first time cherubim are mentioned is in Genesis 3 in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve sinned. The Bible says they were driven out of the Garden of Eden and there was a flaming sword there that guarded the entrance to Eden and the cherubim were there. Guardians of the glory and the holiness of God.

 

The cherubim were mentioned in the Tabernacle. They were designed on the mercy seat. The cherubim are mentioned in the temple. In the book of The Revelation, there is evidently a reference to the cherubim in the four living creatures.

 

He is getting a vision of the cherubim. What is he going to learn?

 

Let's look briefly at a description. I want to focus in on their faces. One, there is the face of a man. That seems to represent the intelligence of human life. The lion seems to represent the strength of wild animal life. The ox seems to represent the service of domesticated animal life.

The eagle seems to represent the splendor and the loftiness of bird life. There is the picture.

 

You will notice that these cherubim went wherever the Spirit went. They always went straight forward. They were ready to roll, ready to move at the movement of the Spirit. What's this all about?

 

This vision of the cherubim is a message to Ezekiel about God's omnipresence. That's a mighty big word, what does omnipresence mean? Omni means all or every presence. It means that God is present everywhere.

 

What God is trying to say to Ezekiel is this. "Ezekiel, I want you to get a vision of my glory. Ezekiel, I want you to understand, through this vision of the cherubim, that wherever the cherubim go, they are moving straight, moving according to the movement of the Spirit. I want you to know that I am everywhere."

 

Omnipresence means God is everywhere. There is no where that God is not.

 

Big deal? What does that mean to me in Ardmore, OK? That means a whole lot. 

 

It means that it doesn't matter where you are; it doesn't matter what you are going through; it doesn't matter what you are facing. God says, I want you to know I am right there and I want you to know that what is going on in the visible realm is merely a reflection of what is going on in the invisible realm. I want you to know that you are not alone. You may be in a land of captivity, but even there, I am there.

 

God is everywhere. There is no where God is not! We need to know that in these days.

 

It gets even more interesting. Part of the vision is

This: he gets a vision of the -

 

 

Read about that beginning in verse 15 down through verse 21. I won't deal with all the verses. I'm just trying to give you the overall picture. 

 

Verses 15-16

 

The best image I can get here is that it's kind of like a gyroscope so that the wheel in the wheel and the four wheels means they could go in any direction without having to turn.

 

Verse 17-18

 

Ezekiel says I saw the wheel and it was awesome.

 

Verse 19

 

Wherever the cherubim went, the wheels went.

 

verse 20-21

 

Ezekiel saw the wheel. And he saw a wheel in a wheel. And he saw a wheel moving in all directions. What in the world does all that mean? He not only have a vision of God's omnipresence; God is everywhere. But do you notice he said those wheels have eyes in them?

 

 

Wherever the wheels went those eyes went. Ezekiel is getting a vision of God's glorious omniscience. Heavy words. What does omniscience mean?

 

Omni means all or every. Omniscience means to know all. To know everything. Do you know what God is saying to Ezekiel?

 

God is saying, "Ezekiel, I'm omniscience. I know everything. Anywhere the movement of time goes, I think that's what wheels mean, the movement of time. Anywhere the movement of time goes, whatever transpires, anywhere on this earth, I'm omniscience. I know all about it."

 

To put it in simple language he is saying that God knows everything. Did you know that God knows everything? He knows all about it. Do you think anything ever happens down on this earth and God up in heaven says, "I never thought that would happen."

 

You've had a real problem today. You've had something tough hit you today. You haven't known what to do with it. I have news for you. God knew all about it. He knew it was going to happen before it happened. He knew it happened when it happened. He knows what's going on right now. God knows everything.

 

That's what He wants Ezekiel to understand. "Ezekiel, I know all about these people you are going to preach to. I know what's going on down in their heart and in their life. I know the sin that is there. I know the disobedience that is there. I know the rebellion that is there. I know all about it, Ezekiel."

 

Here's the third vision.

 

 

You read about that in verse 22-28. Verse 22 has been paraphrased by Eugene Peterson. "Like a dome shimmering in the sky, full of cut glass and awesome." So he gets a vision of the chamber up in heaven.

 

Verse 23-25

 

Look at what he sees above the firmament, that

chamber, that dome.

 

Verse 26

 

Ezekiel now looks up higher and on that dome, that shimmering dome like cut glass, he sees a throne as the appearance of a sapphire.

 

In Ezekiel 24 we are told that the sapphire stone was where God put His feet. This is the throne of God. "Upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness of the appearance of a man upon it." There was someone sitting on that throne.

 

Here is a hint in an Old Testament passage of the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ. In heaven, right now, there's a man on the throne. The man, Christ Jesus. The God man, Christ Jesus.

 

Verse 27

 

He gets vision of that man on the throne. The glory and the splendor that was there!

 

verse 28

 

Ezekiel sees the rainbow. Noah saw the rainbow after the storm. When the flood came and after the flood, Noah saw the rainbow after the storm. John, in the book of The Revelation, saw the rainbow before the storm.

 

Here, Ezekiel sees the rainbow above the storm, representing God's covenant promise and God's power.

 

What is the message God revealed to Ezekiel? The message of the chamber and the throne is the message of God's glorious omnipotence.

 

He is saying, "I'm on the throne." Omni means all. Potent means power. It is basically saying that God is all powerful. God can do anything.

 

What does that have to do with us in Ardmore, OK on a Wednesday night in the year 2008? It means to us that there's no problem you are going through right now; no difficulty you are going through right now that is beyond the power of God to do something about it.

 

In difficult days, such as the days you and I are living in, we need to once a gain get a vision and a glimpse of the power of God. Our God is an awesome God. Our God is a God of all power. Nothing is too hard for God. There's nothing God can't do in your life.

 

"I'm battling temptation and I can't handle it," you say. You may not can handle it, but God can.

 

"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man, but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able but will with the temptation make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it."

 

The Bible says that our God is able to do exceeding abundantly all that you ask or think. Our God is a God of awesome power.

 

Look at what happens at the end of verse 28.

 

No wonder. He's in the presence of the glory of the Lord. The glory of the Lord is the outward manifestation of the divine presence. When a man had that kind of vision of the splendor and the majesty and the glory of the Lord, he prostrates himself before it.

 

In those tough and difficult days of his ministry (we are going to study about them) this man goes through the wringer. In those days, God points him back to this vision and says, don't ever forget, Ezekiel, I'm on the throne. I'm everywhere. I know everything. I can do anything.