Ezekiel 1:25- 2:10
We continue our study of Ezekiel's vision:
(v.22) Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was what looked something like a vault, sparkling like crystal, and awesome.
Then there came a voice from above the vault over their heads as they stood with lowered wings. Above the vault over their heads was what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli (a sapphire stone), and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking.
This is how Ezekiel tried to describe what he saw, something indescribable. He uses the words "looked like," "like," "appearance," "as if" and "likeness of." And he was overwhelmed with the enormity of the glory and magnificence of it all. But even though he collapsed physically, he could still hear.
He said to me, "Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak to you." As He spoke, the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet, and I heard Him speaking to me.
When God's Spirit came into him, he was strengthened and steadied to stand on his feet, in respect for the Majesty speaking to him.
He said: "Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against Me; they and their ancestors have been in revolt against Me to this very day. The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says.' And whether they listen or fail to listen--for they are a rebellious people--they will know that a prophet has been among them.
God is letting His prophet know that He is aware of Israel's degenerate condition, but He still wants him to tell them His message anyway, knowing that most of them will not listen.
And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions. Do not be afraid of what they say or be terrified by them, though they are a rebellious people. You must speak My words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious. But you, son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not rebel like that rebellious people;"
God tells Ezekiel that he need not fear anything these people may throw at him, because they will not want to hear the Truth from him, and will oppose him. But do not succumb to their pressures, remain true to the God he knows will be with him.
"open your mouth and eat what I give you."
Then I looked, and I saw a hand stretched out to me. In it was a scroll, which He unrolled before me. On both sides of it were written words of lament and mourning and woe.
God wants Ezekiel to ingest the words, the concepts and attitudes, inscribed on this scroll, both inside and outside. These reveal how God's heart is breaking and has been breaking for all the lies and deceptions that have enslaved His chosen people who He loves.
God wants His beloved people to know Him and His ways, to realize that He wants only good for them, and not just good, but the very best, that will benefit them and bless them and prosper them. All we need to do is to listen to what He says to us, believe that He speaks the Truth, and follow the Maker's directions and instructions.
Whenever we think that we are smart and know better and don't want "anyone" to tell us "what to do" or "how to live our lives," that's when we're listening to our enemy, the devil, Satan. He hates us and twists God's wonderful Truth into grotesque and disgusting concepts that enslave us into addictions of thinking processes and actions that destroy us. We may think that we're "doing all right," but this is only a temporary pleasure that will eventually end in misery and death.
These Israelites that God sent Ezekiel to preach to, have already, for many generations, rejected God, being sucked into worshiping the idols of the peoples around them and the peoples that they replaced in their own land. God destroyed those nations because of all their degrading practices, and gave the land to Israel. Only to have Israel fall into the same lifestyles that reject the good, healthy ways of the Lord. So God removed them from the land, also, sending them into exile in Babylon.
God had them completely destroy some of the cities; all the men, women, children, babies, and even all the animals. Why? Probably to keep the diseases their lifestyles promoted from also infecting His people. Some of their despicable practices involved their animals and their children, and they may all have been infected.
God chose Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their families to be a Nation who would display to all the other Nations how God's ways were so much better in every way than all the other ways; the ways of the world, the devil, and our own fallen flesh-nature. Their example was to draw those of the rest of the world into following God and His ways.
So now He is sending Ezekiel to preach to them, to make sure that they know what they have done and are doing, so they will have the choice to follow God or not. He always gives us that choice. And to even tell them the consequences of whichever choice they make, so that they can never claim ignorance.
Let's continue this study.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
