Our journey through the Bible takes us to the book of Ezekiel. This book is often ignored because the visions are difficult to interpret. However, important messages of God’s greatness and glory are contained in this book as well as important principles for life. While Jeremiah spoke the message of God to the Jews in Jerusalem and Judah, Ezekiel had been deported to Babylon almost 13 years before the fall of Jerusalem (1:1-3; 33:21). He, like Daniel, was among the best and brightest of Judah and among the first to be deported to Babylon. He was a priest and began his ministry at about 30 years of age (1:1-3). Chapters 1-3 record his call to serve as God’s watchman to the Jews who were in Babylon (3:17). The first step to becoming God’s watchman was to see the greatness and glory of God. While Isaiah had a similar experience in the temple (Isa 6), Ezekiel would encounter the glory of God by the River Chebar (1:3). The creatures he saw were evidently the cherubim John saw surrounding the throne of God in Rev. 4. Those who speak for God must know he is great and glorious (1:28). He was told that God was sending him to a rebellious people of whom many would not heed his message (2:11-5). He was then given a scroll and told to eat it. That symbolized that he was to internalize the word of God then deliver that word to the people (3:1-15). The message of God must be real in the heart and life of the messenger. Seeing the glory of God and hearing the call of God to deliver God’s message to a rebellious people left him overwhelmed (3:15). However, he must deliver that message regardless of their response (3:1-27). We have that same mandate.
Posted on: Wed, 11 Sep 2013 10:17:53 +0000
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