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Ezekiel 2:1-3:3
In
Ezekiel 1 we read that he had seen “visions of God” (Ez. 1:1). At the end of chapter 1 Ezekiel “fell
facedown” when he saw “the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD”
(Ez. 1:28). This is where we come to our
story today in Ezekiel 2.
He said to me, “Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak to
you.” – Ezekiel 2:1
Ezekiel 1:4-28
Last week, Carl set the
stage for our study of the book of Ezekiel by describing the events that had
led up to this young priest sitting by a canal in Babylon a thousand miles away
from his home in Jerusalem. He had been taken captive when the Babylonians had
attacked Judah, subdued it, and carried off thousands of exiles. God had
allowed this invasion as part of his judgment on his people for turning away
from him and worshiping other gods, a prospect he had warned King Solomon about
way back at the dedication of the temple. Disobedience to the covenant would
have consequences.
God had sent numerous
prophets to warn his people, but a series of evil kings in both Israel and
Judah had led the people away from their loyalty and commitment to God. Israel
was conquered by the Assyrians in 722 BC, and many of its people were carried
off into exile at that time. In Judah, the last “good” king, Josiah, came to
the throne in about 640 BC and rediscovered the Book of the Law, which helped
him realize how far the people had strayed from God. This was probably in the
very year that Ezekiel was born. Josiah did what he could to rid the land of
idolatry, but God sent him word that in one sense it was “too late.” The
disaster that God was bringing on the land of Judah and its people would indeed
happen, but because of Josiah’s faithfulness it would not be within his
lifetime. In the words of the passage from 2 Kings 22 that Carl read, God would
remove Judah from his presence and reject Jerusalem, the city he had chosen, and
the temple about which he had said, “My name shall be there.” This punishment
was inevitable.
It's easy to understand
why Ezekiel was probably feeling quite disheartened. Despite starting out his
life during the more hopeful reign of King Josiah, things had gone downhill,
and Ezekiel was caught up in the terrible disaster that God had brought on the
land. Personally, he seems to have a heart to follow God. He was now 30 years
old, about the time when he could be installed formally as a priest in the
temple. But all of that had been stripped away: everything familiar, all of his
plans and hopes. This was extreme dislocation, as he was uprooted and stuck in
a foreign land, with no control over his own future. It probably felt
“unprecedented” and “like uncharted territory.” You have no doubt heard those
terms a few times over the past year. Most of us have experienced some major
changes in our lives in the midst of the pandemic – new ways of operating,
things we wanted to do but haven’t been able to. The world seems more divided,
confusing, and uncertain than ever. What is God doing? Can we still trust him?
Ezekiel
1:1-3
Welcome! Today I am
excited to begin with you a new series into the book of Ezekiel. Today I want
to give an introduction to the book. Ezekiel was a prophet who fit into a very
specific point in the era of kings and prophets in Israel’s history, and so the
first thing I want to do today is give a bit of an overview of the history of
this era so that we can see exactly where Ezekiel’s life and ministry fits in.
Now, I am not going to give any dates, because my experience is that any time
you mention a date, people immediately become sleepy. And the Bible does not
directly give dates either, so any time we give a date we are extrapolating
from the Scripture and possibly combining Bible information with what we know
from other sources (not that there is anything wrong with doing that). Now, the
Bible does often give relative dates, referring to one event as a
certain number of years after another. And if you think about it, even our
modern dates are all relative, relative to the time of Christ. That is where
A.D. (anno Domini – in the year of the Lord) and B.C. (before Christ) come
from. (Note that these terms were invented far after the actual time of Christ
and may be slightly in error; most Bible scholars think Christ was born in 4
B.C.) But in any case, I do believe there is something about four-digit numbers
that makes people instantly sleepy, so I will not use them today.
Although I am tempted to
start at Genesis and those who have been with us long enough know that that is
not an idle threat, as I have done this before. But given our recent series on
David, and given key content in the book of Ezekiel, I want to start with
Solomon. Recall Saul was the first king of the united kingdom of Israel, but
Saul refused to obey God, and after a long struggle, David became king. Under David,
the kingdom really established itself, defeating the Philistines and other
enemies of the Israelites. Solomon was David’s son and succeeded him as king
when he died. Solomon oversaw the building of the Temple in Jerusalem and led
Israel in a time that one could characterize as largely peaceful and
increasingly prosperous, although most of that prosperity went directly to
Solomon rather than to the people. Before we get into the negative stuff, I
want to read from the Bible a highlight of Solomon’s reign, the moment that God
came to inhabit with His presence the Temple that Solomon had made. This event
is pivotal to the book of Ezekiel. Listen to Solomon’s marvelous prayer of
dedication from 2 Chron. 6, starting at verse 14:
Matthew 28:1-20
Good Morning! He is risen!
Indeed, He is risen!
Every day in Christ is a
good day, but during Easter time the days seem a bit brighter, a bit sweeter,
hope seems stronger. Not only are we are
reminded that Jesus has overcome death, we celebrate His resurrection. The King has risen.
You know these events
well. Leading up to Matthew 28, Jesus
has lived a life set apart to God. He
has walked in sinless perfection. He
resisted temptation and did not submit to Satan’s trickery. He had a public ministry lasting just three
years. During that time, many came to
Him for a wide range of reasons. Jesus
performed many signs and wonders far beyond what anyone else had done in the
Old Testament. Many followed Him, but
many did not stay with Him during his earthly ministry.
We see a microcosm of that
even within the last week of Jesus’ life on earth.
At just the right time,
Jesus came to Jerusalem and the crowds joined together again crying out, “Hosanna
to the Son of David!” Matthew 21:9
“Blessed is he who comes
in the name of the Lord!” Matthew 21:9, Mark 11:9, John 12:13
“Hosanna in the highest
heaven!” Matthew 21:9, Mark 11:10
“Blessed is the coming
kingdom of our father David!” Mark 11:10
“Blessed is the king who
comes in the name of the Lord!” Luke 19:38
“Peace in heaven and glory
in the highest!” Luke 19:38
“Blessed is the king of
Israel!” John 12:13
Not even a week later,
Jesus is arrested and abandoned by his disciples. He is unjustly condemned, struck, spat upon,
scourged with whips, mocked, forced to wear a crown of thorns, and ultimately
crucified. Only one of the twelve disciples
was clearly at the cross. The ones who
did not abandon Him were the women: Mary
the mother of Jesus, Mary’s sister, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James
and Joses, Mary the wife of Clopas, Salome, the mother of the sons of Zebedee, and
many others.
Jesus gives up his spirit
and dies upon the cross. Ever looking at
appearances, the Jewish leaders ask that those crucified have their legs broken
so that they would die sooner, before Passover.
Even though the soldiers saw that Jesus died, they pierce His side with
a spear to be sure. Yes, it is certain,
Jesus is dead.
Joseph of Arimathea goes
to Pilate and asks for the body. Pilate
agrees, and with his permission, Joseph comes and takes the body of Jesus away
from the cross. It seems to magnify the
tragedy that Joseph is joined by Nicodemus.
Nicodemus brings nearly one hundred pounds of burial spices and
perfumes, likely those perfumes and spices meant for his own burial. Joseph seemingly gives up his own newly
prepared tomb for Jesus. I say that it
magnifies the tragedy because it is especially heartbreaking when the old bury
the young. It ought not be, and yet here
these old men from the Jewish council are burying Jesus, a man of 33 years, in
the prime of life.
Matthew 27 concludes with
the posting of a guard at the tomb on the Sabbath day, the day following Jesus’
death. The disciples did not anticipate
that Jesus would rise from the dead in spite of the fact that Jesus explicitly
told the disciples that he would rise.
He had told them so on multiple occasions. The chief priests and Pharisees did
understand that Jesus had proclaimed his coming resurrection. Unfortunately, their response to Jesus’
message was not belief, but rather to seek to prevent a conspiracy.
Let us rejoice that no
guard could prevent Jesus rising.
Let’s pray before we go
into today’s passage in Matthew 28.
