God moves in mysterious ways and He speaks to us in many forms. He is inexhaustible as Trip Lee had coined. His wisdom is so infinite you can never see Him coming. This week, I was reminded of how good God is and how He orchestrates situations in the background simply to bless us. As I started reading the book of Ezekiel, I was even more amazed at the power and faithfulness of God throughout multiple generations. He is a covenant keeping God for a reason and He proves it multiple times in the bible. Indeed, God always remembered His covenant with Israel which meant that even in His chastisement or judgement of Israel, He always returned to restore her. He never left her alone forever. Today, I want to give you an overview of what I read in the first two chapters of Ezekiel and some of the key messages that I drew from it.
The book of Ezekiel happens during the Jerusalem siege and goes into the Babylonian exile. It is addressed to the people of Israel who were under siege and eventually taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon when he took over Judah and its cities. This was not a good time for Israel, because of their sin, they were now captive, they, who were God’s people were now a laughingstock. Their very identity was now under attack because who were they without the God of their forefathers? Without the God who saved them with a “mighty hand and an outstretched arm” (Deuteronomy 26:8)? The people of Israel were in a state of hopelessness but God used Ezekiel to speak to them about hope again. The particularity of Ezekiel is the way God appears to Him and gives Him visions. Ezekiel gets to have a glimpse of what heaven looks like and what the glory of God resembles. What I find fascinating in the description of what he sees in the vision is how detailed it is and how little our brains can comprehend after his description of “the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord” (Ezekiel 1:28). As with other prophets who had been privy to see the glory of God or meet with angelic beings, Ezekiel fell on his face at that encounter. The Lord then called Ezekiel and told him to stand on his feet so that He could speak to him. Clearly the state Ezekiel was in did not allow him to stand nor speak. The Spirit of God then took over, he came upon Ezekiel and helped him to stand as God had commanded him to do. This makes me know that it is impossible to do anything for God without the Spirit of God at work. The Holy Spirit enables us to do exploit in the Name of the Lord and for His glory. In this passage, we see that it is the Spirit of God who empowered Ezekiel to be obedient to the word of God. If it weren’t for the Holy Spirit, Ezekiel would not have been able to stand on his feet despite his best intentions because of his weakness. In our Christian walk, we must not think it different to need the Holy Spirit to help us obey the commandments of God. Without the Spirit’s help, we cannot obey His commands. The Holy Spirit regenerates us, and He is the one who gives us the self-control to say no to sin and to say yes to righteousness. Indeed, the moment we accept Christ as our Lord and saviour, the Holy Spirit comes and makes his living among us and we are now under the Lordship of Christ and not under the dominion of darkness. As Paul explains in Romans, we (the ones who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ) are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit (Romans 8:9).
As Ezekiel is made to stand, God speaks to him and tells him that He is sending him to the Israelites to speak to them the “Thus says the Lord” (Ezekiel 2:4). In His statement, God refers to the Israelites as “rebels”, “transgressors”, “impudent” and “stubborn”. Despite the Israelites’ character, God still wants to send Ezekiel to the nation of Israel. Indeed, despite the fact that the nation of Israel will not listen and will continue to be stubborn, God tells Ezekiel to not be afraid, to be as stubborn as they are in continuing to give them the word of God whether Israel hears or refuses to hear the word (Ezekiel 2:4-6). Ezekiel’s charge from God was to speak His words to the Israelites. Israel’s response was not to be a concern to Ezekiel. This principle still applies to us today. As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are called to preach the gospel to those who do not know it yet, the reception of the gospel message is not our concern. Every man and woman should have the opportunity to hear the good news of Jesus Christ but how they respond to Jesus Christ is not something we have control of and it is not our focus. Hence, in our obedience, we must continue to proclaim Jesus crucified to those who do not know Him and the Holy Spirit will do the rest. Our difficulty often lies in the fact that we give up easily when we do not see fruit, we get desperate and we do not want to speak the message of Christ anymore. This is something that the prophets also experienced, having warned the people on multiple occasions about the judgement of God yet not seeing any change in the people, many of them did not want to continue speaking and preferred death instead. But in reality, God does not expect us to burden ourselves with how people will respond, instead He wants us to be His messengers.
As we progress in the encounter between Ezekiel and God, we also see that God told Ezekiel to open his mouth and eat what He gives him (Ezekiel 2:8). What God gave Ezekiel to eat was a scroll. As Ezekiel ate this scroll it tasted like honey in his mouth; in other words it was sweet. This is very similar to what the Psalmist says: “how sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103). Jeremiah also says something similar in chapter fifteen: “your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart” (Jeremiah 15:16). When I read the exchange between God and Ezekiel in this scene, I understand that we too are meant to eat the word of God because it is sweet to our taste. The word of God is good for us, it revives our soul, it makes us not sin against God because we know His commands through it. The word of God makes us be like a tree planted by the streams of water who gives fruit in its season (Psalm 1:1-3). The word of God teaches us about God – His character, it gives us more understanding than our enemies, it makes us love what God loves and hate what He hates (Psalm 119:113). Ezekiel eating the scroll during his encounter with God teaches us about the importance of the word of God in our lives. The word of God gives us the direction that we need, the life that we thirst for, without it we cannot know the One we love.
I have just scratched the surface of the book of Ezekiel but I must say, simply looking at the first two chapters has been a blessing. There is always so much depth into the word of God and even in how He chooses to be revealed to His people. God proves through His word how vast and inexhaustible He is. What’s more, God uses simple truths to communicate to us who He is. Even when He uses methods we are not accustomed to or methods we do cannot control (visions, dreams), His point is easy to grasp. As a matter of fact, the message of the cross for example is so simple that children can understand yet it is a snare to some. I pray we grow in love for the word of God as David had and as he explained in Psalm 119. Amen!
A Word Aptly Spoken 