WWUTT 2669 Introduction to Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1:1-3)

Introduction to Ezekiel and the Glory of God

The book of Ezekiel, one of the longest books of the Old Testament, has some many great and glorious things to say to us. But one thing we should especially be looking for is the glory of God when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our Q &A on Friday.

Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky.

In our study of the Old Testament, which we do on the Thursday edition of the broadcast, we're beginning a study in the book of Ezekiel. If you have a Bible, you can open with me to Chapter 1 as I'm going to begin by reading this entire first chapter.

Reading Ezekiel's First Vision

Now this lesson today is primarily going to be an overview of this book, but to open with the text, let's read Ezekiel 1 verses 1 through 28. Hear the word of the Lord. In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the Kibar Canal, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.

On the fifth day of the month, it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin, the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the Kibar Canal, and the hand of the Lord was upon him there.

As I looked, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, and a great cloud with brightness around it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, as it were, gleaming metal. And from the midst of it came the likeness of four living creatures, and this was their appearance.

They had a human likeness, but each had four faces, and each of them had four wings. Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf's foot, and they sparkled like burnished bronze.

Under their wings, on their four sides, they had human hands, and the four had their faces and their wings thus, their wings touched one another. Each one of them went straight forward, without turning as they went.

As for the likeness of their faces, each had a human face. The four had the face of a lion on the right side. The four had the face of an ox on the left side, and the four had the face of an eagle. Such were their faces, and their wings were spread out above.

Each creature had two wings, each of which touched the wing of another, while two covered their bodies, and each went straight forward. Wherever the spirit would go, they went, without turning as they went.

As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches moving to and fro among the living creatures. And the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.

And the living creatures darted to and fro, like the appearance of a flash of lightning. Now, as I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, one for each of the four of them.

As for the appearance of the wheels and their construction, their appearance was like the gleaming of beryl, and the four had the same likeness, their appearance and construction being as it were a wheel within a wheel.

When they went, they went in any of their four directions, without turning as they went. And their rims were tall and awesome, and the rims of all four were full of eyes all around. And when the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them.

And when the living creatures rose from the earth, the wheels rose. Wherever the spirit wanted to go, they went, and the wheels rose along with them. For the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

When those went, these went. And when those stood, these stood. And when those rose from the earth, the wheels rose along with them. For the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. Over the heads of the living creatures, there was the likeness of an expanse, shining like an awe-inspiring crystal spread out above their heads.

And under the expanse, their wings were stretched out straight one toward another, and each creature had two wings covering its body. And when they went, I heard the sound of their wings, like the sound of many waters, like the sound of the Almighty, a sound of tumult, like the sound of an army.

When they stood still, they let down their wings. And there came a voice from above the expanse over their heads. When they stood still, they let down their wings. And above the expanse over their heads, there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire.

And seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance. And upward from what had the appearance of his waist, I saw, as it were, gleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around.

And downward from what had the appearance of his waist, I saw, as it were, the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him. Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around.

Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking. And that's what we will hear when we get to chapter two, is the voice of the Lord speaking to Ezekiel.

Ezekiel's Length and Place Among the Prophets

This is the second longest of the major prophets after the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah is not only the longest of the major prophets, it is the longest book of the Bible. If you'll recall, the book of Jeremiah is 33 ,000 words.

The book of Ezekiel is 29 ,000, or almost 30 ,000 words. But there are two other books that are longer than Ezekiel, Genesis and Psalms. So Ezekiel is the fourth longest book of the Bible. Jeremiah is the longest.

Genesis is just behind it by about 1 ,000 words. For comparison, the books of Habakkuk, 2 Peter, and what would be the other one? I think it's Jonah. Those three books are about 1 ,000 words. So the distance of those three books between Jeremiah and Genesis.

Just a little bit of trivia for you there. Psalms is obviously the longest book by the number of chapters, but it's third longest by the number of words. And Ezekiel clocks in as the fourth longest with just under 30 ,000 words.

How long would it take you to read that out loud? Well, I happen to have done this before. I've recorded the book of Ezekiel several times, in fact, because I'm doing it in several translations. And it takes me about three hours and 40 minutes.

At this pace, at the pace that I just read chapter one, it takes me over three and a half hours to get through the book of Ezekiel. So if you wanted to read it all out loud, it would take you that long.

Silently, it depends on how fast a reader you are. But of course, it'll go a little bit quicker than that. Ezekiel is 48 chapters, and the outline of this book is actually rather simple compared to what we've seen with other prophetic books.

Well, Isaiah was an even simpler outline, I guess you could say, because it's divided in half the first 39 chapters and then the next 27 chapters. You could split Isaiah in half just like that. It was a more complicated outline than that, but that's the way that the book is easily pieced together.

Ezekiel's Three-Part Outline

With the book of Ezekiel, we also have a simple outline. Now, being a Baptist pastor as I am, I love a three-point outline, as you've probably heard many Baptist pastors do. Well, Ezekiel is exactly that.

It is a three-point outline. You have in this book chapters 1 through 24, and those chapters are the first vision, which we are reading about here in chapter 1. This is the beginning of the first vision.

It happens five years after the Jews have been exiled into Babylonian captivity. The second vision starts in chapter 33, and it's after the fall of Jerusalem. That's kind of the event that the book of Ezekiel pivots around.

The first vision comes before the fall of Jerusalem, after the exile, but before the destruction of the city. Then the second vision comes after the destruction of the city. In between those two visions, you have oracles that are made against foreign nations, and that's in chapters 25 to 32.

That's your outline. The first vision, chapters 1 through 24, oracles concerning foreign nations, chapters 25 to 32, and then the second vision, which includes a vision of restoration, and that goes from chapters 33 to 48.

Ezekiel the Priest in Exile

Now, who is Ezekiel, and what exactly is this book about? Now, even though we're not going to get into the text so much, we have some pretty fantastic visions that are going on here in Ezekiel chapter 1.

We are, however, going to look at these first three verses. We'll get to the vision next week, but these three verses open up the book for us and provide for us kind of a foundation for an introduction to this book or an overview of the book.

So Ezekiel 1 .1 begins in the 30th year in the fourth month on the fifth day of the month. 30th year of what? Well, most likely it's the 30th year of Ezekiel's life, so it's when he's 30. And the next vision, this is the first vision, remember, the next vision comes when he's 50.

Now, that's interesting because it is said that Ezekiel's a priest, verse 3, the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi. Likewise, Jeremiah was a priest and Isaiah was a priest. So these three prophets, these three major prophets have also worked in the priesthood.

Now Ezekiel does not work in the priesthood in the temple. Why not? Well, because the exile has taken place and he is not in Jerusalem any longer, but he is writing this from Babylonian exile. Now why couldn't he have been in the temple serving as a priest before the exile?

Because according to Numbers chapter 4, the years of a priest are from the age of 30 to the age of 50. And when does Ezekiel have his vision? The first one, when he's 30, before he would have been, or about the time he would have started serving as a priest in the temple.

And then the second vision comes when he's 50, when he would have finished the time that he was serving in the temple. I don't know if there is a direct correlation there. I don't know if that's what we're meant to see regarding Ezekiel's age and when he receives these visions and the fact that he is a priest.

But I do find that rather fascinating. It's at least by the providence of God that Ezekiel would receive these visions at these ages. Given that these two visions are also 20 years apart, then that's the length of half of generation.

So it's as if it is being spoken to a particular generation at a particular time. And indeed, Ezekiel is writing and prophesying to primarily the Jews that he has been exiled with. Again, he is in the land of Babylon when he receives this first vision.

It's the 30th year and the 4th month on the 5th day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the Kibar Canal, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. Where is the Kibar Canal? Well, that's actually in a place called Nippur.

So it was not in Babylon the city itself that Ezekiel would have been in, but he was in the land of Babylon with the other Jews who had been exiled to that region. This is five years into the exile. And we know that because of what is said in verse 2.

On the 5th day of the month, it was the 5th year of the exile of King Jehoiakim, who had not been on the throne for very long at all. And he was only 18 years old when he was exiled out of Jerusalem, out of Judah and into the land of Babylon.

And it's in this time, five years after the exile has taken place, that the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi in the land of the Chaldeans by the Kibar Canal, and the hand of the Lord was upon him there.

Now as Ezekiel, though he is addressing primarily the exiles that he is with, there's evidence that indicates this word that he prophesies or the things that he wrote down also would have made it to the Jews that were still in the land of Judah.

We had read about Jeremiah being there, though when Jeremiah died, I don't think I talked about this when we got to the end of the book of Jeremiah, but Jeremiah's death would have happened in Egypt. Most scholars agree that that's where Jeremiah died.

Because remember, he was carried away with the Jews into Egypt when they fled there. Jeremiah prophesied from there and never came back out of Egypt again. So that's where he would have died. Ezekiel is in the land of the Chaldeans.

He won't see the land of Judea again, though he does see it in a vision. We get that toward the end with the vision of the temple, of course, probably one of the most well-known visions that we have in the book of Ezekiel after the vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, which is in chapter 37.

Ezekiel's Call to Holiness and Repentance

There's a lot of visions in the book of Ezekiel, as a matter of fact. I think that he receives more visions than even Isaiah and Jeremiah did. And as he is receiving these visions and relaying them to the people of God in exile, Ezekiel is primarily concerned with restoring God's people to holiness.

That's the main thrust of the book. And in desiring to restore them to holiness, he calls out sin and does so very abrasively. This book in particular is filled with some of the most coarse language that we get from any of the prophets.

Ezekiel has some very controversial chapters. For example, chapter 16. Not a chapter that you would do at family devotions, most likely, especially if you have little kids. Ezekiel is not really a family-friendly kind of book, especially if you are trying to keep the little kids' attention, because there are some deep and probing things here in the book of Ezekiel.

But it is necessary for the language to be that harsh so that the people understand the seriousness of their sin, that they may repent and seek God and be restored to holiness once again. Ezekiel is greatly concerned with the holiness of God, and so that the people of God themselves would return to holiness, especially if God is going to restore them to the land.

If they're going to be restored back to God, and he is going to bring them back into the land, then they have to repent and be washed clean of their uncleannesses. That also becomes a major point that God says to his people, especially in chapter 36.

That also becomes a picture of what the Holy Spirit does for us whenever we come to faith in Jesus Christ. We are washed clean. Our old heart is taken out. A new heart is given to us. As said in Ezekiel 36, God causes us to walk in his statutes and be careful to obey his rules.

Ezekiel's Contemporary Prophets and Audience

Ezekiel is a contemporary of Jeremiah, because Jeremiah obviously was prophesying before the exile happened and then after the exile. So Ezekiel begins his prophecy with his first vision five years after the exile.

So these are contemporaries of one another, but unlikely that they ever met. Ezekiel and Jeremiah probably never knew one another. The name Ezekiel, in fact, only comes up two times in the entire Bible, and it's in the book of Ezekiel.

No one else outside of this book mentions the name Ezekiel, though the book of Ezekiel is mentioned in other places. In fact, John's writing appears to be heavily influenced by the writing of Ezekiel.

Ezekiel's Visions and John's Apocalyptic Writing

There's a lot of similar themes going on in either the book of John or the book of Revelation that matches with what we read in Ezekiel. Obviously, with some of the apocalyptic visions that Ezekiel receives, some of that becomes repeated in the book of Revelation.

Even as we read here about these four living creatures in chapter one, what's around the throne in heaven as John sees it when he receives that vision in Revelation chapter six, there are four living creatures around the throne.

That's just like what we read about in Ezekiel one. Even though Ezekiel's name may not appear elsewhere in the Bible, this is a referenced book in many other places, especially in John's writing. As Ezekiel is quite concerned with the holiness of God, the phrase, I am the Lord, appears more in the book of Ezekiel than it does anywhere else.

The Lord's Name and the Title Son of Man

As a matter of fact, it appears more in Ezekiel than in the rest of the Bible combined. God making the statement, I am the Lord. The phrase, word of the Lord, also comes up in Ezekiel more than anywhere else.

And Ezekiel also seems to be very concerned with the title prince. He seems reluctant to use the word king unless he's talking about someone who actually was a king. Like for example, what we read here about King Jehoiakim.

It was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiakim. So when it's a person and it's their title, he'll use king. But more often than not, Ezekiel is going to refer to a ruler as a prince. Also the title son of man.

That's used more in Ezekiel than anywhere else in the Bible combined. Even in the gospels, Jesus referring to himself as a son of man. But the way that Ezekiel uses it is not the same way that Jesus uses it.

Jesus is using it according to the way Daniel used and referenced the phrase son of man. When Ezekiel says son of man, it's just merely meaning that he is a descendant of Adam. He is just a man on the earth.

And again, as he is so concerned with the holiness of God, son of man is used as a title of Ezekiel as though to contrast him with God. God is God. And even as we started here in Ezekiel chapter one, Ezekiel receives visions of God.

I saw visions of God. Ezekiel's just a man. And it's almost like using that title son of man is a continuous reminder that that's all Ezekiel is. Though he has great and grand visions of glorious things, he is no one any more special than anybody else, even though the Lord has chosen him specifically to receive this vision and speak this way to his people.

Judgment, Restoration, and the Knowledge of God

This book shows that the holy God judges rebellion and will withdraw his glory. Yet for the sake of his own name, he will restore his people with a new heart and return his presence so that they will know that he is the Lord.

That's another phrase that comes up again and again in the book of Ezekiel, so that you will know that I am the Lord. And that is, that is the main theme of Ezekiel, that we would know God, that we would know his glory.

And even some of the visions that Ezekiel sees have to do with our future as well. And we'll consider some of those things. This is a book that has been requested of me many times that I would do this on the podcast.

Here I've done the podcast for 11 years, never been in the book of Ezekiel yet. And the thing that gets most people curious is the vision of the temple in chapters 40 to 48. What does that mean? What is that supposed to represent or symbolize?

Well, we'll get there. But in the meantime, as we go through this, desiring to see the holiness of God and his compassion toward us, that we may know he is the Lord, he is Yahweh. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this introductory lesson we've done here to the book of Ezekiel.

Prayer for Understanding and Fulfillment in Christ

And as we study this book, may we see your majesty in a grand way. There's something else about God that we get to learn about when we read this book. Some deep and complicated things, some intricate symbols and very elaborate visions, prophecies that even many Bible scholars over the years have struggled with putting these things together.

But I pray that the more obscure parts of this book will be illuminated by the clearer things that we may know your desire for us, the things that please God and live according to your ways even in our present days.

As with anything else we read in the Old Testament, this points us to Christ, he who died on the cross for our sins and rose again from the dead. And whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.

Show us the gospel even as we go through the book of Ezekiel. It is in the name of Jesus that we pray, amen.

This has been When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt .com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com and let your friends know about our ministry.

Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's word when we understand the text.