Journey Through The Bible Ezekiel:Visions Of God

Journey Through The Bible
EZEKIEL: VISIONS OF GOD
Bible Readings:
Ezekiel 2:1-9, 3:1-15. (Page 587)
Mark 9:2-13 (Page 714)
1
Thursday, 30 October 2014

597 BC. - 610 BC
• Jeremiah Prophesied in Jerusalem.
• Ezekiel Prophesied Babylon.
• Ezekiel was among the first exiles taken to Babylon in 597 BC.
• The Lord gave Ezekiel visions of what was happening in
Jerusalem 1,200 km away.
Ezekiel
Jeremiah
2

Ezekiel’s Prophetic Enactments
Strange Prophetic Acts
At the beginning of his ministry
Ezekiel was compelled by the
Spirit to lie paralysed on one
side and cook strictly limited
food for over 2 years.
He had to draw a picture of
the city on a clay tablet and
then build siege walls around it
like a model.
In front of the exiles Ezekiel
acted out the siege and the
distress of people in the city
they loved.
3

Ezekiel’s Vision of the Throne of God
Ezekiel Saw Visions of God’s
Glory
Ezekiel received an overwhelming
vision of the Lord enthroned in
His glory and majesty.
Ezekiel was trying to describe
something which really cannot
be described with words.
He used words like “The centre of
the fire looked like glowing
metal, and in the fire was what
looked like four living creatures.”
4

The impact of the Spirit of God was
so great he physically collapsed.
“This was the appearance of the
likeness of the glory of the Lord.
When I saw it, I fell face down, and I
heard the voice of One speaking. 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. 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.” (Ezekiel 1:28–2:3, TNIV)
5

The fact that he saw the God
of Israel in the land of
Babylon was in itself a
revelation.
The Jews thought God could
only be present and
worshipped in the temple in
Jerusalem.
The Lord showed He was not
restricted to the temple or
even the land of Israel but
was truly Lord of all the world
and all peoples.
6

God Reveals Himself
God took the initiative to
reveal Himself to Ezekiel.
Throughout the Bible God
takes the initiative. He comes
to men and women. He
reveals Himself to whomever
He chooses. He does not wait
for people to get ready for
Him or prepare themselves.
Jesus is the greatest example
of God’s taking the initiative;
Jesus came into the world to
seek out the lost.
7

Ezekiel Travels In the Spirit to Jerusalem
“Then on September 17, during the sixth
year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity, while
the leaders of Judah were in my home, the
Sovereign Lord took hold of me. I saw a
figure that appeared to be a man. From
what appeared to be His waist down, He
looked like a burning flame. From the
waist up He looked like gleaming amber.
He reached out what seemed to be a
hand and took me by the hair. Then the
Spirit lifted me up into the sky and
transported me to Jerusalem in a vision
from God. I was taken to the north gate of
the inner courtyard of the Temple, where
there is a large idol that has made the Lord
very jealous. Suddenly, the glory of the
God of Israel was there, just as I had seen
it before in the valley.”
(Ezekiel 8:1–4, NLT)
8

Ezekiel Travels In the Spirit to Jerusalem
Ezekiel sees what all the elders and
leaders of the people are doing in
secret. He sees them worshipping
idols in dark rooms of their houses.
He sees women worshipping and
adoring the pagan goddess Tammuz.
He sees priests bowing down to the
sun as it rises in the morning even in
the temple of God itself.
“Then He said to me, “Son of man,
have you seen what the elders of the
house of Israel do in the dark, every
man in the room of his idols? For
they say, ‘The Lord does not see us,
the Lord has forsaken the land.’ ”
9

The Glory of the Lord Departs from the Temple
Ezekiel sees the Glory and Presence
of the Lord leave the temple and rest
on the gates of the city.
Then the Presence and Glory departs
from Jerusalem completely.
God abandons the city that He
chose. The Temple that He promised
would be where His Name would
rest had become a spiritually empty
shell.
Because of the people’s sin the Lord
abandoned His own temple and
His chosen city.
10

Believers are Temples of the Holy Spirit
“Run from sexual sin! No other sin
so clearly affects the body as this
one does. For sexual immorality is a
sin against your own body. Don’t
you realise that your body is the
temple of the Holy Spirit, Who lives
in you and was given to you by
God? You do not belong to yourself,
for God bought you with a high
price. So you must honour God with
your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:18–20,
NLT)
If a Christian persistently sins against
the Holy Spirit Who lives in them,
the Holy Spirit will depart from
them.
11

Believers are Temples of the Holy Spirit
The climax at the centre of the book is
in Chapter 24 when the Lord tells Ezekiel
that the siege of Jerusalem has begun.
“In the ninth year, in the tenth month on
the tenth day, the word of the Lord came
to me: “Son of man, record this date, this
very date, because the king of Babylon
has laid siege to Jerusalem this very
day.” (Ezekiel 24:1–2, TNIV)
Ezekiel acts out a symbolic picture of the
spiritual state of Jerusalem. He fills a pot
full of meat and water. He lights a fire
and heats the pot until the meat burns
away and the pot becomes red hot. This
is a symbolic picture of what the Lord
was doing to Jerusalem – He was
cleansing it of all the useless dirt.
12

The most painful prophetic message ever given to a prophet:
“Also the word of the Lord came to me,
saying, “Son of man, behold, I take
away from you the desire of your eyes
with one stroke; yet you shall neither
mourn nor weep, nor shall your tears
run down. Sigh in silence, make no
mourning for the dead; bind your
turban on your head, and put your
sandals on your feet; do not cover your
lips, and do not eat man’s bread of
sorrow.”
So I spoke to the people in the
morning, and at evening my wife died;
and the next morning I did as I was
commanded.”
(Ezekiel 24:15–18, NKJV)
13

The most painful prophetic message ever given to a prophet:
“Say to the house of Israel, ‘This is
what the Sovereign Lord says: I am
about to desecrate My sanctuary—
the stronghold in which you take
pride, the delight of your eyes, the
object of your affection. The sons
and daughters you left behind will
fall by the sword. And you will do
as I have done. . . . You will not
mourn or weep but will waste
away because of your sins and
groan among yourselves. Ezekiel
will be a sign to you; you will do
just as he has done. When this
happens, you will know that I am
the Sovereign Lord.’”
(Ezekiel 24:21–24, NIV84)
14

The Fall Of Lucifer
Chapter 28 - “The King Of Tyre”
Son of man, take up a lament concerning
the king of Tyre and say to him: This is
what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘You
were the seal of perfection, full of
wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were
in Eden, the garden of God; every
precious stone adorned you: carnelian,
chrysolite and emerald, topaz, onyx
and jasper, lapis lazuli, turquoise and
beryl. Your settings and mountings were
made of gold; on the day you were
created they were prepared. You were
anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I
ordained you. You were on the holy
mount of God; you walked among the
fiery stones’. (Ezekiel 28:12–14, TNIV)
15

The Fall Of Lucifer
Many bible scholars see in these verses
a prophetic description of the creation
and fall of Lucifer who became Satan.
“You were blameless in your ways from
the day you were created till wickedness
was found in you. Through your
widespread trade you were filled with
violence, and you sinned. So I drove
you in disgrace from the mount of God,
and I expelled you, guardian cherub,
from among the fiery stones. Your
heart became proud on account of your
beauty, and you corrupted your
wisdom because of your splendour.
So I threw you to the earth; I made a
spectacle of you before kings.”
(Ezekiel 28:15–17, TNIV)
16

The Promise: A New Spirit Within You
The last part of Ezekiel contains two great
visions of restoration. They are
introduced by one of the most
comforting promises in the whole of
scripture.
“I will give you a new heart and put a
new spirit within you; I will take the
heart of stone out of your flesh and give
you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit
within you and cause you to walk in My
statutes, and you will keep My
judgements and do them.” (Ezekiel
36:26–27, NKJV)
Only the Lord can restore us to Himself.
17

The Vision of the Valley Of Dry Bones
The Hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me out
in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of
the valley; it was full of bones. And He led me around among
them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of
the valley, and behold, they were very dry. And He said to
me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O
Lord God, You know.” Then He said to me, “Prophesy over
these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of
the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I
will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will
lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you,
and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you
shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.” (Ezekiel
37:1–6, ESV)
18

The dry bones were a
prophetic picture of the
spiritual condition of the
people of Israel in the
time of exile. They felt
like a dead people. In fact
the nation had died and
was in effect buried never
to rise again.
19

“Therefore, prophesy to them and say,
‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: O
my people, I will open your graves of
exile and cause you to rise again. Then I
will bring you back to the land of Israel.
When this happens, O my people, you
will know that I am the Lord. I will put my
Spirit in you, and you will live again and
return home to your own land. Then you
will know that I, the Lord, have spoken,
and I have done what I said. Yes, the Lord
has spoken!’ ”
(Ezekiel 37:12–14, NLT)
20

Restoration
God Begins the process of spiritual
restoration.
The people are powerless to save
themselves.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free
gift of God is eternal life through Christ
Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23, NLT)
Forgiveness and eternal life can not be
gained by your own efforts and works.
The Lord freely offers both forgiveness
and new life because He loves you.
21

The Vision of the New Temple
The book closes with a long
description of a new temple
and a restored promised
land.
Some scholars think Ezekiel's
temple is a symbolic vision
of the restored relationship
between God and the
people.
22

“That you shall know that I am The Lord.”
This phrase occurs over 60 times in
the book. God reveals Himself to be
sovereign.
He sees people's sinful and helpless
situation. He takes the initiative to
reveal Himself and to call them back
to Himself.
He punishes sin because He is so
totally and completely holy and
sinless.
After punishment He restores. He even
raises from the dead.
What God did for the nation, He can
do for individual men and women.
23

“That you shall know that I am The Lord.”
What God did for Israel He can do
for individual men and women.
“At one time you were dead in your
sins. Your sinful nature was not
circumcised. But God gave you new
life together with Christ. He forgave
us all of our sins. He wiped out the
written Law with its rules. The Law
was against us. It opposed us. He
took it away and nailed it to the
cross.” (Colossians 2:13–14, NIrV)
The free gift of God is eternal life
through Christ Jesus our
Lord.” (Romans 6:23, NLT)
24

Journey Through The Bible Ezekiel:Visions Of God

More Related Content

What's hot

Viewers also liked

Similar to Journey Through The Bible Ezekiel:Visions Of God

More from Resurrection Church

Recently uploaded

Journey Through The Bible Ezekiel:Visions Of God