Sermon “Ezekiel Chapters 1, 2 & 3” 2025-09-28 by Pastor Barry >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Alright, turn with me if you will to Ezekiel chapter 1. We'll look this morning if we can at the first three chapters and we'll look at the call of Ezekiel, the mission that God gives him. Over the last couple of weeks we've looked at the kind of introduction and a summary of the whole book, but we're going to start to move in and look a little bit deeper now at the text, just to give you a little kind of idea of the times. Josiah was a fantastic king. He was one of the five good kings of Judah. There were only five out of the twenty or so kings. There were only five that were good. And Josiah was one of them. And he brought about a number of reforms. But in a very bizarre incident, he dies going out to challenge Pharaoh Necho of Egypt. Pharaoh Necho had absolutely no business with Josiah. He wasn't bothered about him. He was on his way out to Calphemish at the time to challenge rival nations. But Josiah decides to intervene and dies. And there's a very interesting conjecture as to why. We'll maybe look at that some other time. But Josiah has three sons. The first son, Jehoaz, is taken captive to Egypt by Pharaoh. As Necho comes back from his battle at Calphemish, Josiah has already died. And so Jehoaz naturally would be the eldest to go on to the throne. But Pharaoh takes him captive down to Egypt. So he's there for just a very, very short time. So his brother, Jehoiakim, then ascends to the throne. He's appointed by Necho. So he's not really in a sense of a free agent anymore. And we find that he reigns for eleven years. But it's in the third year of his reign, which is 606 BC, is when Nebuchadnezzar comes across from Babylon, comes down from the north because of the way that the route would have gone, and comes into Jerusalem and lays siege to Jerusalem. And from that point on, Jerusalem is under the control of the Babylonians. He serves for three years, but then he rebels for the next five years, culminating finally in 597 with another siege. ZZZZZ This isn't the last siege. This is the second siege of Jerusalem. And this is the one where Ezekiel is taken. So the first one is where Daniel is taken. This is where Daniel and his friends in 606 were taken across to Babylon. And then this period of time later, this nine years or so later, is when Ezekiel himself is taken to Babylon in 597. Following that, we find there's another son, or sorry, the son of Jehoiakim, then sits on the throne, but for a very short period of time. This is Jehoiachin. He reigns for just three months. He's then taken to Babylon. And so the other son of Josiah, Zedekiah, as he becomes known, is then appointed by Nebuchadnezzar. He rules for another 11 years until the final siege of Jerusalem in 587. There's three sieges in total, 606, 597, and 587. The journey for Ezekiel to Egypt would have been difficult. Commentators think it would have taken somewhere up to three to four months to travel there. This large caravan of people being taken away as slaves. They wouldn't have gone directly across the desert because it was just too inhospitable, impossible really. So they would have traveled this route, this typical trade route, this is known as the Fertile Crescent, this bit around here, from Jerusalem down eventually to Babylon. Somewhere around about 900 miles. That's equivalent of us walking from here up to the tip of Scotland. Somewhere in that kind of region of distance. And it would have been a number of people that have had frequent stops and food and so on that they had to have on the way. But it wouldn't have been a pleasant journey for them. So I just want to give you that kind of context, that picture, because in a sense we need to have a little bit of sympathy for Ezekiel. It wasn't an easy situation. It would have been very easy to go there questioning, why God have you allowed this to happen? Why have you done this? So let's jump straight into the text and we'll explore as we go through. ZZZZZ We read, Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Sheba, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of King Jehoiachin's captivity, the word of the Lord came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Sheba, and the hand of the Lord was there upon him. When you notice that last phrase, the hand of the Lord was there upon him. God has promised to never leave us or forsake us. It's the same as has been promised to Israel. The Lord will not abandon his people Israel, and the Lord does not abandon us. And even there in this place, the hand of the Lord was there upon him. Sometimes we may feel that we're on our own. We may feel like God's not bothered with us, or there's too many other big things. And the problems we go through, we sometimes feel isolated and alone. But God is there in the midst of all of this. And you think for three or four months, has Ezekiel been traveling there? The thoughts that have been going through his head. And we're in this period of time now, that the temple was soon to be destroyed as well. By the time we're looking at this taking place, in just five years from this moment, the temple in Jerusalem itself will be destroyed. Jeremiah had been saying it was going to happen. And it must be really hard for this young man to try and comprehend all these things. And naturally those questions about where is God in all of this? Just as probably many Jews are asking today, with all that's going on, where is God in the midst of all of this? We're told very clearly that Ezekiel was a priest. That point is expressly made. We find that they settle, Ezekiel and the fellow Jews, next to the Chibar River. Now it's referred to as a river. ZZZZZ Seemingly it was more of a canal. And probably a man-made canal, rather than just a spur off the Euphrates. But simply to channel water through a different part of the city. But nevertheless, they're right by the water side. This is where the Jews make camp in the land. And the book begins five years into his time in Babylon. So he's had this incredible journey. He's taken away from his homeland. He's been there for five years. That's a long time to be in a place where it's not home. Wondering what's going to happen. No doubt hearing some of the things that have been prophesied by Jeremiah. No doubt being aware of the position that Daniel was now in in the government. Every twist and turn, one thinking, is God going to do something here? I wonder if this will be? Kind of a bit like we're going through right now, isn't it? We keep hearing things, and I wonder if God will do that? And then maybe it doesn't happen. And then we think, oh. And then something else gets our hopes up. And Ezekiel was in exactly that kind of position. But at this point he turns 30. Now that's a big thing for anyone. When you turn 30, it's like suddenly you're old. When you're in your 20s, that's fine. But suddenly 30 hits, and it's like, oh, now what do I do? But for Ezekiel it would have been even more significant. Because had he still been in Jerusalem, this would have been the moment that he would have stepped into his priestly service. He'd have been ministering in the temple with the other priests. He would have been absolutely aware of this. This wasn't just a big birthday in a sense for him. This was a huge, what should have been, turning point, defining moment in his life as he enters into that ministry. But of course there's no chance of him now returning to Jerusalem, not in the current climate. In fact, I suspect Ezekiel was very aware of the prophecies of Jeremiah that had said that they would stay in Babylon for 70 years. ZZZZZ And so Ezekiel, not being ignorant of God's word, was probably very aware that they were there to stay. And so his opportunity to serve, something maybe that he thought growing up that he was looking for one day to that opportunity, had all been robbed from him. But instead, at this point in his life, just as he would have been entering into the priestly ministry, instead God calls him to be a prophet, to take the message that God had for his people Israel to them whilst they were in this foreign land. And then this all begins. And this is incredible. And it's hard for us to try and get our heads around this. We read, And I looked, this is Ezekiel now, and behold, a whirlwind came out of the north. Let me just comment a little, if I may, about this statement, the whirlwind came out of the north. We hear frequently of judgment on Israel coming out of the north. Now you saw on that map earlier, because of the route from Jerusalem to Babylon, when Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem, they would have come in from the north, because he would have gone up across and back down again. This isn't that. This isn't that north. But it's still another reference to the north. And I just want to highlight that sometimes things happen to us that are because of the God of this world. Things happen that are because we're living in an ungodly world. And we may perceive it sometimes to be a judgment, or certainly a form of tribulation that we have to endure. But at the same time, God also allows things to come that look like they're coming from the same place. But what we're going to see here, this experience, this vision that Ezekiel is having, that's coming out of the north, that's typically associated with judgment, wasn't judgment. It was God revealing more of himself to Ezekiel. Sometimes we go through troubles because we live in a world that is a Christ-rejecting world. We live in a world that is, for now, under the control of the devil. And it's sometimes easy to confuse when God is working and dealing with us, and when it's just the things of the world. But when God is dealing with us, sometimes it may look the same, but God always will bring in a greater revelation of himself, a greater vision of himself. And that's exactly what Ezekiel is going to see. And so, he looks, this whirlwind's coming out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire in forwarding itself. And a brightness was about it. ZZZZZ And out of the midst thereof is the color of amber out of the midst of the fire. Also, out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. So, first of all, there's this whirlwind he's seeing. And then there's the brightness in the midst of that. And then this bright kind of amber color, an orangey color, coming out of this fire. And it's all kind of starting to unfold as he's seeing this vision. And then he sees these four living creatures. And this was their appearance, and he does his absolute best to try and describe it. One commentator said, this may be hard for us to try and understand, but when we get to heaven we're going to see these creatures, and we're going to go, yeah, that's exactly what Ezekiel described. We'll realize how incredible this description is. For us it seems very strange, because we don't tend to see things like this on a day-to-day basis. And we're told that everyone had four faces, and everyone had four wings. At first, it appeared to Ezekiel to be a hollow square. This is what he's going on to describe, with a living creature standing upright at each corner. And he's going to discover that this object was actually, effectively, like a fiery chariot. The living creatures we find in chapter 10 are cherubim. They're a particular class of heavenly creature. Each had a seemingly human-like body, but four faces. Different face on each side of their head. And then these outstretched wings, that they touched each other, and they kind of met to form the sides of this square. And the other wings then covered themselves. And we're told, their feet were straight feet, and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot. And they sparkled like the color of burnished bronze, or burnished brass. And they had the hands of a man under their wings. And on the four sides, they had, they four had the faces and their wings. And their wings were joined one to another. ZZZZZ They turned not when they went, they went, everyone straight forward. So this chariot, as we're going to see it described, doesn't turn corners. It's a little bit, if you imagine chess, it's a little bit like a castle. You go up and down, left and right, but it doesn't do the thing that the bishop does, go diagonally. As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man. And we spoke about this in our introduction. We see this echoed throughout scripture. With the tabernacle, it's set up this way. With the camps of Israel around, the standards for each camp were these same emblems, these same signs. The Gospels represent these same things. And seemingly, this is something that tells us about Jesus. Let's just quickly look, and I'll just give you that brief explanation again. So on one side, there's the face of a man, then the face of a lion, then the face of an ox, and then the face of an eagle. And from the Gospels, we see the presentation that in Matthew's Gospel, Jesus is presented as the lion of the tribe of Judah. In Mark's Gospel, Jesus is presented as a servant, like an ox, a beast of burden. In Luke's account, Jesus is presented as the Son of Man. We see his humanity. No surprising Luke was adopted. We get that description from Luke. And then in John's Gospel, which speaks about Jesus as the Son of God, like an eagle soaring above. And so, all of these things always seem, in different ways, to point to the nature and the character of Jesus. Thus, were their faces and their wings were stretched upward. Two wings of everyone were joined, one to another, and two covered their bodies. And they went, everyone, straight forward, whether the spirit was to go, they went, and they turned not when they went. So again, they don't turn corners, they simply go forward, back, left, right. ZZZZZ As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like the burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps, as it went up and down among the living creatures. And the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. I mean, this is an incredible thing for Ezekiel to see. I mean, just huge overload of the senses. And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning. So clearly, there's a huge amount of speed as these things are moving. So the whole thing seems to be alive and can move in any direction. Lightning flashed from something that looks like burning coals, or a blazing torch that was contained in the middle of the square. Verse 15 says, Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth, by the living creatures with his four faces. So what we see is that each corner of the square was a wheel, which actually was like two wheels. It's like a wheel within a wheel, one going one way, one going the other way. So again, you've got that forward, back, left, right kind of motion, permitted by the wheels. And by now, we can see clearly that the fiery object was a chariot. And the wheels enabled the chariot to move freely. Again, forward, backwards, or left, or right. Even the wheels themselves seemingly had life. They shared the life of the living creatures. And the appearance of the wheels in their work was like under the color of beryl, and they forehad one likeness. Beryl is a difficult one in the sense of what color is beryl, because actually it can appear in different forms. If it's pure beryl, then it's almost transparent. Sometimes it has impurities in it, and it can have shades of different colors. So I suspect, because this is of God, this is pure, so it's probably transparent. And they forehad one likeness in their appearance, and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel. ZZZZZ When they went, they went up on their four sides, and they turned not when they went. As for the rings, they were so high that they were dreadful. Just huge, try to comprehend it. And the rings were full of eyes, round about them four. And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them. And when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up. So it's seemingly all part of one machine, in a sense, almost. Whether the spirit was to go, they went. Whether it was their spirit to go. And the wheels were lifted up over against them, for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. When those went, these went. And when those stood, these stood. And when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. So this is a hard thing for us to try and get our head around, to try and grasp. Again, seemingly when the chariot moved, the sound of the movement of the creatures was like a waterfall, a thunder, a huge noise. And when the chariot stopped, the creatures lowered their wings. And above the heads of the creatures was a shining platform that supported the throne of God. That's what Ezekiel is seeing. Verse 22, we carry on. And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creatures was as the color of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above. And under the firmament were their wings straight, one toward the other. So again, their wings are kind of touching each other. Every one had two, which covered his side, and every one had two, which covered on that side their bodies. And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of a host. Like a great army, a great noise as they move. ZZZZZ And when they stood, they let their wings down. And there was the voice from the firmament that was over their heads, and when they stood, they let down their wings. And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne and the appearance of a sapphire stone. Again, you seem to think it's probably a green, blue. And upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness of the appearance of a man above upon it. So seated above the throne and surrounded by a rainbow was a fiery figure. Hue in that line, but so dazzling that Ezekiel really struggles to describe it. Now, this is the best picture that I've been able to find online of what probably Ezekiel saw. Something like this. So we've got these wheels, kind of this inner wheel on the four corners, and this big throne, and above the base part of this, we've got this throne and this clearly the outline of a person. You and I would know this as being Jesus. This is what Ezekiel is seeing, this incredible vision. And I suppose the question we think, you know, why all this grandeur? Why this vision? Well, because Ezekiel in his predicament in Babylon, five years away from home, not getting the opportunity to enter the priesthood, is given something incredibly special. And when you think to the New Testament, and think what it was like for Zechariah, John the Baptist's father, to go into the Holy of Holies, to minister, and to see an angel. What a privilege. Well, Ezekiel is given that kind of opportunity. I mean, this is an incredible thing for him to experience. And God revealing His glory, His presence to Ezekiel. This would have changed his life forever. I mean, just as for the disciples seeing the resurrected Jesus, would have transformed, we know it transformed their lives. No longer were they fearful and afraid, they were emboldened. They went out with courage. And we see the same thing with Ezekiel as a result of this. ZZZZZ The last couple of verses of chapter 1 say, And I saw as the color of amber as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about, as the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain. So it's a rainbow. And so was the appearance of the brightness round about it. And by the way, you know rainbows are not these big arcs. We tend to think of a rainbow as this big bow in the sky. A rainbow is typically a circle. If you look at it from above, it's a circle. We see them in Revelation, above the throne. So was the appearance of the brightness round about it. This was the appearance of the lightness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake. So again, the why question, why does Ezekiel see this? I believe it was to give him strength and encouragement. Now yes, he's falling down in awe. But when he gets up, he's not going to be the same man anymore. And you know, each one of us, as we go out into the world, if we stop and we spend time with God, if we allow ourselves that opportunity to go into God's presence, and by the way, Ezekiel has this vision. You and I, because of the blood of Christ, can come into the throne room of God anytime we want through prayer. Anytime. We may not see the kind of vision, but we have access before the throne. That we can come boldly before the throne of grace. So you may think, wow, that would be awesome to see that. Ezekiel will have other visions, but it wasn't an everyday occurrence for him. For us, it should be an everyday occurrence that we come before the throne of God. The God that we're seeing described in His majesty and His glory. We get to go before the throne of grace every single day. ZZZZZ And you know what? That will change the way we are as well. Just as it changed John the Apostle on Patmos. The boldness he had as a result of seeing this image of Jesus. Seeing Jesus presented before him. Just as the disciples again, after the resurrection. And just as Ezekiel here. We go to chapter 2. Very short chapter. And we read, And he said unto me, Son of man. Now this is this expression that's used continually throughout the book of Ezekiel. It's a choice expression of Jesus. He uses this of himself. It just speaks of his humanity. He said to his son of man, Stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee. I like that. Get up. Come on. There's a job to do. Stand on your feet. There is something wonderful about being in the presence of God. Staying in that mountain top kind of experience. Talk to Pierre about mountain tops. He's just been climbing on them. Mountain tops are wonderful. We climbed on our holiday in the summer. We went to Cumbria. I mean they're not really mountains. Compared to what Pierre's got there in the Alps. They're just little hills. But they were mountains to us. And we got to the top of one of them. We're very proud of ourselves for doing so. But sometimes we're in those mountain top type of experiences with the Lord. Everything's wonderful. But just as Jesus didn't stay on top of the mountains, he came down into the demon possessed valley below. He came to where the people were that needed ministering to. And that's exactly what the Lord is going to do with Ezekiel. He's saying, Get up. I know in a sense you'd like to stay here. And like when we have these opportunities before the Lord, we'd love to stay there. But we have to realize that there will come a time to rest. But now is the time of work. Now is the time where we need experiences. We need to have these moments before the throne. But we have to come back down. ZZZZZ And then we read, And the Spirit entered into me when he spoke unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard him that spake unto me. Now just take note of this. Because there's a call to stand up. To get up on your feet. Seemingly, Ezekiel's still there going, How? I'm not up for this. I'm not able to do this. And that's where we should be. If we try and step out in ministry on our own, out of some sense of good intentions, we will stumble. We will struggle. We will find it too much of a burden. We won't be able to cope. But notice how it is that Ezekiel enters into ministry. Through the power of the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit entered into me, and he spoke unto me, and set me upon my feet. Suddenly Ezekiel's like standing. And this is how he goes about ministering from this point on. The Lord fills him with his Spirit. We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. What did Jesus do when he met the disciples in the upper room? He breathed on them and said, Receive you the Holy Spirit. We can't do it on our own. Without his grace we cannot stand. Throughout the New Testament we are told to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. We can't do it on our own. Jesus said, Without me you can do nothing. Philippians 4.13 tells us that through Christ we can do all things. Verse 3, And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me even unto this very day. So the call is unmistakable, what God is asking him to do. And the historical facts were not in dispute because this is the way Israel had been. They had constantly rebelled against God. Right from the time of the wilderness. From the time they became a nation, effectively, after they left Egypt. As Moses is speaking to them and so on. ZZZZZ They make this declaration, We will serve the Lord. And of course the next moment they are worshipping a golden cow. And the Old Testament is full of these situations where Israel goes off into idolatry. And the Lord allows some sort of judgment to come upon them. And they come crying to the Lord and he brings them back again. All the way through the Old Testament. And finally, in Ezekiel's situation, the Lord has allowed the nation to be taken captive to Babylon. And he is saying, I now want you to go and speak to them. The rebellious nation. They and their fathers have transgressed against me. But you know, this is the Gospel. This is exactly the Gospel. It speaks of the situation of mankind. You see, the Son of Man was sent to a rebellious people. See, all we knew how to do was to transgress. And yet he came anyway. ZZZZZ You see, Ezekiel's little situation here, it just speaks of the whole of God's plan. You see, Ezekiel is sent to go and speak to these people, just as Jesus came to reach out to the world. Take note of that. This is God's word, God's voice, God's instruction. This is not Ezekiel going and just bringing his own agenda. It's God. Thus says the Lord God. Again, this is the Gospel, isn't it? See, we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And God has spoken, his voice has been heard. And there is no excuse for mankind. People often use this, well what about the man on the island? He's never heard the Gospel. That's not your problem. God will make sure that they hear, one way or another. There's been accounts of whole tribes that have come to know the Lord in various remote places. Without even missionaries going. God has a way of reaching the people that need to be reached. We hear accounts in Islamic countries of people having visions and seeing Jesus and coming to faith. You don't need to worry about what about... The Scripture says you need to look at your own salvation with fear and trembling. But God has made it possible for everybody to know and will make so that everybody hears. We know that there's going to be, according to Revelation, from what we understand, 144,000 Jewish evangelists. Seemingly their role is to witness to the world during the first part of the tribulation. The first three and a half years, these 144,000 Jews, 12,000 from each tribe, will witness to the whole world. And of course the testimony of when the church is gone. And all the people you've told about the rapture, and they laugh at you now, and then suddenly they're going to go, oh, they were right. On Tuesday we left books. I left books on the table at home. I left books in my office at work. It's going to happen one day. People will come to know. But God has given us numerous witnesses. We've got creation itself. Creation itself testifies that there is a Creator. We've got our own conscience that bears witness. And Paul tells us this. Just as Ezekiel was to go to them, that the children of Israel would have no excuse. So God has made sure that no one in the world will have an excuse. ZZZZZ Nobody will be there on Judgment Day and blame God for not knowing. Verse 6, we carry on. And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briars and thorns be with thee. In other words, it's going to be difficult. And thou, thou dwell among scorpions, be not afraid of their words, be not dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house. So the call to Ezekiel for the Jews is the same as the call to the church for the Gentiles. We're not to fear man. In fact, we're told in Matthew 10, verse 27 and 28, what I tell you in darkness, that speak you in the light, and what you hear in the air, that preach you upon the housetops. And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. And then in 1 John 4, we're told, Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. The fear of man brings us there. Let's not fear man. It's been said before that if you fear God, you'll fear nothing else. And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear, for they are most rebellious. Very much what Paul says to Timothy. He says, preach the word, be in season, out of season, rebuke, exalt with all longsuffering and doctrine. You know, our job in a sense isn't to necessarily make sure they respond, but just to be faithful and preach the word, just as Ezekiel is being called to do. We need to speak to those around about us, and we need to share the gospel with them. Don't worry about whether they do or don't respond. Leave that to God. You see, that work of conviction is the work of the Holy Spirit. That's what Jesus said in John's gospel, the Holy Spirit has come to do, to convict the world of sin. ZZZZZ The God will use us to preach and proclaim the gospel, and then leave the rest to Him. And it may be that, as Paul says, one sows and another waters, and who is it that brings the increase? God. Verse 8 goes on and says, But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee. Be not thou rebellious, like that rebellious house. Open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee. And when I looked, behold, a hand was sent unto me, and lo, a roll of a book was therein. ZZZZZ You see, it's an outstretched hand with a scroll, seemingly. And He spread it before me, and it was written within and without, and there was written their lamentations and mourning and woe. See, again, these are God's words. This is what He's been given. God is literally putting His word in Ezekiel as an example of what He's to do. Again, we're called to be obedient and to speak His words, not ours. That's why we need to be immersed in Scripture. So this is chapter 3, which brings this section to a close. These first three chapters are kind of a group. Moreover, He said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest. Eat this roll, and go and speak unto the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and He caused me to eat that roll. And He said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then I did eat, and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness. We're to do the same thing metaphorically with God's word. We're to ingest it, we're to take it into ourselves. That's why it's so important that we read Scripture daily. We allow God's word to permeate our hearts, our minds, our thinking. As I said before, if you struggle reading big chunks of Scripture, then just take Psalms. And I've said numerous times, Psalm 119 is a great Psalm. Just take a verse a day and try and commit it to memory. Just read that verse over and over again. Let it start to affect the way we think. Matthew 4, 4 we read, but the answer is said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Most of us would never go through an entire day without thinking about food. Some of us spend too much time thinking about food. But when it comes to God's word, we can go through sometimes an entire day, and we don't think about God's word. But spiritually, it brings us life. It nourishes us. It feeds us. In Job 23, we read this, verse 11, My foot has held his steps, his ways have I kept and not declined. Neither have I gone back from the commandments of his lips. ZZZZZ I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. If that were our prayer, that would be our crying. That we care more for the words of God's mouth, the things that God has said, than we do for food itself. And he said unto me, Son of man, go get thee unto the house of Israel and speak with my words unto them. For thou art not sent to people of strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel. Not to many people of a strange speech and of a hard language, whose words thou cannot understand. And in his little parenthesis, he says, Surely had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee. You know, the irony is so often that those that are close to us don't want to hear. It's hard. But that doesn't negate the responsibility to tell them. Consider, for example, Jonah. He went to preach to Nineveh. He didn't even want them to believe and repent, but they did. And now God is sending Ezekiel to the Jews, who should know, who should understand. And God is already warning them ahead of time, they're not going to listen. But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee, for they will not hearken unto me. For all the house of Israel are impotent and hard-hearted. So then we say, well, why preach at all? Because again, as we said earlier, God is just, and God has removed all excuses so that no one can blame him. And as I said, on Judgment Day, nobody's complained that they didn't know or they weren't told. Remember, Pharaoh was warned, but he just chose not to hear. Many examples we can cite in Scripture. God always still gives the warning, even though people refuse to listen. For the Lord God, this is from Isaiah 50, verse 7, will help me. It's the same kind of language that Isaiah uses here. And I know that I shall not be ashamed. You see, God will equip and strengthen us. He will give us everything we need when he calls us into ministry, or to speak, or to share the gospel with someone. Sometimes we think, but I don't know if I'm good enough, I don't know if I can. Well, if you never do it, you'll never need the strength that God will provide. But if you do step out in faith, God will provide that strength. God will give you that wisdom. And by the way, one of the great testimonies I remember hearing, some of you remember Adrian Plass, many, many years ago. Christian writer, wrote numerous different books. But I believe it was himself, his own testimony, if memory serves. If not, it was a friend, but I think it was himself. He was antagonistic toward the Christian faith. He was speaking to a friend of his who was a Christian. And he was challenging his friend as to, you know, why this and why that, and why does God allow that? And his friend just turned around one day, so frustrated, he said, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I just know that I love him. That was the thing that converted him. Just seeing the reality of the relationship that existed. Somebody said to me this week, they said, you're religious, aren't you? I said, no, I'm not religious, I'm a Christian. And they kind of looked at me, I said, no, Christianity is about a relationship. It's a relationship between me and Jesus. It's not religion. As I believe it was Louis Palau once said, religion is man searching for God. Christianity is God revealing himself to man. Very different. In Joshua 1.9 we read, Be strong and of good courage, be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee, whithersoever thou goest. Just as Ezekiel is being called and God is saying, I will strengthen you. ZZZZZ I'll make your forehead solid so that nothing is going to get through, nothing is going to affect your thinking, you'll be able to carry on with a clear mind, clear heart. So God promises to give us that courage when we step out. And look, we're living in days more than ever that we need to be bold. Verse 10 goes on and says, Moreover, he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thy heart and have ears, and hear with thine ears. Again, the heart and mind make up the complete you. That's what we really are. The body is just this little suit that we're wearing for now. It's going to decay, it's going to be changed one day. Looking forward to that. But the real us is our heart, is our mind, is our soul. That's what the soul is. The heart, if you like, is the emotional part of us. It's given to passion and that can be a good thing as well as a negative thing. And the mind is the intellectual, the part of us that reasons. There's numerous scriptures, like in Romans 12, where we're told to reason. Present your bodies to God a living sacrifice, which is your reasonable, the Greek word is logikos, which is where we get logic from. Your reasonable, your logical service to give everything to God. So we're made up of our heart and our mind. Both of those things are important. So we're saying to Ezekiel, receive this in your heart and hear with your ears, with your mind. Men, you'll know this very well, that sometimes your wife will say to you something and then it will be followed up by, you're not listening, are you? And you'll go, no, I am. And then there's that dreaded question, what did I say? And then we have to try and repeat what we think we understood. And we may have heard with our ears, but it certainly didn't go into our heart. Fortunately, we have this model in scripture, with Samuel. Samuel, Samuel. ZZZZZ Whenever God calls people, men particularly, he calls them twice. We need to be called twice. We need to hear it twice. So women, just bear with us. Give us that second chance. Verse 11, and go, get thee and turn to them of the captivity, unto the children of my people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus says the Lord God, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear, if they're going to listen, great, if they're not, then, but then the Spirit took me out, but I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place. I also heard the noise of the wings of the living creatures. It's almost like we've forgotten all about that, and then suddenly it's there again. And touch one another, and the noise of the wheels over against them, and the noise of a great rushing, it's as if Ezekiel just needs that reminder that God is there, God is overshadowing the whole thing. So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit, but the hand of the Lord was strong upon me. Then I came to them of the captivity, at Tel Aviv, that dwelt by the river of Chiba, and I sat where they sat, and remained there, astonished among them, seven days. It's hard to comprehend the enormity of this call and the vision and everything that Ezekiel is seeing here. You think of all that, and for seven days Ezekiel just sits there. The first day, probably nobody was really too bothered. There's that natural, are you alright? What's going on? None of us are used to being quiet that long. And he's probably trying to think, who do I talk to about this? Who do I share this with? Is there anybody that he can even go and share with? Maybe Jeremiah, but he was 900 miles away back in Jerusalem at this point. ZZZZZ And it came to pass at the end of seven days that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel. Therefore, hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. And this is a really clear explanation from God as to what he's to do and why he's to do it. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die, and thou, that's you Ezekiel, give him not warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life. The same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thy hand. Now that's a scary thought, isn't it? Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul. It's very simple. God's saying, it is your responsibility to share the message. Don't worry about the response. That's not your business. Leave that with me. But you know, we sometimes think we're not going to share the gospel with people because they might not want to hear. How do you know that? How do you know that that person that is there before you, that you have an opportunity to share with at that moment, has not listened to five, six, seven other Christians already that day? And you might be that last one. One sows, another waters. You don't know where you are in that chain. You might be the first one. There might be many others in the day that God's going to bring around that individual that will just say something, or they'll hear something. We've just got to be obedient. Verse 20 again, When a righteous man does turn from his righteousness and come in iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die, because thou has not given him warning. See, note here, we're not just to warn the wicked, but also the righteous. ZZZZZ There are many people in churches that would see themselves as being righteous, but they're not being taught, they're not being fed. They don't understand scripture. And they're the kind of ones that we see with the nation of Israel as they're wandering in the wilderness. There were those that were in the back, the stragglers, that the enemy picked off. We need to be witnessing to other believers as well. Read verse 20 again. When a righteous man does turn from his righteousness and come in iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die, because thou has not given him warning. He shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood will I require at thy hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the righteous man that the righteous sin not, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he has warned. Also thou has delivered thy soul. And the hand of the Lord was there upon me, and he said unto me, Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will talk with thee there. So I arose and went forth into the plain, and behold, the glory of the Lord stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river Jeba. And I fell on my face." So once again Ezekiel is in this position, as he's coming into his place, in his presence of God. Then the Spirit entered into me and set me upon my feet, and again is the Holy Spirit. And spoke with me and said unto me, Go, shut thyself within thine house. For thou, O son of man, behold, they shall put thy bands upon thee, and shall bind thee with them, and thou shalt not go out among them. And I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth, that thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be to them a reprover, for they are a rebellious house. Notice what God is saying here. You're going to want to speak to them, and it's out of frustration sometimes, but there's going to be times when I'm even going to stop that. ZZZZZ Interesting. You see, there is a time to rend, a time to sow, a time to keep silence, and a time to speak. God will tell us when it's time to speak. He'll tell us when it's time to be silent. We need to be obedient to all of these things. But when I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say unto them, Thus says the Lord God, He that heareth, let him hear, and he that forbeareth, let him forbear, for they are a rebellious house. It just really speaks of what Jesus said in Matthew 13, also in Revelation 2 and 3, the letters to the churches. So applicable to us. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. You see, this is our call. It was the call of Ezekiel, but it's the call of us also. To go to a world that seemingly doesn't want to hear, and they may not want to hear, but you know, there may be some that do. And it's for the few that will respond to the gospel. It's for the few that have ears to hear that we're to speak. And I guarantee you, in the light of eternity, none of us will look back and we'll think, I probably witnessed a bit too much. That's never going to happen. But we may well look back and think, if only. You see, as we were talking about the rapture and so on, the last few weeks, maybe there's a number of us who are thinking, if only I'd have done a bit more. If only I'd have shared the gospel with somebody at work or at school or my daily routine, wherever I am. Well, now you've got the chance. We don't know when the rapture is going to be, but we have a window, and that may be all it is. Looking at all that's going on in the world, it's not going to be long. You've got an opportunity to preach the gospel, to share your faith with others. Don't worry about the words. God will give you the words. Ezekiel didn't have the words. God gave him the words. ZZZZZ Just read scripture. Just go daily before that throne of grace, so that you are overwhelmed with God's presence like Ezekiel was. And God will strengthen you in His power hearts. Father, we just thank you so much for this incredible young man, Ezekiel. We thank you for his faithfulness to you. Lord, we thank you that as you called him, Lord, you also equipped him and provided him with all he needed. You allowed him to see you in ways that were never seen before. O Father God we do pray, Lord, you would go before us, strengthen and equip us, give us opportunities to share the Gospel. Place around us those who have ears to hear. We ask all of this in the name of Jesus. Amen. May God richly bless you … ... fellowship ...