About this sermon
A Morning Instruction class continuing the introduction to Ezekiel. The book divides into prophecies against Jerusalem in chapters 1-24, climaxing in the death of Ezekiel’s wife as a sign of Jerusalem’s fall, oracles against the nations, and promises of restoration. In Ezekiel 1 the heavens open and he sees the glory of the Lord in exile, away from the temple. The theme of God’s glory leaving and returning is fulfilled when the Spirit makes the church his temple, and finally in the new Jerusalem where God dwells with his people.
Sermon transcript
Ezekiel. We’re still in introduction, and then we’re going to move into the actual book itself. Just review the man, the myth, the majesty, and just the outline. Remember, Ezekiel is a 6th century prophet, and he is of priestly lineage. He is about 30 years old, the beginning of the book, which is very important, and we want to remember that he is exilic prophet, prophet during the time of 70 years of exile for the Hebrew people, for the southern Hebrew people.
Now the myth, the myth is that we can do a Freudian psychoanalysis on him. I’m not joking. People have done this. Which is strange just on its head. Is it not? It’s hard enough to do a Freudian psychoanalysis on a living person. Insofar as Freudian psychoanalysis has any merit, right? Difficult to do on a living person. This is somebody who’s been dead for a long, long time. This is a strange man. But you have to wonder, if you saw the Lord like he did, would that change you like it did him? Simplest outline there are as many outlines as there are scholars. But basically just the simplest outline.
We have chapters 1 through 28. 1 through 28 are polemic against Jerusalem. They are prophecies where Ezekiel is prophesying against his own people. And the arch, the capstone of that is 24, where Ezekiel’s wife dies. Now this is not just autobiography for autobiography’s sake. This is, I mean, God’s wife is being put to death, which is Jerusalem. And God is drawing the analogy between them. So that’s chapters one through 24. Then we have a couple of chapters of Oracles Against the Nations, 25 through 32. And then we have Blessing for Judah. and Jerusalem. And this is future eschatological or end times blessing for the people of God.
He is a prophet who seeks to give the people hope. Though he preaches the law, preaches destruction and judgment and exile, he is one who is looking forward to the city whose maker is God. We talk about the majesty. And this is simply the glory of God. That’s what we want to think of. That’s what I want you to think of when you think of Ezekiel. One who saw God’s glory. Now, we ought to look at what is the big picture. The big picture of Ezekiel. We might ask, what is Ezekiel? all about.
Let’s turn to Exodus 40. This is the part where I was debating, should we go into it last week when we were already over time. So we decided not to do that. Turn to Exodus 40 to the end of it. 40, 34. Exodus 30, 44. Excuse me. Exodus 40. How about I just write it down? Exodus 40, 34 to 38. This is the time of Moses. Moses has, with the Israelites, built the tabernacle, which is a very large worship tent, okay? God has set certain men to do this, to assemble this tabernacle. Now, notice what happens.
Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting And the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses was not able to enter the tent of night because the cloud had settled on it. And the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the sons of Israel would set out. But if the cloud was not taken up, Then they did not set out until the day when it was taken up. For throughout all their journeys the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire on it by night in the sight of all the house of Israel.
So what’s going on here? Exodus. God enters into the tabernacle. This is high point, this is major, this is a momentous part of God’s Word. Why is that? Well, the Israelites were a wilderness-wandering people at this time, and they were moving around.
They’re constantly on the go. And when they would stop, well, all of their journeying, there was a glory cloud. or a glory spirit, right? There was a cloud that covered them so that in the daytime, this cloud would block the hot desert sun from sunburning them, right? In the nighttime, they were able to see because this glorious cloud gave them fire so that they could see.
All right, so God is protecting the Israelite people. This glory cloud that hovered over them enters into the tabernacle. It enters in to show that God approves of what they have built. They have built it according to his specifications. They have done right, but it’s also to show that God is with his people in a very special way.
Let’s go to Ezekiel chapter 10. Can I say something? Please do. Why don’t you look at Matthew 17 that tells about the transfiguration? Absolutely. It’s almost like when you read the Bible with the idea of the spirit, cloud, the Bible just, you read it again for the first time. To quote that Raisin Bran commercial, right? Or whatever it was. You see the Bible anew when you see how often the cloud is the spirit, right? So absolutely, you are right on. And we could get to that, because we’re gonna get to Jesus in a moment.
What I want you to see, Ezekiel 10, is, let’s fast forward many, many years, right? At this point that we are at, we could stop at Solomon, but remember Solomon built the temple that was to replace the tabernacle. It replaces that tent. the temple that he builds, he prays and the glory spirit, the same one that was there with Peter and John and Jesus and all the rest, that same spirit essentially leaves the tabernacle and enters into the temple, right? Now, Ezekiel chapter 10, some of you might have gotten there already in your reading, This is very significant because God leaves the temple in Ezekiel 10. One of the big points in the whole entire book. I’ll just read a little bit.
Then I looked and behold in the expanse that was over the heads of the cherubim, that is the statues that were like angels, something like a sapphire stone in appearance resembling a throne appeared above them. And he spoke to the man clothed in linen and said, enter between the whirling wheels under the cherubim and fill your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim and scatter them over the city.
And he entered in my sight. Now the cherubim were standing on the right side of the temple when the man entered and the cloud filled the inner court. Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub to the threshold of the temple, and the temple was filled with the cloud, and the court was filled with the brightness of the glory of the Lord. See, the glory, the majesty of the Lord is there. Moreover, the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard as far as the outer court, like the voice of God Almighty when he speaks.
It came about when he commanded the man clothed in linen saying, take fire from between the whirling wheels from between the cherubim. He entered and stood beside a wheel. Then the cherub stretched out his hand from between the cherubim to the fire which was between the cherubim, took some and put it into the hands of the one clothed in linen who took it and went out. The cherubim appeared to have the form of a man’s hand under their wings.
Then it looked, and behold, four wheels beside the cherubim. One wheel beside each cherub, and the appearance of the wheels was like the gleam of a Tarshish stone. As for their appearance, all four of them had the same likeness as if one wheel were within another wheel.
When they moved, They went, and this is continuing to explain what’s going on in the first chapter, but he’s understanding it more for time purposes. We’ll just scoot ahead to 18. Then the glory of the Lord departed from the threshold of the temple and stood over the cherubim. When the cherubim departed, they lifted their wings and rose up from the earth in great sight, and the wheels beside them. And they stood still at the entrance of the east gate of the Lord’s house, and the glory of the Lord of Israel hovered over it.
So understand what’s going on. There are… There’s this revelation that he sees in Ezekiel chapter 10, revelation of these strange creatures, these cherubim, which is talking about chapter one. If you’ve read it, if you have not, I recommend it. They basically stand on wheels of fire, wheels within wheels. It’s very difficult to imagine what he’s talking about.
But the main point is the glory of the Lord leaves this temple It’s gone. Now, why does the Glory Spirit leave the temple? The reason is because the people have been disobedient. The people are to obey the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They are to obey the laws. on a national scale. This is not really talking about one person or another person’s salvation. This is talking about the Israelites and their ability to stay in the land. They’re going to be cast out of the land if they disobey. They’re going to be allowed to stay if they live in the land according to God’s law.
Now, understand that in the ancient context, If my tribe goes to war against Carl’s tribe or my nation against Carl’s nation, that means that my gods are stronger than Carl’s gods, right? And I want by my war to demonstrate the supremacy of my gods. Because oftentimes they were thinking that in heaven, The same thing is going on that’s going down on earth, similarly. My gods are winning the fight against Carl’s gods. Therefore, in heaven, excuse me, on earth, I’m winning the war against Carl and his nation or tribe. Up in heaven, my gods are winning the war, right?
Does God want to be associated with these people when they are defeated? He does not. Judgment is coming. They’re going to be punished, and if God stays in the temple, it’s going to look as though he has been defeated. But the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, creator of all things, sustainer of all things, cannot be defeated. So, that is to say, he leaves, you’re on your own.
Everybody with me? Okay. Yes, question, good. Yes, I believe so this is literal Jerusalem I Don’t believe so yes, I believe that he’s seeing it. It’s really happening now keep in mind. Where is he? He’s in Babylon He’s already been taken so or it may not be the case. I mean it may it may be looking back into that and saying, you’ve ultimately been defeated. Because understand, he’s taken away, he’s exiled to Babylon, but they haven’t really taken everything away, right? I mean, they’re still in Israel. They’re still a Judah. At this time, there is a puppet king that has been put up by Nebuchadnezzar. But so he’s having this vision from Babylon.
So it may be retroactive. Absolutely. Okay, let’s go to the return of the spirit, the return of the glory spirit is Ezekiel 43. 1 through 12. I’ll try to read it somewhat quickly because of time. But you remember chapters 40 through 49 is a vision of a temple that he’s going to see, that he sees. And it’s a temple that has, as of yet, not been built, literally. Whether it will be, that’s up for debate. But here’s the point. God is going to enter back into his temple. He’s getting a tour of a spiritual temple, 43, one.
Then he led me to the gate, the gate facing toward the east, and behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the way of the east, and his voice was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with his glory. And it was like the appearance of the vision which I saw, like the vision which I saw when he came to destroy the city. And the visions were like the vision which I saw by the river Kibar, and I fell on my face, And the glory of the Lord came into that house by the way of the gate facing toward the east. And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court. And behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house.
We’ll just stop right there for time reasons. Understand this? This grand vision, he’s seeing a temple, and the Spirit enters into that place. Now the question is, what is that place? Well, if we’re going to read this, comparing scripture with scripture, We’re not going to be looking for a temple that’s yet future, in which God’s going to literally fill the temple with the Spirit again. Many brothers and sisters, the majority of our brothers and sisters, at least in the West, do believe that. But, we’re gonna part ways with them, because, just ask, what is the temple of God in the New Testament? Was that the church? Yes, the people of God are the temple.
Any number of passages we could bring out that you are the temple. I mean, the part in Corinthians where it says, it’s talking about being sexual, active, immoral, sexually, and it says, you are the temple of the spirit, therefore don’t defile yourself, right? A lot of people think I’m a temple. You’re a temple, you’re a temple. Christian bodybuilders talk about strengthening the temple, right? I don’t think that’s what Paul’s saying there. He’s talking about a collective singular.
You are the temple of the spirit. You are the temple of God, right? The temple is, we’re not individual temples, it’s a very large temple which is the holy church of God, the kingdom of priests, the spiritual people, that’s the new nation. That is the temple of God.
Now, when we read Ezekiel in light of the New Testament, what ought we to think? Well, among other things, what we’ve just talked about. Let’s turn to John 1, 14. And keep these things, keep Ezekiel in your mind as we read John 14. You may have read John 14 a hundred times, but if you didn’t read it in the light of Old Testament and Ezekiel, you might read it again for the first time. Read it anew. Listen to this.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. Now, the Word becomes flesh, that’s Jesus. Second person of the Trinity takes on human flesh, right? In Greek, It does not say, per se, dwelt. It says, he tabernacled among us. Isn’t that beautiful? The word becomes flesh, and God comes, and he tabernacles among us. And we saw his glory. Glory as of the only begotten Son. The glory spirit enters into humanity by Christ and then ultimately enters into the church.
Go look at the last verse of Ezekiel. Last, last verse. which is really a summary of the whole book. Ezekiel 48, 35. The city shall be 18,000 cubits round about, and the name of the city from that day shall be The Lord is there. What do an exiled people need to hear? Exiled as Ezekiel is and all the rest of them. That the Lord is with you. That the Lord will be with you. That’s what Ezekiel is about. God’s leaving the covenant people because they’ve broken covenant with him, but he is going to be with his people ultimately.
And we see how that happens in the gospel. We see how he tabernacles among us, he temples among us as the spirit. But how ought we to read the Pentecost narrative? What happens in Pentecost? Acts chapter two, the glory spirit. comes upon the church, tongues of fire fall upon them, and what happens? They begin to speak in other tongues. 1 Corinthians 12, 13, Paul says, you have all been baptized in the Holy Spirit.
Now if the church is the temple of God, what does it mean when when the spirit comes into the church. This is the fulfillment of Ezekiel 43. God is entering into the temple once again, and the temple is the living stone. So, beautiful the way that the Bible ties together like that. And then lastly, Revelation 21, three, What does John see in Revelation the very end? He sees new Jerusalem, new heaven, new earth. Revelation 21 through eight.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the tabernacle, right, the dwelling of God is among men. and he will dwell among them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be among them. This is speaking of eternity, saying, God is saying, you are my people, and I am your God. That’s what we ought to see in Ezekiel. That’s what the whole book is about, God being with you.
Okay, let’s now move out of introduction. Let’s go to the book itself. Might be a little bit of overlap here. I have a volunteer. Someone might read the first three verses of Ezekiel. I have a tie, honestly, and there’s no runner. Tim. Thank you very much. Perfect. Actually, I do have another passage if you’d be up for it in just one moment.
Okay, so what do we read? We read it’s the 30th year and we are going to believe that it is his 30th year. Now he is exiled, so he is among people who would be sad. These people have fallen on hard times. Does God love us? Is he angry with us? Think of the people who have obeyed God. Understand that some people, the nation disobeys, but a nation is full of people, some being obedient. and the majority of them being disobedient, so they’re cast out on the basis of national apostasy. But there are people who are faithful, you know, Daniel and Jeremiah and these kinds of people. They’re part of the faithful people of God. It is his 30th year, which means, according to Numbers chapter 4, that he would be eligible for temple service as a priest. Let’s go look at one of the most emotional psalms, Psalm 137. Psalm 137 is an exilic psalm, and it’s going to give us a picture of what Ezekiel is going through.
Who knows? Ezekiel may have written it, you never know, probably not, but there are, this is just going to give us a picture of what it was like for a priest, well, actually, certainly not, he could not have written it, now that I think about it, some of the things that go on in it, but you’re just, imagine that you’re just a Levite, you’re just a priest who worships the true God in the temple, and that’s taken away from you. You would just read this now. Understand the last verse is quite violent. That’s just to show us how difficult these circumstances are. This exilic psalm, 137. Go ahead, Carl. The whole psalm? Yes, why not?
By the river, Babylon, there we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion. On the willows in the midst of it we hung our marks. There our captors demanded of us songs, and our tormentors mirthed, saying, sing us one of the songs of Zion. How can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land? If I forget you, Jerusalem, may to the roof of my mouth. I do not remember you. I do not exalt Jerusalem above my chief joy.
Remember, O Lord, against the sons of Eden, the day of Jerusalem, who said, raise it, raise it, to its very foundation. O daughter of Babylon, you devastated one, how blessed will be the one who repays you with the recompense with which you have repaid us. How blessed will be the one who seizes and dashes your little ones against the rock. All right. How about that? What’s going on?
They’re by the rivers in Babylon. They’re probably working in the hot sun, and he’s thinking, I want to be working in Jerusalem, that’s where I want to be, because he’s one who is trained to play music for God in the temple. Instead, the Babylonians have come, they have destroyed everything, what do you have left? He just has memories, and these Babylonians mock them, and they say, why don’t you sing some songs to us? How can we sing Psalms outside of the temple? There’s a sense in which, at least in the Old Testament, the Psalms are tied to the temple. As New Testament believers, we read the Psalms eschatologically, but they didn’t have that as an option.
So he’s remembering what it was like, the Babylonians destroyed our nation, destroyed our temple, and they took us, they just hang up their hearts on the willow trees. We’ve got nothing. So angry is he, so frustrated that he would ask, he would say that that person is blessed who will take the Babylonian babies and bring judgment upon them. Right, this is, you get the emotion of what’s going on with Ezekiel here. Does God love us? Does he care? Does he care about me?
Now, Psalm 137 is from the point of view of someone who probably had worked in the temple. That’s why I correct myself. Ezekiel was not one who had worked in the temple. Yet, that’s what he was preparing for. And he was probably preparing his whole life. It’s not something that you walk into haphazardly. He’s looking forward to the day when he will be a priest before God, and that’s not going to happen.
So, surely his 30th birthday was a time of lament, working in the hot Babylonian or Iraqi sun, and he’s working among the exiles. They were probably toiling and working in the irrigation ditches, because they are at a major convergence of rivers. Now, those who really think they’ve got this narrowed down would have Ezekiel to have his 30th birthday July 31st, 593 AD, which is the fifth year of Jehoiachin’s exile. the day he would have been eligible for that temple service. What does God do to Ezekiel that day? You’re not going to be a priest. Today, you’re going to be a prophet. And that’s what the beginning of that He’s called, he’s ordained, but not to what he had thought that he was being called and ordained and installed to.
We see that there are four expressions that go on in these first three verses, right? The first one, the heavens were opened. The heavens were opened. This can describe a torrential rain. Genesis 7, 11 is that torrential rain. Think about the Noah’s flood. The heavens were opened and the waters come down. And it may be the case that he is talking about the heavens opening and rain coming down because verse four, he talks about a storm wind coming from the north and it may be the beginning of a storm and of major rain. But more often, this in the Bible gives us a picture of the parting of the invisible barrier between heaven and earth.
Heaven and Earth is opening for Ezekiel, and he’s able to see things that he would not be able to see otherwise. A couple of verses, at least, New Testament passages, we see this, Acts chapter 7, 56, We have Stephen, the heavens are open, heaven and earth, so that he can see in. As he’s being stoned, Stephen, in Acts chapter 7, he is able to look and see Jesus, right?
Same kind of picture, able to see in. Revelation 4, 1, John is called up into heaven and Heaven and Earth are essentially split. The sky is split. The heavens are opened. He sees visions of God. This is another phrase that we see here. Divine visions.
Ezekiel is at this point beginning to experience seeing the hidden realities of every day. Don’t think that what Ezekiel is about to see only goes on when there’s a human observer. These are the realities of heaven and of earth, but they are not revealed to us at this time.
He’s able to see into that. The word of the Lord came to Ezekiel. This is part of the audiovisual experience that Ezekiel is having. All of Ezekiel’s being, his whole being, is brought into seeing this revelation. In Ezekiel 2, 9 through 3, 3, we see that he is to take a scroll and he is to eat it. God is bringing all of his senses into this. He’s seeing, he’s hearing, he’s touching this scroll, and he’s going to eat it. At least all of them. I don’t see smell, but And maybe he was smelling the scroll before. Not sure.
The hand of the Lord was upon me. God’s overpowering pressure, God’s overpowering compulsion is on Ezekiel at this time. And this is an expression that is used seven times in this book. And then we have a word which I think in this translation will be, nope, it’s not the last word, but after the semicolon on chapter, on verse three. And there the hand of the Lord came upon me. We would not think of the word there as having all that much significance. But it does in this passage.
The simple word there, which is basically two characters in Hebrew. One word expresses what is described and where all of these things are described. God is speaking to Ezekiel there. Where? in Babylon. The place of exile, the place of uncleanness, in the place of despair, God comes and speaks to his people. This all to show that God is not a God far off.
Why did we read Psalm 137? These people are thinking, if I forget Jerusalem, I would just want my hand to rot away. Jerusalem is so important to me. Why? Because God is there. But is God there? God’s spirit is left. So where is God? God is there. God is here with us in exile. He’s in Babylon. He is with me. All to show that God is not far away. God, Ezekiel is, he understands in a big way the power and the presence of God. And he seems to be witless and scared after this revelation.
Move over to 3.15. And we’ll close right after this. Then I came to the exiles who lived beside the river Kibar at Tel Aviv. And I sat there seven days where they were living, causing consternation among them. This is after he has just received this revelation, which we’re only looking at the introduction to today. He just has to sit there. We’re just, wow. I can’t believe what I have just seen. And I can’t believe that God is here. He is among us. He has not left us. He has not forsaken us. He has not forsaken those who are truly trusting in Him and believing in Him. Well, that’s the first portion. Let’s look.
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