Ezekiel

I had to help out with audio at church yesterday - both services. The youth were away on a retreat, and the regular sound guy was gone, as was the person that typically subbed in for him. Before church on Sunday morning, I decided that I could either spend the time between the services reading Ezekiel or going to see a movie. Ezekiel won.

Yesterday morning our pastor shared from James and his application was about how to do your own personal Bible Study. Essentially, what I'm doing here, reading a book at a time, goes against his suggested method of going sentence by sentence and meditating on what it means to me.

Then, last night, the youth arrived back. The youth pastor had some of them share their experience at the retreat. Their testimonies became a first hand illustration to me of how Ezekiel must have felt. God did something real in their lives, and they could not find words to express it. And I know that God spoke to me last summer and started me on this trek; although it might not make sense to others, I know I'm reading the way I need to read it.

Ezekial gets right into it. All of his visions, messages and experience here takes place after Israel had been taken away to Babylon. Each of his 'episodes' begin with a reference to time after King Jehoiachin was led away to Bablyon as prisoner. They are not necessarily listed chronologically, but neither was Jeremiah. Why start now? That said, the narrative ended for me in a chronological sense a few books ago. I find myself referencing Kings and Chronicles to get back in the time period and get my head in the right place.

God spoke to Ezekiel in some seriously, crazy visions and in direct messages. The visions were such that Ezekiel said "I saw what looked like..." He couldn't even articulate for sure what he saw, I guess because he had not seen anything like it before. I mean, four creatures, each with four faces (human, lion, bull and eagle) on each side of their head and wings. And a wheel that moved in every direction without turning? At the end of his first recorded vision, he says "I realized I was seeing the brightness of the the Lord's glory!" Seemingly inexplicable.

God's direct messages were also extreme. He had Ezekiel act things out, role play, so that Israel might see it and understand. On of the first such incidents had Ezekiel lying on his left side for 390 days, then switching to his right side for 40 days. In some cases, Ezekiel explained what he was doing.

Ezekiel is full of messages of doom, not just to Israel, but also to other countries that had not supported, or even attacked or made fun of, Israel. God gave Ezekiel a huge and lengthy message for Egypt. Also, God used extreme images of sexual promiscuity to explain how Israel had turned from him.

Pockets of promise and encouragement are also contained within it. If someone turns from their sin and worships the Lord, they will be forgiven. Children will not be punished for their parents sins, if they personally turn from sinning. On the flip side, if a person was righteous, but turned to sin, they would be punished. God states here more than once (i.e., 18:23) that he does not like seeing the wicked die, but would rather see them turn to him.

The visions and places God takes Ezekiel are really something else: dead, dried bones coming back to life, the four creatures, the man made of fire, shepherds and sheep and the vision of the future temple. Ezekiel was toured around the new temple. His tour guide had a 'measuring stick.' He records in very clear detail what he saw. It was perfect. Squares. I never appreciated the first vision Ezekiel had of the four creatures with four faces each. This morning as I think about it, I see the theme carried over - four equal beings at the beginning, then a temple constructed as a square - four equal measurements used throughout. This must have been the picture of a perfect temple for Ezekiel. God revelation of himself to Ezekiel mirrored the building - perfect. At least, that's what I'm seeing.

A few times God reiterates his promise to bring Israel back together. He also refers to how they treated the poor, the widows and orphans to illustrate had bad they were as a society, all common themes that have struck me as I've been reading.

My pastor told me it took him two years to get through Ezekiel. I read it in a couple hours. I'm sure I've missed things, and I'll get them later when I come back to Ezekiel. However, the picture of a perfect God, who is willing to forgive people who have sinned against him an wants to be in realtionship with his people, who will not renege on his promise, who wants to take care of the poor and needy and who will ultimately ensure his original promise will be carried out, well, that's a lot to take in for now.