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The Bible Breakdown
Ezekiel 01: Ezekiel Sees God’s Glory… and he’s Weird
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The More We Dig. The More We Find.
Well, everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today, ezekiel, chapter one. I am so excited about getting into Ezekiel and so we're going to jump right in, and maybe my favorite part, which is giving you some background before we get into it. So, if you have your Bibles, want to jump in with me to Ezekiel chapter one. As always, while you're doing that, if you're new around here, make sure you like, share, subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you're leaving us a five-star review on the podcast. Make sure you also are going and leaving us some comments and some different things on our YouTube videos. We would love to know how you think we can make this better, because the whole goal of this is to be a help to you. So let us know. And, as always, make sure you're going to the Bible breakdown discussion on Facebook. Make sure you're commenting on those videos or, excuse me, those devotions, because, man, we want to learn together and the more we dig, the more we find Okay. Well, once again, if you have your Bibles and you're ready for Ezekiel, I want to tell you one of the reasons why I want to get into Ezekiel is because and I want to say this real quick Ezekiel, to me, is one of the most misunderstood books in the entire Old Testament. You know why? Because it's weird. If we were to give Ezekiel, chapter 1, a title, it would be Ezekiel Sees God's Glory and he's Weird, not God Ezekiel. Ezekiel Sees God's glory and he's weird. That would be the title of chapter one. Okay, and the thing is about, ezekiel is a lot of people don't understand it because he is so weird. God uses him with so many metaphors and examples. I mean it is going to be crazy the things that Ezekiel gets up to, but he's fun and he's very important, actually, when it comes to understanding the end times. We're going to get to that in just a moment. If you ever want to understand the book of revelation, you don't understand the book of Ezekiel, okay. So the overall theme of Ezekiel is God's promise of renewal. God's promise of renewal, and we're going to get all that in just a moment.
Speaker 1:The theme verse is when God tells Ezekiel I will put my spirit in you into people and you will live again and return home to your own land. So what's happening is is Ezekiel is writing this and he's writing this while he is living in Babylon. So, if you remember, what happened before is when you had Jeremiah. Jeremiah is telling the nation of Judah hey, listen, if you don't stop, if you don't come back to God, babylon's going to come in, they're going to take over. Well, they didn't listen and Babylon came in and Babylon took over.
Speaker 1:And then we read Lamentations where Jeremiah is dealing with the grief of what has happened. And then you got Ezekiel, who he's exiled, he's away, and so what he is doing is he is telling them hey, listen, we're living in Babylon because you guys are a bunch of idiots, and he's like we have got to turn back to God so we can get out of this Babylonian captivity in 70 years. And so he is writing to the people who live in Babylon, but also some of the Jewish people still living in Jerusalem, and he's writing it from 593 to 571, and his ministry lasted for about 22 years. And he is telling them over and over again God has promised us renewal, but we better get our acts together, and that's what he's going to constantly be saying over and over again together, and that's what he's going to constantly be saying over and over again. Now, the big idea of this whole thing is that God is sovereign over all nations and he will judge sin, but he also promises to restore and renew his people, and so what we're going to see over the course of Ezekiel of his 22-year ministry is he is going to move from warnings about judgment to visions of hope and then emphasizing God's holiness and his faithfulness. So we're going to see as time gets further and further and the 70 years of captivity get closer and closer to being over with. God is bringing his people back together, and the reason why this is so important is number one. He's continually going to talk to them about learning from their mistakes. It teaches us about the consequences of rebellion, idolatry, and urges believers to live in obedience. Another reason why it's important is because it's foreshadowing Jesus. It points that Jesus is the good shepherd who gathers his people and gives them a new heart and eternal life, and so he's just constantly talking about what's coming Now.
Speaker 1:While this is going on, elsewhere in the world, the Babylonians have their and I've messed this up just a little bit, so I'm going to fix this. While we're talking, the Babylonians are at the height of their power. They have really, really, really been kind of doing their own thing and just kind of taking over everybody. And they are, they're winning everything but the Persians, who are going to eventually take over the Babylonians, they're beginning to rise to power. And so, if you know your world history, you have the Babylonians, and then the Persians took over the Babylonians, and then the Greeks, like with Alexander the Great, they're the ones who then eventually took over the Persians, and so that's where we are in world history.
Speaker 1:Now, before we get started, a couple of interesting facts about Ezekiel. His name actually means God's strength, and that's what he's going to be talking about. Is that promised renewal because of God's strength? Another thing that you're going to find that makes Ezekiel interesting to me is his. I tried to find a nice word for it. I was going to say weird, I went with unique visions. Okay, listen, we're going to see it in chapter one. There's a wheel within a wheel. There's all kinds of unique visions, but he also gets to see God's throne, living creatures. You know all these different. He's really, really cool. And then the symbolic actions Ezekiel is often acting out prophetic messages, such as lying on one side for 390 days in Ezekiel 4 to represent Israel's sin. He's just kooky man. I'm telling you, he had to be a lot of fun to hang around because at some point he's like listen, I don't know why God's got me laying on my side, I'm laying on my side, okay, it is what it is, you know. And so at some point he's just kind of going with it, right, and so he had to be a whole lot of fun.
Speaker 1:And then here's the last thing before we go why is it important to know Ezekiel, to understand the book of Revelation? And I just want to pause. I cannot tell you how many new Christians and how many older Christians come to me and they say, pastor, I want to learn about the book of Revelation. And I say, okay, and I turned to the Old Testament. And they go, wait a minute. Now I don't want to learn about the Old Testament, I just want to learn about the book of Revelation. I tell them here's the thing John, the guy who wrote the book of Revelation, was an Old Testament scholar.
Speaker 1:68% of the book of Revelation comes straight out of the Old Testament. Like nowadays, that would be considered plagiarism. Okay, I mean, he knew his Old Testament and so many things that we're going to read about in Ezekiel, if you've read the book of Revelation at all. You're going to say, wait a minute, I've seen that before. Well, actually, you saw it first in the book of Ezekiel, because there's all kinds of shared symbolism. There's themes of shared symbolism. There's themes of judgment, restoration, there's God's sovereignty, the new temple is discussed and the prophetic fulfillment of so many of Ezekiel's prophecies are actually fulfilled in the book of Revelation, so they're extremely connected to one another. So if you've ever studied the book of Revelation, you're going to love Ezekiel and the next one we're going to do the book of Daniel the most. Okay, all right.
Speaker 1:Well, let's get started with Ezekiel, chapter one, and let's look at God. Love him Ezekiel, let's look at what happens. Right, ezekiel, chapter one, verse one, says this on July 31st of my 30th year, while I was with the Judean exiles beside the Kibar River in Babylon, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. Now pause, now notice immediately what he's saying is he's saying I'm in Babylon, not in Jerusalem. I'm in exile. And while I was in exile, the heavens were opened and I saw the visions of God Not that dissimilar from Isaiah and Isaiah 6 when he saw the Lord.
Speaker 1:Here we go, verse 2. It happened during the fifth year of King Jehoiakim's captivity. The Lord gave this message to Ezekiel, son of Buzi, a priest beside the Kibar River in the land of the Babylonians, and he felt the hand of the Lord take hold of him. As I looked, I saw a great storm coming from the north, driving before it a huge cloud that flashed with lightning and shone with brilliant light, and there was a fire inside the cloud. Also sounds like Revelation 4. In the middle of the fire glowed something like gleaming amber. From the center of the cloud were four living beings that looked like a human, except the four faces, and it had four wings. Now pause again. That's also from Revelation, chapter 4., verse 7,. Their legs were straight and their feet had hooves like those of a calf. In other words, them jokers look crazy.
Speaker 1:Verse 9. Of each living being touched the wings of the beings beside it, each one moved straight forward in any direction without turning around. Each had a human face in the front, the face of a lion on the right side, the face of an ox on the left side and a face of an eagle at the back. Each had two pairs of outstretched wings, one pair stretched to touch the wings of the living being on either side of it and the other pair covered its body. They went in whatever direction the spirit chose and they moved straight forward in any direction without turning around. The living beings looked like bright coals of fire or brilliant torches, and lightning seemed to flash back and forth among them. The living beings darted to and fro with flashes of lightning, and as I looked at these beings, I saw four wheels that touched the ground beside them. One wheel belonged to each. The wheels sparkled as if made by a barrel. All four wheels looked alike and were made the same. Each wheel had a second wheel turning clockwise within it. These beings could move in any of the four directions they faced without turning. As they moved, the rims of the four wheels were tall and frightening and they were covered with eyes all around.
Speaker 1:It's just getting more and more weird. That's why we're calling it God's glory. And what Ezekiel saw was weird. Okay, verse 19. When the beings moved, the wheels moved and the beings stopped and the wheels stopped. And when the beings flew upward, the wheels rose up. For the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels. Spread out above them was a surface like the sky, glittering like crystal, and beneath this surface, the wings of each living being stretched out to touch the other wings that had two wings covering its body. They flew as they flew, their wings surrounded, sounded to me rather like waves crashing against the shore, or like a voice of the Almighty, or like the shouting of a mighty army. When they stopped, they let down their wings and as they stood, with their wings lowered, a voice spoke from beyond the crystal surface. Above them, above this surface, was something that looked like a throne made of blue lapis lazuli also Revelation 4. And on the throne, high above, was a figure whose appearance resembled a man.
Speaker 1:We now know Jesus, verse 27,. And from what appeared to be his waist I looked and it was like gleaming amber, flickering like a fire, and from his waist down he looked like a burning flame shining with splendor. By the way, revelation 1. See why you need to read this. All right, here we go, and I love this verse. It says all around him was like a glowing halo, like a rainbow shining in the clouds on the rainy day. This is what the glory of the Lord looked like to me, and when I saw it, I fell face down to the ground and I heard someone's voice speaking to me Wow, well, that's how you get started with a book.
Speaker 1:That's going to be crazy. I mean, it's going to be so much fun as we read this thing together, because that's how it's going to go. God is going to show Ezekiel some stuff and he's not going to have a clue, but he's just going to go with it. You know what God? I trust you. You put me in this. Here we go. You know, let's just figure this thing out together and, honestly, that is one of the key components to how we're going to have so much fun with Ezekiel.
Speaker 1:Remember, the overall theme is God's promise of renewal and, as we trust God, we're going to see God do amazing things through the life of Ezekiel and how he's going to speak to these people. But he's always saying listen, I got a big idea for you, I want to renew you, I want to put my spirit in you, and so I want to challenge you over the course of Ezekiel that, when we read this, realize that sometimes the things that God does in our life we're not always going to understand. But do we trust God? Do we trust God that he is showing us more than we understand at the time? And the answer is we can always trust him and, as we do, eventually we will understand, because what Ezekiel is actually seeing is he's seeing a wheel within a wheel. In other words, he's seeing spinning, that's happening, things that are spinning, and he's going in different directions and he doesn't understand it. But he sees these living creatures and he doesn't understand in the moment what it is. Well, in Revelation 4, we see the rest of it, and he's seeing the throne room of God and he's seeing these four living creatures that act as both worshipers and also as sentries, that are around the throne of God and is a symbol of the continual worship of all creation to God. And then, on the other side and I love this, that on the other side of what he doesn't understand, he sees someone that he does, he sees God. And sometimes, on the other side of what we don't always understand, we see the one who truly matters and that is God.
Speaker 1:I'm looking forward to getting into this together. I think we're going to have a great time. Let's pray together right now. God, thank you so much for today. Thank you, god, that you're with us and you're for us. Lord, I love Ezekiel because of the mystery. I love it because of what we don't understand, and I love it because of what you can teach us through mystery.
Speaker 1:I pray that as we read this together, lord, we'll fall in love with just searching you out, being part of an adventure and seeing what you're doing. And if you did it in their lives, god, you'll do it in ours too. We trust you in all things. In Jesus' name, we pray, amen, amen. Well, don't forget. The overall theme of Ezekiel is chapter 34, verse 14. It says this I will put my spirit in you and you will live again and return home to your own land. God is saying this to us that he's going to put his spirit within us and he's going to make all the things he wants for us come true. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for Ezekiel, chapter two.
