Let me ask you to keep your Bibles in hand and to turn with me to the prophet Ezekiel this morning, the prophet Ezekiel, and we’re going to be reading from the end of chapter 1 through to the first few verses of chapter 3. If you’re using the pew Bibles, it’s on page 692. Page 692.
You will remember how the last two Sundays have bookended our annual Missions Conference and we were privileged to sit under the preaching of both Cory Brock and Derek Thomas. And if you were listening, both morning and evening on both those Sundays, and throughout the week as we listened to the testimonies of the missionaries and of course the reports of what was happening in the church back in the various destinations, one of the things that you would have picked up on is that we were reminded that the mission of God, as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit work together in unison, the mission of God is laser focused in the fulfillment of the covenant of redemption. That was a theme that came through very clearly in many of the preachings and of course the reports. And of course the covenant of redemption, the fulfillment of that, is where the elect of God from across the ages and across the nations come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. And it’s all moving toward that great and glorious day. That day when the number will be full and eventually there will be a tearing of the realm or the veil between the unseen and the seen. And there will be this announcement from heaven, the trumpets of heaven, and Jesus Christ will return on the clouds of glory in the same way that He ascended just short of 2,000 years ago.
That’s what motivates us. That understanding, that picture is what motivates us with regards to our mission, our being in missions, in the sending out and the supporting of missions. Just last Sunday, Derek was the one that actually challenged the congregation that there may be missionaries in our midst that are being called, but you have not responded. You are stalling and stalling. And then he said, “The fields are ripe unto harvest.” The time is to stop stalling and you are to go. Go and speak to the pastors and prepare to be sent out. But that’s what motivates us – it’s that vision of the glorious return of Jesus Christ. But it’s also what motivates us with regards to the burden we have to evangelize, and of course for the various acts of service for His glorious kingdom. Jesus is at work through the church and is at work in us to sanctify us, to make us more like His beloved Son, we are to be a people who cry out, “Lord, in the midst of my own sanctification, use my words, use my actions as a means to set forth the glory of the King,” especially when we are evangelizing the dark and the hard-hearted. “Lord, use me, even in my own weakness.”
And so this morning as we consider these verses from Ezekiel chapter 2, I want to say that it’s good to be reminded of what God is doing to build His church in Honduras, in the Middle East, in Greece and in Ocean Springs and through the ministry of RUF, how many thousands of students are being filtered into Gospel-preaching churches. But friends, let’s not leave the Missions Conference celebrating what God is doing over there, but let us be renewed in our thinking that God is at work here in our midst. He is at work in Jackson and Ridgeland and in Madison and Flowood and Florence, right here in the Belhaven community, here where He has placed us at 1390 North State Street. And that means we need to be mindful that we have been commissioned not just to celebrate what’s happening over there, but we’ve been commissioned and given a responsibility for where God has placed us. And my hope is that as we see how God strengthened Ezekiel in these verses, that it will be a reminder to us of the promise of God to strengthen us as well as we go out to do that which He has called us to do.
And so before we read God’s Word, let’s bow our heads and let’s commit this time to the Lord in prayer. Let’s pray.
Our Father in heaven, we come before You, asking for Your help. Father, You have given us Your Word and we now ask You that You would, by Your Spirit, open it up to us and imprint it upon our hearts and our consciences and use it to stir us to the glory of King Jesus. And we pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.
Ezekiel chapter 1, reading from verse 28, the second part. This is God’s Word:
“Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking.
And he said to me, ‘Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you. And as he spoke to me, the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me. And he said to me, ‘Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day. The descendants also are impudent and stubborn: I send you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them. And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions. Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house. And you shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house.
But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Be not rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you.’ And when I looked, behold, a hand was stretched out to me, and behold, a scroll of a book was in it. And he spread it before me. And it had writing on the front and on the back, and there were written on it words of lamentation and mourning and woe.
And he said to me, ‘Son of man, eat whatever you find here. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.’ So I opened my mouth, and he gave me this scroll to eat. And he said to me, ‘Son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it.’ Then I ate it, and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey.”
We praise God for His Word and we ask for His blessing upon it this morning.
I suspect many of you have heard of and perhaps even read a biography of David Martyn Lloyd-Jones. There are a couple in circulation. Lloyd-Jones was born in Wales in 1899 and by the age of 22, he had completed his medical degree and he had been studying under one of the most renowned physicians in the whole of England at the time. He was actually on a track to become one of those well-renowned physicians in his day and age. But after practicing for a couple of years, he realized and he became increasingly convinced that people’s real need is not physical and it’s not psychological; it’s what he termed, “it was in the soul.” And so he started to read more and he started to ask a lot more questions of various people. And he came to understand that it is through belief in Christ’s sacrificial death and His resurrection that people receive life. This was a defining moment in Lloyd-Jones’ walk, and it was a moment that changed his life and changed its direction. He was born again and he moved from medicine into the pastorate. And after serving as an evangelist and preacher in Wales for about eleven years, he was then called to serve as the minister of Westminster Chapel in London where he continued to serve as the preacher for thirty-plus years. And we’re told from testimonies of many people that thousands upon thousands of people came to faith, they came to a saving knowledge of Jesus under His preaching ministry. And tens of thousands have further been impacted in the depth of their walk with the Lord through his sermons that are still online and, of course, through his extensive writings that are still in print. But it was a defining moment, and it was this defining moment that changed his life and his direction.
This concept, “defining moment,” I think if we look, if we reflect upon our own lives, we’ve all had at least one in our lives – a moment that shapes our lives. It’s a moment that stops us in our tracks and causes us to consider what we believe. “Why do we do what we do? What drives us? What motivates us?” – together with many of the other existential questions that we as human beings have at various points in our lives. A defining moment can even define our before and our after. That’s how clear it is.
And so what I want us to do this morning, I want us to look at the text, and I want you to turn back to the beginning of chapter 1, so one page back, chapter 1, and I want you to look at verse 1. “In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the Chebar canal, the heavens were opened.” I have a question for you. Do you think this was a defining moment in Ezekiel’s life? Look at the text. He remembers who he was with – he was with the exiles. He remembers where he was – he was at the Chebar canal as an exile in Babylon. He even remembers the day and the month and it was his thirtieth year. The thirtieth year was an important year in his life because it would have been the year in which he was ordained to the priesthood to serve in the temple in Jerusalem in Israel. And we’ll come back to that detail in just a short moment. All those details were firmly imprinted upon his conscience and upon his mind. He remembers very clearly who he was before and who he was afterwards was clearly quite different in the way his life was changed and its direction.
However, before we consider any of the text further, I do want us to ask the question, “Who is Ezekiel?” Well the opening verses of chapter 1, if you look at verse 3, tells us he is the son of Buzi. That really doesn’t help us too much more, does it? But we’re also given the detail that he is a priest. And I’ve already mentioned, or I’ve alluded to the fact that he was a priest in training. He would have been ordained when he reached the age of thirty, but he had not reached that point yet because everything was about to abruptly change and end in 597 BC. He would have been twenty-six years old at the time. And in that year, he and his wife, together with countless other thousands from the southern kingdom would have been taken off into exile. They were part of the second deportation to Babylon. The first one was in 605, the second was in 597, and the third and final one would have been in 586 BC. And really from Ezekiel’s perspective, his whole life had been overturned. Everything seemed completely wrong. Everything he had been preparing for had come to naught. He certainly couldn’t serve as a priest in Babylon, could he? There was no temple. There was no opportunity to receive sacrifices if there’s no temple. He couldn’t listen to people who were afflicted by their own consciences because the exiles he was with, they were a hard-hearted people. There was no repentance.
But here he is in the land of Chaldea and it is here that the Lord chooses to meet with him in a vision. He’s calling him to service and He’s calling him to service not as a priest, but as a prophet. And that’s a significant change. It’s a change in direction as God calls him to set forth His glory. One commentator wrote this. He said, “Priests comfort the afflicted while prophets afflict the comfortable.” Priests comfort the afflicted while prophets afflict the comfortable. His training was to listen to the broken-hearted, those who were repentant, to take their sacrifices and offer it to the Lord because it’s through the shedding of blood that there’s the forgiveness of sins. But here he is in exile, at the Chebar River. These people were not repenting. They didn’t need comfort. They needed someone who was going to afflict them with the truth so that they would be uncomfortable and they would be ripped out of their ease.
And so he sees this vision of the glory of the Lord. And if you are familiar with the book, and if you’re not, I would encourage you, go and reread chapter 1 to get a glimpse. If you’re familiar with the book, you know that it is a vision that initially starts with the cherubim, the angelic creatures. And he uses words that he’s really struggling to describe what he is seeing. He uses phrases, “it’s like” or “in the appearance of.” In other words, human language fails to truly describe that which he has been exposed to or that which he has seen. And then beyond the cherubim, there’s the wheels, the modality of these heavenly creatures. And beyond the wheels there’s the expanse. And beyond that expanse there is an expanse with the sapphire throne and on the sapphire throne is One who is seated in the likeness of human appearance. And this is the same One, in human appearance, that Isaiah saw in Isaiah 6. And we know this one to be the Lord Jesus Christ.
And friends, having glimpsed the majesty and the glory of the Lord – look at verse 28 again, the text that we read – Ezekiel is on his face. He is absolutely undone and he is shattered as he lays before the Lord. There’s an old African proverb that says this. “If you are filled with pride then you will have no room for wisdom.” If you are filled with pride, you will have no room for wisdom. And I think that is what God is doing here. He’s laying Ezekiel low, very low, and it’s from that posture that God changes Ezekiel’s focus from himself and from his priestly training and perhaps even bemoaning the fact that he finds himself in the condition that he finds himself, and he refocuses Ezekiel on the Lord of glory. And that changes everything.
And so from our text this morning, I want us to see how God strengthens Ezekiel through three ways. God strengthens Ezekiel by empowering him, verses 1 and 2, through sending him, verses 3 through 7, and through equipping him, from verse 8 onwards. And hopefully you will see that as this is the way that God strengthens Ezekiel, this is also the way that God promises to strengthen us in the service of the kingdom.
The Lord Empowers Us
So firstly, it is the Lord who empowers us, verses 1 and 2. Now in this empowerment, there are two parts. There’s two parts to the means in which God has chosen to empower us. Firstly, He humbles us. Secondly, He fills us. Now we have already spoken a little bit about how Ezekiel was humbled through this glorious vision; and it was a glorious vision. Just go and read the details and reread those details when you go home. But I wonder if you notice that it was the Lord who revealed Himself to the prophet. That’s a significant detail. It was the Lord who came to Ezekiel. Ezekiel was not looking for Him. He was not walking amongst the exiles looking for this veil that could be torn apart so that he could get a glimpse of the glory of God. That wasn’t on his radar. It was God who condescended and came to him. And it was God who chose Ezekiel for this particular task that He was putting before him.
Friends, let me ask you, do you remember that moment when God came to you? That moment when He came to you and He humbled you, He laid you low. That day that He called you to Himself. Or perhaps it was a day when you were reading Scripture and you were made newly mindful of His majesty and His glory and your heart was strangely warmed once again. Do you remember when you heard the Gospel proclaimed for the first time? Perhaps it was for the tenth time and once again there was a strange warmth that you realized once again that you are a sinner deserving God’s righteous judgment, that God loves you and He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to live and die and that Jesus Christ willingly came to live and then to lay down His life, and in laying down His life He took your sin, my sin, upon His own shoulders and He paid the penalty that I should have been deserving of?
And friends, the good news in all of that is, I then hear that as I repent and as I believe, I find life. Do you remember that? Don’t forget it, because friends, you may have heard it that day and there were people that were around you and it made no difference in their life because they did not hear it. But to you, it changed everything. It brought you from darkness to light, it brought a warmth and a meaning to life, and it set you on a different path. Friends, you were given a glimpse of the glory of God by faith that day, and one day – and it’s the day we’re all longing for – one day, that faith will become sight and we will see Him as He is in all His beauty, in all His splendor, all His majesty – the Lion of Judah and the Lamb that was slain, seated upon the throne. And guess what we’re going to do? Pretty much what Ezekiel did – we’re going to bow down in adoration and worship and praise.
But notice from the text, having been laid low, he also needed to be raised up. There was a place to bow down, but He was being sent on a task and He needed to be raised up. Look at verse 1 with me please. Notice that there is a voice of one speaking, and He says to Ezekiel, “Son of man.” That phrase, “son of man,” is the name that is used for Ezekiel by God ninety-three times in this book. God never refers to Ezekiel as “Ezekiel;” it’s always “son of man.” And it’s a reminder of his humanity. “Son of man, stand on your feet and I will speak with you.” You can imagine at that point Ezekiel thinking to himself, “Are you kidding me? How does a mortal stand before Your infinite majesty?” But we are reminded there is a pretty well-known statement that says, “God’s commandments are God’s enablements.” So look at the text again. As he gives this command, notice “It is the Spirit who entered into me and set me on my feet.” You see, what God commands, He also enables by His Spirit.
Friends, this is our only hope, our only hope if we are going to stand before God – to be clothed in the righteousness of Christ, to be filled by the Spirit to be able to stand before His majesty. Now sin condemns us. Before God, we are undone. But God, out of His grace, He gives you His Spirit, He gives you His Son, so that you may stand and you may go and you may go with the purpose to go and serve the kingdom at large. God’s chosen means is to speak via the Word, it is to give understanding by the Spirit, and it is to open our ears that we may hear. Look at verse 2 again. “The Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet.” Notice what he says then – “And I heard Him speaking to me.” It’s God who opens our ears as we go. Friends, let me ask you, have you heard the Word of God to you and have you responded?
The Lord Commands and Sends Us
But notice that Ezekiel has not been set on his feet for no reason. And so the Lord now commands and the Lord sends him. We see this in verses 3 through 7. After Ezekiel is set upon his feet, notice how the Lord doesn’t ask Ezekiel if he would like to go. No, that’s not what happens in the text. Verse 3, “Son of man, I send you.” It’s a command. “I’ve given you a glimpse of my glory, now you are to go.” And hopefully you see the grace of God as you read and reread verses 3 through 7, because here we see how God sends Ezekiel strengthened in the knowledge of who he is being sent to and what God’s expectations are of him. There is strength in being equipped in what your expectations are, and of course the people you are going to. There is a phrase that many of us will hopefully be able to finish this statement – “To be forewarned is to be…forearmed.” That’s partly what God is doing here. He is equipping and He is strengthening Ezekiel with this knowledge of who they are and what God expects. And so the Lord reminds him, “This is who you are being sent to, Ezekiel.”
Now remember, he is going to be speaking to people, both those who are in exile but predominantly it is going to be those who are still back home in Jerusalem in Israel. The year of this vision is 593 and the final deportation will be 586. It’s a seven year period where he is being called to prophesy so that they will be without excuse. And so he’s telling Ezekiel, “You are going to these people. They are your people. And I’m sending you with the message of judgment and repentance and belief. And as a prophet, you will afflict their comfort. You will afflict their comfort.” Verse 3, “I’m sending you to the people of Israel. Ezekiel, you know them. They are your people. You know how they think. You know their rebellious hearts.” And then God says to a nation of rebels – “who have rebelled against Me.” And really that phrase there in the Hebrew is a reminder that God is reminding Ezekiel that they have broken the terms of the covenant that was established between God and His people back in Deuteronomy 28 and 30. They had broken those covenant mandates and as a result, He was having to deal with His people.
God also reminds him, He reminds Ezekiel of their heart condition. This is something that Ezekiel could not have known by himself. Notice in verse 4 he says that they are “impudent and stubborn.” They are impudent and stubborn. That’s a detail with regards to the heart of what the people are like. They are hard-faced, and not even the threat of judgment is going to soften their hearts, but at least they will know that there has been a prophet in their midst.
And then He says to him, “When you go, here’s My expectations for you.” Verse 4, “You shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God. Thus says the Lord God.’ You are not to speak your words, Ezekiel. I don’t want you to tickle their ears. I don’t want you to water down what I’m telling you to tell them. You are to speak My words.” And verse 5, “Whether they hear or refuse to hear.” And just so you know, in the Hebrew, the inference there is – “They are not going to change; they are not going to truly hear, but you need to go. And as a result of not truly hearing, they are also going to push back on My words. There’s going to be a backlash.” And so verse 6, “Be prepared, because I don’t want you to be afraid of them, nor their words, though briars and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions. Whether you face mental, emotional, verbal, or even physical suffering, whether it be directly or indirectly from them, I am sending you to them and all I expect from you, Ezekiel, you are to be faithful, you are to be obedient, and you are to be dependent upon Me as you go. Faithfulness, obedience and dependence upon Me.”
Now friends, as we bring this a little bit closer to home, I don’t think we should be too surprised that we too, by the grace of God being at 1390 North State Street in the greater Jackson area, we have been set amongst a rebellious, stiff-necked, and hard-hearted people. The description of Israel is very much like those who have not yet come to a saving knowledge. We’ve been set amongst our own people. We know them. We know how they think. We know how they respond. And God is calling us to go to them. And I think that’s why passages such as this one are such a great encouragement. Not much has changed in the disposition of humanity, but at the same time, not much has changed in the way that God strengthens His people to go to those who have not yet heard the good news. And all He expects from us – and this ought to be a relief – we are called to be faithful, we are called to be obedient, and we are called to lean upon the Savior, to press in more and more as we depend upon Him to work through us and to bring forth the fruit in His good timing.
The Lord Equips Us
Now Ezekiel may have wondered at this point, “Well, how am I supposed to go about doing this?” Some of you are thinking that. Well let’s see from the text, because I want you to see from verses 8 onwards how the Lord equips Ezekiel and equips us for the road. Let me read something from John Calvin very quickly. John Calvin writes, he says this – “Whoever shall acknowledge that God is sufficient for overcoming all obstacles will gird himself bravely for his work, but many are so full, so puffed out with confidence that they bring forth nothing but wind. Hence, let us learn to seek from God alone. Let us learn to seek from God alone.” I think Calvin’s words are actually quite helpful in helping us to understand how God further equipped Ezekiel and of course by inference us as well.
And He does it through a warning and an encouragement. I want you to look at the text. Verse 8, the warning is this – “Be not rebellious like that rebellious house.” And then the encouragement is – “Eat the scroll that I give to you. Eat the scroll that I give to you.” This is the equipping for the road. Friends, let me ask you a question. What happens when we eat something? I know you are thinking of a multitude of answers to that question, but what you consume will often shape you. Try eating a king cake every day for one full month. You’ll find that the king cake may shape you in a way that you didn’t intend. But as you listen to this warning and this encouragement, it’s very helpful and it sets us on the right track. The warning is this – as the Lord sends us out amongst a people who are antagonistic and even at points they are indifferent to the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and there are many people even in our own city who just do not care about who Jesus is and what that means for their lives. Speaking to Cory just this last week while he was still here, and he was saying in Scotland one of the great benefits is you don’t need to wonder where people are at in their Christian walk because most of them are pretty open. They’re agnostic. They really just don’t care about the good news. They don’t have a place for Jesus in their lives. And he said that in many respects that’s a challenge, but also, at least you know the starting point and you are looking for inroads all the time to present good news.
And you see, when we live in a culture like this, the warning is this to us – that we must take care not to assimilate and become like the very people that we are trying to reach. We are not called to be culturally relevant to the point where the Gospel is lost and we become like the world. God has set us apart. And that means we must not water down the message either. Notice in verse 10 that it may be a message of lamentation and warning and woe, and it will be that to the rebellious heart, but did you notice what happened in chapter 3 verse 3? That that message of lamentation and warning and woe is actually sweet as honey in the mouth of the child of God. And it will be sweet as honey in the mouth of the person who is being brought to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, hence we must be faithful and obedient and lean upon Christ to do the work that He has promised to do through His Word.
Now that’s the warning. Here’s the encouragement that He sends us as we go out. Because as we pour ourselves out in evangelization and in ministry and in various other acts of service for the kingdom, we must make sure that we keep returning to the very source that is life-giving – the Word itself. We must keep coming back. Friends, it is the Word that shapes our thoughts. It is the Word that orders our own words. It is the Word that instructs our actions. We are called to consume it, to inwardly digest it, to fill our spiritual stomachs with it so that we are fully satisfied by the one that the written Word speaks of, and that is the incarnate Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. And once again we get a glimpse of His glory and it sets us on our feet so that we may go about once again.
And we’ve really come full circle, haven’t we? Our Christian life, it begins with a glimpse of the glory of the Lord by faith. And there should never be a time where we do not come back to the Word to consume it, to get another glimpse of a facet of the Lord Jesus Christ, that causes us to sit back and wonder at who He is and what He has done for us. It’s to discover more of the treasures of the One who is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, who upholds the universe by the Word of His power. “And having made purification for our sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High, having become as much superior to the angels as the name He has inherited is more excellent than theirs.” As I was reading that passage from Hebrews during the week, I wondered whether He had in the backdrop this vision of Ezekiel. You can go and see the correlations.
Let me say this in closing. Friends, my prayer is that the Lord would strengthen us, both corporately as a church, but also individually as we grow in our knowledge of the Lord and as we are shaped into the likeness of Christ. And that He would strengthen us to service, that we would be outward facing. And I know some of you are thinking possibly like Ezekiel was – How do I go about doing this? Well perhaps a starting point that, may I suggest, would be to come and speak to one of the pastors, speak to one of the elders. If it is an area that you are interested in exploring how you may serve, let’s see if we can connect you with someone who is already involved in that kind of ministry. For instance, if you are interested in evangelism, you might want to consider going to the evangelism training on a Wednesday night. Join the group so that guys who have been doing this for years can give you some of the tools they’ve learned. At the end of the day, it is the Lord that moves us and He sends us out.
And so may the Lord be pleased to strengthen us, to strengthen our resolve to serve Him in the prison ministry as we visit the sick and the widows and the elderly, as we seek to be at work in evangelism and through Bible studies, or a multitude of other ministries, many of which need to still start. But may He also deepen our desire for the Word, that we might behold our glorious Savior which causes us, Lord’s Day after Lord’s Day, to come to worship and to adore Him. And then finally, that He would also give us a renewed burden for the spiritually lost, to remind us of what their destination will be and how desperate it is and that He would give us the means to be able to reach them through the various avenues of ministry. May the Lord bless this to our hearts and to our lives this morning.
Let’s pray.
Our Father in heaven, we read in Your Word, “Lead us in the right path or our enemies will conquer us. Tell us clearly what to do and show us which way to turn.” Father, this morning, we pray that You would strengthen us as Your children and by Your Spirit would You send us out to serve our community, to love You and to love our neighbors, and to always glorify You and to enjoy You. And we ask this and we pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.