Ezekiel 1

1:1Ezekiel, born and raised in the land of Judah, was preparing to become a priest in God’s Temple when the Babylonians attacked in 597 B.C. and carried him away along with 10,000 other captives (2 Kings 24:10-14). The nation was on the brink of complete destruction. Five years later, when Ezekiel was 30 (the normal age for becoming a priest), God called him to be a prophet. During the first six years when Ezekiel ministered in the land of the Babylonians (1:3), Jeremiah was preaching to the Jews still in Judah, and Daniel was serving in Nebuchadnezzar's court. The Kebar River connected to the Euphrates in Babytonia and was the location of a Jewish settlement of exiles.

1:1Why did the Jewish exiles in Babylonia need a prophet? God wanted Ezekiel to (1) help the exiles understand why they had been taken captive, (2) dispel the false hope that the captivity was going to be short, (3) bring a new message of hope, and (4) cali the people to a new awareness of their dependence upon God.

1:1God communicated to Ezekiel in visions. A vision is a miraculous revelation of God's truth. These visions seem strange to I Seas sseseieen — EXILE IN BABYLON = Ezekiel worked for God right where he was—among the exiles in various colonies near the Kebar River in Babylonia. Jerusalem and its Temple lay over 500 miles away, but Ezekiel helped the people understand that, although they were far from home, they did not need to be far from God. us because they are apocalyptic. This means that Ezekiel saw symbolic pictures that vividly conveyed an idea. Daniel and John were other Bible writers who used apocalyptic imagery. The people in exile had fost their perspective of God’s purpose and presence, and Ezekiel came to them with a vision from God to show God's awesome glory and holiness and to warn the exiles of sin's consequences before it was too late.

1:1ffEzekiel’s latest dated message from God (29:17) was given in 571 B.C. He was taken captive during the second Babylonian invasion of Judah in 597 B.C. The Babylonians invaded Judah a third and final time in 586 8.C., completely destroying Jerusalem, burning the Temple, and deporting the rest of the people (see 2 Kings 25). Ezekiel dates ail his messages from the year he was taken captive (597). His first prophecy to the exiles occurred four years after he arrived in Babylonia (593 B.C.).

1:3The name Ezekiel means “God is strong” or “God strengthens.” In a very real sense, this sums up the basic message of the book: that in spite of the captivity, God’s sovereign strength prevails, and he will judge his enemies and restore his true people.

1:4ffIn this first vision, God called Ezekiel to be a prophet (see 2:5). Nothing in Ezekiel’s previous experience had prepared him for such a display of God’s glorious presence and power. The huge cloud flashed with tightning and was surrounded by a brilliant light. From the fire in the cloud came four living beings. They showed Ezekiel that Jerusalem’s coming destruction was God’s punishment of Judah for its sins. (These living beings are also seen in Revelation 4:6, 7.} When Ezekiel received this vision, he was far away from the Temple in Jerusalem, the physical symbot of God’s presence. Through this vision, he learned that God is present everywhere and that God’s activities in heaven are shaping the events on earth.

1:5-12Each of the four living beings had four faces, symbolizing God's perfect nature. Some believe that the lion represented strength; the ox, diligent service; the human, intelligence; and the eagle, divinity. Others see these as the most majestic of God's creatures and say that they therefore represented God’s whole creation. The early church fathers saw a connection between these beings and the four Gospels: the lion with Matthew, presenting Christ as the Lion of Judah; the ox with Mark, portraying Christ as the Servant; the human with Luke, portraying Christ as the perfect human; the eagle with John, portraying Christ as the Son of God, exalted and divine. The vision of John in Revelation 4 paralleis Ezekiel’s vision.

1:24The people of Jerusalem took great pride in their buildings. The Temple itself was a source of pride (see 24:20, 21). This _ fide would be crushed when the evil and godless Babylonians ’ destroyed Jerusalem's fortresses and sanctuaries. If you are “going through a humiliating experience, God may be using that “experience to weed out pride in your life.

1:26This figure “whose appearance resembled a man” revealed God's hotiness and prepared Ezekiel for what God was about to tell him. The figure represented God himself on the throne. Ina similar way, Christ revealed God in human form and prepared us for his message of salvation. Christ came into history in a real, human body.

1:27,28The glory of the LORD appeared like fire and a glowing halo or rainbow to Ezekiel. Ezekiel fell face down, overwhelmed by the contrast between God's holiness and his own sinfulness and insignificance. Eventually every person will fali before God, either out of reverence and awe for his mercy or out of fear of his judgment. Based on the way you are living today, how will you respond to God’s holiness?

1:27,28The four living beings and the four wheels are powerful pictures of judgment, yet the rainbow over the throne symbolizes God’s never-ending faithfulness to his people. Just as God sent a rainbow to Noah to symbolize his promise never again to destroy the earth by a flood (Genesis 9:8-17}, so this rainbow symbolizes God’s promise to preserve those who remain faithful to him. The purpose of God’s judgment is to correct us and, ultimately, to allow perfect peace and righteousness to reign on the earth forever.