As I said yesterday, today we are going to talk more about the call of Ezekiel and the vision that he has. Moreover, I would like to talk about some of the meanings of the vision, not all though because he actually has this vision again in chapter 10, which we’ll talk about tomorrow. Ezekiel’s life is also full of symbolic actions and is itself part of the message that he is delivering to the people of Israel. His actions, words, and visions all coalesce into what the Word of the Lord is for the people of Israel living in exile in Babylon.
Ezekiel’s call and vision happen concurrently, one right after another, and are very much related to each other. As a priest of Israel, Ezekiel was responsible for being the mediator between God and His people. Under normal circumstances, Ezekiel would have been working in the Temple of God in Jerusalem performing sacrifices for the people of Israel, worshiping God and mediating between the divine and the terrestrial. In Babylon however, the people of God were cut off, or so they thought, from their theological center, 500 or so miles from Jerusalem (actually it was about 1,000 miles by way of caravan as they would have meandered through the land for trade and safety). The Temple represented the presence of God to the Israelites and being disconnected from it meant being disconnected from God. I can’t imagine the confusion and sense of loss that Ezekiel and the exiles were feeling when this vision came to him.
The vision itself is overflowing with imagery in an apocalyptic genre of Biblical literature. Ezekiel sees beings with different faces that have wings able to take them anywhere. These beings were next to “a wheel within a wheel” that is covered in eyes. Finally, all of this is under a throne “and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance. And upward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were gleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around. And downward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him. Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around.“
While these images, like many others we encounter in prophetic literature, seem rather strange to us, they would not have necessarily been completely off the wall to Ezekiel or his contemporaries. These things were representative of the One who is giving the vision, namely God almighty. We will talk more about the meanings of the different things when we talk more about the vision of Ezekiel tomorrow, but suffice to say now that in seeing this Ezekiel got the message that God was not limited by time or space and was with Him and the rest of His people in exile just as much as He was with them in Jerusalem and the promised land.
Interestingly, and somewhat of a revelation to me today, is the fact that it isn’t just this imagery that carries with it representation from God. Ezekiel’s life is in many ways a representation of the very message that God is communicating to the people of Israel. Even the call of Ezekiel is representative of God’s call to His people knowing that they have been rebellious and haven’t listened to Him. He even says it to Ezekiel, telling him that when he hears the message he should not be rebellious like the people of Israel had been. Not only was Ezekiel to listen though, he was also to take it in, to “eat the scroll” and take it inside of himself. Eating means making it a part of you that it may nourish and fill you, which is exactly what the Word of the Lord is supposed to do. This very line has echos all the way back to the giving of the Law and the Shema.
As far as the revelation I had today about this and about Ezekiel, I realized when I noticed that God was calling him “Son of man” and that Ezekiel’s life and actions were representative of Israel, that in many ways Ezekiel himself is a foreshadowing of the coming of Christ. Jesus refers to Himself as “The Son of man” and is representative of what Israel was supposed to be as the people of God. Some of the actions of Ezekiel as similar to that of Jesus and, what I found to be most interesting, Ezekiel does things to represent the punishment of Israel and Judah whereas Jesus actually takes that punishment on Himself at the cross! What a genius foreshadowing that we see here and will continue to see throughout this book.
Finally, though what has been said here is quite a bit, I want to just address the section of Ezekiel 3 where God says to Ezekiel, “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel.” I think this is a very interesting image that God gives Ezekiel about his duty to the people he has been called to speak to. God says that whatever He tells Ezekiel to say, it is Ezekiel’s responsibility to say it to them. If there is a warning, Ezekiel is responsible for warning them. Furthermore, if Ezekiel doesn’t speak what the Lord says, not only will the “wicked person” die, but his blood will be on Ezekiel’s hands. Ultimately the responsibility for turning from evil lies with “the wicked person,” but the responsibility for warning him/her is on the one whom God has appointed, namely Ezekiel.
As a seminary student feeling called to potentially lead a congregation and be a leader of the Church, I think that this warning and appointment as a “Watchman” is very important for us to hear. Pastors and church leaders are called to be these Watchman for their congregations and for the Church as well. I think that too often we don’t say what we know God is telling us to say, to our own members or the greater Church either. Perhaps we get bogged down in procedure, or maybe we think that it is none of our business. It could be that Pastors don’t want to “get up in people’s faces” or are more concerned about keeping their job and speaking the Word of God. I wonder if in this day an age is might simply be people getting caught up in moral relativism? However, God is saying here that, like Ezekiel, we are called to speak God’s Word, even if is the unpopular message, because it is the Word of God. If we don’t, their “blood” may be on our hands as well… I know I’m just as guilty as the next guy… but this is a wake-up call for me and for the leadership of the Church and even the leadership of Christian families: We need to be alert. We need to be listening for the Word of God. We need to be willing to speak God’s Word. We are called to be Watchmen.
- Day 239: Ezekiel 1-4; Intro to Ezekiel (orcministries.wordpress.com)
- Ezekiel – God’s Watchman (boogerd1896.wordpress.com)
- Ezekiel 1-4 (whatshotn.wordpress.com)
- Ezekiel 5 – Shave your head and your beard! (tabernacleofgod.wordpress.com)
- Ezekiel 4:1-8 – – Playing Army (boogerd1896.wordpress.com)
- Ezekiel 3-4 (zachscripturestudy.com)
- And Jehovah Kept Sending His Messengers The Prophets (aristarchus144000.wordpress.com)
