INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF EZEKIEL

June 8, 2014

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH

JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI

USA

Malachi 3:10 10 “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,

That there may be food in My house,

And try Me now in this,”

Says the LORD of hosts,

“If I will not open for you the windows of heaven

And pour out for you such blessing

That there will not be room enough to receive it.”

A family consists of many generations.

Generations Lunch with Young and Senior Adults and their Families following the

10:30 am worship hour on June 22.

Tickets must be purchased in advance and will be available at the 2nd floor

kiosk on Sundays, June 8 and June 15.

Cost of Tickets:

$6.00 – Adults

$5.00 – Preschool - Students

$20.00 – Family Maximum

For information please contact Sheila Smith at (601) 949-1994

or smsmith@fbcj.org or Patricia Jenkins at (601) 949-1941 or pjenkins@fbcj.org.

PLEASE REQUEST TICKETS BY JUNE 17TH AT 10AM.

What’s the number one thing?

http://ts2.mm.bing.net/th?id=HN.608004121869748387&pid=1.7

1 Corinthians 10:31 NKJV 31 Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of

God.

J. Vernon McGee

Thru the Bible Commentary, Vol. 25: Ezekiel. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson

Publishers, 1991.

A Prophet for our Time: Ezekiel by Chuck Missler

Adventuring Through the Bible by Ray Stedman

The Bible Exposition Commentary (BE Series) - Old Testament

Events in Hebrew History

2000 B.C.

Abraham and Sarah

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OSCYQ8yKSqw/UMwUs_EZ8DI/AAAAAAAALcE/tR2ZP5JkaEw/s1600/Abraham+Sarah.jpg

1275 B.C.

Israel's Exodus from Egypt

http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?&id=HN.608041745796826557&w=300&h=300&c=0&pid=1.9&rs=0&p=0

1000 B.C.

Reign of David Begins

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tR4bYTcAqeQ/R0-sFPKOkfI/AAAAAAAAAoE/tzNczoIgASU/s1600-R/kingdavidlion.jpg

922 B.C.

Kingdom Divides into North and South

http://bibledaily.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/divided-kingdom-of-israel.jpg

722 B.C.

Fall of Northern Kingdom to Assyria

http://img.whenintime.com/tli/DownsG/timelineproject/617077dd-5475-4988-b7c9-

694a40959b76/northern%20kingdom%20falls.jpg

605 B.C.

The Babylonian conquest of Judah begins,

Daniel is exiled and serves in the Babylonian king's court.

http://frontiersnova.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/l11.jpg?w=300&h=193

597 B.C.

Ezekiel is exiled to Babylon and begins his prophetic ministry

http://biblestudyoutlines.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Ezekiel.jpg

587 B.C.

Fall of Southern Kingdom to Babylon

http://ebibleteacher.com/sites/default/files/images/1/Babylonian%20Empire%20800.JPG

The book of Ezekiel traces the causes of the captivity of the Hebrew nation and

why it was in so much trouble.

http://blog.chron.com/apentecostalperspective/files/2011/06/bigstock_statue_of_liberty_sinking_in_t_12154433.jpg

This is the story of the nation, but it is the story of any individual as well.

And because it is the story of any individual, it is the story of the whole of

mankind.

The books of the Old Testament were written with this principle in mind.

http://ts4.mm.bing.net/th?id=HN.608006995202739673&w=235&h=171&c=7&rs=1&qlt=80&pid=1.7

They are, therefore, extremely valuable for us---what happens to the

nation is exactly what happens to us.

Jesus is on every page of the Old Testament.

By looking carefully, we can see our problems and circumstances exemplified

in the problems and circumstance set forth in the book of Ezekiel.

God had kept His hand back from judgment for centuries, until at last in 587 BC

He allowed Nebuchadnezzar to come in and sweep the people away, sacking

the city and desolating the temple and taking the people into the land of

Babylon.

http://pointofpower.com/files/574/1.jpg http://www.zionministry.com/PlanofGod/Chapt1_files/image021.jpg

Ezekiel was a young man when he was taken captive, and he had probably

heard Jeremiah, but likely had no personal acquaintance with Daniel.

Ezekiel had been carried away by Nebuchadnezzar when the nation of Judah

was taken captive, as described by Jeremiah's great prophecy (626 B.C. - 587

B.C.)

Jeremiah's sole purpose was to reveal the sins of the people and explain the

reason for the impending disaster (destruction by the Babylonian army and

captivity): "And when your people say, 'Why has the Lord our God done all these

things to us?' you shall say to them, 'As you have forsaken Me and served

foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours

(Babylon).’”

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bdb907-ulIs/UH9ztmim9kI/AAAAAAAAg70/3kKbuIqX6iY/s1600/babylon.jpg

God's personal message to Jeremiah, "Attack you they will, overcome you they

can't," was fulfilled many times in the Biblical narrative, Jeremiah was attacked

by his own brothers, beaten and put into the stocks by a priest and false

prophet, imprisoned by the king, threatened with death, thrown into a cistern by

Judah's officials, and opposed by a false prophet.

When Nebuchadnezzar seized Jerusalem in 586 BC, he ordered that

Jeremiah be freed from prison and treated well.

Psalm 137 is the psalm of the remnant in Babylon:

Psalm 137:1–2 1 By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we

remembered Zion.

2 We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.

http://outsetministry.org/bibleslides/image/ot/job.psalm/0338_Pslams_137.jpg

But at the same time Ezekiel writes:

“The heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God” (Ezekiel 1:1).

What a contrast!

While these people had already put their harps on a willow tree and sat down to

weep, this man Ezekiel was seeing visions of God!

The message of Ezekiel is the most spiritual of all the prophets because he dealt

particularly with the Person of God.

It is said, “Ezekiel is the prophet of the Spirit, Isaiah is the prophet of the Son, and

Jeremiah is the prophet of the Father.”

For a period of about ten years, the false prophets had been saying that the

Hebrew people would return to Judah and that the city of Jerusalem would not

be destroyed.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Agm3ZK4Tuu8/UVQlyImxCII/AAAAAAAAAS8/9IqyWrKmNf8/s400/peace.jpg

Jeremiah had sent a message to Babylon saying the city would be destroyed,

and Ezekiel confirmed his message.

Ezekiel warned the people that they must turn to God before they could return to

Jerusalem.

When the time came, a very small remnant did turn to God, and they did return

to Jerusalem but they were very discouraged.

Ezekiel began his ministry five years after he was taken captive at about

the age of thirty.

In many ways, he spoke in the darkest days of the nation.

He stood at the bottom of a valley in the darkest corner.

http://blog.eteacherbiblical.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/clip_image0032.jpg

Ezekiel had to confront the false hope given by the false prophets and the

indifference and despondency begotten in the days of sin and disaster.

The people would not listen to his message.

Therefore, he resorted to different methods of getting God’s message across.

Instead of speaking in parables, as the Lord Jesus did, he acted out the

parables.

He actually acted out some very interesting stunts.

Because God intended Ezekiel’s life to be a sign to Israel, he does all kinds of

strange things.

He shuts himself up in his home, he binds himself, and he is struck dumb.

He was to lie on his right and his left sides for a total of 430 days,

http://navigatornate.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/zeke-chilling.jpg

he ate bread that was prepared in an unclean manner, and he shaved his head

and beard, which was considered a shame in his particular calling.

We read in Ezekiel 24:24, “Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign: according to all that he

hath done shall ye do: and when this cometh, ye shall know that I am the Lord

GOD.”

The people would not listen to his words, so he would act them out, and he

attracted a great deal of attention to God’s message that way.

Ezekiel is the prophet of the glory of the Lord.

There were three prophets of Israel who spoke when they were out of the land.

They are Ezekiel, Daniel, and John (who wrote from the island of Patmos).

All three of these men wrote what is called an apocalypse (un-covering).

They all used highly symbolic language; yet they saw the brightest light and held

the highest hope of all the prophets.

Ezekiel saw the Shekinah glory of the Lord leave Solomon’s temple, but he also

saw the return of the glory of the Lord which was projected into the future and

will come to pass during the Kingdom Age, or the Millennium.

http://thegloriousbattle.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/millennium.jpg

The meaning of Ezekiel is seen in this coming of the glory during the

Kingdom Age.

Ezekiel looked beyond the sufferings of Christ to the glory that followed.

As Peter said of the prophets, “they saw the sufferings and they saw the glory

that would follow” (1 Peter 1:11).

Ezekiel saw it better than any of the other prophets.

http://tamutimes.tamu.edu/files/2013/06/DoubleRainbow.jpg

There were two prophets during the captivity---Ezekiel and Daniel.

So, Ezekiel is the first prophet of the captivity.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41sMVhpPrdL._SL500_SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

Ezekiel mentions Daniel three times, who had been in Babylon nine years before

Ezekiel arrived.

Ezekiel ministered, as did Jeremiah, to a nation experiencing judgment for their

sins.

If God spared not Israel, His Chosen, when they sinned, why not America?

Ezekiel was born in approximately 627 B.C. and lived in a time of moral decline,

distress and uprooting.

His messages were not well received at first, but did ultimately result in the nation

being purged of idolatrous practices.

He was married and owned his own home.

His wife died during his ministry.

Throughout the book, his main theme was the sovereignty and glory of God.

http://i2.wp.com/www.scripturezealot.com/images/sovereignty-triangle.png

This is good for us, because we can get so focused on God's grace that we tend

to forget there is also a governing role of God, and that His glory requires justice.

Ezekiel was very direct. He carefully vindicated God's justice throughout the

book, although he deals more in symbol and allegory than any other Old

Testament prophet.

He is probably the greatest mystic of the OT.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-f1TLJS3BDBs/UEuSknX1L9I/AAAAAAAAAD8/rSEu9_hNt0Q/s1600/Ezekielsvision.jpg

Ezekiel was well suited for the calling God gave him, which included a

remarkable vision of God's throne in Chapter 1.

This was a dramatic vision of God which never left him-it is not just introduced in

the first chapter, it is referenced all the way through the book.

The Temple Ezekiel describes in chapter 40 has never yet been fulfilled.

http://ezekiel-temple.narod.ru/i/the_temple_05.jpg

Most scholars regard it as the details for the Temple to be established during the

Millennium on the Planet Earth.

The Opportunity

You cannot really understand the caldron of the Middle East today without

carefully studying this book.

If you were invited to a reception which would bring you into contact with a

world-famous author, you would, of course, run out and quickly review his book.

Well, you may soon be in the company of one of the most fascinating

characters of the Old Testament, and when you are introduced to him, you will

want to be able to declare, "I enjoyed your book!“

Have you ever studied this incredible book?

http://cdn1.pastorgraphics.com/preview/?object=28285_t_big_ws&ext=.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_nkEEd1ZWXO4/SweZ-VTpF6I/AAAAAAAAAH0/0ozme8QJ1c0/s1600/ezekiel.jpg

Ezekiel was 25 years old when he was taken to Babylon and he was thirty years

old at the time of his call (Ezek. 1:1), the normal age for a priest to begin ministry

(Num. 4:1-3, 23).

He was older than Daniel and prophesied during the first twenty or twenty-five

years of that seventy-year period when Israel was held captive by Babylon.

It's likely that Daniel and Ezekiel knew each other before the Captivity, though

there's no evidence they saw each other in Babylon.

Like Jeremiah (1:2), Zechariah (1:1), and John the Baptist (Luke 1:5), Ezekiel

(God strengthens) was called by God from being a priest to serving as a

prophet.

It would have been much easier for Ezekiel to remain a priest, for priests were

highly esteemed by the Jews, and a priest could read the Law and learn

everything he needed to know to do his work whereas prophets were usually

despised and persecuted.

http://www.yahweh.com/images/newsletter/7-2012/They-Persecuted.JPG

They received their messages and orders from the Lord as the occasion

demanded and could never be sure what would happen next.

It was dangerous to be a prophet.

Most people resent being told about their sins and prefer to hear

messages of cheer, not declarations of judgment.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-82PuuI6JkwI/T89pcqP9y4I/AAAAAAAAH38/KN_UrffdBiE/s1600/Jeremiah38.6.jpg

Jeremiah had been ministering in Jerusalem for four years when Ezekiel was

born in 622 B.C., but surely as he grew up, he paid attention to what Jeremiah

was saying.

Ezekiel's prophetic ministry was greatly needed in Babylon because false

prophets abounded and were giving the Jewish people false hopes of a quick

deliverance (usually by Egypt) and a triumphant return to their land (Jer. 5:30-31;

27:1-11; 28:1-17).

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qefHEwsQUnE/UDXOlQtu6uI/AAAAAAAAAU8/LAm6ZxglE0g/s320/muhammad-false-

prophet.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_eCShgHga-_g/S6kUo_dgexI/AAAAAAAAFzg/Cmepx2J-Ao4/s400/cgan1415l.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tgx3llfd24w/UGLDvUlUJxI/AAAAAAAAAnw/Et1yO-QZUss/s400/shepherds-voice.jpg

Jeremiah's letter told the Jews that they would be in Babylon for seventy years

and therefore should settle down, raise families, and pray for their captors.

But Jeremiah also announced the ultimate fall of Babylon, a message the exiles

were only too eager to hear.

http://www.bible-codes.org/images/Belshazzar-Babylon-2012.jpg

http://s3.vidimg02.popscreen.com/original/37/NTQ2OTM2NDUz_o_the-fall-of-babylon-in-1-hour-revelation-181-24.jpg

The most difficult task of a prophet is to change people's minds.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lRt5SlIHBYY/Tfn-

pA8Rx_I/AAAAAAAAAQc/ruSnEhnlHGk/s1600/CHANGE%2BJUNE%2B16%2B2011.JPG

It means pulling up the weeds of false theology and planting the good seed of

the Word of God.

http://dailydosesofgodsword.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/sowing.jpg

It also means tearing down the flimsy thought structures that false prophets build

and constructing in their place lasting buildings on solid foundations of truth.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NKJV 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.

4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling

down strongholds,

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r0mpKLEJ464/UpdITZJXR3I/AAAAAAAAI7E/_k38QrdFllk/s1600/Nov-28.jpg

5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the

knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of

Christ.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-

umc8v1I74u0/UA8hiPZ5CVI/AAAAAAAAAcc/cSzZ3awuI0o/s400/Pulling+Down+Strongholds.JPG

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/8f/5a/dc/8f5adc09326958c5964314e104643ff3.jpg

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/cb/41/cb/cb41cbc9ddfcb8d957d776e3b5380872.jpg

The kingdom of Judah had suffered greatly at the hands of victorious Babylon,

and many Jewish people wondered if Jehovah was still the God of Abraham,

Isaac, and Jacob (see Psalm 74).

http://img1.imagesbn.com/p/9780870839320_p0_v1_s260x420.jpg

God’s chosen people were exiles in a pagan land, their Promised Land was

devastated, Jerusalem was in enemy hands, and the temple had been robbed

of its precious treasures.

It was a dark day for Israel, and the first thing Ezekiel needed to understand was

that, no matter how discouraging the circumstances, God was still on the throne

accomplishing His divine purposes in the world.

http://ts2.mm.bing.net/th?id=HN.608053140341458171&w=285&h=188&c=7&rs=1&pid=1.7

There are many unexplained mysteries in the vision Ezekiel had, but one

message comes through with clarity and power: Our God is the sovereign Lord

of Israel and of all the nations of the earth.

http://sovereigngrace.net/Art/Sovereign.jpg?1303356403

http://ts2.mm.bing.net/th?&id=HN.608034470118819340&w=300&h=300&c=0&pid=1.9&rs=0&p=0

http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?&id=HN.608033048479663533&w=300&h=300&c=0&pid=1.9&rs=0&p=0

http://members.worshiptraining.com/pureheartworship/files/2011/10/Slide11.jpg

2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV 14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray

and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from

heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.