The prophet Ezekiel was a contemporary
of Jeremiah and Daniel, and God spoke to him and all the other prophets in much
the same way. God used Ezekiel to warn
the people of His coming judgment against Jerusalem, and to assure them of His
unfailing love and provision for eternity to come. The book of Ezekiel can be divided into about
five segments: 1. Ezekiel's call by God; 2.
Prophesies against Judah and Jerusalem; 3. Prophesies against other nations; 4.
Prophesies of the restoration of Israel; and 5. Prophecies of the Millennial
Kingdom. Jesus Christ can be seen
throughout this book and even in Ezekiel himself, as a type of Christ. But it would take a book to cover all the
ways that we see Christ in Ezekiel, so we will focus on only a few.
To begin with, in the very first chapter,
as Ezekiel is telling us that his instructions came from God, we see that it
was Jesus Himself, the pre-incarnate Christ, in all His magnificent glory who
spoke to Ezekiel:
Also out of the
midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had the likeness of a man . . . As for
the likeness of their faces, all four had the face of a man, and the face of a
lion on the right side, and all four had the face of an ox on the left side;
they four also had the face of an eagle. (Ezek. 1:5, 10)
Who could this
describe but Jesus? The “face of a man”
describes Jesus, the Son of Man, the God-Man, the Word made Flesh; the “face of
a lion” symbolizes the King, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah; the “face of an ox”
symbolizes the Servant of God, the Suffering Servant who came to serve, not to
be served, “to give His life a ransom for many;” and the “face of an eagle” represents
power, triumph, and royalty. Who
embodies all of these traits but Jesus?
And above the firmament that was
over their heads was the likeness of a throne, with the appearance of a
sapphire stone; and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness in
appearance of a man above upon it. And I saw as the color of amber, with the
appearance of fire round about within it. From the appearance of His loins even
upward and from the appearance of His loins even downward, I saw, as it were,
the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. As the appearance of
the rainbow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of
the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the
glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice
of One who spoke. (Ezek. 126-28)
Compare Ezekiel’s description
with that of John as he describes Christ in his vision of Heaven:
And immediately
I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was set in Heaven, and One sat on the
throne. (Revelation 4:2)
His head and His
hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes were as a flame of
fire. (Revelation 1:14)
And out of the
throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices. (Revelation
4:5a)
(Don’t get too
bogged down in all the seemingly symbolic language that Ezekiel and John used. Some people have read the first chapter of
Ezekiel and claimed that he was taken captive by extra-terrestrial beings in a
flying saucer. That is ridiculous. Just take what you read at face value – both Ezekiel
and John were given the privilege of seeing God in all His glory, seated on His
throne in Heaven. There is nothing on earth,
no words in any language that can adequately describe or compare to what
Ezekiel and John saw.)
Both Ezekiel and
Jesus rebuked the priests, calling them false shepherds. And God told Ezekiel that He is The Good
Shepherd:
And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say unto
them, ‘Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds: Woe be to the shepherds of
Israel that feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks?
(Ezek. 34:1-2)
For thus saith the Lord God: Behold I, even I,
will both search My sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock on the day
that he is among his sheep that are scattered, so will I seek out My sheep and
will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered on the
cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the people and
gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed
them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers and in all the inhabited places
of the country. I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high
mountains of Israel shall their fold be; there shall they lie in a good fold,
and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. I
will feed My flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God. (Ezek. 34:11-15)
Beware of false
prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening
wolves. (Matthew 7:15)
Then said Jesus
unto them again, “Verily, verily I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.
All that ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not
hear them. I am the door; by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved,
and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not but to
steal and to kill and to destroy. I am come that they might have life, and that
they might have it more abundantly. I am the Good Shepherd; the Good
Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep.” (John 10:7-11)
Ezekiel told the people of Israel
that they would not have a king again until Messiah comes:
I
will overturn, overturn, overturn it. And it shall be no more, until He come
whose right it is; and I will give it to Him. (Ezek. 21:27)
And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many
angels round about the throne and the living beings and the elders; and the
number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands,
saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power
and riches and wisdom and strength, and honor and glory and blessing!” And
I heard every creature which is in heaven and on the earth, and under the earth
and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, saying, “Blessing and
honor and glory and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto
the Lamb for ever and ever!” (Revelation 5:11-13)
The book of Ezekiel can be intimidating because
of all the symbolic language and because much of his prophecy is yet to be
fulfilled. So read this book
prayerfully. Don’t try to rush through
it, but study it, looking at the footnotes in your bible and perhaps even using
some commentaries. Be careful that the
commentaries you use are supported by the Bible as a whole. Don’t try to read something into this book
that was not intended. There are parts
of it that we will not fully understand until we see all of the prophecy
fulfilled. So don’t get hung up on debates
or questions to which no human has definitive answers. Look at the big picture – God is judging this
world for our disobedience; all of creation suffers because of sin; God is
just; God is sovereign; God is longsuffering and patient, but He will judge
this world; God loves us so much that He sent His Son to take the punishment
for our sin; Christ will return to establish His kingdom on earth – the Millennial
Kingdom; Satan and his demons are defeated and will be thrown into the pit of
hell; Jesus will rule and reign in Heaven forever and ever; Those of us who
have made Him our King will spend eternity with Him.
Heavenly Father,
(Give us) one heart, and . . . put a new spirit within (us); and . . . take the stony heart out of (our) flesh, and will give (us) a heart of flesh, that (we) may walk in (Your) statutes and keep (Your) ordinances, and do them. And (we) shall be (Your) people, and (You) will be (our) God.
All scripture is from 21st Century King James Version.
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