Ezekiel 4-8; Psalm 120
*Click here to read these passages:
There are some interesting things happening in these
chapters. God uses Ezekiel, not
only to speak a message to His people, but also to demonstrate God’s message in
several symbolic actions. First he
holds an iron pan up between himself and a clay tablet with Jerusalem drawn on
it with siege works against it to show that Jerusalem was going to be taken and
God would hide his face from them.
Then he lies on his side representing the people of Israel being
paralyzed while bearing their punishment.
Ezekiel eats as if he is experiencing starvation because the food supply
to Jerusalem will be cut off. And
he shaves his head and beard representing the humiliation that would come as
well as the different ways that the people would fall.
God used powerful visuals to get His message across. I was reminded of something I’ve heard
my pastor, Bret Nicholson, say many times, which is that God uses things we can
see to help us understand things we can’t. He wanted His people to understand what, why, and how things
were going to happen. And this
phrase keeps coming back again and again: “Then they will know that I am the
Lord.” They had forgotten God. Generations had forgotten Him. They were going to be judged for their
sins, and God wanted them to remember Him.
I also find it interesting that the prophet Ezekiel who was also a
priest focuses on the relationship between Israel and God, or the rejection of
that relationship I should say. He
speaks of their idol worship but says little about injustices and how they are
treating each other as the prophet Jeremiah often did. Then God gives Ezekiel a vision of the
atrocities going on in the Temple.
Ezekiel was a priest; He knew and cared about these things. So God used him in that way.
God uses things we can see to understand the things we can’t. And God uses the things we know and are
passionate about to influence others.
No comments:
Post a Comment