Category Archives: The Word of God

Ezekiel, Holy Spirit, The Word of God, Visions

Ezekiel 2-3 – The Sweet Scroll and the Watchman

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context

Where as chapter one was filled with visions of God, these chapters contain the words of God and the command to Ezekiel to receive His word and speak it to the nation n of Israel. We remember the greater context of Ezekiel living with the exiles in Babylon – an exile which came about because of Israel’s persistent rebellion. The chapter opens with Ezekiel by the Kebar river in Babylon and fallen face don because of the awesome visi n of the Almighty that he has seen…and he hears the voice of one speaking.

Observation

As far as a structure to these chapters go, it should be seen to include chapter one also. This allows us to see that Ezekiel’s vision bookends the section of 2:1-11 and that 3:16-27, although related, make a separate event.

  • 1:4-28 vision of the LORD
    • 2:1-7 Speech
      • 2:8-3:3 Action
    • 3:4-11 Speech
  • 3:12-15 vision of the LORD
  • 3:16-27 The Call to be a Watchman

The theme of this section seems to revolve around God commanding Ezekiel to take His words and speak to Israel, who are most likely not going to listen – but Ezekiel is to listen. Let’s look at some of the interesting phrases that appear in the text.

“Son of man” This appears several times. It is aimed at Ezekiel and could mean either, he is just a man in comparison to the Almighty voice speaking to him, or it could point to a biblical title for all of Israel. Daniel 7 uses the phrase as a title which we know points to Jesus as the true Israel and the true King on the throne. It’s likely that it simply compares Ezekiel with the Almighty.

“stand up on your feet…the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet…” 2:1-2 The voice commanded Ezekiel to rise (since he was prostrate) and then sends the Spirit to raise him. This is a beautiful picture of God’s command for us to follow and giving us his Spirit to obey. The image is of a ‘dead man’ being raised up – an image that will come again in bulk at chapter 37! Notice the amount of times the Spirit is described as raising and moving (2:2, 3:12, 14, 24). This Spirit was active throughout the vision of chapter one also.

“the Israelites…a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me.” Israel is called rebellious (2:3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 3:26, 27), obstinate and stubborn (2:4, 7) and also thorns, briers and scorpions (2:6). This is why Israel is in Exile and why they will be further removed from the land. They are stubborn rebels who will not listen. But they will not be allowed to be punished without warning – this will further mark their doom.

“They and their ancestors.” 2:3 This is not to state that the sin is from their ancestors but that God has been very patient with them.

“Do not be afraid…You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen…” (2:7, see also 10-11). It is not wasted to speak the words of God to the people of God even if the expectation is not to listen. God is with Ezekiel and he is not to fear those he will speak to. God will give Ezekiel a head that is hard as Israel’s heart to protect him and keep him firmly on task. Is this where the expression “he’s a hard headed man” come from?

“But you, son of man, listen to what I say to you…” 2:8. In contrast, this is the expectation of Ezekiel. He will prove to be a very loyal prophet but not without a hiccup. 3:14 seems to suggest that Ezekiel was not looking forward to this assignment. 3:15 places him among the Exiles in Tel Aviv saying nothing and deeply distressed. See below on 3:16.

“…a hand stretched out to me. In it was a scroll…And he said to me, “Son of man, eat what is before you, eat the scroll…”…So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.” (2:9-3:3) This is odd. The hand comes from the glory of the LORD and in it is a scroll. These symbolise the message that is to go to Israel by Ezekiel, and they are words of “lament and mourning and woe.” The scroll is full of these words on both sides. Ezekiel is being “spoon fed” the message to go back to the rebel nation. They refused to receive God’s word but Ezekiel is asked to feed on it and fill his stomach (3:3).

Although the words are lament and woe, the taste to Ezekiel is sweet. This is a description of the word of God found also in the Psalms (Psalm 19:10; 119:103). Wisdom is described as honey to taste in Proverbs 24:13-14. This Ezekiel event is replayed in the book of Revelation which describes the message of the scroll to be bitter to the stomach but sweet in the mouth (Rev 10:9-10).

I have an image in my mind of children who refuse to eat what their parents put on the table. They cry and whinge and rebel. But when the hand of the parent stretches out and places the food in their mouth, they agree that the food is yummy to eat. While the word of the LORD that is targeted at Israel is woe and destruction, the word of God contains life and joy to those who will listen and digest it. See the prayer for the week below for an Anglican prayer taken from the Prayer Book.

“I sat among [the exiles] for seven days – deeply distressed. At the end of the seven days…” 3:15-16. Rather than speaking the words of woe to the rebels in Tel Aviv, Ezekiel kept quiet and in distress. This was a massive task for him to do. One man speaking against a nation of rebells and scorpions! These two verses remind me of the prophet Jonah, although Ezekiel didn’t run away. Earlier, in 2:5-6, Ezekiel was reminded that he is not going off to a strange land with strange tongue but to his own people. He is not being asked to do what Jonah did. Actually, this will be harder because a foreigner to Israel would repent and listen!

“I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel.” 3:17. This section from verse 16-27 acts like a second commissioning of Ezekiel. He was commissioned to go and he was sent to the exiles in Babylon but he said nothing. Now, God instructs him on how important for himself it will be to speak. If he stays silent and the people are judged, Ezekiel too will be found guilty. But if Ezekiel speaks, no matter what the outcome, Ezekiel will not be guilty for their blood. See Hosea 9:8 and Jeremiah 6:17 for other times the title ‘watchman’ is used. It is the picture of an eye for the city to see what danger approaches. Isaiah 52:8 has a watchman rejoicing because the Lord returns to Zion but Ezekiel, Hosea and Jeremiah describe the watchmen as keep watch for danger but nobody is listening to them. Ezekiel sees the danger coming and is being asked by God to do his job as a watchman.

“I will hold you accountable for their blood” 3:20. This sounds quite harsh but the warning is for Ezekiel to get on with the task that God has commanded him to do. If he refuses, then judgement will fall on him also. See Acts 20:26-27; 1 Timothy 4:16. Note that the heavy warning in Ezekiel is for Ezekiel. We must remember that this message for God is first and foremost written to that prophet for that time and that reason. Having said that, we ought to take a sober lesson from this principal. If we know that there is judgement coming and remain silent about it, are we serving our King proudly? The guilt of sin remains on the sinner. We, however, ought to be ready to make ways of warning people. See 2 Corinthians 5:18-20. We may not find ourselves guilty of anyone else’s blood, but we have been given the ministry of reconciliation.

Meaning

Judgement against rebellion did not come from God without more than plenty of warnings. God’s word is sweet and we ought to consume it, listen to it, read it and obey! We should also expect many to not listen to God’s word but this is not an excuse to remain quiet.

Application

  • As Christians, we have the word of God and the same choice as Ezekiel to either feed on it or refuse it.
  • The word of God is sweet to those who know and fear God but to the rebel heart, it is bitter and full of bad news.
  • If God has reconciled you to Christ and you still of air in your lungs, you are God’s representative on earth – his mouthpiece. What kind of words can we be speaking to this generation? In what ways can we bring the gospel to others?
  • God is patient with us when we are slow to obey him. But he does desire for us to trust and obey.
  • The Spirit of God is with us to do the work of an evangelist.
  • When we speak, it is not our mission to make sure a conversion happens as if our souls depend on that. The hearer will either respond and live, or walk away at their own peril. Our prayer is that the Spirit of God does what He does well.
  • Especially the ministers of the gospel who have been set apart to preach God’s word – they have the responsibility to preach and teach without fearing what people think, say or do. Not only paid ministers, but especially them! Pray for boldness and courage to fear God more than men!
  • Are there any other applications you get from this passage? Is there anything specific that your group could talk and pray about?

Prayer of the week – this is a prayer (a ‘Collect’) copied and pasted from the Anglican Prayer Book.

BLESSED Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Growth Group tips, The Word of God

The Incarnation of Deity – Matthew 1

We reach the end of our year and the approach of Christmas. First thing on the agenda today is “when do Growth Groups finish up?” The rule of thumb I run with is that we follow the public school holiday schedule but decide within each of our groups when is a good time to wrap things up for the year. For some groups, last week was the final week for the Growth Group gatherings. For others, you may wish to keep meeting until the week before Christmas (public schools break up on the 19th of December.

For those who have ceased to meet or will meet one last time over a meal or celebration – God bless you. Stay in touch with one another. See you at church!

For those who still wish to meet, the final two studies for the year are in Matthew chapter 1. Matthew 1:1-17 “Incarnation” and Matthew 1:18-25 “Deity”. I won’t break down these verses for you here but will remind you of the process we have been going through this year.

1) Pray and read the passage several times.

2) Look at the context of the passage and the book. Where does this fit in the story of the book (Matthew) and of the whole bible story (the dawn of the NT). What questions does this context leave hanging?

3) Look hard at the passage and try and note things that are interesting, intriguing, puzzling, repetitive and so on. In the case of Matthew chapter one, it would be handy to look up meanings of names and lookup a concordance on where the names are mentioned elsewhere in scripture. What about the structure – do you notice anything about the flow of the passage?

4) How can you sum up all that you’ve looked at? Can you state the meaning of the passage in less than 30 words?

5) Now to apply the passage to yourself. What does the passage say again? Now ask: so what!? What difference does this make? And finally ask: now what!? What must I do now that I have this knowledge? Also apply the 2 Timothy 3:16 principle to apply it well. What does it teach, rebuke, correct or train me in righteousness?

6) Pray.

This is likely to be the last blog for 2014. Please contact me with any questions or concerns if you have them. Please pray for all of us working together for the sake of the gospel. Have a great Christmas reflecting well on the day when God walked in man’s shoes.

God bless,

Simon

The Word of God

Word of God – Usefulness

The final topic in our series on The Word of God is on the usefulness of scripture. We’ll begin again by recalling what we’ve covered so far and it’s worth noticing how the different topics overlap – sufficiency, authority and usefulness all share the same basic premise: if God has spoken a truthful and good word to us, then it must be worth listening to and we’d be fools not to!

  1. inspiration – think ‘authored by God’ not ‘inspired by an artist.’
  2. inerrancy – think ‘a trustworthy message’ not ‘a scientific journal.’
  3. sufficiency – think ‘a Dundee knife’ not ‘a Swiss Army knife.’
  4. authority – think ‘the King’s voice’ not ‘the King’s advisor.’
  5. usefulness – think ‘knowing God’ not ‘reading a book.’

You might want to improve those memory hooks with something you or the group come up with. Finally: The Word of God – think ‘truth’ not ‘fiction nor non-fiction.’

Introduction

What things do you find useful in your life? What do you use daily? What do you use rarely but are so glad that you have it?

In todays lesson, I want to look at four passages, so we won’t be digging too deep but observing some key points from each of them. We’ll contrast those who are righteous from those who are wicked. We’ll contrast two sources of learning. We’ll note what the bible is useful for. Lastly, we’ll ask Paul what he regards as the most profitable thing for him to do.

Psalm 1

  1. How are the righteous described? (verses 1-3, 6)
  2. How are the wicked described? (verses 4-6)

Verse 2 describes the delight and meditation on the law of the LORD (the ‘law of the LORD’ is one way of describing the word of God – not to be understood as simply the laws that God gave to Moses).  Let’s look at Psalm 119 to compare the meditation on God’s word with other ways of learning.

Psalm 119:97-104

  1. What words does he use as synonyms for scripture?
  2. What does the psalmist claim to gain from meditating on God’s word?
  3. The enemy in this passage is not necessarily a physical threat (teachers and elders). They are merely guides who do not use the word of God for wisdom. What examples in your life would represent enemies, teachers and elders who direct us onto ‘wrong path[s]’ (v104)?
  4. How do verses 105-120 enhance our understanding of verse 104?
  5. What ways can we meditate on God’s word?

2 Timothy 3:15-17.

  1. How many ways are the scriptures useful?
  2. Describe the usefulness of the bible in your own memorable ways? Can you come up with a rhyme or an acronym or something else to recall all the ways?

John 17:3 and Philippians 3:7-11

  1. What key point does both of these passages make?
  2. How does Jesus describe eternal life?
  3. Has Paul fallen in love with a philosophy? a book? a religion? a fresh perspective? or a person?

Application

  1. What is the point of reading the bible? To study a book or to know life with our Maker and Saviour?
  2. What have you learned over these 5 weeks of studying the topic of the bible?
  3. What will you do now as a result?
  4. Here is a list of ways you can get the most out of your bible. Can you add more? Which would you like to give a go?
    1. Read the whole bible by using a one-year bible plan. This is the birds-eye view of the bible that helps build your knowledge of context.
    2. Read small sections and reflect/meditate on those. You can use the COMA method in your own study or make use of some devotional material.
    3. Memorising scripture. This is such an awesome thing to do because it’s not about having things memorised, it’s about the process of memorising it. Details in the passage are picked up when you try to put a whole story or chapter into memory. Try it before you reject it!
    4. Growth Groups! Preaching to the choir, I know. But don’t neglect gathering together to read from the bible and encourage one another. Skills in bible reading are grown in this environment.
    5. One-to-One discipleship. This is something we could all look at doing. Find one or even two other people who you’d like to encourage or be encouraged by and meet regularly to read a small piece of the bible and discuss what you’ve read. Meet weekly, or fortnightly or monthly. Time is spent reading the bible as well as sharing your lives and praying for one another. Who could you start a One-to-One meeting with?
    6. Listen to the Word of God! Use a bible app on your smart phone to have the bible read to you. This is great for getting through large sections of the bible efficiently. Make sure you are paying attention! What images are coming to mind as you hear the bible read to you?
    7. For those who have time (sometimes we get moments in life when we DO have time on our hands – uni students! or maybe you are tied up in bed due to illness) try reading a small book of the bible and reading every verse for all it’s worth! Read it, memorise it, ask what each word is there for. Look up the cross-references in your bible and see if they shed any light on what you are reading. Once you’ve exhausted all your thoughts on that first verse, open up a commentary and see what someone else says about it. Write down all of your thoughts in a journal. You might just take 20 minutes a day and don’t move onto the next verse until you have completely run out of things that you can think of. Sound crazy? Well, I know it has been done and can be very useful.
    8. Discover the time of day that reading the bible works for you. Do you catch a train regularly? Perfect! Don’t read anything else or play any games on your phone until you have meditated on God’s word! Do you drive to work? Get yourself an audio bible and listen to the word. Do you have a place you can sit at before you start the rest of your day? Use it. 15 minutes may feel like too long when you’ve got a mountain of things to do but it’s such a small investment toward eternal life – get to know the God who made you and this world before you go rushing into your day.
    9. ________________
    10. ________________