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EZEKIEL Transcriptions

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EZEKIEL Transcriptions Ezekiel 1 Class 1 September 15, 2020 (Class 1 Sept. 15 Handout): In the strange time of the Coronavirus I have really been drawn to Ezekiel and The Psalms. Ezekiel seemed like it would fit well with this season (a bit distorted by internet issues so not exactly what Mark said beginning with “Ezekiel” in this sentence). As you see on your handout about the overview of the book, you will see that Ezekiel is a book of the Bible that the ancient rabbis were concerned about having people read. In fact, they said you had to be at least 30 years old to read and study Ezekiel. Thirty years old in the ancient rabbinic understanding was to be a mature believer. Ezekiel is a hard book for new believers, so I pray this study will draw us deeper into The Lord, into The Holy Spirit, even as we are sometimes challenged by some of the language. Now, be prepared, if you are not familiar with Ezekiel; he is a raw prophet. He will use sexual imagery and terms; he will use scatological imagery and terms; he pulls no punches and we’ll see that. Sometimes some of Ezekiel can be (internet distortion so part of what was said is missed) ____ ”Lord, why is it that Ezekiel is such a raw book?” But the important thing is to understand that in the midst of all that Ezekiel is also one of the most Gospel-filled books. Why? Because while there is a lot of judgment in Ezekiel; and he goes to great lengths both speaking, as well as his actions, to impress upon the Jews who are in captivity in Babylon that they are there because of God’s judgment against their unfaithfulness. There’s a lot of judgment, but there is also a lot of glory and comfort and grace. And at the end, the Book of Ezekiel contains one of the greatest sentences of Scripture where God promises that in Jerusalem, and, of course, it points us to The New Jerusalem of Heaven, God is there. Often in studying Ezekiel, people don’t get past the first chapter. They get bogged down in this opening vision that we’ll look at today; and they don’t get beyond that. But we’re going to really persevere and ask The Lord to help us. We’ll be meeting on Tuesdays. Please note that we will not be meeting on October 6th. I’ll be out of town that day, but the rest of the Tuesdays through (screen froze)__________ Pastor Mark returned to the screen and shared that next week he will be doing the study from home where there is a stronger internet connection. As I was saying, we are going to be studying Ezekiel; not just chapter by chapter; but as you see correlated there on your message and method of Ezekiel that today and next week we will be looking at “Ezekiel as the Messenger of Yahweh.” And then the next section, “Ezekiel as the Watchman,” etc. If you’ll keep that handout with you in the weeks to come, that will be a good way to keep your notes together. Let me just hit a couple of highlights from page 3 of the Ezekiel Overview, a brief introduction to Ezekiel. Contextually, Ezekiel is one of the prophets who we can date exactly; not just “well around the year____” We know exactly when he was called. It was July 31st in 593 BC. So it’s a remarkably historically centered book. On the one hand it’s perhaps the most visionary of all books. On the other hand, it is also one of the most grounded and historical of all books. It’s a beautiful combination of how God Ezekiel 2 is both transcendent, with this amazing vision of His Shekhinah, His Glory, but also how God comes in real history. Ezekiel, we know, is by The Chebar canal, which is in the nation of Babylon, in the City of Nippur, which is maybe 60 miles from the capital. Ezekiel is in a community of Jews who have been exiled. (We’ll get to this in just a moment), but it is a turbulent time in 722 BC. As many of you know, the Assyrians wiped out the Northern Kingdom of Israel. About 125 years later, the Babylonians are coming to siege Judah. In 597 BC they take the King of Judah in Jerusalem, Jehoiachin, into captivity and then they put a puppet on the throne named Zedekiah. He reigns for about ten years until he revolts against the Babylonians and they come and crush the city and he is taken in chains and blinded back to Babylon. So, it is a turbulent time, and in this context, of course, The LORD Yahweh, Father Son Holy Spirit, would want to speak and certainly He does. And so, you have some of those notes. Ezekiel is in the first group of Jews being deported to Babylon; about 8,000 from Jerusalem and Judah were taken in the first wave in 597 BC. So, we can date these things exactly. We know exactly when Jehoiachin was deposed..he only reigned for three months. So, I just love how historically centered Scripture and History are. When we think about the Babylonian captivity, do not not think that all the Jews were taken back to Babylon in one fell swoop—there were several waves of captives. The idea was, in the ancient world, you wanted to dilute your conquered nation; to take out some; leave some; bring in people from other nations; to try to dilute their religious and ethnic identity. So Ezekiel is among the first taken in 597 BC. He’s going to get his prophetic call four years later in 593 BC. So, he is in the group of Jews in Babylon. Now, there were some Jews taken to Egypt; some of the Jews, especially the older in firmed, the sick, the vulnerable were left in Jerusalem; and then the rest were taken to Babylon. By 597 BC, you have three groups of Jews still left in the world; i.e., Jerusalem, Egypt and Babylon. And, Ezekiel is going to be in Babylon. Now, in Babylon the Jews did well, primarily, because they were God’s people. And part of the reason the Jews have suffered more than any other people in history is because they’re God’s people; and they’re blessed; and they always do well wherever they are. And so, in Babylon: Yes, they were removed from their homes; yes, they were cut off from the Temple in Jerusalem. But at the same time, many of them thrived as merchants, professionals, doctors, teachers, etc. And so, Ezekiel, himself, a younger man, is in this environment. When Ezekiel is first taken, he is 26 years old, but at the age of 30; in fact, on his 30th birthday, July 31 593 BC, he’s going to have his prophetic commissioning and that is the exact age where he would become a priest. And so, we look back in the Book of Numbers and we see that at the age of 30, a Jewish man became a priest. And so, Ezekiel is going to be one of the few priests AND prophets in Scripture. And that’s all set in Babylon by the Chebar canal. Ezekiel 3 Now, at the same time this group of the Jews were doing their best in Babylon, they also were beginning to have idolatry encroach upon them. They were beginning to assume some of the Babylonian pagan religious idolatry. It was also a very dangerous time for them, in terms of their spiritual lives. Just like it is for us. We live in a pagan culture 24/7. We are inundated with pagan ideas through the internet; through social media; the TV; with the air we breathe is far from God. And so, we need to understand that we are exiles; this is not our home; we are on our way home. And, I believe that in the rest of our lives and the generations to come, this idea of being in exile is going to be a very important one. And we need books like Ezekiel to teach us how to remain faithful in a land that’s not our own. In your handout, the Jews had four pillars of God’s Promise, and you look at all of Scriptural history including the New Testament, here are the four pillars upon which God’s people rested their hope in God. • God’s irrevocable covenant with Israel. Paul will talk about this in Romans 9-11. • Secondly, God’s promise of the land (we have spoken a lot at St. John about how the land is central to The Covenant; it’s the tangible, we can even say, sacramental promise that God’s people have the Land and how important it is today that the nation of Israel is back in the land. You can talk about the second coming and when that’s going to happen, the land is a key. • Thirdly, that they trusted that God was going to be in Jerusalem; in the Temple. That’s where He reigned on earth; that’s where the Ark of the Covenant was—the Mercy Seat where God sat. • And Fourth, it was God’s eternal Promise with the House of David, that He would raise up a king to rule Israel through David. So, those are the four pillows; and you can see then what happens when they’re in Babylon, because those are all going to be jeopardized.
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