Let us turn again to God's Word. In that portion of Scripture
that we read, directing your attention this evening to words
that we find at the beginning of Ezekiel chapter 2. In the
second chapter of the book of the prophet Ezekiel, reading
verses 1 and 2. And he said, Unto me, son of
man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee. And the
Spirit entered into me, when He spake unto me, and set me
upon my feet, that I heard Him that spake unto me." In Ezekiel
chapter 2 and verses 1 and 2. And I want, with the Lord's help,
to address the subject of the power of God's Word. The power of God's Word. He said
unto me, Son of Man, stand upon my feet and I will speak unto
thee and the Spirit entered into me when he spake unto me and
set me upon my feet that I heard him that spake unto me." In the
previous chapter, chapter 1, we have the record of that remarkable
vision with which the prophet was favored as he received his
call and his commission. He speaks of how the heavens
were opened and I saw the visions of God. He sees the cherubim,
those living creatures, the angels, which are about the throne of
God and then there at the end of the first chapter he speaks
of God's throne above the firmament that was over their heads, that
is over the heads of the cherubim was the likeness of a throne
as the appearance of a sapphire stone and upon the likeness of
the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above
upon it. It is the Shekinah Glory, that
that was really the glory of Jerusalem, the Temple of the
Lords. And there in the Temple, the Holy of Holy, the Ark of
the Covenant, and the Mercy Seat, and God's enthroned there in
the midst of Israel. But here is the Prophet is not
in Jerusalem, He's among the captives by the river of Caibar. As the heavens are opened and
he's granted this remarkable vision of God's. God's gloriously
was to depart from Jerusalem. And we see how that's unfolded in the following chapters. In
chapter 10, On verse 18 we read then, the
glory of the Lord departed from at the threshold of the house
and stood over the cherubims. And the cherubims lifted up their
wings and mounted up from the earth in my sight. And they went
out, the wheels also were beside them, and everyone stood at the
door of the east gate of the Lord's house. And the glory of
the God of Israel was over them above. now at the door of the
East Gates, departing as it were from Jerusalem, and departing
in that easterly direction. And then in chapter 11, the end
of chapter 11 verse 22, then did the cherubims lift up their
wings, and the wheels beside them, and the glory of the God
of Israel was over them above, and the glory of the Lord went
up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which
is on the east side of the city. God departing from Jerusalem,
going to the mountain to the east of Jerusalem. It was there,
of course, to the east of Babylon that the people had been taken
into exile and it was there in those of the captivity. that
the true Israel was to be found, the godly remnant, the election
of grace. God goes where his people are.
It's remarkable really what we read here in the opening chapters
of this book of the Prophet. But as I said, I want us to consider
more particularly this word that is spoken unto the Prophet as
he sees at the beginning this vision. and he said unto me son of man
stand upon my feet and I will speak unto thee and the Spirit
entered into me when he spake unto me and set me upon my feet
that I heard him that spake unto me here we have God's command
and then the consequence of that and those are the two points
that's the division that I really want to take up tonight firstly
God's command as we have it in the opening verse, and then the
consequence of that command as it's spoken of in the second
verse. Who is the one who is speaking?
And he said unto me. This is the voice of God, the
voice of the one that he's spoken of at the end of that previous
chapter. We read of that rainbow round
about His throne, in verse 28, this was the appearance of the
likeness of the glory of the Lord, it says, and when I saw
it I fell upon my face and heard a voice of one that spake. It is God Himself who is speaking,
verse 4 here in chapter 2, thus saith the Lord God. It is God's
voice, it is God's commandment. that we have here in this first
verse. And what is the commandment?
Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee. And with regards to this word
of command, we observe a number of things. First of all, we see
here that it is very much a personal word. It's a personal word. there at the beginning of the
chapter, and he said unto me. It is a truth, is it not, that
real religion is personal. I think that's one of the aphorisms
of William Tiptoff, those pithy sayings that he was so well known
for. And amongst them he says real
religion is personal. It's God and the individual.
And we see that many times in Scripture. Think of that man
that was born blind in John chapter 9 and how the Lord performs that
notable miracle and gives sight to a man born blind and the consequence
for that man is cast out of the synagogue. He's excommunicated
as it were from the nation of Israel. And the Lord Himself
finds that man, that cast out man. And what does the Lord say
to the man when He finds him? Dost thou believe on the Son
of God? How personal that word is. Dost
thou? Of course the pronoun there the
old-fashioned thou, it's clearly a singular pronoun, it's a very
personal word that the Lord is speaking to that man. Thus thou,
believe on the Son of God. Or that God would speak that
word to us in that personal, that intimate fashion, address
us in our very souls tonight. Thus thou, believe on the Son
of God. It is a personal word that is
spoken here. And now we see the Prophet being
addressed as son of man. He said unto me, son of man. Again, in verse 3, he said unto
me, son of man. Now this is the particular title
that is given him, verse 6, and thou son of man. Again at verse 8, but thou son
of man. This is a name that the Lord
uses. And what's a name, what a term
it is. It's very much a term of affection,
to be called son of man. It's the title that is given
even to the Lord Jesus Christ himself, as we see it there in
the book of the prophet Daniel. In Daniel chapter 7, verse 13,
Daniel says, I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like
the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to
the ancient of days, And they brought him near before him,
and there was given him dominion, and glory, and the kingdom, that
all people, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion
is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his
kingdom, that which shall not be destroyed." This is the Lord
Jesus Christ. That Daniel sees in the night
visions, one like the Son of Man. Oh, it is clearly a lovely
term. It's a term of very real affection. Now, the Puritan commentator
Edward Greenhill, who has a wonderful exposition of this book of Ezekiel,
speaks about that title. Son of Man is given upward of
40 times to the Lord Jesus Christ. And here in the book of Ezekiel,
Greenhill says that name is given to the prophet 80 times. This
is how the prophet is constantly being addressed as son of man. And it is a term of affection,
but also it is a name that tends to humiliation, to be called
son of man. And isn't this the purpose, really,
when God thus speaks the words? He says that His word is like
as a fire and like a rock that breaks, like a hammer that breaks
the rock to pieces. Our man's proud heart needs to
be broken. Our man needs to be humbled. Son of man, literally son of
Adam. Son of Adam. But does he not
remind us of the humility of the Lord Jesus Christ? He is
the Son of Man. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15 we
find the Apostle speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ as the
last Adam. He speaks of the first Adam and
he speaks of the last Adam. There in verse 45 of that great
15th chapter. The last Adam. That's the Lord
Jesus. The first Adam is a type of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The first man is of the earth,
earthly. The second man is the Lord from heaven. But he is the
son of man. He is the son of Adam. He is
a real man. He thought it not robbery to
be equal with God. He's equal with God. It's not
something he needs to grasp after. It is his by rights. In the great
mystery of the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three persons,
co-equal, co-eternal. He thinks it not robbery to be
equal with God, but makes himself of no reputation, and takes upon
him the form of a servant, and is made in the likeness of men. Oh, how the Lord Jesus Christ
humbled himself. And I say this name that he's
given to the prophet, he said unto me, Son of man, it should
humble the man. It reminds man of his base origin,
When we think of what we are, how God created the man, he formed
his body out of the dust of the earth itself, and breathed into
his nostrils the breath of life, and he became a living soul. But how base is that origin? He's made of the very dust, that
dust that we're constantly walking upon, and when we think of man's
sad end, when man dies. And that's the consequence of
man's rebellion against God. How sin has brought death. And what does the Lord God say
to the man? Dost thou art and unto dost shalt
thou return. His sad end. His name, you see,
son of man, son of Adam. And it reminds man of his frailty,
or how we are, but feeble, frail creatures of the day. The Lord God through the prophet in the book of Psalms,
Psalm 9 and verse 20 says, put them in fear that the nations
may know themselves to be but men. Oh, how the nations need
to learn that lesson, that they are but men. How man is such
a proud creature. Oh, we see constantly how men
will be as gods. Wasn't that our attempt to come
to Eve in the garden? Seeking to draw her, to partake
of what God had prohibited, to eat of that forbidden fruit of
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, In the day that
they eat us hereof, says the devil, you'll be like gods, you'll
be like gods, and men think they're like gods. But they're not, they're
sons of Adam. And the nations are to know that
they are but men. When the prophet Jeremiah addresses
the people, see how he speaks to them, there in Jeremiah 22,
29. Three times we have it. Oh, Earth,
Earth, Earth, hear the word of the Lord. He said unto me, Son
of Man, Son of Adam, Son of the Earth, Earth, Earth, Earth, hear
the word of the Lord. All this name, Son of Man, yes,
it's a term of affection. when we think it's a name that's
given even to the Lord Jesus himself and yet how humbling
it is friends, that we need to be humble before God. Does he
not remind us also of our unworthiness? What is man? What is man that
thou art mindful of him? and the son of man that thou
visitest him thou mayest him a little lower than the angels
you know the language we have it there in the Psalms it's there
in the in the 8th Psalm we also have it in the 144th Psalm and
then in the third place we find it in Job chapter 7 and verse
17 what is man? what is man? what is man? these searching questions that
God confronts us with when we turn to the Word of God. Man has to learn then how frail
he is, how unworthy he is, and yet God takes account of the
sinful sons of men. And friends, if God takes account
of us, if we know anything of God, if God is pleased to favour
us with that revelation of himself, which was the experience of the
Prophet, it will be a very humbling experience. It certainly was
the case here. He sees the angels, as we said
in the opening part, the opening 25 verses of that first chapter,
and then above the firmament, over their heads, he sees the
throne of God. and there's a description of
that indescribable sight really and then he says this was the
appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord and when
I saw it I fell upon my face when I saw it I fell upon my
face he's prostrate, he's overwhelmed and there he is groveling in
the dust And he hears the voice of one that speaks unto him. And he said, Unto me, son of
man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee. And you remember now, it's not
just the experience of this man, it's the experience of so many
of those that we read of here in the Scriptures. It was the
experience of Isaiah. in Isaiah chapter 6 where again
we have a prophet receiving his call and his commission and he
is in the temple now and he sees the throne of God
and there he speaks of the seraphim again they are angels, there
are cherubim, there are seraphim there are many angels, multitudes
of angels But there in Isaiah 6 the Seraphim, the burning ones,
are about the throne of God. And Isaiah describes the effect
as he sees God's throne and those holy angels covering their feet
and covering their faces and flying at God's command. And what does he say? Woe is
me! I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips and
I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips and mine eyes
have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. He's undone. Wow! That's what he says. And then
the Seraphim receives its command and it's to go to the brazen
altar, the place where the sacrifices are made and take one of the
coals from the altar and put it on the lips of the prophets. Oh, it's the cleansing blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ to cleanse his foul lips. I am a man of
unclean lips, he says, and yet he's to be the Lord's spokesman,
the Lord's prophet. And the angel applies that living
coal and is cleansed. He's not destroyed, neither was
this prophet destroyed. is equal, is told to stand upon
his feet. Or we see it time and again,
do we not? Think of Paul, how that man was
favoured with a remarkable revelation when we come to the New Testament,
there in 2nd Corinthians chapter 12. Caught up, he said, to the
third heaven, and he saw unspeakable things, things that he couldn't
really describe. he saw something of the glories
of heaven itself and then there's that thorn in the flesh that
he should be exalted above measure how God will humble the man that
is so favoured then he comes to acknowledge what he is I am
nothing he says there in 2nd Corinthians 12 and verse 11 though
I be nothing He feels himself to be nothing before God. This
is the effect when God comes to a man personally and deals
with that individual and grants such a revealing of himself.
It has that tendency, it will humble the man, humble him to
the dust. This is God's command, but it's
not just God's command. What we find here is that God's
Word is not bare commands. There's also a word of promise.
There's a word of promise in what God is saying. And here is the promise, I will
speak unto them. What a wonderful promise that
is. You see, God doesn't just give
us commandments. He encourages those that He speaks
to. And how does He encourage them?
He adds the promise to the precept. Here is the precept, Son of Man,
stand upon thy feet. He is to stand up. But He won't
stand up in vain. If He stands up, God says, I
will speak unto them. This is the way of God. He first
humbles the man, and then he graciously exalts the man when
he sees the vision at the end of that first chapter when I
saw it he says I fell upon my face this is God humbling him
and yet immediately God utters that word of command stand
upon thy feet and adds the promise I will speak unto thee, and then
as the application the Spirit entered into me when he spake
unto me, and set me upon my feet." Oh friends, this is the way of
God. This is the way of God, how gracious God is. The way
we do well to observe the divine order, how God's promise is given
to speak comfort to that soul that is so troubled. and so cast
down. This was the experience of the
Prophet. He is cast down. He is brought down to the ground. He is overwhelmed. Such a humbling
experience. But this is the way of God. God
will humble us. Now does God humble us? He shows
us something of ourselves. He shows us what we are as sinners. He brings us to the end of ourselves.
We have to see that there's nothing in self, there's no hope in self. That we're so helpless and so
impotent. And yet, there's salvation for
those poor sinners. They that are whole have no need
of the physician, says the Lord Jesus, but they that are sick
I cave. Not to call the righteous, but
sinners. All sinners are high in his esteem,
and sinners highly value him. Here then we have summing of
God's command. But let's move in the second place to say something
with regard to the consequence which we have in the second verse.
And what we have here in verse 2 is that blessed ministry of
the Spirit of God And the Spirit entered into me when He spoke
unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard Him that spoke unto
me." What does God do here? God literally raises Him up. He raises Him up. Here is the
precept, Son of Man, stand upon thy feet. And the Spirit entered into me
when He spake unto me and set me upon my feet. When God commands, the mark is
when God commands, He empowers. It was Augustine of Hippo who
said long ago, give me what thou commandest and command what thou
wilt. Give me what thou commandest.
and command what thou wilt. You see where the word of a king
is, there is power. That's the way of God. He empowers
by and through His works. And we see it in that lovely
verse in the Psalm, Psalm 27 and verse 8. When thou sayest,
Seek ye my face, My heart said, Thy face, O Lord, will I see."
Oh, what an empowering word, when God says it. When God says,
Seek Him, I face. And when God says that in such
a personal way, and when there's that gracious application by
the Spirit, when God says it, why, the heart says, Thy face,
O Lord, will I see. Oh, we see it, do we not, in
the ministry of the Lord Jesus? What a wonderful example is that
that we witness in the rising of Lazarus from the dead. He was dead. He was well dead. Four days in the tomb. Then the
Lord comes and says, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead
came forth bound hand and foot with grave clothes and the Lord
says to them loose him and let him go all he can speak you see
but a word and there is power in that word that the Lord speaks
and we see it here in this book of the prophet Ezekiel in chapter
18 and there at the end of verse 31 God says, make you a new heart
and a new spirit. Now you see the Armenian says,
ah look there's something to be done. You've got to make yourself
a new heart, a new spirit and they appeal to that scripture.
There in verse 31 of chapter 18 But what we have to do is to
take account of what the old writers used to call the analogy
of faith. We have to see every scripture
in its proper context. We have to see the Bible as a
whole. And we have to see those words in chapter 18 in the context
of the New Covenant, which is so wonderfully unfolded to us
here in Ezekiel. So many times. Look at the language
that we find later, in chapter 36, at verse 26. God says a new heart also will
I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take
away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart
of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk
in my statutes and you shall keep my judgments and do them
but even previous to that coming back to chapter 11 and here at verse 19 God says
I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within
you and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and
I will give them a heart of flesh that they may walk in my statutes
and keep my ordinances and do them and they shall be my people
and I will be their God Oh yes, you see, when God utters that
word, make you a new heart, make you a new spirit, God will do
that work himself, that's the covenant. That's the covenant
of grace. God is the one who gives a new
heart. God is the one who gives the
new spirit. Or the great promise of the new
covenant, what is it? It's that ministry of the Holy
Spirit. The Lord Jesus says, it is expedient
for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send him unto
you. Or the coming of the Holy Spirit,
the great fulfillment of that ancient promise. The Lord says,
it is the Spirit that quickeneth. The flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirits, and they are life. Remember how after His
resurrection from the dead, the Lord Jesus made it so plain to
the disciples what they were to do? I send you the promise
of my Father, He says, but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until
ye be endued with power from on high. And they're there on
the day of Pentecost. and there is that blessed, gracious,
outpouring of the Spirit of God. And here we have that ministry
of the Spirit spoken of. The Spirit, says the prophet,
entered into man when he spake unto him. So when the Lord God
comes and speaks to us, as we sit under His Word, as we hear
His Word being expounded and preached, how we knew that the
Spirit would come with the Word and in the Word. The Spirit entered
into me, He says, when He spake unto me and set me upon my feet,
that I heard Him that spake unto me. Oh, He is that Spirit, you
see, that quickeneth the flesh, profits nothing. It is the Spirit that quickeneth,
produces life, makes alive causes to live, that's what the word
means there in John chapter 6 and verse 63, it is the Spirit that
quickens, causes to live and we have it of course later here
in that vision that is granted in the 37th chapter the vision
of the valley of the dry bones in the historical context it
sets before us the nation of Israel in exile, in captivity but God
is going to bring them out, there's going to be a glorious deliverance
after 70 years they'll be restored, they'll return to Jerusalem they
must do so because Christ is yet to come but there in that 37th chapter
I'm sure you're familiar with the content of those opening
verses, the valley that was full of bones. And it says, and lo,
they were very dry. They were long dead. They were
well dead. And he has to prophesy unto the
bones and say unto them bones, O ye dry bones, hear the word
of the Lord. And as he does so, breath is
caused to come into them and they live and sinews are laid
upon them and they stand up in mighty armour. And then verse
nine, he said unto me, prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son
of man, and say to the winds, I say to the Lord God, come from
the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon this flame that
they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded
me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood
upon their feet, and exceeding great homage. It's more than
the restoration of the Jews from captivity. It's the great day
of the Gospel. And it's God's bringing life
into the souls of those who are dead in trespasses and sin. He prophesies unto the wind,
that's the Spirit. Or the wind bloweth where it
listeth, says Christ. Though hearest the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth.
So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. There is, friends,
to be that blessed ministry of the Spirit. That's what we are
to long for and to seek for. That's what we should be desiring
of the Lord. and then there'll be that life
communicated to our poor souls. Oh, he said unto me, son of man,
stand upon my feet. How can he stand upon his feet?
How can a man give himself a new heart and a new spirit? He cannot.
Though the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me, and
set me upon my feet, that I heard him that spake unto me. Here
is the consequence, you see. The Spirit raises the man up. The Spirit raises the man up.
But more than that, more than that, the Spirit is the one who
reveals the Lord Jesus Christ. The end of the verse, the end
of the second verse, He set me upon my feet, that I heard Him
that spake unto me. Mark that word, that. Mark that word. The Spirit entered into me when
He spoke unto me and set me upon my feet. That, and it has the
force of in order that. I heard Him that spoke unto me. He causes the sinner to hear. That's what the Spirit does.
He causes the sinner to hear. You hear the Word of God, you
hear it tonight, you hear the reading of the Scriptures, the
preaching of the Scriptures. The physical ear is hearing the
words. But now we know that the Spirit
should come and that it should be more than just hearing in
a natural sense. It is the necessity of that spiritual
hearing. that receiving with meekness
the engrafted work, the implanted work, that is able to save the
soul, as James puts it. The mighty work of the Spirit.
God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit. For the Spirit
searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. What man
knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man that is
in him? Even so, the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit
of God. And we need the Spirit to apply
the word of the Gospel. For the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, their foolishness unto
him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned. Do we come conscious of our great need of the Spirit? That the Spirit would come and
apply that word. No man can say that Jesus Christ
is Lord but by the Holy Ghost. Or you can say the words, I can
say the words. Jesus Christ is Lord. And some might say it and it's
nothing but a vain repetition. Jesus Christ is Lord. all we
need the Spirit to apply to enter in as we hear the words
to set us on our feet that I heard Him that spake unto me and look at how it continues
I know I read right through chapters 1 and 2 into that third chapter
And there at the beginning of the third chapter, Moreover he
said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest, eat this roll,
and go, speak unto the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth,
and he caused me to eat that roll. And he said unto me, Son
of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this
roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it, and it was
in my mouth as honey for sweetness. So strange really, strange mixture
here, because what is this roll? Well, the end of chapter 2, he
spread it before me and it was written within and without, and
there was written therein lamentations, mourning, and wow, it must have
been a bitter thing that was written in the roll, the scroll,
and yet when he eats it here in the third chapter, in his
mouth, He says it has honey for sweetness. Such a strange mixture,
is it not? Such a strange mixture. It's
the same as what we find when John, there in the book of the
Revelation, is commanded to eat the little book in chapter 10. And verse 10, John says, I took
the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it up, and it was
in my mouth sweet as honey, and as soon as I had eaten it, my
belly was bitter. It's a sweet, bitter thing. And
so it is, friends, when God by His Spirit brings His Word into
our hearts. It's a bitter thing. We have
to feel the bitter thing that sin is. And that prepares us
to taste the sweetness of the Gospel, the sweetness of that
forgiveness that is only found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Who
are we, those hungry souls? The wise man says to the hungry
soul, every bitter thing is sweet. It's for the Lord to come, you
see, and have dealings with us. The worst thing of all is for
the Lord just to let us come and go. Come and go. Week after
week, year after year, coming and going, nothing. Just sitting
and hearing in a natural sense, and yet, what are our souls? Well, we need that gracious ministry
of the Spirit of God Himself. He said unto me, Son of man,
stand upon thy feet and I will speak unto thee. And the Spirit
entered into me when He spoke unto me, and set me upon my feet,
that I heard Him that spoke unto me. Amen.