Ezekiel is a book about visions,
lots and lots of visions. Ezekiel had lots and lots of
visions. And it starts out this way, Now
it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in
the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the
river of that the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. He had lots and lots of visions.
Now, he was one of those that was taken captive. And he was
a priest. And again, it says in the fifth
day of the month, it was the fifth year of King Jehorakim's
captivity, the word of the Lord came expressly unto Ezekiel,
the priest, the son of Buzi in the land of the Chaldeans by
the river Kibar, and the hand of the Lord was there upon him."
Lots and lots of visions. No prophetic book contains more
dates in it than Ezekiel does. Now there we've already seen
in verse 1 and 2 what we're talking about dates. Whenever he started
a vision, he would talk about the date that it took place on.
He had a particular date, and he'd talk about those dates,
the fifteenth year, the fourth day, the third month, or whatever
it was. But twelve dates are mentioned
in his book. And I tell you, there's all kinds
of allegories, visions, parables, and even there's a lot of similarities
between Ezekiel and the book of Revelation. And you know,
here's some of this, just give you a few of his visions, and
then we'll go back and look at them together. But one of them
is, he's had a vision of the Lord. He had a vision of the
Lord. And then now this vision of the
Lord was in chapter 1, verses 1 through 28. And we'll go to
that in a minute. Then he had a scroll given to
him to eat. Then he saw a vision of the plain,
where God makes everything plain. Then he was given a vision of
the abomination that's in the temple. Go in there and sit and
watch these leaders of Israel. Watch what happens among the
leaders of Israel. Watch how awful it is. Then he
had a vision that had us of Jerusalem being slain by the judgment of
God. Of Jerusalem being destroyed
by fire. And he had a vision of the Lord
Jesus Christ and the Lord departed from Jerusalem leaving it. Then he had that beautiful parable
of the infant test out in the field. Then he had that vision
of the dry bones, probably the most well-known thing in the
book of Ezekiel. And then he had a vision of God's
new temple, the heavenly Jerusalem, as God built the temple in heaven
itself, and how it was finished. And then he had these things
that God told him to give him all these signs. And he used
so many things to get signs. And you can study this at your
own leisure. But he told him to go get a brick in chapter
4. And he said, build a fort around
that brick. He said, you know what that means? That means that
there's going to be a siege around Jerusalem that's going to fall,
just like you set a fort around that brick. And then he told
him, and you need to see this. We'll get back to it in a minute.
But in Ezekiel chapter 4, In verse four, God told him to
lay a certain way for a certain length of time, and this was
just for a sign. God said there in verse four,
Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house
of Israel upon it. According to the number of the
days, thou shalt lie upon it, thou shalt bear their iniquity.
For I have laid upon thee the iniquities Upon thee the years
of their iniquity, according to the number of their days,
three hundred and ninety days, so shalt thou bear the iniquity
of the house of Israel." Lie on your left side, three hundred
and ninety days. And however long you're going
to have to bear the iniquities, this is a perfect illustration
of how rebellious they were, and how long they were in captivity,
and how sinful they were. He said, you're going to bear
their iniquity for three hundred and ninety days. And then he says in verse
six, and when thou hast accomplished this, then lie again on your
right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of
Judah for forty days. I have appointed thee each day
for a year. So for 40 days, he did 390 days on his left side
to bear the iniquities of the children of Israel. For their
rebellion for 390 days, a day for a year, 390 years they were
rebels. He said, you're going to bear the iniquity for that
390 years. And then Judah and their sin
and their rebellion for 40 years, so use 40 days on your right
side because that's how long they will rebel against you,
a day for a year, 40 years. So then again, another sign that
he used. God gives him all these signs.
A sign of a famine. And he calls to him to tell about
all the things that they would be deprived of and the things
that they would not have. And then he has a sign of a knife
and a razor. He says, take your knife and
a razor. And what he told him then, he
says, there will be an utter destruction of the city like
you take a knife and cut it off. Take a razor and clean it off. And then there's the sign of
the house moving. And what that means, he says,
to move the house, move from here to over there. Take his
legs and go from here and go to there. And what he's meaning
is, is that you know, as you move from this house to that
house, he said, I'm going to remove Israel. I'm going to move
Israel from this land to another land into captivity. And then
there's the sign that God told him, take a sharpened sword,
sharpen that sword. And he said, oh, what's that
sharpened sword mean? He said, that means that the
judgment is imminent to fall just like a sword hanging over
them. It's going to fall on them and cut them off. And then there
was in chapter 21, there's the sight of Nebuchadnezzar's sword.
God, he says, you take and give Nebuchadnezzar's sword. Talk
about Nebuchadnezzar's sword, because he's going to come in
and he's going to take captive again. Three different times
he comes into Jerusalem and took people captive. And the last
time he burned Jerusalem down. And then there's the sign of
Ezekiel's wife's death. He said, you know your wife's
going to die, and it's going to be a sign to Israel. What
does that mean? That you had the blessing of
a wife, and the blessing of a home, and the blessing of her comfort,
and the blessing of her love. He said, just like you'll lose
all of her blessings of having the blessing of a wife, I'm going
to take the blessings away from Israel, just like you losing
your wife. And then he had a sign of two
sticks in Ezekiel 37. And what that is, is he takes
these two sticks, and he says, Israel and Judah will be brought
back together again someday. Someday, is what God said. And
Ezekiel talks about the attributes of God. He especially emphasized
God's glory, God's sovereignty, His name, His holiness. His justice
and His mercy. The phrase, the glory of the
God of Israel and the glory of the Lord appear eleven times
in the first eleven chapters alone. And the title, Lord God,
appears over two hundred times. And so Ezekiel has an awful lot
to say, and it's a hard book to understand. But he says that
he saw a vision. The heavens were opened and he
said there in verse two, he says, I saw the visions. And in verse
one, he said the heavens were open and I saw the visions of
God. And then he begins to tell us
about this visions of God, God's glory. And then over in chapter
43, let's look at this just a minute. Chapter 43. In verse six. You know, he started
out seeing visions of the heavens open. He saw the visions of God. And Isaiah saw the glory of God. When God opened his eyes, he
saw God's glory. Well, then he comes to the end
of his visions, and he comes to the end of himself, and he
says in verse 6 of Ezekiel 43, And I heard him speaking unto
me out of the house, and listen to this, the man stood by me. The man stood by me. And of course,
that's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. We'll see that
later. And then he heard His speaking out of the house of
God, the house of the place of His throne. And in verse 2 here
of chapter 43, it was as the voice of many waters. And behold,
the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east,
and His voice was like the noise of many waters, and the earth
shined in His glory. And then Ezekiel said in verse
3, and it was according to the vision, appearance of the vision
which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I
came to destroy the city, and the visions that were like the
visions that I saw by the river Kabar. And what happens when
you saw these visions? I fell on my face. Fell on my
face. That's a lot different than the
visions that people have today, isn't it? They get these visions
and have all these eyes roll back in their head and they go
to praising the Lord and all that. These fellas, whenever
God appeared to them, they fell as dead men. John fell as a dead
man. Abraham fell on his face before
God. Here Ezekiel fell on his face.
Isaiah cried out, woe is me. Job said, I behold myself. This
idea that men walk up and can see the glory of God and not
be greatly affected by it. It's a foreign thing. It's an
alien thing. And then, you know, he saw a
river. And let's look there in 47. Just
look at this and then I'll get on with it here. Ezekiel 47.
I've quoted this I don't know how many times over the years
and mentioned this. And I remember Floyd mentioning
it often times, talking about this river. Oh, rivers of water
to swim in. Look, it says in Ezekiel 47 verse
1, Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house, and behold, waters issued out
from under the threshold of the house eastward. For the forefront
of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down
from under the right side of the house out the south side
of the altar. Water is a cleansing. Water is
typical of the Word. Then he brought me out of the
way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without
unto the other gate by the way that looked eastward. And behold,
there ran out waters on the right side. Everywhere I looked, water
was running out on the east, running out on the south. And
when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward,
he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the
waters, and the waters were to my ankles." A thousand cubits. A cubit's 18 inches. That's 18,000
feet. Would that not be right? A thousand times eighteen would
be eighteen thousand. And again, He measured a thousand
and brought me through the waters. The waters were to my knees.
He's getting on out there now. Again, He measured a thousand
and brought me through. The waters were to the loins. Afterward, He measured a thousand.
It was a river that I could not pass over. For the waters were
risen, waters to swim in a river that could not be passed over. And what's that take? That tells
us that we may get ankle-deep, we may get knee-deep, we may
get waist-deep, but we'll never get deep. and understand God's
glory, and God's power, and God's covenant, and God's word, and
God's mercy, and God's immutability, and all of God's attributes,
no matter how far we go, start out at its ankles, that's where
most of us start, to put the foot in the water going, and
but to all beloved, we'll never ever get past the river. of all
that this blessed book contains, and all that there is about God,
eternity will not make us understand all that there is about God. That's why we're going to spend
eternity learning about Him. He had a vision, and any vision
that God gives a man, it begins with a vision of His Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. God's glory, and he talks about
God's glory, cannot be seen anywhere else in this world other than
in the glory of His Son in the face of Jesus Christ. And then
let's look here in chapter 1 and start in verse 5. A great whirlwind
came down. And he says in Ezekiel 1.5, And
out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures,
and this was their appearance. They had the appearance, the
likeness of a man. And every one had four faces.
And every one had four wings. And their feet were straight
feet. And the sole of their feet was
like the sole of a calf's foot. So he's just seeing how the imagery
is here, just like in Revelation. Talk about those beasts with
the four faces. And here it goes, you got four
faces, four wings, and their feet are straight, and the sole
of their foot was like the sole of a cat's. The straight feet
does not hook like a cat's. It's straight, but on the bottom
of it, it's like whatever's on a cat's foot. But the feet are
straight. And then look what it goes on
to say here. And they sparked. Like the color of a burnished
brass. And they had the hands of a man under their wings on
their four sides. Every one of their wings had
a hand under them. Forehead, four wings, two hands under them. Their wings
were joined one to another. They had their faces in their
wings, and their wings touched one another. And they turned
not when they went. They didn't look this way, that
way, or another way. They went straight forward. And as for the likeness of their
faces, the four had the face of a man, the face of a lion
on the right side, and the four had the face of an ox on the
left side, and they also had the face of an eagle on the back. Now, beloved, this cannot be
talking about the one person. And, of course, these men, these
people that's represented here, these are people who guard the
glory of God, declaring the holiness of God, as the Seraphims did.
But whenever you see the Lord Jesus Christ here, you see He's,
first of all, you see the face of a lion. He's the lion of the
tribe of Judah. Oh, beloved, He is the King who
has the right to reign. And like the ox, he's able to
bear the burden, bear the load, do the work as a servant of Jehovah. He said he didn't come to minister
unto, but to minister and give his life a rest. He's a man,
said that in the voice of a man. The word was made flesh and split
to dwell among us, and we beheld his glory. And then like the
eagle, I mean, He can go all the way into the very presence
of God with the regality and glory and on those great wings. And in fact, the Scripture said
He bears us up on the wings of an eagle. He bears us up on the
Lord Jesus Christ. And all beloved, and throughout
this book, there's one phrase that occurs over and over and
over. The Word of the Lord. The Word of the Lord came unto
me. That's where he got his authority from. That's all we need. The
only authority we need is what God says. That's all the authority
we need. I heard a preacher say today,
oh, he said, the book, the book, the book, the book. Live according to what the book
says. Be obedient to what God says. Do what God says. Believe
what God says. He said it over and over again.
The book, the book, the book. That's where we get our authority.
People say, well, I've got to have a sign. There ain't no sign
going to be given. It's already given. Christ sits
at the right hand of God. And, oh, beloved, and he said
it here. The only place that he had authority was the Word
of the Lord. The Word of the Lord, come unto
me. And another phrase that occurs constantly and frequently is,
they shall know that I am Jehovah. People are going to find out
who I am. And then he saw the Lord Jesus Christ on his throne,
King of kings and Lord of lords ruling over all things. And look
down there in verse 26. And all you go through here and
you see all this appearance and all the things. And he says,
and above the firmament, Above the heavens now, this firmness
of heavens, that was over their head, was the likeness of the
throne, as the appearance of a sapphire.
John the Revelator saw exactly the same thing. And above the
likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of
a man above upon it. And you go and it says here in
these notes that I've got, there's more than 80 points of comparison
between Ezekiel and Revelation. Let's just go through a couple
of them. Both saw a throne set in heaven, and one sat on that
throne. That's what John said, and immediately
I was in the Spirit. Behold, a throne was set in heaven,
and one sat on the throne. That's what I just read. And
then they both saw a rainbow. Look there in verse 22 here.
And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living
creature was as the color of the terrible crystal stretched
out over their heads. And they saw that terrible crystal.
a rainbow there. I've seen it here a minute ago,
but it's there. But anyway, they saw this token
of a rainbow, and they both saw the terrible crystal of God's
presence. To Ezekiel it appeared as a firmament,
to John it appears as a sea of glass in Revelation 22. And that's
where the rainbow is in Revelation 22. Both saw the burning of the
fire of God's Spirit here in verse 27. And I saw the color of amber
as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance
of his loins even upward, from the appearance of his loins even
downward. I saw it was the appearance of
fire and had brightness round about it. They saw the fire of
God's Spirit when he came. And both of them was given a
role. Look over here in Ezekiel chapter 3. You remember when
John, an angel came and handed John a book, a little black book.
He said, now John, eat this book. He said, it'll be bitter, bitter,
bitter, and it goes through your belly. But he says, when you
digest this, it'll be like honey in your mouth. And look what
happens to Ezekiel here. Moreover, he said unto me, back
up in chapter 2 and verse 9, And when I looked, behold, and the hand was sent unto me,
and, lo, a roll of a book was therein. And he spread it before
me, and it was written within and without, and that was written
there in Lamentations and Mourning and Woe. Remember that book that
was written within and without on the back side and the front
side in Revelations? Well, here's what happens, he
said. Moreover, he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou
findest, eat this roll, and then go speak to the house of Israel.
So I'm out, and he calls me to eat that roll, eat that book. And he said unto me, Son of man,
cause thy belly to eat, fill thy bowels, fill thy very heart
and soul, fill your whole body with this roll, your heart with
this roll that I give unto thee. Then I did eat it, and it was
sweetness. And my mouth is funny for sweetness. And Revelation saw the same thing. You've got all these comparisons,
and you can look at it when you get home. You've got all these
same notes. And when we read of the glory of the Lord in this
book, we see it manifesting, revealed in the eternal Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ, His glory as the only begotten of the Father.
He was the one, beloved, that we get a sight of Him on the
cross, there satisfying the justice of God as our substitute, Christ
on His throne as the Lord accepted in heaven. That's the one that
brings us salvation. And Ezekiel, beloved, in chapter
4, and I've done read it to you, where he says, now you'll lay
on your left side for 390 days to bear the iniquity of Israel. And every day is for a year.
And then 40 days on your right side, a day for a year for the
sins of Judah. And thy Lord Jesus Christ, not
for just 390 years, not for 40 years, not for a sin a day, But our Lord Jesus Christ bore
all our sin in His own body on that tree and put Him away once
and for all by the sacrifice of Himself. And He was in the
awfulest posture. You think it's bad for Him to
lay on His left side for 390 days? 40 days on His right side? What about Christ on the cross? What about Christ in the garden
of Gethsemane, praying till His sweat became, as it were, great
drops of blood? What about Christ in agony, saying,
My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? Oh, and Ezekiel
bore their iniquities for just a certain space of time, but
Christ bore our iniquities for all time and all eternity, every
single one of them. And I bless His name for that.
God in wrath remembers mercy. God in wrath remembers mercy,
and I'm certainly great for that. And look what he says here in
Ezekiel 6.8. That's what God said. He said, Yet will I leave a remnant,
I'm going to leave a remnant, that ye may have some that shall
escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through
the country. God's always had a remnant, always
kept a remnant, according to the election of His grace. And,
oh, beloved, if he saw this vision of the will, back over chapter
one, let's see. Let's look at this vision of
the will, chapter one, just a minute, just to say just a few things
about it. And he says, Now as I beheld
the living creatures, behold, one wheel upon the earth by the
living creature with his four faces. The appearance of the
wheels and their work was like unto the color of beryl. And
they four had one likeness in their appearance and their work,
as it were, a wheel in the middle of a wheel. A wheel in the middle
of a wheel. When they went, they went upon
their four sides. And they turned not when they
went. And as for the rings, they were so high that they were dreadful,
and their wings were full of eyes round about them four. That's
the eyes of the Spirit of God, sees everything. And when the
living creatures went, the wheels went by them. And when the living
creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted
up. Wherever the Spirit was to go, they went. There was the
Spirit to go, and the wheels were lifted up against them,
for the Spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. And when those went, these went,
and when those stood, these stood. When the people moved, the men
moved, the wheels moved. When they stood still, the wheels
stood still. And when those were lifted up from the earth, the
wheels were lifted up over against them, for the spirit of the living
creature was in the wheels. And the likeness of the firmament
upon the heads of the living creatures was as the color of
the terrible crystal stretched over their heads. And under the
firmament were their wings straight, the one toward another. Every
one had two, which covered this side, and every one had two,
which covered that side of their bodies. And when they went, I heard the
noise of the wings, like the noise of great waters, and the
voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of a
host. When they stood, they let down their wings. Now, when he
describes this vision of the wheels, you know these visions
of God's work in Providence. Wherever these creatures went,
they went with them. The living spirit, the living
creature, was in that wheel. And though it appeared to have
lots of parts, a wheel within a wheel, And when they went,
they went. When they went up, they went
up. When they went this way, it went that way. When they went
this way, it went that way. When they came down, when they
stopped, they stopped. And what this is telling us is, though
it appeared to have many parts, it always moves in a straight
line, and this talks about God's providence according to God's
unalterable, eternal purpose of grace and predestination,
and wheels, always, wherever those creatures were. And, oh,
beloved, and that's God the wheel within a wheel. We see the big
picture, but that wheel in the wheel is God's purpose being
carried out in this world. And then let me show you something
about God's grace. Let's look over here at Ezekiel
36, talking about the covenant and God's grace. God made, indeed,
that book. Oh, heart grace. Heart grace. What grace! Oh my, here's a picture of the
covenant. Look what he says in verse 25.
This he says, I'm going to be sanctified in you before their
eyes. He said, then will I sprinkle
you in verse 25. I'm going to take you out from
among the heathen, gather you, bring you into Your own land
is going to take us to glory. Then will I sprinkle clean water
upon you. And you'll be clean. And you'll be clean from your
filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. Bless
God that He does that. How filthy are we? How filthy
was we? And a new heart also will I give
you. And a new spirit will I put within you. He's talking about
it for service. You know, Brother Henry Mayhatt
always says, you know, God not only says you will, but he also
says you want to. You want to. He says you want
to. I don't want to. Well, he says you want to, too.
Now you want to know the Christ. Now you want to know the will
of Christ. Now you want to be under subjection to Christ. And then look what he goes on
to say. And I'll take away the stony heart out of your flesh,
and I'll give you a heart of flesh. It can be touched. It can be touched with the firmness.
And I'll put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in
My statutes, and you shall keep My judgments and do them. That's
what God said He's going to do. And you shall dwell in the land
that I gave you to your fathers, and you shall be My people, and
I'll be your God. And I'll also save you from all
your uncleanness, and I will call for the corn and will increase
it and lay no famine upon you. I'm going to feed you. I'm going
to feed you good. And I'll multiply the fruit of the trees, and the
increase of the field, that you shall receive no more reproach
or famine among the heathen." Now listen to this, this is one
of the covenants. Then shall you remember your own evil ways
and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves
in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. Now, that's part of the covenant.
You loathe yourself. You loathe yourself. And that
happens. That happens. Then God's judgment.
I want to show you four things about God's judgment. Look in
Ezekiel 18. This is something that Ezekiel 18. It's going to
happen. where it says, Ezekiel 18, verse
4, it's thought to be a very, very familiar passage of scripture
to you. God's judgment's always just. He said, Behold, all souls are
mine, as the soul of the Father, so also the soul of the Son is
mine. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. Judgment is always just. It's the soul of sinners that
shall die. And judgment is preceded by a great separation. Just in
Revelations here in Ezekiel, there was a mark set upon the
forehead of God's chosen remnant. And He puts that mark upon their
head and said, These are mine. Don't you touch them. And when
judgment comes through, God's got a mark on all His people.
And they will be saved. Then judgment begins at the house
of God. Look over in chapter 9, verse
6. And that's what Peter said, you know, judgment begins at
the house of God. This is where sin is exposed.
This is where false professions are exposed. This is where people's
hearts are judged. This is where they find out whether
they know God, whether they know Christ or not, is in the house
of God, through the gospel, through the preaching of God's word.
And look at Ezekiel 9, 6. Slay utterly old and young, both
maids and little children, and women. But come not any man upon
whom is the mark." See, there's that mark I was telling you about.
Put that mark upon God's people. "...and to whom the mark is on
them. Begin at my sanctuary." Begin
at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient
men which were before the house. And so they started the judgment.
God's people got a mark on them in judgment. They said, young,
old, maids and little children, don't come near us. I've got
my leg. But you start with the ancient men. Start with those
that are supposed to have some sense, and you start preaching
judgment at the house of God. And judgment is going to be executed
in the hands of a mediator, in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look here in chapter 10, verse
4, and I'll be done. except for one verse of Scripture.
Ezekiel 10, verse 4, judgments in the hands of a mediator. God
said, All judgments are committed into my hands. Then the glory
of the Lord went up from the cherubim, and stood over the
threshold of the house, and the house was filled with the cloud,
and the court was full of the brightness of the Lord's glory.
And the sound of the cherubim's wings was heard even to the outer
court, and the voice of the Almighty God when He speaketh. And it
came to pass, when he had commanded, the man clothed with linen, saying,"
Now, listen to this, "'Take fire from between the wheels, from
between the cherubims.' Then he went in and stood beside the
wheels. And one cherub stretched forth his hands from between
the cherubs, and the fire that was between the cherubs, and
took thereof, and put it into the hands of him that was clothed
with linen, who took it, and went out. He went out with the
fire of God's judgment, judgments committed into his hands. That
man clothed in fine linen. And then look in chapter 48 and
verse 35, and I'm done. I'm done. That's why they're
called Bible surveys. You just go through a survey.
You just survey. Just get a little survey of it. And this is after the city and
the sanctuary and the temples all been built. And he has been,
you see, this vision of it being built for the last several chapters,
and then look what it says here. He closes in Ezekiel 48, 35 with
the promise of God's continual presence. And he says in verse
35, chapter 48, it was around about 18,000 masses talking about
one way. And the name of that city from
that day shall be. The Lord is there. Now in the
margin it says, Jehovah Shema. The Lord is there. The Lord is
present there. God's with us now. And then in
this new temple in Jerusalem, when God's work is done, we're
going to go For His presence is the brightness and the glory
of it. And it says they call that place Jehovah Sheva. This
is the Lord's city. His presence is continually there. Oh, blessed Redeemer, Savior,
Savior, Savior, our great God and Savior. Jesus Christ our
Lord. Oh, we thank you that you've
given us a sight of your glory, a sight of your power, a sight
of your judgment, and a sight of you being judged in our room
and place, bearing our wrath, bearing our judgment, putting
away our sin. For God's justice can now never
touch us. because it's satisfied through
your blessed sacrifice, your blood shedding. And now we're
justified, clear of all guilt before you. Thank you for this
time we've had together this evening. What a blessed, blessed
book full of truths and glory and mentions of our Savior. Lord, help us to see it, to grasp
it, to rejoice in it, and what we can't see and what we don't
understand. Help us to rejoice in what we
do see and what we do understand. We offer you our thanks in Christ's
blessed name. Amen. Amen.