10/31/2020 – Day 167 – Ezekiel 1-6 (2 of ?) “Nothing is more easy than to determine that God is, nothing more difficult than to describe what He is.” Matthew Henry
I do not find the reading assignments all that tough, I would say it averages 20 minutes of thoughtful reading, without extensive research and cross-referencing included. Ezekiel is relatively tougher I believe. This is probably the most behind I have been all year on my posts – one week after the read. I think I am going to use my trusty Matthew Henry commentary mostly in my “fully quote” comments on the respective verses to help us shed some light. Please join me in helping us shed some light on His Word.
I don’t know how many times I have been through this particular plan, perhaps once every three or four years, for the past 25 years, so that would be around six to eight. This is probably my third extensive discussion post, the first outside of email. I believe my posts would highlight different sections each time, given the particular circustances of my life a the time.
Ezekiel Tougher? One reason would be this comment from Matthew Henry, and by the way, all quotes will be from my Matthew Henry Commentary, copywrite 1961:
1: 13, 14: “The incredible description of the Supernatural is too much for the human mind to comprehend. One can be excused for not knowing what is literal and what is symbolic. One day we will know which was which.”
1:1: Notes that Exekiel’s location as the River Chebar in the land of the Chaldeans (Babylonians) were many were Jews were captive. Henry notes: “the captives will be best instructed by one who is a captive among them and experimentally knows their sorrows. Wherever we are we may keep up our communion with God. When St. Paul was a prisoner, the gospel had a free course. When St. John was banished into the Isle of Patmos, Christ visited him there.”
Let’s look at the vision in Chapter one. As was noted in the Halley’s Handbook , the appearance of the Christ figure in the vision is similar to John’s account in Revelation Chapter one, but far from a carbon copy, as one would expect from such a vision. Note that the chapter concludes with “This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. ” (Not Yeshua (Jesus himself))
Note that likewise, “the four creatures coming out of the midst of the fire were seraphim – burners- not the living creatures themselves (angels are spirits and cannot be seen), but the likeness of them, such as God saw fit to use for the leading of the prophet…. The prophet sees four of these living creatures to intimate that they are sent towards the four windsof heaven, Matthew 23:31. Zechariah saw them as four chariots going forth east, west, norht and south – Zechariah 6:1… The angels of God appear in the likeness of man because in the fulness of time the Son of God was not only to appear in that likeness, but to assume that nature.
They all four had the face of a man, v.5, but besides that, they had the face of a lion, an ox, and an eagle, each masterly in its own kind… They have the understanding of a man, and such as far exceeds it; they also resemble man in tenderness and humanity. But a lion exceeds man in strength, and boldness, therefore angels, who in this resemble them, put on the face of a lion. An ox excels man in diligence and patience, in the work he has to do, therefore the angels, employed in the service of God and the church, put on the face of an ox. An eagle excels man in quickness and piercing sight, and in soaring high; and therefore the angels, who seek things above, and see far into divine mysteries, put on the face of a flying eagle. Every one had four wings, v.6. Faith and hope are the soul’s wings, upon which it soars upward……”
“If the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, were elevated to any service above the common course of nature, the wheels moved in concert with them, v. 19-21. The reason is because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels; the same wisdom, power, and holiness of God, that guides the governs the angels, orders all the motions of the creatures in the lower world, and animates the whole, both that above and that beneath, so that they move in perfect harmony , as the upper and lower parts of the natural body do so that whithersoever the Spirit is to go. (whatever God will and purposes to be done..)
Verses 26 – 28:
“But now that a divine revelation is to be given to a prophet, we must look higher than the living creature or the wheels, and must expect that from the enternal Word. Ezekiel, hearing a voice from the firmament, looked up, as John did, to see the voice that spoke with him, and he saw one like upon the Son of man, Revelation 1: 12,13. This glory of Christ that the prophet saw was above the firmament that was over teh heads of the living creatures, v 26.
This dignity and dominion of the Redeemer before his incarnation magnify his condescension in his incarnation. The first thing he observed was a throne; for divine revelation comes back with a royal authority. We must have an eye of faith to God and Christ as upon a throne. The first thing that John discovered in his visions was a throne set in heaven (Revelation 4:2).“
Chapter 2:
“By a divine command: Son of man, stand upon thy feet. His lying prostrate was a posture of greater reverence, but his standing up would be a posture of greater readiness.”
Chapter 3:14: “So the Spirit lifted my up and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the Lord was strong upon me..” (Ezekiel admits his bitterness)
Ezekiel Is a Watchman
Henry’s commentary on 3: 16-21: “Watchman are in peril of death from the enemy ; who gain their point if they kill the sentinel; and yet they dare not quit their post upon pain of death from their general. Such a dilemma are the church’s watchmen in; men will curse them if they be faithful, and God will curse them if they be false.”
Chapter 6:
vs. 8 – 10: The evidence of their repentence: They shall loathe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations. True penitents see sin to be an abominable thing, that abominadble thing which the Lord hates and which makes them sinners, and even their services , odious to him, Jeremiah 44:4 / Isaiah 1:11. It defiles the sinner’s own conscience, and makes him , unless he be past feeling , an abomination to himself.