Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro: We’re about half the 66 books of the Bible.

Tonight we come to the 26th book in the Bible, the book of Ezekiel...Ezekiel belongs to the 4th and final section of the Old Testament

Lets recap the genres:

1st - The Law or the Torah - The first 5 books of the bible teach us the commandments and character of God as first revealed to Moses

2nd - The historical books - 12 books that cover the history of the nation of Israel - this covers them claiming the promised land, Losing the promise land, Gaining the promise land back

3rd - The poetic books - Job - Psalms - Proverbs - Ecclesiastes - Song

4th - The Prophets - The Major Prophets – because they’re the largest of the volumes of the prophetic writings.

The other collection is the Minor Prophets - not because they’re inferior in content; but because they’re smaller in size.

And those collections contains two categories:

pre-exilic – those who were ministering before the exile - Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel

post-exilic – those who were ministering after the exile - Haggai, Zachary, Malachi

Ezekiel is the third of the Major Prophets.

Ezekiel, the man, was a prophet and a priest.

That’s a unique combination in the Old Testament.

There are only three other men who are prophet and priest in the Old Testament.

Jeremiah, Zechariah, John the Baptist who also came from a priestly family

So let’s set some context here - Around 605 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar, On his way back to Babylon he laid siege to Jerusalem in 605 B.C.

The first deportation of Jews into captivity happened at that time in 605 B.C. Daniel, the prophet, at that time 13, 14 years old, was carried into captivity with some of his friends.

About nine years later there was a second deportation, when Nebuchadnezzar, who was then king of Babylon, laid siege to Jerusalem again.

It was during that siege that Jehoiachin, king of the southern kingdom at that time, along with Ezekiel and ten thousand other people were taken captives into Babylon.

Ezekiel was not taken to the palace where Daniel and his friends were taken.

Ezekiel and the ten thousand people that were taken into captivity, they were taken to a place outside of Babylon to a settlement.

We might think of it like a refugee camp.

He was twenty-five years old when he was taken into captivity.

The layout of the book: Judgment & Restoration

Chapters 1 through 32 are pre-exilic.

They deal with the period of time before the fall, the utter fall of Jerusalem.

And it covers - these 32 chapters take place during six years of Ezekiel’s life.

And he’s prophesying to the captives in this refugee camp in this settlement.

And his prophetic words will make their way back to those in Jerusalem.

Jerusalem isn’t utterly destroyed yet.

There’s still communication that’s moving from captivity back to Judah.

So Ezekiel is prophesying about what’s going to happen over the next six years if they keep rebelling against the LORD.

And these messages are

Now Chapters 33 through 48 deal with the period of time after the fall of Jerusalem.

Ezekiel is going to preach to the people for sixteen years after the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple.

There’s a dramatic shift in the weight of his message.

Chapters 33 to the end of the book are filled with amazing promises of – forgiveness, restoration, and hope.

Judgement and Rebuke - Chapters 1-32

Hope and Restoration - Chapters 33 - 4

Judgement and Rebuke 1-32

The call of Ezekiel 1-3

Now God is going to call Ezekiel to accuse Israel of breaking their covenant with the Lord and warn them of the destruction that is to come

A few things to note here:

The word of the Lord came to Ezekiel on the among the exiles on the Chebar Canal - Thats significant if you think about the fact that the word of the Lord was coming to Daniel in the palace of the King…the at that same time the word of the Lord was coming to Jeremiah at home in Jerusalem…

It just goes to show that even though the situation seemed bleak, the Lord was still speaking, To the king, to the powerless, to the rebellious

Also notice that Ezekiels life plan, was dramatically in essentially one Day - All it takes is one day and God can turn you're life around

So from v.4 - 28 Ezekiel begins to describe this wild vision of a storm with four creatures with four wings and four wheels and each of the wings are touching each other and on top of those wings is a platform with a throne on it…and a massive figure that holds the likeness of a man…and then Ezekeil realizes what he’s seeing...

So Ezekiel realizes what He’s seeing “the Glory of God” - that word Glory means heavy or weighty…and judging by what Ezekiel is describing heavy is the word that best describes the encounter…others accounts like this are mentioned in Exodus 19, 24, 25

It’s important to remember that Ezekiel’s call began with a revelation of who God is…and It was heavy…and it left him face down...

App: It’s important to remember even-though Christianity is intellectual, it’s also emotional - A part of coming to faith in Jesus is being undone by his holiness and Love

Isaiah said “Woe is me”

Paul said “Who are you Lord”

Ezek is face down

Becoming a Christian begins with an encounter with Jesus.

Here we have the 3 foundational things in Ezekiels ministry

There’s obviously a lot of nuances to Ezekiels ministry…but here are 3 things that we’re paramount in his and an any ministry…Eat…Go…Fear not

Eat the scroll - He’s talking about having an appetite for the word of God

if the scroll is sitting on your bookshelf.

The scroll is only valuable to you, Ezekiel, when you consume it

Christians – fruitful ministry, fruitful service begins with feeding on the Word of God – Foundation Number One.

Go - “4 And he said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with my words to them.” - So not only do we have to take in the Word of God – We have to go...

We have to be willing to step out... We’ve got to be willing to move forward – very, very important!

He says “Go to your and preach” - Everyone has a people…we should go to ours

“11 And go to the exiles,” - this is so radical – “to your people, and speak to them and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD,’ whether they hear or refuse to hear.’”

In other words, it’s your job to speak to them.

It doesn’t matter whether they hear or not.

I’m commissioning you to speak to them.

But notice – “go to your people”.

We all have our people We all have our people – the people in our families, the people in our neighborhoods, the people in the workplace, the people in the classroom, the people where we shop, the people where we hang out.

Fear not - God gave Ezekiel a message but it would be an unwelcome one…So He says, “Ezekiel They’re going to be stubborn.

You’ve got to be more stubborn.

They don’t want to listen.

You have to speak more.

Back in chapter 2 God said the people were like a bunch of scorpions.

They’ve got sting But, Ezekiel, my Word can sting.”

The point is that Ezekiel had to settle it in his heart that he would never give up sharing with others.

That is a crucial aspect to living on mission, guys.

Ezekiel’s odd methods 4-5

God tells him to build a tiny modal of Jerusalem and stage an attack, shave off all of your hair with a sword, or even more Odd God tells him to go in to the city and lay on his left side and bind himself in rope and eat bred cooked over the a fire powered by cow dung...

App: now we might think that it’s massively odd...That’s the way God wanted him to minister....What a pliable minister; What a yielded man to say, “You say it...Tell me how you want me to say it”

The sad condition of the nation 6-11

In Chapters 8-11 shows Ezekiel what exactly was going on in the hearts of the religious life of Israel through this radical vision he gives him in the temple…And theres 3 things I want to highlight in this portion

Chapter 8 - Wicked Hearts

So God explains what this kind of bizarre vision was all about.

He says, “What you’ve seen in this vision, you’ve seen what the elders, the religious leaders of the southern kingdom, what they are doing in the dark, each in his room of pictures.

King James Version read it like this “every man in the chamber of his imagery”.

Now that’s a strange phrase.

And I kind of hope it freaks you out a bit.

God sees what we do in the imagination of our heart and our mind -

So God says, “Have you seen what’s going on in the chambers of their imaginations?”

And then He says - “For they say, ‘The LORD does not see us “ Oh yes He does!

Guys, we are never alone – never ever alone!

App: Don’t think thats God is only concerned about your actions…He’s also concerned about your thoughts

Question: whats the best way to keep your thought life in check?

God’s word

Guys, we can not over emphasize the importance of God’s word in the daily battle of the heart

Guys, God’s Word searches us out.

That’s why these nights are so important.

They’re not just important for you.