Ezekiel 1:1-3 Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month… I. HIS PERSONAL QUALIFICATIONS. A real, though sometimes undiscoverable, fitness between the instrument and the task, is an invariable law in the procedure of God. 1. Mark the significance of his name, "God becomes strength." Most probably the name had originated with God, who had, either secretly or openly, influenced his father Buzi in selecting it. A name, when God-given, is a revelation of what is unique and special in the man's nature. Thus Israel, Nabal, Peter, Jesus. 2. He was designated from his birth, and by his birth, to special service for God. Every man's entrance into life is designed to be an entrance upon Divine service. The world a capacious temple, and God its central Object. In Ezekiel's case there was no diversion of purpose; no casting about for a definite vocation in life. His education, all through the stages of youth, was concentrated on this single object - to be Jehovah's priest. The noblest types of the Levitical priesthood would be set before him as his model. 3. He had reached the maturity of his powers. By a merciful ordinance of God, in accommodation to human weakness, God had prohibited the priests from entering upon full service until they had attained the ripe age of thirty. Then strength would be developed; practical wisdom and knowledge of human affairs would be acquired; self-mastery might be attained. Acting on this declaration of the Divine will, John the Baptist (like Ezekiel, priest and prophet in one), and our Lord himself, began not their public ministry until they had reached their thirtieth year. There are nowhere signs of haste or impatience in the development of Jehovah's plans. Premature action is a concomitant of weakness - an omen of failure. 4. His moral fitness. Many of the priests in the temple were mere functionaries - professional automatens. The performance of the most sacred duties degenerated into mere mechanism. Men saw not the spiritual import of sacrifice, nor the awful significance of the temple ritual, and priests too often became "blind leaders of the blind." But Ezekiel was alive to the moral greatness of his office. To him had been revealed the nearness and the holiness of God; the spirituality of the Law, which carried its sanctions into man's interior nature; the dark facts of human sin; the need of atonement and of cleansing. Hence, as the ordained servant of a holy God, Ezekiel had cultivated humility, habits of devotion, a principle of childlike faith, candid truthfulness, conscientious fidelity, and unflinching courage. For such sublime service, the highest qualities of soul were demanded. 5. His fertile imagination. Many of the visions described in his prophetic book are based upon objects and scenes in the temple at Jerusalem. Commencing here (prior to the Captivity) to exercise his faith in the unseen; commencing here the practice of looking beneath the surface of material things, and acquiring a habit of spiritual penetration, he gradually learnt to discover in nature symbols of celestial truths, and to see God everywhere. Thus he trained his imagination for useful and distinguished service. II. HIS FIELD OF SERVICE. 1. The vicissitudes of earthly affairs. While Ezekiel looked forward to the fulfilment of his peaceful vocation in Jerusalem, lo! war and defeat resulted in exile and bondage. With the dust of humiliation upon their heads, the chelsea people were conducted to Chaldea, and residence was allotted to them on the banks of the Chebar. Nothing is more fluctuating than earthly fortune. Jerusalem today, Chaldea tomorrow. 2. No outward circumstance is fatal to our real welfare nor a barrier to benevolent activity. Now it was to be seen that piety can flourish amid a dearth of external privileges. The seeds of religious truth shall be carried into new fields. The special capacity of Ezekiel shall find more fitting, scope for its exercise than amid the quiet grandeur of Solomon's temple. He is a priest in an ampler temple - a priest for the world. The soul is superior to all imprisonment. 3. The permanency of spiritual work. The kingcraft of Nebuchadnezzar, the overthrow of Zedekiah, the honours and decorations of Chaldean captains, - these things have long since ceased to exert any influence upon the life of the human race; but Ezekiel is still (and has been for twenty centuries) a teacher of men: his work still proceeds; his name is encircled with honour. Already king and captive have exchanged places. The first is last; the last, first. III. HIS INVESTITURE WITH THE PROPHET'S OFFICE. Jeremiah during Ezekiel's time, and John afterwards, were, like him, priests and prophets too. In the case of other prophets, some special visit from God - some suitable display of his glory - attended their special designation to office. We have parallel instances in Moses, Samuel, and Isaiah. The vision was supersensuous, and must be accounted for, partly by external, and partly by internal, causes. 1. External. "The heavens were opened." The veil of material limitation was, for the time, withdrawn. The celestial realm was disclosed. A similar privilege was accorded to Elisha's servant, in answer to his master's prayer: "And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha." To open the heavens to human view is to unveil, in part, the spiritual universe. So, to our Lord on the banks of Jordan, "the heavens were opened." A Divine voice proceeded; the Holy Ghost was imparted. Ezekiel, like Moses and Isaiah, "saw visions of God." The heavens were opened for the very purpose that the central Object might be seen. To see God; to have undoubted assurance of his presence, purity, and aid - this, every true prophet requires. "The word of God came expressly," or rather verily, to him. The ear confirmed the vision of the eye. Not only a spectacle, but an articulate voice. So Hamlet sought to assure himself of the reality of the spectre, when he demanded that it should speak. The ear is a more trustworthy witness than the eye. "Faith comes by hearing." 2. There was, on the part of Ezekiel, internal aptitude. Our organs o! sense have become dull, gross, earthly, by reason of the decline and decay of the soul's true life. As vehicles by which the soul holds commerce with the spiritual realm, they are insufficient. Hence the spirit of a man has to be quickened by a special activity of God, so that it may, for the time being, transcend its native capabilities, its native sphere, in order to see God's administration of the universe, and in order to receive new communications of his will. This is what is usually termed a state of ecstasy. In the creation of the material universe, a word was sufficient; but so indocile, intractable, are the elements of human disposition and will, that the hand of Jehovah must be exerted. "The hand of the Lord was upon him." - D. Parallel Verses KJV: 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 Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. |
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