In the year 622 B.C., the same year that a copy of the Scriptures were found in the temple and brought to King Josiah, a baby was born to a priest named Buzi. He named his son Ezekiel, meaning "God is mighty."

The boy grew up in the shadow of the Temple. His father was a priest and it is likely that he was expected to carry on the family tradition.

This was a time for the rise and fall of kingdoms, not only of Judah and Jerusalem, but throughout the entire ancient world.

For a number of years the Assyrian Empire had been in a state of decline. Revolts had sprung up throughout the land, most notably in Babylon and Persia. At the head of these revolts was an aggressive Chaldean prince named Nabopolassar.

Finally in 612 B.C. his coalition of Chaldeans, Medes and Scythians took the Assyrian capital city of Nineveh and burned it to the ground.

It was not long before Nabopolassar's armies, led by his son Prince Nebuchadnezzar, turned westward to the lands along the Mediterranean. Challenging his authority was Pharaoh Necho of Egypt. In the middle of these two opposing forces lay the tiny kingdom of Judah.

Against the advice of Jeremiah, King Josiah of Judah marched out to fight against Pharaoh of Necho of Egypt. They met at Megiddo and Josiah was killed in the ensuing battle (2 Chronicles 35:20-24). The death of Josiah left three sons and a grandson to succeed him.

Joahaz was initially made king of Jerusalem, but his reign was short-lived as Pharaoh Necho came into Jerusalem, deposed Joahaz and put his brother Eliakim on the throne in his stead, changing his name to Jehoiakim.

The Egyptians met the army of Nebuchadnezzar at the epic battle of Charchemish and the Egyptians were routed. Nebuchadnezzar came down into Palestine and took Jerusalem, instituting what would be the first of three successive deportations.

Ezekiel was a part for this second group. They were taken to Mesopotamia and relocated by the River Chebar. This was one of the many canals that crisscross southern Mesopotamia. It is here that our story opens.

There were three prophets who were all ministering the Word of God during this period.

Neither Ezekiel nor Daniel began their ministries until after they were deported from Palestine. They both write their books from Mesopotamia. But there is a great deal of difference between the two books.

Ezekiel has a great deal of drama. Symbolism and drama are given of God. Ezekiel acts out the truths of God in a very vivid and symbolic way. He acts out the realities of what are happening.

We are called to do the same thing. We are called to act out the realities of the gospel in our lives.

Always witness and when necessary use words. We are living in a post-modern world. The means of communication has changed greatly in my lifetime. It is in such a world that Ezekiel communicates a great deal.

Here is the principle. In this day, more than any other time since Biblical times, what we DO is more important than what we SAY.

The Book of Ezekiel can be divided into two major parts.

• Message of Judgment (1-32)
• Message of Restoration (33-48)

The entire first part of Ezekiel deals with the subject of the judgment of God. This section is divided into two parts:

• Chapters 1-24 deal with the judgment of God against His own people.
• Chapters 25-32 turn to God's judgment against the enemies of His people.

There is a lesson here. It is that when judgment first comes, it begins with the people of God. He judges His own people first.

Why is this? It is because His people represent Him on earth and God takes very seriously how He is represented.

Three times in this chapter God says that the reason He brings judgment against His people is because He will not allow his name to be profaned in the sight of the nations. He will not allow His name to be associated with sin. He will not allow pagans to look at the sins of His people and to say, "If that is what it means to be a Christian, then I want no part of it."

This is important. When you become a Christian, you take on the official position of an ambassador of Christ. You represent the God of the universe on planet earth. He will not allow you to misrepresent Him.

• Ezekiel 1-24. Ezekiel afflicts the comfortable.
• Ezekiel 25-48. Ezekiel comforts the afflicted.

Do you see it? God disciplines and then He hugs.

1. Son of Man.

2. The Glory of the God of Israel.

For the most part, the book of Ezekiel is arranged in chronological order. He gives 12 specific chronological references.

Shortly after Ezekiel's 30th birthday, something happened to him that was to change the course of his life. What follows is the first of many visions.

People have come up with all sorts of "space ship" theories regarding the vision of this chapter. It is thought to have served as the impetus for Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind as it portrayed creatures and burning fire and wheels within wheels. Let me set the record straight. This is NOT a U.F.O. Instead it presents the throne of God in specific temple language.

• In reading the description of the artifacts that were located within Solomon's temple, we read of the altar of incense refined gold by weight; and gold for the model of the chariot, even the cherubim, that spread out their wings, and covered the ark of the covenant of the LORD (1 Chronicles 28:18).
• Similarly, 1 Kings 7:27-33 describes within the Temple ten stands of bronze. These stands had on their boarders the images of lions, oxen and cherubim (7:29) as well as four bronze wheels with bronze axles (7:30). In verse 33 we are told that the workmanship of the wheels was like the workmanship of a chariot wheel.
• We also remember the vision that Elisha had in 2 Kings 2 of Elijah being caught up in a chariot of fire. At the sight of it, Elisha cried out, "My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!" (2 Kings 2:11).
• Furthermore, Daniel's vision of the ancient of days also speaks of a throne with wheels: I kept looking Until thrones were set up, and the Ancient of Days took His seat; His vesture was like white snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with flames, its wheels were a burning fire (Daniel 7:9).

These passages draw us to the conclusion that what we see in Ezekiel 1 is the chariot throne of God.

If we are at all familiar with the book of Revelation, we shall find the description of this vision to be somewhat familiar.

There is a very obvious correlation between the visions of Ezekiel and John. They give a mutual testimony to the holiness and the majesty of God.

What does it all mean?

• The images of the lion and the calf/bull and the eagle and the man reflect the truth that God is the God over all life, whether wild animals or domesticated animals or birds of men.

• The wheels are a picture of the mighty power of God. Remember that the symbol of a chariot was a powerful one. Chariots to that era were what thermonuclear power would be today.

The vision of the glory of God was followed immediately by a commission of Ezekiel to the prophetic ministry.

Ezekiel did not have an easy commission. He was being sent to a people who were by nature a rebellious people.

There is a lesson that we can learn from this passage. It is the lesson of the sovereignty of success in ministry.

We usually think that if we do the right thing and say the right thing that we will have a successful ministry. We think that if our church has the right kind of worship music and if the pastor's sermon isn't too long and if we have a lot of programs, then people will flock to our church. That isn't necessarily so. Jesus said to His disciples, "I will build My church."

He does. He delights in taking a man whom the world considers unqualified and doing a great work through such a man. He says to Ezekiel, "You go out and preach the words that I am going to give you and the result will be that a prophet will have gone out and spoken My words."

It was not Ezekiel's job to build a big church or to convert the people. He is merely called to be faithful in preaching the Word of God.

The responsibility of Ezekiel was not to make people repent. His responsibility was to speak the truth -- to give the warning.

Just as the workings of God in the book of Revelation were represented by a scroll, so also the judgments of God and its resulting lamentations and mournings and woes are represented by a scroll. Just as the scroll of Revelation was written on the inside and on the back, so this one is also written on the front and back.

Ezekiel is given the scroll and told to eat it. What does this represent? It pictures how the word is to become part of his life. Only then will he be able to pass it on to others. There is a lesson here. If the spiritual truths that you teach to others are not a part of your own life, then you have no business trying to pass them on to others.

Ezekiel eats the scroll. It doesn't sound very tasty. After all, it is full of lamentations, mourning and woe. Yet in spite of that, we read that it was sweet as honey in his mouth. There is a sweetness to the word of God, even when it involves those portions of the Scripture that contain the harshest judgments.

There was a truism in ancient Israel of that day that children often reap the results of the sins of their parents. The idea here was that a parent could escape the effects of sin, but they would eventually catch up with his children.

The time for such postponements had reached an end in Ezekiel's day. The judgment that was due the nation was now soon to fall.

This does not mean that God takes any particular pleasure or delight in punishing sin.

God does not get His kicks by judging sin. His Spirit grieves over sin. His Son wept openly over the sin of Jerusalem.

Ezekiel brings a message of repentance and life. This brings us to our next point. It is that Ezekiel is a book about salvation.

The 34th chapter of Ezekiel takes up a "shepherd motif." It begins with a biting indictment against the shepherds of Israel -- those who held positions of responsibility and yet who failed to lead the people in the ways of righteousness.

The problem is that the shepherds of Israel were fleecing the flock instead of feeding the flock. In this midst of this indictment there is a promise. It is a promise that the Lord Himself shall one day take on the role of a shepherd in order to care for His sheep.

Notice that the Lord as Shepherd does not come to save the fat and the strong. Those who are self sufficient are destroyed and become partakers of judgment. It is those who recognize their own brokenness and sickness who shall be saved.

This promise is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. He is the Good Shepherd who came to give His life for the sheep. In verse 15 we see the essence of His ministry:

Jesus said this of Himself. He is the One who said, "Come to me, all you who labor, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28).

But that is not all. Ezekiel goes on to describe the eventual judgment of His flock.

Jesus foretold this same judgment. But there was a difference. He said that He would be the one who judged between the sheep and the goats. A contradiction? Not at all. When we read of Jesus doing anything, we understand that this is a reference to the actions of the Lord.

When we come to Ezekiel 36:26-27 we have a vivid description of the salvation promise of the Lord. It is a promise to save, not only on the surface, but from the inside out.

Is the work of salvation monergistic or synergistic? Does God initiate and accomplish the work of salvation or does He function in cooperation with unregenerate man to bring about this regenerating work?

The answer is seen in these verses. It is GOD who is seen doing the work of salvation. He is even the Once causing us to walk in His statutes and to observe His ordinances.

Early in January 332 B.C. Alexander the Great came to Tyre, the most powerful naval port in the Mediterranean at that time. The city of Tyre stood on rocky island about a half mile off the coast. It was surrounded by massive walls that rose to a height of 150 feet. The city was considered invincible.

Nebuchadnezzar had attacked Tyre in Ezekiel's day and had finally destroyed the mainland city. Even after a 13 year siege he had not been able to capture the island city.

Alexander sent envoys asking that the city come to terms with him. The envoys were murdered and their bodies thrown into the sea. Alexander settled down in what was to be the longest siege of his career.

Alexander had no navy and so he decided to bring the island to him. He began by demolishing the ruins of the mainland city and using the rubble to construct a causeway across the water which separated the island from the coast. It was grueling work and further hampered by constant raids that the people of Tyre made in their swift warships.

Alexander went to Sidon and Byblos and confiscated a fleet of ships which could bottle up the fleet of Tyre. The causeway was finally completed and Alexander launched a three-pronged simultaneous attack.

• His infantry attacked across the causeway.
• A portion of his new fleet assaulted the harbor on the north side of the island, bottling the enemy fleet inside.
• The rest of his fleet breached a weakened portion of the southern wall of Tyre.

The city of Tyre fell to Alexander on July 29, 332 B.C. The siege had taken 7 long months. Thousands of the inhabitants were slaughtered. The 30, 000 remaining survivors were sold into slavery while 2000 captured troops were crucified.

Writing at some time between 592 and 570 B.C., the prophet Ezekiel gave the following predictions concerning the overthrow and eventual destruction of the city of Tyre.

Beginning in verse 7, we are given a more detailed picture of the destruction that will come against Tyre in the person of Nebuchadnezzar. However, in verse 12, there is a change as Ezekiel turns from what "he" will do to those whom he simply refers to as "they."

There are a number of points to this prophecy. Let's list them:

• Many nations will come against Tyre (26:3).
• Her walls and towers will be broken down (26:4).
• The debris of the city will be removed (26:4).
• Nebuchadnezzar will attack (26:7).
• Stones and timbers thrown into the water (26:12).
• Tyre will be a bare rock and a place for spreading of nets (26:14).
• The city will not be rebuilt (26:14).

The fulfillment of this prophecy was not the product of blind chance. There is not another city in all of the ancient world that had the same kind of destruction which Alexander brought against Tyre. Alexander was the unwitting servant of the Lord, bringing Divine judgment against the pagan city.

If you go to site of ancient Tyre today, you will find a place for the spreading of nets. A small fishing village occupies the site while, several miles down the coast, a modern city had taken for itself the name Tyre.

ORACLE AGAINST THE KING OF TYRE

This is part of a larger oracle against the city of Tyre. The earlier part of this chapter speaks out against the "Prince of Tyre." Now the address changes. These verses are directed against the "King" of Tyre. He is the real power behind the throne. There are some things said of this person that lead some Bible scholars to believe that this is a reference to Satan.

• He was in Eden, the garden of God (28:13).
• He was created (28:13).
• He was the anointed cherub (28:14).
• He was on the holy mountain of God (28:14).

This description seems to go beyond the realm of mortal man. Though some scholars would see this description as mere Semitic poetry describing an exalted monarch, it seems to me that there is meant to be a greater understanding.

A picture of deadness and decay, not merely in need of CPR. This is a picture of complete hopelessness

This is a startling prophecy. It is the prophecy of a resurrection. This is all the more startling as there as of yet had been no clear prophecy of a future resurrection.

Now we see what sort of resurrection is envisioned in this passage. It is the resurrection of the nation of Israel.

What brings about this "resurrection"? It is when the Lord puts His Spirit into them. When did this take place? It took place at Pentecost. That was the fulfillment of this prophecy.

The word rosh is simply the Hebrew word for "head" or "chief." The most natural translation would be to follow that of the King James Version: Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the CHIEF PRINCE of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him

Trying to translate this as a proper noun and make it refer to Russia has little Scriptural merit. Such a country was unknown in Biblical times. The term "Russia" did not come into use until nearly a thousand years after Christ.

Meshech and Tubal seem to refer to locations on the east and northeast sides of the Black Sea. Herodotus spoke of the tribes of Tibareni and Moschi, the former of which was located east of the Thermodon River which flows into the Sea of Asov on the northeast portion of the Black Sea and the latter of which lay between the sources of the Phasis and the Cyrus Rivers, located on the east side of the Black Sea.

These were lands belonging to the people group known as the Scythians.

Scythian invaders moved down into the Levant during the days of the collapse of Nineveh and destroyed Ashkelon and Ashdod before being bribed to depart by Pharaoh Psammetichus (663-609 B.C.).

Ezekiel is now saying that it will happen again.

In what ways have the prophecies of these two chapters been fulfilled? There seem to be several possibilities:

Notice that these views are not necessarily mutually exclusive to one another. It is entirely possible that there was an immediate fulfillment as well as a symbolic application that can be appropriately taken for all time.

Early during the ministry of Ezekiel (chapter 8), he is given a vision of the Temple in Jerusalem. He sees the idolatry that is taking place within the very house of God.

• At the beginning of the vision, Ezekiel sees the glory of the presence of the Lord within His temple (8:4).
• Then the glory of God is seen at the doorway to the temple (9:3).
• It next leaves the doorway and moves out to the Eastern Gate (10:18).
• From there it moves completely out of the city of Jerusalem: And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city, and stood over the mountain which is east of the city (Ezekiel 11:23).

Do you know which mountain is to the east of the city? It is the Mount of Olives.

This was a sign of judgment against the Jews. The Temple was the place when you went to go and meet God. But God left the Temple.

There is a principle here. The way God destroys His Temple is by leaving it. For a number of years the physical structure of the Temple was to remain in Jerusalem, but for all intents and purposes, it had already been destroyed. In light of this passage, it is almost anticlimactic when Ezekiel hears in chapter 33 that Jerusalem has been destroyed. The Temple is not even mentioned. Why? Because it had already ceased to function as a Temple when God left it.

We say that Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the Temple, but we are only partially correct. God had already destroyed the Temple by leaving it. Remember the principle: The way God destroys His Temple is by leaving it.

Do you remember the Triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem? Where did He go? To the palace of Herod Antipas? To the Fortress of Antonia? No. He went to the Temple. And when the religious leaders of the Temple rejected Him, He left the Temple and went out to the Mount of Olives where he foretold the eventual destruction of the Temple.

It is no coincidence that the last place we see Jesus before His ascension into heaven is on the Mount of Olives -- the same place where we last see the presence of God in Ezekiel's vision.

This brings us to a question. Where is God's Temple today? It is here. It is the church. It is you guys. It is the corporate body of believers that come together to meet the Lord.

There is a warning here. It is that God is still in the Temple-destroying business. God destroys His Temple by leaving it. And God destroys churches in the same way. He does not bring a bulldozer or a stick of dynamite. He just leaves. The building and the services and the people might all remain. But it is no longer a church.

This is why it is so important that we have a repentant attitude when we come together to worship the Lord. We come together to meet Him. He will only be there as we have put aside the world's idols -- those things that draw our attention from Him.

The book of Ezekiel ends with a glorious vision of a New Temple. The prophet is taken on a guided tour through the structure -- a structure that is tantalizingly familiar if we have read the book of Revelation.

Just as Ezekiel had previously seen the glory of the Lord leave the Temple in Jerusalem, now he sees the glory of the Lord come into this house.