Rev. David Holwick X
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
July 22, 2012
Ezekiel 1:22-28
|
I. UFOs are out there.
A. Personal experiences.
1) Many people wonder if they have seen a UFO.
a) Are you one of them?
b) Even President Reagan thought he saw something once.
2) Usually it is something like Venus low on the horizon,
or the lights of an airplane.
a) But some people are convinced they have seen something
out of this world.
B. Ezekiel was that kind of person.
1) He had an experience so bizarre it has influenced modern
science fiction.
2) In the 1960s, an author named Erich von Daniken wrote
the book "Chariots of the Gods."
His premise was that the visions and artistic creations
of ancient peoples were actually the result of their
encounters with alien civilizations.
a) Case in point - Ezekiel's vision of the wheels within
wheels.
b) Obviously this is an ancient description of a flying
saucer (he says).
3) The TV show "The X Files" also alluded to Ezekiel.
a) In one episode, Agent Scully tracks down a strange
creature who turns out to have the face of a man,
an eagle, a bull, and a lion.
b) This is just like Ezekiel's vision of the seraph.
c) You might think it is from the Book of Revelation, but
it was first seen by Ezekiel.
C. Ezekiel had other issues.
1) Many of his messages were in the form of bizarre stunts.
In chapter 4, he draws a map of Jerusalem on a clay
tablet and builds siege works around it.
That's the same kind of thing some of us did with
those green plastic army toy soldiers.
Then he lay on the ground and placed an iron pan
between the tablet and his face.
He lay like that for over a year.
Then he flipped over and did it for 40 more days.
There was a message in there somewhere.
2) He also came close to pornography in some of his messages.
a) (I am sure that some of you will check this out when
you get home.)
3) He had to be bizarre to get their attention.
a) He was actually a very serious man, living in very
serious times.
b) His times have some parallels to our own, so we should
pay close attention to this prophet.
II. When the world is in turmoil.
A. Two superpowers were fighting for world dominance.
1) Israel was not one of them.
2) Assyria and Babylon duked it out, and Israel was caught in
the middle.
3) When Ezekiel was around 10 years old, the Babylonians came
out on top.
a) Then they sent their armies out for conquest.
b) Israel was one of their first victims.
B. The terrible Exile.
1) In 604 BC the Babylonians took some of the elite of Israel
to their countries as prisoners.
a) Actually, they were more like hostages.
b) Babylon wanted to make sure Israel paid them money
every year, what they called tribute.
c) One of those who were taken was the prophet Daniel.
2) In 597 BC Babylon put their own puppet regime on the throne
of Israel.
a) They also exiled more of the elite, and this time it
included the priest Ezekiel.
C. Israel's spiritual situation was worse than the political.
1) When Ezekiel was a kid, the king was Josiah, whom we named
our second son after.
2) Josiah was a good king and tried to clean things up, but
it was too far gone.
a) The bad kings were so corrupt a good king couldn't
get it back on track.
b) Their religion was corrupted with idolatry, their cities
were filled with violence and the poor were being
turned into slaves.
c) But the Jews still thought that they were the apple
of God's eye.
III. Israel's false assumptions.
A. Their four pillars of pride.
1) Commentator Daniel Block has outlined their mistakes:
a) They assumed God's covenant with King David meant Israel
would always have its own king.
b) Since God lived in Jerusalem in his temple, that city
would never be destroyed.
c) The land of Israel belonged to God so no one else could
take it away.
d) Because of God's covenant with Abraham, his chosen
people could never be harmed by outsiders no matter
how rotten the Jews were.
B. All four of these pillars collapsed.
1) Ten years after Ezekiel was sent into exile, the nation
of Israel rebelled against its Babylonian rulers.
a) They thought they could get a better deal with Egypt --
they thought wrong.
b) The Babylonians sent an army that crushed them once and
for all.
1> Jerusalem was captured.
2> The temple was burned to the ground.
3> Tens of thousands of Jews were killed, and most
of the rest were sent into exile far away.
4> Israel disappeared as a nation.
A> Except for one brief episode, it was not an
independent country again until 60 years ago
(1948).
2) The crisis of faith.
a) Their defeat really shook up their beliefs.
b) Was anything they had been taught as kids actually true?
c) Were the foreign gods stronger than their God?
C. Ezekiel's ministry tried to set the people straight.
1) God's promises had conditions which they had ignored.
2) Their beliefs and behavior mattered a lot to God.
3) God could still bless them, but he was calling them to
repent.
IV. The vision says it all.
A. The God of Israel is not a wimpy God.
1) His vision is a humdinger!
a) Apparently a thunderstorm was the trigger.
b) But his divine encounter is certainly greater than
a mere storm.
2) First, he sees a whirlwind of fire and light.
3) Then he sees what he calls four living creatures.
a) The Jews also called them seraphs.
b) They have four faces and seem to represent humanity,
domesticated animals, wild animals and birds.
c) They radiate light back and forth and are encompassed
in wheels within wheels.
1> There has been a lot of conjecture on what these
mean.
2> They are filled with eyes, so they seem to represent
God's total knowledge.
4) Finally, he sees God himself.
a) The details are muted, but the emphasis is on fire and
light.
b) He is not so much seeing God, as the reflected glory
of God.
B. The meaning of the vision.
1) God is gloriously awesome.
a) Israel's kings may come and go, but God will remain on
his throne.
b) He is not a God you want to trifle with.
2) God is utterly holy.
a) Ezekiel acknowledges this when he falls down in
reverence (and probably more than a little fear.)
b) The rest of Ezekiel's book underscores the moral
demands God has for us.
3) God has a mission for Ezekiel.
a) God speaks to him and fills him with the Spirit.
1> His mission is to preach to a rebellious nation.
2> Ezekiel is warned that it won't be a picnic.
b) Ezekiel is told to eat a scroll. 3:1
1> It symbolizes his tough message.
2> It tastes sweet, because it is God's word, but
it is also bitter (3:14) because it is harsh.
V. What would Ezekiel say to America? To you?
A. Plenty of Americans have false beliefs about God, and politics.
1) We think God loves us as we are.
a) Religion gets reduced to basic morality.
1> We love God's grace but soft-pedal repentance.
2> We think our behavior doesn't matter much.
b) In reality, we should stand in awe of God.
1> He is greater than our problems, and even our hopes
and dreams.
2) We think our nation is special to God and untouchable.
a) It is difficult for us to imagine other nations
surpassing us.
1> We're Number One!
2> But for how long?
b) If we defy God's values and standards, we cannot expect
to stay great.
c) God's Word still tastes sweet, but it can leave
bitterness as well.
B. How awesome is your God?
1) Few people have visions like Ezekiel did.
a) You should be thankful - it kind of ruined his life.
2) But all of us can have a real experience of God.
a) Someone posted a Christian article on Facebook this week
that I found interesting. #63651
b) It talked about how 2 out of 3 young people will drop
out of church and never come back.
1> This is a big concern for me, not just because I am
a pastor but because I am a father of four kids
in their 20s.
2> Of course, not every 20-year-old drops out.
A> What keeps the survivors here?
B> A genuine relationship with Jesus Christ.
1: If your faith is just a religion, you will
be toast.
2: All the problems in churches will turn you
off.
3: It is only knowing God that will keep you.
=========================================================================
SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
This sermon draws heavily on Rev. Scott Hoezee’s sermon “"Ezekiel's X
Files: The Truth Is Up There," Calvin Christian Reformed Church of Grand
Rapids, Michigan; Kerux Sermon #16790.
#63651 “5 Reasons Why Not All Young Adults Leave the Church,” by
Joe McKeever, <http://www.crosswalk.com/church/youth-ministry/
5-reasons-why-not-all-young-adults-leave-church.html?fb_ref=
socialbar&fb_source=home_oneline>, April 24, 2012.
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
=========================================================================
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
Created with the Freeware Edition of HelpNDoc: Easy CHM and documentation editor