Lecture 1: Exposition of Ezekiel - Dr. Ralph Alexander

I do want to begin our time however in looking hermeneutical II at what is so seriously important and that is as you know I would think I would say hermeneutical II the most important principle is context I mean that in the broad sense of the word whether it be the context of the passage the context of Scripture the context of history the context of the culture these are so important for our understanding of a book and it's so important for the prophetic books I personally do not like when a an Old Testament survey simply goes Genesis Exodus Leviticus and goes book by book all the way through because when you get to the prophets you don't study them in their context they need to be seen as it relates to the history of the people and we want to do that but we need to see the theological context as well now let me just back up at that point because it's very important for Ezekiel that we understand what God is doing with the people of Israel in the scriptures as you're well aware in Genesis 12 verses 1 to 3 we have the Abrahamic covenant Abrahamic covenant is really quite simple but extremely profound because it is God's plan for blessing the world it's still valid still working plans very simple God said I will choose one man that man of course we know was Abram from Avram I will create a nation that nation as we now know became the nation of Israel and through that nation I will bless the world that's simple but it's a it's very profound to the whole of Scripture and it's extremely important for the Book of Ezekiel because we must understand that the purpose of Israel is not Israel the purpose for Israel is to be a blessing to the world and as we will see and as you probably well know they failed greatly throughout most of their history in doing that on top of that if we were to turn to Exodus chapter 19 verses 5 & 6 we have somewhat of a a detailed statement we're in just prior to giving the Mosaic Covenant we have a significant statement that's made now I say this significant because when you look at the Abrahamic covenant he's going to create a nation all of your political scientists will say there's at least three basic essentials for a nation to exist there can be a lot of other things but you need three basic things one you need people does help if you're going to have a nation secondly you need a homeland you'd have some place where the people are that will be significant in Ezekiel don't forget it the land is a significant element in that in the book and thirdly you need to have some form of government something that holds the people together okay now the government of the people of Israel is the Mosaic Covenant and if you can look at it that way I think it will help your perspective throughout the scripture to understand this is what was to govern their whole lives now Exodus 19 verses five and six says as God is getting ready to give that covenant he says to them as well let's just read the text together Exodus 19 verses five and six he says now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant that is the one that he's going to give them then out of all the nations you will be my most treasured possession Israel was very significant to God because of the vocation to which she called them then he says although the whole earth is mine you will be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation now Israel every individual in Israel was to be a priest it's not talking about the Levitical priesthood at this point the people are to be priests and as priests the basic not to be overly simple but a priest basic function was to represent God to the people to the world and bringing the people of the world to God that's the role of a priest it's a two-way street they are to be a witness they are to be the channel through which God is ministering to the world and the channel through which the people understand truth to come to God and each person was to be a priest now in order to represent God correctly they are to be a holy nation because otherwise they will represent God falsely because God is holy and as we have both in the old in the New Testament God says be ye holy as I am holy we as God's people Israel are to be a holy people so that we can carry out a priesthood which is true now again that's going to be significant when we come to Ezekiel because of the issue of the holiness or the lack of it of the people at the time of Ezekiel and are they being priests to bless the world or are they not that's again fairly simple I would simply remind you so that we don't get too hard on the people of Israel in the process I want to read to you a passage in first Peter first Peter chapter 2 he says in verse 9 speaking to the church but you are a Chosen People a royal priesthood a holy nation a people belonging to God that you may declare his praises the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light gentlemen the church has exactly the same vocation as Israel it hasn't changed we are to be priests to bring this represent God to the world and bring the world to God and the only way we can do it is by being a holy nation holy people because we are chosen also so what we read about Israel is applicable to what we do and how we live today and its strategic because the world desperately needs today a holy witness of a true God who he really is and Ezekiel is going to tell us over and over and over again more than 65 times in the book when he announces judgment it is so that you might know that i yahweh am god and I mean what I say we need that this society also because from my perspective having been out of the country and we've been we've lived more out of the country since we've been married since we've lived in the country okay and coming back to this country it's amazing what you see when you're out of the country that's true with any culture and I would say one of the biggest issues in the United States today in the evangelical church is the issue of authority of the word of God Oh everybody accepts the Word of God but is it authoritative does God really mean what he says and I'm afraid many people don't really think that it makes much difference you'll hear that story you'll hear that statement in Ezekiel Oh God doesn't really care he's not paying attention anyhow let me tell you phase attention every second because he never changes so this is very significant this background for us to understand the Book of Ezekiel we cannot just jump in without understanding it in that way the old the Mosaic Covenant instructed the people of Israel how to live a righteous life it was not a burden for them the Mosaic Covenant gets bad press all the time it is a good thing as Paul says it's holy righteous and good problem is not with the Covenant the problems with the people that's of course what Jesus says it's what Paul says problem is with people because people are sinners and they do like we're going to see in Ezekiel rebel against the authority of God's Word and God himself and that's what they will do with respect to a covenant that shows them how to live righteous and holy before the nation's and it's for their good as Moses says in the book of Deuteronomy me these things are written that you for your own well-being as well as for the glory of God it's for their good Israel's history as we know unfortunately is marked by disobedience to the Mosaic Covenant Israel and Judah when the nation was divided after the time of Saul David and Solomon these two nations continually became more corrupt and they became increasingly in a sense of forgetting their Constitution Mosaic Covenant warned them at that point that if they stray from the Covenant that there would be discipline through dispersion out of the land because you see the land is the place of blessing God brought them there this is one of the the blessings that comes through the Abrahamic covenant but when they are disobedient he takes them out of the land even as the people are basically still out of the land today I realized people say oh there's a nation of Israel today and so forth let me tell you there more Jews in New York City and then there are in Israel ok so they aren't are all back there yet ok and that's not to say that there aren't things happening there that's in God's purpose and working but they're out of the land when they disobey Him and the people of Israel I always think some of these issues that come up contemporary can you imagine what it would be if if an Ariel Sharon had in recent times or at any time or any of the any of the prime ministers would have said over national TV and radio and Israel people as a nation we need to pray Wow can you imagine what might have happened and as avenjet it's not where they are at this point unfortunately I pray to God that someday soon they will be at that point now God's concern is that the discipline and understand that the discipline the judgment of God is not penal primarily it is a manifestation of his love and His grace if I can use a pagan illustration it's like having a trump card in the game we get down to the very last thing what's the last thing we do we bring judgment discipline so the people will finally realize they need to return to God that's the whole purpose of judgment is to have people return to Him now they may not in which case they have to experience all the consequence of God's wrath but he's really bringing it to say that where a person will say oh no I'm wrong I need to return to God and that's the purpose is continually stated over and over again moreso in the Book of Ezekiel than any other book a significant theme of the book judgment is so the people might return to Almighty God and carry out their vocation has God called them now we need to also understand up to this point before we get to the action of the Book of Ezekiel what is the political context that's happening in this in the situation and I'm going to jump into that at the time of the fall of the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 BC I'm assuming you have a basic overview of the history of the Old Testament but at that point in the southern kingdom is where you had the beginning you had the rise of Hezekiah the king of Judah and Hezekiah and Isaiah the prophet and Micah the prophet who encouraged him and who helped to precipitate the Reformation that took on it that took place at the time of Isaiah this was a wonderful time and Isaiah I think learned from the collapse of his and as a result instituted the Reformation and the changes in the nation of Judah unfortunately Hezekiah son Manasseh didn't follow his father's ways nor did Manasseh son Amnon 455 plus years you probably have the most degradation in the nation of Judah that they've ever known he led the people in all sorts of idolatry pagan rituals worship of the Stars sacrifice of a child by the way child sacrifice from the pagans perspective was they thought they were doing a very best because they wanted to give what was most precious they gave their children now that does make it right please don't misunderstand me at that point but from a pagan perspective you see there's a you you don't think straight when you don't understand God's truth and they were thinking that if we give our children we're giving the very best thing we can give and so that's wild child child sacrifice was so significant though god of course condemns that because of the issue of taking the life and God never asks for that whatsoever as far as a sacrifice from the people but Manasseh led the people in great degradation and corruption and pagan learning Josiah renewed hope he brought revival but it was too late the revival that he did was simply superficial it was perfunctory Jeremiah says in chapter 3 and verse 10 that the people the people changed but not inwardly with outward canoe but no inward change the stain of the sin of Manasseh had penetrated the people and Manasseh himself if you know in the text and his later years came to know God returned to Judah tried to make some changes it was too late can you imagine how the heartache that that must have been to Manasa to know I created this I led the people in this and let me say something here that we'll also see as a significant theme in the Book of Ezekiel and one which is very relevant to each of us and that is the importance and the responsibilities of leadership as the king went so went the nation you know that's still basically true today in most situations leadership is significant and leadership in the church is equally significant and this text has something to tell us about leadership in our own personal lives and the roles that God may place you in in the future so Josiah tried to revive them but it was too late the Mosaic Covenant as we stated had declared that captivity would come the people would be dispersed all we have to do is read Leviticus 26 or Deuteronomy 28 29 in the curse segment of the Mosaic Covenant and we will see that they are going to be dispersed but we are also told in those chapters that in the manifestation of God's love the only way to removed from that curse is to return to God and I will tell you that every prophet when they announced judgment well at some point announced how you can escape and that's by turning to God and I hope when we announce judgment and I hope we do an ounce of judgment I think people are afraid to do that today I remember we had a series in our church once on the character of God and we had a number of seminary students and we asked them to among others to preach on a characteristic you've got and I remember asking a fella to preach on the Justice of God and he came back to me of the day later he said I don't think I can do this I just really have difficulty with the justice of God I think people a lot of people in this country of difficulty with the justice of God and of course it has to be seen with all of the other characteristics of God but God is just if he wasn't we'd be in a real big mess if we think we're in problems now but have a lot of problems if God was not just but God wants people and even in his justice as I've said he wants people to wake up and return to Him there was an international power struggle going on at this time Assyria had as you know been the dominant power for more than 250 years as you come down to the time of Josiah and Babylon was on the rise Assyria was on the decline there was a struggle going on in international politics in 612 BC the Babylonians in the B's defeated the Assyrians at Asher and the Nineveh and the Assyrians retreated to her on and were pursued by the Babylonians in 609 Pharaoh Necho comes from Egypt to join the Assyrians against the Babylonians and Josiah and we will probably always wonder because the text doesn't tell us very why tell us anything clearly Josiah tried to stop neiko at Megiddo and Josiah was killed I think most likely he was saying God says we were to submit to Babylon that's what the prophets were saying I think he was trying maybe he's trying to help God out it's amazing how many people in Scripture try to help God and do his stuff and how many people how many of us try to help God do his stock at times rather than just participating where he wants us to do what he wants us to do following his word but Josiah died Nikko joined this the Assyrians and at harren and 609 they were defeated by the Babylonians they retreated then the Assyrians and the Egyptians across the Euphrates River to the site of karkemish while Nebuchadnezzar whose father never pilaster has just died returns to Babylon to assume the throne to confirm the throne to himself he returns in 605 BC in the Battle of Carr Commission 605 BC Assyria and Egypt were soundly defeated probably one of the most strategic battles in ancient history because from that point on neither Assyria nor Egypt have ever again been a significant power at that point in 605 Nebuchadnezzar having won that battle proceeded down the coast and came to Jerusalem Israel and Judah and in Jerusalem he took many of the leaders captive and what we now know is the first deportation of the captivity to Babylon the judgment that God was going to bring upon them in that deportation in 605 a very well-known man of Scripture Daniel was taken into captivity let me say what's going to happen with three prophets is interesting Daniel will be with the leadership in Babylon Ezekiel is going to be with the people in Tel Aviv not Tel Aviv today by the way it's a different one okay and jeremiah in a sense we're going to say stayed home he remained in Palestine God had three different key people in three different location one with the leadership one with the people and one back in hometown so to speak each of their ministries is different in it exciting to see God use different people in different ways we all don't do the same thing how boring that would be you know plus would never get the job done and God has a place for you and your ministry is going to be unique it may not be enjoyable I don't think either of any of those three men had what they call a really fun ministry I don't think they would have been called having a popular ministry and I find so many people today you know it happens in the business world professional world but it happens also in the church where people try to climb the ladder of Christian success they want to be the pastor of the big church they want to do the big thing they want to be the big evangelist they want people to know who they are they won't have a name for themselves they want to write books everybody knows who they are and unfortunately I see that creeping into the former Soviet Union especially with the younger people and guys the younger people are the ones are most it seems like attracted to this look God may place you in one of those places but he may place you out there in a village and if you're in a village do the best village ministry you can do in the pow the Spirit of God because that's where he has you in the overall plan of what he's doing and your ministry may not be fun it may be tough you may have is we're going to see with Ezekiel people that are like scorpions and briars and thorns you know that's lovely wonderful place to minister you know all three of the jeremiah ezekiel daniel they all cried when they heard their commissions you know you are really you have to do this and we may laugh but god may put you in a tough place exciting thing we're going to see is he'll prepare you for it that's the exciting thing and he'll always be there and the Spirit of God will always be there to enable you in the work of the ministry God has for you Joe hiya Kim and this place was placed on the throne because when back when Babylon entered in they took at this point they invaded you they took the people neiko the pharaoh having killed josiah had placed joy has on the throne he was a one who was at that point you know probe babylon and so he takes part of me he takes jehoahaz off the throne because he's pro babbling he placed joy wake him there so when Nebuchadnezzar comes Jehoiakim the the son is at this point a greedy despising of the Mosaic Covenant King he's still on the throne but he quickly revolts against Babylon Nebuchadnezzar had left him there initially but he is wooed by the Egyptians now this is significant for Ezekiel because what's going to happen here is you now have one deportation you have people in Babylon you have people still in Jerusalem all the deportations have not taken place Jerusalem is still standing and there's this thinking about is this really going to happen are we really going to be taken as a people captive to Babylon you know if some of us are gone you know not too long after that I'm sure they didn't care about those people in fact Ezekiel's going to tell us people stayed back home thought you're the bad guys that's why you guys ended up going to captivity we're the good guys back here in Jerusalem I look at our our country here today and so many people are so oblivious can't can it can that really happen to us can things happen bad here no it would never happen in the USA after all we don't use this term politically but we are God's chosen people in a political sense that's the way most Americans look at America well that's a dangerous place to be okay and I think we are also asleep and have been mesmerised in this context about the truth and as a result that's why we see all the corruption and everything that goes on within our country because after all God doesn't really care I think so you have a situation here where you've got some in Babylon some still in Jerusalem and there's a tension between Egypt and Babylon and the people think that Egypt well Egypt becomes their hope after all babbling is of creating problems so let's go to Egypt Egypt is our hope so with Egypt we're going to think that the Pharaohs will rise up and they will put off Babylon well so Joakim says well I'm gonna go with Egypt I'll put my lot in with Egypt and with that Nebuchadnezzar comes and fights against Egypt in 601 right down in the Egyptian border and that battle was a stalemate in 601 Babel Nebuchadnezzar went back and reorganized his army Nebuchadnezzar if you just read Daniel is a very determined high powered intensive type of man and he came back and he did not like what had happened in that situation so he reorganized and in 598 he once again made an attack and we have among that they attack upon Judah who had revolted against him he did not like revolts and so and interestingly Jehoiakim dies I always wonder you know how and Jehoiachin his son succeeded him only to surrender Jerusalem three months later in that context and a second deportation took place in 597 BC okay that's an in very important date for Ezekiel don't forget 597 because the whole chronology of Ezekiel is based off of the date of the Exile of Jehoiachin it's 597 okay and in that deportation was a man named Ezekiel he went to Babylon in 597 Daniel had gone in 605 Ezekiel goes in 597 in the second deportation now this is the place where the ministry of Ezekiel takes place right in this context with the religious situation of degra Gatien does this obedience to the Mosaic Covenant the judgment that's coming and the discipline of the battling captive which is now begun it's in its second phase Jerusalem still exists it's hard to remember that it still exists it's not going to collapse until 586 so we have this period of time for Ezekiel himself Zedekiah who is not officially in the in the legal royal line is placed as a reagent because Jehoiachin is still alive in Babylon Zedekiah is play one of the again one of the sons of Josiah is placed upon the throne as a regent by Babylon and he also gets encouraged by false prophets now the prophets the false prophets is another issue that's very strategic as we're looking at Ezekiel they're all around and what we're going to see and the tension here is all the false prophets say hey you know ultimately those in captivity are going to come home Egypt is going to be is going to rise up Egypt is going to come and defeat bow a Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar and we'll all be able to come home and live happily ever after okay and as God will say in through Ezekiel to the people they have visions and they hear and they speak but I have not spoken they're speaking their own imaginations their own ideas and there's a lot of that that goes on today please don't be one of the false prophets be sure when you proclaim true the Prophet is a spokesman for God that's the Navi that's what an of E is the spokesman for God please be a spokesman I'm very convinced that preachers today essentially should be a prophetic ministry taking what God has revealed and applying it to the situation's of today that's what the prophets did primarily the predictive parts a very small part of the prophetic ministry prophetic ministry was predominantly taking the Word of God that has been revealed and applying it to the situation's of the day we have Angelica's by the way are very weak in application I have taught in seminary context where in exegesis courses I have the students for a final exam not have an exam I mean how do you do an exam an exegesis you know do it that's what you want so I have I'm doing an exegetical sign they do exegesis and I tell them the things I'm writing the things they need to do and one of those things that they need to do is to discuss what are the principles of the passage how do they relate to me personally and to my ministry now I've had students either tell me orally or write on their papers I do not see how this relates to exegesis now these are evangelical good people good people okay and there's a disconnect between the study of the word of God and application to life gentlemen if that's true in your thinking then maybe you ought to ask the question about whether you should be here or not because we've missed something greatly because the reason we're here to study the Word of God as I said before is to change our lives that should happen every day the rest of our lives we study the scripture it changes our lives it continues to changes continues to conform us to the image of Christ continues in our progressive sanctification and we might become more and more holy as he is holy and in turn have the privilege of proclaiming the wonderful truth of God to the world that's the prophetic ministry we should have well these false prophets were telling the people now this won't happen Pharaoh's going to grow strong so Zedekiah revolts against Nebuchadnezzar well Nebuchadnezzar as you well know doesn't like revolts and so he comes quickly and 588 he begins the siege of Jerusalem that fell in 586 said a cabin Zedekiah will be captured he we blinded before he's blinded his sons will be killed right before his eyes and he is taken to Babylon in the third and last deportation this all happens during the ministry of Ezekiel this is the historical immediate historical context of Ezekiel from the 2nd to the 3rd deportation and then afterwards Ezekiel is going as we see begin his ministry in 593 and the last message is dated in 571 22 year period recorded in the Book of Ezekiel this book is one of the most chronologically dated books that we have in the scripture 13 dates as we'll see going right through we call and so you know exactly where these things are happening at each moment it's almost like you know watching you know watching the news as these events are taking place and as Ezekiel is speaking as God works through him to each situation as they come along it's exciting to watch in that situation so he ministers in this context of international turmoil unrest of the immorality and the apostasy of Judah and the execution of the discipline that God announces that he will bring upon them it's it's an interesting time that's the win he enters the ministry and that's when the first message began that's when the first events take place yes Ezekiel as we're going to see is a priest he is also a prophet his ministry is predominantly to the exiled Judeans in Babylon now in visions he will be transported to Jerusalem and I'm sure that people in Jerusalem got some trickle down from Babylon but his ministry is to the people in Babylon the the well those that were re there okay and this is primarily those from the first and second deportations those are the audience those are those people of the audience of Ezekiel's message those already there now Ezekiel's message will take place in Babylon that's where the ministry is some have argued about this because envisions as I have implied he will be transported to Jerusalem but he is living at a place that is in is there in Babylon that's his residence and that's where he will continue to live and that's where the messages take place the context of the people that are in captivity as you know we know very little about the captivity about the conditions of the Jews what we do know appears that it was not severe you know it was not like they were all in slave labor type thing at all that there was freedom of movement there was opportunities to engage in normal life and even in commerce but it was a place of living in a strange land how many of you have ever lived in another land okay well you know when you live in the new land that things aren't the same okay and it's there's not as much at least initial freedom you were always you in a sense of the word please understand how to say this not this is probably an overstatement and a sense of the word when you live in another country you have no rights or at least you feel like you don't okay and what does that do to you it makes you be very careful you're very cautious so this was the thinking behind deportations by the way if I move you out to another country you probably won't rebellion because it's new trying to figure out what's going on I'm not comfortable here it's a day is a different way of operating think people do things differently here I haven't caught on to all the way it happens I don't know if I ever will I don't know the language etc okay that's that's where the people were okay so there was though there was some freedom they were recognizing very quickly that God was right well not as quickly as I should as we're going to see now let me also discuss here how the whole book fits together structurally there's a logical development of Ezekiel and there is a chronological development of Ezekiel as you can see on this overlay here we have a chronology from 597 on the one in all the way to well 570 but as I mentioned the last message is given 571 the beginning of his ministry is going to be 593 that's in chapters 1 verses 1 to 3 we read in the text and the 30th year in the 4th month on the fifth day while I was among the Exile on the key Bar River the head were open and I saw visions of God on the fifth of the month it was the fifth year of the Exile of Jehoiachin the word of the Lord came to zekiel to priest the son of Busey by the Kiba River in the land of Babylon of the Babylonians and there the hand of the Lord was upon him now we'll talk in just a moment about what some people arguably to different dates were they're really the same one you'll notice it's the same it's the same day of the year it's on the fifth day one is dated on the thirtieth day a thirtieth year and we have to figure out who's thirtieth year and the other is very clearly the fifth year of the Exile of jeho in fifth year puts us right head towards the end of 593 okay that's the beginning of Ezekiel's ministry in 593 chapters one to seven will take place and that are discussed in that message 592 the messages of chapters 819 590 chapters 22 23 589 is chapters 24 actually in 25 you can see half of the book has just taken place before the collapse of Jerusalem the focal point of the book is 586 the fall of Jerusalem the book is going to talk about what happens before that's the pinnacle that's when the judgment is final and what happens after but preview of things to come notice all of those notice all those little chapters right up there together between 587 and 585 boy you really packed them in you know most of those have to do with the judgment that comes upon the nations which is a strategic relational thing it's not just oh let's talk about foreign nations no it relates clearly the whole argument but he will spend as you notice at the bottom here Ezekiel 1 to 24 of the sins are announced and the resulting judgment on Judah that's a very broad scope and we'll look at the details of that but that's easy keels message he's continually reminding them why the judgment is coming why and what will happen and he says it over and over again and about as many ways as you can okay repetition by the way it's not bad it's good Ezekiel 25 to 33 20 is the judgment on the foreign nations with the exception of one message that's right down there at the tail end that concerns Egypt and will explain why that ones down there and actually logically is up here okay this is to see you're seeing Ezekiel dealing chronologically but he's also dealing thematically they weaves the two of them together okay the fall Jerusalem is a third deportation and right before the news three months later there's actually going to be a fugitive who leaves right after the collapse of Jerusalem he takes a journey taking three months to get to Babylon and the night before he arrives Ezekiel will deliver those night messages of hope and encouragement from chapters 33 21 through the end of chapter 39 and that's something that's so gracious right before they heard the from the news of which they didn't think would happen God steps in through his prophet it says now and didn't tell him exactly this way but before you hear the bad news I'm gonna tell you the good news I'm gonna tell your hope you have so when you hear the bad news you have hope and you know what you need to do and this got so gracious by the way there's grace in the Old Testament yes a lot of it in fact it's a good thing I wasn't God because Ezekiel I mean because this will probably wouldn't exist after a while but God is so gracious I mean anybody will put up with the nation of Israel as he did has to be gracious and there was explanation for that but he loves to step in and encourage before things happen then concludes back in chapters 40 to 48 at the end back in 573 giving them a glimpse of the Millennial the kingdoms that's coming in the future that's where their hope lay the hope by the way is always based on the unconditional covenants the Abrahamic the Davidic and the new covenants all they could announce the profits from the Mosaic Covenant because of the sin of people is judgment discipline but they could at the same time based on the immutability of God and His faithfulness to do what he says in the unconditional covenants the Abrahamic covenant the the Davidic covenant and the New Covenant there's hope in the future the hope was based on the faithfulness of God to his covenants so we see the chronological and we see the thematic they go together but you can see the thrust of the book the first part of the book is prior to the fall of Jerusalem it leads right up to that at chapter 24 will tell you boo it's fallen okay and then we're going to see okay what about these foreign nations it's interesting is that by the way if one does an interesting study sometime research do study more on God's relationship to the foreign nations did you ever know the foreign nations went to captivity also and they also were restored and some will be restored in the future Wow where's that happen well it's because we never pay attention to them yeah there there are messages concerning the foreign nations and we need to work with them also and then the hope hope the prophets always give hope God is a God who wants hope he wants his people to walk in his ways he does not delight in judgment but it's its manifestation of his love and grace to bring people back to know the hope that they have in him and to walk in his ways and to carry out the vocation that he has for them let me say a few things about the literary form you now I trust it read through Ezekiel a couple of times the literature of this book is about as wide and and various as you can get I don't think any other book in the scripture has so many different ways of communication most of it is prose there is some poor tree but the literary devices and the imageries abound now you have to understand in that that the Hebrew language is a descriptive pictorial language it's not like English it's not like Greek not like many of the Western languages and I think in God's and well I know and God's sovereign wonderful way New Testaments in Greek and you have these nice logical propositional things like Paul going down in all of his letters and this is this because of that and as a result of that and therefore this you know you don't see that much in the Old Testament but you see a lot of pictures picture lessons why because Hebrews descriptive you don't just go there you go from here to there you know you got to get the whole route in the process and it draws pictures for them and so God in lie their language reveals himself more descriptively to them and in his message to the people through Ezekiel he used every avenue to get through to them all the way be free to use avenues of communication don't be locked in our daughter is an artist I remember her saying once to a professor to a teacher actually was in high school a teacher said to her because she's she doesn't you know she's not real outgoing and he said you know it'd be good if you could if you would speak more in class and she wrote a note on the end of the paper and went back the teacher says you know some people are communicated by other means than oral some people here buy art they hear buy graphics they hear buy music they hear buy other ways teach aerobics ed Touche yeah it's true God communicates in wonderful ways a lot of different ways and we're going to see zekiel use dream visions we're going to see him use apocalyptic visions we're going to see him use drama parables allegories proverbs he'll give riddles he'll he'll sing funeral dirges whatever is going to help to communicate he'll do it so know your audience know the people you're talking to speak to them in that way I loved having the doctoral classes I had Dallas and I had students from different part of the world some of the props they don't know what to do with foreign students I love foreign students and I said okay when you do your assignments and when you make your presentations in the seminar I want you to do them from your culture well you should see I wish you could have sat there wish you could watch that you know Americans were like where's this guy going you know this thing but they learned they learned there were other ways to communicate and the people from the Philippines or the people from South Africa or the people from you know they would say oh oh well that's different yeah I never thought about that you know we can learn because different cultures communicate differently and we need to be stretched think about that and we need to be open and free to communicate Ezequiel did that I might say also textually there are probably more hot pox ligament I hope you understand what that is you know that's the only time it's used words and phrases in Ezekiel then we have any other book that makes it a little more difficult you can't just say well this means you know is it an is it amber or is it you know something other some other stone who knows it's the only time it's use see so we have some information but we have to recognize we have some limitations because and that that's one of the interpretive problems that we face within the Book of Ezekiel dream visions were very common at the end at the 7th and 6th centuries BC in Mesopotamia dream visions have three particular parts to them and we're going to see this they have a setting that tells you the time who this recipient is the place of reception and the general circumstances of the setting of the vision and then there'll be the description of the vision as seen well let me emphasize that the person receiving it is going to describe what they see okay and then you will have an interpretive statement a divine interpretation in most of the dream visions and this is exactly what apocalyptic literature follows a lot of writing on apocalyptic most people write about apocalyptic as if it were a theological issue not a literary issue I think that's a mistake if we're going to talk about apocalyptic literature do not define it by just theological days we have to define it literally and it follows the dream visions which the people were familiar with and that's exactly what would it expect God always uses the literature of the day to reveal himself and why should we think it should be any different then well that's the way people are going to understand God is not trying to be confusing when he reveals himself he's trying to reveal himself with his great at clarity as possible so he uses something in this context that the people in Mesopotamia would be more familiar with you do not need to write this down but I have defined a apocalyptic literature I did my doctoral dissertation on the hermeneutics of apocalyptic literature I've defined it in light of my research is that it is a symbolic visionary prophetic literature that is composed during oppressive conditions every situation I could find apocalyptic literature was always given in oppressive conditions it consists of visions whose events are recorded exactly as they were seen by the author and explained through a divine interpreter and then we could say whose eschatological content I mean whose primary whose theological content is primarily eschatological not always but primarily but it is a literature of its of its type now we're going to see the settings we're going to see the description of the vision and we're going to have to buy in Terp return and please gentlemen let the divine interpreter interpret the vision and you don't need to interpret the divine interpreter you hear that so often people wanted to interpret the divine they didn't think you did a good enough job and if you read these visions and you read it to my interpretation I think it would cause us to pause about coming up with our own because I don't think we would always see what the divine interpreter understands by looking at the vision okay so please let the divine interpreter do it if you if you would like a little more juicy details and get some more contemporary political issues in there and so forth that's all good and fine just think about it and then forget it let the divine interpreter tell us what if he doesn't tell you as much as you want to know that's okay that means we simply don't know you know that's a very good scholarly statement I don't know that's the scholarly statement would that more scholars would use it rather than telling us they do know when they know they don't know but there's nothing wrong I don't know that's wrong with saying that in the tech concerning just quickly and then we're gonna take a break here theological values of this book or many I've already mentioned that I think one of the greatest theological values of the book concerns the nature of God and how he manifests himself how he relates to his covenants how he is faithful to what he has said he never changes he is demonstrated as glorious a glorious God righteous holy just sovereign that's the God who will be reveal for us in the Book of Ezekiel but probably one of the greatest stresses upon the holiness of God his nature is reflected of course in the Mosaic Covenant and it is the basis for his discipline and judgment upon Israel and the basis for his restoration of them and his constant goal for them as I've already said and I don't have any problem repeating it because these eco repeats as I've already said more than sixty five times purpose of his discipline is that they might know experientially that I am at an Iowa I am your God I want you to know me not just intellectually but relationally and experienced ly experientially this book will also deal with and help us understand more the purpose and the nature of God's judgment what is the purpose and the nature of his judgment we will certainly see the ethical and religious and moral history of Israel and we'll see how God vindicates his judgment in light of the ethical religious and moral history of the people the degradation of the people of Israel is most probably vividly described in the imagery of a prostitute always echoes very straightforward God's very straightforward in imagery and language just as a wife can be unfaithful to a husband in normal marriage situations can carry on prostitutions spiritually that's what the people of Israel and Judah did my wife and I joke you know Ezekiel commentaries are never bestsellers and I said to her you know one of the things we could do is we could put a get him to put a new cover on this and call it the prostitute then it probably sell it would be true but probably hedging a little bit there yeah in the process but that imagery is very vivid and when you stop and think about it very graphic and applicable are we today in our relationship with God faithful or unfaithful in our relationship are we committing adultery with God individual responsibility is probably to discuss more in this book in some ways than others though you know most of the scripture is corporate and it's you know you deal with the nation of Israel you deal with the church in our country here we're very individualistically oriented and unfortunately we read individualism often in the scripture where it should be corporate but Ezekiel does talk about individual responsibility and it's very significant to see what he says about that and then of course we will see and discuss the nature of Israel's resurrection arrest party restoration on resurrection restoration and what I would call millennial worship we'll talk about how we described and where some of these things take place towards the end of the book but there's a message of hope that's continually here throughout the book the whole basis the manner the results of restoration in the entire haps the most exhaustive to treatment of what I would call millennial blessings we have in any of the prophets is here concerning especially the glory of God and the worship of God

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Published: Wed Jul 03 2013