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Ezekiel 4 (ESV)

⁹ “And you, take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and emmer, and put them into a single vessel and make your bread from them. During the number of days that you lie on your side, 390 days, you shall eat it. ¹⁰ And your food that you eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day; from day to day you shall eat it. ¹¹ And water you shall drink by measure, the sixth part of a hin; from day to day you shall drink. ¹² And you shall eat it as a barley cake, baking it in their sight on human dung.” ¹³ And the Lord said, “Thus shall the people of Israel eat their bread unclean, among the nations where I will drive them.” ¹⁴ Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I have never defiled myself. From my youth up till now I have never eaten what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has tainted meat come into my mouth.” ¹⁵ Then he said to me, “See, I assign to you cow’s dung instead of human dung, on which you may prepare your bread.” ¹⁶ Moreover, he said to me, “Son of man, behold, I will break the supply of bread in Jerusalem. They shall eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and they shall drink water by measure and in dismay. ¹⁷ I will do this that they may lack bread and water, and look at one another in dismay, and rot away because of their punishment.

REFLECTION:

Ezekiel prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem to the people through various symbolic actions commanded by God. God specifically explained to Ezekiel what to do, what to say, how to do, and how to say it. Every detail has specific meaning. We often ignore or disrespect the nuances of God’s words, thinking that God probably won’t mind these details. We are to be like Ezekiel, even in the details of God’s Word, to be completely obedient. Ezekiel’s unusual behaviour symbolized the fate of Jerusalem. He lay on the left side for 390 days, which means that Israel will be punished for 390 years; then he lay on the right side for 40 days, which means that Judah will be punished for 40 years. Ezekiel could not move the place, which symbolized that people in Jerusalem would be imprisoned in the city. He was allowed to eat a small amount of food, which meant that when the enemy was besieging the city, the people in the city still had food to eat. But this food must be baked on dung, which symbolizes the fate of Judah’s uncleanness and destruction. Ezekiel asked God not to let him bake food on human dung, because this violated the Purity Laws (cf. Lev. 21, 22; Deut. 23:12-14). God assign to him cow’s dung instead of human dung on which he may prepare his bread. As a priest, Ezekiel has been careful to obey these laws, but he is more willing to obey God’s direct instructions to him. Many people must have seen these abnormal scenes and heard Ezekiel’s message from time to time throughout the process. Unfortunately, they did not respond as they should. Today, when we face the warning signs of God, will we be as slow as the Israelites back then?

PRAYER:

Pray that God will give you sufficient alertness toward the disasters and tragedies happening in the world. God’s judgment is not delayed but is an expression of His patience, not wanting anyone to perish. Pray for Canada and for global disasters and suffering, asking God to show mercy and bring healing to those who are facing sickness and the threat of death.

HYMN:
His Mercy Is More – youtu.be/I1GiZL60c80

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Ezekiel 3 (ESV)

¹ And he said to me, “Son of man, eat whatever you find here. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” ² So I opened my mouth, and he gave me this scroll to eat. ³ And he said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it.” Then I ate it, and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey.

⁴ And he said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with my words to them. ⁵ For you are not sent to a people of foreign speech and a hard language, but to the house of Israel— ⁶ not to many peoples of foreign speech and a hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, if I sent you to such, they would listen to you. ⁷ But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me: because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart. ⁸ Behold, I have made your face as hard as their faces, and your forehead as hard as their foreheads. ⁹ Like emery harder than flint have I made your forehead. Fear them not, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.” ¹⁰ Moreover, he said to me, “Son of man, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears. ¹¹ And go to the exiles, to your people, and speak to them and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ whether they hear or refuse to hear.”

REFLECTION:

Ezekiel ate the message of God in a vision and found that this spiritual food was not only delicious but also sweet as honey (see similar usage in Revelation 10:8-10). If we “digest” God’s words, we will find that it not only makes our faith stronger, but God’s wisdom can make our lives more abundant and sweeter. So we have to eat spiritual food like we eat every day. We cannot communicate with God only occasionally, but keep God’s words in our hearts all the time and become a part of our lives. Before Ezekiel preached the word of God to others, he had to remember the word of God in his heart. In other words, God’s word must first be deeply rooted in our hearts and manifested in our lives before we can effectively help others understand and apply the gospel. Today, we will also face some people with “hard foreheads and hard hearts.” To break through their defenses, it is not because of the great words and wisdom, but our good life as Christians, and a faith that is like emery stronger than flint.

PRAYER:

Pray for God to make you more thirsty for His words, eat spiritual food every day, and digest this spiritual food in your life, so that you will be stronger and have more heavenly characters; pray that God will strengthen your faith and enable you to live out your faith no matter what environment you are in, use your life to bear a good testimony for God, and attract more people to God.

HYMN:

Thy Word – youtu.be/a6LC8cu03Ig

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Ezekiel 2 (ESV)

¹ And he said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.” ² And as he spoke to me, the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me. ³ And he said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day. ⁴ The descendants also are impudent and stubborn: I send you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ ⁵ And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them. ⁶ And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions. Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house. ⁷ And you shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house.

⁸ “But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Be not rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you.” ⁹ And when I looked, behold, a hand was stretched out to me, and behold, a scroll of a book was in it. ¹⁰ And he spread it before me. And it had writing on the front and on the back, and there were written on it words of lamentation and mourning and woe.

REFLECTION:

When the eternal God spoke to Ezekiel, He called him the “son of man” (in the Book of Ezekiel, God called Ezekiel the “son of man” a total of ninety-three times), which emphasizes the distance between man and God. Ezekiel certainly did not understand what he saw, but he knew that these were from God, so it was very important. God saw Ezekiel’s frank and obedient attitude, so He filled him with His spirit and gave him the ability to complete His work. God does not want us to understand everything about Him, but we are required to be obedient servants and be faithful to the true and correct principles that God has revealed to us. God gave Ezekiel a difficult task: God wanted him to preach the message of God to those who are ungrateful and stubborn. God said that the people were rebellious because they refused to confess their sins. Rebellion was the greatest feature of the nation of Israel at that time. Even after God pointed out their wrong behaviour, they still turned a deaf ear to the truth. God told Ezekiel not to be afraid or resist. Whether people listen or not, just tell them what God said. Today, when God calls us to preach the gospel, we may also face rejection, opposition, and even persecution. God wants us to preach the gospel no matter be in season or out of season (see 2 Timothy 4:2). More importantly, does God also use people around us to point out certain sins in us? Let us not be stubborn and rebellious, but confess our sins to God and learn the lesson of obedience every day.

PRAYER:

Pray for God to give you the courage to preach the gospel no matter the time is right; pray for a friend or relative who consistently rejected the gospel, and ask God to remove his/her hardiness so that he/she may be enlightened, and accept the gift of eternal life; ask God to make you more meek and humble, more obedient, and to please God in everything you do.

HYMN:

O Church Arise – youtu.be/A98YQHG8tLY

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EZEKIEL

INTRODUCTION

The priest Ezekiel was among the Judeans that Nebuchadnezzar brought to Babylon in 597 BC. Five years into this exile, God called Ezekiel to go to Israel (both those in Babylon and those back in Judea) and speak my words to them. Ezekiel often brought this message by composing finely polished poetic oracles and speaking (or perhaps singing) them in public. But he also told stories with symbolic meanings, performed symbolic actions, and described extraordinary visions that he had received.

The book of Ezekiel organizes these messages into three main parts: oracles of judgment against Israel, oracles against other nations, and then promises of Israel’s restoration. These divisions are marked by references to the prophet losing and then regaining his ability to speak. A key vision near the beginning describes how God removed His presence from the Jerusalem temple because of Israel’s evil. The oracles against the nations make it clear that though God’s temple was destroyed, no one should conclude that God is not still in control of the world. Those who threaten His people will be defeated in the end. The book’s closing promises confirm that God will renew the hearts of His people and refresh all life on the face of the earth. Ezekiel’s visions fit the ongoing drama of the Bible: a broken world will be healed when the Lord returns to live with His people in a land that has become like the Garden of Eden.

www.bible.com/zh-TW/bible/111/EZK.INTRO1.NIV

Ezekiel 1 (ESV)

¹ In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the Chebar canal, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. ² On the fifth day of the month (it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin), ³ the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the Chebar canal, and the hand of the Lord was upon him there.

⁴ As I looked, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, and a great cloud, with brightness around it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, as it were gleaming metal. ⁵ And from the midst of it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had a human likeness, ⁶ but each had four faces, and each of them had four wings…

¹⁵ Now as I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, one for each of the four of them. ¹⁶ As for the appearance of the wheels and their construction: their appearance was like the gleaming of beryl. And the four had the same likeness, their appearance and construction being as it were a wheel within a wheel. ..

²⁶ And above the expanse over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance. ²⁷ And upward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were gleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around. And downward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him. ²⁸ Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around.

Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking.

REFLECTION:

Ezekiel was born and raised in Judah. When he was preparing to serve as a priest in the temple in 597 BC, the Babylonians attacked Jerusalem and took 10,000 captives, including Ezekiel himself (cf. 2 Kings 24:10-14). The entire nation is facing destruction. Four or five years later, when Ezekiel was thirty years old (this is the legal age to become a priest), God called him to be a prophet. During the first six years of Ezekiel’s ministry in Babylon, Jeremiah was still preaching to those who remained in Judah. Daniel served in the palace of King Nebuchadnezzar. The place of exile of Judah was by the Chebar canal, where Babylon and the Euphrates met. God communicated with Ezekiel through visions to reveal God’s truth. These visions are revelatory, so they look strange. The people in exile do not understand the will of God for them. Ezekiel brought the vision from God to them, showed them the awesome glory and holiness of God, and warned people of the consequences of their sins as early as possible. “A likeness with a human appearance” (v26) revealed the God sitting on the throne. In a similar way, Christ revealed God to people in the image of man, and prepared the message of salvation for us. Before the glory of the Lord, Ezekiel fell face down to the ground, seeing the holy God and the sinful self, completely surrendering to God. Today, although we cannot see God with our eyes, the Holy Spirit and our heart testify that we are children of God, allowing us to see the glory and holiness of God with our spiritual eyes, and causing us to have a deep and incomparable awe.

PRAYER:

Come to God in awe, open your spiritual eyes and focus on God’s holiness and glory; thank God that although you are filthy and insignificant, He covers your sins with the blood of Christ so that you can walk with Him; ask God to cleanse you and illuminate the darkness of your heart so that you can live a holy life and glorify God.

HYMN:

Only A Holy God – youtu.be/Jxn_fu6rdCU