Ezekiel 1

God Manifests Himself To Man

By Johnny Tatum

 

The purpose of studying Ezekiel 1 is to effect our goal of becoming conformed to God's likeness by having a correct concept about Him through the fullest picture of God in the whole Bible.

PART 1: EZEKIEL GETS AN EYEFUL

 

In the introduction we saw the Book of Ezekiel was apocalyptic literature (see Ezekiel: Introduction). Then we saw the Book of Ezekiel has six divisions and extended allegory for those six divisions on three levels (see Ezekiel: Outline and Ezekiel: Overview).

 

The Six Divisions:

Stage One: God is present [at the beginning], then

Stage Two: Man rejects God, then

Stage Three: God leaves - in stages [ultimately leads to destruction].

Stage Four: Is an Either-Or:

Stage Five: [For somebody who believes God] God makes a new creation.

Stage Six: [For a new creation] There are different levels of enjoying God.

 

Truth on Three Levels - The History Of:

  1. The nation of Israel.
  2. The human race.
  3. Every human being.

 

Stage One: God Is Present [at the beginning] - Ezekiel 1

 

Appropriately, the beginning of Ezekiel (Chapter 1) gives us the fullest picture of God in the whole Bible. Ezekiel saw more of God than anybody else did in the Bible, including Moses, Isaiah, Paul, and even [the Apostle] John. And he saw as much of God as the angels do.

 

The closest comparison with Ezekiel's vision of God is the vision that John saw in the Book of Revelation. However, from the time when Ezekiel saw this vision of God in the Book of Ezekiel to when John saw the vision of God in the Book of Revelation, there was a huge difference in the form of God. Part of the Godhead (God the Son) became human, the God-man (see our Matthew study, Whose Son is He? What Is His Name?)

Note: The Godhead refers to the three eternal and coequal Persons of God -- God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit -- who are the same in existence (only ONE God and He is from eternity), but distinct in subsistence (the state in which God exists).

Ezekiel is seeing the eternal picture of God before the cross, before the resurrection, and before the ascension; God's manifest presence from eternity past.

When we get to heaven, we will not see any more of God than who Ezekiel saw. As we will see in this study, there is nothing more to see.

 

Why Should I Stop and Focus On God?

 

I like Psalm 46 because David's thinking starts out wrong (just like our thinking does):

46:1-3 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; Though its waters roar and foam, Though the mountains quake at its welling pride.

That is what we want: serenity, the stability of God being our refuge and our strength, and God living in us. And we want to rush to that.

 

Notice how David shifts in verse 4, when he takes the focus off himself and he puts it on God:

46:4-9 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy dwelling places of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she will not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. The nations made an uproar, the kingdoms tottered; He raised His voice, the earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our stronghold. Come, behold the works of the Lord, Who has wrought desolations in the earth. He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariots with fire.

See how David's thinking is being changed? For God to be his refuge and his strength, for God to be real to him, the first thing David had to do was to focus on God.

 

The first nine verses have just been David talking. At this point [I think] God just bursts in and talks to David:

46:10 Cease and know that I am God.

This really means Stop! Since we are not always striving, then the message we need to hear is NOT cease striving (written in many Bible versions) it is just Stop!

Just think what David was doing when he heard God say Stop and know that I am God. What was David doing? He was praying. And yes, David's focus was on God and not on himSELF.

However, I think that David was doing exactly what many of us tend to do, which is thinking that prayer is all TALKING. Even if we are saying the right things, prayer is also LISTENING to God. This is a hint for us to also:

Just STOP

and:

Just Know that I Am God.

 

Consider This:

Knowing God

Do you know what the Westminster Catechism is?

The chief end of man is to know God and enjoy Him forever.

That is not in the Bible but it does crystallize the essence in the Bible, which is man was made to know God.

If our goal is to enjoy God -- remember that the Book of Ezekiel ends with different degrees of enjoying Him (see our Ezekiel study, Going Down, Down, Down) -- you cannot get there unless you start with Ezekiel 1, which is to know God. People try to jump in and enjoy God (by walking in Holy Spirit), but they do NOT know God. You have to know Him first.

 

What is the chief end for the redeemed? We tend to think:

It is to become conformed to the likeness of Messiah Jesus.

Then we think:

Knowing God should be the first goal.

Obviously, those two are related. John says that we are going to look like Messiah Jesus:

We know that when He appears, we will be like Him… (1 John 3:2)

That is a fact. If we keep our eyes on Jesus, our hope on Him, we become more like Him.

 

Throughout the Bible [it amazes me how often] there are pictures of God flowing with His glory and radiance and His attributes shining out. Those same attributes, which originate in God, are supposed to come down into man and then flow out of him.

The life of the righteous is to know how to let the attributes of God come out of his life. Okay, so what does it mean when that does NOT happen? We recognize two truths:

A principle for the human race: Everybody is limited by his or her concept of God. Ask any human being What is your concept of God? By his or her response you will know something about that person's life.

 

For Example:

A Muslim's Concept of Allah

When you know someone is a Muslim you know something about his life, because a Muslim does not go beyond his concept of Allah (the name for the supreme being in the Muslim religion).

What does a Muslim think about Allah [-about God]? The relationship of man to Allah is total performance for man and man cannot escape Allah's judgment. A Muslim can only hope that judgement will not be too severe. And he must constantly appease Allah, because a Muslim has no concept of unsolicited, unmerited grace from Allah.

Many Muslims have great flesh. They may be good human beings, but no matter the costs (no matter how painful their SELF-discipline and sacrifices are) they can never be at peace because they are always limited by their concept of Allah.

 

Do You Have a High or a Low Picture of God?

 

How many times do you think I want to be conformed to the image of Jesus [and not to this world]? That is what God says the believer's goal should be -- to be conformed to His Son's likeness (see Romans 8:29). We know there is a steady upward progression in that.

We also know the more we know about Messiah, the more the believers become like Him. However, what we may not know is:

Wherever my life is right now, it is conformed to what my picture of God is right now.

That is NOT a progression -- it is at this time. If there is some deficiency in your life, then [no question what so ever] you do not know God enough. And since you have a low concept of Him then you are limited.

 

Illustration:

Great Men of God

Consider those individuals in the Bible (including the Apostle Paul) who accomplished great things. They had a high picture of God, they communicated with God, and they knew -- for a fact -- that God had spoken to them. These individuals did not just draw inspiration from printed text; they knew He had spoken to them. They drew from a big God.

Conversely, there have been other great leaders who have yielded to God by [basically] giving their deficiencies over to Him, but their concept of God was too low.

Dwight L. Moody (an American evangelist, 1837-1899) was possibly the most surrendered person to God since the Apostle Paul. Near the end of his life he said that the thing he regretted most was how little he had yielded himself go God. By this statement we know that [unfortunately] his concept of God was too low. Although he had a great influence, that influence has been limited and has deteriorated to legalism very, very quickly.

 

Having a correct concept of God is why the Ezekiel passages about God are important.

 

Note: It would be easy to read Ezekiel, Chapter 1 and think Wow! This is God. This is amazing! However, it is really worth the investment of time to thoroughly examine it, understand it, and know it.

 

Next: Ezekiel 1, PART 2: BLUE NORTHERS -Either Threatening Or Comforting

 

To: Matthew 1:18-25, Whose Son Is He? What Is His Name?

Back To: Ezekiel Home Page

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We want to express our deepest appreciation to Mitchell and Dawn Kolodin for their excellent work in transcribing and editing this entire Ezekiel study.

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