Trust the Hand of the Lord!

Ezekiel 1

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, June 3.

The call narrative of the prophet Ezekiel covers the first three chapters, and it began with a time stamp and location ping in Ezekiel 1:1-3:

Now it came about in the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was by the river Chebar among the exiles, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. (On the fifth of the month in the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s exile, the word of the Lord came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and there the hand of the Lord came upon him.)

First, we learn that Ezekiel is a priest who had been living in exile, probably for five years assuming he was a part of the first wave of exiles with King Jehoiachin in 597 BC. Second, we learn that Ezekiel was thirty when he received this initial vision of God’s glory in 592 BC. This is important, because, according to Numbers 4:30, that was the age a priest began his official service in the temple.

The kings were being punished, but God was still calling forth priests and prophets in exile. Even though the temple would not have been destroyed yet, as that was still six years away, this was a declarative statement that “the hand of the Lord” could reach His people in exile, and, in fact, He would rescue them from captivity, like He had done from Egyptian slavery. Just like at the Exodus, the vision of Ezekiel invoked the fear of the Lord because of its explicit supernatural reality – “such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord” (Ezekiel 1:28; cf. Exodus 24:16). This would have given them great hope because God was with them.

God bless you!

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YOUTUBE:

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