Ezekiel 1-4

It took me about 14 minutes to read the introduction to Ezekiel’s ministry. For years Ezekiel, the priest, had been serving in the temple.  He was born early during the rule of Josiah.  So his early memories were of a king who sought God with a heart like David.  Surely Ezekiel read the writings of Isaiah.  He probably heard his cousin Jeremiah, who was also a priest, speak God’s words of warning.  Around the age of 25 it appears that Ezekiel was taken captive with Jechoiachin and carried to Babylon.  After about 5 years in exile God gave Ezekiel a vision of his heavenly realm, and the vision overwhelmed the priest.  At the end of chapter 4 God gave Ezekiel a physical picture of what sin does to a person spiritually.  In the message the end of 4:17 reads this way; “People will look at one another, see nothing but skin and bones, and shake their heads.  This is what sin does.”  We are made to feast on the presence and obedience of God.  To give that up is a form of spiritual starvation. 

Stuart