Hand Of God

In the book of Ezekiel, God speaks to Ezekiel in a variety of ways.

1) The word of the Lord came

2) The hand of the Lord was on me

3) The Spirit lifted me up.

4) The Spirit entered me

5) The voice above the expanse said to me.

6) The Lord God said to me.

7) Son of man, stand up on your feet

8) The hand of the LORD was strong upon me

God communicates to a prophet in many different ways. One time by the word, another via the Spirit, yet another via the voice above the expanse, etc.

Before an open visitation in Ezekiel 1, God’s hand touched Ezekiel. Open visitation or vision is when you actually see and experience a vision here on earth. Physical body and eyes are involved in this visitation. There is a change in surrounding like it becomes cloudy and people in the vicinity are also impacted. This vision is not just seen by the prophet; it is also perceived/seen by those around the prophet.

Sometimes those in the immediate vicinity can sense a change in the environment without being able to see the vision. In this chapter, Ezekiel was present among certain people when the vision occurred, but others noticed a change in the atmosphere. Ezekiel was present at Chebar Canal when the heavens were opened, and he saw God’s Glory there.

His physical eyes were transformed to see an open visitation when the hand of God touched him. God’s nature rubs on Ezekiel, and as a result, his physical body is altered to support and contain God’s glory. His natural eyes were altered/ transformed in such a way that he can now view the grandeur of God’s Glory.

His eyes were seeing things that were moving faster than light, including a five-dimensional living creatures, a living creature with multiple faces, giant wheels, interdimensional travel, a living being with numerous eyes, complex objects, burning air, an appearance similar to glowing metal, and a variety of iridescent colours of air that were extremely difficult to understand.

Ezekiel was witnessing celestial objects or things that had never before been seen by a person. He used things/items from the earth to describe these celestial wonders. Ezekiel with transformed physical eyes got a glimpse God’s Glory. God’s Glory can be seen only by God’s eyes. It was a wonder to witness and sustain an open visitation with a physical body. He frequently trips and falls down in view of God’s Glory. When the hand of God touched Ezekiel’s body, it transformed Ezekiel’s body into God’s physical body ( A body in which God can live), which was able to sustain the open visitations. Ezekiel physically shared in God’s suffering.

When the hand of God touches the below things can happen

1) Eyes are opened to see open visitations

2) God can give visions related to His Glory

3) There will be a physical direction. Ezekiel 3:22 – “Get up, go out to the plain, and I will speak with you there.”

4) Chances to be led by His Spirit. Ezekiel 37:1 – The hand of the Lord was on me, and He brought me out by His Spirit and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones.

5) Take part in God’s agony

Six times the phrase “the hand of the Lord was upon Ezekiel” was mentioned, and most of the time it was an open visitation that revealed some facet of God’s Glory.

1st time – Ezekiel 1:3 – Open visitation of God’s Glory

2nd Time – Ezekiel 3:14 – Mostly an open visitation with Ezekiel being taken to a place of God’s Glory. Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me a great thunderous voice: “Blessed is the glory of the Lord from His place!” 13 I also heard the noise of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and the noise of the wheels beside them, and a great thunderous noise. 14 So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the Lord was strong upon me.

3rd time – Ezekiel 3:22 – Another open visitation of God’s Glory. Then the hand of the Lord was upon me there, and He said to me, “Arise, go out into the plain, and there I shall talk with you.” 23 So I arose and went out into the plain, and behold, the glory of the Lord stood there, like the glory which I saw by the River Chebar; and I fell on my face.

4th time – Ezekiel 8:3 – Open visitation of God’s Glory leaving the temple

5th time – Ezekiel 33:22 – Jerusalem destroyed