Ezekiel Speaks Today!
Sunday, August 28, 2022
I have received what I believe to be the Word of the Lord for this morning so turn in your Bibles to the Book of Ezekiel, chapter 3. Let us hear, truly hear, what God is saying to the church in this hour.
The Prophet Ezekiel had several spiritual visions in which the God of Heaven revealed his majesty and power in ways that no other prophet had seen. Even though many of the Old Testament prophets have seen spiritual visions of God’s awesome power and heard his voice speak to them personally the visions may have interconnected, or had the same purpose, but they were never exactly alike.
When Ezekiel was 30 years old he reached the age where he would enter into his place in the priesthood of Israel according to the Laws given to Moses. Ezekiel was about to receive his call to duty into God’s service and he would be given the task of being a prophet to the rebellious nation of Israel while they were in Babylon in captivity under King Nebuchadnezzar.
In the opening verses of his prophecy we see that Ezekiel was among his own countrymen who were now being forced to dwell in the land of the Chaldees, by the river of Chebar. Israel had been under Babylonian rule for about 12 years at this time according to the historian, Jerome. While Ezekiel sat and contemplated the condition of his people the heavens opened and he began to have a new vision of the very Throne of God.
I think it would be good for us just to take the time to read parts of the vision that Ezekiel saw because what he saw is the Glory of God upon his throne. I believe that if we ever truly catch the vision of God in his glory and power that we will never be the same.
Ezekiel 1:4-28
And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire folding in upon itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire.
I don’t know how many of you watch science fiction movies, but if you’ve ever watched the movie Independence Day, where aliens supposed invade the earth, and you see the scene where the giant spacecraft comes out of a huge cloud of boiling fire, then you know where they got the description of that cloud from. Of course we cannot duplicate the true appearance of it all.
Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man. And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings. And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like the color of burnished brass.
And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings. Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.
As for the likeness of their faces, (each had four faces) they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle. Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies. And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went.
As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.
Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces. The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the color of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel. When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went. As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.
And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up. Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the color of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above. And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies.
And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings. And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings.
And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. And I saw as the color of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.
This same vision is seen in John’s book of Revelation. Many artists have tried to create a picture of this vision, but none have ever really succeeded in doing so in a way that come close to displaying the Glory of God that Ezekiel saw. The true glory of the spiritual cannot be seen with the eyes of the flesh. God’s glory must be revealed through the power of the Spirit!
Let’s remember that God made a personal appearance to Ezekiel, so the message that Ezekiel was about to receive is not one to be ignored and there’s no doubt that it came straight from the very Throne of God to the heart and mind of the prophet.
I want to point out that this land of the Chaldees was where God had called Abraham to come out of and begin to walk by faith in the promises of God. The Chaldees was in the land of Babylon, the very place where the devil had established his throne and began to gather idol worshippers and all who would stand in opposition to the God of Heaven. Here, in this place of such a presence of evil and satanic influence, the very people that God had chosen as his own, was where they had returned as captives and were forced to serve their enemies, all because of their disobedience to God.
As we consider the general condition of the church right now, I see that much of the church has returned to the very place from which we were delivered by the Lord when we were Born Again. So many who claim to be Christians are not living in the Promises of God, but they are captured by the things of this world and have chosen to serve their enemy instead of being faithful to God and his word.
But I believe that God is making another visitation to his people in our captivity. He isn’t limited by time, distance, or any strongholds of the devil. He comes and goes and speaks as he wills and nothing can withstand his power!
It's time for a New Vision to come into the spiritual eyes of the church! It’s time that we will once again see that the Awesome, Majestic, all-powerful, omniscient God still sits on his Throne, propelled by thought and word on the wings of Cherubim as his will is carried out by the armies of heaven. We need a vision of Ezekiel;s “Wheel in the middle of the Wheel”!
We need to see that nothing, no one and no power of hell can stop the will and power of God! No enemy can stand before him! His Word shall not fail, for He is the God that cannot fail!
So many in the church in this hour are living in defeat, cowering in fear, and wondering “Oh Lord, How Long must we endure this evil in the land? How long will you let us languish in fear as it seems the enemy is having his way?”
Can we not see that our God is Greater, our God is Stronger, our God is Higher, Our God reigns above all, and that all things are under his feet!
• We are the church of the Most High God;
• we are Children of God of heaven;
• we are brothers and sisters of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!
• We have been given the authority of Christ, and we have been called forth for such a time as this
What have we to fear, and why should we live in defeat, when our God has already overcome our enemies and he has endued us with all the power of heaven to be a victorious church, without spot or blemish! We are the pure and holy Bride of Christ, made righteous by the Blood of Jesus, and we are destined to live eternally in the House of our Father!
But without a right vision; a renewed vision; a vision that ignites faith and reveals the power of God entrusted to us, the people perish, so we need to have a new vision of who God is and who we are in God!
I believe that’s what is happening right now in the true church of Jesus Christ around the world, and especially right here in America! The Holy Ghost is moving, raising up men and women of God who will stand up for Jesus and declare that we will not be overcome by the world; that we will hold the line for righteousness and sanctification; and we will not bow down to the threats and tricks of the devil to try and bring us to compromise!
Let me tell you how it begins. It’s the same for us as it was for Ezekiel.
Out of the midst of the vision of God’s Glory and Jehovah sitting upon his throne, God began to speak.
Ezekiel 2:1-2 And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee. And the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard him that spake unto me.
When God speaks, we have but one thing to do and that’s to stand at attention and listen to every word he says. Ezekiel had fallen on his face, but God said to stand up, look at me and hear me.
There is nothing greater than hearing the word of the Lord, whether it comes from the Lord himself as it does in visions and dreams, or if it comes through the ministry of the preacher, pastor, teacher, evangelist or pastor. It’s still the word of the Lord and God still says, “Stand up and pay attention. I have something to say and you must hear it for you will be held accountable for every word of it.”
Now let’s go to the third chapter of Ezekiel, for it is there that I believe the Lord wants to speak to us this morning!
In Ezekiel 3:1- 3 God said, “… Son of man, eat that thou findest; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll. And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.”
There’s the beginning of the vision and the message that will create a church that is victorious and has overcoming power of faith; a church that will not be defeated!
If you want to have that “outpouring of the Holy Ghost and the anointing of the presence of God in your life” then you have to first “eat the roll” and let it fill you with faith as you digest it fully into your heart and life! The more you “eat it and let it grow in you, becoming a part of you”, the sweeter it becomes, because in the word of God you find faith and the hope of eternal life! BUT WHAT IS THAT ROLL? WHAT DOES IT REPRESENT?
The Apostle Paul wrote these words in Romans 10:17, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
There are many in the church who seek to have greater faith! They know that nothing happens in their work for God unless they can exercise the faith needed to see God move! There is a Gift of Faith through the power of the Holy Ghost, but we want to have faith all of the time; faith that will move mountains!
• We want to experience the miracles of healing by faith in God!
• We want to have faith that God will save our loved ones!
• We want to have faith to know that God will bring us to a place of victory!
• We want the faith to believe that God will deliver us from the hands of those who would enslave us, oppress us, silence us and take away our freedoms!
• We want the faith to believe God for a mighty outpouring of the Holy Ghost and Fire!
• We want faith to believe God for miracles, signs and wonders!
But where is our desire for the hearing of God’s word? Where is the hunger to hear what the Spirit is speaking to the church through his word, brought forth from the pulpits, under the anointing of the Holy Ghost, by the man or woman of God to whom God has given the word for the hour? Do we give God time to speak to us as we study and read his word? Do we pay attention to what God is saying, or is our attention drawn to everyone else, anyone else or anything else?
God will speak to us through his Word, whether in the preaching of a sermon, the teaching of a class, or the singing of his praises and worshipping God in a song!
It’s not the hype, the loudness and the sound of the music alone, for the devil knows how to use music to stir the spirit of a man, that fleshly nature bound in the heart of foolishness. It’s not the fog, the dress, the manner of dress or the ability
of the speaker or the performer, for those are only for effecting the natural senses of sight, sound and even sometimes stirring the sensuality of the flesh that makes the performer into an idol for many people.
The true power in worship comes through a combination of the right music that drives the message of the lyrics of the song! That’s why the lyrics must glorify Jesus or speak of the nature of God in some way.
If you can’t hear or understand the lyrics, or the lyrics only speak of good things that apply to the fleshly nature of the hearer, then there’s no ministry of the word and no building of your faith for a long-term relationship with God, or for the creation of a New Vision in your heart! It’s the hearing of the word that increases faith. Everything else only excites the flesh like any other entertainment!
Does the music stir your heart? It surely does for most people. But the real question is, “Does the music, the singing, the hype and excitement make a difference in your life for the long term, or is it soon forgotten as we get back to reality? If there’s no conviction for sin; no change in how much we want to serve the Lord; no realization of the calling of God to be his witness in the earth; if you don’t have something remaining to meditate upon that has the power to change your life, then it’s nothing but entertainment!
And that doesn’t go just for music either. Let me tell you that if you listen to a speaker behind a sacred desk, and the words that are spoken don’t make an impact in your heart and mind for change; creating a deeper desire to know the things of God; or to lead you closer to a sanctified life of Righteousness in Christ, and make you want to be a profitable servant for the kingdom of God; then that is nothing more than a self-improvement speech from the mind of a speaker that probably hasn’t heard from God before they being to speak.
The church doesn’t need another self-improvement speech! We don’t need more teachings on building and improving relationships among people! Those are all good, but we cannot save ourselves no matter how “good” we think we might become.
What we must have are messages from the Word of God that help us draw closer to the heart of God; that lead us always to the foot of the cross; and that will help us deal with the attacks of the devil and bring us to a place of overcoming victory in Christ! And we must have the truth so that we know where we stand with God!
We won’t have the faith we need and want by listening to the ball games! We will never get the faith we need to overcome temptation and live holy before God during this hour by playing on Facebook, Tik Tok, Rumble, Truth Social or any social media! Our faith is hindered by listening to the talking heads on the news whether its fake news or real news, because it’s nearly all negative!
Faith comes by hearing the Word of God, not just reading it, or listening to it, but by truly hearing what the Lord would say and letting it sink into your heart to bring its power to wash away whatever should not be there every time the Word is spoken or read!
Then after faith is made strong through the Word of God, we are to put what we have become to work for the kingdom of God. God didn’t call any of us just to fill a chair! We all have a calling; a work to do for God!
Like Ezekiel, we are to consume the word of the Lord that is give to us; take from it that which speaks to our own heart, and then go and share that word with those who are lost in sin and need Jesus!
Ezekiel 3:4 - 6 “Then He said to me, "Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak My words to them. For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel, not to many peoples of unintelligible speech or difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. But I have sent you to them who should listen to you and pay attention to My message; yet the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you and obey you, since they are not willing to listen to Me and obey Me, for the entire house of Israel is stubborn and obstinate.”
Doesn’t that describe the church of today? Ezekiel wasn’t called to even go out and preach to the gentile world. He wasn’t told to go and prophesy to Babylon, or the Chaldeans, or the idol worshippers who held Israel captive.
He was sent to prophesy to God’s own people; to those who understood what he was saying, to those who had been brought up and taught the ways of God.
In our modern way of saying it, Ezekiel was called to prophesy to the church, and that’s what I’m called to do this morning! I’m called to preach not only to the sinners, but to very people who once knew God, to those who were Born Again but are on the road to destruction.
To those under the influence of either secret sin in their lives, or who have developed a rebellious attitude toward the church and the things of God;
to those who have chosen to forget what God says, or the warnings he gives, and have gone back into the world!
To those who have chosen to shut out God, close their ears to his word and won’t attempt to get nearer to the Lord.
I’m called to speak to those in this church, and in the church wherever this will be heard, that it is time to stand up and listen because the judgment that is coming will begin at the House of God, and that means those who are in rebellion who still claim to be Christian. Know this – your sin will find you out! God knows the real you and he will not be mocked!
The church can’t be victorious only on past experiences. We need a New Vision, a fresh anointing, a refreshing of the infilling power of the Holy Ghost and Fire! We need a closer walk with God! We need to get close enough to feel the very heartbeat of Christ so that we can know, and show the Love of God!
The hardest people to reach for Christ in this world are those who once knew Jesus and now have forsaken the ways of God. Their faith is dead and it needs to be resurrected, but that will only happen through hearing the Word of the Lord and obeying it.
We talk about America needing a new spiritual awakening, but that can never happen until the church has a new spiritual awakening! How can God move through a church that is lukewarm, and caught up in sin? He cannot bless disobedient servants, or pour out his Spirit upon those who choose to be lukewarm and not change their ways!
It’s time that we get a New Vision; that we have a fresh spiritual awakening and we begin to walk under the unction of the Holy Ghost and let the Holy Fire of God burn in our hearts as we hear his word!
God told Ezekiel that his ministry among the Israelites would face a lot of opposition; that many would be obstinate and refuse to hear! They thought that they didn’t need to obey the Lord anymore; that they had made for themselves a new life and they were unashamed of their lives in Babylon, the land of idols and slavery. It’s a fact that we can get comfortable in almost any circumstances, no matter how bad they are, if we stay there long enough. The terrible way of life becomes the norm!
That’s what is happening in the church right now! The acceptance of staying away from crowds in church, but the freedom to go to Walmart; the wearing of masks to silence us while you can take it off to scream in the stadiums; allowing the introduction of Critical Race Theory, History Revisionism, Black Lives Matter, liberal politics and agendas, of freedom from preaching that brings conviction for sin, of economic worries instead of faith in the ability of God to meet our needs, of Gay Rights and all these things have become the norm in many churches! And if we don’t speak against them, then we are in agreement with them. There is no neutral ground!
Do we really think that God will bless a church that’s in agreement with the devil? Nowhere are those things taught or supported in any way in the word of God except when it declares that they are an abomination before the Lord!
God help us never to accept the limitations that the devil puts on us! We are free in Christ; free indeed!
Ezekiel 3:8 – 9, Behold, I have made your face as hard as their faces and your forehead as hard as their foreheads. I have made your forehead like emery (diamond), harder than flint. Do not be afraid of them or be dismayed before them, though they are a rebellious house."
God sent Ezekiel to try and get Israel to hear the word of the Lord. Even though they would have hard-headedness and refuse to want to hear, God gave Ezekiel and harder head than they had, and made him more obstinate in preaching a prophesying the truth, than they were at not wanting to hear it so there could be no excuse for not listening!
Ezekiel 3:10 - 12 Moreover, He said to me, "Son of man, receive into your heart all My words which I will speak to you and hear with your ears (listen closely).
Go to the [Jewish] exiles [in Babylon], to the children of your people, and speak to them, whether they listen or not, and tell them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD.'"
That’s our call today! Our call is to preach the truth and hold on to the promises of God, trusting him to give us the victory!
So preach it, teach it, prophesy the truth of what God is saying! Some will hear and some won’t; so what! Our job is to speak and proclaim the truth of God word! God’s job is to drive the word into the hearts of the hearers and cause them to turn back to him!
The hard headed, self-serving, self-righteous heart of the liberals and those who stand up and scream against righteousness and godliness, and those who refuse to hear about judgment to come can set their face against God and be as argumentative and emphatic as they want, but God says that he will give his people a head that is even harder than theirs, with a mind and heart to preach the truth and stand for righteousness, declaring the Word of the Lord and that his power is greater than anything the devil can muster up.
At the end of his vision Ezekiel, the vision was sealed by what happened.
Ezekiel 3:12 Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard a great rushing sound behind me, "Blessed be the glory of the LORD in His place [above the expanse]."
If God is for us, who can be against us? God is victorious over all our enemies! Our God is above all, in all and through all! He is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent so who can stand against him! He rules over all the affairs of man!
Let us speak the truth in Love! Let us hold on to the Word of God! Let’s consume it and let faith arise! Faith in God can move a mighty mountain; it can calm a troubled sea; it can make a desert like a fountain; and faith will bring the victory!
Let God arise! Get a renewed vision of God’s Glory and majesty in your life!
“Eat the Roll”! Consume, digest, meditate and learn the word of God, for in that Word there is Victory through the blood of Jesus!
Let God Arise! Let Faith grow and we will see the Glory of God in his living temples, and we will witness as his glory covers the earth!
Our God Reigns!
