“The man said to me, ‘Son of man, look with your eyes and hear with your ears and pay attention to everything I am going to show you, for that is why you have been brought here. Tell the house of Israel everything you see.’”
~ Ezekiel 40:4
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you remember dreams that you have? Some guys and gals think that God speaks to them through dreams. Your grandpaa does not think that God will speak to you through a dream. There was a time when God used visions to speak through guys. When God spoke through Ezekiel, God used visions. Ezekiel is one of the three prophets who wrote the longer books that are included in the Old Testament. These three prophets are called major prophets. The other two major prophets are Isaiah and Jeremiah. Your grandpaa would like to encourage you to memorize the names of all the books of the Bible in the order that each book is in the Bible. Your grandmaa likes to teach. Your grandmaa wrote a study to help gals remember the books of the Bible. When your grandmaa teaches this study, your grandpaa teaches other things such as who wrote each book in the Bible and something about each book. Do you like to find out what is in the Bible? Your grandpaa thinks that the Bible should be studied versus just being read. There are a lot of verses in the Bible which you would find helpful if you memorized them. God wants you to be around guys and gals who enjoy being together to study the Bible. If you know why you are living on planet Earth, it will help you to live on planet Earth. Ezekiel lived at the time when the Babylonian army captured guys, gals and kids who were living in Judah. Before God’s specially chosen people who were living in Judah found themselves captive slaves in Babylon, Ezekiel warned the guys and gals to stop sinning and to begin again to worship only God. God’s specially chosen guys and gals would not listen to him. God’s specially chosen people just kept right on doing what they wanted to do – such as continuing to sin by worshipping everything else but God. God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids – the Israelite people group, who were living in the land that God had given to them to always to have to live in as their very own land if . . . , made God angry because they were not obediently obeying Him. God’s specially chosen guys and gals did not have an excuse for not being obedient to God’s will. God’s specially chosen people were giving a wakeup call when they were taken captive by Babylonia’s army. God’s specially chosen guys and gals when they arrived in Babylon as captive slaves finally realized how disobedient they had been to God. Ezekiel was taken into captivity with them. Ezekiel was able to help God’s specially chosen people while they were in captivity. Ezekiel had help. Other prophets – like Jeremiah and Daniel, lived during this time, too.
Who is helping you to be obedient to God? Do you know what God wants from you? You do not need to know today what God wants you to do for the rest of your life other than knowing how really important it is to be obedient to God. Ezekiel got to know what God’s will was through the visions that God gave him. One of the visions that God gave Ezekiel was about a special building. The vision covers nine chapters – beginning in Ezekiel 40. God does not give guys and gals visions today. When God gave Ezekiel visions, He gave Ezekiel mental images of the future. In the vision beginning in this chapter, Ezekiel saw a guy made of bronze. This bronze guy was measuring a wall and a building. Everything that the guy measured was reported in rods. A rod is not as long as a yardstick. The rod which Ezekiel saw being used by the bronze guy was around twenty-one inches long. God in the vision had taken Ezekiel back to Israel and to Jerusalem. God was showing Ezekiel through the vision what He wanted Ezekiel to communicate to His specially chosen guys and gal who had been taken as captive slaves to Babylon. Ezekiel recorded the exact dates when God gave him visions. This vision happened approximately twenty-five years after guys, gals and kids who were living in Judah were taken captive by the army from Babylonia. Ezekiel even wrote down the month and the day when he had this vision. Your grandpaa likes to write. When your grandpaa writes, your grandpaa feels like he is painting a picture using words. When Ezekiel wrote down what God told him in a vision, it was like Ezekiel was using words to paint a picture. Ezekiel wrote the details down what he saw in his visions. The bronze guy who Ezekiel saw in this vision was told by God to tell Ezekiel to write down everything. Ezekiel wrote in verse 4, “The man said to me, ‘Son of man, look with your eyes and hear with your ears and pay attention to everything I am going to show you, for that is why you have been brought here. Tell the house of Israel everything you see.’” God for nine chapters would explain to Ezekiel through the bronze guy how He expects His temple to look like, what He expects in the temple and how the surrounding wall is to look once His specially chosen people gets back to Jerusalem from being captive slaves in Babylon. What God is telling Ezekiel through the bronze guy and which Ezekiel is to tell God’s specially chosen people would give God’s specially chosen guys and gals hope. God’s specially chosen guys and gals would know that they would one day be able to return to Jerusalem and back to the land that God had given to them to always to have to live in as their very own land if . . .
Your grandpaa one time heard a professor say in a college class ‘if you do not have something to die for, you have nothing to live for.’ This professor claimed that he was a communist or a Marxist. This is really what being a Christ-follower is about – which is that you have something to live for when you believe in what Jesus did for you. God wanted His specially chosen people to live for the day when they would be able to return to Jerusalem. Just as God cared for every detail of His temple, God cares about every detail of your lives. God used a vision to tell His specially chosen guys and gals His will for their lives. God is using the Bible to tell you His will for your lives.
Ezekiel 40 (68)