Ezekiel's call - God's glory - Scattered & gathered
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Ezekiel 1-2
" ... This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord
When I saw it, I fell facedown,"
Facedown:
to recognise one's own darkness ... much like Isaiah's response
He said to me, Son of man, "stand up on your feet and I will speak to you." As he spoke,
the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet, and I heard him speaking to me.
... Raised up, as commanded
- to stand in the Spirit & receive the call
(of further direction, 'what next?')
The rainbow, a war bow, a weapon of war (Gen 9)
to seal the covenant between God & man
- noting its direction & deflection - upwards & away
.... note: He takes the arrow.
Ezekiel 8: 1 - 13
Ezekiel 9: 1 - 6
God's glory leaves
They say, ‘The Lord does not see us; the Lord has forsaken the land.’
Through not worshipping the one true God,
the people's vices & desires are spread wide
across a variety of idol worship:
"each at the shrine of his own idol"
v.10; 16 & v.3
- So I went in and looked, and I saw portrayed all over the walls all kinds
of crawling things and unclean animals and all the idols of Israel.
- With their backs toward the temple of the Lord & their faces toward the east,
they were bowing down to the sun in the east.
- Now the glory of the God of Israel went up from above the cherubim,
where it had been, and moved to the threshold of the temple.
God's glory on its way out - standing at the gate ...
Wrath & fury take the place of benevolence & mercy:
".. I will bring down on their own heads what they have done."
.... Ezekiel 11: 14 - 21 scattered & gathered back
“Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Although I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.’
“Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again.’ “
They will return to it and remove all its vile images and detestable idols.
I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them;
I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.
Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.
But as for those whose hearts are devoted to their vile images and detestable idols, I will bring down on their own heads what they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord.”