Ezekiel 1:1-3

Last week was not a good week for me to have my normal Bible study time. But I was able to get back in the swing of things this morning. I started looking at Ezekiel 1:1-3. Ezekiel gave some really good indicators of the chronology of his prophetic visions and preaching. He was about 25 when he was taken into exile by the Babylonians along with a lot of other Israelites. This was 598 B.C. He was 30 when God called him to the ministry, which was about 594 B.C.

There are three things that God does with Ezekiel in the section. He reveals His vision, He spoke His word through him and He lays His hand upon him. Firstly, God revealed His vision to Ezekiel. We will learn later what those visions are, but God "expressly" chose Ezekiel to view these visions and gave Ezekiel the insight to understand them as much as God wanted him to understand them.

Secondly, God gave the words for Ezekiel to say or another way of saying it is that God spoke through Ezekiel. Ezekiel was in exile, a military captive and very well could be turned into a slave in the conquerors wanted. Regardless of the situation, Ezekiel was true to his calling as a priest and performed those duties to the best of his abilities given the situation he was in. He was obedient. That is all that God wants from all of us is obedient.

Thirdly, God laid His hand upon him. God gave Ezekiel the power and authority to preach the Word that was given him and reveal the meaning of the visions that were shown him. He was an instrument of God to be used during a very trying time in Jewish history.

As I have mentioned before, I am excited about this study and will continue to give you updates.