Ezekiel 1-3 - Outline

[Jim Watt]

“*TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE” MINISTRIES*

*Jim & Marie Watt*

*Tel: 253-517-9195 - Email: jmbetter at gmail.com*

*Web: www.2rbetter.org*

January 21, 2013


 *AUG 21 - EZEKIEL 1-3 - PREPARATION AND CALL OF EZEKIEL*


 *1. 1:1 (1:1-3, ESV) EZEKIEL: FIRST TIME FOR THE WORD OF THE LORD. “In the
thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I
was among the exiles by the Chebar canal, the heavens were opened, and I
saw visions of God.” *How can we be instrumental in manifesting Your
Kingdom Father, except we daily walk in Romans 12:1-2, Mark 8:34 and
Galatians 2:20? We choose *this* daily walk for us each day! *Hallowed be
your :name!*


 *2. 1:10 (1:4-25) EZEKIEL: THE FACES OF THE CHERUBIM. “As for the likeness
of their faces, each had a human face. The four had the face of a lion on
the right side, the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and the
four had the face of an eagle.” *Father, we see Christ in the cherubim,
with the four faces representing the four Gospels. We would manifest You
through us on earth in the fullness of the Four Gospels, as You are in
heaven. *Your :kingdom come!*


 *3. 1:28 (1:26-28) EZEKIEL: JEHOVAH AND HIS THRONE. “Like the appearance
of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance
of the brightness all around. Such was the appearance of the likeness of
the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard
the voice of one speaking.” *In Ezekiel’s day, *he* was your Sovereign
choice of grace to reveal your Word to Israel at this time! Lord, *Your will
* is for us supreme! *Your :will be done, As in heaven, so on earth!*


 *4. 3:1 (2:1-3:3) EZEKIEL: HIS COMMISSION. And he said to me, “Son of man,
eat whatever you find here. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of
Israel.” *To be Your ambassador, spokesman and prophet Father - like
Ezekiel we need to love and *forgive our persecutors*. We need to rejoice
in these opportunities of glorifying You. *Our :daily :bread Give us this
day.*


 *5. 3:11 (3:4-11) EZEKIEL: DIFFICULT CHALLENGE TO “HARD” ISRAEL. “And go
to the exiles, to your people, and speak to them and say to them, ‘Thus
says the Lord GOD,’ whether they hear or refuse to hear.” *Father, Your
commissions are not always easy. They tax us beyond both our abilities and
our capabilities. Yet *You* are sufficient! * And forgive us our :debts, As
we also have forgiven our :debtors.*


 *6. 3:15 (3:12-21) EZEKIEL: GOD’S WATCHMAN. “And I came to the exiles at
Tel-abib, who were dwelling by the Chebar canal, and I sat where they were
dwelling. And I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days.” *We choose to
identify ourselves with You and Your people Father. We choose to see You as
a hedge of protection round about us as we do Your will. We choose to trust
You, though we do not always understand You! *And bring us not into
temptation.*


 *7. 3:27 (3:22-27) EZEKIEL: SIGN OF DUMBNESS. “But when I speak with you,
I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord
GOD.’ He who will hear, let him hear; and he who will refuse to hear, let
him refuse, for they are a rebellious house.” *Your ways Father, are past
finding out. But we choose to believe Your wisdom behind all Your leadings
and commands! *But deliver us from the evil one!*


 *NOTE: 3:16-17 (3:12-21) EZEKIEL: COMMISSIONED AS A WATCHMAN! “And at the
end of seven days, the word of the LORD came to me: 17 ‘Son of man, I have
made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from
my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.” *A *watchman* is an
intercessor. He is chosen and commissioned of God. All are not called to
this high calling. It is the same as for apostles and prophets - all of the
5-fold ministries. Like some Gentiles in a Messianic Jewish congregation -
you will find some “wanna-Be's”. See “Rees Howells, Intercessor” - to look
at a true intercessor!


 *C.H. Spurgeon Quotes: “Christ’s Servant” - *You cannot be Christ’s
servant if you are not willing to follow him, cross and all. What do you
crave? A crown? Then it must be a crown of thorns if you are to be like
him. Do you want to be lifted up? So you shall, but it will be upon a cross.


 *Our Psalm for the day: 51:3-4 (51) CREATE IN ME A CLEAN HEART, O GOD. “For
I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against you, you
only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be
justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.” *Father, when we
acknowledge Your Word that it is true, we *hallow your :name. *When we
perceive and confess our sins, we *hallow your :name. *Evermore let us *hallow
your :name!*


 *Title: *“To the chief Musician.” Therefore, not written for private
meditation only, but for the public service of song. Suitable for the
loneliness of individual penitence, this matchless Psalm is equally well
adapted for an assembly of the poor in spirit. “A Psalm of David.” It is a
marvel, but nevertheless a fact, that writers have been found to deny
David’s authorship of this Psalm but their objections are frivolous; the
Psalm is David-like all over. It would be far easier to imitate Milton,
Shakespeare, or Tennyson, that David. His style is altogether *sui generis*,
and it is as easily distinguishable as the touch of Rafael or the coloring
of Rubens. The great sin of David is not to be excused, but it is well to
remember that his case has an exceptional collection of specialties in it.
He was a man of very strong passions, a soldier, and an Oriental monarch
having despotic power; no other king of his time would have felt any
compunction for having acted as he did, and hence there were not around him
those restraints of custom and association which, when broken through,
render the offense the more monstrous. He never hints at any form of
extenuation, nor do we mention these facts in order to apologize for his
sin, which was detestable to the last degree; but for the warning of
others, that they reflect that the licentiousness in themselves at this day
might have even a graver guilt in it than in the erring King of Israel.
When we remember his sin, let us dwell most upon his penitence, and upon
the long series of chastisements which rendered the after part of his life
such a mournful history.


 51:1. Have* mercy upon me, O God.** *He appeals at once to the mercy of
God, even before he mentions his sin. The sight of mercy is good for eyes
that are sore with penitential weeping. Pardon of sin must ever be an act
of pure mercy, and therefore to that attribute the awakened sinner flies.


 51:2. *Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. *The dye is in itself
immovable, and I, the sinner, have lain long in it, till the crimson is
ingrained; but, Lord, wash, and wash, and wash again, till the last stain
is gone and not a trace of my defilement is left. The hypocrite is content
if his garments be washed; but the true suppliant cries, “Wash me.” The one
sin against Bathsheba, served to show the Psalmist the whole mountain of
his iniquity, of which that foul deed was but one falling stone. He desires
to be rid of the whole mass of his filthiness, which though once so little
observed, had then become a hideous and haunting terror to his mind. *And
cleanse me from my sin. *This is a more general expression; as if the
Psalmist said, “Lord, if washing will not do, try some other process; if
water avails not, let fire, let anything be tried, so that I may but be
purified. Rid me of my sin by some means, by any means, by every means,
only do purify me completely, and leave no guilt upon my soul.” It is not
the punishment he cries out against, but the sin. Many a murderer is more
alarmed at the gallows than at the murder which brought him to it. The
thief loves the plunder, though he fears the prison. Not so David: he is
sick of sin as sin; his loudest outcries are against the evil of his
transgression and not against the painful consequences of it. When we deal
seriously with our sin, God will deal gently with us. When we hate what the
Lord hates, He will soon make an end of it, to our joy and peace.


 51:3. *For I acknowledge my transgressions. * He seems to say, “I make a
full confession of them” Not that this is my plea in seeking forgiveness,
but it is a clear evidence that I need mercy and am utterly unable to look
for any other quarter for help. *And my sin is ever before me. *My sin as a
whole is never out of my mind; it continually oppresses my spirit. I lay it
before You because it is ever before me: Lord, put it away both from You
and me. To an awakened conscience, pain on account of sin is not transient
and occasional, but intense and permanent, and this is no sign of divine
wrath but rather a sure preface of abounding favor.


 51:5 *Behold, I was shaped in iniquity. *He is thunderstruck at the
discovery of his inbred sin and proceeds to set it forth. This was not
intended to justify himself, but it rather meant to complete the
confession. It is as if he said, “Not only have I sinned this once, but I
am in my very nature a sinner. The fountain of my life is polluted as well
as its streams. My birth-tendencies are out of the square of equity; I
naturally lean to forbidden things. Mine is a constitutional disease,
rendering my very person obnoxious to Your wrath.” *And in sin did my
mother conceive me. *He goes back to the earliest moment of his being, not
to traduce his mother, but acknowledge the deep taproots of his sin. It is
a wicked wresting of Scripture to deny that original sin and natural
depravity are here taught. Surely men who cavil at this doctrine have need
to be taught of the Holy Spirit what be the first principle of the faith.


 51:7. *Purge me with hyssop. *Give me the reality which legal ceremonies
symbolize. This passage may be read as the voice of faith as well as a
prayer, and so it runs - “You will purge me with hyssop, *and I shall be
clean*.” Foul as I am, there is such power in the divine propitiation that
my sin shall vanish away. *And I shall be whiter than snow. *None but
Yourself can whiten me, but You can in grace outdo nature itself in its
purest state. Snow soon gathers smoke and dust; it melts and disappears;
You can give me an enduring purity. Though snow is white below as well as
on the surface, You can work the like inward purity in me and make me so
clean that only a hyperbole can set forth my immaculate condition. Lord, do
this; my faith believes You will, and well she knows You can. Scarcely does
Holy Scripture contain a verse more full of faith than this. Considering
the nature of the sin and the deep sense of the Psalmist had of it, it is a
glorious faith to be able to see in the blood sufficient, no,
all-sufficient merit entirely to purge it away.


 51:9. *Blot out all my iniquities. *If God hide not His face from our sin,
He must hide it forever from us; and if He blot not out our sins, He must
blot our names out of His book of life.


 51:10. *Create*. What! has sin so destroyed us that the Creator must be
called in again? What ruin then does evil work among mankind! *Create in me.
* I, in my outward fabric, still exist; but I am empty, desert, void. Come,
then, and let Your power be seen in a new creation within my old fallen
self. You did make a man in the world at first; Lord, make a new man in me.
*A clean heart. *In the seventh verse he asked to be clean; now he seeks a
heart suitable to that cleanliness; but he does not say, “Make my old heart
clean”; he is too experienced in the hopelessness of the old nature. He
would have the old man buried as a dead thing, and a new creation brought
in to fill its place. None but God can create either a new heart or a new
earth.


 51:11. *Cast me not away from Your presence. *Throw me not away as
worthless; banish me not, like Cain, from Your face and favor. Permit me to
sit among those who share Your love, though I only be suffered to keep the
door. I deserve to be forever denied admission to Your courts; but, O good
Lord, permit me still the privilege which is dear as life itself to me.


 51:12. *Restore unto me the joy of Your salvation. *None but God can give
back this joy; He can do it; we may ask it; He will do it for His own glory
and our benefit. This joy comes not first, but follows pardon and purity:
in such order is it safe, in any other it is vain presumption or idiotic
delirium.


 51:13. *Then will I teach transgressors Your ways. *Reclaimed poachers
make the best gamekeepers. Huntingdon’s degree of S.S., or Sinner Saved, is
more needful for soul-winning evangelists than either M.A. or D.D. The
pardoned sinner’s matter will be good, for he has been taught in the school
of experience, and his manner will be telling, for he will speak
sympathetically, as one who has felt what he declares. The audience the
Palmist would choose is memorable - he would instruct transgressors like
himself; others might despise them, but “a fellow-feeling makes us wondrous
kind.” If unworthy to edify saints, he would creep in along with the
sinners and humbly tell them of divine love. *(From “The Treasury of David”
by C.H. Spurgeon, abridged by D.O. Fuller.)*



  *TO SUBSCRIBE - Please Email: mailing-subscribe at 2rbetter.org*


 *TO UNSUBSCRIBE - Please Email: mailing-unsubscribe at 2rbetter.org*


 *FOR ARCHIVE ARTICLES - Web:http://2rbetter.org/pipermail/mailing/*
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://2rbetter.org/pipermail/mailing/attachments/20130121/dd0d127d/attachment.htm>