LIFE-STUDY OF EZEKIEL
Message 1
The Book of Ezekiel Is Identical to the Book of Revelation
WEEK 1 – MONDAY
Scripture Reading: Ez 1:1-3; Num 4:2-3; 1 Chron. 23:3a; Luke 3:23a; Ez 40:17; 41:6a; 46:22; Num 8:24; Gen. 11:6, 31
Read and pray: “Every living creature that swarms will live wherever the river goes, and there will be very many fish. For when these waters go there, they will become fresh; and everything will live wherever the river goes.” (Ez 47:9)
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MESSAGE ONE
INTRODUCTION (1)
Our intention in these messages is to see the visions in the book of Ezekiel. Our goal is not to research this book or expound it, but to see the visions of God’s glorious life contained in it. Therefore, instead of considering Ezekiel verse by verse or even chapter by chapter, we will endeavor to release the crucial points concerning life in this book.
The Book of Ezekiel Is Identical to the Book of Revelation
The Bible reveals that a mysterious history is unfolding in the universe — the history that involves God and man. In this history, God enters into man to be his life, causing man to have His nature and His glorious image.
Eventually, the divine nature and man will be built together to be God’s place of rest. As a result of this building, God and man will have a complete union. This is the mysterious history of life between God and man.
Although the whole Bible tells this mysterious history of God and man, two books are related to this history in a particular way. These books are Ezekiel and Revelation.
Both books speak of God being life to man, of the Spirit of life, of the flow of the water of life, and of the people of God, who have His glorious likeness, becoming His dwelling place. Both books end with a vision of Jerusalem, and both books show us that the people of God are built together to become not only God’s dwelling place for His rest but also His corporate complement for His satisfaction.
The books of Ezekiel and Revelation go together in parallel. If we want to understand Ezekiel, we need Revelation, and if we want to see something in the book of Revelation, we need to understand the revelations in Ezekiel. Therefore, it is helpful to take these books together. If we read Ezekiel and Revelation together, we will see that, in many aspects, they are quite similar. The main points in these two books are almost the same.
The Visions Related to Life
The first similarity is that both books begin with visions. Both Ezekiel and John saw visions, and the visions they saw are mainly related to life. The Bible speaks to us concerning life.
In the books of Ezekiel and Revelation, we not only have the term life, but also visions portraying what life is and how life operates within us and among us. In both books, we have not only a description of life, but also visions showing us the matter of life.
The Flow of the Living Water
In the entire Bible, the books that speak most clearly concerning God flowing as life are Ezekiel and Revelation. Both Ezekiel and Revelation show us the flow of the living water. Ezekiel 47:1 speaks of the river that flows from the house of God.
Verse 9 says, “Every living creature that swarms will live wherever the river goes,” and verse 12 says, “And by the river, on its bank, on this side and on that side, will grow every kind of tree for food. Its leaf will not wither, nor will its fruit fail; it will bear new fruit every month, because its water flows from the sanctuary. And its fruit will be for food, and its leaf for healing.”
In Revelation 22:1 and 2, we see the river of the water of life proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. “And he showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb in the middle of its street. And on this side and on that side of the river was the tree of life, producing twelve fruits, yielding its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” Thus, in both Ezekiel and Revelation, we have a river flowing from God with the supply of life.
The Visions of Jerusalem
The main thing that Ezekiel and Revelation have in common is that both books give us a vision of Jerusalem. Ezekiel ends with the vision of Jerusalem, and so does Revelation.
These two books, which end with a vision of Jerusalem, tell us that God’s intention is to enter into us as life so that we may have His nature and His image, so that, in His nature with His image, we who have Him as our life may be built together as the holy city to be God’s dwelling place for eternity.
This is the central message of both Ezekiel and Revelation. Therefore, the message of the book of Ezekiel is the same as that of the book of Revelation.
Both Ezekiel and John
Remain in the Position of Priest
Remain in the Position of Priest
Not only are the books of Ezekiel and Revelation similar in content, but the authors of these books are also similar in some respects. The most important similarity is that the prophet Ezekiel and the apostle John were both priests before God.
Although Ezekiel was a prophet, when he saw the visions recorded in his book, he was in the position of a priest, having the status of a priest (Ez 1:3) and also the living of a priest.
When he was by the river Chebar, surely he was carrying out his priesthood in the spirit, serving God and having fellowship with God, so that the heavens were opened and he saw the glorious vision of God being life to man so that He and man could be built together.
In Revelation 5:10, the apostle John speaks of the redeemed people of God being priests to God. This indicates that John himself must have been serving as a priest. When John wrote the book of Revelation, his heart, position, condition, and situation were those of a priest.
A MINIATURE OF THE WHOLE BIBLE
The book of Ezekiel occupies a very important position among the books of the Bible. If we know what the Bible reveals, we can see that Ezekiel is a miniature of the whole Bible. What is revealed in Ezekiel is a condensed form of the entire revelation in the Bible. In this sense, Ezekiel is a miniature of the Scriptures as a whole.
The Eternal Purpose of God
The Bible clearly shows us that God’s eternal purpose is to dispense Himself into a group of human beings. His intention is to dispense Himself into us so that we may have Him as our life, so that we may have His nature, and that we may bear His glorious image.
This means that God’s purpose, His intention, is that we and He may have the same life, nature, and image, and that eventually we and He, He and we, may be mingled together as one entity with two natures, the divine nature and the human nature, in order to be built together as the eternal dwelling place of God.
This is God’s eternal purpose, clearly revealed in the Scriptures. The book of Ezekiel shows us the same picture in a condensed form, revealing that God’s intention is to work Himself into us as our life and to mingle Himself with us so that we may be built together in Him as life to be His eternal dwelling place. This is what the Bible reveals, and this is also what Ezekiel reveals in miniature.
Life, Nature, Image, and Building
In the first three chapters of Genesis, we see that God created man and placed him before the tree of life. The tree of life typifies God Himself as life to us in the form of food.
Because of the fall of man, the tree of life was surrounded and hidden by cherubim, and “the flaming sword which turned every way” guarded “the way to the tree of life” (Gen. 3:24). From Genesis 3 onward, we see both God’s judgment, care, mercy, and salvation.
On the one hand, God’s flaming sword executes His judgment, burning everything that is contrary to Himself. On the other hand, through His grace, God redeemed a people for Himself. Through the redemption of Christ, the way to the tree of life was opened again to man.
Now man, under and through the redemption of Christ, has free access to the tree of life and can take the tree of life as his food. This is why in John 6, the Lord Jesus told us that He came as the bread of life and that we must take Him as our food.
He said, “He who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me” (v. 57b). If we take Him as our food, we will have His life and nature, and eventually we will have His image. By having His life, nature, and image, we will be built together. He prayed for this building in John 17:21, when He prayed, “That they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us.” To be one in this way means that we need to be built together.
If we go from the Gospel of John to the Revelation of John, we can see that in Revelation 21 and 22 all the redeemed are built together into a city. In this city we are all one, not merely one doctrinally, nor even merely one in vision, but one in building.
From this we see that we need to be built with one another in life. Then God will have a city, the New Jerusalem. This is the picture portrayed in the Scriptures.
When we come to the book of Ezekiel, we see the same picture. In the first chapter are the flaming fire cherubim with God in their midst. Other chapters show us how God comes to be our life (chs. 11, 33, 34, 36, 37, 47).
Finally, chapter forty-eight reveals that we, who have the life of God, will be built together in the holy city, Jerusalem. Once again, we see that the book of Ezekiel is a miniature of the Bible.
We need to be deeply impressed with the fact that the Bible as a whole, and the book of Ezekiel as a miniature of the Bible, reveal that God’s intention is to dispense Himself into us as our life so that we may have His divine nature and express His glorious image.
Then, by the divine nature with the divine image, we will be built together as an eternal dwelling place — the New Jerusalem. This is the central point of the revelation of the Bible and also of the book of Ezekiel.
THE FOUR SECTIONS OF EZEKIEL
Ezekiel is a book of visions. The first section of this book (ch. 1) presents a vision of the appearance of the glory of the Lord, revealing how God manifests Himself, how God moves, and how God administers His government through the four living creatures. Through the coordination of the living creatures, God is able to move and administer.
In the second section (chs. 2–32), God comes as the consuming fire to judge His people and the Gentile nations. After the judgment, God comes to restore His people by life. The third section (chs. 33–39) is the section of restoration. The fourth section (chs. 40–48) concerns God’s holy building, issuing from the restoration by life, and consummates the book. Thus, Ezekiel begins with the appearance of the glory of the Lord and ends with God’s holy building. This indicates that God’s goal is the building.
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