LIFE-STUDY OF EZEKIEL
Read and pray: “You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my needs and to those who were with me. In everything I showed you that by laboring in this way we ought to support the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:34-35)
MAN’S HANDS
Ezekiel 1:8a says, “Under their wings were the hands of a man on their four sides.” This indicates that a normal, proper Christian should always do things exactly as a man. This is to use man’s hands. This was Paul’s testimony in Acts 20:34: “You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my needs and to those who were with me.”
Regarding faith in God, we need to be balanced. Some may claim that since they have faith in the Almighty God to supply all their needs, there is no need to use their hands to do anything. In particular, they suppose that there is no need to work in a human way.
But consider the apostle Paul. Paul was balanced; with him there were always two sides. His writings indicate that he had not only eagle’s wings but also man’s hands. He could say that he did not conduct himself in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God and that the grace of God toward him was not in vain. This is the side of the eagle’s wings.
However, he also said that he labored more than all the other apostles. We may think that there was no need for Paul to work with his own hands. But Paul took the way of working with his own hands. This indicates that even though he had experienced the eagle’s wings, he was still very human in his living, taking the human way and doing things in a human way.
Sometimes young people imagine that because they are seeking the Lord, there is no need to study hard. They expect that even without studying they can pass their exams with high grades. This attitude is wrong. Young people, no matter how much you seek the Lord, love the Lord, and care for the Lord, you still need to be diligent in your studies.
This means that no matter how much the grace of God is with us and no matter how much the Lord is empowering us, we must nevertheless fulfill our human duty in our daily life.
For example, we should eat healthy food in a human way and according to human principles. If we do not eat in a proper human way but instead try to behave like an angel, we will become sick.
We must do things in a human way. Under the eagle’s wings there must be human hands, and those hands must always be working. This is to be balanced.
The people of the world, on the contrary, have only man’s hands; they do not have eagle’s wings. Yet many so-called religious people seem to have only eagle’s wings; they do not have man’s hands. We need to have both the wings of the Lord’s empowering grace and man’s hands, cooperating with God in a human way.
It is very significant that the human hands of the four living creatures were under the eagle’s wings. This indicates that in doing everything we must be under God’s grace and under His covering. In everything we do, we should depend on the Lord and express Him.
In this matter we are totally different from the people of the world, who neither depend on God nor express Him. None of their actions express God; they express themselves. In contrast, everything we do should be under the Lord’s grace and power, depending on Him and expressing Him.
HAVING CALF’S HOOVES
We will now continue to consider the calf’s hooves, a matter of particular importance in the vision recorded in Ezekiel 1.
BEING STRAIGHT
We all must walk like a calf, having straight hooves. No Christian should walk on lion’s paws. Although we may apply the boldness of a lion to our Christian character, we should not apply lion’s paws to our Christian walk.
Neither should we walk with eagle’s claws. Those who walk with eagle’s claws will end up hurting others. Furthermore, we should not walk with man’s feet. Man’s feet are good, but they are somewhat crooked. Human cleverness is something crooked. That is why Paul said that he did not act according to fleshly wisdom, that is, according to human intelligence.
Instead of being crooked or clever, our Christian walk should be straight and frank. That is why Paul told us not to lie to one another (Col. 3:9). We should never lie to a brother. To lie is to be crooked. If you are able to say something, say it honestly. If you are not able to say it honestly, simply do not say it.
During the last days before the Lord Jesus was crucified, He went to Jerusalem and was surrounded by the religious and political leaders. On one occasion, “the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him as He was teaching and said, By what authority do You do these things?” (Matt. 21:23).
In His reply the Lord Jesus said to them, “I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, from where was it? From heaven or from men?” (vv. 24-25a).
And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, From heaven, He will say to us, Why then did you not believe him? But if we say, From men, we fear the crowd, for all regard John as a prophet” (vv. 25b-26).
In this dilemma they considered that the best answer would be a crooked answer. So they answered the Lord Jesus and said, “We do not know” (v. 27a). Actually, they knew, but they did not want to say it. This indicates that they were crooked. Then the Lord Jesus, knowing their dishonesty, said to them, “Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things” (v. 27b).
Here we see that while the chief priests and the elders were crooked, the Lord Jesus was straight. The feet of the Lord Jesus were calf’s hooves; with Him there was no deformity.
If we read the four Gospels, we will see that while the Lord Jesus was on the earth, He walked in a very simple way. Every step of His walk was straight. He walked on the earth with calf’s hooves.
We also must walk in this way today. If we walk in a crooked path, we should not expect the church to be built up. In the church life, we all need to learn to be frank, honest, faithful, and sincere. We should be simple and single.
If we intend to say yes, we should say yes; if we intend to say no, we should say no. Anything beyond this is of the devil (Matt. 5:37), the father of lies (John 8:44). A person may lie with a good intention, but that lie is still of the devil. We should not walk according to crooked man’s feet; rather, we should walk with calf’s hooves. Man’s feet are crooked, but the calf’s hooves are straight.
Not only was the Lord Jesus straight in His walk, but the apostle Paul also was very straight, frank, faithful, and honest in his walk. In reading Paul’s Epistles to the Corinthians, we can sense that Paul was a straight and frank person.
In 1 Corinthians 4:21 he asked, “What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of meekness?” And if one of the Lord’s servants were to write such a question to a church today, the whole congregation would be shocked. If we want to be a faithful servant of the Lord, we must be straight in this way.
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