LIFE-STUDY OF EZEKIEL
Read and pray: “Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: On the tenth day of this month each one shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of the fathers, a lamb for a household.” (Exo. 12:3)
In the previous messages we saw the appearance of the glory of the Lord, the judgment of God by fire, and the restoration of the Lord by life. Now we come to the last part of Ezekiel (chs. 40─48), which concerns the holy building of God. The three previous sections are for the last section; that is, the glory of the Lord, the judgment of God, and the restoration of the Lord are all for the holy building of God.
We may even say that the matter of the glory of the Lord, the judgment of God, and the restoration of the Lord is the building of God. God’s eternal purpose is to have a building. Everything God does among His people on the earth is for His building.
THE DATE OF THE VISION
At the beginning of this section (40:1), we are told the time of the vision—the year, the month, and the day. If we compare the year mentioned here with the one mentioned at the beginning of the first chapter, we will see that there is a difference of twenty years.
The vision of the appearance of the glory of the Lord, which Ezekiel saw in chapter one, was seen in the fifth year of the captivity. The vision of the building of the house of God, which he saw in chapter forty, was in the twenty-fifth year of the captivity.
There is a difference of twenty years, which is not a short period of time. We need to remember that when Ezekiel saw the first vision, he was thirty years old, the age at which a priest began to minister. When he saw the last vision, he was fifty years old, the age for a priest’s retirement. This is very significant, for it indicates that in order to see the building of God, Ezekiel needed more maturity in life.
When he saw the first vision, he was still quite young, only 30 years old. But when he saw the vision of the building of God, he was at the age of retirement, indicating that he had reached maturity in life and could see the building of the Lord. In order to have the vision of the building of God, there is the need of maturity in life.
Due to their immaturity in the divine life, very few Christians today have seen anything concerning the building of the Lord. Spiritually speaking, many are far below the age of thirty and, therefore, are not even qualified to be an apprentice. In this way, it is not possible for them to see the vision of the building of God.
It is significant that the years are counted in spans of five years. The first vision was seen in the fifth year, and the last was seen in the twenty-fifth year. Twenty-five is five times five. In the Bible, the number five represents man plus God.
Four is the number of the creature, man, and one is the number for the Creator, God. Five signifies having responsibility. Therefore, five, which is composed of four plus one, signifies that man as the creature plus God as the Creator, together, bear responsibility.
The number twenty-five signifies not only maturity but also full qualification to bear responsibility. This year is also called the fourteenth year. The twenty-fifth year was counted from the time of the captivity, whereas the fourteenth year was counted from the time of the destruction of Jerusalem. Ezekiel 40:1 says, “After the city was struck.”
In the Bible, the number fourteen is mainly composed of seven times two. Seven is the number of completion, and two is the number of testimony. Therefore, seven times two denotes a testimony of completion. This indicates that for fourteen years, the destruction of the city of Jerusalem had been a strong testimony to the people. Originally, the people did not believe that the city would be destroyed. However, Ezekiel prophesied concerning the destruction of the city of Jerusalem, and his prophecy was fulfilled.
Fourteen years after the destruction of Jerusalem, Ezekiel saw other visions. This means that the testimony of the destruction of the city was sufficient. It remained for fourteen years, and after those fourteen years, the people in captivity realized that this was a strong testimony.
Furthermore, we are told that Ezekiel saw the visions at the beginning of the year, in the first month. The first month indicates a new beginning. This indicates that, in our experience, the building of God should have a new beginning. When we see something concerning the building up of the church, this is a new beginning in our life.
The record also speaks of the tenth day. According to Exodus 12:3, the tenth day of the first month was the day when the people of Israel prepared the lamb for the Passover. This certainly points to Christ, our Passover, for our redemption.
From this we see that whenever we have a new beginning in our Christian life, it must be based on Christ and His redemption. In ourselves, by what we are and what we can do, we can never have a new beginning. We are not qualified to have a new beginning, nor do we have the merit to have a new beginning. Any new beginning that we may have in our spiritual life is always based on Christ, the Passover Lamb, and His redemption. Only through Christ and His redemption can we have a new beginning in our Christian life.
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