I have noticed many times a refrain at the end of a passage in Ezekiel: "Then they will know that I am the Lord." Sometimes it is a very similar phrase (verse 28 ends..."their God").
God's favorite name for Ezekiel is 'Son of Man'. This does not have the same meaning as that when Jesus used it as His favorite Self-appelation. It basically means in Ezekiel 'Hey, you, mortal! Pay attention!'
I have said many times that Ezekiel is my favorite prophet. Isaiah was evidently a member of royalty; Jeremiah is the most poetic of the major prophets; but Ezekiel must have been a man of wild eyes! He must have just been completely unpredictable! No one could understand the man at all! Out of the blue he would lay for a year on his side! The men of Judah around him by the river Chebar could not account for him. And oh, the depth of the pain and anguish: when his wife died merely for the sin and the exclamation to the sinful men sitting around him; no mourning, no tears... Ezekiel was completely INSANE to his contemporaries and completely SANE to God. The anguish, the fantastic vision, the soul sickness: all for the glory of God.
You know: God must indeed be the most amazing Being in all the universe; He must be astoundingly beautiful to deserve this kind of life; and the reward for following Him through this kind of pain, well
"Eye has not seen, ear has not heard..." (1 Cor 2:9)
"For this slight momentary affliction..." (2 Cor 4:17)
Praise You Father for giving us men to show us Your worth.
Praise You Son for saving those sinful men.
Praise You Spirit for putting their courage in our hearts.
Becoming Insane for Sanity with you,
Pastor Greg
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