Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-07-01
Golden Text: "Seek We the Lord
while He may be found; call We upon
Him while He is near"

If we could have month on
Ezekiel instead of just one week it
, would barely give us time to get a
good glimpse of this wonderful
priest-prophet and his vital message
for the men of today. His mission
was to small group Of captives,
but through them to the whole
house of Israel and to the Gentiles
Of the whole world.
Ezekiel was the son of Buzz, of
the highly honored line of Zadok-
Ike Jeremiah, born a priest and
called later into the prophetic office
He was among the captives who
were carried to Babylon by Nebu-
chadnezzar when he took away JAG
oniah Tor Jehoichim), the last of the
direct Davidic line. He was then
twenty-five years old (for he was
80 five years later, Eek. I'D, and
had therefore been under the in
fluence Of Jeremiah's preaching all
Of his life. In Babylon he came in
contact with Daniel and his friends,
although these were several years
younger than he. Being twenty-five
years old when he was deported, he
had become familiar with the tenn
pie and its services and appurte-
nances; and it is entirely probable
that he had often served his course
in the priestly ministrations.
This acquaintance with jeremiah
had its effect on his ministry, for
both denounce the sins of the peo-
pie, both declare the certain destruc.
ton of the city and the success of
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT expedition: blu t
their circumstances and their per-
sonal1ties were so entirely different
that any collision or any imitation
of the older by the younger is i'm
possible, even though the critics
would make it so.
EzeklePs experiences in the tenn
pie give the background Of his
visions and explain many things he
says and does. But Ezekiel was es-
sentially a mystic. 1t is difficult
for the matter-of- fact westerner to
appreciate the, to him, visionary
Oriental. The type of mind is en-
tirely different. The American mind
IS motor; we want to put into ac-
ton at once any thought that comes
TO us. In the east the commemorative
mind is more characteristic; and as
the mind reflects, other moods and
thoughts evolve. Occasionally such
man gets into a trance, or ecstasy,
and becomes obliViOus to his sur
roundings. What he has seen is diff.
f1cult Of description. There is such
mystic in India today-Sadhu Sum-
dar Singh-whose life is a most re-.
markabIe one.
Ezekiel was such a mystic. 1t
was as he thought Of the temple,
the Shekinah, the cherubim, the
altar, the holy of holes, that he be-
came ecstatic, and had his first
vision of the glory of God. His de-
scription of what he saw is labor
ed-the likeness Of" the appear
ance Of" the appearance of the
likeness Of" are terms that he uses
in his effort to put into concrete
words what he saw. Try to de-
scribe your impression of some won
derful sunset you have seen and
you will appreciate his difficulty
more.
3ust a word about the book of
| Ezekiel that we may appreciate his
message more keenly. 1t is in two d.
| visions-chapters 1 to "a are before
| the fall of Jerusalem. Destruction is
the key word. Chapters "a to 48, aft
| err the fall of Jerusalem. Dellverance
is the key word. A very interesting
fact, too, is that each Of these di-
| visions has twelve subdivisions; the
| first half is 81; the last half is 7-5.
| Space forbids a detailed description.
| Another interesting thing about
I the book and the man is his dramatic
way of presenting truth. He takes
a tile and draws a mimic siege of
| Jerusalem as the text of his sermon:
I or he lies on one side a portion of
| every day for $50 days to call atten
| ton to the truth he has been told to
present; he eats polluted bread
weighs out his food, shaves his head
| and beard, puts ropes about himself,
digs a hole under his house, gets his
furniture ready for moving, etc, each
| to attract the attention of the people
| and tell them what God has told him
to say. The modern sensational.
preacher like Billy Sunday is tame
compared with Ezekiel.
His Vision and Commission
Our study today is concerned chief
ly, however, with his vision and com
mission. 1t was on the river Chebar,
near Babylon, that he fell into an
ecstasy on the fifth day of the
fourth month of the fifth year of
their captivity. The vision that he
had is confusing with the living crea-
lures with four faces, ard wings, anG
the wheels within wheels. Space
forbids a detailed consideration OF
these very interesting symbols, but
Isuffice it to say that what he had
was a vision of the glory of God, that
he saw God on the throne as the
King, the rainbow still proclaiming
Him as the God CT the covenant. He
Isaw the omnipotent, the omnipresent
the omniscient God. No wonder he
fell on his face when he saw 1t.
Then he heard a voice speaking
to him and giving him his commits
sion. 1t was five-fold.
l. He was made to realize his own
nothingness. son of man" is the
way he is addressed. The term is
different from that which Jesus uses
of Himself. There it signifies that
the Son of God was the essence OF
humanity; He was all that man
should be, all that human nature
lcomprehended and should be, intense
ly human. In Ezekiel the expression
is used to draw in sharpest contrast
his humanity and Gods sovereignty
to let him realize at once his own
nothingress. Nlnety-one times this
phrase is used in Ezekiel-some sig
nificance in that, since 91-13x7; but
space forbids a discussion of that
too.
2. He was told the character Of
the people among whom he was tt
labor, and therefore the outcome Of
. his work. There were rebellious, i'm