Ezekiel 1 introduces us to a High Priest who through the captivity, loses the sanctuary. It isn’t until the 30th year that God comes to him in a new dimension. It is no more sacrifices of animals, nor of incense, nor the intercessions in the Holy Place. Now is to act in faith and believe in Jeremiah’s letter as the prophetic word of God, to believe that God, as much as He enabled Solomon to build a majestic structure, He would build an invisible spiritual structure.
So how did Ezekiel transition from solely the priestly to the prophetic?
1 Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God
The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), Ezekiel 1.
Open Heavens
Ezekiel was opened up to a new dimension because God opened the heavens to him. The Scriptures also tell us what he saw in that opening.
The heavenly dimension is essentially the prophetic vision that those who are called to speak for God see and perceive. It elevates our understanding and our hope. When you consider, that probably Ezekiel did not sense any divine activity for those thirty years that had passed until this experience. Now suddenly the skies took on a new brilliance, light concentrated in one place. A new atmosphere filling the air. Ezekiel knows something new is happening. He is aware God is preparing a new season, a preparation for restoration.
We know if God opens the heavens something must descend, as in Jacob’s dream, angels going up and down. Sometimes a voice is heard as in Luke’s account of the Transfiguration. Or in the Baptism of Jesus the Holy Spirit comes down in the form of a dove.
The Word
The word of the Lord came expressly unto Ezekiel fthe priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar
The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), Ezekiel 1:3.
If the Word of the Lord comes so expressly so it must because of the heavens being open. If anything is noticeable about he who is one who speaks for God is the inspiration of the Word that is communicated to him, and that which he communicates to those who hear. It is not a blessing word, its not pandering about the comfort of the hearers. Rather the whole book of Ezekiel seeks to address the Captivity from heaven’s point of view. It does not compromise, it calls upon sin, exposes, confronts. Today if we desire to make sense of changes in the earth we must be prepared to be as uncompromising as the Word given to us. The reason for the scandals in the Church is because we have diluted the Word and been afraid to confront sin. Once the uncompromising Word comes to us, changes us first. If the depth of the Word is missing, or below par we must doubt the qualification to be a spokesman for God.
The Hand of the Lord
The word “Hand of the Lord” indicates power, direction
yâd, yawd; a prim. word; a hand (the open one [indicating power, means, direction, etc.], in distinction from 3709, the closed one); used (as noun, adv., etc.) in a great variety of applications, both lit. and fig., both proximate and remote [as follow]:—(+ be) able, × about, + armholes, at, axletree, because of, beside, border, × bounty, × broad, [broken-] handed, × by, charge, coast, + consecrate, + creditor, custody, debt, dominion, × enough, + fellowship, force, × from, hand [-staves, -y work], × he, himself, × in, labour, + large, ledge, [left-] handed, means, × mine, ministry, near, × of, × order, ordinance, × our, parts, pain, power, × presumptuously, service, side, sore, state, stay, draw with strength, stroke, + swear, terror, × thee, × by them, × themselves, × thine own, × thou, through, × throwing, + thumb, times, × to, × under, × us, × wait on, [way-] side, where, + wide, × with (him, me, you), work, + yield, × yourselves.
James Strong, A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament and The Hebrew Bible (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2009), 47.
As you can see above, the expression, the Hand of the Lord represents that once Ezekiel perceives the open heaven, sees visions of God, hears the Word of the Lord. Then from this transition we see the Hand of the Lord upon Ezekiel to walk out the former stages of this spiritual transition, he qualifies to know the Hand of God directing him, which to speak, when to speak, when to walk in the visions he has which the book is full of. It is full of preparation for when the children of Israel will come back to the land. So the Hand of the Lord will cause him to walk the new waters of the River, cause him to prophesy to the dry bones, to cry out against unfaithful Levites. May the Hand of the Lord come upon us also.
In an age of confusing themes and messages, we need a heavens opening experience. Ezekiel had been in the mode of the High Priest, in that sacrifices and intercessions of a blessed nation was the order of days gone by. Now their fortunes had changed. Is this not familiar? There is a need for a strong spiritual experience to change what we have always been doing, meetings, the same old routine for years and years.
The elites of this world are rushing toward the Antichrist governmental system, it is needed that priests who were used to routines now see visions of God. These visions will open new discernment and new awareness of the movements of both the heavens and the beings in the darkness also. The visions will open us to the Word of God, which will confirm and reinforce our encounters. Then when we become acquainted so intimately with His Word, so His Hand will come on us in power and lead us to explain and open the understanding of a nation to what God is doing and desiring to restore to us.
May we transition from a routine based spirituality that has served us well, let us know a new open heaven, the visions of God, His Word and His Hand. That way we may be spokespeople for preparing God’s people for restoration.
Maranatha!
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