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Good evening all, thanks for being in church with us tonight.

We have been over the last number of weeks looking at the book of Joshua,

developing the Old Testament and particularly seeing there the gradual conquering of the promised land.

We're now fast forwarding a fair bit of biblical history

and we're now seeing how Israel lost that promised land in the book of Ezekiel.

So let's pray and we'll know him.

Father, we thank you that you are here with us as you promised.

We ask, Father, that we would not be like your people,

either passed through the word or learned but hard in their hearts to it.

Father, we ask that you might give us soft and tender and receptive hearts to your word.

Help us to see you and your purpose for us,

that we might love you, we might know you and love you,

and be with me, truly blessed you all. Amen.

Since St Thomas More published his book in 15 and 16,

the book Utopia has become a word that's used to describe an idealistic place of perfection.

We all have our utopias, we all have those places

where we like to escape to our concept of what paradise might be.

It might, in fact, be an actual place, it might be an activity, it might be a fancy,

it might be a fancy, it might be a go to that spot, do that thing,

and everything else kind of switches off for you for a time.

Imagine having that opportunity to eventually escape a place,

to go to paradise, to start a life again, to live a new life,

to a different life, a life that is away from the best, the grind, the chaos,

and the pain that often comes with life in this world.

Some people actually do it.

Back in October 1999, there was a train accident in London

that, upon investigation, didn't make a whole lot of sense.

Two commuter trains slammed into each other

with an incredible amount of carnage and loss of life and confusion

for a whole heap of people, but particularly the confusion

in amongst all of that, some people took that opportunity

to walk away from the accident, go to Heathrow,

board a flight, an international flight,

and start a new life somewhere else in the world.

Just like that.

Imagine doing that.

You've got so many issues going on in your life,

you're involved in an accident like this,

everyone assumes you're dead,

you get on a plane and just go somewhere else,

start again.

Running from the issues, keep running,

always looking for something better,

always hoping that things will be better.

To a degree, we'd probably all like to do it in moments,

and some of us do, in fact, do that.

We escape.

We might not jump on an international flight and escape,

but we do escape, escape for some of us,

into the fantasy world of soap operas,

into the internet, into magazines, into movies.

Or maybe utopia is at the bottom of an ice cream bucket.

We all have our escapes.

Maybe you are, in fact,

planning the big overseas trip in search of paradise.

If you feel like a better place exists,

a paradise exists,

then Ezekiel is for you.

Unfortunately, as we begin Ezekiel in chapter one,

we see that Ezekiel himself is, in fact,

a long way from paradise.

He is captive in Babylon.

And so we need to just, as we kick off this series,

take a bit of a step back and fill in some of the details

of what's happening here in biblical history.

It's about 600 years before Jesus.

It's, in fact, 597 BC.

The Middle East was in turmoil, as it often is.

And the regional superpower, Assyria,

had pretty much collapsed.

And the kingdom of Babylon had taken over as the superpower.

And all the small states around Palestine

were spoiling for a fight.

After 150 years of oppression from Assyria,

they wanted their freedom.

They didn't want to be ruled over

by this new upstart king called Nebuchadnezzar.

And so in 597 BC,

the king of Judah, at that time,

a guy named Jehoiakim,

decided that he was going to rebel against Nebuchadnezzar.

Nebuchadnezzar was not going to have any of that.

And so he attacked Jerusalem.

Jehoiakim got such a fright

that he surrendered the city and conveniently died.

He was replaced as the king

by the person who is the king

who's mentioned here in verse 2 of Ezekiel 1,

Jehoiakim.

Okay, Jehoiakim, Jehoiakim.

M comes before N.

That's how you remember it.

Jehoiakim, Jehoiahim.

Something like that.

Anyway, if you ever need to remember that.

To make sure that it wasn't going to happen again,

Nebuchadnezzar took a whole bunch of the elite of Israel

back home with him to Babylon.

He took them as hostages,

including the king who ultimately lost the city to Nebuchadnezzar,

that was Jehoiakim,

and Ezekiel.

And he placed on the throne in Jerusalem,

Zedekiah as a puppet king.

And Jeremiah was the prophet in Jerusalem at that time.

So Ezekiel is down in Babylon as a prophet.

Jeremiah is back in Jerusalem as the prophet.

That's the political picture.

But there's a much bigger biblical picture that's going on here,

which connects really well what we've just been through in Joshua.

Way back in the Old Testament,

God made Israel his special people

by rescuing them from slavery in Egypt.

And he took them to a new home,

the place that was called the Promised Land.

That's what we've been saw through Joshua

as they conquered the Promised Land.

And when God gave them their new home,

he told them that because they were his people

and he was their God,

they needed to be obedient to him

and to love him and to trust him

and to honour him and worship him.

And if they did,

life in the Promised Land

would just be a life of blessing.

It would be paradise.

If, however, they took God for granted

and they treated him badly

and lived as if God wasn't such a big deal,

then it was going to be really, really, really bad for them.

In fact, you're going to wish

that your mother never met your father.

You're going to wish that you were never born.

And that's exactly what happened.

In effect, what is happening here in Ezekiel

with the exile down to Babylon

is similar to what a parent might do

in disciplining their child

by sending them to their room

or putting them in the time-out chair for a bit.

The idea is put them away into a spot

so that they can think about their behaviour for a bit.

God has moved his people to Babylon

for 70 years

so that they might sit there in the time-out chair

and consider what they have done

and what's really important

and why it's important.

And so Ezekiel's one of these guys

down there in Babylon.

What did it feel like

to be one of the people of God

in Babylon?

It was, in fact, a huge shock.

It was unthinkable

that such a thing could happen

to their city and to their country.

They were physically dislocated

from their home by force.

They had been psychologically traumatised.

They were spiritually hardened

and they were also theologically baffled.

Where is God?

Why has he allowed this to happen to us?

How did they respond?

We know from the Old Testament

that there are at least four different responses

of the people of God,

of what had happened to them.

There was backsliding,

there was bravado,

there was bitterness,

and there was brokenness.

Four Bs, make it easy.

Backsliding, bravado, bitterness, and brokenness.

We read in Jeremiah

that there was backsliding.

Some thought, in fact,

we're much better off without God.

Serving this Yahweh

hasn't brought us any favours,

and so they rejected God altogether.

There was bravado back in Jerusalem.

There were the false optimists,

people like the prophet Hananiah,

who in Jeremiah 28 says,

don't worry,

be happy,

it's all going to be all over soon.

It's just a small blip.

In other words,

they didn't think that there was a lesson to learn.

The third response was much more pessimistic.

It was bitterness.

There were some who expected

that or accepted

that it was in fact God

who had done this to them,

but that God was totally unfair.

He was unreasonable

in doing this to them.

And so they just spiraled down into bitterness.

And the fourth response was brokenness.

There were some

who accepted that the exile

was in fact God's action,

and that they concluded

he was right,

we were wrong,

but that there was no hope,

there was no future,

no future for Israel,

no future for God's people,

and that we had brought it upon ourselves.

We deserve what we got.

And perhaps that how

Ezekiel felt in chapter 1, verse 1,

says that it was the 30th year.

Most likely,

it was his 30th year.

In the Old Testament,

it says that priests began

their public ministry

at the age of 30.

And perhaps you could imagine

this 30-year-old Ezekiel

wandering beside the Kibar River,

thinking about what could have been.

If he'd been back in Jerusalem,

this would have been

a time of celebration for him.

As the son of Buzi the priest,

he too would have been

a priest in this moment.

It's his 30th year.

And no doubt his father

had taught him

to look forward to this day

ever since he was a young boy.

Now would have been a time

when he began

his long-life service of God

in his temple.

But instead,

he finds himself

1,500 kilometres away

in a foreign land

as a captive

in a foreign empire.

He was a long way from home,

both physically and spiritually.

And so perhaps he was

a little depressed,

certainly disturbed and bewildered

as he wandered aimlessly

along the banks

of the Kibar River,

thinking of what could have been

back in Jerusalem.

All that he knew of God

was attached to that land,

Israel,

to that city,

Jerusalem,

to that temple

in the middle of the city,

Jerusalem.

But without Israel,

without Jerusalem,

without the city,

without the temple,

what is left?

All of his expectations

about God,

his future,

and the future of God's people

were up in the air.

Nothing was clear,

nothing was certain anymore.

You can imagine him

so deep in thought

that he didn't even notice

the approaching storm

until it was right upon him.

Verse 4,

I looked,

I saw a windstorm

coming out of the north

and an immense cloud

with flashing lightning

and surrounded

by brilliant light.

Suddenly,

he's plunged

into a ferocious storm

of thunder and lightning.

And it's right there

in that moment

that Ezekiel sees

a very strange sight

in the most unusual of places.

someone like,

someone like the experience

of a Pan Am pilot

as he was approaching

Los Angeles airport

back in the 2nd of July 1982.

As he approached to land

his jumbo jet,

3,000 metres up in the air,

right in his flight corridor,

was a man

lying down on a sun lounge.

Can you imagine reporting that?

To air traffic control?

It turns out Larry Walters

had always wanted to fly.

And so one day,

he packed himself

some sandwiches,

grabbed a few beers,

attached 45 helium-filled

weather balloons

to his sun lounge,

cut the ropes,

and flew.

He went as far

as four and a half kilometres

in the air,

straight through

Los Angeles flight corridor,

before he eventually

shot some balloons

and landed

his sun lounge

and was promptly arrested.

It's somewhat like

Ezekiel's experience.

An incredibly

strange sight

in the most

unexpected of places.

Let's read it

from verse 4.

The centre of the fire

looked like glowing metal

and in the fire

was what looked like

four living creatures.

In appearance,

their form was that

of a man,

but each of them

had four faces

and four wings.

There is an incredible

amount of detail

in chapter 1

that we just do not

have time to go into

what all the little details mean.

verse 1 tells us

what Ezekiel saw.

The heavens

were opened

and I saw

visions

of God.

That's what he saw.

That's

the unexpected

bit.

On the

Kibar River,

1500 kilometres

from Jerusalem

with no temple,

no priests,

God shows up.

God shows up.

Everything

up to this point

led Ezekiel

to conclude

that God

had in fact

abandoned

his people.

It's five years

into the exile.

Five years

of questions,

five years

of depression,

five years

of uncertainty

and then God

shows up.

So this is

a very surprising

but also

an incredibly

encouraging sight.

What Ezekiel

saw was a very

strange sight

of four beasts

with odd faces

and wings and hands.

Let's pick it up

in verse 10.

Their faces

looked like this.

Each of the four

had the face

of a man

and on the right

side each

had the face

of a lion,

the left

the face

of an ox

and each

also had

the face

of an eagle.

Such

were their

faces.

Ezekiel

saw God

but it's

pretty clear

that what he

saw

was weird

and pretty

scary stuff.

Note though

that in this

vision of God

it isn't a

description of

what God

actually looks

like.

God is strange,

God is not

like us,

he's entirely

different than

we are

but as Ezekiel

describes what

he sees,

he uses words

like appearance

and likeness.

It was like

a throne of

sapphire,

it looked as

if it were

full of

fire.

He tries

to use

the things

of this

world to

describe the

things which

are not

of this

world.

He sees a

weird side

of creatures

that were a

mix of

human and

beasts and

each creature

had faces

made up of

beasts made

by God.

And these

faces were

pointing in

four different

directions all

at the same

time and they

were all looking

to the four

corners of the

earth and a

representative of

all the

creatures that

God has

made.

Later on we

see that these

creatures are in

fact carrying the

throne, that is

these creatures that

God has made are

servants of God.

This vision is

meant to represent

very simply that all

creatures come under

his rule, the

rule of this God,

and all creatures

serve this God that

Ezekiel saw.

We also see for

this vision that

this throne on

which the God of

the universe sits

is slightly

different too.

Verse 15,

as I looked at

the living creatures

I saw a wheel on

the ground beside

each creature with

its four faces.

This was the

appearance and the

structure of the

wheels.

They sparkled like

crystallite and all

four looked alike.

Each appeared to

be made like a

wheel intersecting a

wheel.

As they moved

they would go in

any one of the

four directions and

the creatures face

and the wheels did

not turn about as

the creatures went.

I think what we're

meant to do here is

to take off our

engineering mind and

put it to one side

and try and work out

how this works.

But the vision, the

overall vision here,

the king who sits on

the throne spreads

his rule wherever this

throne goes.

throne goes in all

four directions that

the creatures are

facing.

That is to all four

corners of the globe.

There is nothing that

is not under this God's

rule that is under his

control.

Notice too the many

eyes on the throne.

In verse 18 their

rims were high and

awesome and all four

rims were full of eyes

all around.

This mobile throne from

which God rules is

covered in eyes which

are pointing in all

directions.

This God who rules this

world, all creatures in

this world, who oversees

everything in this world,

he sees everything.

There is nothing that is

hidden from him.

There is nothing that he

does not see.

There is nothing that he

does not know.

Nothing takes him by

surprise.

There is nothing that is

outside of his control.

Now, the real surprise

for Ezekiel was that he

was seeing God at all

behind enemy lines in

Babylon.

The wings, the eyes, the

wheels, that is the

straitness of the sight and

the unexpected place of the

sight, the vision that he

got only strengthens the

point that God rules all,

including Babylon.

What a comforting vision

for a young man and a

nation under the rule of a

foreign power, 1,500

kilometers from home, who

at this point had no hope

for a better future

whatsoever.

God can do anything.

This God can do anything.

He is everywhere and he

knows everything.

It's the picture that we

see right throughout the

Bible of God.

The Bible calls God

holy.

It's not that he possesses

holiness, but that he

actual fact is holy.

It signifies everything about

God that sets him apart as

being different to us and

what he made.

And that makes him an

object of awe, makes him

an object of adoration and,

in fact, of dread.

The word holy covers every

part of his total greatness

and moral perfection.

It's the sum total of his

attributes.

Every part of his nature and

his character is holy because

of course he is God.

At the core of its concept

is his purity, which cannot

tolerate sin or wrong or evil

or impurity in any form.

And so what happens when a

sinful, imperfect, dweeb of a

human being like me gets

confronted with a God like

this?

Verse 28.

This was the appearance of

the likeness of the glory of

the Lord.

And when I saw it, I fell

face down.

That's the response.

That's the response that God's

been wanting from his people

the whole time that they're in

the promised land.

And the reason that they're

here in Babylon is because

that's not what they did when

they were in the promised land.

They took him for granted.

It's the position of

submission.

Humble submission is the only

option.

The vision, the God of God

didn't make Ezekiel any more

casual about God.

This is the lesson that Israel,

in fact, had to learn.

We see a similar thing with John,

as Chris read out to us in

Revelation chapter 1.

Revelation 1 · chapter mention

When he saw the glorified Lord

Jesus, like Ezekiel, bear in

mind that John is Jesus' best

mate when he was here on earth.

John was exiled, the island of

Patmos, a prisoner, just like

Ezekiel, when he received a

vision of Jesus.

And it was a strange and

terrifying sight.

Jesus was there, even in the

island of Patmos.

It was there in the most

unexpected place.

He saw the all-conquering and

ruling Jesus.

And what did John do?

Exactly what Ezekiel did when

confronted with the glory and

holiness of God.

He fell face down as if dead.

That's the response that he's

been calling from his people all

along.

He was Jesus' best mate.

But he knew that the glorified

Jesus was not to be treated

lightly or carelessly or

recklessly.

The vision of Ezekiel reveals

how terrifying, but also how

good God is.

God's people might be in the

time-out chair in Babylon, but he

was not done with his people

despite their failure.

And so this vision told Ezekiel

that God is in fact up there,

that God is in fact out there

in control, but also that God is

right here with them right now.

Notice right at the very beginning

of the prophecy in verse 3.

By the Kibai River, in the land of

the Babylonians, there the hand of

the Lord was upon him.

Right there, in that place, God

was with his prophet.

If you've got your Bibles open, flick

over 48 chapters later to the very

end of Ezekiel.

Right at the end of the chapters, we're

going to get to this in a few weeks,

the final chapters of Ezekiel are that

there's this wonderful description

of paradise that God has prepared

for his people.

It is a perfect place.

The last word of this prophecy,

it's a picture of this paradise,

of this city of perfection.

The last words of this prophecy is

the name of that city.

The Lord is there.

Right there in Babylon,

and right at the end in paradise,

after God has brought his people

into their glorious future,

the city, paradise, is called

the Lord is there.

He's there in Babylon.

He's there in paradise.

You see, Israel thought that the

promised land was paradise.

They thought that the Davidic kingdom,

the kingdom under David, was

paradise.

They thought Jerusalem was

paradise.

They thought the temple in

Jerusalem was paradise.

But strangely, they found real

paradise while in exile in Babylon.

It wasn't Babylon that was

paradise.

It was the Lord.

It was the Lord coming to his

people.

Paradise is not so much a place.

Paradise is where God is.

That's paradise.

Paradise.

It is relationship with God.

It's a relationship of trust and

obedience.

This relationship with him is the

only way that we'll ever find true

paradise.

We can pursue everything in this

world, but we'll only ever find it

in him.

Jesus made it pretty explicit for his

disciples.

When we as Christians think about

paradise, we automatically say

heaven.

That's paradise.

We think of eternal life in heaven.

Jesus said this in John 17, verse 3.

John 17:3

This is eternal life.

That they may know you, the only true

God and Jesus Christ whom you have

sent.

What Jesus is saying there is that

paradise isn't so much a destination

as it is a relationship.

Eternal life is to know God through

Jesus Christ.

Heaven is paradise only because God is

there.

The purpose of the prophecy of Ezekiel

is, and Chris has mentioned this at

the beginning, was to reintroduce God

to his people, to reestablish that

relationship.

Again and again throughout the 48

chapters, God says to Ezekiel to speak

to his people that you may know that I

am the Lord.

The exile, all the judgments which

are executed, and we're going to get

into that next week, and all the mercy

that's promised, the whole prophecy has

that one end in mind that they may know

that he is the Lord of all that is.

Ezekiel discovered on that day by the

Kibar River, in all his pain and anguish

and confusion, that paradise was in fact

not lost.

God was there, right there in pagan,

unclean Babylon.

God was there.

He was there for Ezekiel.

He was there for his exiles in Babylon.

He was there for John on Patmos, and he's

right here for you right now.

This, I believe, is a word of comfort and

purpose for Christians living in a rapidly

changing society.

The people of God, in Ezekiel's time,

found themselves in a society not unlike

ours, a society that's not shaped by a

biblical worldview.

It's not shaped by biblical values.

Not that long ago, in the Western world,

a whole bunch of people, most people,

would have called themselves Christian.

Other religions existed, and yes, there

were sceptical philosophers and there were

atheists, but they were kind of regarded as

more bizarre, sometimes even scandalous.

Those were the days of Christendom.

But that is how it used to be.

Christendom's gone.

It's over.

The 20th century saw an incredible reversal.

Tolerance of all ideas is the new idol.

The world has become a global village.

The new society has emerged in the West.

Church spires still exist, but they are dwarfed by the

skyscrapers of contemporary commerce.

Christians are in positions of power, but they are

less influential.

The Christian church has virtually no political

power whatsoever.

And for us, in our own context, SRE is under fire.

Marriage is being redefined.

There's no moral compass in our society.

Christendom is over.

So are we asking ourselves why as the church?

Has God put his church in the West in the time-out chair?

There is a lesson here.

There is no place for bravado.

We are a minority under fire, and there is a temptation,

I believe, for the Christian church to bunker down,

to retreat into a Christian subculture,

take on a siege mentality, wait for Jesus to return,

and to hell with the rest of you.

What did God require his people in exile in Babylon?

Jeremiah 29 tells us.

29 verses 4 to 7, this is God's instruction for his people

living in a foreign land.

This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel,

says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile.

Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.

Don't we treat?

Bless.

And I believe that it's absolutely impossible for us to do that

unless we are totally convinced that God is here with his people,

on his throne, and he's ruling not just us, our lives and our church,

but he rules all of Australia, all this world, governments, people, everyone.

Let me just leave that as a side thought.

Bring it down to something personal.

I think there's a personal word of comfort for us.

Some of us who might be feeling something of the fourth response of the exiles,

and that is the brokenness.

Those who feel that God right now seems just so far away from you.

Maybe you feel that there is no possible hope or future in your life or in your family.

There is, just seems like God's not there.

If God feels a long way from you right now,

take this word as hope and promise.

God is with his people wherever they are.

As Jesus promised,

surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.

God doesn't promise that he will always

take away the difficulty that we're facing immediately.

Ezekiel is about to face another five years

of the most uncomfortable message

that any prophet ever had to bring to the people of God.

But there's also comfort and hope and reassurance of forgiveness.

Why?

Because God was there.

And he was in it.

And when God is there,

paradise is always there.

There is hope.

Our God is still on his throne.

And our God is still in charge of the world.

And our God is right here where we are,

with us in this place, 2015,

and fulfilling his purpose amongst his people.

But personally,

he's not just here in this church where we gather right now,

but he is there with you tomorrow

and the next day and the day after that,

wherever you go

and whatever circumstances you find yourself in,

trust him.

Trust him.

Submit to him.

Obey him.

Love him.

Worship him.

Honor him.

Let's pray.

Father God,

I pray that

we would learn the lesson of the exile

as your people.

We pray that our response to you,

regardless of the circumstances that we face day by day

or even the church collectively,

might indeed be one

of total submission to you.

Change our hearts, Lord,

so that we would not be like your people, Israel.

Help us not to be hardened to your word,

where they took on all kinds of forms of religion.

They were apathetic.

They took you for granted.

Father God,

I pray

that you would change us

and that you would comfort us

and that we might indeed

seek the blessing of many

because you are right here with us.

Father God,

we're tempted in this world

to chase all other kinds of paradises.

Help us to see it.

It is with you

and in relationship with you

that we might indeed find

that place of security

and hope and future.

Amen.

Amen.