The River of Life from the Temple (Ezekiel 47:1-12)

"Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing” (Eze 47:12).

This passage is Ezekiel's vision of water flowing from the temple, growing deeper as it flows, bringing life and healing wherever it goes. It depicts a miraculous river flowing from the throne of God in the temple, bringing healing, sustenance, and abundant life to everything in its path. It is a powerful vision of spiritual renewal, ultimate salvation, and the restoration of all creation, showing the transformative and life-giving power of God's presence.

The Call to Ministry

OT accounts of individuals' calls to divine service has been cast in two forms:

1. the protested call and 
2. the overwhelming call [Moses (Exod 3:1-4:17); Gideon (Judg 6:11-24); Jeremiah (Jer 1:4-10)].

Ezekiel's call is generally classified among the latter with the following typical features:

1. The person called receives a vision of Yahweh in all his splendor and majesty.
2. The person demonstrates verbally or non-verbally an overwhelmed response to the vision.
3. The person is reassured, prepared and equipped by Yahweh to fulfill his or her prophetic responsibilities.
4. The person receives a special commission from Yahweh [Isaiah (Isa 6:1-13); Micaiah ben Imlah (1 Ki 22:19-21); Paul (Ac 9:3-39; 22:3-21; 26:12-18)].

Yet several features suggests that Ezekiel was not a willing prophet, at least in the beginning:

• the extra-ordinary length and detail of the account (exceeding the call of Moses by almost 50%), 
• the intensity of the opening vision, 
• the duplication of the commissioning speech, 
• the prescribed physical ingestion of the scroll, 
• the stern watchman charge, and 
• the threefold binding combine, which all combine to soften Ezekiel's resistance and prepare him for the role into which he is conscripted by the sovereign Lord.
  

Several additional general observations of the OT call narratives are:

1. The prophetic call was not an ecstatic or trance-like experience. The divine confrontation occurred when the person was engaged in the normal activities of life
2. The accounts are punctuated and controlled by dialogue between Yahweh and his prophet. The commissioning of a prophet was a very personal experience and issued in direct imperatival form.
3. The call of the prophet was a private affair initiated by Yahweh alone and without 3rd-party involvement. The call seems at times to have been quite arbitrary, irrespective of personal faith (Gideon), interest in the divine agenda (Moses), or personal gifts (Jeremiah).
4. The function of the prophet was mediatorial. The call was not for the prophet's own sake, but that a divine message might be communicated to a third party, usually the nation of Israel, and also to foreigners.
5. When the prophets went forth they went with a divine message and with divine authority. Yahweh, the great divine king, conscripts into his service human ambassadors, messengers carrying his proclamations to their intended audiences.

Reference: Block, Daniel I. The Book of Ezekiel Chapters 1-24, NICOT (New International Commentary on the Old Testament). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1997, 78-79.

What is God like? (Ezekiel 1)

This chart of Ezekiel gives an overview. Check out this excellent computer graphics animation describing the incredible vision seen in Ezek 1:1-28.

Ezekial was 25 when taken into Babylonian captivity, and 30 when called into ministry (Ezek 1:1), the age when priests commenced their office. He was a captured Israelite in forced exile. He is unusual and strange, and so is his book, which we may often not read, or hear sermons on. Historically, young rabbis were encouraged not to read Ezekiel until age 30, lest they become discouraged as to how hard Scripture is.

The outline below is from a sermon by Mark Dever (Capitol Hill Baptist Church) entitled A Vision of God, or "What is God like?" One of the most vivid records in the Bible of a vision of God is in Ezek 1:1-28, where Dever explains 5 things we can learn about God.