(January 2004 Edition)
Ezekiel was born around the time of king Josiah’s wonderful passover festival in Jerusalem, described in II Chronicles 35. Ezekiel’s father Buzi, who would have been a priest in active service at the time, may have been among the throngs of Levites whom Josiah appointed to their duties and encouraged in the service of the LORD’s temple. Ezekiel grew up during those happy years when the entire service of the LORD was carried out as He had intended and all Jerusalem rejoiced.
Then came tragedy. Josiah was killed in a foolish war with Egypt. With his inspired leadership gone, and with Jehoiakim, a detestable man utterly unworthy of his noble father, now disgracing the throne, Ezekiel’s life would have become ever more difficult.
Jeremiah’s prophecy
Ezekiel was nineteen when a sensational event took place at the temple.
Perhaps he heard about it from his father, who may well have been there.
The prophet Jeremiah, then a mature priest in his thirties, read the
words of the Lord from a big scroll. The king and some of his courtiers
were furious and burned the scroll, while Jeremiah and his friend Baruch had
to hide.
Worse was soon to come. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded the land, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. But then he changed his mind and rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar. The LORD sent raiders against him. He sent them to destroy Judah. It was just about that time that Ezekiel married his beloved, a virgin from his own people.
A few years later, the world fell apart for Ezekiel, his wife and at least one infant. Ezekiel was twenty-five, his wife perhaps a few years younger. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon advanced on Jerusalem and laid siege to it. He took [the teenage king] Jehoachin prisoner. He carried into exile all Jerusalem: all the officers and fighting men, and all the craftsmen and artisans, a total of ten thousand. Only the poorest people of the land were left. Ezekiel and his wife never saw their beloved Jerusalem again.
I like to think that Ezekiel composed Psalm 137. Verses 1 and 6 certainly seem very appropriate. By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept…may my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, Jerusalem, my highest joy. In his prophecy, Jerusalem is mentioned by name or as the city seventy-three times! Along with a growing family of sons and daughters, for the next eleven years they shared exile together in Babylon, today’s Iraq, living and weeping by the Khebar River, quite close to the present city of Baghdad. It would not be easy.
Ezekiel and his wife, people of sign
God deliberately chose Ezekiel and his wife to be signs or visible
examples to His covenant people, both to the faithful and to the wayward and
rebellious. So a careful reading reveals a great deal about this loving
couple and their godly married life. This is what we find: Ezekiel’s wife
was a tower of strength; someone he took pride in; the delight of
his eyes; the object of his affection; the mother of his sons and daughters;
his joy and glory; his heart’s desire. Spiritual love at
its best? Yes, indeed. But she was also the delight of her man’s eyes as
well as his heart’s desire. The same word delight (NIV) only becomes
lust when it is wrongly directed at an immoral woman, Solomon
tells us. So Ezekiel and his wife must have had a very passionate and -- in
the true sense -- romantic relationship throughout their all too-brief
eleven years of married bliss. Nowadays you would say they were just crazy
about each other, head over heels in love. And you would be right.
Just think what they had to go through, this young priest and his beloved wife. For six years he was dumb, only speaking on the rare occasions when he was under direct inspiration as a prophet. For more than a year, every day he had to be tied to his bed or couch with ropes, and lie on his side. His wife had to provide a diet carefully measured out which was not very appetizing. Like many Indian women today, dried cow dung had to be used for baking. As it is recorded, they ate rationed food in anxiety, food and water was scarce, and they were appalled at the sight of each other as they wasted away. Through it all, Ezekiel was very evidently supported and strengthened by his wife. She was a tower of strength.
Most of us have no reason to complain, have we? Do you, sister in Christ, support your husband in the Lord’s work as Ezekiel’s wife did?
His delight taken away
Then came the shock. In fact, the sky fell. One morning, Ezekiel’s wife
was taken very seriously ill. In the days of our mortality, we always have
to be prepared for that. It comes sooner or later. In their case it came
all too soon. As despised captives in the land of arrogant conquerors, she
would be unlikely to qualify for the Babylonian national health service.
Then Ezekiel received a chilling message from his angel: your wife is not going to pull through this illness, Ezekiel. I am about to take away the delight of your eyes. What was her illness? I used to think that it was a stroke, for that is what the KJV translation calls it. But the same word in I Samuel 6 is clearly bubonic plague, and in Zechariah 14 it must refer to some sort of flesh-consuming viral disease like ebola. Whatever it was, that must have been a dreadful day in the Ezekiel household, and by nightfall, Ezekiel’s lovely wife was dead in her mid-thirties. He was left with sons and daughters ranging, it would seem, from a ten-year old to a baby in arms.
As a priest, Ezekiel was not allowed to be ritually defiled by touching, or otherwise dealing with, his wife’s corpse. That was bad enough, but he was forbidden by his angelic instructor to grieve or mourn publicly. That must have been a terrible burden. Don’t ever say being a prophet of God was easy.
God uses Ezekiel’s married life as a model and example for us. You will be a sign to them, and they will know that I am the LORD. As with so many other couples who follow the scriptural pattern, Ezekiel as “son of man” represents the Lord Jesus, and his wife wonderfully symbolises the church he loves so dearly and for whose life he died.
Mary Eyre
Individuals and groups who insist on keeping the Sabbath day as a matter of religious obligation strongly believe that the observance of this day is an eternal and inflexible commandment given by God from the beginning of the world. As such, they feel it is binding upon all true believers in Christ today as a necessity for our salvation. The intent of this presentation is to take a closer look at this very serious claim, which implies that Sunday worshippers are automatically in breach of God’s new covenant in Christ Jesus and are in peril of eternal damnation.
The typical defense against this charge may be summarized as follows:
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The sabbath forms part of the law given at Sinai which was done away in Christ (Col. 2:14).
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The Mosaic law was not given to Israel’s forefathers or any other people, but was a covenant specifically between God and the children of Israel (Deut. 5:2-3).
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It was ‘a shadow’ of things to come.
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It was ‘added’ because of transgressions ‘until…’
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It was a ‘ministration of death’ written on tablets of stone.
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It was a ‘school-master’ to bring us to Christ (Gal. 3:24).
All of the foregoing points, while true, are virtually meaningless to advocates of the sabbath, as their main argument is that it was instituted by God long before Sinai, i.e., at the time of creation, for which Genesis 2:2-3 is quoted. This is indeed a very powerful passage of scripture that clearly shows God not only ceased from the creative labors, but also blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. This must mean that, even at that time, the day was set apart as holy.
The sabbath is therefore a practice in self-sacrifice on the part of man and carries many physical, social, and spiritual benefits. Upon this principle it can be reasonably argued that God must have taught our first parents many other binding laws which would lift them above the level of the beasts. Such commands would make them worthy as His prize creation capable of reflecting His glory.
For example, they must have known what murder is, in order for Cain to be guilty and suffer God’s judgment. It’s thus likely a sabbath rest was implemented before Sinai.
However, to say that keeping a seventh-day observance by all men was an eternally binding law is a different matter.
It is the principle of rest from self-service that is the critical lesson here, and not the blind observance of a mere 24-hour day. Scripture repeatedly shows that the dispensation of God’s righteousness has been adapted from age to age according to the spiritual development of His people and will so continue to be in the future. For example, true worship was once acceptable only at the temple in Jerusalem, and only the Levites were permitted to minister before Him. Admittedly, this is no longer the case.
Furthermore, advocates of the seventh-day sabbath must acknowledge that there were other laws given before Sinai that were equally evident, such as those pertaining to sacrifice. There must have been divine instruction regarding God’s preference in ritual animal sacrifices and offerings in order for a righteous God to reject Cain’s offering and accept Abel’s. Further, instruction was given concerning clean and unclean animals. Such sacrifices were required of Noah and his family when God made the world anew after the flood, and continued throughout the times of the Old Testament until the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. Yet, no one professing to follow Christ indulges in such sacrifices today because we look to the New Testament for guidance on this matter and we see that such sacrifices were done away at Calvary.
Likewise circumcision (Gen. 17:13-14) was commanded long before the law as an everlasting covenant, under penalty of death! In fact, whenever the laws of sabbath and circumcision clashed, circumcision was given precedence, as we are reminded by Jesus in John 7:23. It was compelled to be carried out on the 8th day whether or not that day was a sabbath! If circumcision was so critical to defining the identity of God’s chosen people, why do we no longer feel that our eternal salvation depends on adherence to it?
Furthermore, we might note the Lord Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day, setting us an example to follow. The answer lies in the fact that again we must be guided by what is explicit in the New Testament which teaches us that the sign of our new covenant with the Heavenly Father is now baptism (total immersion in water) into His son, Christ Jesus.
Sabbath keepers may confidently point to Genesis 17:9, which limits circumcision as a sign to Abraham’s descendants. Quite rightly so! But the same is also said of the sabbath, (Exo. 31:16-17), which is given as a sign between God and the children of Israel forever.
We should also note if keeping the seventh day was so unpardonably inflexible for all time, why is it that this was not specifically recorded as a command given to Abraham? Why was the sabbath not a sign between God and Abraham? Instead, circumcision is this sign. It is therefore evident that there was a very long gap of abstinence from sabbath-keeping leading up to the time the ten commandments were given at Sinai. Why should this be so? It is a serious challenge to basic logic! It follows therefore, that the criteria for continuing to adhere to a specific Old Testament command is whether our Lord Jesus so commands it, either directly or through his apostles.
Is such a command to keep the sabbath given to the church in the New Testament to the extent that our eternal salvation depends on our compliance?
Not by any means! Surely, an inflexible command would have been repeated with great emphasis in a change of dispensation! In fact, all the other nine commandments have been repeated at various points in the New Testament. All are repeated except keeping the seventh day. We do see Jesus attending the synagogues and the temple and worshipping on the sabbath. This is easily explained, however, in that Jesus was a Jew and was compelled to keep the Law given at Sinai until he fulfilled it on the cross.
What about his
disciples afterward?
They, too, visited the synagogues
and the temple but on every occasion we are told it was to expound the ‘new’
gospel. Indeed, it was their best opportunity to meet with their
listeners. So they attended and conducted Bible classes on the sabbath day,
explaining how the very law given by Moses was now fulfilled in Christ
Jesus, and they were no longer compelled to keep it.
When did the disciples
worship?
Many sabbath-keepers today argue
that Sunday was instituted as a false sabbath by the Roman Emperor,
Constantine, long after the church was already established. This may be
true, but is only partly relevant to the question. The real truth is that
true believers were already meeting on the first day of the week as early as
the days of the apostle Paul. We are told in Acts 20:7 that they met on the
first day of the week to ‘break bread,’ that is, to keep the memorial feast
of Christ’s sacrificial death. Furthermore, I Corinthians 16:2 shows that
it was a regular feature of their worship to meet on the first day. Why?
Because that day reminded them of the most glorious event in all human
history: the resurrection of Christ Jesus, our Lord, high priest, saviour,
and King! It was a celebration of life as opposed to the old law and
custom that reminded them of death.
Throughout the scriptures, a loving and patient God repeats His commandments and warnings to His people, for “He is not willing that any should perish.” Why should Gentiles be left in doubt on such a critical issue? If this new Sunday practice was unacceptable to the apostles, surely the Jerusalem Council would have at least discouraged it, as they did the other areas causing friction in their fellowship (Acts 15:5-21). The fact is there is no such objection or reprimand.
It is not that Sunday has now become the sabbath, but simply that this ritual observance of a single day of the week is no longer binding for our eternal salvation. The same may be said of Sunday, or any other day of the week. The purpose of the day (any day) was always meant to supercede the mere day itself. The sabbath was made for man and not man for the sabbath! (Mk. 2:27-28).
What was the purpose
of the sabbath?
As stated at the opening, it was
intended as a lesson to mankind that we should honor God first and foremost
in our everyday lives. Under the law, one day in seven was compulsory.
Should it be any less under the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ? The worship
and honor of God must graduate from the ritual of keeping one day to an
all-consuming self-sacrifice of every-day living. Each day must of
necessity be a day of rest from self-service of the flesh. In other words,
the true intent of the sabbath has not been done away with, but rather
expanded to a far more mature level. The principle is still intact!
Sabbath fulfillment
There is yet a greater
fulfillment of the sabbath to come! Hebrews 9:4 tells us that the ultimate
day of rest is still to come. Again, some feel this is referring to
Saturday! Certainly not! It is the divine fulfillment of what Yahweh
Almighty has programmed for all the world since the dawn of history, the
coming time when mankind will truly rest in the (seventh) millennial age of
a thousand years. In that time, Adam’s curse of sin and death will be in
the process of being lifted entirely from the earth, a time when the Prince
of Peace will reign in righteousness. The Bible refers to this soon-coming
age as the time of the Kingdom of God, when the Lord Jesus Christ and his
saints will reign over the earth and mankind will be taught to cease,
shabbath, from sin in the true rest of God (Dan. 2:44; Luke 1:31-33; I
Cor. 15:24-25). May we labor to enter into that rest.
Conclusion
The period of one specific day sabbath-keeping
ended when the dispensation to which it belonged came to an end. That is,
an age of spiritual darkness in the sense that the Son of Light had not yet
come, and mankind was residing in a spiritually immature age, from Adam and
Eve to the time of Jesus’ sacrificial death. No wonder Paul refers to the
10 commandments as a schoolmaster designed by God to bring us to Christ.
But now that Christ died at the turning point of human history, and the
gospel of grace has burst forth to both Jew and Gentile, the word of God is
ready to be inscribed upon the hearts of all men and we are no longer in
need of a schoolmaster.
Indeed, the divine principle of the Old Testament is still applicable, but the only rituals we must keep are those commanded us by our Lord Christ Jesus; that is, baptism into his saving name (Luke 16:16) and partaking of the bread and wine (I Cor. 11:23-26) symbols of his once-scrucified body and shed blood.
David Andrews, Nevis-St. Kitts