A lot of modern people have the wrong view of missions. And, perhaps, a lot of missionaries have the wrong view of missions, as well.
Regardless, it is something severely lacking in our lost world. Christians get cozy. They stop going to the unreached peoples, stop being examples in faith and maturity to the younger in age and faith, and even stop endeavoring to understand more about God. A lot of 'Christians' aren't even missionaries to themselves! We get caught up in the world and forget to remind ourselves of the Gospel!
The Bible is full of true stories about missionaries, how God saved them, how He called them, and where He sent them.
The Old Testament prophet, Ezekiel, had an amazing story. In the prime of his life, God called him to go. And, unworthy though he felt, he went. More than that, God showed him how to do it.
In many places, God distinguished that Ezekiel was only a son of man (Ezekiel 2:1 & 3, 4:1, 8:6, 11:2 and many other places!). God also made sure that Ezekiel knew that He was Almighty God. Not only in Ezekiel's visions of His glory, throne, and the apparently audible sound of His voice, but also in the way He addressed Himself (2:4, 3:11 & 27, to name a few! Read it for yourself!)
Why was Ezekiel needed?
"I will execute judgment on you at the borders of Israel. And you will know that I am the Lord, for you have not followed My decrees or kept My laws but have conformed to the standards of the nations around you." (Ezekiel 11:11 & 12)
The people of Israel had turned away from the Lord. That is why God sent the prophets, to warn them of the wrath of God that they would face if they did not return.
I am with you and will save you,’ declares the Lord. ‘Though I completely destroy all the nations among which I scatter you, I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you but only in due measure; I will not let you go entirely unpunished.’ (Jeremiah 30:11)
Because of God's love for His people, it is necessary that He discipline them.
The Lord disciplines those He loves, as a father the son he delights in. (Proverbs 3:12)
What was God's plan in using Ezekiel?
I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow My decrees and be careful to keep My laws. They will be My people, and I will be their God. (Ezekiel 11:19 & 20)
THEY WILL KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD: Ezekiel 6:10 & 13 - 14, 7:4b & 27, 11:10& 12, 12:15 - 16 & 20)
How was Ezekiel enabled to be a missionary?
1) Direct presence with God:
Then there came a voice from above the vault over their heads as they stood with lowered wings. Above the vault over their heads was what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a Man. I saw that from what appeared to be His waist up He looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down He looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded Him. Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around Him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell face down, and I heard the Voice of One speaking. (Ezekiel 1:25-28)
And there before me was the glory of the God of Israel, as in the vision I had seen in the plain. (Ezekiel 8:4)
Then the glory of the Lord rose from above the cherubim and moved to the threshold of the temple. The cloud filled the temple, and the court was full of the radiance of the glory of the Lord. (Ezekiel 10:4)
Today we have the Bible to receive our instructions from the Lord. God has ceased to appear to mankind in the forms of visions and dreams, although we should never lower God to put a limit on Him. (Jesus said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26)
Imagine being in Ezekiel's shoes in those moments!
2) By consuming God's words:
But you, son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not rebel like that rebellious people; open your mouth and eat what I give you.” Then I looked, and I saw a hand stretched out to me. In it was a scroll, which He unrolled before me... “Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the people of Israel.” So I opened my mouth, and He gave me the scroll to eat... So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth. (Ezekiel 2:8 - 3:3)
I like the picture these verses portray. Now, I don't recommend you go eat your Bible; it probably won't taste like honey, more like dry paper and ink. But this scroll that God fed to Ezekiel wasn't like our Bible. It was the pure words and commands of God.
In the same way Ezekiel 'ate' the God-given scroll, we are supposed to mentally 'chew' on the words of God: meditate on them. This is how they stick with us, how we learn from and understand them.
3) By the Spirit carrying him:
The Spirit came into me and raised me (Ez. 2:2)
Then the Spirit lifted me up (Ez. 3:12)
The Spirit then lifted me up and took me away (Ez. 3:14)
The Spirit lifted me up (Ez. 8:3)
Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me (Ez. 11:1)
Then the Spirit of the Lord came on me, and He told me (Ez. 11:5)
The Spirit of God is introduced in the very second verse in the Bible, that is how important it is. The Holy Spirit is the third Being in the Trinity, the indwelling of God in His children. It is the Spirit of God who intercedes for us at the throne of God "with groanings that cannot be uttered" (Romans 8:26).
These sections in Ezekiel add a whole new image to Matthew 10:20: For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
4) By seeing the Spirit move around him:
Wherever the spirit would go, they would go (Ez. 1:12 & 20)
If the Spirit of God is working in and through all the Christians on earth, then there will be evidence of it. Ezekiel saw heavenly forms being driven by the Spirit, and it awed him. So it should for us.
5) The strong hand of the Lord on him:
The Spirit then lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the strong hand of the Lord on me. (Ez. 3:14)
The hand of the Lord was on me there, and He said to me, “Get up and go out to the plain, and there I will speak to you." (Ez. 3:22)
The hand of the Sovereign Lord came on me there. (Ez. 8:1)
Who was Ezekiel sent to?
You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and strange language, but to the people of Israel. (Ezekiel 3:5)
This was a big one for me. He was being sent to people he knew, in a land he was familiar with -- that he was APART of! He was sent to his own culture.
Are we going to the world? Are we going at all?
Maybe this year, a New Year’s Resolution could be to share God’s great news with someone- or more than one someone! Go, go go!
<3 Berea
Regardless, it is something severely lacking in our lost world. Christians get cozy. They stop going to the unreached peoples, stop being examples in faith and maturity to the younger in age and faith, and even stop endeavoring to understand more about God. A lot of 'Christians' aren't even missionaries to themselves! We get caught up in the world and forget to remind ourselves of the Gospel!
The Bible is full of true stories about missionaries, how God saved them, how He called them, and where He sent them.
The Old Testament prophet, Ezekiel, had an amazing story. In the prime of his life, God called him to go. And, unworthy though he felt, he went. More than that, God showed him how to do it.
In many places, God distinguished that Ezekiel was only a son of man (Ezekiel 2:1 & 3, 4:1, 8:6, 11:2 and many other places!). God also made sure that Ezekiel knew that He was Almighty God. Not only in Ezekiel's visions of His glory, throne, and the apparently audible sound of His voice, but also in the way He addressed Himself (2:4, 3:11 & 27, to name a few! Read it for yourself!)
Why was Ezekiel needed?
"I will execute judgment on you at the borders of Israel. And you will know that I am the Lord, for you have not followed My decrees or kept My laws but have conformed to the standards of the nations around you." (Ezekiel 11:11 & 12)
The people of Israel had turned away from the Lord. That is why God sent the prophets, to warn them of the wrath of God that they would face if they did not return.
I am with you and will save you,’ declares the Lord. ‘Though I completely destroy all the nations among which I scatter you, I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you but only in due measure; I will not let you go entirely unpunished.’ (Jeremiah 30:11)
Because of God's love for His people, it is necessary that He discipline them.
The Lord disciplines those He loves, as a father the son he delights in. (Proverbs 3:12)
What was God's plan in using Ezekiel?
I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow My decrees and be careful to keep My laws. They will be My people, and I will be their God. (Ezekiel 11:19 & 20)
THEY WILL KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD: Ezekiel 6:10 & 13 - 14, 7:4b & 27, 11:10& 12, 12:15 - 16 & 20)
How was Ezekiel enabled to be a missionary?
1) Direct presence with God:
Then there came a voice from above the vault over their heads as they stood with lowered wings. Above the vault over their heads was what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a Man. I saw that from what appeared to be His waist up He looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down He looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded Him. Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around Him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell face down, and I heard the Voice of One speaking. (Ezekiel 1:25-28)
And there before me was the glory of the God of Israel, as in the vision I had seen in the plain. (Ezekiel 8:4)
Then the glory of the Lord rose from above the cherubim and moved to the threshold of the temple. The cloud filled the temple, and the court was full of the radiance of the glory of the Lord. (Ezekiel 10:4)
Today we have the Bible to receive our instructions from the Lord. God has ceased to appear to mankind in the forms of visions and dreams, although we should never lower God to put a limit on Him. (Jesus said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26)
Imagine being in Ezekiel's shoes in those moments!
2) By consuming God's words:
But you, son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not rebel like that rebellious people; open your mouth and eat what I give you.” Then I looked, and I saw a hand stretched out to me. In it was a scroll, which He unrolled before me... “Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the people of Israel.” So I opened my mouth, and He gave me the scroll to eat... So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth. (Ezekiel 2:8 - 3:3)
I like the picture these verses portray. Now, I don't recommend you go eat your Bible; it probably won't taste like honey, more like dry paper and ink. But this scroll that God fed to Ezekiel wasn't like our Bible. It was the pure words and commands of God.
In the same way Ezekiel 'ate' the God-given scroll, we are supposed to mentally 'chew' on the words of God: meditate on them. This is how they stick with us, how we learn from and understand them.
3) By the Spirit carrying him:
The Spirit came into me and raised me (Ez. 2:2)
Then the Spirit lifted me up (Ez. 3:12)
The Spirit then lifted me up and took me away (Ez. 3:14)
The Spirit lifted me up (Ez. 8:3)
Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me (Ez. 11:1)
Then the Spirit of the Lord came on me, and He told me (Ez. 11:5)
The Spirit of God is introduced in the very second verse in the Bible, that is how important it is. The Holy Spirit is the third Being in the Trinity, the indwelling of God in His children. It is the Spirit of God who intercedes for us at the throne of God "with groanings that cannot be uttered" (Romans 8:26).
These sections in Ezekiel add a whole new image to Matthew 10:20: For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
4) By seeing the Spirit move around him:
Wherever the spirit would go, they would go (Ez. 1:12 & 20)
If the Spirit of God is working in and through all the Christians on earth, then there will be evidence of it. Ezekiel saw heavenly forms being driven by the Spirit, and it awed him. So it should for us.
5) The strong hand of the Lord on him:
The Spirit then lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the strong hand of the Lord on me. (Ez. 3:14)
The hand of the Lord was on me there, and He said to me, “Get up and go out to the plain, and there I will speak to you." (Ez. 3:22)
The hand of the Sovereign Lord came on me there. (Ez. 8:1)
Who was Ezekiel sent to?
You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and strange language, but to the people of Israel. (Ezekiel 3:5)
This was a big one for me. He was being sent to people he knew, in a land he was familiar with -- that he was APART of! He was sent to his own culture.
Are we going to the world? Are we going at all?
Maybe this year, a New Year’s Resolution could be to share God’s great news with someone- or more than one someone! Go, go go!
<3 Berea
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