Ezekiel

Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.

Ezekiel 1:28

The first words of the book of Ezekiel seem to give us the prophet’s age: “Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year” (Ezekiel 1:1). According to Numbers 4:23, Jewish priests began leading Temple worship at age thirty. But just when Ezekiel was ready to assume his life’s work, he was seized in a raid and deported hundreds of miles to a Jewish refugee camp beside the Chebar River in Babylon. He was angry, disappointed, and bitter (Ezekiel 3:14).

God’s response was to open his eyes, giving him a glimpse of the heavenly throne itself and allowing him to see “the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.” Seeing this, Ezekiel fell on his face and listened as the Lord commissioned him to a ministry he had never anticipated—one that still benefits us to this day.

There’s an old hymn that says, “One look at His dear face, all sorrow will erase.” When our eyes are opened to the Lord, everything else falls into place, takes shape, and begins to make sense.

We would see Jesus, the great rock foundation Whereon our feet were set with sovereign grace.

ANNA WARNER, AUTHOR OF “JESUS LOVES ME”