What a blessed book this prophecy is. It is the record of God's dealings, God's gracious dealings with a captive people. Ezekiel is a captive, a prisoner in a faraway land on the occasion when he meets with God. We read all about it in the opening part of the prophecy. Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Kebar, that the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year, King Jehoiachin's captivity The Word of the Lord came expressly unto Ezekiel, the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Kebar. And the hand of the Lord was there upon him. Last Lord's Day we took up a study in verses 1 and 2. It is our purpose on this occasion to move into verse 3. You will observe a certain repetition there that Ezekiel is the subject of study. Only now, in verse 3, Ezekiel is described as Ezekiel the priest. We are given information concerning the family line of descent. We are told also that he is in the land of the Chaldeans by this river. Now, the river Kebar is going to be a recognized place for us as we purge these verses. The name indicates distance. either distance in time or distance in space. What an appropriate name for this river, given that lining its banks is a motley crowd, a dismal people, wretched, miserable, a people, as we saw last Lord's Day, without a song, without a testimony, without any witness from God. a people in some manner of speaking without hope, a people filled with despair. The morale has been broken down. Here is a company in sore need of an experience with God. My friend, no matter how far away you get from God, there is hope. There is hope of God turning the tide. The name of the river means distance. And you may find yourself at some distance from God. It may be distance in terms of time. Perhaps it has been years since you walked with God. It has been years since your own soul filled with the message that God gave. It has been years since, with brokenness of heart, you knelt before your Savior But however great a distance between our souls and God, our sins have managed to divide. The Lord can bridge the gap. He can deliver the captive, restore the backslider, return the child of God to his wanted place of rest. There is no distance too great for God to cover. And it does not matter then how far away you are, the Lord can reach you. The land of Babylon is to a soul in the land of Israel the end of the earth. But even there, the hand of God can reach out. The hand of God is not limited by miles. And no matter where you are, the hand of God can reach out. And God has found sinners in the most unlikely places. You see, in verse 3, the words are, in the land of the Chaldeans. This is a land of wretchedness, a land of gross idolatry. It is a land of unbelievable immorality and uncleanness. And even there, the hand of God reached out. bridge the distance between Ezekiel and heaven. And there he saw visions of God. Oh, what a blessing there is. The land of the Chaldeans, then, is everything that the world is, filled with idolatry, filled with wretchedness, filled with wickedness. It is a place on this earth of which we can say the devil is there. And God's captive people were held against their will in that place, at a distance from Jerusalem, at a distance from the sanctuary, at a distance from that land where they felt their blessing really was. They were at a distance from God. But the hand of God reached out, spanned the distance and found Ezekiel. It was at the River Kibar, a place where even the name suggests separation, isolation from God. There is one thing the Christian dreads. If he has any experience of God at all, there is one thing the Christian dreads. He dreads grieving the Holy Ghost to such a degree that there is going to be permanently a distance between his soul and the Lord from there on. He dreads ever losing the sense of God's presence. He dreads the arrival of the day, should it ever appear, when he would have wandered away from God. He dreads the experience of backsliding. He dreads the thought that one day he might fail the Lord. The land of the Chaldeans represents all of that. to Ezekiel. It's the place where God is not. It's the place of gloom. It's the place of which we can say the devil is there. And if you look at the very last words in Ezekiel, because sometimes it's good to look at what is mentioned first and what is mentioned last, the beginning of the book of Ezekiel has to do with the land of the Chaldeans, of which it can be said in the normal way of speaking. God is not there, but the devil is. The book of Ezekiel ends with a precious title. The very last words of the prophecy are Jehovah Shammah. If you look at the margin, Jehovah Shammah interpreted in our Bible there with the words, The Lord is there. Ezekiel's vision is to lead on to this grand climax. Although he is in the land of the Chaldeans, a place of wretchedness where the devil is, although he is by the river Kebar, separated from God at a distance from Jerusalem and from the sanctuary, yet God is going to open up his eyes and give him such a sight of things to come. He is looking on a city whose builder and maker is God. He is saying of that place, the Lord is there. That's heaven to me. But to come back to this expression, the land of the Chaldeans, Ezekiel chapter 1 and verse 3, we would do well to keep in mind the words of the psalm we have been reading, Psalm 39. And I have the words of that psalm in front of me now. In verse twelve of the psalms. David is saying, Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry. Hold not thy peace at my tears, for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were. Even when you are living in hope, You are not to let your roots get down so deeply as to forget your real calling. You can never be at home in the world. On this earth you are to be a stranger. But David, you'll see, uses the words, and I want you to mark them in the Psalms. Psalm 39, verse 12, I am a stranger with thee. Those three words, with thee, make all the difference. No matter where we are, however much we may feel the stranger, our life is transformed by the knowledge that the Lord is with us. The Lord is there. I am a stranger with thee. If I suffer the reproach of Christ, I do not suffer on my own. I have the Lord with me. If I am a stranger among the ungodly, then my blessed Redeemer is a stranger also. I am a stranger with them. Mark that the psalmist is not saying, I am a stranger to thee. There was a time, true enough, when he was a stranger to the Lord. In your case also, if you are a Christian, There was a time when you were a stranger to grace and to God. You didn't know Him. You belonged to the world. But since the day the Lord saved you, since the day the grace of God transformed you, you became a stranger to the world and you were a stranger with Christ. David here identifies with two types of company. He says in the first place, I am a stranger with thee. I have the Lord as my companion, however much I am a stranger here. And secondly, he says, I am a stranger and a sojourner as all my fathers were. In other words, he is walking in the way trodden by the fathers. If you have been brought up in a Christian home, your father was a child of God, your grandfather was a man of prayer, then you can certainly say, God has blessed me and I am walking this day as did my fathers. David could say that. He is walking in the steps of God's saints. And no matter whether you belong to a family like that or not, at least you can say, well, in a spiritual sense, Abraham is my father and Isaac and Jacob and all the rest. I look in these men as my fathers. And just as my fathers, I am a stranger with thee here on this earth. I am in grand company. I am among the saints. If you are abused, if you are hated, if you are cast out from worldly company, if there are those who despise you because you love the Lord, you are in grand company. Say over and over again in your own soul, Lord, I am a stranger with thee. I have Christ for my company. And moreover, I am in grand company, even on a human level. I am a stranger with the Lord on this earth, as all my fathers were. I am traveling in the same direction as the rest of the people of God. You do not want to be at odds with God's people. You do not want to be out of step with God's people. Do not be a stranger to the saint, but be one with this grand company. What a blessing that is! Now, that's all the more interesting when looking at Ezekiel 1 and verse 3, you find something about Ezekiel's father, Buzi. Now, Ezekiel comes from a privileged family in Israel. He belongs to the tribe of Levi. All his family belonged to the sanctuary. That is to say, as a wee boy, Ezekiel was brought up in the house of God. As a child, he was familiar with the courts of the Lord's house. His father and mother always brought him there. He was brought up in the atmosphere of prayer, brought up with the book of God, brought up to study the Word. And those he killed, we believe, did not come to know the Lord until he was led away into captivity. Yet it must be said of him, he was brought up the right way. He was brought up in the sanctuary. And to this day, in a faraway lamp, he's carrying the name of Busi, which name means despised or contemned. And Ezekiel in the land of Babylon was carrying the name of one who was despised of men. That's the meaning of his father's name. But on a higher level, The child of God, a stranger here, who sometimes may feel himself to be in bondage, who may be seeking to meet God at the riverside, his soul at some distance from the sanctuary above. I say, all the while, the child of God is here as a stranger with Christ among men. Praise the Lord. He is carrying the name of the one who is despised and rejected of men. Wherever you go, you are carrying the name of Christ with you. Just as Ezekiel carried the name of Buzi, meaning the despised one, the rejected one, bad enough to be a stranger, worse still, to be despised of men, and worse above all, to be cut off, to be at a distance from God. This is the picture painted here in Ezekiel 1 and verse 3. Notice the turning point. In verse 3, the first line, the Word of the Lord came expressly unto Ezekiel. We just hinted at this last Lord's Day, talking about salvation, talking about an experience with God, talking about the hand of God being on Ezekiel. We said then and we said now. Ezekiel's experience is related through and through to the coming of the Word of God with tremendous power into his life. The Holy Ghost works by the Word. There is a certain type of Christian in this country who is so carried away with thoughts of visions and rare experiences visions and experiences that are often wrongly attributed to the work of the Holy Spirit. But the thought is all the while, I can have an experience with God, never mind the Bible. I don't know my Bible. I don't read it very much, to say the truth. But I can have such an experience with God. I can have a dream or I can have a vision. I don't need the Bible. What a lot of nonsense. What a lot of nonsense that is. The Holy Ghost works through the Word. There is no vision, no experience with God, no real power with God in your life apart from the Word. The instrument God uses for your edification is the Word of God. Look at this, please. It's as plain as anything. In verse 3, the first line, the Word of the Lord came expressly. onto Ezekiel. That word expressly is related to the verb to come. It indicates that the Word of God came in such a fashion. We can use all the adjectives that come to mind. The Word of God came powerfully. The Word of God came definitely. The Word of God came personally. This word expressly allows us to use all this terminology because this is the sense of the passage here. The Word of God really came to Ezekiel. It came with such force, such reality, such power, such vision that he never got over it. The Word of God came expressly unto Ezekiel. It was as definite as anything could be. Has the Word of God reached you? Why, there are some among us, and I hesitate to say this, it's something that really sticks in my throat, but there are some among us who, while professing to know the Savior, are hardly ever, ever opening up the book. You're not fine reading your Bible. Maybe you're not even a reader, but you don't read the Word of God. Oh, start in some way. I want you to read several chapters every day. But if we can't get you that far, can we get you to read a chapter? And if we can't get you that far, can we start you to the reading of a verse? Oh, the most worldly-minded soul in this congregation can read one verse from God's Word every day. That will not take up too much of your time. How much time are you standing with the TV? How much time are you spending in the garden? How much time with the radio or the newspaper? How much time are you spending taken up with just about anything and everything in comparison? How much time are you giving to God with His Word? Be of your soul in the Word of God. Ezekiel's life was mightily transformed when the Word of God came expressly, came so clearly, so powerfully to him. And his life was never the same again. Now, we have tried to take the names today. This has been our study. The land of the Chaldeans. We have thought about that. The River Kebar, we have thought about that. The name Boozy, we have thought about that. All these names have an interpretation. We have been linking those pieces of information together. But what about Ezekiel himself? Does the name Ezekiel have a meaning? I think, without exception, every name In the Old Testament, if we talk about God's people, every name has a meaning. And Ezekiel has a name that is no exception. This name means, he shall be strengthened by God. Praise the Lord. Is he a captive? Is he then a person of no importance? Is he cast out of society, a stranger with the Lord in a strange land? Does he belong to a family despised and rejected of men? Does he feel himself at key bar to be at a distance from God and from Jerusalem where he might have served in the sanctuary? Well, then, this man and his weakness can be strengthened by God. If he is in a land where the devil is, if he is among the heathen who may require from him one of the Lord's songs, How is he going to survive amidst a heathen population? Can I bring the book up to date with the question, are you surviving among the heathen? Here in this town, I suppose we have one of the most ungodly towns in the country. And in the place where you work every day, there is horrible blasphemy. There are wicked influences. You can find a drain on your spiritual grace. Even mixing in among those people with whom you have to work, your soul has been grieved, your heart rendered desolate. Oh, listen to this. There is a message in the name of Ezekiel. He shall be strengthened of God. And how is Ezekiel strengthened? By the Lord. First of all, look at the last part of verse 1. The heavens were opened. Now, to Ezekiel, that indicates a restoration of fellowship. We were talking moments ago about the sanctuary. Ezekiel, at such a distance from Jerusalem, he can't get back to the sanctuary of God. He's cut off from God altogether. But instead, God opened the heavens. That was better. There's something better than the earthly sanctuary. And it says, if God opens the windows of heaven and begins to pour out such a blessing, there will not be room enough to contain it. And that's a blessing indeed. The opening of the heavens indicates that access into God's presence is now given. The opening up of the heavens means that Ezekiel is now in communion with God. He can look in. If you're standing outside a door that's closed and suddenly that door opens, you can look in. In fact, it would be difficult not to. And God is opening up the door of heaven and Ezekiel will look in. If there is anything to lift up the heart of the downcast, anything to bless the heart of that man overwhelmed with sadness and discouragement, It is for God to open up the front door of heaven and let them look in. Have you ever got a glimpse of heaven? Has the Lord shown you the reality of that home and glory? Have you seen the glory? Have you looked into heaven? That child of God here who is worldly and flippant, that child of God present in this service who couldn't care less. You're not reading the Bible. You're not walking with God. You're not praying. I say to you, you're too influenced by the ungodly. Have you looked into glory? The vision for some has been the television. But for Ezekiel, it was a vision of glory. better, better thing by far. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 28. We ought to notice this. Deuteronomy chapter 28 is all about the blessings that God will give to Israel if there is obedience. But largely, Deuteronomy 28 is all about the chastisement and the woe due to come upon a backslidden people. Deuteronomy 28, verse 23. Please refer to the passage in your Bible. Look at it. It may have to do with you. Deuteronomy 28, verse 23. And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron. Now that's one thing. And if you look at verse 49, the Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far from the end of the earth, a nation, as you'll see by the last line, whose tongue thou shalt not understand, a nation of fierce countenance which shall not regard the person of the old nor show favour to the young. Verse 64, And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people even from, from one to one end of the earth, even unto the other. And there shalt thou serve other gods. That's worthiness, wretchedness, and sin. And all these things came to pass. Put them together, and what are they? The heavens became like brass. There was no vision of God. There was no way to get through to heaven. There was no power in prayer, no reality in their singing about Him. The heavens were like brass. There was a nation of fierce countenance who came from the end of the earth and carried them away captive. And they were scattered among this people. God in the days of Moses had already forewarned His people. And listen, the Lord has been warning some of you You're getting worse, some of you. You're getting further away from God. You're starting to drift away from God. You're starting more and more to neglect your Bible. You're starting more and more to turn away from prayer. The Lord is not in your thoughts. You're less and less of a Christian. You're not the Christian I used to be. You're not walking with God. You're by the river Kebar. There's a distance between you and God. The heavens are like brass. and you're starting to serve other gods, you're just like the ungodly. If ever there was a time when we need the hand of God to be at work in the Lisburn congregation, yes, in the Lisburn congregation, that time has come. Can I start with a young Doesn't matter whether you're at school or whether you've just started out to work. Are you like your fathers? Or are you like the Babylonese people with whom you started to mingle? Are you copying the world? Or are you walking in the old ways of God? Where are you? May I ask the young people who are here to start getting out to the prayer meeting? I'd like to see you on a Sabbath morning, you young men, all of you. I want to see two or three seats filled up with all the young men at the prayer meeting. You need to pray. I know you like to talk with your friends. And I know that's important. And you'll enjoy it. I know that. It's life to you. But don't you think before you see your friends, good as they are, that you, young man, should be meeting with your Savior and your God. I want young men who pray. Then there are young women here who fit into exactly the same category. You're in your teens, maybe. Indeed, you haven't reached your teens, and some of you are in your twenties. But we're not getting out to the prayer time, and that bothers me. I want you from this day, instead of walking under a heaven of brass, I want God to open up the door of heaven and let you just look in, that you may see God as Ezekiel saw him. When God opens up heaven here to Ezekiel, there is nothing between his soul and God, nothing between. And far too often there is an earth-born cloud which arises. to hide the Lord from his servants' eyes. But Ezekiel on this occasion sees the windows of heaven opened and the door of heaven opened. God's opening the front door of heaven to let him look in. That's what the child of God needs. And young person, before you meet with your friend on a Sabbath morning, how about coming and meeting with God? I want you to do that tonight. If you can get along on a Monday night, come there as well. Let's see more and more of the young come to the hour of prayer. I mean this. Then there are those who are older. Some of you, and I do not say this critically, I just observe it as a fact, you don't really get to the prayer meeting on the Sabbath. Is it because you are too late getting down to the church? Is it because you're all tied up with family affairs? If there's a wife here, can you say to your husband, I'll look after the children, you go to the prayer meeting? And maybe sometime the husband will say to his wife, I'll take the children and you pass on into the prayer meeting. Oh, husbands and wives who are here with young children, We need this spirit of prayer more and more among us as the people of God. And those who are older, take time to meet with God and ask the Lord to open up the door of heaven as you pray. There is nothing between this man's soul and the Lord. Heaven was opened. My time has gone. But I don't want you to go away without seeing this. When God opened up the door of heaven, Ezekiel had a vision of God. He saw the Lord. We're going to come back on that later on. You'll find that Ezekiel saw the Lord high and lifted up. He saw the Lord was on the throne. Oh, bless His name! No matter how defeated, how wretched, how miserable you are, how hopeless the situation, you can meet with God. You can see Him. One sight of our blessed Redeemer will strengthen us. Ezekiel has a name which means he shall be strengthened of God. And we have shown you today how he got that strength by looking up into the heavenlies, by fixing his heart as well as his eyes on Jesus. God bless them. The Word of God came powerfully to their soul.