Read these texts and contexts and make notes about what you learn relative to the Spirit of God (There are no references to the Holy Spirit in Jeremiah or Daniel.):
Ezekiel 2:2 – More so than either Isaiah, Jeremiah, or Daniel, the Spirit plays a visual role in the preaching of Ezekiel. This chapter, and chapter 3 (see 3:12, 14, 24 for references to the Spirit in Ezekiel’s commission), are Ezekiel’s call to be a prophet. It is clear that this passage is simply indicating that Ezekiel, as all true prophets of God are, was led by the Holy Spirit of God. Incidentally, when God calls us into service, while our hearts must be prostrate before Him in humility, service to God demands a person stand on his/her feet, ready to listen and to obey.
8:3 – In this text, we are a year after Ezekiel’s commission to be a prophet and he is sitting, talking to the elders of Israel when the hand of God is on him and the Spirit lifts him up and takes him to the temple in Jerusalem (Remember, he is in Babylon, by the River Chebar) where he sees the glory of the Lord. Suffice it to say here that what Ezekiel sees is the temple of God full of idolatry and idol worship and ungodly practices and behavior.
11:1, 5, 24 – Chapter 8 occurred with Ezekiel at the north gate of the temple. Chapter 11 occurs with Ezekiel at the east gate of the temple. The Spirit of the Lord inspires Ezekiel to prophesy destruction of the city of Jerusalem because of the sin of the Israelites. Then, the Spirit takes Ezekiel back to Babylon to the River Chebar, where Ezekiel shares with the exiles the entirety of this vision, stretching from chapter 8-11.
13:3 – Obviously, this text isn’t talking about the Holy Spirit, but it is drawing a contrast between Ezekiel (and other true prophets) who is guided by the Holy Spirit and those other prophets who are guided by their own spirits.
36:26-27 – Twice before – 11:19 & 18:31 – God, through Ezekiel, has promised to give the Israelites a new heart and a new spirit, a heart that will be obedient to God and a spirit that will be submissive to God. Here, we see that this “new heart / spirit” will be mediated by the Holy Spirit of God.
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37:1, 5-10, 14 – Chapter 37 is a famous passage containing a vision of dry bones. All the way back in chapter 6, God had told Israel that he would lay the dead bodies of the sons of Israel in front of their idols and he would scatter their bones around those altars (6:5). If we imagine the nation of Israel as being a heap of dead bones, made dead because of their sins (specifically idolatry), then the only way that nation can be made alive again is for the creating Spirit of God to re-enter, enliven, re-empower, and re-create the nation. So, chapter 37 is a vision of the renewal of the nation of Israel and that renewal is mediated by the Holy Spirit of God.
39:29 – The promise of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the nation of Israel is prophesied by Ezekiel again in this text. This verb, “pour out,” is the same verb which Joel will use in 2:28-29. In the Ezekiel context, the “pouring out of the Holy Spirit” is set in stark contrast with God pouring out His “wrath” on the nation of Israel. The verb is used 17 times in Ezekiel and 11 of those times are dealing with God pouring out His wrath and indignation on the nation of Israel for their disobedience and rebellion. But for the faithful, they will receive the Holy Spirit poured out.
43:5 – Chapter 43 is in the middle of a long description of a renewed / rebuilt temple in which God could dwell, a temple which God will make holy, where His name can inhabit. Once God purges His temple of the idolatry and idolatrous practices brought about by the nation of Israel, then His glory can return and re-inhabit that temple.
One is either led by the Holy Spirit or one is guided by his own spirit. One day, God will send His Spirit on all who want to honor Him.
–Paul Holland
