It is easy when reading the Bible to overlook many magnificent things that are contained within. We know and yet often forget that what is said in the Scripture, if they are true, is truly astonishing. One astonishing truth occurs in the short verse of Ezekiel 21:1: “The word of the LORD came to me.” The old English phrase, “I beg your pardon?”, might be appropriate here. The LORD himself spoke to Ezekiel. Let that sink in. The Almighty, Creator, Ruler of the universe, all nations and all men, spoke words to a created being, a man. He talked with Him.
What a glorious reality we often miss, that God would consider, much less talk with a man: a man from a nation and people as desperately wicked as Ezekiel’s people. What an astonishing thing that God would speak to a people as wicked as Israel, a people as wicked as us, for in Christ, we are they and they are we. How even more astonishing that The LORD would preserve His acts and words in a book for us to read?
We should never stop being amazed by this gift of God’s Word and His speaking to a man, but often are we. What is it about this world and the things around us that astonish us more than the glory of God? Why are we astonished by His gifts, but rarely astonished by Him and His condescension to speak to humanity? How woeful is our condition and sad our estate to revel in lesser things than our astonishing God? He has every right to never again utter a single word to us, or to even destroy us for love of His gifts and creation more than Him, yet He gives grace in greater measure than the just condemnation we so deserve. In the Word Incarnate, Emmanuel, God comes near us and speaks the final Word of God and comes near us in human flesh. The Word dwelt among us and we beheld Him and all his glory. The Word is with us each and every day. The Word comes near us each and every Sunday to remind us that He took the measure of our sin upon Himself at Calvary. The Word comes near us to remind us that by His resurrection from the dead, we are given a greater measure of grace than the measure due our sins, which He bore in His flesh.
“The word of the LORD came to me.” Astonishing isn’t it?