Phyllis Beveridge Nissila

After Ezekiel’s “tour” (conducted by God) of the hidden rooms and hideaways of corruption and idolotry in the walls of the Temple (see Part 1 ), he began to prophesy and to teach, explaining not only the hard times ahead for God’s people but also the comfort and hope of a restored Holy City in times to come.

Ezekiel’s methods of relaying the information God gave him reveal, you might say, a variety of learning and teaching styles: some, visual, some tactile, others auditory, and all symbolic. Here is an interesting listing of several of the methods he used.

Because the future for the rebellious would be particularly difficult, I believe he needed all the styles available with which to convey God’s stern warnings–and hope-filled comforts.

I believe that in such a time as this (many prophecy scholars believe to be the “end times,” or “end of the Church Age), we, too, need to be about the conveying of warnings and comforts in the various ways God has called and gifted us to do so in order to get the Good News out and to accomplish the Great Commission while there is still time.

Some to pastor, others to teach, others to prophesy, others to do so through the arts, and still others to serve in practical ways while keeping in mind that as “works in progress,” our ministries may not necessarily be accomplished according to what the world considers perfection, yet God can still use us–and reach those who hunger for truth and salvation.

He can take our few loaves and fishes and by His grace, feed many.

He touches hearts and minds through both professionals and amateurs, artists and artists-in-training; through those gifted with oratorical skills and those struggling to at least speak with clarity and in truth…*

My main point in this small series is to suggest that we are arguably in such a dangerous, thrilling, and as intense a time as Ezekiel’s, meaning, a season of massive revelation (in Revelation and the other books of prophesy which together comprise approximately 27% of the biblical anthology) about what has been going on in the rebellious and dangerous nooks and crannies of our own day and God’s judgement on the evil, just ahead.

And the glory God has in store for the future for all who put their faith and trust in Him.

So as never before, we are called to the Commission.

Here is some encouragement from a previous post for we, who are “the workers late in the (harvest) field.”

For The Workers Late in the Field

Do not forsake your furrows,
for wheat is nigh to mills,
the tares are near black-tipped,
and merchants wait their tills.
Do not abandon harvest,
though sky is bruised with storm,
though winds sweep up the branches,
and rain in torrents forms.
Don’t fret to hear the mockingbird,
discourager or cad,
or noisome howling spirits,
your pain but makes them glad.
But know the night is close,
the owner, riding fast
to see your face at twilight
and gather in at last.

(from “For the Workers Late in the Field
Poems of Encouragement for Such a Time as This”)

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*Here are more thoughts on that concept: https://pnissila.blog/2014/06/22/on-the-god-of-the-dance-and-the-ballerina-in-blue/