Not only are the books of Ezekiel and Revelation similar in content, but the authors of these books are similar in certain respects. The most important similarity is that the prophet Ezekiel and the apostle John were both priests before God. Although Ezekiel was a prophet, when he saw the visions recorded in his book, he stood in the position of a priest, having the status of a priest (Ezek. 1:3) and also the life of a priest. As he was by the river Chebar, he surely was carrying out his priesthood in the spirit, serving God and fellowshipping with God, so that the heavens were opened and he saw the glorious vision of God being life to man so that He and man could be built together. In Revelation 5:10 the apostle John speaks of God’s redeemed people being priests to God. This indicates that John himself must have been serving as a priest. When John wrote the book of Revelation, his heart, standing, condition, and situation were that of a priest.
The book of Ezekiel occupies a very important position among the books of the Bible. If we know what the Bible reveals, we can see that Ezekiel is a miniature of the entire Bible. What is revealed in Ezekiel is a condensed form of the whole revelation in the Bible. In this sense Ezekiel is a miniature of the Scriptures as a whole.
The Bible shows us clearly that God’s eternal purpose is to dispense Himself into a group of human beings. His intention is to dispense Himself into us that we may have Him as our life, that we may have His nature, and that we may bear His glorious image. This means that God’s purpose, His intention, is that we and He would have the same life, nature, and image and that eventually, we and He, He and we, would be mingled together as one entity with two natures, the divine nature and the human nature, in order to be built together as God’s eternal dwelling place. This is God’s eternal purpose, which is clearly revealed in the Scriptures. The book of Ezekiel shows us the same picture in a condensed way, revealing that God’s intention is to work Himself into us as our life and to mingle Himself with us that we might be built together in Him as life to be His eternal habitation. This is what the Bible reveals, and this is what, in miniature, Ezekiel also reveals.
In the first three chapters of Genesis, we see that God created man and placed him before the tree of life. The tree of life signifies God Himself as life to us in the form of food. Due to the fall of man, the tree of life was encompassed and concealed by cherubim, and “a flaming sword which turned every way” kept “the way of the tree of life” (Gen. 3:24). From Genesis 3 onward we see both God’s judgment and God’s care, mercy, and salvation. On the one hand, God’s flaming sword executes His judgment, burning away whatever is contrary to Himself. On the other hand, through His grace God has redeemed a people for Himself. Through the redemption of Christ the way to the tree of life has been opened again to man. Now man, under and through Christ’s redemption, has free access to the tree of life and may take the tree of life as his food. This is why in John 6 the Lord Jesus told us that He came as the bread of life and that we should take Him as our food. He said, “He who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me” (v. 57b). If we take Him as our food, we will have His life and nature, and eventually, we will bear His image. By having His life, nature, and image we will be built up together. He prayed for this building in John 17:21 when He prayed, “That they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us.” To be one in such a way means that we need to be built up together. If we go from John’s Gospel to John’s Revelation, we can see that in Revelation 21 and 22 all the redeemed ones have been built together into one city. In this city we are all one, not just one in doctrine nor even just one in vision but one in building. From this we see that we need to be built up one with another in life. Then God will have a city, the New Jerusalem. This is the picture portrayed in the Scriptures.
When we come to the book of Ezekiel, we see the same picture. In the first chapter are the cherubim of flaming fire with God in their midst. Other chapters show us how God comes to be our life (chs. 11, 33, 34, 36, 37, 47). Eventually, chapter forty-eight reveals that we who have God’s life will be built up together into the holy city, Jerusalem. Once again we see that the book of Ezekiel is a miniature of the Bible.
We need to be deeply impressed with the fact that the Bible as a whole and the book of Ezekiel as a miniature of the Bible reveal that God’s intention is to dispense Himself into us as our life that we may have His divine nature and bear His glorious image. Then by the divine nature with the divine image we will be built together as one eternal dwelling place—the New Jerusalem. This is the central point of the revelation of the Bible and also of the book of Ezekiel.