Ezekiel is a Book full of Humanity, showing how much God desires to have a Man!

The expression “son of man” is mentioned more than ninety times in Ezekiel, and the main material of God’s building seen by Ezekiel was wood; this week we want to see more concerning the son of man and the humanity of Jesus for God’s building.

We have previously seen the matter of the Man on the Throne, based on Ezek. 1:26-28; now this week we want to see the matter of the son of man and the humanity of Jesus which is the only humanity suitable for God’s building.

In God’s creation and intention, man is destined to be on the throne to rule, reign, and administrate with God in oneness with Him. Also, the humanity God created is purposed to be for His building.

There are two different destinations of the God-created, God-redeemed, and eventually God-glorified man, who passes through the process of regeneration, renewing, transformation, and conformation.

The first destination is God’s throne, which has to do with God’s authority and dominion, for us to reign with God in life; this has to do with God’s administration and move. The other destination is that humanity is designed and purposed for God’s building.

We are not made to “go to heaven”, nor are we made for the lake of fire; God created man in His original intention according to His image and likeness so that man would become His building.

God wants man to be the entity into which He builds Himself, and that God would build man into Himself, so that there would be a mutual dwelling place constituted both of divinity and humanity, the two united, mingled, incorporated, into a building that is a habitation, a house, a place for God’s eternal rest and satisfaction.

However, we need to realize that, even though man is destined for the throne and humanity is destined for God’s building, it is not any kind of man or humanity that does this.

This man has to be special, unique, God-approved, up to God’s standard, even perfect, upright, noble, and kingly – not just any man. This man is Christ Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Man who can make it to the throne – and He did it; lo, a Man is now in heaven sitting on the throne as the Lord of all!

God’s intention is not that only Christ would be such a One, but that there would be a corporate man, a corporate Christ, that is enthroned to rule and reign, and that is suitable for God’s building. God wants the humanity of Jesus to be part of God’s building; He can’t use any kind of humanity.

Our humanity is fallen, damaged, disapproved by God, ruined, sinful, worldly, crooked, warped, and peculiar. Our humanity can’t make it into God’s building.

But praise the Lord, the humanity of Jesus is perfect, magnificent, extraordinary, complete, and wonderful! Even the Roman governor, Pilate, said concerning Him, “Behold the Man”, after he checked Him three times, finding no fault in Him. Jesus is a perfect man with a perfect humanity.

We need to see, know, enjoy, possess, and live out the humanity of Jesus, the only humanity suitable for God’s building. In many things large of small, trivial and important, we are being exposed that we still don’t live by this new, resurrected, and uplifted humanity of Jesus, mainly because we have not been eating and masticating this humanity.

How we need to eat the humanity of Jesus to be good for God’s building!

Ezekiel is a Book full of Humanity, showing how much God desires to have a Man!

The book of Ezekiel is full of the expression “son of man”, a term used more than 90 times; Ezekiel is a book full of humanity (see Ezek. 1:5, 26; 40:3, 5, 8; 41:16; 43:2, 6).

In chapter 1 we see a man on the throne, which is Christ. In chapter 43 we see that, when the glory comes back to the temple, the man is there.

In God’s building, for example, humanity is the primary material. Everywhere we see wood – not gold as in the tabernacle, but wood paneling, wooden altar, etc – signifying humanity. This humanity is not a natural humanity but the humanity of Jesus.

In order for us to be suitable for God’s building we need to be Jesusly human, having the Lord’s humanity lived out in us. The proper humanity is not our natural humanity, which is biased, warped, corrupted, and even ruined; the proper humanity is the crucified, resurrected, and ascended humanity of Jesus.

In the vision God showed Ezekiel concerning the temple, the number six is used many times related to the entrance, the gate, the threshold, the guard chambers, etc; six signifies the humanity of the man Jesus. The Lord Jesus with His humanity is seen everywhere in God’s building.

God’s intention on earth is to have a man. This is His desire. Eventually, He Himself became a man, and today on the throne He is still a man. People may want to be like God, but God wants to be a man. God’s intention is to work Himself into us, making us the same as He is, and even more, making Himself the same as we are. Thus, God’s intention is to have a man and to work Himself into man. We need to be deeply impressed with the fact that the Lord is still on the throne as a man. In the book of Ezekiel, the term the son of man is used more than ninety times. This indicates how much God desires to have a man. (Life-study of Ezekiel, pp. 124-125, by Witness Lee)

This is God’s desire and intention, to have a man who not only bears His image and likeness but also lives a proper humanity, the humanity of Jesus. The construction material of God’s house is the proper humanity, the humanity of Jesus.

In the tabernacle all we see is gold – gold overlays the acacia wood, and this gold refers to the divine nature of God. But in the temple in Ezekiel all we see is wood; when we look at God’s building all we see is man, humanity, and on this humanity there’s the expression of God’s glory and victory (carved cherubim and palm trees on the wood paneling).

The purpose God created man is for man to be His corporate expression, His building. However, humanity is fallen. The only humanity suitable for God’s building is the humanity of Jesus, which is uplifted, resurrected, and filled with the Spirit, salted with the cross.

May we realize that God wants man – He desires to gain the proper humanity for His building!

Thank You Lord for creating us in God’s image and likeness to be those who rule on the throne with God and who are part of God’s building, God’s expression. Impress us with the fact that God’s intention is to have a man on earth that expresses Him and represents Him. Work Yourself into us more today, Lord, to produce us as the men suitable for Your building. Save us from living our fallen, corrupted, old humanity in the church life. Keep us eating Jesus every day to have the humanity of Jesus lived out in us!

The One sitting on the Throne is Both God and Man – He is Jesus Christ, the God-man!

In Ezek. 1:26-28 we see that there’s someone on the throne, and He looks like a man, yet He has the appearance of the glory of Jehovah; this One on the throne is both God and man. This is none other than Jesus Christ, the God-man, the mingling of God and man (Luke 1:35; Matt. 1:18, 20-21).

Whenever we think of the Lord Jesus we should not think only of a man but of a God-man. Mere men are born from flesh and blood, of the will of man, but this God-man was born of the seed of the woman, from another source.

From His very conception, the Holy Spirit was there. Jesus Christ is the God-man – from the very beginning, He is the mingling of God and man. He was the complete God and the perfect man; the complete God was incarnated to be a man (John 1:1, 14).

Having the nature of man, Jesus lived, died, resurrected, and ascended as a man; now as the One on the throne, He is still the Son of Man (John 6:62; Acts 7:56).

Hallelujah for the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man, who is not only God but also Man, and who has passed through the process to be the Son of Man on the throne! There is a Man sitting on the throne. We need to tell that to the devil. Jesus Christ the Man is on the throne.

Humanity made it to the throne of God. This man lived, died, resurrected, ascended, and is still a Man – He is a Man on the throne, ruling and reigning, and having the appearance of God!

And when He will come in the clouds as the Son of Man in power, He will still be a Man! In the kingdom He will reign as a Man, and for eternity in the new heaven and new earth in the New Jerusalem, He will still be a man forever, as the Lamb-God. Hallelujah!

The fact that the One sitting on the throne in Ezek. 1:26 and 28 has the appearance of a man and the glory of Jehovah implies that there’s a connection between Ezek. 1:26 and Gen. 1:26, and it points to the process the Lord Jesus went through to be the Son of Man in the glory.

God became a man through incarnation; He lived as a man, died as a man, ascended as a man, and now in heaven He is still the Son of Man! Hallelujah!

Lord, we praise You as the God-man – the God who became a man, and the Son of Man who is on the throne in glory! Hallelujah, through incarnation God became a man, lived, died, resurrected, and ascended, and now there’s a Man in the glory! Praise the Lord for being the Son of Man on the throne! He is the mingling of divinity with humanity, He brought man to the throne, and now He is ruling and reigning as a Man! Lord, make us the same as You are, the God-men of today who express God and represent Him one with Christ and in Christ for God’s building!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Ezekiel, msgs. 12, 23 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Ezekiel (2), msg. 6 (week 18 in the HWMR), The Son of Man and the Humanity of Jesus for God’s Building.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Christ is God incarnated, / Born according to God’s plan / To bring divinity, into humanity, / By mingling with man. / Christ is God incarnated, / He became the Son of Man; / A man of flesh yet without sin, / Accomplishing redemption, / He was a perfect man. (Song on Christ being God incarnated)
  # O Lord, Thou art the Son of man, / Our human nature Thou didst take; / Begotten of a virgin true, / Of flesh and blood Thou didst partake. (Hymns #61)
  # Lo! in heaven Jesus sitting, / Christ the Lord is there enthroned; / As the man by God exalted, / With God’s glory He is crowned. (Hymns #132)