Category: Ezekiel

Ezekiel ends on a hopeful note for the exiles in Babylon: God intends to remain in their midst when they return to their land. He wants them back, He wants them back in their Promised Land, and He wants to continue the covenant with them that He had made with their forefathers, to bless all nations on earth through them. Although Israel was lost among the nations, God obviously intended for a remnant from each tribe to return and claim their tribe’s inheritance. And He made provision for anyone who wanted to settle in the midst of God’s people to be welcomed. The hopeful note on which the book ends is not just for God’s Old Testament people, but for everyone who seeks to know God: all are welcome to share in relationship with Him. He offers abundant life to all who desire it enough to come to Him.

This ends the three longest of the Major Prophets. All that is left of prophecy are a few Minor Prophets and Daniel, which most people don’t dread reading. We’re going to make it through prophecy! I hope that you have found it a lot more interesting reading than you anticipated. It isn’t all gloom and doom at all, is it? Man’s sinful state in this sin-cursed world demands that the gloom and doom be presented. But God doesn’t intend for that to be the end of the story, or even the fundamental point of the story; rather, He intends that the story be primarily one of hope. I trust that this is what you have carried away from your read through the prophets.

Temple measurements again?! And this one wasn’t even real! These chapters are boring with a capital B to us, but would have been a great source of hope to their first readers. Those people were demoralized from their total defeat and destruction of their homeland, but the destruction of the Temple was devastating to them. Remember, that Temple had been a source of hope for them, because they believed that God wouldn’t allow its destruction. Even the exiles had hope as long as the Temple stood; once it was gone they had none, and hope is critical. With all the detail given of this temple, they couldn’t miss that God was sincere in His intention to return them to their Promised Land and relationship with Him. They probably would have thrilled to the details that are so dull to us. So appreciate the dull reading for that reason.

Along with the description of the Temple came requirements for them to observe, and almost all are reiterations of the Law given by Moses, with some minor changes. Thankfully, the level of detail is not nearly as great as the Mosaic Law was. Again, the details that are there would have been reassuring to God’s people. From where they were, they feared that God was done with them, would want nothing to do with them. Instead, He gave them another chance. How they would have treasured those requirements because of the restored relationship they represented!

Some people think that the temple described by Ezekiel is something that awaits God’s people in the future; that is, it is still future relative to us. However, the references to animal sacrifices make it clear that it is not. Don’t be confused by God’s talking about dwelling in that place in Israel’s midst forever, for this temple with its provision for animal sacrifices, is not for the Church’s worship of God.

God’s talk of forever meant that He was giving them another chance, a do-over. The second chance wasn’t a lesser version of the first one that they had blown; no, it was the same forever opportunity that the first one was. It also corresponded with the same requirements as the first. They were expected to observe all the laws associated with the temple worship. With the privilege of relationship with God comes responsibility.

The teaching for God’s Old Testament people in these chapters should not be missed by God’s New Testament people: God truly is a God of second chances for those who are ashamed of their sin and are willing to conform to God’s way. If you are one who has needed a second chance, realize that God is not only willing to give a second chance, but in that second chance He doesn’t want you to seek less than His first best for you.

This passage obviously foretells an event that is still future to us. Its greater purpose is to give hope to a chastened nation. Its message tells us that in the end God will have His way with His people: having given them new hearts and His Spirit to live in them, He will have transformed them into people who can enjoy relationship with Him as He created man to share relationship with Him. Then He will show up in a big way to rescue them from their enemies, using the confrontation as an opportunity to show Himself holy, “other,” not only in their sight, but also in the sight of the whole world.

We tend to miss the message because we get preoccupied from the opening sentence of the prophecy, with whom God is talking about. We don’t know who Gog is, or where his land Magog is. We do know that Persia is Iran and Cush is south of Egypt, and Put is also an African neighbor of Egypt. Some of these enemies will come from north of Israel. That’s all we know. If we get stalled trying to figure out more than God gave us, we will miss the message.

The message tells us that God wants to be a hero to His people. He created us for relationship with Him, and He makes relationship appealing, for the more we know of Him, the more we want to know of Him. The more we know of Him, the more appealing we find Him. Don’t we all like a hero? Don’t we all want to be loved enough to be rescued? Spend some time today contemplating what a hero God is to you. Snuggle close and tell Him how wonderful He is, and thank Him for saving you.

In His Great Commission to His disciples, Jesus has charged us to be a watchman. God’s warning to Ezekiel should be a sobering reminder to us. Today’s reading is full of messages directly to God’s New Testament people. The righteous man trusting in his righteousness instead of walking by faith is not righteous at all. The one who breaks the covenant won’t possess the land. God is no more pleased today by those who gather to hear His word from a prophet but fail to put it into practice, than He was pleased by such so-called followers in Ezekiel’s day. Jesus called Himself the Good Shepherd who lay down His life for the sheep. I pray that we are all taking these words seriously for our own lives.

Notice that once again God is going to do what men have failed to do. His plan for His people was to be led by a shepherd-like servant-leader who would care for them instead of wield power over them. When time after time men failed to fill that role as God intended, He devised a plan whereby He would save His people from their power-corrupted leaders and provide the shepherd they need. This need is where Messiah shows up in the book of Ezekiel. What a great God He is to us, and how blessed we are that He is!

Egypt was such an important figure to Israel and Judah throughout their history that its downfall couldn’t help but have a huge impact on them. Although Tyre wasn’t as important to them personally, it was such an important figure on the world scene that its downfall was also important. That is why God’s message to His people included so much about Tyre and Egypt.

If God was interested in what went on then at the national level, He is concerned about world events today as well. Note for what He punished nations then: for their attitudes and actions against His people, for their brutality, for their pride. Do you see nations demonstrating the same today? If their actions arouse fear in you, take comfort that God is still in control. One of the points He is making in foretelling the destruction and lamenting the nations is that just as His astonishing actions then, unbelievable until they were actually accomplished, have demonstrated His power to judge, He continues to possess the power – and use it – to judge nations. As I have stated before, the obscurity of these nations to us makes their destruction seem of little importance. That very obscurity should strengthen the impact of this message to us, that these then-powerful nations have been so reduced or eliminated by God’s judgment that their one-time influence and power are unknown to us. Ezekiel’s readers would have been amazed to see Egypt’s and Tyre’s places in the world today. Hopefully this reminder allows us to rest in faith in Him when world events feel threatening to us.

Admittedly, God’s people suffered judgment along with the nations. The goal was always for their refinement and ultimate restoration. If we must suffer as His Old Testament people did, we can trust God to work the same in us, if we let Him. How much better refinement and relationship with God is, than continuing comfortably in the course that leads to the day we face Jesus and hear, “Depart from me; I never knew you.” Can we choose to trust God enough to say, “Even so, Lord, refine if refining is needed”?

God used base language to describe His people’s behavior, so that these passages are embarrassing to read. Do you get the idea that God was deeply disgusted with His people’s behavior and characters? As I have said previously, His people likely were surprised to hear His viewpoint of them; after all, they were practicing worship. Further, the prophets were whitewashing their deeds with false prophecies, so that they were confirmed in their belief that they weren’t doing anything wrong. God simply couldn’t get through to them any other way how He felt about what they were doing and what it revealed about their characters. Do God’s New Testament people disgust Him the way His Old Testament people did? How would we know, if the example we’re given in today’s reading suggests that perhaps we could be deceiving ourselves and whitewashing our own and each other’s disgusting sin?

God promised they would suffer the consequences of their forgetting Him, and of all the behaviors and indulged desires that had led up to their forgetting Him. Those consequences were going to reduce, humiliate and destroy them completely. In the face of those consequences, they would have no courage to stand and would lose their strength. These words on the page represent great suffering for those human beings, people just like us who felt the same feelings we feel. Can you get a sense of the agony they suffered? I will remind you again, the awfulness of the punishment demonstrates the awfulness of the sin.

But in those consequences they would know God as sovereign Lord. It’s not clear whether the knowing would be a delight or fearsome prospect to them. The Bible teaches that one day every knee will bow in submission to God’s sovereign lordship over us. Whether we face that prospect with delight or dismay depends on whether we know God as He intends us to know Him. In that day all deception, whitewashing and falsehood will be swept aside.

The example given us in today’s reading reminds us that we are prone to forgetting God, while refusing to believe that we have done so. This is a sobering reminder, given that Jesus equated eternal life with knowing God intimately. We don’t dare treat this reminder lightly; we need to use it as an opportunity to talk to God about where we stand in our relationships with Him. He will tell us if we ask in humility, ready to accept the truth He reveals and respond accordingly. If we don’t ask, or if we are not prepared to respond, He probably won’t reveal the truth to us. How will you treat this reminder?

In their time of crisis, the elders of Judah came to Ezekiel to inquire of God. God refused them. That doesn’t seem very welcoming of a God who speaks much about wanting to restore His people, does it? The problem was, they weren’t coming to Him for reconciliation, but to fulfill their requests. They weren’t seeking Him, but His advice. But He didn’t want to be sought only for what He could reveal; He wanted sought to be known by them.

God had brought them to this point of exile, loss, defeat, humiliation, and disappointed hopes, so that they would turn to Him. He longed to know them in the way He created man to know Him and fellowship with Him. These people turned to Him in their suffering all right, but not in the way or for the reason He wanted them to turn to Him. He wanted them to know Him; they wanted answers to their questions – and by implication, they wanted favorable answers, answers that would make them happy, because this is what they had gotten from the so-called prophets and so they had come to expect that of a prophet. As if their desires and the words they influenced the false prophets to say could manipulate God into doing what they wanted Him to do. They didn’t want to know God at all; rather, they wanted to do all they could do to see their desires fulfilled.

If God’s ultimate correction tactic failed to correct, what was God to do? Would He finally give up on His people? If He gave up on His people, what would happen to mankind, who so desperately needed the Savior He promised to send through them?

He was not going to give up on His people, but since He couldn’t do anything with that generation, He was going to destroy them. It wasn’t going to be business as usual with them.

The challenge for us in today’s reading is whether we are like His Old Covenant people who ended up destroyed. Do we seek God for what He can do for us, or for the sake of knowing Him? Do we think we can manipulate God? Do we try?

God is so far beyond what we could imagine; He exceeds our imaginations. Why would we try to manipulate Him into doing what we want Him to do? Why wouldn’t we wait with eager anticipation to see the great things unfold that He wants to do? Why wouldn’t we seek to know more of what this great God is like, seek to know Him, when this is what He wants from us?

The Jews considered God unjust because He was holding people accountable for their own choices. There is nothing unjust about that, so why were they calling Him unjust? As Solomon said, “There’s nothing new under the sun,” and people are still calling justice harsh when it’s meted out against them. They still want a free ride, hoping to get to Heaven on the merits of someone with whom they are closely associated rather than suffering the consequences of their own poor choices. God is still the scapegoat when catastrophe happens.

The people were calling God unjust, but that didn’t make it true, any more than what people say today about God is true just because they say so.

God said He would hold people accountable for their own choices. In Malachi He says that He never changes. Do you suppose He is still holding people accountable for their choices? Is He holding you accountable for your choices? Do you welcome that, or does the prospect frighten you? Whether you find mercy or death depends on how you choose.