No other Prophet in Scripture quite scares me as much as Ezekiel. As a little boy growing up in Fox Lake, I use to venture out on my bike almost daily. There was one house at the intersection of two streets...a corner house...that had a couple who were "Scary". The couple weren't bad, or angry, or bothersome...but they dressed weirdly and acted even more weird.
Ezekiel was a Prophet God sent to speak to the nation both before and after the EXILE. A little history is in order: Babylon attacked and took captive a number of Jews from Judah (Jerusalem) in three stages: First in 605 b.c., then 8 years later in 597 b.c., and finally 11 years later in 586 b.c. it was completed - the walls of Jerusalem torn down, the temple destroyed. Among the people in the Exile was Ezekiel.
While in Babylon, Ezekiel has numbers of Visions...often strange visions. Besides that God tells him to use graphic imagery, symbolic acts, and words that show that the slow death they were experiencing was directly related to their own disobedience and unfaithfulness to God's word.
The Key to the book is: GOD'S PRESENCE IS THE KEY TO LIFE!
The leaders and the people had turned to other gods - even placing them in the temple, and without God in their midst (there's a dramatic picture Ezekiel sees of God leaving the Temple), they are ruined. They are like dead, dry bones...lacking life. While it appears that God is done with the nation and everything is finally finished...God speaks to Ezekiel again:
Ezekiel 37:1-14
1 The LORD took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the LORD to a valley filled with bones.
2 He led me all around among the bones that covered the valley floor. They were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out.
3 Then he asked me, “Son of man, can these bones become living people again?” “O Sovereign LORD,” I replied, “you alone know the answer to that.”
4 Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the LORD!
5 This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again!
6 I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’”
7 So I spoke this message, just as he told me. Suddenly as I spoke, there was a rattling noise all across the valley. The bones of each body came together and attached themselves as complete skeletons.
8 Then as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Then skin formed to cover their bodies, but they still had no breath in them.
9 Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to the winds, son of man. Speak a prophetic message and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again.’”
10 So I spoke the message as he commanded me, and breath came into their bodies. They all came to life and stood up on their feet—a great army.
11 Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones represent the people of Israel. They are saying, ‘We have become old, dry bones—all hope is gone. Our nation is finished.’
12 Therefore, prophesy to them and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O my people, I will open your graves of exile and cause you to rise again. Then I will bring you back to the land of Israel.
13 When this happens, O my people, you will know that I am the LORD.
14 I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live again and return home to your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken, and I have done what I said. Yes, the LORD has spoken!’”
God's grace and mercy are not exhausted. The future will see restoration, and God's Spirit will come to revive them again...HOW? WHERE? Ultimately it is in Jesus - look at John 2:13-21. (Jn 6:47) who begins and will end the restoration of God's creation...and in us too!
Watch these for more help in understanding what God was to do...two videos, 1st Part 1, Ezekiel
Ezekiel was a Prophet God sent to speak to the nation both before and after the EXILE. A little history is in order: Babylon attacked and took captive a number of Jews from Judah (Jerusalem) in three stages: First in 605 b.c., then 8 years later in 597 b.c., and finally 11 years later in 586 b.c. it was completed - the walls of Jerusalem torn down, the temple destroyed. Among the people in the Exile was Ezekiel.
While in Babylon, Ezekiel has numbers of Visions...often strange visions. Besides that God tells him to use graphic imagery, symbolic acts, and words that show that the slow death they were experiencing was directly related to their own disobedience and unfaithfulness to God's word.
The Key to the book is: GOD'S PRESENCE IS THE KEY TO LIFE!
The leaders and the people had turned to other gods - even placing them in the temple, and without God in their midst (there's a dramatic picture Ezekiel sees of God leaving the Temple), they are ruined. They are like dead, dry bones...lacking life. While it appears that God is done with the nation and everything is finally finished...God speaks to Ezekiel again:
Ezekiel 37:1-14
1 The LORD took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the LORD to a valley filled with bones.
2 He led me all around among the bones that covered the valley floor. They were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out.
3 Then he asked me, “Son of man, can these bones become living people again?” “O Sovereign LORD,” I replied, “you alone know the answer to that.”
4 Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the LORD!
5 This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again!
6 I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’”
7 So I spoke this message, just as he told me. Suddenly as I spoke, there was a rattling noise all across the valley. The bones of each body came together and attached themselves as complete skeletons.
8 Then as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Then skin formed to cover their bodies, but they still had no breath in them.
9 Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to the winds, son of man. Speak a prophetic message and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again.’”
10 So I spoke the message as he commanded me, and breath came into their bodies. They all came to life and stood up on their feet—a great army.
11 Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones represent the people of Israel. They are saying, ‘We have become old, dry bones—all hope is gone. Our nation is finished.’
12 Therefore, prophesy to them and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O my people, I will open your graves of exile and cause you to rise again. Then I will bring you back to the land of Israel.
13 When this happens, O my people, you will know that I am the LORD.
14 I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live again and return home to your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken, and I have done what I said. Yes, the LORD has spoken!’”
God's grace and mercy are not exhausted. The future will see restoration, and God's Spirit will come to revive them again...HOW? WHERE? Ultimately it is in Jesus - look at John 2:13-21. (Jn 6:47) who begins and will end the restoration of God's creation...and in us too!
Watch these for more help in understanding what God was to do...two videos, 1st Part 1, Ezekiel
Then Par 2, Ezekiel
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