Woe to Negligent Leaders Living in an agrarian society, the people in Ezekiel’s day would be most familiar with shepherds and their sheep. Yet Ezekiel’s prophecy chastising selfish shepherds isn’t about the people who manage the sheep in their herd. Instead, it’s about the spiritual shepherds and the people under their care. God proclaimed woe […]
Ezekiel Prophesies to Dry Bones and Breathes Life into Them One of the most evocative images in the book of Ezekiel is him speaking to dry bones scattered before him. It’s a valley of dry bones. The bones animate and reassemble. Tendons connect them. Flesh covers the skeletons. Breath enters these reconstituted bodies, mere corpses, […]
We Should Fall on Our Faces in the Presence of God’s Glory A man brings Ezekiel to the temple. The glory of the Lord fills the place. Overwhelmed, Ezekiel falls facedown, worshiping the Almighty. How often do we encounter the glory of the Lord? How often do we fall facedown in reverent worship of our […]
The phrase son of man occurs in 178 verses in the Bible. Sometimes son is written with an uppercase S and other times with a lowercase s. When used with an uppercase S, the references are to Jesus, as seen in all four gospels (28 times in Matthew; 13 times in Mark; 25 times in […]
Living Water Flows from God’s Temple and Is for Our Benefit In the Old Testament, the people perceived that God lived in the temple. They saw this as his residence on earth. To connect with him meant they had to go to the temple. As Ezekiel winds down his lengthy prophecy, the man in his […]
God Does What It Takes to Get People’s Attention God speaks to the prophet Ezekiel and gives him a prophecy against Ammon, against Moab, against Philistia, and against Tyre. The prophecy against Tyre is the longest and most devastating, but all four carry the same rationale. God will inflict them with punishment for their past […]
People in Positions of Authority are Liable if They Don’t Warn Their Charges of Potential Danger The thirty-third chapter of Ezekiel opens with some vague references to upcoming danger, a watchman, and heeding the warnings of the lookout. Who is this watchman, we wonder? Could it be an anticipation of Jesus? Or perhaps John the […]
Despite God’s Longstanding Patience Giving Us Time to Shape Up, Judgement Will Eventually Come The book of Ezekiel is an interesting one, packed with evocative prophetic imagery that portrays God’s power, patience, and eventual judgement. As follows through much of the Old Testament the people disobey God. He warns them to turn things around and […]
God Had a Purpose for His People and They Let Him Down God established Jerusalem as the center of all nations. This suggests he intended them to set an example and be a global leader, showing everyone how to live right and pointing them to him. But this isn’t what they did. In their wickedness, […]
Ezekiel was a prophet at a time when the people had little to do with God. God told him what to say and do. Sometimes the Holy Spirit would physically move Ezekiel to show him things. In Ezekiel 18, God grabbed his prophet by the hair, lifted him up, and brought him to the outer […]