Ezekiel
Life from God
I. Ezekiel: Beginning at the Beginning
Ezekiel was from a family of He was taken from Jerusalem to priests.
Babylon during the first wave of exile.
The events in Ezekiel begin years after he arrives in exile.five
It’s Ezekiel’s The day he should have begun serving as a priest.
30th.
Ezekiel is sitting on the banks of the river when he has a of the gloryvision
of God.
Ezekiel’s vision is a reminder of the presence of God at and on Mt. Sinai
the Ark of the Covenant.
The question is, “What is the presence of God doing in Babylon?”
II. Ezekiel’s Message of Judgment
A. Judgment on Jerusalem and Judah: Ezekiel 1-24
God accuses Judah and the people of Jerusalem of and idolatry social
injustice.
God call’s Ezekiel to be His As God’s watchman, he would warnwatchman.
the wicked, warn the to avoid sin, and warn of righteous danger (judgment
and punishment for sin)
Ezekiel would use or “street theatre” to visually tell God’s “sign acts”
warning message.
No one would listen to Ezekiel’s message because the people of Judah had
a hard heart.
B. Ezekiel’s Street Theatre of Judgment
Text What God Commanded
Ezekiel to Do
What It Symbolized
4:1-3 Draw a map of Jerusalem
surrounded by an enemy.
The siege of Jerusalem by
Nebuchadnezzar.
4:4-5 Lie flat on your left side for
390 days.
Bearing the northern
kingdom’s sin for 390 years.
4:6-8 Lie on your right side for 40
days.
Bearing the southern
kingdom’s sin for 40 years.
4:9-17 Eat food cooked over cow
manure.
The defiled food that would be
eaten by the exiles.
5:1-12 Shave your head and beard.
Divide the hair into thirds—
burn a third, strike a third
with the sword, and scatter a
third to the winds.
God’s destruction of Judah—
1/3 die by plague or famine,
1/3 die by the sword, and 1/3
scatter as exiles.
12:1-6 Pack your bags for exile and
dig through the wall in the
night.
A picture of Zedekiah’s
attempted escape, the exile of
his people, and his blindness.
12:17-19 Tremble as you eat and drink. Citizens of Jerusalem eating
with fear and anxiety.
21:6-7 Weep in Public. Destruction coming to the
Jewish people, after which they
will weep and wail.
21:18-24 Draw a map with two routes
for the king of Babylon to
follow.
King’s decision to take the road
to Jerusalem and to destroy it.
24:15-27 Do not mourn when your wife
dies.
Jerusalem will fall, their pride
and joy
(the temple) destroyed, loved
ones killed, and no mourning.
C. Judah’s Idolatry
Ezekiel has a vision of the Temple with the people of Judah worshipping
other gods inside the temple complex.
Ezekiel sees the presence of God leave the Temple and head to Babylon.
God has not abandoned his people. He is with them in exile.
D. Ezekiel’s Stories of Judgment
Ezekiel tells a collection of stories or parables to illustrate to the people of
Judah God’s case against them.
The stories include a story about a burnt an adulteress a vine, wife,
captured and two promiscuous lion, sisters.
The stories illustrate that God hold’s individuals responsible for their sin.
Ezekiel 18:4 - “The one who sins will die.”
E. Grace and Judgment
The story of the adulteress wife in Ezekiel 16 is a stunning portrait of
God’s for his sinful people.grace
“but when I make atonement for you, make everything right after all
you’ve done, it will leave you speechless.”
Ezekiel 16:63 (The Message)
F. Judgment on Pagan Nations: Ezekiel 25-32
Ezekiel moves from warning Judah and Jerusalem of their coming
destruction to the destruction coming to the surrounding nations.
God would use to punish the other nations for their sin as well.Babylon
III. Ezekiel’s Message of Hope
A. Hope for Judah: Ezekiel 34-37
God would provide a new - a new Messianic David King.
God would remove his people’s hard hearts and replace them with a new
heart.
B. Hope for God’s People: Ezekiel 37
God illustrates this by giving Ezekiel a vision of a valley of that dry bones
go from bones to muscle to flesh to live through the Spirit of God.
Just as God created man from dirt and divine breath, He will create this
new man with His spirit.
C. Hope for the Nations: Ezekiel 38-39
Evil nations, leaders, and authorities will resist God’s plan to restore His
people.
Through a series of supernatural events, God will and the eviljudge defeat
nations.
D. Hope for All Creations: Ezekiel 40-48
Ezekiel has a vision of a new and a new city Temple. From this Temple
flows a into a dry and desolate place.river
This place becomes because of the river.“dead” alive
This new garden-like location or is called garden city “The Lord is There.”
E. Interpreting Ezekiel 38-48
Literal: God will accomplish all of this during the Millennial reign of Jesus
Christ.
Symbolic: The imagery is primarily a picture of God’s presence amongst
His people in a new Messianic Kingdom.
III. Implications
Ezekiel gives us a clear picture of man’s responsibility for sin and God’s
initiative to accomplish salvation.
Real life is found only in Jesus Christ and he has demonstrated this in
words and actions. He alone is the one that can bring dry bones back to
life.
We do not need to clean ourselves up so that we can be loved by God. God
takes the initiative to love us and redeem us. He pursues us with a one-
way, unconditional love so that he can clean us up.
Jesus became God’s presence with us in a unique way. Just as God’s
presence with his people in the Old Testament involved the entrance of his
glory into the temple, so Jesus became God’s visible presence with his
people. That presence is now with every believer through the Holy Spirit.
