Ezekiel

AUTHOR:

Ezekiel

AUDIENCE:

The Jews in captivity in Babylonia

PURPOSE:

To announce God’s judgment on Israel and other nations and to foretell the eventual salvation of God’s people.

The book of Ezekiel is a study in the personal and national consequences of obedience and disobedience. Despite his patience, God had to act against the idolatry in the lives of his people. Israel underwent severe punishment for their constant rebellion. But in the midst of punishment, God’s clear purpose was to bring his people back to him, saying: “Then they will know that I am the LORD” (6:14).

Israel was decimated and suffered greatly, but God promised to resurrect the nation as if it were a field of dry bones coming back to life. Israel would one day be restored. But during Ezekiel’s days, they were right in the middle of the righteous punishment that God was delivering through the Babylonians. Only through repentance and a renewal of their relationship with God could they make it through the suffering and find restoration.

SUFFERING AND DISABILITY THEMES

  floral bullet  Pray for leaders. Government and church leaders are responsible for the decisions they make on behalf of their people. They cannot always foresee all of the consequences of their decisions, but they can be sure that national and congregational sins will not go unnoticed or unpunished, whether in their lifetime or in the lives of their descendants.

  floral bullet  Weep over national and personal sins. Ezekiel prophesied against the nation as a whole, but individuals were also repeatedly characterized as being responsible for their sins. People who wept over the nation’s sins were marked by God for protection (9:4-5), and those who repented of personal sins were forgiven (18:20-22).

  floral bullet  Follow God’s path to escape punishment. Few books of the Bible lay out in such graphic detail the horrific sins of individuals and nations as well as their devastating consequences in the form of God’s judgment. Yet amazingly, the backdrop to this terror and devastation is the unfailing love and forgiveness of God. He is always looking for ways to help people escape his just wrath, for he wants them “to turn from their wicked ways and live” (18:23). God provides a path out of the suffering caused by our sin.