Picture It.
Do you ever wonder what God looks like? Like a dark, angry cloud hurling bolts of lightning? Like an old man with a long white beard? No matter how you use your imagination, it’s hard to picture God.
Ezekiel was in Babylon with Jewish captives just before the final invasion of their homeland. He saw God as a fire, about to destroy Jerusalem. God would show his holiness in this terrible judgment. Years after the city was destroyed, Ezekiel preached again. God would now show his love and bring the Jews home to build a new temple.
Ezekiel’s Actions Louder Than Words
• Act it out, prophet told. Report in Ezekiel 4
God Couldn’t Take It Any Longer
• Stunning vision recorded in Ezekiel 9–11
Don’t Blame Dad for Your Choices
• “Individuals responsible,” God says. See Ezekiel 18
It’s All About Satan
• Report in Ezekiel 28:11–19
Preview
• Ezekiel is a captive in Babylon. His sermons are preached between July of 593 and April of 571 B.C.
• He tells the Jews to expect a long stay in Babylon, but promises the Jerusalem temple will be rebuilt.
• The temple Ezekiel describes in chapters 40–48 hasn’t been built . . . yet!
As Ezekiel preaches in Babylon, Jerusalem and the temple are razed by Nebuchadnezzar. • A solar eclipse is correctly predicted by Thales. • The Greek mathematician Pythagoras is born.