Ezekiel

Overview – April 2016 – Grace & Truth Magazine

Ezekiel

“Indeed you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them.” —Ezekiel 33:32 NKJV

Ezekiel, meaning “He will be strengthened of God,” was a priest like Jeremiah, but he prophesied outside the land of Israel during the captivity. He prophesied first against both Judah and Israel, depicting their bondage, suffering and humiliation in various graphic ways. God made him a virtual object lesson for Israel: He had to personally feel the bitterness of those things about which he prophesied. He was another priest, therefore, who in an earnestly practical way “eats the sin offering” – having to feel not only the sin of God’s people, but the governmental judgments of God against that sin as well.

Yet even this humiliation and anguish failed to touch the hearts of his people. He was warned that they would not listen to him. However, he was allowed no alternative but to speak out.

From chapter 24 to 32 he turned to pronounce the judgment of surrounding Gentile nations. Then he dealt with his own nation again, prophesying of the grace of God that will eventually restore that afflicted nation through the midst of sore judgments.

Chapters 40-48 give the description of the future temple and the divisions of the land in the millennial kingdom.

Ezekiel is a book most helpful for strengthening a believer to stand firmly for God even when alone and faced with continual opposition.

By Leslie M. Grant

This column is taken from the book: “The Bible, Its 66 Books In Brief.”
It is available for purchase from Believers Bookshelf USA.