Ezekiel was God’s prophet to the community of Jews who had been expelled from Judah by God through the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar, and carried off to live in exile in the nation of Babylon.
Ezekiel lived with the exiles by the river Chebar. At the same time, approximately 100 miles (160 km) away, his fellow exile, the prophet Daniel, was being raised in the king’s palace. Daniel would be the Lord’s mouthpiece to King Nebuchadnezzar, and to the leaders who would succeed him, as long as the exiles were in the land. Both prophets had much to say about their current times, as well as far into their (and our) future.
God used Ezekiel to send a message of hope to the exiles from Judah, now living in a foreign land as a consequence of them rejecting the One who had blessed them and had placed them in their own good land of Israel. Instead of worshiping the Lord, who had given them such a bounty of flocks, vineyards, and olive trees, all blessed by the dew of heaven, the people turned away from Him to worship the other gods of the nations around them. There was nothing even remotely holy about their new forms of “worship”, filled with pagan sensuality, and, for some gods like Molech, they even offered child sacrifices.
Despite these actions, God never forgot or abandoned His beloved nation. Far from it. He gave a series of visions to Ezekiel in order to share His love with them and to give them hope. The Lord ended by giving Ezekiel a grand vision about His final return to earth, to live among His people, forever. This last vision describes the dawning of the final Messianic age of the kingdom of God, which is the culmination of the entire genealogy of Jesus Christ.
Ezekiel’s final vision was given to him in the presence of an angel of God. In the vision, these two looked down from a mountain upon the temple area in Jerusalem and watched a number of events unfold. Some of the images and descriptions would appear again, centuries later, in the apostle John’s divine vision recorded in the New Testament book of Revelation.
With his companion angel showing the way, Ezekiel writes:
1 Then he led me to the gate, the gate facing east; 2 and behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the way of the east. And His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shone from His glory. 3 And it was like the appearance of the vision which I saw, like the vision which I saw when He came to destroy the city. And the visions were like the vision which I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face. 4 And the glory of the Lord entered the house by way of the gate facing east. 5 And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner courtyard; and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house.
6 Then I heard Him speaking to me from the house, while a man was standing beside me. 7 And He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the sons of Israel forever. Ezekiel 43:1-7a (NASB)
God now promised that His Spirit, which had earlier left the temple because of the people’s’ apostasy, would one day return there. This process was initiated with the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, ten days after the crucified and risen Christ had ascended into heaven, one day to return.
Jesus, the Messiah, has promised to come again in glory to walk on the earth, this time to rule and reign over the entire world from His throne in Jerusalem. Even now, God’s Spirit continues to fill the hearts of believers all around the globe, with people of faith everywhere making up a virtual temple of God, built up from, as in the words of Peter, living stones. This Spiritual filling began at Pentecost in Jerusalem, and is growing out from there, even to this day. Ezekiel has also promised a new outpouring of God’s Spirit upon the entire nation of Israel in the end times, breathing spiritual life into that regathered and rebuilt, yet unbelieving, nation.
From the beginning of the genealogy of Jesus, God had called Abraham, the father of our faith, and promised that through him, the Lord would extend generous blessings to everyone on earth. Beginning with Abraham and continuing down the line of David to the Messiah, Jesus, this promise has been and is being fulfilled around us today. One day, all prophecy in the Bible, including Ezekiel’s, will be fully and clearly accomplished before our eyes.
God promised to bless all nations when He called out Abraham to be the father of a special people. What started out with this kernel of a promise continues to spread each day through the gift of faith in the Messiah and the outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit upon believers everywhere.
As God promised to Abraham back in the book of Genesis, Chapter 12:
2 And I will make you into a great nation,
And I will bless you,
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing;
3 And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse.
And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” Genesis 12:2-3 (NASB)
From Abraham’s call, to Ezekiel’s closing vision, to the arrival of the promised Messiah Jesus, who blesses all the families of the earth, God’s message is one of great hope for all who would believe, both Jew and Gentile. Today is a great day to reach out to the Lord in faith. He is right there, loving you deeply, and longing to be a blessing to you.
Reflection
This meditation closes out our journey through the prophetic book of Ezekiel. Having looked at Ezekiel’s final recorded vision, we will next turn to the book of Daniel and its remarkable prophecies, many of which have already been fulfilled.
Father God, thank You for Jesus, who went to the cross for my sin and was raised from the dead for my eternal life. I ask for Your purification and cleansing today. Free me from selfish, angry, or harmful thoughts and habits that may sometimes grip my being. Restore me to Your holiness, and bless me so that I may sit at Your feet, learning to live a life full of love, to Your glory. We ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
May you be richly and generously blessed by the Lord as you reach out to Him in faith today.
Daily Meditations from the Genealogy of Jesus 