Key word: Son of Man (found 91x)
Unlike Isaiah and Jeremiah, the other two major prophets who prophesied prior to exile, Ezekiel is already in exile and writing back to those still in the Holy Land and to those who were already in exile. Babylon invaded Judah and Jerusalem in three waves, carrying off exiles each time. Ezekiel was taken during the second wave around 598 B.C. While Jeremiah is pleading with the Jews to repent from his home base in Judah, Ezekiel did the same from exile also prophesied of the future restoration of Israel. Daniel, by the way is taken in the first wave of deportation and ministered in Babylon itself.
The book is filled with visions and object lessons, both used to communicate God’s message of repentance and hope. But the overarching message is so “they will know that I am the Lord” (6:7) found about 70 times (see 6:10, 13-14). Somehow the Jews had lost that message and Ezekiel’s task was to teach it again.
Ezekiel also contains some of the most encouraging, if hard to interpret prophecies describing future restoration for Israel. In particular is the vision of the valley of dry bones in Chapter 37, the end times battle of Gog and Magog. The book ends with chapters 40-48 and a description of a future temple that will be erected and used during the Kingdom Age.
While Ezekiel, much like the other prophetic books, offers much in the way of judgment on a godless people, it also holds out a great future hope. Our key verse expresses it well, Ezekiel 36:26 and he goes on to promise, “And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”
Key verse: Ezekiel 36:26 – “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.”
