Ezekiel Recap

Right, just to give you some background as to what the book of Ezekiel is. The people of God in Judah were exiled to Babylon as part of the discipline that the Lord brought them through, and Ezekiel went with them.

And he received visions while he was among the exiles. He saw similar stuff to John in Revelation—amazing visions of heavenly, angelic things, and he sees the Lord himself. He’s called to be a prophet. He’s called the ‘son of man’—so there’s something Christ-like about him. And he’s also called to do quite unusual things, like lying down in unusual places, eating unusual things, and making unusual visual-aids.

And he’s called to be a watchman for Israel. He prophesies all sorts of things for Jerusalem from the Lord. He’s sent to preach against the people of God and their idolatry, and then he prophesies the ultimate day of judgement which will come for all humans.

There’s a lot of judgement. But there’s also a lot of hope—promises of a new covenant, and reminders of the reality of regeneration. But largely there is judgement against the people of God. In the chapter before this, they’ve been called a useless vine that basically needs to be burnt up, destroyed.