Jesus Christ is going to come again a second time, and he's gonna return back to the place he started from. He's gonna come back to Jerusalem just as he left Jerusalem. He's gonna return back on the Mount of Olives. Stand on that mount of olives and prophecies will take on their full fulfillment and completion when the person of Jesus Christ stands as the Mashiach, the Messiah, the Anointed one to the nation of Israel. As promised as Jesus comes to the city of David, the city of the Great King and Jerusalem receives the praise once again, this is all prophetic in what God is showing us through this book of Ezekiel, beautiful picture.
Well, hello and welcome to the You Can Learn the Bible Podcast where we summarize complete Bible books in single episodes. I am Bodie Quirk from You can Learn the bible.com here with Joey Rozek, Lead Pastor of Living Springs Fellowship in New Jersey. And [00:01:00] Joey, today we have our work cut out for us. Do we ever, how are you, my friend?
yes, I am blessed to be on the program with you, Bodie, blessed to be living for Jesus and blessed to open up my Bible and find that in front of me
is the book of Ezekiel, a book that is massive in its content
Yeah,
some ways sporadic in its layout of visions. And he gives us some really unique pictures of what was happening in the time period of captivity in Babylon, and what was to come. So we're gonna dive into a pretty big book here. Bodie. Are you ready for this?
Oh, I'm so ready. this is gonna be an exciting challenge and I think the, again, as many of the prophets tend to be, Joey, Ezekiel, I think, is one of the more difficult ones because of the type of visions that he is given by the Lord to give to the people. So we're gonna cover all of that. We wanted to just make sure that you knew that you could experience this podcast in a couple different ways. We uh, have a video version that's on YouTube.
We have the audio version on Apple [00:02:00] Podcast and Spotify, and we offer a one page download, which is a. Summary of the, all of the notes that we use for every single episode. We're gonna give you a link for that at the end of the episode, but we just wanna make sure that you know that we are here to to equip and to inspire you.
And we really feel that Ezekiel is a blessing for your Christian life, but I think people don't know where to start. Always Joey. And that's what our really, our goal is for each and every episode.
We are now in episode 32 Ezekiel explained. And what we're gonna do in this episode is we're gonna do the same thing we've done for every book up to this point, which is we're gonna apply our seven part framework.
And so that framework includes the essentials of the book, where it falls on the storyline, the major themes and ideas of the book, the structure, how it's laid out, and then the application pieces. What does it teach us about God? What can be applied to our lives today and what are some of those favorite things that we like about this book, particularly Joey.
So unless you have any other thing you wanna add, [00:03:00] I would love to take us into number one, which is the essentials of the book of Ezekiel.
Amen. Yeah, we're gonna ask God for strength on this one because the very name ezekiel means strengthened by God or God strengthened. So we're gonna say, Lord, strengthen us as we approach this incredible book that has really left so many scholars and, commentators trying to figure out some of the gaps that flow through this book.
But you'll actually get a lot of clarity as we walk through this episode because there are a lot of things to take away from the book of Ezekiel. So why don't we dive in with the essentials, shall we?
Yeah. Let's get going.
All right. So when we talk about Ezekiel, we're looking at the period between 5 93, 5 59, about the life of e of Ezekiel.
But really we're focusing on the 22 years of his ministry. So we're gonna look at more 5 92. It's a 5 72 bc and this is before, but also after the captivity in Babylon. So Ezekiel kind of covers the before and after period of this. Now we know [00:04:00] that he was a contemporary with Daniel as one of the ones who went into Babylon, but we also know that he was taken before the final assault in Jerusalem.
So we're believing about 5 97 BC is when Ezekiel gets taken captive. Now this is under the genre of prophecy. So we are again in the prophetic books. He is one of the major prophets. He's gonna give us a lot of visions. And a lot of judgments that God is doing toward Judah for their idolatry.
Now we believe Ezekiel is the author of the book named after him. The book tells us this in a lot of different ways. We see him speaking in the first person point of view. He is a priest. He is a prophet that was taken to Babylon, much like Jeremiah, when we, which we've already gone through. And so there's a lot of similarity there. But unlike Jeremiah who stayed in Jerusalem, we do see that he has a 22 year ministry, as we said in Babylonian captivity.
Now, what's the purpose of this [00:05:00] book? The purpose of this book is God's glory as shown through his judgments toward a nation that has turned on him, but also through the future hope of a God who keeps his covenant promises.
So the audience is Judah. That is the rebellious nation we're focused on. But of course, God's remnant who would be listening to the words of e Ezekiel when he was receiving them, and all of God's remnant throughout the generations will benefit from a book that allows such prophetic insight into these mysteries of what God is doing during this time.
I, I wanna add this Bodie, that we are gonna discover that this book shows who God is in so many unique ways. There are actually almost 70 references in this book alone that says that you might know. That I am the Lord. That is so important and so great book to dive into. I'm excited to to break it down as we go from here.
Yeah, [00:06:00] no, and this is important. This is another one of the historical books of Prophecy that you have to understand what's happening in the world where the prophet is, because it not only helps us understand the storyline moment, which we're gonna cover next, but. But it also helps us understand how God is relating to the people based on their covenant obedience or disobedience.
So Joey, you set us up perfectly for that, and 22 years is interesting. because Ezekiel doesn't have, it's not like one particular moment, right? We read the book front to back, but there's actually a number of moments where Ezekiel says, and the word of the Lord came to me indicating like there was a gap of a number of years since the previous vision.
We get to read 'em kind of next to each other. But that's another important thing to keep in mind. This didn't just happen in one particular moment, kind of like Jeremiah did at the fall. This is as you said before and after.
So this leads us to our second part of our framework. Where does Ezekiel fit in the story of the Bible? So we're now, we're talking about number two, the storyline because, and you already told us, Joey, [00:07:00] where exactly it is. But let's talk about some key details around this historical moment.
We're talking about the Babylonian captivity of Judah. So if you remember 150 years earlier, the Northern Empire was wiped out by Assyria, but they didn't overthrow Judah.
Judah survived and they kind of thought that they were impenetrable a little bit. And we're gonna find out that actually that's not gonna be the case because now they're about to be overthrown by not Assyria, but by Babylon. So we're at the very end of Judah's history where Jerusalem's gonna fall.
It's the fifth year of King Jehoachin's captivity. So we're in the middle where some of the people have already been taken into captivity in Babylon. We believe that Ezekiel was actually taken during this. Second wave, we're not sure, but we know that he's there during the midst of the darkest time in, Judah's history.
We have to keep that in mind. So this is King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon who is leading this. He's the contemporary of Daniel, as Joey already said. But you guys, this is a time of devastation and [00:08:00] ruins in God's glorious city. Many people believed Jerusalem was untouchable. And so for Jerusalem, the city of David, to fall to the hands of Babylon was something that was unthinkable to so many people who lived in Judah.
And just so you know, the whole book of Jeremiah takes place before the fall of Judah. The difference with Ezekiel as, as Joey said. It's actually both before and after. So if you're watching on the video, you can see that Ezekiel kind of overlaps the event of the fall of Jerusalem in 5 86, where Jeremiah was all the way just before it.
This is a time of intense ruins and, tumultuous days in Judas history, but this is of course, the backdrop of the visions that are now going to come to the prophet Ezekiel. Joey, anything you wanna add on number two before you take us into the themes, which is number three.
No, I think we've set the stage on the storyline I think it, it might be, IM just important to note, because he's a priest and because he's a prophet, Ezekiel is very in [00:09:00] tune with what the culture of the Jewish people we're all about. And so for God to choose him as the voice and the, a mouthpiece of his prophetic visions at this point, he's a very key person to do that.
In fact, I think one other interesting note we can just throw out now is. Where in Jeremiah and in the book of Daniel, there may be some references to the son of man in a Messianic sense, in this book, almost a hundred times, Ezekiel is called the Son of Man by God. And so he's really taking on a very unique place of prophetic revelation for the people
Hmm.
And I think that's
Yes. Yes, yes. Yeah. God speaks to Ezekiel a lot in this book and he, and he is faithful to deliver the prophetic vision that he is given by the Lord. And it's amazing. It's over a 22 year period of time. There was a lot of times in between that. And imagine how faithful he was over 22 years to not only receive, but also to deliver the, these hard words [00:10:00] in one of the most difficult times of Judas history.
Okay. So I think that that gives us a good sense of where the Book of Ezekiel takes place in the storyline. But now Joey, we need to understand the themes of the book itself. Would you walk us through some of the most important themes of the book of Ezekiel, and then we'll go into the structure of how the book is broken down after that.
Yeah. So as we look at the big picture of this 48 chapter book,
we're gonna see the glory and the supremacy of God all overarching this book. Now I. Like all other books that we see in scripture where God is looking at the sins of his people because God is holy and just he brings judgment into the lives of those who have strayed from him.
And so we're gonna see a lot of the judgment of Judah's rebellion throughout the book. And of course, that leads to the destruction and captivity of Judah and the fall of Jerusalem. But in the midst of it all is a revelation of Yahweh being the Lord. As I [00:11:00] mentioned, it's amazing that there's almost 70 references of Ezekiel, the prophet speaking the word of God and saying, now they will know that I am the Lord.
So this is a really important theme. Now, another theme is that Ezekiel gives some of the most unique and obscure prophecies that we have in scripture. there's about 25 references to the Holy Spirit, so we're gonna see a lot of mentioning of the Holy Spirit, but there's no mention, of Ezekiel prophecy in the New Testament, really, as far as direct quotations, interestingly enough.
So we have a lot of the themes that the New Testament takes on, but, but Ezekiel is quite unique. Now. One of the things that I wanna point out to you when we look at the themes of this book are there are a lot of metaphors and analogies to describe the sin of the people.
You're gonna see some really unique pictures that God portrays through Ezekiel in what he tells him to do and in what he speaks and communicates about the people's sin. But it all culminates Bodie into a [00:12:00] beautiful crescendo of the promises of future restoration, about the kingdom of God, the city of God, the temple of God, and the people of God. And so those are the key themes and ideas we're gonna be looking out for as we journey through the book.
Yeah. Yeah, it is. And so I think it's gonna be helpful as we walk through the structure to keep these themes in mind and that's what we wanna do next. And so Joey, thank you. Yeah, that is perfect.
Because what we wanna do is, as we go through the structure number four of our framework, we're going to then touch on number five and six as well, which is, what does it teach us about God?
And then what can we apply to our life as well? And so the major sections of Ezekiel are what we want to cover next, but we wanna keep in mind of like, how does it apply to our life? We always wanna be mindful of how it connects to the person of Christ and also what it offers our Christian life. I think some people will read this book and they're like, this is so weird.
I don't even know what to do with any of this stuff. Hopefully understanding the structure and how the book flows will at least get us started in understanding that.
So when we talk [00:13:00] about the book of Ezekiel, Think of five sections. Okay? The first section is chapters one through three, and this is Ezekiel's Prophetic Call and commission God, as he does with other prophets, chooses Ezekiel to be his son of man, his, his mouthpiece, his person on the scene at this particular point to speak forth his message.
So chapters one through three is when we see the call and commission of Ezekiel. The next section is a lot of judgments towards rebellious Judah. So four through 24 are prophetic judgments of Judah's troubles, and this is where God really exposes Judah's sin. As Joey said though, in unique and obscure ways, visions, parables, and signs, a lot of this is the stuff that I think is tough for people to grasp 'cause they don't know where to place it. The major theme is that it's prophetic judgments against Judah for their rebellion. That's four through 24, big section there.
The next section turns outward away from Judah. This is 25 to 32. [00:14:00] Now we're gonna see prophecies not against Judah in this section, but against Judah's neighbors, the neighboring nations.
he does speak to his own people in Judah, but he also speaks against those nations who are opposing God's purpose and his people. 'cause they think, just 'cause God's judging Judah, that he's done with them, the prophet's gonna say otherwise, but he's gonna deal with the neighboring nations in 25 to 32 as well.
But I would say, Joey, the most important chapters to keep in mind are the next section, section four, which is chapter. 33 through 39. And if you've heard Ezekiel quoted, you've probably heard something from this section. These are the prophetic visions of Judah's triumphs. And so once we have the judgments both to Judah and to the nations, we see amazing promises of God.
His future promises to restore his land, to revive his people and to overthrow his enemies. And a lot of that is in chapter 33 through 39. That's section four. And then the book gives us an incredible ending, Joey, it [00:15:00] has one of those Hallelujah chorus endings, almost more than any other book because chapters 40 through 48 are Jerusalem's Prophetic Future and Coming Glory.
And this is such a beautiful read. 'cause this is where Ezekiel really unpacks this visions of a brand new temple and a brand new restored worship of the people in this temple. So there's a lot here in this book. Anything you wanna add about the structure before we go into section one? Ezekiel's call and commission,
Well, I guess just to, once again, think of it in a sandwich form. the first section, the last section, we have Ezekiel's prophetic call and commission, and then we have Jerusalem's Prophetic Future in Coming Glory. So that's the front and backend. Those are the bookends of the book, but the whole book is prophetic.
So we have the troubles of Judah. We have the triumphs of Judah, and then we have a brief interlude of, of, judgments to the nation. So just think of it like that. We're gonna really be focused on Judah. This is about the Southern Kingdom, as you already mentioned, Bodie. So as we go through each of these [00:16:00] sections now, we're gonna give you some key insights.
We're gonna give you some things that are gonna help you to get excited about going through each of these sections to help you navigate through this book. So let's go into section number one, which is chapters one through three, which is Ezekiel's Prophetic Call and Commission.
And I, I'd like to start with that, with the understanding. That Ezekiel was given a very direct purpose by God. That was not something favorable. It's not the kind of mission that you hear from God going, oh, I'm so excited to do this, because God basically told him. And, and in fact, I'd love to read these verses from Ezekiel chapter two one through four. And as we look at these verses listen to these words because this is a kind of mission that isn't gonna be so favorable to hear, but it is necessary and God will always do what is needed for his people.
So here's what it says. It says, and he said to me, this is the Lord speaking to Ezekiel, son of [00:17:00] man. There's that statement, son of man, stand on your feet and I will speak with you as, and as he spoke to me, the spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me.
And then it says that he said to me, son of man, I am sending you, listen to this. I'm sending you to the people of Israel, to the nations of rebels and, and have rebelled against me. This is a rebellious people. they and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day. The descendants are also impudent and stubborn. I send you to them and you shall say to them, thus says the Lord God.
And what does he say? What's the final word that he says to them? Well, there's a whole, there's so much that's gonna come out from here, but we want to use this as an introduction because he's basically being told, you need to speak my words, but they're not gonna listen. You need to speak my words, but they're gonna be rebellious, but they're gonna know a prophet [00:18:00] was among them.
They're gonna know that I'm the Lord in control here. So that was really the mission of Ezekiel. Much like Jeremiah, they didn't get to see a lot of great
Right.
in their ministry at the time.
But it says so much Joey about the kind of people they were, that God would entrust such a difficult task to them. And I think sometimes in our own life, we feel like if God has given us a difficult task, that there's something wrong with us, we did something unfavorable. In fact, it might be God honoring you with something difficult because he thinks you can handle it.
And I think Ezekiel must have been somebody who he could have felt, could handle this incredible ministry, which was very, very difficult. I wouldn't want this ministry. But not only does Ezekiel fulfill it faithfully, he fulfills it faithfully for 20 plus years. And, and, and I think he was the kind of person that God that, that God knew that he could call on.
And that's what we wanna do today. We wanna be the kind of people that if God had asked us to do something difficult, that would be a great blessing to the kingdom of God. Would we be willing in the same way that Ezekiel was willing [00:19:00] because this is a hard road, Joey. Yeah. I. a tough journey that he, Ezekiel had
yeah, that's a great, great point Bodhi. And you know, one of the unique things that we see in Ezekiel's life when he first gets the visions from the Lord is that he fell on his face when he heard the voice of the one speaking to him. We see that as the last verse of chapter one, and in that opening verses of chapter two, we, we see that God's telling him to stand up.
He's telling him to step out and he's telling him to speak to the people. And those are great phrases for what God calls us to do in troubling times and difficult situations is we need to stand on our feet. We need to step out in faith and we need to speak the words that God gives to us. And that's what Ezekiel does.
And so these opening three chapters is really about his call to be the watchman, his call to be a prophetic voice and his call to be a symbol and picture of sin before the people. 'cause many things are gonna happen to Ezekiel that is gonna be typology pictures
Yeah.
What is happening in the
Yes.
people at [00:20:00] this time?
Yeah. Yep.
okay. That gets us started. That I think that now we have looked at the call of Ezekiel.
So now we're looking at the second section, prophetic Judgments of Judah's Troubles. And this where Joey, I think this is some of the hardest read for people.
One, because it's, spoken of judgment, but it's basically the way that it's, given is, Confusing, like you said, obscure. And so let's talk about this section. So there's two subsections you want to be aware of. In chapters four through 12, we wanna look through.
This is God's signs of judgment and his departing glory. This is where we hear that part, where the glory of God actually leaves the temple of because of their wickedness. So God uses these specific symbolic acts and these prophetic visions to warn rebellious Israel of coming judgment.
Like God wants them to repent, but they just are hardhearted and they won't. And we know that it culminates in the departure of his glory because of their idolatry. And that is a big, big deal. I don't know if we understand really the weightiness of God's glory departing the temple, but [00:21:00] we see that in the first subsection of, of section two, four through 12.
The second subsection is 13 to 24, and this is basically God's condemnation of Judah and its leaders. Because what's happening here is, as Ezekiel is speaking forth the true prophecy, there is a number of false prophets that are contradicting what he's saying. So God is now exposing these false prophets and these corrupt leaders through these parables, through these symbolic acts that Ezekiel gives.
But ultimately there's a pronouncement of Judah's sin and the result of it, this inevitable destruction, and again, we're in the backdrop of people believing that Judah and Jerusalem were untouchable because they were spared previously. So to hear these things was a major shock for the people of Judah at this time.
But it is God's word nonetheless, and Ezekiel is faithful to give it. So this whole section four to 24 is basically about these, warnings, these prophetic warnings of Judas coming trouble. So what else though, should we know about, about section two, Joey?
Yeah, well I think some of [00:22:00] the statements are quite direct and they're quite harsh. You look at chapter seven and you see that judgment is eminent. You actually hear the words and end. The end has, has come upon the four corners of the land. The end has come upon You We often see people that will sometimes preach on the streets and say things like the end is near.
But this was certainly true in the southern kingdom of Judah at this time. The day of doom had come. Judgment was so drastic and in some ways so personally penetrating to the hearts of the people because everywhere they would look, they would see sudden. destruction. This is a very scary time to be going through.
And anytime people have gone through war or their homeland has been attacked, and people have come up to where their homes are and where their worship life is, it's a, it's a very vulnerable place to be right now.
But the wickedness of the people is what's caused this. And so when you think about all of the leaders who have failed it,
it makes me think of a verse [00:23:00] in Ezekiel chapter 22 in verse 30, because as the leaders are failing, the priests have failed to represent God in a holy way. The prophets are now being raised up to speak the words of judgment. And of course, the governors and the leaders of God's people have already turned away to idolatry with the people. So here's what God says, it says, so I sought for a man among them. This is Ezekiel 2230. I sought for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the breach or in the gap before me for the land that I should not destroy it.
But I found none how tragic it is that God cannot find a man who's standing in the gap interceding for the people. And whenever you see the lack of what man can do, this is where we always turn to God and realize, God, we need you. We need you to act where man is incapable of correcting themselves. We need God's
sure.
And that's what this verse is really shouting out to at this [00:24:00] time.
Yeah. Well, and it points to Joey just how God would, you would want to see the leaders be the ones rising up in the name of the Lord. But it's almost never the case. It's almost the leaders that are leading the nation astray. And so God in his care and love calls a nobody, calls a Jeremiah, calls a Daniel.
These people that nobody would think of as leaders to be the, voice, the mouthpiece for God working in this moment, which is super encouraging for us today because sometimes we feel like I'm a nobody. Why would anybody listen to me? Friends, if you are walking in the spirit and you are in Christ, God will use you to reach people.
Sometimes God uses children to speak the words, right? Jesus taught us that so, so this is so encouraging that God is always seeking for people who are faithful and who are loyal to him. Beautiful stuff.
Yeah. In fact, there are three names mentioned in Ezekiel 14 of those kinds of people that you were just mentioning, Bodie, people who stand out in their generations and who are set apart.
There's Noah in his generation, Daniel which is in the [00:25:00] generation that's, that's occurring right now. And then job. And all three of these men are mentioned by name in Ezekiel 14 when it says son of man, verse 13. When a land sins against me by persistent unfaithfulness, I will stretch out my hand against it. I will cut off its supply of bread and send famine on it, and I will cut off man and beast from it. Even if these three men know what Daniel and Job were in it, they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness, says the Lord God.
So we know that righteous people can have a huge impact on a generation, but we also know that God will judge. The righteous from the unrighteous differently, and so that's something that
Right?
represented in this. God sees his remnant. He sees a loyal heart in the midst of
Yes. Yes, he does. And it is, yeah. And so that's where its important. So we see a lot of judgment in this second section, but we also see some judgment outside, which is kind of heading into the third section of Ezekiel.
And so again, I feel like from chapter four all the way to [00:26:00] 32, it's like lots and lots and lots of judgment, but if you understand the role that it's playing and what it's setting up, when we get to that fourth.
Section, which I think is the kind of the most important of this book. We're going to really understand how much God is for his people and how rebellious they truly are. It's a real warning against hardheartedness, individually and corporately. So that takes us to section three. So again, the first one was Ezekiel's call in one through three.
We just looked at the judgments against Judah and as their in their troubles in four through 24. Now though, Ezekiel's gonna speak to those nations who are opposing the opposing God and his people. And so it's hard to, for people to wrap their minds around the fact that God is both judging Judah and still for them and has future hope for them at the same time.
'cause these other nations are looking at it like, see, see Judah's nothing special. Now we're gonna actually, Ezekiel's gonna address those in these next chapters 25 through 32. So if you would, Joey, what are some of the nations that actually get called out in these sections and what are some of the most [00:27:00] interesting parts of this? This third section of the book of Ezekiel.
Yeah. I love the way that you segued into this third section Bodie, because we see a difference between the nations on the outside of God's covenant versus the nation that's within his covenant. One chapter that we didn't really touch upon in the last section was chapter 16, which is a chapter about God's everlasting love for Israel and for Jerusalem namely the city of the Great King.
So you can really look at that on your own time, Ezekiel 16, and see how it matches with, let's say Hosea 11. God's unfailing love for his people, but here's the people who are not his people, so to speak. And we have the Ammonites from Amman. We have the Moabites from Moab, we have the Edomites from Edom, we have the Philistines from Philistia.
And then we have ti and then we have Egypt. Now, these are the nations that are being spoken of by God as he's judging these foreign entities, these nations of the world. But there's something very interesting [00:28:00] behind all the nations of the world, Bodie, there's a spiritual component to it. A spiritual kingdom is always existing behind the kingdoms of the world.
And I wanna draw our attention to Ezekiel 28, because in this section, I think this is the most important chapter, and the most important section within the chapter is found in Ezekiel 28, starting in verses 11 onwards. Here's what it says, verse 11 and 12 says, moreover, the word of the Lord came to me saying, son of man, raise a lamentation over the king of Tyre.
Now, sometimes it mentions the Prince of Tyre. But notice this says King of Tyre. And then it says, and say to him, thus says the Lord God. You were the seal or the sign of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
Now, before we go any further, I want you to understand that this is not just speaking about an earthly king anymore, but also speaking about the spiritual kingdom behind the earthly King.
How do we know? How do we know? Well, the [00:29:00] next verses are gonna really show us that the spiritual power behind the nation of Tyre is in actuality, Satan himself, the same serpent who entered the Garden of Eden and deceived Eve by his cunning craftiness and through his deceitful ways is, is the same one that is being spoken of here in Ezekiel 28.
'cause look at what it says in verses 13 and 14.
It says you were in Eden. There you go. The only one in Eden was Adam Eve and
the serpent.
not in Eden. Last time
No, he was not. So we have, you were in Eden, the Garden of God, and every precious stone was your covering. sardius, Topaz, diamond barrel, Onyx, Jasper, Sapphire, Emerald carbuncle, and crafted in gold where you were, your settings, and your engravings on the day that you were created.
Remember, Satan was created as an angel in the beginning. It says, on the day that you were created, they were prepared. You were an anointed guardian [00:30:00] cherub. Or the chair of that covers another translation says, I placed you, you are on the Holy Mountain of God. In the midst of the stones of fire you walked.
Do you notice these specific details that this person, this king of Tyre, was in Eden? This is a spiritual being. This is a cherub according to this verse, who covers, who's anointed and was walking back and forth in their perfect ways until iniquity was found in him. Here's what it says next verses 15 and 16.
You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till unrighteousness or iniquity was found in you. In the abundance of your trade, you are filled with violence in your midst and you sinned. So I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you. Oh, guardian cherub from the midst of the stones of fire.
Now this is so key because like Isaiah 14, God is giving us an inside look of what went wrong [00:31:00] when the angel that God created became the devil or Satan. And so the last couple verses, lemme read these last two Bodie verses 17 and 18 says,
your heart was proud full of pride because of your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.
And so I cast you to the ground. I exposed you before Kings to feast their eyes on you. And by the multitude of your iniquities in the unrighteousness of your trade, you profane to your sanctuaries. So I brought fire out from your midst, it consumed you, and I turned you to ashes on the Earth in the side of all who saw you.
So you can kind of see an interwoven language of about an earthly king and a spiritual power behind it.
Right?
And, the last verse, verse 19. Go ahead, I'll, I'll let you finish it off there, Bodhi. See what it says. Speaking about this, this spiritual kingdom and power behind tire. What's the last
It says all, all who know you among the peoples are appalled at you. You have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more [00:32:00] forever. And so, yeah, you've totally mentioned Joey, that all of a sudden he's talking about the King of Tyre, a real place. But eventually it jumps you right into you. Were in the garden of God and it seems to give us all this supernatural language.
Friends, this is a view into the Garden of Eden. We don't get in the Book of Genesis, we get in the book of Ezekiel. That's why prophecy is so important. 'cause it could speak backwards and give us details not in the original account. And it can speak forwards about what's to come and when, later when it gets fulfilled, it all ties together.
It's beautiful. This is one of the clearest passages about the Garden of Eden that we get anywhere in scripture. Joey, that was awesome.
Yeah. And, and I wanna also add that this is one of those passages where you have to be a careful reader of scripture because in the beginning of chapter 28, it starts with the word to the Prince of Tyre, but then it, all of a sudden it goes to the king of Tyre. It's almost showing you there's a power behind the power.
There's always a kingdom in the spiritual realm behind the kingdom that's in the physical realm. And, and in the King James version of this. Of this part of the [00:33:00] Bible, there's an extra sort of verse in some of the manuscripts from the Texas receptionist, the received text, the majority text, which says The workmanship of your timbers and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created.
This is almost the idea that worship was being carried out by this angel. Some believe that that Lucifer or the devil used to help lead at least a segment of worship in heaven. So when one third of the angels fell with the devil, as we read about in Revelation chapter 12 it just really shows us that one third of the angels is an interesting proportion there because there's only three angels that are really mentioned by name that seemed to be the heads that cover.
And so you have Michael, the Archangel, you have Gabriel, and then you have Lucifer. These are the three named angels, and it seems like one third of them rebelled in heaven against God because of iniquity and pride to wanna replace the worship of God with himself. That's what Satan wanted. And that's ultimately what is Satanic in our world today is the glorification of self.[00:34:00]
The Satanic Bible carries with it the words do what thou wilt do whatever you want. Satan doesn't care if you worship him directly, but you worship him indirectly when you
yeah. Right.
call of a Christian is to deny yourself. Take up your cross daily and follow the
Mm-hmm. Right.
a really important teaching right in the heart of this book.
Oh, it's amazing. Yeah, exactly. And so, yeah, because these first he speaks to Judah, then he speaks to the, neighboring nations. And so you have these two sections of judgment here. But then we takes us to, I think, Joey, the heart or the most important part of the book that we want our listeners to know about, and that's section four.
So again, we, we have Ezekiel's call. We've got the two sections of judgments to Judah and four through 24 to the neighboring nations, which we just touched on. Tire was one of those neighboring nations in 25 to 32. And then now we're at the next section, 33 through 39. This is prophetic visions of Judah's Triumphs.
So now Joey, we're gonna turn the tables a little bit towards the future [00:35:00] vision of both some of the future battles, but also some of the victories. God is gonna restore his land, he's gonna revive his people, and he is gonna overthrow his enemies. And so we wanted to kind of outline this section a little bit more carefully because this is the most important section, I think, of the whole book. But we have to know that it falls in light of everything we've just covered.
So once we arrive to this fourth section, we have some key chapters that we want you to know about. Cause when we get to chapter 33, you're at the beginning now of this section on prophetic visions of Judah's Triumph , it talks about him as a watchman, and it gives this vision of Jerusalem's fall, and it's a warning to repent, like a final call to repent before destruction comes. That's chapter 33, 34, and 35 are again, more warnings against Israel's shepherds.
It talks about the false shepherds that have literally led Judah away as well as there's some judgment for the land of Edam. And then, but Joey, we start to see glimpses of future restoration, don't we? Ezekiel 36, 37, 38, and 39 are gonna be [00:36:00] important. But in 36 it talks about the future restoration of both the land and the people.
This is so key because God wants to restore Israel. Despite all the judgment. There is a heart to restore, and so God makes this promise in 36 to restore Israel, to regenerate their dead hearts. And to heal their land. I wanna share a key verse from Ezekiel 36, but anything you want to add in these early chapters of this fourth section? 'Cause this is a really important part of the book of Ezekiel, isn't it?
Well, I think absolutely the progression is really important here because chapter 33 where you have the importance of the watchmen, who's seeing what's coming on the horizon to warn the people, we see a strong understanding of how we need to be watchful and prayerful. We know that Peter says, since the end of all things is at hand, you therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers.
So we have this watchful piece. Then we go into the shepherds. God cares about shepherding his people, and so he wants to point out the false shepherds of the day [00:37:00] because this is what's causing the judgment to come, but in the midst of the judgment to come, God has prophetic revelation to give, as you said, Bodie concerning Israel, the land and the people.
Now remember, we're talking about 70 years of captivity here in Babylon, so there is some direct application for the people who are hearing this prophetic word at the time, but we have to not miss that. There's a future fulfillment to this that we see later on, that even in our present age, we see a fulfillment of, because God did promise to gather the people from the nations and to bring them into their land again.
Now, here's the first prophecy, Ezekiel 36. Verses 24 to 26 says, I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncles and from all your idols. I will cleanse you and I will give you a new heart and a new spirit, and I will put within you and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh [00:38:00] and give you a heart of flesh.
So what's God speaking here? Well, we see a bit of regeneration happening here. This is definitely some talk about the transition from Old Covenant to New Covenant, this idea of a new heart. But we also see that this is a prelude in how God deals with the nation of Israel here. It is a foreshadowing of what he's gonna do at a later time when he wants to bring salvation, not just to the Jews, but to all the nations of the world.
We know that in the end, every tribe and tongue and nation is gonna be around the throne of God. Revelation seven beautifully shows us this, but what is important here is that God is saying, even after the captivity, Israel will be restored. But there's also times in the future where we're gonna see God doing this very thing, gathering the Jews from the nations and bringing them back into their own land.
And it's interesting that in our time, May 14th, 1948, we saw this happen in our present age. This is within less than a hundred years ago when this happened yet again. And so you can see how God is so faithful to keep his prophetic promises for his people in [00:39:00] that way. Even though we know Israel today doesn't have a spiritual revival yet,
Sure.
gonna see a progression between the land and the people First, the
Yes.
and then God works on the people.
Yeah, that's so, so, so important. And if you notice what's being talked about here is not just new behavior, but a genuinely new posture towards God. The behavior is always a result of the heart. So if we can transform the heart, the behavior is going to follow. how beautiful is the heart of God here, Joey?
For his people. I mean, he wants not only to cleanse and redeem them, but he wants to see them become new people. And that's why the next key verse in this section. This is such an important section.
We could spend the whole episode just on this one section, but Ezekiel 37 14 is another key verse for from this fourth section which says, I will put my spirit within you and you shall live. And as Joy just mentioned, I will place you in your own land. Then you will know there's the phrase again, right? Then you will know that I am the Lord and I have spoken, and I will [00:40:00] do it, declares the Lord. So we see not only God's heart to restore the Abrahamic promise of a nation of people in the land, but it's also better than that because it's, he's talking about his own dwelling presence with them by the power of his own spirit and joy.
This could, this could be in the New Testament, but it comes out of the prophet Ezekiel because it reveals that God's heart is always for the nations, even the rebellious ones, even the ones in exile. And that means that God's heart is for you and for me as well. So
Yes, and, and I wanna also point out how specific the word is again, because when Israel was in captivity or when Judah was in captivity in Babylon, they're coming out of the Babylonian captivity, right?
But this seems to indicate more than just Babylon because if you look at verse 21, for example, it says, then say to them, thus says the Lord God, surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, the plural here, the nations, whether [00:41:00] wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land, and I will make them one nation in the land on the mountains of Israel.
So this is why when we talk about future prophecy when the Jewish people scattered over all the Earth and even after the Holocaust where 6 million Jews were killed in World War ii, the Jewish people fled throughout all the nations for their survival. But don't we even see that in 1948 when God gathers them together?
it's from all the nations. So I think there again, if you take the word specifically there, it's more than just Babylonian captivity. We're looking at, we're looking at a future picture here too, where God is gonna gather the Jewish people from all over the world. And why does that have to happen?
Well, because Jesus Christ is going to come again a second time, and he's gonna return back to the place he started from. He's gonna come back to Jerusalem just as he left Jerusalem. He's gonna return back on the Mount of Olives. Stand on that mount of olives and prophecies will take on their full fulfillment and completion when the person of Jesus Christ stands as the Mashiach, the Messiah, the Anointed one [00:42:00] to the nation of Israel. As promised as Jesus comes to the city of David, the city of the Great King and Jerusalem receives the praise once again, this is all prophetic in what God is showing us through this book of Ezekiel, beautiful picture.
and it's important. Yeah. We've slowed down a little bit right here in this fourth section, 'cause we really want you to see how much incredible stuff there is. But we're not even done, Joey. We're only up to chapter 37, right? So in 36 it talks about the restoration of the land and the people.
37 is probably where you've heard the dry bones prophecy, which is a really interesting picture. It's like a picture of these, skeletons out and God commands Israel to speak to them and he literally breathes new life into them as a symbolic vision of God, not just raising people spiritually and filling their spirit, but reuniting, separated Israel.
'cause if you remember, Israel is fractured at this point. There's a promise to really breathe life into a dead nation again, which is an incredible but sort of weird and obscure vision. And then if that wasn't fun [00:43:00] enough, the next two chapters, 38 and 39, seem to be this like cosmic war against these nations called GOG and May Gog.
And we don't know exactly what that means, but the, the point that Ezekiel wants us to get is the victory of God over his opposers, over his enemies. And that's what we see in this there, that God protects Israel from this invasion of foreign nations and he victorious over them.
So a
Yeah, I.
to 38.
I I, I wanna make a little bit of a bridge here between 37 and 38 and 39 with saying, much like in the ministry of Jesus, when he was looking out at the multitudes, if you remember in Matthew chapter nine, verse 36, it says, and when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, for he saw they were weary and scattered like sheep without a shepherd.
The picture of the dry bones is a picture of weary and scattered death all over and a shepherd is needed. And so when the, breath breathes into the dry bones and they come alive, that's [00:44:00] exactly what Jesus does when the good Shepherd comes and takes the lost sheep of Israel and brings them under his fold.
So we see a beautiful picture of Jesus doing what he so wonderfully does in this picture of the dry bones. But then you also see that just like in the days of the Roman government that was ruling in the times of Jesus and Jerusalem was gonna be ransacked and destroyed, and the temple was gonna be destroyed in AD 70.
We've got this picture here that's being given to us about a future time. When these nations gather around Israel and we have GOG of the land of Magog, so Magog represents the people, the land of the people, and against gog. Now there's been some different interpretations of what GOG is the title.
Seems to have this idea of a roof. Something that is the idea of Rosh comes into picture. Some of have a connected Rosh with Russia because it's a nation to the north, and it seems like there's a nation from the north coming. Again, we can't be certain about every detail of this as to which nation is represented, but when you look at all the nations that are represented, you see [00:45:00] Persia, which is present day.
Iran, you have Ethiopia, Libya you've got a lot of countries that are represented today. Gomer representing Turkey oftentimes put Libya or Algeria. Kush often is associated with Ethiopia. You've got a lot of nations here that have new names and are represented by the lands.
But even if you don't get so technical about what nations are represented, what is very clear in this passage is Israel is standing alone and only God can be the savior to this land. Only God can draw these nations with its hooks, as it says, and call them out and turn them around and destroy them and bring them back to the land they came from or, annihilate them entirely.
And this is God's sovereign protection over the land that he prophesied about and over the people that he went into covenant with.
Yep.
that's just really important to see. God keeps his word even when the
Amen.
do not.
Yeah. Yeah. It's so, so there's so much good stuff so this is a really important section. When you read through Ezekiel 33 through 38, slow down and know [00:46:00] that this is a key, key section of the book.
But that is four out of the five sections. We've now covered Joey, but everything has kind of been leading to this one, which is a future vision. It's Jerusalem's prophetic future, and its coming glory. So it ends on a beautiful high note because what happens here is now Ezekiel receives yet another vision. And again, remember, these all didn't happen back to back, to back to back. This was spread out over 20 years and throughout some key moments in Israel's history.
But this is the culmination now. He receives this vision of this incredible new temple, and not just a new temple, but a, a completely new experience of God with his people in this restored worship. And so it's really, really cool.
So in this final section of the book of Ezekiel. There's two subsections to be aware of.
The first is just basically it's, a vision of this new temple in 40 through 43. And this is where we get all the detail of the new restored temple. God is establishing his dwelling place and he's, and he also remember what happened in chapter 10, the glory departed from the [00:47:00] temple.
Now the glory returns and revisits and is with the people again. What would seems like permanently through this future temple. Which is beautiful. So the temple is such a key part of God and his people, Joey, like without a temple, the nature of the relationship is greatly fractured. God is still faithful to his covenant promises, but the temple is a big part of the nature of this people and their identity. And then the last section of the book, 44 through 48, is really God renewing worship again. So we have this established holiness of the people in this temple, in the city, and we now have a restored sanctity of worship in the priesthood.
And it's, and we see like in verses like Ezekiel 44, 16, it says, they shall enter my sanctuary, they shall approach my table, they will minister to me, and they shall keep my charge. This is exactly what's not happening earlier in the book,
That's right? That's right. And, and I think it's really important to say, not only was it not happening throughout the book, God was giving so [00:48:00] many calls for, and warnings for the people to repent up to this point. And there were analogies and metaphors. As we said, Ezekiel was giving, he, he likens Israel to a vine, to an unfaithful wife, which by the way, we didn't mention this.
In chapter 24 Ezekiel's wife is actually put to death as a symbol of the nation dying as well. Two eagles are represented by Babylon and Egypt, who are being used by God as instruments of judgment for Israel.
And then you get this transition. As we get to these latter chapters, these last final chapters, as God saying, despite all these pictures of the sin and all the warnings that have been given, I am gonna restore my temple. I'm gonna restore my people with the priesthood, and therefore worship is gonna come back to me in Jerusalem.
Yet again, this is God's faithfulness, Bodie, this God saying, I do not forsake my people. I am a God who is going to complete what I started. This is the [00:49:00] promise in a Philippians one, six, when Paul's in prison and he's like, I am confident you can be confident of this very thing, that he who began the good work will complete it until the day of the Lord and the day of the Lord, is what is at stake here.
God is going to one day judge the nations, but before he does mercy triumphs over judgment and God is gonna get His glory. In the end, we're gonna see actually pictures of the, of a future temple restored. We're gonna see pictures of Jerusalem and its glory Mount Zion, a perfected Jerusalem.
We're gonna see incredible shadows types here of the day in which there's gonna be a beautiful restoration. We're gonna see the east gate of the sanctuary, like kinda the, the Messiah entering through again, as we saw with Jesus new life. We're gonna see incredible holiness pictures again returning to God's people. And specific details too, right? Bodhi, lots
Very specific. Oh my
gosh. Yeah.
that worship has to be reinstated.
yeah, it reminds you, [00:50:00] Joey, of the end of Revelation when the, when the new Jerusalem comes in, and so much detail about that. There's so much of, of the things in the Bible that get the most detail. It's, it's interesting how almost all of them are connected to worship, right?
We think about the tabernacle, we think about the temple. Those are some of the most difficult reads in the earlier parts of the Bible. But God is so specific and detailed about worship because it's so important, because it, because he is so glorious and he wants us to find our joy, our right place with him.
But sin, wrecks and ruins that. I mean, how, how much is God pursuing these people, Joey, that we see in the book of Ezekiel? It's just incredible,
and there's like this key verse at the end Ezekiel 43. Verses two and five, it says, and behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east, and the sound of his coming was like the sound of many waters and the earth shown with his glory.
Again, this is in this last and final section. It says, the Spirit lifted me up. It brought me into the inner court, and behold the glory of the Lord filled the temple. Literally, almost the exact phrase that came from Isaiah chapter six, and this is what is lost in [00:51:00] idolatry. Idolatry is not just a temporary short term fix.
it is the departure of the glory of the Lord, but God has another plan. He's looking forward to a future return glory, where the people and the worship are restored again. It's awesome.
Yeah. You know how in Psalm 46 when it talks about. You know that the God of Jacob is our refuge. One of the things that it says in Psalm 46 that matches with Ezekiel here is in Psalm 46. In verse four, it says, there is a river whose stream shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the most high.
God is in the midst of her. She should not be moved and God shall help her at the break of dawn, you really see this actually coming into fruition in Ezekiel. You see that there's mentions about a river of water flowing from the mountain kind of where the Mount of Olives is and kind of filling the brook kid drawn picture here.
And this idea of new life. We see that Jesus brings new life. We see that out of our hearts flow, rivers of living water. So, so the question's often asked, is this literal? Are [00:52:00] we talking about a literal city with a literal temple and a literal river? Or are we talking about a spiritual revival and picture of new life and new spirit in Jesus?
And my answer to that is. Yes, and yes, and yes, and yes. I, I believe it's a picture of all of the above. I I think we've got literal pictures here. We've got metaphorical pictures, we've got spiritual experiential, the full gamut. I mean, just like in the Garden of Eden, if I, if you were asked the question, was it physical?
Was it literal or was it spiritual? And was it real? And, and it'd be like, yes, yes, yes. And yes, it's, God wants us to see it's the full picture. New heavens, new Earth, new millennial reign. All these kind of things are all represented in
Right.
and I just love that. I love
Could we, you could almost say that they're living springs, couldn't you Joey?
Okay. You know what, that's a great name for a church.
It is. You should, yeah. You can have that one for free. Yeah. Well, we've come to the end of the book, right? And the end of the book is important because the last verse of Ezekiel, Ezekiel 48, 35, literally talks kind of a almost like I mentioned earlier [00:53:00] sort of like a, the, like the, the new Jerusalem a little bit, because it's talking about, that says the circumference of the city.
It gives yet another measurement, 18,000 qubits. But the most important thing is that last part of the last, the last verse, and the name of the city from that time on shall be. The Lord is there. See, it's all about worship. Is all Yahweh Shama, is it about reconnecting the Lord with his people in that, that their presence would be together?
'cause that's what idolatry breaks and that is what God is working to restore.
So even though Ezekiel is a little bit of a tough read, we see God's unrelenting pursuit of his people in this book. It is beautiful. So so yeah, so five sections, Ezekiel's call. We've got the, the Troubles of Judah, and four through 24, we've got the, the prophecies against the nations.
We have those prophetic future visions in 33 through 39. And then the last section we just covered 40 to 48 Jerusalem's Prophetic Future and Coming Glory. And that's how the book ends. Joey, that's the journey of the book of [00:54:00] Ezekiel.
And so we've talked about how it applies to us. We talked about things we, that has shown us about God.
But Joey, what do you love about this book? Our number seven favorite things. We'll wrap up our, our episode with this one personally, what are some of the favorite things that you have of this unique book?
Well, yeah, we've hit on a lot of great insights throughout the book, and I love that Ezekiel is unique among even all the prophets that God would raise up someone to give us pictures of things that would be preserved and written and recorded in scripture, but that nobody else would be able to capture it.
The way that God had him capture it. So he's kind of like the John among the Gospels in a sense because you have the synoptic gospels and John who gives us such a deeper, intimate picture of things. I look at Ezekiel a little bit like hmm. Ezekiel's getting the inside look of some things that none of the other prophets got in such a unique and, very personal way.
So I just love how personal God is. I love that the name Ezekiel means God strengthens that, that God is always giving us strength and [00:55:00] weakness and that God gives us hope in despairing times. And even when we feel like we're in captivity, there's often great revelation in those places.
Mm.
through the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil for the Lord is with us. That's what's beautiful. You are with me and I
Yeah.
shows us that so beautifully that God is with us.
I couldn't add anything more than that. That is, that's what I love as well. Just we see God's beautiful heart for his people.
So that Joey wraps up our episode on the book of Ezekiel, hopefully this seven part framework has helped you get your arms around the book a little bit better.
So, as we said at the beginning of the episode, we wanna be able to offer you a a one page summary. And so if you want that, you can go to, you can learn the bible.com/notes. That's, you can learn the bible.com/notes to get that one page PDF summary so that you can use everything that we've covered in a one pager when you go to read this book.
And also we offer the, timeline, which we have referenced in a number of episodes, that you can learn the [00:56:00] bible.com/timeline. And so, Joey, we now have another prophet coming up that I think is going to be another wild ride, but in a completely different way. What are we gonna cover in our next episode? Episode 33.
Well, we are gonna learn about the life of Daniel. And Daniel was again, a prophet that was contemporary with Ezekiel and with Jeremiah. He's entirely in the land, but he gets promoted. Daniel gets to see things from a whole nother perspective because he was actually elevated by Nebuchadnezzar and he takes a stand and takes some pretty strong
Yep.
and punishment for it. But we really see God protecting Daniel
Yep.
and it's gonna be a great encouragement for all of you who are going through some persecution and hardship in your life.
Hmm.
from Daniel, so that's what we have to look forward to the next
yep. All right. We're signing off here. Thank you for joining us. For Ezekiel Explain. We pray that this was helpful. We do this because again, as always, we believe that you [00:57:00] can learn the Bible and we are here to partner with you along your journey. But we're signing off now.
And so until we meet again, grace and peace and I'll see you later.