Journey Through Ezekiel and DanielNäide

Intro

Nicole introduces this lesson in which God reaches out to the very people who abandon his prophets and their warnings. Ezekiel has an offer to a devastated people in Exile.

Ezekiel: Israel’s Shame & Restoration: In the Text

While the judgment of exile should have been expected as a necessary result of chronic unfaithfulness to the covenant, the promise of restoration could hardly have been assured without God reaffirming his promises.

Departing His House

While I watched, the cherubim spread their wings and rose from the ground, and as they went, the wheels went with them. They stopped at the entrance of the east gate of the Lord’s house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them …. Their faces had the same appearance as those I had seen by the Kebar River. Each one went straight ahead.

Ezekiel 10:19, 22 (NIV)

In this vision, Ezekiel is viewing the departure of God’s presence from the Temple. Ezekiel 1–9 describes the overwhelming wickedness and idolatry present in the Temple, even in the inner courts and the holiest places. The people have driven God from the house they built for him. If they’re not going to worship him properly, there’s no reason for him to stick around. The people have turned instead to the gods of their neighbors.

Judgment & Covenant Curses

The New Covenant

Reversals in Ezekiel

Ezekiel has more than a message of judgment for the people. He looks forward to the renewed covenant and the future acts of God that will redeem the past and present.

Source: Paul L. Redditt, Introduction to the Prophets, 2008, pp. 162-163.