Ezekiel | Prophecies, Visions, and Hope Explained

What is the significance of Ezekiel's visions in the Bible?
What does the valley of dry bones symbolize in Ezekiel?
How does Ezekiel’s prophecy connect to the New Testament?

The discussion on Ezekiel in this podcast explores one of the most complex and symbolic books of the Bible, emphasizing its deep spiritual insights and historical context. Ezekiel's visions, often considered mysterious or mystical, reveal God's unwavering presence with His people, even during their exile in Babylon. The narrative begins with a unique "mobile throne" vision, signifying God's presence transcending physical locations—a message of both judgment and hope for the exiled Israelites.

The conversation highlights Ezekiel's role as a prophet, including his challenging task of acting out God's messages. His dramatic prophetic actions, like cooking over dung and lying on his side for extended periods, symbolize the severe judgment and suffering awaiting Judah. 

Ezekiel's visions of the valley of dry bones and the departure of God's presence from the Jerusalem temple further illustrate both the gravity of Israel's sin and the promise of divine restoration. These images, rich in spiritual symbolism, are echoed throughout the New Testament, linking Ezekiel's words to the teachings of Jesus and the hope of the new covenant.

The latter chapters of Ezekiel, including the detailed vision of a new temple, represent a climactic picture of restoration and God's ultimate reign. The hosts explore how this vision serves as a beacon of hope, pointing to both historical and eschatological fulfillment. 

This podcast episode offers a compelling look at Ezekiel's prophetic ministry, bridging its ancient context with contemporary application. It invites listeners to reflect on God's faithfulness, His promises of renewal, and the significance of obedience in experiencing His presence. Through rich discussion and historical insights, the episode deepens understanding of one of Scripture's most intriguing books.

#Ezekiel #BibleStudy #OldTestament #PropheticVisions #GodsPresence #ValleyOfDryBones #BiblicalHistory #FaithRestoration #NewCovenant #EndTimesProphecy 

Transcript

 Ezekiel

Ezekiel

[00:00:00] Hey, everybody. Welcome to God's Whole Story. This year, we are doing a journey through Scripture book by book. Each week, you will get a deeper dive into one of the books of Scripture so that you can see God's whole story. If you like the content you're receiving, we would love to have you partner with us.

Look in the show notes for a way that you can support us financially so we can continue to provide this content for you. Hope you enjoy this episode. All right, welcome back to God's Whole Story. Today, we are diving into the book of Ezekiel. Uh, and there's a lot in this book. Uh, this book covers a lot of territory.

Uh, we are bouncing around a little bit. So just for what it's worth, we're following the Bible. Um, as it's laid out in the canon in like, like book for book in order. So we are actually jumping around quite a bit in history. Um, but Ezekiel is going to cover a lot of ground, um, in what, like 40, some chapters.

So there's a lot in here, 48 chapters. Uh, if you're not careful, you can get caught up into a [00:01:00] lot of the mysticism of Ezekiel. Uh, so we want to cover some of those things. I think we'll, we'll dig into those. Um, but excited to dig into the book of Ezekiel with Chris. Yeah, uh, Ezekiel is, it's probably one of my favorite books, uh, because it, it does have so many things in it that are, you know, at the first read, it's kind of like, what in the world, uh, am I looking at, uh, there, there's even been people throughout history that have said like, Ezekiel is a little bit like a psychedelic drug trip or something.

It feels that way. I, I, I don't think that's the case. I don't think Ezekiel was doing any mushrooms or anything. . Um, E Ezekiel is, uh, the book of Ezekiel is super popular in the UFO space right now, actually. That's true. Yeah, it is. Yeah. Uh, I have heard that. Yep. Um, and some of that even comes right from chapter one, right?

Uh, yeah. Well, yeah, Ryan, you gave us a little bit of, of an idea that we're jumping around here and we, we are, uh, [00:02:00] talking to Judah. Mm-hmm . And. The interesting thing is that Ezekiel does span. There are some things that that's happened before the total destruction of Judah, but Ezekiel himself in a number of the exiles they they were sent to Babylon in the second deportation.

So there was kind of three waves of deportations where Babylon took. People from Judah to Babylon. Uh, the first one, uh, was just a few people. There wasn't a ton of people. The second one was pretty big. There's about 10, 000 people and Ezekiel and Daniel were taken, uh, in that one. Uh, Daniel taken to the palace, uh, to work with the King Nebuchadnezzar and Ezekiel was with the people.

Uh, and so Ezekiel's audience for these visions and these words, they are Israel, the southern kingdom of Judah, but they're already in Babylon, uh, and the temple of Jerusalem hasn't totally been destroyed, but [00:03:00] some of what, uh, Ezekiel does see is that eventual, uh, Uh, destruction, he gets word eventually that Jerusalem has fallen, uh, but it's really a picture of the sad state of how bad things got in Judah and why the people ended up in exile.

Uh, so this, this is a little bit of a different book that we've already got some of the judgment that we've seen in other books, uh, has. Has been fulfilled and is in the process of being fulfilled. Um, so you, you mentioned the, a UFO passage. Well, I don't think there are UFOs, but there, there are a couple.

TikTok would disagree with you, Chris. TikTok And it went away for a whole day, but, uh, this might give you an idea when we're recording this post, uh, TikTok one day ban. Um, but, uh, the first chapter is kind of this crazy, uh, picture, uh, of the present, the presence of God. It's a [00:04:00] picture of a throne and this throne is mobile.

It actually says it has wheels and there are wheels within the wheel and wherever the spirit leads, this throne moves. Mm hmm. And so some people have called it a chariot thrown or a mobile thrown, but it's this essentially this picture of God's presence and it's able to go wherever it wants. And this vision, I think, really opens the book because of what's happening with the people that they have.

They are moving from Judah. And Jerusalem to Babylon and chapter one is actually just a really beautiful picture of the presence of God is going with them that he, yes, they are being judged. Yes, they're going into exile, but God has not abandoned them. He's actually going with them. We see that in chapter one.

And then there is another vision that Ezekiel gets that he actually seems like he, he. Goes back to Jerusalem. Uh, maybe [00:05:00] he's transported there or maybe he just has a vision, but he kind of walks through the temple and slowly the the presence of God begins to move. It kind of moves to the threshold of the altar.

Uh, or to the, uh, the horns of the alter. It moves to the threshold of the temple and then it exits through the east gate and kind of rests on, on the mountain, uh, towards the north, which is against symbolic of God's presences of leaving Jerusalem. Uh, and it's actually going to the exiles where they're at in Babylon.

Uh, so in one hand, it's. Very tragic that you've got the presence of God leaving the temple before the temple is destroyed But at the same time even though the people are being judged and even though they're gonna be in Babylon for 70 years There's a message here that God hasn't abandoned them. Well, he is still with his people So the presence of God moving with the people could have been actually a scandalous thing to explain to the people because one of the [00:06:00] things that Has them ending up in exile is the fact that they believe that the God's presence in the temple in the city of Jerusalem ensures that they will never be Destroyed they will never be carried away And so now they are being carried away and Ezekiel catches this vision of God's Spirit going with you So it it's kind of a significant realignment for the people being carried away into exile like it for some of them It may have actually been Kind of a new idea, um, because they would have essentially grown up under this idea that God lives there and God will be there and we are safe because God's there.

Um, but I think, I think it's a helpful reminder that God's presence is not in a building. Um, yes, he, he's with us and desires to be with us and we can trust that he's with us. Yeah. I like that word realignment. I think that's a good one. Um, because, you know, they had put so much hope in the city and the temple and of course the presence of God, but they didn't have enough [00:07:00] respect for the presence of God that caused them to not worship idols.

Right. I mean, when Ezekiel is back in the temple, the stuff that's happening in the temple, they're, they're worshiping the sun God. They're turning their backs to, to the altar. I mean, it is pretty. Wow. The stuff that's happening in the temple, super bad vision. Uh, and so there, there is a, they were focused on some of the external symbols, I think more than they were focused on the presence of God and in his mercy, uh, God still goes with them, but it's not without consequence.

There are 70 years that they will be in Babylon away from their homeland. Uh, and Life wasn't necessarily always easy in Babylon, especially for those that weren't part of nobility. Um, but, uh, yeah, there, there's, it is a, I like the word realignment. Speaking of realignment in Ezekiel chapter 11. Um, [00:08:00] so they're, they're dealing with exile.

Uh, they're dealing with the, the destruction of the temple. This is, this is like a. Um, it would have been a very painful thing to the people, but what's interesting is I think in Ezekiel 11, we do get a look forward to a time that's promised to come, uh, which I think Chris, you can throw in on this, but it, how could this not be talking about a time when they're going to be restored?

Ultimately, when we look forward to a time where, where Jesus is present with us, I think, is that fair? Yeah, I mean, there's, it's New Testament language. Yeah, it's very New Testament language. So I'm referring specifically to, um, Ezekiel 11 verse 19 and I will give them one heart and a new spirit and I will put within them, I will remove a heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them and they shall be my people and I will be their God.

This is very similar to Jeremiah 31. Um, and so One of the things you can see is that God is clearly speaking to his people, that there is this new thing [00:09:00] coming. Um, and, and I think sometimes I think they probably would have seen that as being restored probably to Jerusalem. Um, but ultimately knowing that there is this new covenant coming, I think.

Yeah. And, and even, uh, their first hope of restoration would have been maybe going back to Jerusalem. Yeah. Uh, and then even we are going to see in future books when they do, uh, we've seen it already, even as, uh, in some of the books we've covered, but, uh, like it wasn't then kind of all of it was promised.

So that's where some of the disappointment came in. That's, oh, this physical return wasn't necessarily everything that God's promising. He's promising something even greater. Yep. Yeah, there are a lot of similarities with Ezekiel and Jeremiah. They would have been contemporaries around a very similar time.

And they both used this tool, a prophetic tool of enacted symbols. They would be things that God asked them to do and they acted it out, [00:10:00] um, kind of to communicate the message. And Ezekiel, the poor guy, like he has to do all these things and he actually is mute in the sense that he can only speak when God allows.

To speak. There's actually, I think it's about a six year period of time that Ezekiel is actually mute. And when God tells him to do things, he kind of has to act it out. He kind of acts out like a siege, like he's almost like playing war, playing army. He lays on his side for, for a certain amount of time as to lay on the side.

Other time he cooks his food over dung, um, to kind of symbolize these siege like conditions. I mean it. It is just, this guy goes through some stuff, um, you know, out of all the, out of all the Old Testament prophets, I'm just like, man, I would not want to have wanted the call of Ezekiel. And he was the prophet of God.

So you can understand why people would have liked the message of other [00:11:00] prophets better. Yeah. This, yeah. And that would have been a thing that would have been a thing at this time. There, there would have been plenty of false prophets saying plenty of things that were not true. And a lot of times it's God's prophets who are in very odd circumstances, uh, proclaiming the truth of the Lord, despite their circumstances.

Like, I mean, you're, you're bringing up Jeremiah as a contemporary. Like we, we talked about what. probably two episodes ago, um, about the weird circumstances he was in and, and how easy it would have been to listen to the people that were saying something opposite. And so we, we find Ezekiel in very similar place.

And it's actually interesting to we, we are familiar with a lot of the prophetic words of Ezekiel, but oftentimes the way we're familiar with them is because Jesus used a lot of his imagery so much. Yeah. Um, I just recently had been talking about the gospel of john with some people and [00:12:00] it's like john is reflecting back on Ezekiel constantly in his gospel with some of the, the gospel illustrations that we'd be very familiar with the vine in the branches.

Ezekiel talks about the vine. He talks about the, you know, the branches and even there will be something holy coming out of, out of this. There, there's the pair, the, the good shepherd, uh, Ezekiel chapter 34 talks about good and bad shepherds, uh, and his discussion of a good shepherd there in chapter 34 is a messianic prediction.

Uh, so, As you read through Ezekiel, I would encourage you to do that if you're listening to this podcast or go back to our daily podcast and listen to some even deeper discussion on the various chapters. There should be a lot of pictures that you have heard about. Simply by being involved in the New Testament, I believe Ezekiel 17, just to add your list actually talks about, um, good soil and the ability of the soil to bear fruit.

Um, and it is like the, a lot of times you'll hear people talk about like how [00:13:00] the imagery in the New Testament is like this brand new thing. In fact, it's actually not a brand new thing. It's something that. The people would have been used to hearing because it was something that the prophets had taught.

Um, so obviously Jesus is teaching some things and in a new way and applying these to the new covenant. But a lot of the imagery is the same. . Yeah. Uh, and, and we've, you know, we've heard some of these things probably even preached on in messages a lot. Mm-hmm . Mm-hmm . One of the, the very famous, uh, passages in Ezekiel is the valley of dry bones.

Um, where Ezekiel sees a, a vision of a burial ground. Uh, and the, the way they would bury bodies in, in this era is they would just, uh, they would place all the, the bodies in a kind of a burial vault or something, and eventually the flesh would disintegrate. And there would just be bones left and some ways they would do this because they there was a assumption that you needed your, your bones in the [00:14:00] resurrection.

So that was some of the thinking here. But what is Isaiah, excuse me, not Isaiah Ezekiel actually sees is he sees one of these burial grounds and all of a sudden, the Spirit of God moves and the bones come back together. They become people again and they live. Uh, and right in that passage, it actually says that the, the people's hope had run, was running out, that they, as they were in exile, as they, they had been cast here, they were losing hope, uh, and that this isn't necessarily a, a prophecy about some future end time event.

This is, uh, church history and Jewish thought would see this as this was a prophecy that, that there was a hope that was ahead of the people in exile, that they were going to return to the land. Um, that this, I think the valley and dry bones has been fulfilled when they went back when Cyrus allowed them to go back and retake the land.

And that kind of, if you read the text very clearly, [00:15:00] it says we, we are, we have lost hope. We are, we are lacking for hope. And this vision is kind of a response to that. It would make a lot of sense to the exiles much more than, than some um, Thousands of your vision in the future, not to say the prophets never did long term prophecy, but this particular one, I think, is a message of hope for them.

Uh, fun fact from Ryan's looks Sunday school life. Um, I, I remember several vivid discussions about, so God raised all these, this whole valley of dead people. He raised the life and they just walked back to town. Like who met those people? What were they like? And it's like the original zombie movie. Right, but this is clearly called out to be a vision from the Lord and

There, there was not actually, in fact a full valley of dry bones that became living people that walked into town and lived full lives. Uh, like the, the, the scripture actually calls that out and explains, [00:16:00] uh, that it was a, a, a vision and not like actual. Um, so I would just, just as you read through things, sometimes there are some pretty thrilling stories in the Old Testament, but it is important to read the details surrounding them.

Don't, don't be, uh, don't be caught up in the science of how dry bones become flesh. Um, when actually the point is to speak to a people restored to restore hope. And, and one of the cool things in that vision actually is it is God's breath that brings new life. To this valley of dry bones. And you can actually track the concept of God's breath from Genesis all the way through to the new Testament, that God's breath is, is what brings us power.

Uh, it's, it's what brings us life and meaning and confidence. It's always been God's breath. And so I think, um. I just think it's a powerful imagery piece you can track throughout the work. Uh, and we have a really long passage here at the end. [00:17:00] Oh boy. Chapters 40 through 48 is, is, is Chris, you're not going to tell me who Huge vision of a temple.

Okay, but you're not gonna tell me who Gog and Magog are? You're not, you're not gonna, you're just gonna skip right over Gog and Magog? I was, but I guess you're bringing it up. Um, yeah, chapter 38 Magog, um, that is something that gets attached to the End Times quite a bit because it is also referred to in Revelation.

Uh, there are some differences in Ezekiel in the way it's described in Revelation, uh, but it, The clear point and similarity in both of these is that it's, it seems like. Gaga, Mago kind of represents the enemies of God. Mm-hmm . And, and there is a, a conflict with God and God wins. Um, it looks like the enemies will prevail.

It looks like there's gonna be this, this disaster of a thing. Um, one of the big differences in this, is it a literal conflict? Is it a [00:18:00] spiritual conflict? Mm-hmm . Um, and, and that kind of helped. determines how people view revelation in some of their end times theology. Uh, but either way, it is kind of a picture of good versus evil.

And it's pretty clear that good wins, the people of God win. If you just read through chapter 30 and 39, it doesn't really sound like a literal battle. I mean, some things are pretty difficult to To make literal. I do think we're probably talking about a final conflict. Again, that doesn't necessarily mean a literal physical battle, but it could simply be just the destruction of evil at the ends when when Christ returns that that ultimate final battle.

Yeah, that's kind of a very quick overview. Um, there's a lot of stuff in there that people have said and a lot of things that you can dive into. It can be really, really tempting to treat this as like some kind of guidebook to unlocking the end of the world. It can be very tempting to [00:19:00] attach GOG and MAGOG to actual specific countries.

Um, most likely that's not the most helpful thing to do. They were, they were known places. Yes. Uh, to Ezekiel. Some of them are mentioned in Psalms. Uh, sometimes they're a person, sometimes they're a place like it, it, it doesn't really help us to harmonize it with current geography. And when people have tried to do that, uh, current events changed.

I mean, the, the big thing in the eighties was this was Russia. Um, you know, and, uh, May God was connected to Moscow and like all these things and there for a long time, Russia wasn't really a world power and people changed their views. Um, you know, this. If our interpretation of scripture changes with every current event, that that's not a place of stability, I think there's meant to be a bigger picture here that we don't need to harmonize with every current event because then you've also got to think of, well, which nation's current events [00:20:00] and a danger is that we become ethnocentric in that we whatever nation we're from Politics were under, we see it through that lens.

And this scripture has to be true for all people in all nations for all times. Well, and what's interesting is that this is a message to God's people on like what it means to be God's people. And this message remains for God's people. And so. I think it is really helpful to see this as, Hey, these are the enemies of God.

Um, of course it's tempting for us to want to throw an actual understandable identity on there. Uh, but I do think it can unlock a lot for understanding when we realize, Oh, like there's the people who are serving God and the people who are not serving God. That's what scripture teaches. And so, you know, a lot of times when people want to tell you who it is and when it is, and there can be some weird agendas tied to that, that.

You know, might be dragging you the wrong direction. And I mean, the reality is every generation has thought [00:21:00] they were the generation and so far the success rate is zero. Um, bummer. So we're closer than we've ever been for every day. That's. There you go. That's uh, that's that's something we can bank on. So Ryan, hey, you made me go into that a little bit.

I was excited. I couldn't wait. So going back to chapters 40 and 40 through 48, we, Ezekiel gets a vision of a temple. Um, and he was a priest. And so this, like, this would have been a great interest to Ezekiel. Um, super interesting to when he starts his ministry, he's at the age of 30. That's when priests would start their ministry.

When he gets this final vision, he would be around the age of 50. That's when priests would end their ministry. So this is kind of his final vision that he gets, uh, and it is. debated, is this a literal temple or is this a spiritual temple? Uh, and there are people that disagree on this. There are some that think this was a, the temple they built when they came back from Babylon, although it doesn't quite [00:22:00] match up that way.

So then people say it was the temple they were supposed to build when they came back from Babylon, but they never really did it. Uh, or some people say that this is more illustrative of a a spiritual temple that that's pointing towards eternity Pointing towards being in the presence of god Uh pointing towards, you know eternity for believers in in god's presence And there are some different things in here that that can take you either way there There are some things that that don't make this 100 clear and I think that's why we've got some different opinions Um, I, I lean towards it being a spiritual temple.

It, there's a lot of similarities here with what we see in Revelation. Uh, even chapter 21 and 22, there's a, there's a river flowing from the throne. That, that is almost, uh, cited verbatim in Revelation. Uh, in, in. John's vision and revelation. So I think we're, we're not necessarily talking about a physical structure that's meant to be built.

[00:23:00] Um, but it's pointing towards something greater. It's giving them a sense of hope, uh, that something even greater than the temple that has just been destroyed, uh, is coming and that's what they can put their hope in. Uh, there is a prince mentioned here and, uh, Ryan and I were talking a little bit beforehand.

People love to try to figure out who the prince is. Um, it probably depends how you interpret this, uh, well, depending on who you think the prince is actually has significant implications on how you're making sense of this vision. Um, I accidentally stumbled into finding out that lots of people have really strong opinions about this particular vision.

Um, is, is it, is, is it a real temple? First of all, if it's a real temple with a real priest, um, then that, that has significant impacts on your theology and particularly what you believe about end times. Um, if it's a spiritual temple and the, the, the prince is Jesus, then that has significant implications on your end times theology.

And a lot of times those [00:24:00] things go. Hand in hand. So I think there are some people believe it's what it's it's David. I think that's one of the thoughts that the the prince is representing David. Um, some people believe turn of David or something. Yes. Like, like the ultimate ruling David, I guess. Um, some people believe that it is Jesus.

Some people believe it's. Like a, a new prince in a new temple, um, and, and there's, there's just a lot. Which, why would we need a new temple? Yes. Uh, when we, when we consider New Testament theology. Why would we need a new temple? Uh, why would we need to offer sacrifices? Um, there's just a lot of things here and it's, it's, depending on how deep you dive into this, can have a lot of impact on theology and what you believe about God.

There, there are also some differences here. You know, when God did give instructions to build a literal temple, it wasn't a vision, uh, it was detailed instructions right down to every little detail. And there, there are some details that are [00:25:00] pretty lacking in this vision. There's no height measurements. Um, and so.

Like, in all of these things, if you try to build this, like, it's going to fall short. And Ezekiel being a priest, like, he would want to know all the details, uh, if this was an actual temple. So there, there's just, there's a number of things that just make you scratch your head. And again, whenever you see large differences of opinions among really Strong biblical scholars who who are Orthodox, not just like Internet.

Yeah, who's right? Um, that usually means it's not 100 percent clear. And this would be one of those passages that I mean, there are men and women that I greatly respect that have differing views on this. Um, and I think we have to. Approach it with an open hand when we do, um, we can have our opinion, uh, but at the same time we, we have to have grace in that, uh, that, you know, Ezekiel 40 through 48 is not a, a eternal, uh, [00:26:00] decision.

And that you have to make that that could could impact whether you're in the kingdom or not It's not it's not a top level essential thing But uh for bible nerds like ryan and I we we get to think through this and talk about it and yeah Explore some of the differences. I mean like not to dive way deep in the details But if we today believe that we are a temple of the holy spirit We have no need for a testament theology.

We have no need for a temple anymore. So we don't We don't, in fact, look forward to a new shiny physical temple, um, because we have immediate connection with God through the Holy Spirit in us. And, and I think, you know, I, I think it's easy to read this stuff and be like, wow, so there's going to be a new temple on the temple mount and there's going to be a new priest in there.

It's like, uh, no, actually we, we have no need for that. Um, because we don't. Need a high priest [00:27:00] to mediate for us because we have an eternal high priest who is constantly mediating for us. That's in Hebrews. Uh, and actually I would say like, if you want a good companion piece to, uh, these end chapters, uh, probably Hebrews would be a good place to go because Hebrews is going to help explain, uh, who Jesus is and what Jesus does for us.

Uh, in view of a lot of this old Testament. image and, and theology. So I could suggest, uh, I think we've suggested Jeremiah as a extracurricular reading. I think I would suggest Hebrews as extracurricular reading. Um, I think what you believe about these passages actually can have pretty significant impacts, at least on how you live out your faith.

And, and I think, uh, you know, I was even referring to some people that see this as a post exilic temple. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I, I don't think that's a, a huge issue. I do have a bigger issue with those that see it as a future in our future temple because of the very things that, that Ryan brought up that you do, that is much harder to harmonize with [00:28:00] the New Testament understanding.

Um, so yeah. Man, there's a lot of fun stuff in this book. Um, and we just, uh, we just skim the surface. So again, if you, if you want to hear a little bit more in depth on, on shorter portions of texts, go back to our daily podcast from season one. We take a couple of chapters at a time and dive into it that way.

Uh, Ryan did mention some other, uh, people talking about the breath of God. That sounds like a Bible project podcast. So there. There are lots of other great resources out there to dive into and learn more about this Incredible book, but I think we'll have to land the plane there for Ezekiel. Yep. So thanks for joining us today Come back next week.

We're gonna talk about another amazing book, although much shorter Daniel. We'll see you then