Have you ever made plans to go somewhere, and even though you heard about it, everything you had heard paled in comparison to what you actually observed once you arrived? This was Ezekiel’s plight—and will be our future plight. When something is beyond words, you don’t want to miss out on it.

We’ve already talked a lot about what Ezekiel saw. Yet, the wonders seem to go on and on. We discussed the temple complex and how large it is (about three football fields square). Yet, that is set in a complex that is roughly 8 miles square! This is called the Holy Portion which is further divided into three rectangles. The top rectangle, a little more than 3 miles by 8 miles, is for the Levites. These are those individuals who help in all aspects of temple worship, except for offering sacrifices. The same size rectangle below this one, and in which the temple is located, is for the priests. These are those individuals who are allowed to offer sacrifices at the temple. Although these sections of land are devoted to the priests and Levites, this doesn’t mean it will be devoid of others, and businesses and restaurants. These will be very busy places as people from around the world will come here to offer sacrifices and see their King.

The rectangle below these two, a little over 1.5 miles by 8 miles, completing the larger square, is where the city of Jerusalem will be located. It will be a square in the center of this rectangle with farming to support the city population occurring on both sides. This is likely where king David and the Prince will reside.

As already stated, a stream will flow out from the Holy of Holies of the temple and flow east. This stream becomes deeper and deeper every one-third mile and turns into a river. Some have denoted this as “the Ezekiel River” since this was part of the vision God gave to Ezekiel. Along both sides of this river is a grove of trees. At some point, the river flows over the escarpment which has plunged the city to be high above the surrounding land. Once the river goes over the escarpment, it flows between the two Mounts of Olive (which split in two at the Messiah’s return), and then flows into the Jordan River in the distance and into what is today called the Dead Sea. Yet, this sea will now team with live fish and fresh water.

On both sides of this larger square where the priests, Levites, city of Jerusalem, and temple reside is more farmland which will be owned by the Prince. From the Prince’s fields will come the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offering for festivals, new moon celebrations, and Sabbaths. In addition, those who live within the land of Israel will, in essence, tithe to the Prince of their abundance. They will donate approximately 15% of their wheat and barley, approximately 1% of their olive oil, and 0.5 percent of their sheep. The Prince will use these for fellowship offerings and grain offerings for the people.

This Holy Portion is the inheritance for the Prince and his children. Above and below this Holy Portion is the inheritance given to each of the tribes of Israel. This Holy Portion will lie between the inheritance given to Judah and Benjamin.

So, as you can see, God gave Ezekiel an overwhelming vision—something both he, and even we today, can look forward to. Ezekiel was concerned about his people and their beloved temple and if both would be lost to them forever. God gave Ezekiel an emphatic ‘no’! Not only would it return but be so much grander than anyone could ever imagine. I’m sure Ezekiel was blown away. I’m sure he was overcome with joy in how exceedingly generous God is with us despite our selfishness. We may lose heart and faith, but God is always faithful and never forgets his promises. So, come on and join in his promises. Our future is a grand one: a future beyond our imagination. Don’t you want to experience that? Of course, you do. It only takes a little faith and for you to admit your future cannot be on your on merit, but only through the merit of the one who will give us all we want and more—beyond our imagination!

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

Have you ever thought your job was done only to find out you’re really not? I’m sure that is how Ezekiel felt. He had been prophesying for a long time that Jerusalem, his home, was going to be destroyed by Babylon. Yet, even though many of his countrymen were already in captivity in Babylon, they could not come to grips with the fact that God would allow their beloved city and temple to be destroyed. It finally happened. Nebuchadnezzar lay siege to Jerusalem for nearly two years and then destroyed the entire city and its temple (Ek 24).

At that point, I’m sure Ezekiel thought his job was done. He had tried to warn his people and get them on the same page as God. He had remained faithful as God’s Watchman (Ek 3:16-27). He had gone through a lot of hardships to remain faithful as a watchman. He even had to endure the death of his wife as a topical lesson for his people (Ek 24:17-18). You can sympathize, right? After a long hard day, or physically demanding or mentally draining job, you are exhausted and just want to rest and rejuvenate. That is how Ezekiel felt, I’m sure. But, God had other plans for him.

God reminds Ezekiel that even though Jerusalem has fallen, he still has the duty of a Watchman (Ek 33:7). Ezekiel’s task is to now tell Israel that God does not delight in their destruction but desires for them to repent (Ek 33:11). An escapee from the destruction of Jerusalem came and told the people there in captivity that Jerusalem had fallen. At that time, God allowed Ezekiel to speak again (Ek 33:21-22). God had made him mute for almost two years—ever since Nebuchadnezzar had besieged Jerusalem. Can you imagine what the people thought of Ezekiel during this time? Maybe many thought it served him right to be mute. God had finally shut him up because of his unpatriotic sayings. Are we any different in being too quick to judge rather than allowing a disconcerting message to penetrate our hearts and allow God to see if there are any seeds of wickedness in us?

The people were now mad because God had allowed this destruction to happen. They had the misconception that the land was theirs—God had given it to them, and they felt God had no right to take it away. Yet, God, through Ezekiel, told them all the destruction was due to their disobedience (Ek 33:25-16). It seems people are people no matter in what time they live. Are we any different? We always have excuses for our behavior: it is never as bad as others claim, we have a justification for what we do, and we feel what we do is not really that bad after all. These people felt no differently.

As their watchman, Ezekiel kept to his task. He accused the shepherds of Israel, their leaders (kings, princes, priests, and false prophets) of looking out only for themselves rather than the needs of their people (Ek 34:2-4). This is one of the pitfalls of lifelong service that someone in such a position must be aware. Since this is now their job, their livelihood, and not just a short-term profession, they must temper their desire for ambition, wealth, and prosperity for their family. While it is not wrong to have these things, they have a higher responsibility to the people for whom they serve. It’s often too easy to lose sight of that fact. These leaders in Ezekiel’s day had done that. They had lost sight of their greater responsibility. Ezekiel tried to get them to see that. He warned them that God would remove them from leadership (Ek 34:10).

To better help them understand, Ezekiel gave an analogy of a coming Good Shepherd who will take good care of his people (Ek 34:12). Ezekiel turns to a future time, a time we refer to as the Millennial Kingdom, where God will gather his people from every distant land (Ek 35:12-13). He will judge between the goats and the sheep (i.e., between the righteous and the unrighteous), between one sheep and another (the act of receiving rewards), and he will shepherd them with justice (this may be referring to his ruling with an iron scepter (Rv 2:27)) (Ek 35:20-22). Their Good Shepherd, their Messiah, will make David their shepherd and their prince (Ek 35:24). This is likely referring to David’s position in relation to Christ, their Messiah. David will be subservient to him. In addition, the land will be made to be fruitful to meet all their nutritional needs, they will live in safety without the threat of war, and he will be their God (Ek 35:25-31).

Ezekiel then restates the prophecy against Edom (Ek 35). This was to contrast the choices made by Jacob and Esau, the ancestors of Israel and Edom. God used Esau (Edom) as a topical lesson as to what Israel could be like, but how God is going to instead reward Israel. This was not because of Israel’s goodness, but because of God’s goodness and how he will keep his promises to them.

In contrast to what God said about Edom, he would give great blessings to Israel: mountains, hills, rivers, valleys, and cities will become fruitful and prosperous (Ek 36:4, 8, 10). Yet, he reminds them that God will do this for his own Name sake (Ek 36:22) and not because of anything they have done. Despite what Israel had done in profaning God to the surrounding nations, God would make his Name great and holy again (Ek 36:23). God’s plan will not be rescinded because of what mankind does. God would do this by taking Israel and cleansing her and putting his Spirit within her (Ek 36:26-27). This was a new concept for them. The Holy Spirit will come upon them, and they will seek him and morn for their actions toward him (Zc 12:10).

This is also our promise from God, both now and for our future. If you turn to him, realize his death on the cross was payment for your sin (past , present, and future), accept that and realize nothing you can do can earn this for you except depending upon him completely both now and for your future, you too will receive the Holy Spirit to guide you on your journey through this life. Then, in the life to come you will receive all these blessing that God promised to his people through Ezekiel. Isn’t it exciting?! Come join us. You’ll be glad you did!

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

If you read the book of Ezekiel, you may conclude that everything God asked of Ezekiel was an unusual assignment. But, I think the assignments we will talk about today are hard for us to comprehend. There were four signs that God requested of Ezekiel to give to his people. This request came approximately six years before Jerusalem was totally destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, or three years before the siege occurred. During the siege, there was a severe famine within the city (2Ki 25:30). God wanted the people to understand how bad things would be. The signs Ezekiel were to portray are as follows:

Ezekiel was to draw the city of Jerusalem on a block of clay and lay siege against it to demonstrate what Nebuchadnezzar would do to the city (Ek 4:1-3). Think about it. How bizarre would it be to see a grown man taking little soldiers, archers, and catapults and pretending he is making war against a drawing of Jerusalem, your hometown. That would likely draw attention, don’t you think? And make people mad. After all, he is saying your beloved capital is going to fall when all the other prophets are saying their king Zedekiah would have ultimate victory over Nebuchadnezzar. After all, the Jews were God’s chosen people. Surely, he would not let Jerusalem, the place of his Name, go to complete ruin.

Next, Ezekiel took it a step further. While he was doing his simulation of the siege against Jerusalem, he was to lie on his left side daily for 390 days to represent the years (a day for each year) Israel had been living in rebellion against God. This would represent the time in Israel’s history from when the judges ruled Israel to the time Israel was taken captive by Assyria. After that, he was then to lie on his right side for 40 more days to represent the time (again, a day for a year) Judah had been living in rebellion against God (Ek 4:4-8). This time may represent the reign of Manasseh, who God had stated was one of the most wicked kings who lead Judah into many sinful practices (2Ki 21:9-27). Think how long this is—over a year! Imagine seeing Ezekiel day after day after day doing this. I’m sure many asked why he was doing this. You would either just chalk him up to being crazy, or you would start to wonder if his message was true. I’m sure most did the former.

It didn’t end there. Ezekiel was to take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, put them in a storage jar, and use them to make bread. That doesn’t sound so bad, right? Well, get this: he could use only eight ounces per day to make bread and drink on a little over a pint of water each day (Ek 4:9-13). On top of this, the bread was to be cooked using cow dung! I’m sure this got a lot of stares and a lot of ‘yuk’s. This was definitely not kosher. And that was the point. Conditions would get so bad in Jerusalem that people would do anything, and eat anything, to stay alive for as long as possible. Ezekiel was probably lucky the paddy wagon didn’t come for him, or whatever was the equivalent in his day.

Believe it or not, there’s more! Next, Ezekiel was to demonstrate the humiliation and hardships of those who would be left in Jerusalem by shaving his head and beard. Everyone would have found this to be very odd behavior. Men just did not do that in his day and age—especially if they were priests, which Ezekiel was. He didn’t just shave his head and beard, but then divided the hair into three equal portions. One-third he burned in the fire (to represent the disease and plagues which would sweep the land), one-third he further cut with a knife (to represent those who would be slain with the sword), and one-third he threw into the wind (to represent those who would flee in all directions but be destroyed). A few hairs were left on Ezekiel’s clothes. These hairs represented the few who would be spared but would still endure hardship (Ek 5:1-4).

These are strange things. Some say these are too strange to even believe. Yet, God stated these people were very stubborn, so he had to get their attention. Strange tends to do that. For some reason, even though Ezekiel’s audience were already in captivity, they still did not believe their famous, and precious, city of Jerusalem would be destroyed. Ezekiel was trying to get them to see that their turning away from God was the cause, and it would definitely happen. Yet, are we any different today? The Bible tells our future and the direction we are headed. We can either be on his side or not. What happens to us and our country depends on where we ultimately stand. Will we heed Ezekiel?

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens