DAY 2: Journey in Faith through the Book of Ezekiel

Ezekiel’s Vision of God on His Throne:

Ezekiel 1:1-3

Ezekiel is exiled to Babylon with King Jehoiachin of Judah in 597 BC (see 2 Kings 24:10-20). Five years later, in the summer of 593BC, Ezekiel has a vision beside the "River Chebar" (Akkadian, ‘the great river’) – the Shatt en-Nil waterway which ran from the River Euphrates north of Babylon, through Nippur and rejoined the river near Uruk.

In his vision, Ezekiel sees the LORD sitting on the throne of heaven: "As for the likeness of their faces, each had the face of a man; each of the four had the face of a lion on the right side, each of the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and each of the four had the face of an eagle. Thus were their faces. Their wings stretched upward; two wings of each one touched one another, and two covered their bodies. And each one went straight forward; they went wherever the spirit wanted to go, and they did not turn when they went. As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches going back and forth among the living creatures. The fire was bright, and out of the fire went lightning. And the living creatures ran back and forth, in appearance like a flash of lightning. Now as I looked at the living creatures, behold, a wheel was on the earth beside each living creature with its four faces" (Ezekiel 1:10-15).

Ezekiel 1:4-28

"And above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone; on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it. Also from the appearance of His waist and upward I saw, as it were, the color of amber with the appearance of fire all around within it; and from the appearance of His waist and downward I saw, as it were, the appearance of fire with brightness all around. Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord" (Ezekiel 1:26-28).

Ezekiel exposed the nations moral depravity and wickedness, along with the absence of spiritual concern or maturity (2:1-8; 8:7-18; 13:1-23; 17:1-21; 20:1-32).

Just like the world today, who's in need of hope. The same is true now, God will provide a new heart and a new spirit to enable the people to be faithful and avoid another judgment in thr future (11:17-20 and 36:26-28).

The Lord would establish a new temple and a new way of worship for people once they were restored (chapters 40-48).