Easing into Ezekiel

Easing into Ezekiel!

For our Wednesday Bible Class this year (the 9:30 a.m. Bible Class), I’m writing a Bible Study on the Book of Ezekiel! It’s a book that doesn’t show up all that often in the lectionary readings. However, the Old Testament reading from Ezekiel 34:11-24 will indeed be used on September 15th, right after our Fall Bible Classes begin! So, we have a great opportunity to explore a Book of the Bible that, despite its size, is not really delved into that much.

To whet your appetites for the Book of Ezekiel, I’d like to share an excerpt from the Lutheran Study Bible:

The workman’s trowel slathers mortar across the face of a mud brick. The trowel clinks and scrapes the excess from the brick’s edges. Brick by brick, the workman slowly raises the wall of a new home. When he pauses for a drink, he stares westward, away from the village. Babylon’s horizon appears as flat as a brick. He thinks of Judah’s distant hills, the wall of stone his family raised there. Then he remembers how the walls toppled, the beams burned, and the people fled.  He wonders if they will ever be restored.
 
From the plains of Babylon, the priest Ezekiel looked back upon the defeat of Judah and prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple. He explained to the exiled Judeans that God’s glory had departed from them because they had abandoned Him.  But the Lord also showed Ezekiel a new day when His glory would return and the kingdom would become an everlasting blessing to the nations.
 
Ezekiel is considered by many people to be a difficult book to tackle on your own, and it is especially geared toward mature readers.  This is another reason why it’s a book that is appropriate to study together on Wednesday mornings.  Written between 593 and 570 BC, the purpose of Ezekiel is to explain why God’s glory departed from Israel as well as how His glory would one day return.  Even though it’s challenging, don’t worry, we will EASE into EZEKIEL!

As we read through Ezekiel, we will see how death and the wrath of God came to Israel. We will see how Israel had failed to follow God’s statutes.  We will explore the anger of God, when he withdraws His glory and blessings.  We will examine how idolatry against God is also adultery against God (a theme also explored in Hosea and elsewhere). There are some very dark passages in Ezekiel.  However, we will also see the Gospel proclaimed, how God keeps His covenant.  We will see how God makes our hearts new.  We will study the Old Testament basis for the promise of the Holy Spirit and the Good Shepherd.  We will see how God cleanses and restores His Remnant, and finally we will anticipate the return of His Glory and the New Temple as it is described in Ezekiel! Yes, there are many themes in Ezekiel that people often associate with the end times and Christ’s return on the last day. In fact, understanding this Old Testament book helps us immensely with understanding the New Testament book of Revelation!  Please join us for this intriguing study on Wednesday mornings!

In Christ’s love,
Pastor Daryn