Podcast

God came from the East, the earth shone with His glory. He notes how the Israelites have disrespected the temple in multiple ways, and asserts that things will change from now on.

The Temple as described is a specifically Hebrew temple, where access to God is limited and well protected. The imagery and measurements represent categories of holiness, not a secret code for conspiracies.

Ezekiel receives the vision of the new Temple a quarter century into exile. It mirrors the vision of God departing from the Temple earlier in the book.

Ezekiel’s final chapters describe a vision of a Temple of God in great detail. It does not match Solomon’s Temple (not destroyed), the second Temple, or Herod’s renovation of the second Temple. Is this description of a physical temple to be realized, or something symbolic? The existence of a Temple is a primary concern for Jews both historical and contemporary.

We believe that this prophecy of Gog will be fulfilled, but how and when it will happen is a subject of much debate. Ultimately however it will be God’s might that achieves Gog’s defeat rather than our efforts.

Ezekiel, Joel, and Revelation all tell of an invading army from the north who will attack the Israelites and yet be destroyed by a cataclysm.

Ezekiel has a vision of a battle at the end times, where a horde of barbarian horsemen from many faraway nations seek to invade Israel. While striking one must be careful about speculating about specific political events through this vision.

God shows Ezekiel a vision of a valley of dry bones that symbolize Israel. He promises to raise up these bones and breathe new life into them, resurrecting the nation of Israel and foreshadowing the promise of everlasting life in Christianity.

The Lord promises to clean the Israelites from their idol worship and to return them to a culture of carefully obeying his Law. This is not a new covenant, but a new spirit of faithfulness to the original covenant. Likewise Christians have had their new covenant through Christ, but to realize the promises we must allow God to work through us to carefully carry out His work.

It sometimes appears that God’s promises are not fulfilled. But it is not because God is not faithful, but oftentimes because the people to whom he makes his promises are not faithful themselves and must be punished. However ultimately God will be more faithful than his people for the sake of his name.