The Basics: A Brief Overview of the Book of Ezekiel

The Basics course is designed to help brothers and sisters in Christ, who have a desire for a brief study over each of the books of the Bible. While being more than just a timeline, it is designed to give a person a more realistic overview of the entire Bible. As well as pointing out different highlights along the way. Imagine riding in a car and seeing exit signs for a town. Each sign gives a brief glimpse of what is inside, while if you wanted to thoroughly investigate the town you would have to take the exit. This series is a collected work of the books of the Bible while continuing to drive past each of the exits. I would encourage you to take any exit and allow the Lord God to direct your path to where He would guide. 

The Bible is written into 66 different books. Each one unique on its own but designed to be with its other collected works. 

Cautionary Note: This work is not to argue for the authenticity of the Bible nor is it to argue over the mechanics of how God used man to write His Words. This is designed as an overview for someone to review the book in passing. Nevertheless, we here at Mill House Ministries believe that the Bible is without error and was written by God, through His divine attributes, through man. 

These overviews are sequenced in the below fashion. Each overview is designed to flow in unison. 

1.) Introduction

2.) Who wrote it

3.) When did they write it

4.) Key topics

5.) Key sections

6.) Books that interact with each other

7.) Analysis of the Book

As previously stated, if you find yourself drawn to one of these books, please take the time and see what God is wanting to show you in that book. 

BASICS COURSE: 

Ezekiel

INTRODUCTION: 

Imagine the night is especially dark, the water reflects the stars off the Chebar river. Sitting by the edge of the river, you see a man wrapped in his robe watching the water flow. For some reason Ezekiel couldn’t sleep and decided to come to the water’s edge and pray. This wasn’t too uncommon; the land was still foreign to him, and the smell of the area was always unsettling. He didn’t expect anything other than peace as he thought back to his homeland in Israel. The chirping of the nightlife was poetic and the sound of water flowing soothing, yet something had drawn him to this particular area. For a while it seemed to continue, his thoughts strayed to thinking of the promises of God and the power He had orchestrated against the Jewish people for disobedience. For Ezekiel it was a shame, he thought and wondered what his people would be like years from now. Thinking of what could happen he finally realized the chirping noises had stopped and the water had become choppy, as if the air was turning and a storm was approaching. Looking straight up Ezekiel could see stars, yet he felt like something was coming. Standing up he decided to walk to the top of the hill next to the river. As he walked, he could see the sway of the brush and the trees bending back and forth to the wind. He didn’t understand, what sort of storm came like this? Getting to the top of the hill he saw to the West back towards Jerusalem stars, looking South and East he saw stars. However, far to the north there seemed to be a glowing haze as if a storm of fire. The image made the hair on the back of his neck stand up, there was something unnatural about the storm. Wrapping his cloak about him, Ezekiel straightened to see closer. To his surprise, the storm was not far away and rapidly coming towards him. While he couldn’t tell why, something inside felt as if the storm was coming for him. At first, he felt his knees begin to weaken, he wanted to run, his hands trembled, and the ground began to shake beneath him. Suddenly the dread of his sin had encompassed him, as if all his past wrong doings were coming back to his memory. Whatever the storm was, it carried a presence that Ezekiel had only read about. Ezekiel was in the presence of holiness.

WHO WROTE IT: 

Ezekiel the Priest son of Buzi, is the author of the book of Ezekiel.

WHEN DID THEY WRITE IT: 

According to Biblical scholars, archaeologists, theologians, and historians, Ezekiel is written close to 590 B.C. and would continue to 570 B.C.

KEY TOPICS:

Ezekiel is a book of declaration by God. God is declaring what is happening and what will happen.

KEY SECTIONS: 

This book can be broken into several parts. Section 1 is chapters 1-7 which is about God and the commissioning of Ezekiel. Section 2 is chapters 8-24 which is God’s glory and the complete captivity of all the Jewish people from their land. Section 3 are chapters 25-32 which is the judgment of nations, and finally section 4 is chapters 33-38 which deals with the future.

BOOKS THAT INTERACT WITH EACH OTHER: 

Ironically most of the Old Testament deals with the book of Ezekiel. However, there is one book more than any other that I would argue stands closest to interacting with the book of Ezekiel and that is the New Testament book Revelation. Ezekiel is evidence of God’s declaration of a time still needing to be fulfilled by God with the Jewish nation. Revelation is the detailed events of that time.

ANALYSIS OF THE BOOK: 

Ezekiel is a book where we get a peak into the inner workings of God Almighty! If you want to know what it is like in God’s presence, this is it. If you want to know how He thinks of nations, this is it. If you want to see what will happen in the future, possibly our lifetime now, this is it. Ezekiel is a marvelous book for prophecy students, but also those who are desiring to have a clearer understanding of God. Those who read Ezekiel need to remember to take God’s Word seriously and keep to the golden rule of scripture reading, “Context, context, context.” And the second biggest rule, “Take everything back to scripture.” If you have a question in Ezekiel, look in the book for an answer, if it is not there it will be found in another book in the Bible. Finally, Ezekiel is a book that shows the legitimacy of the Bible, God makes claims that would have been seen as impossible only a few years ago. God’s word is reliable, authentic, and relatable each and every day.

Hold until relieved, our Blessed Hope is coming,

JL