This Is the Old Testament is part of a twelve-week thematic overview of the entire Bible. Each day we’ll read a thematic selection from a different book or two of the Bible, along with supplemental passages that show how the theme of that day’s main reading is found throughout Scripture. We’ll also read a brief summary of each book and a reflection on how the book fits into the larger story of Scripture. This week, we’ll continue looking at the genres of Major and Minor Prophets.
What Is Ezekiel? This book, named after the prophet, is an account of God’s message of judgment and hope to the Jewish exiles in Babylon.
How Ezekiel Fits Into the Story: The message of Ezekiel centers on the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. Prior to the announcement of Jerusalem’s fall, Ezekiel’s message was one of judgment. After Jerusalem was destroyed and the nation was in exile, Ezekiel’s message became one of hope: God would provide a new heart and a new spirit to enable the people to be faithful and avoid future judgment. He would establish a new temple and a new way of worship for the people once they were restored. The arrangement of the book—announcing judgment in the beginning and declaring restoration at the end—demonstrates that Ezekiel’s message was ultimately one of hope in God’s sovereign mercy.
Reflection Questions:
1. How is Ezekiel 36:16–38 fulfilled in Christ?
2. How does today’s reading shape your understanding of the story of redemption?
Take time to reflect on your responses and share what you are learning with others in the community in the comments.
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31 thoughts on "Ezekiel"
Thank you all for the explanation of verse 32 that states we need to be ashamed and humiliated……it seems so harsh but when you think of the need for repentance it makes sense that it is a necessary step in that process. We need to feel it turn toward God and receive forgiveness then move forward….then do that again and again. Thankful his mercies are new every day!
He changes is from glory to glory into His Image. Gives us new want to’. Hallelujah, Amen.
Amen
I love that God restores what was once broken and rebuilds the ruins. Praise God that he works this way!
♥️
Victoria E. the song is “Rattle” by Elevation Worship.
Amen, Arina. We must remember He is Holy. I read in the notes of my Bible explaining verse 22. God said His people should be ashamed of their sins. The people had become so calloused that they lost sensitivity to sin. First they had to “remember” their sins, despise them, and finally repent of them. The notes go on to say as we examine our lives, we may have lost sensitivity to certain sins. But if we measure ourselves against God’s standard of right living, we will be ashamed. To regain sensitivity, we must recognize our sin for what it is, feel sorry for displeasing God, and ask for forgiveness. The notes also say that the Holy Spirit will guide us and make us responsive and receptive to God’s truth.
I have prayed to see the depths of my sin not to keep beating myself up, but to not think that I’m not that bad. It is easy to look at others and compare. When I see my sin for what it is, I see how much I need the Savior. Thankfully, I can repent and He is able to help and change me.
The other notes for verses 25-27 say that God promised to restore Israel not only physically, but spiritually. To accomplish this God would give them a new heart for following Him and put His Spirit within them to transform and empower them to do his will. Again the new covenant was promised(16:61-63, 34:23-25) ultimately to be fulfilled in Christ. No matter how impure your life is right now, God offers a fresh start. You can have your sins washed away, receive a new heart for God and have His Spirit within you-if you accept God’s promise. Then, the question is posed asking why try to patch up your old life when you can have a new one? This is so comforting and encouraging. My mother in law said the verse to me about a new heart years ago. I was so angry and there was hate there. I’m not the same as I was. Learning and believing His Word, letting Him change us, listening to the Holy Spirit can change us. His love and loving Him brings change! He is The Way, The Truth, and The Life!!! He paid it all! Thank You, Lord! As Maura said, let’s praise the Name above all Names!!!!
@Victoria E I thought of that song too. Praying for you!
Thanks for all the explanations and thoughts everyone!
@Maura Also, in agreement that eyes and hearts are opened to see the redeeming love Jesus gives.
Amen!
As I was reading Ezekiel 37:1-14 I thought of the song “Rattle” by Elevation Worship. (this is a version of it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3VY6pTKm3s) The verses in Ezekiel help me to realize how God wants us to be in a relationship with Him. He will go to any extreme to help that relationship bloom.
Yesterday and today I have had a hard time answering the first question can anyone explain it a little differently?
Please continue to pray for my nephew, he is back in jail. I’m not sure why but my sister text me last night and let me know.
Does anyone else know the song that goes “this is the sound of dry bones rattling?” That song was playing in my head while reading this today. I have never read this before and it was pretty amazing. Bringing life from death is God’s specialty. Sisters I need prayer very much right now. My husband and I are preparing to transfer and embryo through IVF and I need prayer for wisdom for the doctor on the optimal timing and for God’s blessing on the procedure and for peace for me. I appreciate it so much thank you.
My first thought in reading Ezekiel 36:17 was, “yuk! That is gross!” It also made me think of Isaiah 64:6, where it says that even our righteousness is seen as filthy rags before salvation. God hates sin – period. It disgusts Him. It is only through the precious blood of Jesus that we are washed clean and made whiter than snow. I am so thankful that God made a way for all of us who are willing, to come to Him, to know Him, to be accepted by Him. I have a new heart! I have God’s Spirit within me! Hallelujah – praise His name! …a blessed Tuesday to you all!
Great insights this morning, Sisters!!
@ANGIE…I love that…they WILL see blood but, which will it be.
@CHARLIE, your story really penetrated my own heart!
@ERB & MAURA…I feel like I missed some kind of “Isaiah” focus but am LOVING the breakdown!!!
Keep us in prayer always! God bless you my Sisters.
I read through the Leviticus footnote for the Ezekiel passage on menstruation and uncleanliness. It struck me that this is the impact of sin: we keep trying to clean it, but by our own efforts it is perpetual, we will have to keep cleaning until God’s appointed time. Only God can ultimately renew us and make us clean. What else we touch also get stained, but when Jesus touches us, he cleanses us. If a Pharisee touches a leper, both the Pharisee and leper are unclean; but if Jesus touches the leper, the leper is healed and cleansed.
As always, thank you Shes for all of your comments, prayers and encouragement. I’m grateful we can come together as one in Christ to study the Word.
1. Jesus was and is the ultimate sacrifice! The shedding of His blood payed our debt so that WE can l live with HIM (our Jesus) forever. 2. Over and over through God’s Word He wants us to accept this free gift so we can live with Him forever. Jesus come soon❤️.
I love that the Colossians 3 passage keeps coming back. Being rescued from the domain of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of the Son He loves is a continued reassurance for me.
What a powerful, redemptive God we serve. How we love you, Lord! ❤️
When I was younger I hated my periods. (The teens who come for Bible study, hate their periods.) They are messy, usually painful, and a nuisance. While normally I was able to hide their gushing grossness, there were a few times in my life where it was not contained and showed clearly bringing with it humiliation and embarrassment. TMI…yes, and yet we are women, this is life for us.
In verse 17, God referred to His children’s sinful behavior and actions as being like menstrual impurity, and it was leaving a stain on His holy name. It is one thing for the “world” to sin, it is another for people who call themselves Christ followers, His children. The nations (then and now) look to us, the family of God, as examples of Jesus. They will see the blood on our lives, but will it be the sinful stain like that of a menstrual period’s shame, or the crimson blood of the cross displaying new life in Christ, that redeems?
God said, I WILL…take you – and bring you, sprinkle you clean, give you a new heart and Spirit to dwell in you. I will cause you to know my statutes and ordinances. I will give you all and noticeably more than you need.
We will recognize and loathe our evil ways and deeds in shame and humiliation. On that day He will cleanse us and cause all we have made desolate in our sin to be cultivated, fortified, inhabited once again. God’s work will be noticeable.
Father, my mind races with the applications of this scripture into our hearts and lives in so many different ways. Your Word is living and active, removing the impure and making new. May we live and die covered in the redeeming blood of our Savior and LORD, Jesus Christ. May our lives bring honor and glory to your name, shining brightly so that others will see You, know You, and be redeemed. Amen and amen.
Ezekiel 36, has so much in it. What always draws me is what happens when we become believers in Jesus, verse 26 -28 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will place my Spirit within you and cause you to follow my statutes and carefully observe my ordinances. 28 You will live in the land that I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God.” But God, the only One who can turn stone, dust, or even dry bones into flesh, and by Jesus and the Holy Spirit cleanse us and make us new. There is nothing He cannot do. Praying for you all this morning, may we see His miracles this day big and small, many we may be reminded, many standing right in front of us and give glory to God. ERB, the ending of Isaiah 49 confuses me, if you have any insight please share. The only thing that made sense to me was that those that have chosen to not accept salvation will be consumed by their own sin and maybe that because they have not turned away from sin and into grace, what they have chosen will devour them. Rather disturbing, praying eyes and hearts are opened to see the redeeming love Jesus gives. If I mentioned this yesterday please forgive me, in the midst of my life, right now I am a bit worn by the emotional and daily busyness and it leaves me scattered a bit. But God, Saving the good for last I so love Isaiah 49:11 and is worth repeating, He will turn all His mountains into roads and His highways will be raised up. Isn’t that absolutely lovely. Anyone facing a mountain this morning, Look for Jesus in it and it can be the way, the road He provides. Also love the rejoicing in vs 13. And that even if a mother could forget her child or have no compassion on them, which is so very sad to imagine as it reads in vs 15. but God will not forget you. and the beauty of Isaiah 49:16 brings to mind Jesus scars from the nails, is this how we are engraved, by His mercy and grace He became obedient to death, even death on a cross. May we praise the name above all names our Jesus. Hugs ERB and all my SRT Sisters. Shine on knowing in Him you bring light to many that might need it so desperately.
Ezekiel 36:26 is one of THOSE verses: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” Two years ago, that verse kept showing up in my life. I had never noticed that verse before. I don’t ever remember having read it before, although I surely had, but that year it was everywhere. It would be in a sermon. In my daily devotions. In another sermon. One time it was pinned up on the wall on a huge poster in a classroom where I was teaching! It was crazy. I started praying for God to give me this heart of flesh, yet I felt like I needed a heart of stone that year so I could make it through. My youngest was graduating from high school, ending my 25 years as a homeschooling mama. I’d be saying goodbye to my very strong homeschooling support group — my friend group. My middle was graduating college. My only daughter was getting married. And we were about to become empty nesters.
A week after my daughter’s wedding, I ended up in the hospital with a heart condition. I spent the next three months basically on bedrest. During that time, the Lord showed me just how precious this life is, how precious each breath, each heartbeat. He softened my heart in so many ways, making me a more empathetic, compassionate person. Anyway, I’ve shortened the story here but whenever I see that verse, I am reminded that “The cities that were once ruined, desolate, and demolished are now fortified and inhabited.” That’s how I feel now– fortified and inhabited.
MAURA, I broke down the first 13 verses in Isaiah 49 today…
Isaiah 49:1 talks about islands again…being set apart..
49:2 made me think of Hebrews 4:12, Exodus 33:22-23 and Psalms 119:114 …I also found it interesting how it talked about polished arrows and hidden quivers… which led me to a sermon by Kelley Land who says “It seems to me that God has “polished” Isaiah. God has prepared him and made him ready. And, until the right time, God is protecting him and keeping him safe. When the moment arrives, Isaiah will fly out into the world, polished by God, ready to pierce people’s hearts with the truth of who the Lord is. In this case, the arrow isn’t an aggressive tool of battle; it’s a precise instrument of love.” …I love this!! And think it can be applied to our daily walks with God. He is readying & preparing us for ‘such a time as this..’
Isaiah 49:3 made me think of God, Moses and the burning bush..and how God told Moses He would would do great things through him..God is I Am!!
Second part of verse 4 “my reward is with my God.” I love this because it takes everything else out of the equation except God!!
Isaiah 49:5-6 I really like how verse 5 is Isaiah talking..how God formed him (us all really) in the womb to be His servant, to call His people back to Him. And then in verse 6.. God responds… “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
Isaiah 49:7 “Kings will see you and stand up, princes will see and bow down, because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.” …this reminded me in a way of Joseph’s dreams…and how his brothers eventually knelt down before him.
Isaiah 8 and part of 9 “This is what the Lord says: “In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances, 9 to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’ ..such an awesome promise!!! And to see this fulfilled!!! Wow!!! Jesus, the son of God and the Holy Spirit did an incredible thing for us!!! Through His sacrifice He reassigned our inheritances!! Mind blowing when you really sit and think about it!!
Isaiah 49:10-11 these 2 scriptures remind me of Psalm 23.. very comforting and awe-inspiring!!
Isaiah 49:12 I love how spreading the message of God near and far is right here!!
Isaiah 49:13 reminds me of Romans 8:19
…this is as far as I can get today as I have a doctors appointment (getting new glasses) but maybe we can continue breaking this chapter down tomorrow? There is SOOO much to glean here!!!
Have an incredible day!!! Xoxo
The last few chapters of Ezekiel give the Israelites (and us) a lot of hope. Like Jeremiah, Ezekiel prophesizes the new covenant that is to come.
1. Ezekiel 36: 16-38 provides us hope of the new covenant. Even though the Israelites have messed up so badly and taunted the name of God, he gives them hope by promising to cleanse them of their uncleanly sins. He promises to give them a new heart, put His Spirit within them, and write His words on their heart instead of stone so that they will learn to keep His statues. This new covenant was fulfilled when Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins and our inequities. We did not deserve it but he chose to make us clean anyways. Thank you, Jesus!
2. We know that without Ezekiel’s prophesy God would have still given Jesus Christ to save His people. However, Ezekiel provided hope for a nation that turned agains God over and over and over again. Through this hope he pointed to a new covenant, one that we get to experience today. I’m so thankful for the new covenant, the cross, and a Lord that loves me so much.
The God who can raise the dry bones can do an anything. I should expect the miraculous as I share the gospel today.
Good always pursues and forgive us! He makes wonderful plans for us even though we forsake Him and follow idols of our own making. I am loved and chosen! I am eternally grateful for my loving Father. I pray my children will realize these truths also. They are in God’s hands. There is no better place for them to be!
Thank you. I was in pain all night making it hard to sleep. This mama needs rest. Calling my surgeon again. I love the dry bones part. Speaking to the dry bones in my life and in my family. Believing that a situation that looks dead can be resurrected by Almighty God. Praying for our nation that seems dry to be healed.
I felt God speaking to me in Ezekiel this morning. He has been removing idols from my life to draw me into further dependence on Him and cleansing me from sin in my life. Oh Lord I pray for a heart of flesh that is fully surrendered to You and following you in all areas of my life! How thankful I am for Jesus who paid the price for my sins so that even when I mess up and am unfaithful, HE is still faithful and merciful!
1. Making all that was broken/scattered back to how it was and even better – that is the way Jesus worked! He has restored us into communion with God as it was in Eden through His sacrifice that removed the barriers and brought us back into that intimate relationship.
2. Reading the valley of the dry bones story startled me as it seems like sci-fi from our century. How could this happen?? But God! The God of miracles can take us dead in our sin and put His Breath in us and bring us to life. And won’t He do it? He can speak His life into anyone even if they seem to be as far gone as dry bones in the desert. Sometimes He uses us to be the ones that go to them in the power of His name. Humbling and challenging.
I love the phrase, I am the Lord, I have spoken and I will do it (36.36 and 37.14). It reminds me of Paul’s message to the Thessalonians of God’s faithfulness – “The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.”
1 Thess 5:24 . Thank God, for he is faithful, even when we are not. He cannot deny himself, he cannot be anything but loving and faithful, for that is who he is. Praise God who has spoken promise after promise, that we are he is and he cannot and will not deny those promises for even though we are not, he is, ohhh so faithful. From first to last, he is and forever will be.
Amen, Arina. Praying for repentance around the world and belief in the One and only Almighty God. Thankful, so thankful for His mercy and grace in my life and in awe once again of His power, might, goodness and love.
RHONDA J -praying for your niece and her baby, that she would be surrounded by love and support, and strengthened and encouraged on this journey. Also praying for Andy Wiiliams, Casting Crowns former drummer, for healing, and strength and comfort for his family. Lord help us all to remember that life is precious.
KARRIE – praying for your anxiousness in returning to work, and especially for you, children and husband during this time of separation.
MELANIE – praying for healing.
JACQUI – we know that God is always working in our lives even in those many times that we can’t see it or aren’t looking. Praying you feel His love and His guiding hand as you go through this week. I’m often encouraged when I look back and can see how He was with me and guiding me during those times when I needed it most, drawing me to Him.
KAITLIN SCHROEDER – praying!
CHURCHMOUSE – praying for you, you are missed!
STRUGGLING – continuing to pray for you.
ANGIE – thank you for sharing your wisdom with us, always an encouragement.
1. It is only by Christ’s work on the cross that we gain the new heart and new spirit, the Holy Spirit, to enable us to follow God’s statutes and ordinances. When we place our trust in Jesus, we become God’s people, saved from all uncleanness – holy.
2. As with every aspect of my redemption, it has nothing to do with me or what I can bring to God. It is all about bringing honor and glory to His name. It is about pointing to HIS goodness, mercy, and lovingkindness.
Ezekiel 37: 14 I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I am the Lord. I have spoken, and I will do it.This is the declaration of the Lord.’ ”
How blessed we are that He has given us the Holy Spirit we are nothing without it. I love how the trinity settles us and that we are directed and loved by Him. Have a good morning ladies
We all have sinned and profaned the holy Name of the Lord. We do not give Him the glory and holiness we owe Him. We should be ashamed and humiliated by our ways. It is not because of our ways that God acted. He wants us to know that He is God. And by the work of the Holy Spirit in us, His holiness will be demonstrated in us. So that all the nations will know that He is the Lord.