Spoken Gospel podcast with a photo of David and Seth

Ezekiel Overview: Counting Down to New Creation

About This Episode

In this episode, Seth and David talk about Ezekiel's prophecies and the good news that in Jesus Ezekiel's prophecies begin to come true.

Listen Now Read Show Notes

Listen On

Apple Podcasts Youtube Spotify

Counting Down to New Creation: How Ezekiel Proclaims God's Ultimate Jubilee

Show Notes

In this episode of the Spoken Gospel podcast, hosts David and Seth begin their exploration of the Book of Ezekiel, one of the most intense and misunderstood books in the entire Bible. According to ancient Jewish tradition, readers were forbidden from studying the beginning and ending of Ezekiel until they reached 30 years of age, and one story even tells of a young rabbi who burst into flames after meditating on Ezekiel 1 and speaking the word "glory" aloud. This episode unpacks why Ezekiel carries such a fearsome reputation while simultaneously delivering some of Scripture's most profound good news about God's unshakeable commitment to bringing restoration despite human sinfulness.

The Unique Nature of Prophetic Literature

The Book of Ezekiel falls within the genre of prophetic literature, which requires understanding what a prophet actually does. A prophet serves as a commissioned spokesman for God, someone chosen to speak divine words to a particular people during a specific period in history. What distinguishes a prophet from a skilled preacher or interpreter is that the prophet carries God's stamp of approval to interpret current events as the direct outworking of covenant promises made centuries earlier. When Ezekiel speaks, he is not merely offering commentary but delivering God's authoritative interpretation of history.

More specifically, prophets function as covenant litigators or covenant interpreters. They take the blessings and curses outlined in books like Deuteronomy and apply them to their contemporary situation with divine authority. The prophet reads the newspaper, so to speak, and declares that political upheavals are not mere happenstance but represent God fulfilling his ancient covenant commitments. This interpretive authority sets prophetic speech apart from even the best theological reflection. When these spoken prophecies are collected and preserved in written form, the purpose shifts slightly from immediate proclamation to providing a historical record of God's covenant faithfulness across generations, allowing future readers to look back and see how God kept his word.

Historical Context: Exile and Misplaced Confidence

Understanding Ezekiel requires grasping the historical moment in which he prophesied. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had already invaded Israel twice, carrying away two waves of exiles. The first wave took the political elite and royal officials, including Daniel, who by this time served as one of Nebuchadnezzar's advisors. The second wave removed the middle class: merchants, traders, and entrepreneurs. Only the farmers and poor remained in the land to keep it productive for Babylon's benefit. Ezekiel himself was among these exiles, receiving his first vision while sitting beside an irrigation canal in a Babylonian refugee camp.

The people of Israel, both those remaining in Jerusalem and those already in exile, harbored a profound misunderstanding about what was happening to them. The religious establishment and popular opinion held that this political crisis was merely a temporary setback. They reasoned that God had made an eternal covenant with David promising a son on the throne forever. God owned the land of Israel and had promised never to give it to another nation. God's presence dwelt in the Jerusalem temple. Surely this exile would resolve itself within a couple of years. The false prophets in Jerusalem were even proclaiming in God's name that within two years everything would return to normal. Israel believed they occupied such a privileged position in God's economy that exile represented mere political coincidence rather than divine punishment. This blindness is staggering in retrospect, but the nation's pride in their perceived special status prevented them from recognizing that God himself was orchestrating their judgment.

The Horror of Sin: Ezekiel's Shocking Imagery

Ezekiel employs the most intense language found anywhere in Scripture to convince a people in denial about their sinfulness. His methods were so extreme that an entire stream of biblical scholarship once questioned whether Ezekiel suffered from mental illness. The concentration of bizarre behavior in this one prophet is without precedent. Ezekiel remained mute for the entire 15 to 20 years of his ministry, only speaking when God gave him a prophecy. He lay bound and naked in the street for over a year. He dug holes in walls, experienced emotional paralysis and catatonic states after visions, traveled spiritually, saw strange creatures and floating eyes, and heard disembodied voices.

The content of his prophecies matches this intensity. Ezekiel displays a fascination with blood and feces that shocked ancient readers. The word "blood" appears more frequently in Ezekiel than in any other biblical book except Leviticus, but while Leviticus discusses sacrificial blood, Ezekiel speaks of gore: the blood of slaughter, of bodies cut open by swords. Some of his sexual imagery is so graphic that scholars have described it as pornographic in its explicitness. All of this serves a theological purpose. The two primary sins Ezekiel addresses are idolatry and rampant injustice, particularly the shedding of innocent blood including child sacrifice. The intense imagery functions to shock a complacent people into recognizing how heinous their covenant violations truly were. They needed to understand that their sin deserved the punishment they were receiving.

The Structure of Ezekiel: From Judgment to Restoration

The Book of Ezekiel divides into two distinct halves. Chapters 1 through 33 contain prophecies of judgment against Israel for their sin. This entire first half relentlessly confronts the people with their guilt and the legitimacy of God's punishment. One of Ezekiel's most distinctive features is his meticulous dating of prophecies with more specificity than any other Old Testament prophet. These precise timestamps served to verify his legitimacy as a prophet, allowing future generations to see that he prophesied events six months, eight months, or even just days before they occurred. These dates function as a timeline of God's covenant faithfulness, markers where God can point and say he kept his word on that specific day.

The turning point comes in chapter 33 when Jerusalem finally falls, exactly as Ezekiel had prophesied and exactly as the people had refused to believe. The temple is destroyed. Everything they had clung to as proof that God would never abandon them lies in ruins. But remarkably, as soon as Jerusalem falls, the tone of Ezekiel shifts entirely. Chapters 34 through 48 overflow with promises of restoration, with visions of how God will bring his people back to their land and back into relationship with himself. The phrase "so that you would know that I am Yahweh" appears 58 times in Ezekiel, out of only 70 occurrences in the entire Old Testament. Ezekiel wants readers to know that the same covenant-keeping God who was faithful to judge is equally faithful to restore.

Counting Down to Jubilee: The Hidden Structure

A remarkable numerical pattern runs throughout Ezekiel pointing toward the ancient festival of Jubilee. In Leviticus 25, the Year of Jubilee occurred every 50 years, marked by the blowing of trumpets on the Day of Atonement. During Jubilee, all slaves were released, all captives freed, all ancestral land returned to its original owners, and all debts cancelled. This theme speaks powerfully to exiles who have lost their freedom, their land, and their ability to repay the debt of justice they owe to God for their sin.

In Ezekiel 1:2-3, the prophet opens with a complex dating formula. He mentions the 30th year, the fourth month, the fifth day of the month, the fifth year of King Jehoiachin's exile, and repeats that it was the fifth day. These numbers add up to 49, one year before Jubilee. When you turn to Ezekiel 40:1, which opens the vision of the new temple and new creation, you find another dating formula: the 25th year of exile, the 10th day of the month (the very day when the Jubilee trumpet was to be blown), and the 14th year after Jerusalem fell. These numbers also total 49. Additionally, there are exactly 14 dated prophecies in the book (seven plus seven), exactly 50 literary units marked by prophetic openings, and the entire structure reveals a countdown toward the ultimate Jubilee. Ezekiel is declaring that God's people, enslaved and in debt, will experience the freedom and restoration that only God's Jubilee can bring.

The Gospel of Ezekiel: Grace Beyond Sin

The thesis of Ezekiel emerges from this structure: there is no horrific sin that can stop God's new creation from coming. The first half of the book confronts people with the genuine horror of their covenant violations. They were worshiping other gods despite everything Yahweh had done for them. They were treating each other with shocking injustice. The intense imagery forces readers to see sin as it truly is. But the moment Jerusalem falls and God's judgment is complete, promises of restoration begin to flow. The crucial point is that this restoration comes not because Israel finally got their act together, not because they achieved moral perfection, not because of their ethnicity or Davidic descent. It comes because God says, "I am building my people. I will do it."

This is the good news Jesus proclaimed when he announced the year of the Lord's favor, drawing directly on the Jubilee tradition. For those who trust in Jesus, there is no condemnation because the temple has already been destroyed, so to speak. Jesus has already borne the judgment. The horrific consequences of sin have already been absorbed. Now we are counting down to the ultimate Jubilee, the new heavens and new Earth that Ezekiel saw in his closing vision. No matter what sin weighs on you, nothing can stop God's new creation from reaching you through Christ. The covenant faithfulness that drove God to judge is the same faithfulness that drives him to restore, and that restoration rests entirely on his initiative, not on human performance.

Transcript

Seth: [gentle music] ... Why? It's not based on your behavior.

David: Wow.

Seth: It's not based on your perfection. It's not based on your ethnicity, or the fact that you are descended from David, or that there's a Davidic king on the throne. It's because, "I am building my people- "

David: [laughing]

Seth: " ... Jerusalem. I will do it! There's no horrific sin that will prevent me from bringing my new day of jubilee, and it's not on you, it's on me."

David: Oh, man, that's good news.

Intro: [gentle music] Welcome to the Spoken Gospel podcast. Spoken Gospel is a ministry that's dedicated to speaking the gospel out of every corner of scripture. In Luke 24, Jesus told his disciples that every part of the Bible is about him. In each episode, hosts David and Seth work through a passage of scripture to see how it's all about Jesus and his good news. Let's jump in. [upbeat music]

David: Well, welcome, everybody, to the Spoken Gospel podcast. Thank you so much for joining us. We are starting our look at the Book of Ezekiel today-

Seth: Yes

David: ... which I just found out before coming on air, was illegal for Jewish people to read until-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... they were 30, and one guy burst into flames when reading it or something.

Seth: [laughing] Yeah, yeah.

David: What in the world? [laughing]

Seth: Yeah, Ezekiel is an intense book. It has some of the most intense prophecies. Ezekiel, when he first sees God, goes, uh, comatose for seven days. [laughing]

David: That's intense.

Seth: And there was a whole Jewish tradition that you could not read the beginning or ending of the Book of Ezekiel until you were 30 years old.

David: It was that book and Song of Songs. [laughing]

Seth: And Song of Songs were the two books you couldn't read, because the content of them was so holy and so, um-

David: Mature?

Seth: ... Well, mature. Uh, well, it was just, it contained the glory of God.

David: Oh.

Seth: And so, like, if you were gonna approach the glory and intimate nature of God himself, you had to be of the requisite holiness and purity to do that. And so there's a story-

David: Man

Seth: ... of the, and you already said it, of a man who, a young man, a young, a young rabbi in training-

David: Okay

Seth: ... who was meditating on Ezekiel 1, and he said the word, "Glory," out loud, and he burst into flames. [laughing]

David: What?

Seth: Yeah. So Ezekiel has a-

David: A storied past

Seth: ... a storied past, and, like, a reputation for, like, punching very hard.

David: Well, fun.

Seth: Fun!

David: This should be a great conversation.

Seth: This is gonna be a great conversation.

David: I'm, I'm thir- I, I'm, I'm 35 or 36, or something like that.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And, uh, and I have the requisite holiness of Jesus, so hopefully I can-

Seth: I think-

David: ... enter into this book.

Seth: I think you're, I think you're fine. [laughing]

David: All right. I probably won't say that word, though, just out of sheer fear.

Seth: I... Uh, well, it was a funny experience, like, learning that fact, and then reading it and not feeling afraid- [laughing]

David: Mm

Seth: ... as I was reading it.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And I think what it did for me was encourage me to, like, have less of a casual relationship with the Book of Ezekiel.

David: Yeah.

Seth: 'Cause I think I come to it, like, I mean, I, I'm a professional. I study the Bible for a living.

David: Right.

Seth: And I do it in such a way that, like, I'm very familiar with holy things.

David: Mm.

Seth: And so Ezekiel was a invitation to, like, let's not treat the Bible as just a common, casual thing.

David: Yeah.

Seth: What if I treated it, just for a little bit, like the rabbis, afraid to even read the first pages?

David: Totally.

Seth: So I've been trying to cultivate that a little bit in reading Ezekiel. Um, so-

David: I love that. Okay

Seth: ... we can go- well, we can jump in.

David: Okay, well, as we, with reverence-

Seth: [laughing] With reverence

David: ... approach this book, what, what, what kind of book is this?

Seth: Yeah.

David: What, you know, what style is it in? What do we need to have in our minds as we come to it?

Seth: I mean, the Book of Ezekiel is a prophecy. Ezekiel is a prophet.

David: Okay.

Seth: And so we've had this conversation a couple times, so we should just- but we should just start again. It's like, what is a prophet?

David: Yes.

Seth: And what is the genre of prophetic literature? So do you want to take a stab at it? We've, we've talked about it enough times.

David: Um, okay, so a, a, a prophet is someone who speaks human words that they heard from the divine.

Seth: Yeah.

David: They take a, a revelation from God, and they say it to people.

Seth: Yeah, and-

David: That's what a prophet does.

Seth: That's exactly right. He's a commissioned spokesman for God, like-

David: Ooh, I like that.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Yeah.

Seth: He's, like, someone God has chosen to speak through in a very intentional way for a period of time-

David: Mm

Seth: ... to a particular people.

David: Uh, that's helpful, too, for, in a period of time-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... for a particular people.

Seth: Yes.

David: That's also very interesting.

Seth: Yeah, 'cause Jeremiah w- is a contemporary of Ezekiel.

David: Okay.

Seth: Jeremiah is living in Jerusalem, and eventually Egypt, uh, talking to people who are still in the land of Israel-

David: Mm

Seth: ... calling them to repent before Babylon comes to attack.

David: Right.

Seth: So he's prophesying to those people. But Ezekiel is prophesying to people who are already in exile, and who've already been exiled, and who are living in Babylon during one-

David: Mm

Seth: ... of the first waves of deportation.

David: Okay.

Seth: So God commissions him to speak to the people in exile, uh, and to accept that fate, and rather, rather than longing to go back to their homeland.

David: Mm-hmm. Okay.

Seth: So-

David: And so th- that's what he- that's who Ezekiel was, what he did, his function-

Seth: Yes

David: ... his role. W- then that, those words that he spoke in space and time, in history-

Seth: Yes

David: ... got written down-

Seth: That's right

David: ... and compiled, and edited, and formulated into-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... a book that we read, that has structure.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: And it's beautiful. The language is intentional.

Seth: Yes.

David: What is this now completed book that we have, and how do we approach it?

Seth: Like, what is, like, a book of prophetic literature?

David: Yeah, 'cause it's like-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... we're not living in exile in Babylon, like-

Seth: No

David: ... like, uh, at least maybe metaphorically, but not-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... actually. Uh, Ezekiel's not physically standing next to me, saying the Go- the words that God is giving to him. So that, like, specific person-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... in a specific space and time thing-

Seth: Yes

David: ... is gone, in a sense.

Seth: Yes.

David: S- but now we have this book that's been preserved-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... so how do we approach it?

Seth: Yeah. Generally, when a prophet would speak, he's speaking on God's behalf, but he's kind of fulfilling a very specific role-

David: Mm

Seth: ... as he speaks on God's behalf. I, like, a co- he's a covenant litigator-

David: Okay

Seth: ... or a covenant interpreter. So just to give color to the answer that you want, is as he's speaking, God is giving him words to condemn or exonerate Israel, based on how they've-... obeyed or disobeyed the law of God.

David: Mm.

Seth: And so he's gonna come in and say, "Hey, remember back in Deuteronomy when God said there's a whole bunch of curses if you do wrong-

David: Right

Seth: ... and a whole bunch of good things that will happen if you obey his laws? Let me tell you how that's gonna look in this generation."

David: Mm.

Seth: "In this generation, your idolatry is gonna lead to Babylon coming in. In this generation, your willingness to get rid of the idols is gonna lead to a long reign for you, King Josiah."

David: Mm. So he's taking these words that were in the covenant-

Seth: Mm, mm.

David: "If you do good, you'll be blessed. If you do bad, you'll be cursed."

Seth: That's right.

David: And he's putting it into their context.

Seth: That's right.

David: Just... Yeah, okay, that makes sense.

Seth: And he's, like, taking fairly general things and specifying them. He's like, he's reading the newspaper and saying, "This isn't just political events."

David: Mm.

Seth: "This is God fulfilling his covenant promises-

David: I see

Seth: ... all the way back in the day, and I have God's stamp of approval to interpret Babylon's invasion as a curse against you for your idolatry."

David: Ah, okay. That, that helps, 'cause I was gonna ask the question, what makes him different than a good preacher?

Seth: Yeah.

David: 'Cause like they say, you know, a pr- a good preacher should have-

Seth: That's right

David: ... a newspaper in one hand and the Bible in the other.

Seth: Yes, yes.

David: And, and seeing... That's hermeneutics.

Seth: Yeah.

David: The work of hermeneutics is taking, you know, the word of God and applying it to today, and it's like Ezekiel's doing that, but he's doing it, like you said, with God's stamp of approval-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... because God has said-

Seth: This is-

David: ... "Babylon is the curse that I promised."

Seth: Yeah.

David: And so he's communicating that.

Seth: That's right.

David: Okay.

Seth: That's right.

David: That's helpful.

Seth: So the... So then when he collects it all down-

David: Yes, yes, yes.

Seth: So what is he... What is he doing? Why is it collected down? It's, in effect, to communicate the covenant faithfulness of God throughout all time.

David: Mm.

Seth: One of the most common phrases in the Book of Ezekiel is, "So that you would know that I am Yahweh."

David: Mm.

Seth: "So that you would know that I am the covenant Lord."

David: Mm.

Seth: Throughout the Old Testament, that phrase is used about 70 times. 58 of those times are all in Ezekiel.

David: That's incredible.

Seth: So Ezekiel, very incred- like, very intentionally understands he's writing down his prophecies so that the people in exile, and the, hopefully upon their return, would remember that God is faithful to the covenant that he made all those years ago back on Mount Sinai.

David: Okay, that's really interesting. You've said something that I think is really helpful.

Seth: Yes.

David: Uh, but let me, like, say it in stark terms-

Seth: Okay

David: ... to see if it holds up. So when Ezekiel is prophesying in space and time to Israel, he's telling them, "Babylon's coming, it's a curse," you know?

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: Or, like, uh, if they're in exile, we'll get, we'll get to his message to them.

Seth: Yes.

David: But he's like, "Just stay here. Endure-

Seth: Mm

David: ... God will be with you." And it's like, man, I-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... I am in Babylon, I'm in exile, I have commands to listen to and obey. I need to do that thing.

Seth: Yes.

David: But then when it's written down and compiled and preserved, we are now... There's a different purpose for it-

Seth: Mm, mm

David: ... and it is to convey the covenant faithfulness of God-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... that even through exile, even through, uh, rebellion and sin, God upholds his promises-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... made in the covenant. So it's like-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... they're, they're kind of different points.

Seth: They're different points-

David: Okay

Seth: ... but they're, they are connected.

David: Okay.

Seth: One of the things that Go- that the people will say in response to Ezekiel's prophecies is that God is being unfair. God is being-

David: For exiling them?

Seth: For exiling them. That he's promised that he would keep the King, the Son of David, on a throne in Israel. He's owns the land of Israel. He's promised an eternal covenant with the land and with his people.

David: Right.

Seth: So on what basis would God ever put those things away?

David: Mm.

Seth: And so Ezekiel comes in and says, "No, no, God is being faithful to his covenant, but you're only reading half the covenant."

David: [chuckles]

Seth: "God said he would do all those things, but he also said he would hold the guilty accountable. And part of what holding the guilty accountable looks like is the guilty party's getting exiled."

David: Mm.

Seth: And so they're, they're claiming that God is not being faithful to the covenant, and so Ezekiel responds with, "No, he is, just not the part you're reading." [laughing]

David: [laughing] That's awesome.

Seth: "So that you would know that I am the Lord-

David: I see

Seth: ... uh, that I am the covenant-keeping God of Israel."

David: I see.

Seth: So there is a, there is a similarity in the purpose of it being communicated to the original audience-

David: Yes

Seth: ... and us reading it now. It's like-

David: Right

Seth: ... we have a historical record.

David: Yeah, hindsight's 20/20. We get to watch the covenant faithfulness-

Seth: That's right

David: ... of God in the past.

Seth: Yeah, and this is a fun little fun- a fun fact about Ezekiel.

David: Okay.

Seth: Ezekiel records the dates of his prophecies with more specificity than any other Old Testament prophet.

David: Why? Why?

Seth: So there's a couple... You have a couple of answers to that. One is, like, he's, "I wrote this on the first day of the month, in the, in the 14th year," et cetera, et cetera.

David: Okay.

Seth: So that in future generations, they would look back and see the dating of his prophecy and say, "Oh, he prophesied that six months before it actually happened."

David: Okay.

Seth: "Oh, he prophesied that eight months before it actually happened. He prophesied that, pro- prophesied that two days before it actually happened." So it acts as like a-

David: A proof of his legitimacy as a prophet?

Seth: That's right.

David: Okay.

Seth: It acts as a proof of his legitimacy as a prophet. And the other point in that is that as Ezekiel is prophesying what it looks like for God to be faithful to his covenant judgment-

David: Mm

Seth: ... contrary to what they want, he's actually being faithful, and he's been pro- it's been proven time and time again throughout his prophetic ministry.

David: So you're saying that, like, the, the dates that, that he gives are like these, these finite moments on the timeline that God can point to and be like-

Seth: Mm

David: ... "I was faithful on that day-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... and that day, and that day-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... and I kept my promise on this day"?

Seth: Yes, that's a great way to say it.

David: It's just like a timeline of Ebenezers.

Seth: Yes.

David: Okay.

Seth: That's a great way to say it.

David: That's cool.

Seth: Yes.

David: All right. Man, all right, so we, we, w- we have a sense of what prophecy is.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: And then prophetic literature is now being maintained in order to show us the covenant keeping of God-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... you know, hundreds of years later.

Seth: Yep.

David: Um, we have this very specific timeline that shows that Ezekiel was a legitimate prophet.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: Um, what else do we need to have, like, in our minds-

Seth: Mm

David: ... before we enter into this book, or are we ready to jump in?

Seth: We... It's just some historical context.

David: Okay, yes.

Seth: Maybe. So we've talked a little bit about the fact that a certain population of Israelites are already in exile. So Nebuchadnezzar is in power in Babylon. He has invaded Israel once and sent one wave of exiles. He invaded Israel a second time, sent another wave of exiles.

David: Mm.

Seth: Currently, Daniel, like, the-... Daniel with lion's den, all that kind of stuff.

David: I know that Daniel.

Seth: He's in Babylon right now, i- at, as one of Nebuchadnezzar's advisors.

David: Was he first wave?

Seth: He was the first wave.

David: 'Cause they, like, they- the Babylonian strategy, wasn't it to, like, grab the cream of the crop-

Seth: That's right

David: ... and start indoctrinating them-

Seth: That's right

David: ... and then change the culture from the top down?

Seth: That's right.

David: Okay, okay.

Seth: So the first wave, he takes all these royal officials and tries to indoctrinate them. Daniel's now in power with Nebuchadnezzar on the throne-

David: So, like-

Seth: In Babylon

David: ... that, that's interesting, 'cause when I think about, um, Ezekiel, you know, like you said-

Seth: Yes

David: ... prophesying to the people in exile, I think about ragamuffins and, like-

Seth: Yeah.

David: But it's like, it, it was... Am I right in guessing? It was, it was more like the-

Seth: You're, you're on the right track

David: ... the elite and the rich and the-

Seth: So the, I think the first wave was particularly the elite, the politic, the politicos' sons.

David: Mm.

Seth: The second wave, se- scholars seem to indicate that it's, it's like, it's the middle class.

David: Okay.

Seth: It's the traders, it's the merchants, people who would not have been used to working on farms.

David: Mm.

Seth: Um, because we're told, uh, in the final exile, the third deportation, that only the farmers and the poor people are left behind-

David: Interesting

Seth: ... to keep the land alive-

David: Right

Seth: ... for Babylon's benefit.

David: Right.

Seth: So the, the people that are being exiled are the cream of the crop. They're the, they're the money makers.

David: Ah.

Seth: They're the entrepreneurs.

David: Cream of the crop, the farmers.

Seth: The farmers. You get it? [laughs]

David: Okay, keep going, sorry.

Seth: Uh, the, uh, the, uh, yeah, the, the money makers-

David: Interesting

Seth: ... the entrepreneurs.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: And there's even, like, a bunch of evidence. You can read old ancient manuscripts of Jewish business people making tons of money in Babylon.

David: Okay.

Seth: So it's like, these people, like, like, are, you know-

David: Yep

Seth: ... they're movers and shakers, [laughs] uh, but they're, for the time being, they are working farmland in Babylon.

David: Mm.

Seth: And so where the first prophecy i- that, or the first vision that Ezekiel gets, is he's sitting on an irrigation canal right outside, between two rivers-

David: Mm

Seth: ... inside Babylonian territory in a refugee camp, and that's where he is-

David: Mm

Seth: ... when he receives his first vision. So historical context.

David: Yes.

Seth: Israel is slowly disintegrating.

David: Yep.

Seth: They, two waves of exiles have already been brought in. Jeremiah is prophesying in Israel. Daniel's on the throne, uh, is near the throne-

David: Yep

Seth: ... of Babylon. Ezekiel is in a refugee camp, and-

David: Yeah. [laughs] And, and Nebuchadnezzar, uh, he's... Is this after wave two?

Seth: This is after wave two.

David: After wave two, so he's taken the, the, the merchants and the, uh, the entrepreneurs and everything and the, the politicos.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: He's taken them away. Uh, for, for most of the people of Israel, what are they thinking in this time period in terms of why this is happening and, like-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... what's going on? 'Cause he's gonna be answering a lot of difficult questions.

Seth: So the general consensus among the religious establishment and, like, on a popular level, is that what's going on politically is a temporary problem.

David: Oh, God will put, God will put this to right. It's a minor blip in the radar.

Seth: That's right. We're gonna get back to the... So the exiles are thinking, "We're gonna go back to, to Israel any time now, because God made a covenant with David-

David: Right

Seth: ... and David's son is still on the throne. God made a covenant with the land. Our borders are still sovereign. God owns the land of Israel, and he's not gonna give it to another god."

David: Right.

Seth: "Why would he do that? And God lives in Jerusalem. His presence is in the temple."

David: Yeah.

Seth: "There is no way that this exile is gonna be the end of God's people." And so if you read Jeremiah 28, that's exactly what the religious leaders of Jerusalem are prophesying in God's name. They're saying, "In two years, all this will be taken care of."

David: Mm.

Seth: "All this will end. All the exiles will come back home, will be reest- our borders will be re-established. All this political nonsense will be over." So what everyone's expecting is that they occupy such a privileged position in God's mind, that this is not punishment, this is happenstance.

David: Whoa.

Seth: This is coincidence.

David: Okay.

Seth: This is unfortunate, but means nothing.

David: Whoa.

Seth: And so Ezekiel and Jeremiah both come in and say, "No, this is-

David: This is for real. [laughs]

Seth: ... This is for real. This is not political happenstance. This is happening because you are idolatrous-

David: Mm

Seth: ... and you are unjust as a people, and God is justified in sending you to exile and destroying the nation, if he so chooses."

David: Wow, so they think that this will all get righted because this isn't what God really wants to happen.

Seth: Mm.

David: God will fix it, he'll restore it, and the prophets are saying, "No, God's the one doing it."

Seth: That's right.

David: Okay.

Seth: That's right.

David: That is some big theology going on there.

Seth: That's exactly right.

David: Yeah.

Seth: So it's like everyone... Yeah, that's exactly-

David: They were supposed to be portents-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... of, like, doom to come, and instead, they all thought it was pretend.

Seth: That's right.

David: Crazy.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Okay.

Seth: And and what's crazy, it... And I mean, Jeremiah, you know, and Ezekiel are all saying that this is gonna, this is God's punishment. And it blows my mind just the blindness of Jerusalem's entire religious regime.

David: Mm.

Seth: It's like they cannot interpret what's happening, because they're so proud of who they think they are as a people.

David: Mm.

Seth: Like, "We have this protected place within God's economy, and it doesn't matter how we behave. It doesn't matter that we're s- offering child sacrifices. It doesn't matter that we have this system of unjust practices." And, you know, maybe they had justifications for all of them. I'm sure they did.

David: Yeah.

Seth: But that they could not see that God was punishing them, and so prophets like Jeremiah and Ezekiel come on the stage particularly to convince, uh, God's people that they are being punished-

David: By God

Seth: ... by God.

David: Not by sociopolitical happenstance.

Seth: No, that they are being punished by God, and they don't, and they just don't see it that way.

David: Mm.

Seth: They don't believe it's happening.

David: For Ezekiel-

Seth: Mm

David: ... what's the main reason for the punishment? Like, why is this happening from a theological level? Is God just, he's over it, and he's ready to dissolve the covenant? [laughs]

Seth: Yeah.

David: Obviously not. So why is God punishing Israel?

Seth: He, I mean, Ezekiel, like Jeremiah, kind of boils it down to two main things.

David: Okay.

Seth: Committing idolatry-

David: Yes

Seth: ... and-... rampant injustice in the land, um, primarily in the shedding of innocent blood-

David: Mm.

Seth: -like, children being murdered.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Um, and those are the two big things that they focus on. There's a lot of things they focus on, but, like, those are the big ones. You're worshiping other gods, uh, when I'm the one who made- brought you out of the land of Egypt.

David: Right.

Seth: And I've given you all that you have. And the, the second is, and you're treating each, each other terribly, not according to my laws.

David: Wow.

Seth: Those are the two big ones.

David: So we can go back then to the point of Ezekiel that you mentioned at the beginning, which is that, "You may know that I am the Lord your God."

Seth: Yeah.

David: And so that means two things.

Seth: Mm.

David: One, I'm the Lord your God. You shall have no other idols before me, no other gods before me.

Seth: Yeah.

David: I want you to remember, I'm the one who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

Seth: Yes.

David: And the other [chuckles] the other one of the first few commands is, don't take the Lord's name in vain.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Like, I'm the Lord your God. I, I act justice and mercy on-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... people. Don't take my name upon yourself in vanity, and don't act like I do. Like-

Seth: Yeah, yeah

David: ... be like I am.

Seth: Don't claim to be my people and then act like everybody else.

David: Exactly.

Seth: That's right.

David: Interesting. Okay.

Seth: Super interesting.

David: That's helpful.

Seth: Um, so-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... yeah, one of the purposes for Ezekiel writing is to convince them that God is their Go- their covenant God, and he's coming to be faithful to the covenant by judging them.

David: Because that was in the covenant.

Seth: Because that was in the covenant-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... and they are only reading the good parts, that God will keep his land forever. Um, and so the way that Ezekiel goes about this is actually fairly unique.

David: Hmm.

Seth: I mean, unique in the sense that it's more intense than any of the other prophets.

David: Okay.

Seth: I'm fairly convinced that part of what Ezekiel, the purpose of Ezekiel's prophecies, is to convince the people of God of the horror of their sin.

David: Mm.

Seth: And he uses the most intense language. I mean, I... That's a subjective term, but you'll- we'll get to 'em.

David: Yeah.

Seth: It's some of the most intense language you'll read in any biblical book to describe the sin of God's people.

David: Mm.

Seth: Um, so I'm just gonna read you a little smattering of them, if you'd like me to.

David: Uh, let me hold onto my chair.

Seth: Um, yeah.

David: Yeah. Okay.

Seth: It's funny, actually. Uh, Ezekiel's prophecies are so intense that there was a whole wave of scholarship that thought he was insane-

David: That-

Seth: ... that, like, that Ezekiel-

David: Ezekiel was-

Seth: -had a mental problem.

David: Oh!

Seth: And so there's this whole stream of scholarship trying to psychoanalyze Ezekiel because his images are so disturbing.

David: Oh, my gosh.

Seth: Um, so here's, here's what caused- [laughing]

David: It's like, it's like the kid in kindergarten who, like, they, they, they have to, like, pa- their parents have to come to a special parent-teacher meeting-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... and they show them all, like, the black crayon draw- drawings-

Seth: Yeah [chuckles]

David: ... they've been making.

Seth: That's exactly right. That's exactly right.

David: What's going on with Ezekiel? [chuckles]

Seth: So let me just read, this is from a-

David: [chuckles]

Seth: ... a commentary called Da- uh, written by Daniel Block.

David: Okay.

Seth: He says, "While prophets were known often to act and speak erratically for rhetorical purposes, Ezekiel is in a class of his own. The concentration of so many bizarre features in one individual is without precedent. Uh, his muteness..." He doesn't- Ezekiel, for the 15 or 20 years that he prophesies, only speaks when God gives him a prophecy.

David: I'm like, that's so intense!

Seth: Um, he lies for over a year, bound and naked in the middle of the street. He digs holes in the walls of houses. He, he is emotionally paralyzed multiple times, where he's just comatose after seeing a vision from God or something happening to him. He travels spiritually. He sees images of strange creatures, of floating eyes, of creeping things. He hears voices, the sound of water. He is fascinated with feces and blood. The word blood is used, you know, a number of times in the New Testament.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Sorry, the Old Testament. It is used 55 times by Ezekiel, but Ezekiel uses it more than any other book of the Bible-

David: Even more than Leviticus?

Seth: ... Except Leviticus.

David: Oh, okay.

Seth: Leviticus talks about sacrificial blood.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Ezekiel talks about the gore.

David: Oh.

Seth: The blood of slaughter, the blood of being cut open by swords, or [chuckles] like, it's-

David: I'm just trying to, like, imagine, like, this guy being in my city-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... and be like, "Oh, gosh, there's Ezekiel." [laughing]

Seth: [laughing] Ezekiel, talking about blood and poop again.

David: He's been laying on his side for eight months now. When is he gonna leave that ditch?

Seth: Yeah.

David: And it's like, not for another four, apparently.

Seth: Yep.

David: That's crazy.

Seth: Yeah, and in the-

David: Well-

Seth: ... and we'll get into this. One of the other fascin- fascinating or just disturbing parts about Ezekiel's prophecies is that, and I'm just using the word the commentators use, is like, is it's pornographic.

David: Mm.

Seth: There's a real sense that, like, the graphic-ness of some of the sexual imagery that he uses is unparalleled in the, in the Bible story.

David: I see.

Seth: Uh-

David: And that's why it's kind of on a, the same, like, shelf as Song of Songs-

Seth: There might be more than that

David: ... for the level of maturity that needs to be read for, like, rabbis to start learning-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... in it.

Seth: The, uh, for Ezekiel, it's, it's particularly the beginning and ending-

David: Mm

Seth: ... that were forbidden to read until you were 30 years old, and those are the ones where God's, like, coming back and restore- like, the vision of God in the beginning-

David: So it's less about the pornographic stuff and more about the glory of God.

Seth: That's right.

David: Crazy.

Seth: Fascinating.

David: Okay.

Seth: But, so the point is, the Ezekiel uses a ton of intense imagery-

David: Mm

Seth: ... to convince people who don't think what's happening to them is God's punishment, how heinous their idolatry actually is.

David: Yeah.

Seth: So much so that it's a real theme in Ezekiel. It's part of the purpose of the book, is to shock you into understanding sin as a horrific covenant violation that deserves God's punishment. Um, so that's what he's doing. [chuckles]

David: Whew! [gentle music] It- do you, do you have, like... 'Cause I think you've said it-

Seth: Mm

David: ... in as many words. Do you have, like, a-... synopsis or, or a thesis statement for how would you describe the Book of Ezekiel-

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: -in just a few words?

Seth: We've, we've talked about the horror and the sinfulness.

David: Yes.

Seth: We haven't talked about the other half of the book yet.

David: Oh, boy. Okay.

Seth: But if you were- if we were gonna tease the ending-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... the, the summary of the Book of Ezekiel is that there is no horrific sin that can stop God's new creation from coming.

David: There is no horrific sin that can stop God's new creation from coming.

Seth: Yes.

David: Okay.

Seth: Yes.

David: That sounds like good news.

Seth: It sounds like good news.

David: It also sounds like you're gonna take me through the valley to get to it.

Seth: Yeah, so and that's what... I mean, so we can talk about a little bit structurally, just the way that Ezekiel's set up.

David: Okay.

Seth: It's, it's fairly simple, actually. The first half of the book, verse chapters 1 to 33, is all prophecies concerning the judgment of Israel for their sin. That's the whole first half of the book.

David: Okay.

Seth: But the second half of the book, chapters 34 to 48, is all about the way that God will restore His people to their land and to their relationship with God. So there's two clear sides of the book: judgment, the horror of sin, and the absolute craziness of what God will do to bring His people back.

David: Wow!

Seth: And those are the two sides of the story.

David: So when you talk about Ezekiel being also about, like, God keeping His covenant faithfulness-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... the first part of the book is about Him keeping the parts of the covenant that everyone was ignoring.

Seth: Mm-hmm. That's right.

David: The parts that said, "If you do bad, I'll curse you." And it's like, "Yeah, I'm keeping my covenant faithfulness to you by keeping the parts of the Bible you're not reading."

Seth: Yeah.

David: But then the second part is, "And yet-

Seth: And yet

David: ... I will keep the parts that you really want to be true-

Seth: Yes

David: ... which is I will bless you no matter the horrible-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... sins that you're committing."

Seth: Everything you're presuming in your pride is yours by right of ethnicity or-

David: Ah, yeah

Seth: ... blood or descent, I will give to you by my grace.

David: Mm.

Seth: That's... And that's really at the bottom, what Ezekiel's gonna get at by the end of the, by the end of the book.

David: That's awesome. Okay, and so you... Just, just tease this out for me-

Seth: Mm

David: ... real quick. Since we've given little hints at the rest of the book, uh, in your thesis statement-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... you pointed to new creation.

Seth: Uh-huh.

David: Nothing... No matter the horror, horrors of sin-

Seth: Yes, yes

David: ... nothing will stop God's new creation from coming. What is the new creation?

Seth: So I think, I think more specifically than new creation, although we can talk about new creation, is the Year of Jubilee.

David: Okay.

Seth: Can I just read you Leviticus 25-

David: You can

Seth: ... and what the Year of Jubilee is?

David: Yes.

Seth: I think new creation is a major theme in Ezekiel, but the way that Ezekiel gets to new creation is through the theme of the Jubilee.

David: Okay.

Seth: So Jubilee is this ancient festival-

David: Yep

Seth: ... in, um, in ancient Israel that celebrated the release of slaves-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... the release of captives, the return of land that was ancestrally yours-

David: Yes

Seth: ... and the cancellation of all debts.

David: Right.

Seth: So you can already tell, like, the w- reason why the Year of Jubilee would be especially powerful to a people in exile.

David: Mm.

Seth: You have people who are exiled from their homes.

David: They're captives.

Seth: Captives to a foreign nation-

David: Yep

Seth: ... and owe a debt of justice to God that they cannot repay.

David: Ah, they lost their land, their freedom, and their money.

Seth: Yes.

David: Okay.

Seth: And their money, and then also just they owe God.

David: Oh, like a covenantal debt-

Seth: Yes

David: ... of righteousness-

Seth: Yes

David: ... and obedience.

Seth: They don't... Yeah, they owe-

David: It's-

Seth: Like, there's a debt of justice. They have committed sin. They are idolatrous. They are unjust.

David: Mm.

Seth: God demands payment for that, and they cannot pay it back-

David: Mm

Seth: ... no matter how long they spend in exile.

David: And is it fair to say that... I'm just getting a little off track here, but-

Seth: Yes, yes, yes.

David: Is it fair to say that, "Man, oh, the Year of Jubilee in Leviticus is actually pointing forward to this spiritual reality of captivity and the necessity of freedom?"

Seth: So let me just read-

David: Okay

Seth: ... the Jubilee description or the law concerning the Jubilee. "So you shall count seven weeks of years, seven times seven years. So the time of the seven weeks of years shall give you 49 years."

David: I can do, I can do math.

Seth: You can do math. The, the Bible doesn't need to explain seven times seven [chuckles] to David. [laughing]

David: It might, though. I'm actually horrible in math. [chuckles]

Seth: "Then you shall sound a loud trumpet on the 10th day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement, you shall sound the trumpet throughout all the land, and you shall consecrate the 50th year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan. That 50th year shall be a Jubilee for you. In it, you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of itself, nor gather the grapes from the undressed vine, for it is a Jubilee." Like a whole year of Sabbath, a whole year of rest.

David: Oh, let's go.

Seth: Yeah. "It shall be holy to you. You may eat, and then you may eat of the produce of the field on that, on that year." So there's this sense that Israel is captive, it's enslaved-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... it is in debt, and it needs a Year of Jubilee.

David: Yeah, right.

Seth: And it's not-

David: But maybe not for the reasons it thought it was gonna need one. [chuckles]

Seth: Not, not the, for the reasons it thought.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And Ezekiel's prophesying that that Year of Jubilee is coming.

David: Mm.

Seth: And so do you wanna h- hear a really fun way that he codes this for us in the-

David: Seth, Seth, you know I do.

Seth: You, you know-

David: You know I wanna hear it.

Seth: So in Ezekiel, chapter 1-

David: Okay

Seth: ... verse 2 and 3, he says this: "In the 30th year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, I was on the Kebar Canal, and the heavens opened, and I saw visions of God. On the fifth day of the month, it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin." Lots of numbers there.

David: Yeah, you might have to help me with the math here now.

Seth: So if you add together 30, 4, 5, 5 and 5, you get 49.

David: 49.

Seth: Which m- might just sound a little coincidental, but there's some things here that you should note. So he says, "In the 30th year," the 30th year compared to what?

David: ... Oh, yeah!

Seth: Whose 30th year? What 30th year?

David: Right, that's completely arbitrary.

Seth: Right. So that's just flagged in our mind.

David: Yeah, it's not the BC 30. It's not 30th year since we got to the Keobar Canal.

Seth: Right.

David: It's just in 30 years.

Seth: In 30 years, so just keep that piece of information. We don't know what that 30 refers to right now, but it's on the fourth month and the fifth day of that month. And then he gives us another dating of the same day. He says, "It was the fifth day of the month." So he's already told us it's the fifth day of the month.

David: Why are you telling me that again?

Seth: Right, and-

David: 'Cause I'm trying to get to 49 [laughs]

Seth: Right, yeah, exactly right.

David: [laughs]

Seth: And then he says, "And it's the fifth year since the exile of King Jehoiachin." He gives us two dates that add up to 49.

David: Interesting.

Seth: Now, if you jump to Ezekiel chapter 40-

David: Not 49? [chuckles]

Seth: Not 49, sadly. If you jump to Ezekiel 40:1, he says this: "In the 25th year of our exile..." So 20 years since the first prophecy.

David: Okay.

Seth: So 30 plus 20 is 50. "At the beginning of the year, on the 10th day of the month," which is the same day that you're supposed to blow the trumpet, to blow the Jubilee horn, "in the 14th year after the city was struck down." 25 plus 10 plus 14 equals 49.

David: [snorts]

Seth: I think it's fairly obvious that he is cluing us into the fact that he is counting down to a new Jubilee. And do you know what this, this section starts?

David: No.

Seth: Chapter 40 starts? It's the description of the new heavens and the new Earth. It's the description of the new temple God will build-

David: So-

Seth: ... for his people

David: - in his first numbering-

Seth: Yes

David: ... he says, "We need a Jubilee."

Seth: Yes.

David: And then at the second numbering, he says, "This is what it looks like."

Seth: "This is what it looks like."

David: That's so cool. [chuckles]

Seth: And some other hints throughout Ezekiel that we're counting down to Jubilee, the dates that I mentioned before-

David: Y- yes

Seth: ... exactly 14, seven plus seven.

David: What?

Seth: There are 50 exactly literary units within Ezekiel.

David: Oh.

Seth: There are 50 times God... There's, like, a little prophetic opening-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... "And thus said the Lord," or, "The Lord said to me," or there's a dating, exactly 50 times. Ezekiel, I am convinced, is counting down to the ultimate Jubilee-

David: Mm

Seth: ... the new heavens, the new Earth, the new creation. And that message is being given to a people who are not convinced of the horror of their sin.

David: Hmm.

Seth: Which leads me to the premise of the book. What is the purpose of Ezekiel? That there is no horrific sin that can stop God's Jubilee from coming, even for people like you.

David: Hmm. How does talking about the inevitable Jubilee confront people of their horrific sin?

Seth: I don't think it confronts-

David: Okay

Seth: ... people of their horrific sin. It's like the hor- their horrific sin is being confronted in the very first half of the book.

David: A bunch of crazy ways.

Seth: Right. And I should mention that, so Ezekiel confronts them on the horror of their sin. They don't believe Ezekiel, and then Ezekiel's prophecies are all proven true in chapter 33 when Jerusalem falls.

David: Right.

Seth: So in the middle of the book, the thing they were holding on to in hope as proof of God's covenant faithfulness to the good part, falls.

David: Right.

Seth: Ezekiel's proven right. All the dates he's meticulously recorded before events happened are proven true. God is being faithful to the covenant of judgment, not of preservation.

David: Mm.

Seth: But then as soon as Jerusalem falls-

David: And the temple falls

Seth: ... the temple falls-

David: Right

Seth: ... you start getting promises of restoration.

David: Mm.

Seth: Why? It's not based on your behavior.

David: Wow.

David: [chuckles]

Seth: ... Jerusalem. I will do it. There's no horrific sin that will prevent me from bringing my new day of Jubilee, and it's not on you. It's on me."

David: Man, that's good news. I love that. And like, and that's what Jesus came to proclaim.

Seth: That's exactly right.

David: He said, the, the, the, "I, I... The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor," talking about this year.

Seth: Yes, and we will talk about that exact-

David: Ah

Seth: ... passage next time-

David: Awesome

Seth: ... because it is all over the opening chapters of Ezekiel.

David: That's amazing. But at the very least, I think we're allowed to say in this episode, no matter the horrific sin that you have committed, listener, viewer, Jesus can bring new creation to you. Nothing can stop it.

Seth: Yeah.

David: There is no condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: Right?

Seth: That's right!

David: That is so-

Seth: That's right

David: ... good.

Seth: Or if there is condemnation, it's already over.

David: Yeah. The temple's already been destroyed.

Seth: The temple's already been destroyed.

David: Jesus died.

Seth: Jesus died.

David: Mm.

Seth: And we're counting down to a new Jubilee.

David: Oh, I love that.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Okay. What will, what will our next episode hold for us?

Seth: Our next episode, we're gonna look at just the opening chapters of Ezekiel, where Ezekiel sees one of the most intense visions of God's glory, the, the, the glory cloud that caused a rabbi-

David: The, the guy to burst into flames. [chuckles]

Seth: ... the rabbi to burst into flames, and we'll talk about that in the context of Jesus's commissioning and his baptism as a prophet of God, too.

David: Okay, so if you wanna burst into flames, make sure you join us for the next episode. [laughing]

Seth: [laughing]

David: Uh, thank you all for joining us as we start the book of Ezekiel. We're excited to walk through it with you, and we'll see you next time.

Outro: [upbeat music] Thank you for listening to the Spoken Gospel podcast. Spoken Gospel creates short films, devotionals, and podcasts like this one. Everything we make is free because of generous supporters like you. To see our resources, visit spokengospel.com or subscribe to our YouTube channel. Thanks for listening. See you next time. [upbeat music]

Related Resources

Free videos sent straight to your inbox.

Counting Down to New Creation: How Ezekiel Proclaims God's Ultimate Jubilee

Show Notes

The Unique Nature of Prophetic Literature

Historical Context: Exile and Misplaced Confidence

The Horror of Sin: Ezekiel's Shocking Imagery

The Structure of Ezekiel: From Judgment to Restoration

Counting Down to Jubilee: The Hidden Structure

The Gospel of Ezekiel: Grace Beyond Sin

Related Resources

Introduction to Ezekiel

View our devotional on Ezekiel 1-3

Ready to study a different book?

Listen to the Ezekiel Overview: Counting Down to New Creation podcast

Listen to the Ezekiel Overview: God Shows Up in Babylon podcast

Listen to the Ezekiel Overview: Prophecies of Shock and Awe podcast

Listen to the Ezekiel Overview: A City of Rest and Freedom podcast