Whew! Not going to lie. Ezekiel has been like slogging through thick mud. So much mystery, vision, judgment, then something powerful and then something strange. But at times, I felt I encountered the Lord as I was reading in certain places.
So what can we glean?
- God is a God of restoration. Truly. He doesn’t want to see anyone suffer but rather to restore them. Though sometimes that means discipline which we see in the exile.
- If the Presence of God isn’t with the people of God, then the city is just a shell.
- There’s a difference between the holy and common. And when those lines blur it’s because we have drifted from God.
- God judges nations. Not in a salvation way but in a blessings/judgment kind of way.
- Each person is responsible for their own sin, yet when a mass number in a group sin without repentance, God sometimes has to step in
- God can turn a stony heart into a heart of flesh
- God never left Israel, even in their punishment, judgment and exile
- Great sinfulness around someone does not justify compromise. The sons of Zadok, the priests, stayed true when every priest around them was doing what was evil and against the Lord’s commands
- It’s a slow fade, when you give yourself away.
