Even in the midst of judgment, the glorious, holy God of Israel prophesied restoration. He would resurrect His covenantal people as surely as Ezekiel had witnessed the revivification of dry bones (Ezek. 37:1–14). However, the Lord would not restore them merely to their condition before judgment, but He would cleanse them and give them a new heart, reestablish them in their ancestral kingdom, place over them a righteous Davidic prince, and dwell in their midst forever (Ezek. 36:22–37:28).

Ezekiel’s pages are littered with tension of all sorts: the people of God severed into exiles in Babylon and besieged residents in Jerusalem, a wound-up prophet from a priestly lineage who lies on his left side for 390 days and who refuses to mourn the death of his wife, and visions of esoteric symbolism combined with graphic, unsettling oracles (Ezek. 4:4–8; 24:15–24). Perhaps the greatest tension in Ezekiel lies in the revelation of God’s character: transcendent but immanent, holy and offended by sin but forgiving, and terrible in His judgment but wondrous in His mercy. Although these tensions have the potential to distress or confuse the reader, the book of Ezekiel makes known the name and glory of the Lord in a unique and instructive way.

These three things should assist you in unwinding the tension and delighting in Ezekiel’s prophecies.

1. Ezekiel’s Strange Visions and Oracles Reveal a Glorious but Knowable God

You don’t have to read far into Ezekiel to experience bewilderment. His inaugural vision and call feature four living creatures (later identified as cherubim) with monstrous characteristics, a theophany of the “likeness of the glory of the Lord” that rattles the mortal senses, and a series of activities that come with his commission—including consumption of a scroll and muteness (Ezek. 1:1–3:27; 10:20). And this is just the beginning of the book. Symbolic acts, images, and pronouncements, and visitations by the glorious Lord and His angelic entourage, recur throughout its entirety (see Ezek. 10:1–22; 40:1–4).

But know this: you should experience wonderment. Encountering the glory of the transcendent God demands a response of amazement and humility. Upon receiving it, Ezekiel falls on his face (Ezek. 1:28). Part of the purpose for this record of his Spirit-filled ministry is to prompt the same awe-filled response in us. Human beings like Ezekiel, like the Babylonian exiles, and like us cannot know God on our own terms: He must make Himself known. Yet, make no mistake, Ezekiel discloses that our sovereign God is immanent and does make Himself known throughout the world, as the phrase “You will know that I am the Lord” occurs throughout the oracles both to Israel and to the nations (Ezek. 7:4, 9; 11:10; 13:9, etc.).

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