The morning of doom was dawning,
the rod had blossomed, and pride had budded from the abominations of the
Children of Israel in the holy temple. Violation of the inner sanctuary
would bring destruction to the city and to the land. When Israel was
in the depth of their distress during the midnight of their captivity,
however, Ezekiel received a glorious vision of the coming morning when
their city would be restored. The vision of the new city was given which
such awe-inspiring detail and such imposing grander that it could not but
bring hope and assurance of the return of the glory of God to their city.
The prophecies of Ezekiel is more than just the struggles of the Children
of Israel to be set free from their captivity and to be returned to their
Promised Land. It is the legend of every man, of every tribe of
people, and of every nation. It is the story of mankind coming back
to their homeland, to their city, and to their sanctuary.
Ultimately, it is to experience the temple not made with hands, Jesus
Christ.
In Chapters 1-3, Ezekiel described his visions of God with its
consequential charge of prophetic utterances to the people of God. In
Chapters 4-24, he announced the judgments of God upon the nation of
Israel, the city of Jerusalem, and the sanctuary of the temple. In
Chapters 25-32, he foresaw the destruction of the neighboring nations of
Israel for their rejoicing and ridicule over Israel’s fall. In Chapters
33-39, Ezekiel turned to the actually destruction of the temple, the fall
of the city, and the completion of Israel’s captivity. Finally, in
Chapters 40-48, the promise of a greater sanctuary, of a greater city, and
of a greater nation to come is given by Ezekiel.
Behind what is occurring on the surface of physical events, there is an
underlying development of the mystery of life. The physical events are not
just happening, freaks of nature. They are following the divine plan of
the created world: the sunset, the midnight, the sunrise, and the new day.
As Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of
wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it
bringeth forth much fruit" (John 12:24). Life always follows the
sequence of events in the mystery of life.
Experiencing the good life is simple: live in harmony with the ways of
life. The human dilemma decrees
that there will always be sunlight, sunset, midnight, and sunrise. The
seed will always fall to the ground and die.
Midnights will come.
The good life depends not on the
midnights but rather how you are responding to the ways of life as you go
through the midnights. You can either live through them in peace and
rest or by tossing and turning. Life can either be heavenly or
hellish.
The prophecies of Ezekiel reveal the
secrets of the mystery of experiencing the good life.
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