Ezekiel

<<OT prophet>>

He was deported along with many thousands of other Jews from Judah in 598 BC – when the Babylonians attacked for the second time.  Prior to this Ezekiel was being trained as a priest, but when exiled in Babylon God called him to be a prophet – to be a ‘watchman’, and pass on God’s warnings of coming judgment (Ezek 3:17).  He was married but very little else is known of him as a person although his prophecies and visions were clear and powerful. The restorative visions included seeing people rising again from the dead bones and God enthroned with glory in the temple (Ezek 37:1-14, 43:1-12). A common statement Ezekiel was instructed to declare was, "And you will know that I am the Lord" (Ezek 6:7,10,13,14...).

His story is told in the Book of Ezekiel. It is reckoned he was born in 622 BC and continued to prophesy until 570 BC.

Lessons from his life: * Even though God said the people would not listen Ezekiel faithfully declared His message, remaining true to God in a seemingly hopeless situation (Ezek 2:7, 3:7). We can’t make people respond yet it our responsibility to lovingly declare God’s message in a consistent and relevant way. 

* He lived what he preached, and illustrated his messages with dramatic object lessons (Ezek 12:2-7).  Do we make God’s message forceful and eye-catching to get people thinking, talking and hopefully choose to follow Him?  Remember, what we share must be a true portrayal of the gospel not a false concept of man’s imagination or modified to make it politically correct.

See also: Babylon, Ezekiel (Ezek), Jeremiah, prophets.