Ezekiel 1:1, "Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God."

God always gives us time to repent for He is slow to wrath not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance and know He is God. God, in His mercy, sent His messengers the prophets to reveal His desire toward the nation of Israel and her sister Judah, but they would not listen even though His words were revealed as truth.

The southern nation of Judah had committed adultery with the gods of the nations that God had cast out of the land. In 605 B.C. God began removing the nation of Judah sending them into captivity to Babylon for their transgressions.

In approximately 597 B.C., Ezekiel, a priest in Jerusalem, went into captivity along with the 10,000 who Nebuchadnezzar took to Babylon. At the age of thirty, Ezekiel was sent by God to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that had rebelled against Him.

Ezekiel saw, in a vision, God's glory removed from the presence of Jerusalem and the Temple. Judah did not listen to the words of Isaiah, "I Am the Lord, that is My name, and My glory I will not give to another, neither My praise to graven images, (Isaiah 42:8).

Ezekiel 36:24-28, "For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God."

Ezekiel's visions reveal that nothing is hidden from God, even those things which are done in secret. That God knows the thoughts and the imaginations of the heart are only evil continually. For nothing is secret that shall not be manifested and nothing committed that shall not be revealed; but, praise be to God, there is always the hope of salvation when we repent and return to Him. There is mercy, goodness, and forgiveness, even in His anger.

Ezekiel reveals the nature of an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent God. The One Who knows the beginning and the end of all things for He is the Alpha and the Omega. The One Who is, Who was, and Who is yet to come, the Almighty. He is Jehovah-shammah, the One Who is ever present wherever we go, wherever we are.

Ezekiel is a book revealing the glory and the eternal power of God. For one moment in time God moved the curtain back revealing His throne to the priest, the prophet, Ezekiel. His visions give us a glimpse of what he saw, and oh, what glory he saw! One day a new Jerusalem will descend from heaven and there God's name and presence will be established forever more.