*Jeremiah 28:1 & 15-17, "And it came to pass the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, and in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet, which was of Gibeon, spake unto me in the house of the LORD, in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. Then said the prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah; The LORD hath not sent thee; but thou makest this people to trust in a lie. Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will cast thee from off the face of the earth: this year thou shalt die, because thou hast taught rebellion against the LORD. So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month."

In the fourth year of Zedekiah's reign he sent emissaries to the king of Babylon. So Jeremiah sent a letter, with Elasah and Gemariah, to the people of the captivity warning the people not to listen to the prophets that were among them that were speaking lies telling them that they would return to Jerusalem.

*Jeremiah 29:1-14, "Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders which were carried away captives, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon; (After that Jeconiah the king, and the queen, and the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the carpenters, and the smiths, were departed from Jerusalem;) By the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, (whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent unto Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon) saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon; Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them; Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace. For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed. For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the LORD. For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive."

Jeremiah also wrote a book declaring all the evil that would come upon Babylon. Giving the book to Seraiah he told him , "When you arrive at Babylon read all these words then say, 'O LORD, thou hast spoken against this place, to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever'," (*Jeremiah 51:62.) He further told him when he finished reading the book to tie a stone to it and cast it into the Euphrates. Then say, "Thus shall Babylon sink and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her."

While Jeremiah remained in Jerusalem speaking the word of God to a stubborn and rebellious nation the Lord sent a young priest into captivity to the land of Babylon. There, in the fifth year of Jehoiachin's captivity, Ezekiel was given visions and God set him as a watchman for the house of Israel. Ezekiel was commanded to hear the word given by the mouth of the Lord and give them warning from Him. "And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee. And the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard him that spake unto me. And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this very day. For they are impudent children and stiffhearted. I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD. And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them," (*Ezekiel 2:1-5).

Then the hand of the Lord brought a scroll to him and spread it out before Ezekiel. Written on both sides of the parchment were lamentations, mourning, and woe. The Lord told him to eat the scroll and be filled with it. When he ate it, it tasted like honey. Then God told him, "Son of man, go to the house of Israel, and speak my words to them. You are not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel. If I would send you to a people whose language you don't know surely they would listen to you. But the house of Israel will not listen to you because they will not listen to me. All the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted."

*Psalm 139:1-12, "O lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee."

*Ezekiel 1:1-7, "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. In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity, The word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was there upon him. And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire enfolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire. Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man. And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings. And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like the color of burnished brass."

 

"The heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God." God moved the curtain back revealing His throne to the priest, the prophet, Ezekiel. Oh, what glory he saw! Too awesome for simple words to describe. What the vision reveals is the nature of an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent God. Ehyeh, I Am, Who is above all things. Jehovah, Self-existent, Eternal, the One Who is, Who was, and Who is yet to come. He is Jehovah-shammah, the Lord is there, ever present where ever we go, where ever we are. There is nothing hidden from Him, even in the secret places where we hide.

The Spirit of the Lord moved upon Ezekiel and he spoke the word of God to the people of the captivity. He laid siege against Israel, according to the Lord's design, for three-hundred and ninety days bearing their iniquity. For forty days he laid siege against Jerusalem bearing their iniquity , a day for each year of their transgressions. Ezekiel became a willing servant, God's watchman, His voice among the people in the land of Shinar.

Then the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel saying, "Thus says the Lord GOD to the land of Israel, 'An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land. Now is the end coming and I will send My anger and will judge you according to your deeds and will recompense upon you all your abominations. My eye will not spare you neither will I have pity. I will recompense your ways upon you and you shall know that I am the LORD'."

In the sixth year the sixth month the fifth day of the month, Ezekiel sat in his house and the elders of Judah were with him. There the hand of the Lord GOD fell upon him and he saw a vision, the likeness as the appearance of fire. Whose appearance from his loins downward were fire, as the color of amber. Then a hand was put forth and Ezekiel was taken by a lock of his hair and the Spirit lifted him up between earth and heaven, and brought him in the visions of God to Jerusalem. It brought him to the door of the inner gate of the temple toward the north where the seat of the image of jealousy had been placed. And the glory of the God of Israel was there. The same glory that he saw by the River Chebar.

*Jeremiah 32:17-18, "Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee: Thou shewest lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, the LORD of hosts, is his name."

Ezekiel was in captivity but his spirit was filled with the power of God and in God's power He brought him to the temple in Jerusalem where He revealed to Ezekiel all the abominations that they were doing. Imagine, if you will, how you would feel if you were betrayed by the one who you loved. The outward appearance of the temple was one of glory. A building designed of wood sealed in gold. Filled with the radiance and perfume of all that was pure and holy. Designed for the purpose of glorifying the one you love, yet lying hidden deep inside the stench of idolatry, adultery, incense, impurity, and homosexuality.

Israel refused to listen and the words of Isaiah were lost in the din of their own rebellion. *Isaiah 42:8, "I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images." The Lord took Ezekiel from the temple to the eastern gate and there he watched as the glory of the Lord stopped and then moved to the Mount of Olives where it departed leaving Jerusalem naked and ashamed. The city where the Lord God Almighty had chosen to place His name was now left unprotected.

*Jeremiah 32:1-5, "The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar. For then the king of Babylon's army besieged Jerusalem: and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah's house. For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, Wherefore dost thou prophesy, and say, Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it; And Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall behold his eyes; And he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there shall he be until I visit him, saith the LORD: though ye fight with the Chaldeans, ye shall not prosper." In 586 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar once again encamped against Jerusalem. This was the third and final thrust and he destroyed the wall, the temple, the city, and carried all of Jerusalem, the vessels of the temple, and all it's brass and gold to Babylon leaving nothing but a remnant.

Zedekiah, in an attempt to flee, was captured by the Chaldean army and taken to Riblah before Nebuchadnezzar. There judgment was made and Zedekiah watched as the king of Babylon killed all his sons and all the nobles of Jerusalem. Then they put out Zedekiah's eyes, bound him, and carried him away to Babylon just as Jeremiah had prophesied against him according to the word of the Lord. *Ezekiel 33:21, "And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, that one that had escaped out of Jerusalem came unto me, saying, The city is smitten."

*Ezekiel 16:60-63, "Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant. Then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed, when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder and thy younger: and I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not by thy covenant. And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD: That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord GOD."

&The visions of Ezekiel are very vivid and candid. But God in His mercy never leaves us without hope and the promise of those things which will be fulfilled. We will look at the visions of Ezekiel as compared to those of Daniel's further into the study. May God grant you eyes to see, ears to hear, and a greater understanding of Who He is. Remember God is the rewarder of those who seek Him diligently.