Commemoration of Ezekiel - 2012

Commemoration of Ezekiel

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Ezekiel by Raphael

Today we remember, on our liturgical calendar in the LC-MS, Ezekiel, the son of Buzi. He was a priest called by God to be a prophet to the exiles during the Babylonian captivity (Ezekiel 1:36). In 597 bc, King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian army brought the king of Judah and thousands of the best citizens of Jerusalem – including Ezekiel – to Babylon (2 Kings 24:8-16). Ezekiel’s priestly background profoundly stamped his prophecy, as the holiness of God and the temple figure prominently in his messages (for example, Ezekiel 9-10 and 40-48). From 593 bc to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 586 bc, Ezekiel prophesied the inevitability of divine judgment on Jerusalem, on the exiles in Babylon, and on seven nations that surrounded Israel (Ezekiel 1-32). Jerusalem would fall, and the exiles would not quickly return, as a just consequence of their sin. Once word reached Ezekiel that Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed, his message became one of comfort and hope. Through him, God promised that His people would experience future restoration, renewal, and revival in the coming messianic kingdom (Ezekiel 33-48). Much of the strange symbolism of Ezekiel’s prophecies was later employed in the Revelation to St. John. Because of that strange symbolism, both Ezekiel and Revelation have attracted some of the wildest and most unsound interpretations of any of the biblical books.

Prayer: Lord God, heavenly Father, through the prophet Ezekiel, You continued the prophetic pattern of teaching Your people the true faith and demonstrating through miracles Your presence in creation to heal it of its brokenness. Grant that Your Church may see in Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the final end-times prophet whose t5eaching and miracles continue in Your Church through the healing medicine of the Gospel and the Sacraments; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Blessings in Christ,

Pastor John Rickert