Tommy Mann

In Ezekiel 33:7 the Lord appeared to the prophet and told him, “So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.” In an analogous way, Ezekiel was to serve as a watchman for Israel. Watchmen were a common sight in cities that had walls for protection; they were stationed high atop the wall with a great vantage point to see any would-be intruders. Their job was simple: if they saw any invaders, sound the alarm by blasting the trumpet. Give an alert to everyone inside the city walls. As the Lord’s watchman on the wall, Ezekiel had to decide if he was going to sound the alarm or not. But we couldn’t blame him if he didn’t want to. Who wants to be the bearer of bad news? The message was that the people had sinned so much for so long that God was sending an invading army. The people would be receiving the wages of their sin, and yet Ezekiel would be the one to blame if he did not speak the messag...

  The Lord gave the prophet Ezekiel many interesting visions, including one contained in the tenth chapter of the book that bears his name. In this vision Ezekiel saw the Lord inside the temple, which was where God’s invisible presence resided in Israel. The timing of this was shortly before the Southern Kingdom was defeated and exiled.   After describing the four angels around the throne, the prophet described what he saw next: “Then the glory of the LORD went out from the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubim. And the cherubim lifted up their wings and mounted up from the earth before my eyes as they went out, with the wheels beside them. And they stood at the entrance of the east gate of the house of the LORD, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them (v.18-19).” In a shocking scene, the Lord left the temple. The vision was meant as a warning that the Israelites would not be able to go into the temple for worship because they would not be in their homel...