The Book of Ezekiel
Visions of glory — a new heart, dry bones made alive, and God's presence returning.
Overview
Ezekiel prophesied to the exiles in Babylon through startling visions and vivid signs. He confronts sin honestly, but his lasting message is restoration: God will give his people a new heart and a new spirit.
His vision of a valley of dry bones coming to life is one of the Bible's great pictures of hope — God breathing life into what seemed dead beyond recovery.
Key themes
A new heart
God promises to replace hearts of stone with hearts of flesh.
Life from death
The valley of dry bones shows God's power to revive the hopeless.
God the Shepherd
God himself promises to seek out and care for his scattered sheep.
Key verses from Ezekiel
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.
God's promise of inward transformation.
Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.
For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.
How to read Ezekiel
Don't get stuck in the visions — look for the hope they carry.
Read the dry-bones vision (chapter 37) when hope feels lost.
Notice God's promise of a new heart, fulfilled in the gospel.