Understanding Ezekiel
The prophetic portion of the book of Ezekiel is from chapters 36 to the end of the book, chapter 48. But before I write about that, I would like to look at a very interesting portion in Ezekiel; chapter 28. In this section of Ezekiel, God is giving messages to the nations around Israel. The two messages in Ezekiel 28 are addressed to the Phoenecian city/nation of Tyre to the northwest of Israel. The messages are addressed to the prince of Tyre and the king of Tyre. I wrote a ten page article on this chapter. Below is a link to this article if you want to read it.
The analysis of Ezekiel 36-48 is quite long (42 pages). I present the paper in its entirety as a pdf document at the link below. The final chapter on conclusions and charts I have included below.
Conclusion and Charts
The theme of the prophetic chapters 36 through 48 in Ezekiel is restoration.
There are four elements that need to be restored: the land, the people, the kingdom, and the temple.
In Ezekiel’s time, the land had been conquered, the people deported, the kingdom abolished, and the temple destroyed.
His prophecies foretell a restoration of all four things.
But the plan and timing to restore each element is different, but related.
For instance, for the temple to be restored, the land has to first be occupied by the people.
Each of the messages/visions deals with the restoration of each element.
The land will need to be restored first, but it is also defiled by all the dead corpses after the final conflict at the end of the Millennium.
Therefore, the restoration of the land has to begin first, but is also the last to be restored or cleansed after the final conflict.
As seen in the chart above, the land, people, kingdom, and temple each have their own timeline
as to their state and the timing of their restoration.
Below is a chart of the messages and visions regarding the time periods they describe.
These messages/visions describe conditions over long periods of time.
The chart below describes messages 4 and 5 in more detail.
This chart with events from Ezekiel and Revelation is interleaved into a timeline.
The chart is quite busy.
Areas of overlap between Ezekiel and Revelation include the resurrection of OT saints,
the restoration of the Davidic Kingdom, the temple ministry, and the final conflict at the end of the Millennium.
