Book of Ezekiel Summary : Wheels, Bones, and the Glory of God

Book of Ezekiel Summary : Wheels, Bones, and the Glory of God

The Book of Ezekiel is one of the most vivid and unusual books in the Bible. Written by the prophet Ezekiel during Israel’s exile in Babylon, it combines visions, symbolic acts, strange parables, and soaring promises. If you’ve ever wondered where the Bible’s strangest imagery comes from — wheels within wheels, dry bones coming to life, or a prophet cooking bread over dung — Ezekiel is the book.

At its core, however, Ezekiel is not just strange. It is profoundly serious. It shows that God’s glory cannot be confined to a temple, that sin brings devastating judgment, and that God Himself will restore His people with a new heart and Spirit. For Christians, Ezekiel’s visions point powerfully to Christ, the true Shepherd and the presence of God among His people.

Introduction: Author, Date, and Context

Author: Ezekiel, a priest taken into Babylonian exile in 597 BC, is both prophet and priest. His ministry bridges liturgical knowledge with prophetic vision.

Date: His prophecies span about 22 years, from 593–571 BC, during the early exile after Jerusalem’s first fall but before its final destruction in 586 BC.

Etymology (Hebrew): Yeḥezqēl (יְחֶזְקֵאל, modern pronunciation: Yeh-HEZ-kel) means “God strengthens.”

Etymology (Greek – LXX): In the Septuagint, the name is Ἰεζεκιήλ (Iezekiēl, modern pronunciation: Yeh-zeh-kee-ÉEL).

Setting: Ezekiel speaks from Babylon to exiles crushed by despair. His book balances judgment for sin with hope of God’s renewed covenant presence.

Summary of Movements

1. The Call and the Glory of God (Chs. 1–3)

   
   

   Ezekiel’s opening vision: “I saw a great storm… In the center of the fire, I saw something that looked like four living beings… Each had a human form… Each had a face and four wings” (1:4–6, NLT). The famous “wheels within wheels” appear here, symbolizing God’s glory as all-seeing and mobile — not tied to Jerusalem’s temple.

2. Acts of Judgment (Chs. 4–24)

   
   

   Ezekiel performs bizarre symbolic acts: lying on his side for hundreds of days, shaving his hair, and eating bread baked over dung (God mercifully allowed cow dung instead of human dung — Ezekiel 4:15). These dramatize Jerusalem’s coming famine, siege, and destruction.

3. Judgment on Nations (Chs. 25–32)

   
   

   Prophecies against Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia, Tyre, Egypt — reminding Israel that God is sovereign over all nations.

4. The Fall of Jerusalem (Ch. 33)

   
   

   A messenger arrives: “The city has fallen!” (33:21). Ezekiel’s warnings are fulfilled, shifting the book’s tone from judgment to restoration.

5. The True Shepherd (Ch. 34)

   
   

   God denounces Israel’s corrupt leaders: “I myself will search and find my sheep… I will be their shepherd” (34:11, 15, NLT). This anticipates Christ as the Good Shepherd (John 10).

6. The Valley of Dry Bones (Ch. 37)

   
   

   A vision of Israel’s resurrection: “Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again” (37:5, NLT). A picture of both national restoration and ultimate resurrection in Christ.

7. The New Temple and God’s Glory (Chs. 40–48)

   
   

   Ezekiel ends with a vision of a future temple, a river of life flowing from it, and the promise that the city’s new name will be “The Lord Is There” (48:35).

Note on the Temple Vision – Not A Third Temple

Ezekiel’s final chapters describe a temple with precise measurements, rivers flowing from its foundation, and God’s glory returning. Some groups take this as a blueprint for a future, physical temple. But there are several reasons why this vision is not literal architecture:

1. Logical Timeline Problem: When Ezekiel wrote, the first temple was destroyed and the second temple hadn’t even been built yet. Why would God give blueprints for a third temple while skipping over the second? The more consistent reading is symbolic.

2. The Dimensions Don’t Fit

   
   

   Ezekiel’s temple complex is massive — far larger than Mount Zion could ever physically hold. The scale is symbolic, not practical.

3. Rituals Reintroduced

   
   

   The vision includes animal sacrifices (Ezekiel 43:18–27). If taken literally, this would contradict the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ (Hebrews 10:10–14).

4. Prophetic Symbolism

   
   

   Ezekiel’s entire ministry used symbols (lying on his side, cutting his hair, bread over dung). The temple vision continues this pattern: it’s a symbol of God’s perfect presence with His people.

5. New Testament Fulfillment

   • Jesus identifies Himself as the true temple: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19–21).

   • The church is called God’s temple, built on Christ (Ephesians 2:19–22).

   • Revelation 21–22 describes a New Jerusalem with no temple: “for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple” (Revelation 21:22).

Conclusion: Ezekiel’s temple is a prophetic picture, not blueprints. It points beyond stones and sacrifices to Christ as the true temple, the river of life flowing from Him, and God’s eternal presence with His people.

Christ Connections

• The Glory of God (Ch. 1): Ezekiel sees the divine glory enthroned, which the New Testament identifies with Christ (John 1:14; Hebrews 1:3).

• The True Shepherd (Ch. 34): God Himself promises to shepherd His flock; Jesus claims this role explicitly in John 10:11.

• The New Heart and Spirit (Ch. 36:26): “I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you.” Fulfilled in Christ’s gift of the Spirit (John 7:39; Acts 2).

• The Valley of Dry Bones (Ch. 37): Foreshadows Christ’s resurrection power, echoed in John 5:25 and fulfilled in the resurrection of the dead (1 Corinthians 15).

• The Temple Vision (Chs. 40–48): Fulfilled in Christ as the true temple (John 2:19–21) and in the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21–22).

Oddities & Dark Details

• Cannibalism (5:10): As part of siege judgment: “Parents will eat their own children, and children will eat their parents.” A fulfillment of covenant curses (Leviticus 26:29).

• Ezekiel Bread (4:9–15): Ezekiel bakes bread with beans, lentils, millet, and wheat — but over cow dung. Today it’s marketed as “healthy bread.” In reality, it was famine food — the worst branding in Christian history!

• Ohola and Oholibah (Ch. 23): Perhaps the most shocking allegory in Scripture. The two sisters represent Samaria (Ohola, meaning “her tent”) and Jerusalem (Oholibah, meaning “my tent is in her”). Both are described as unfaithful wives committing spiritual prostitution. The language is explicit, bordering on obscene by modern standards: their lust, unfaithfulness, and punishment are described in crude physical detail. This grotesque imagery drives home the seriousness of Israel’s idolatry and covenant betrayal.

• Death of His Wife (24:15–27): God tells Ezekiel his wife will die, and he must not mourn publicly. A symbol of Jerusalem losing its “delight” (the temple).

• Strange Symbolic Acts:

  • Lying on one side for 390 days.

  • Cutting his hair into thirds: burned, struck, and scattered (Ch. 5).

  • Packing bags and digging through a wall (Ch. 12) — a live-action sermon of exile.

• Graphic Imagery of Sin (Chs. 16, 23): Israel compared to adulterous wives, told in brutally raw language.

Deeper Insights & Easter Eggs

• God’s Mobile Glory (Ch. 1): The “wheels within wheels” show God is not confined to Jerusalem — a radical truth for exiles, preparing for Christ’s presence “where two or three gather” (Matthew 18:20).

• Son of Man: Ezekiel is called “Son of Man” over 90 times. This title becomes Jesus’ favorite self-designation in the Gospels, linking Him to Ezekiel’s prophetic role.

• River from the Temple (47:1–12): The river of life flowing from Ezekiel’s temple parallels Revelation 22’s river of life, fulfilled in Christ’s Spirit.

Application

• God’s Glory Is Not Confined: His presence is not limited to buildings or traditions — Christ dwells with His people.

• Judgment Is Real: Ezekiel’s graphic imagery reminds us of sin’s seriousness. We cannot sanitize rebellion against God.

• Christ the Shepherd: True leaders serve the flock. False shepherds feed themselves — the same danger in the church today.

• Resurrection Hope: If God can breathe life into dry bones, He can resurrect broken lives, churches, and nations.

Encouragement

Though Ezekiel is heavy with judgment and strange imagery, it ends with hope: “The Lord is there.” Christ fulfills that promise, dwelling with us through the Spirit, and one day visibly in the New Jerusalem. No matter how dry the bones or how great the exile, God’s presence brings life.

Conclusion

Ezekiel is bizarre, unsettling, and brilliant. Through wheels of fire, bread baked on dung, dry bones, and rivers of life, it preaches a consistent truth: God is holy, sin brings death, but His glory and Spirit bring life. For Christians, Ezekiel is not just about ancient exile — it is about Christ, the Shepherd, the Resurrection, and the Temple of God’s eternal presence.