Ez 11:14-25

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Hope for the future (Eze 11:14-25)

Those left in Jerusalem thought they were God’s favoured people. They thought their security was guaranteed because they lived in the city where his temple was situated. They looked upon the exiles as having been cast off by God, forsaken and unclean in a foreign land (Eze 11:14-15).

To the contrary, Ezekiel points out that the exiles are God’s favoured people, the remnant whom he has preserved. When they repent of their idolatry and rebellion, he will bring them back to their land (Eze 11:16-18).

He will restore them to a new covenant relationship with himself, and put within them a new spirit that will make them more responsive to his will. The rebellious, however, will be punished (Eze 11:19-21).

As a final demonstration that God would no longer dwell among or protect the people living in Jerusalem, the chariot-throne bearing the glory of God departed from the temple, went out of the city and came to rest on a nearby mountain. God had left Jerusalem, but he was still within reach if the people decided to repent (Eze 11:22-23).

Now that the series of visions was finished, Ezekiel returned to normal. In spirit he was no longer in Jerusalem, but back in Babylon, where he recounted his experiences to the exiles (Eze 11:24-25; cf. Eze 8:1-4).