Ezekiel 11 ~ you shall know that I am the Lord

Nebula Heart

Ezekiel 11

The Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the house of the Lord, which faces east. And behold, at the entrance of the gateway there were twenty-five men. And I saw among them Jaazaniah the son of Azzur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people. 2 And he said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity and who give wicked counsel in this city; 3 who say, ‘The time is not near to build houses. This city is the cauldron, and we are the meat.’ 4 Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O son of man.”


5 And the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and he said to me, “Say, Thus says the Lord: So you think, O house of Israel. For I know the things that come into your mind. 6 You have multiplied your slain in this city and have filled its streets with the slain. 7 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Your slain whom you have laid in the midst of it, they are the meat, and this city is the cauldron, but you shall be brought out of the midst of it. 8 You have feared the sword, and I will bring the sword upon you, declares the Lord God. 9 And I will bring you out of the midst of it, and give you into the hands of foreigners, and execute judgments upon you. 10 You shall fall by the sword. I will judge you at the border of Israel, and you shall know that I am the Lord. 11 This city shall not be your cauldron, nor shall you be the meat in the midst of it. I will judge you at the border of Israel, 12 and you shall know that I am the Lord. For you have not walked in my statutes, nor obeyed my rules, but have acted according to the rules of the nations that are around you.”

13 And it came to pass, while I was prophesying, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then I fell down on my face and cried out with a loud voice and said, “Ah, Lord God! Will you make a full end of the remnant of Israel?”

14 And the word of the Lord came to me: 15 “Son of man, your brothers, even your brothers, your kinsmen, the whole house of Israel, all of them, are those of whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ‘Go far from the Lord; to us this land is given for a possession.’ 16 Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: Though I removed them far off among the nations, and though I scattered them among the countries, yet I have been a sanctuary to them for a while in the countries where they have gone.’

17 Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.’ 18 And when they come there, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations. 19 And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, 20 that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. 21 But as for those whose heart goes after their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their deeds upon their own heads, declares the Lord God.”

22 Then the cherubim lifted up their wings, with the wheels beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them. 23 And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and stood on the mountain that is on the east side of the city. 24 And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me in the vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to the exiles. Then the vision that I had seen went up from me. 25 And I told the exiles all the things that the Lord had shown me.

The Scriptures tell us there will be a Third Temple. Which annoys some Biblical Scholars because they do not count the continual rebuilding of the Exiles Temple as the 'Second Temple'. And there is the continual debate regarding the original Temple placement. Which Passover is the perfect placing for the altar in the Temple of Jerusalem to face the rising sun. One thing is clear, easterly facing altars were unique to the Hebrew religion of Judaism. Pagan temples were oriented in other directions.

Exekiel has forty-eight chapter and East is discussed at least eight times. Altars to Jehovah, I Am, face East. Towards the rising Sun. And water, water pours away from the Temple.

All of the Bible points to Jesus Christ the only Son of God.

Jesus first declared his kingship to the Samaritan Woman at the Well. It is a very corner aspect of what He wants from us. Ezekiel had this vision far from the Temple. When all seemed very bleak for people with nothing left to them, only faith. Ezekiel continues to tell a conquered, hopeless people to look toward God, expect Him. This is a theme of Scripture, expect Him.

What an amazing thing Faith is. Expecting God to act. The personality of Jesus Christ flows from these lessons of Faith. And Jesus said some pretty amazing things. God says the work He gives mankind is to believe Him.

Jesus told us imperatively:

John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.


Jesus is telling us HE is central to God's plan. John, the beloved disciple begins as Jesus being Life. The Life was the Light of Men.

John 1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.


Luke 16:13
No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Jesus never was employed by the Temple. Yet the Temple was built to reflect His Glory. Jesus threw out people in the thirty-six area Temple when He drove the people He labeled as thieves out. Why aren't we continually amazed Jesus was this empowered. That is vast area.

Ezekiel proclaimed, in faith, the Temple would exist again. Jesus proclaimed the same, with fewer boundaries. His ministry was openly proclaimed to a woman, a Samaritan woman. Here Jesus laid his foundation. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Oddly several times, Ezekiel tells of water flowing from the Temple. The returning exiles would throw out the Samaritan remnants worshiping the best they could.

Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Jesus takes from Ezekiel proclaiming His Sovereignty. He goes to a woman at the well. John records this meeting in the Fourth Chapter of John's Gospel.

"whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”


John 4
Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

<><