Simply teaching the Bible, simply

This study of the book of Ezekiel, taught by Pastor Barry Forder, is the 26th session of our ‘Through-the-Bible-in-a-Year’ series recorded during 2014 as part of our Sunday morning family services. Regarding the book of Ezekiel, John Patterson once said: “Probably no book of the Old Testament is as little read as his, and it may well be the least popular, as it is the least known of the Old Testament”. Yet as P.C. Plumptre comments: “His book is difficult, obscure and tantalizing…but man needs it just as much as the Hebrew exiles needed it”, and Andrew Blackwood insightfully explains why: “Ezekiel adds something almost completely missing from modern thought…the element of hope.” Ezekiel, taken captive as a young man from his homeland to far-away Babylon, a contemporary with Jeremiah & Daniel, could so easily have given up on his faith in God. Today the tendency is to quit if the going gets tough, to follow the path of least resistance, to go along with public opinion and never challenge the status quo. Not Ezekiel. He was the son of a priest, of the tribe of Levi and ‘the hand of the LORD was there upon him’ (Ezekiel 1:3) For 22 years Ezekiel faithfully taught and prophesied to his countrymen in exile; it was a message of God’s judgment, but also of forgiveness and the promise of restoration. Ezekiel gives us some of the most dramatic and detailed prophecies in the Bible, and some of the most significant for us today! We see him prophecy the very day that Israel would become a nation again after 2500 years! He also prophesied the regathering of Israel to their land – albeit in unbelief to start with, only to then be quickened by God’s Spirit and live. He foretells of a nuclear assault on Israel, seemingly led by the Islamic nations around her, and notes how the rest of the world just watches on. At times you have to remind yourself that this is not today’s newspaper, but rather was recorded 2500 years ago! If you have not already done so, read this book! It is our hope that this overview will prompt you to undertake your own study of this divinely inspired book. The PDF slides are from the PowerPoint presentation used during the teaching session. You can listen to the audio on this web page, or save it for later listening.