Weekly Bible Reading – Week 36
We have spent several weeks watching everything fall apart. Jerusalem has fallen. The temple has been destroyed. The people have been scattered. Ezekiel has announced judgment after judgment, and by this point it might feel as though Israel’s story has reached its miserable conclusion. But God is not finished.
This week Ezekiel turns decisively toward hope. The God who scattered His people promises to gather them. The God whose glory departed from the temple promises to return. The people whose hearts are stone will be given hearts of flesh. A valley filled with dry bones will stand up as a living army. A ruined land will become like the garden of Eden. And by the end of Ezekiel, a river is flowing out from the presence of God bringing life everywhere it goes.
Then Joel adds one more breathtaking promise: God will pour out His Spirit on His people. This is a week about restoration, but it is deeper than getting back what was lost. God’s answer to exile is ultimately God Himself. He comes back to dwell among His people.
Daily Readings
Day 249 – Ezekiel 31-33: We begin with another picture of the pride and downfall of the nations. Egypt is compared to a magnificent cedar that towers above everything around it, yet even the greatest tree can be brought down when God judges human arrogance.
Then Ezekiel is reminded of his calling as a watchman. The watchman cannot control whether the people listen, but he must sound the alarm. That is an important distinction. Faithfulness does not mean producing the response we want. Faithfulness means speaking what God has given us to speak. And then the news finally arrives: Jerusalem has fallen.
Everything Ezekiel warned about has happened. The question now changes. No longer, “Will judgment come?” Now it becomes, “What happens after judgment?” That question will carry us through the rest of the week.
Day 250 – Ezekiel 34-36: These chapters contain some of the most beautiful promises in all of the Scriptures. God begins by condemning Israel’s shepherds. The leaders who were supposed to care for the sheep have instead fed themselves. They have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, sought the lost, or protected the flock. So God says that He Himself will become their Shepherd.
He will search for His sheep. He will rescue them. He will feed them. He will bind up the injured. And then God promises that He will place over them “one shepherd, my servant David.” Of course, by Ezekiel’s time David has been dead for centuries. This is a promise that another David is coming, the true Shepherd King. Jesus will later stand before Israel and say, “I am the good shepherd.”
Israel does not merely need better leadership or circumstances. They need different hearts. God promises: “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.” He will remove the heart of stone and give a heart of flesh. He will put His Spirit within His people and cause them to walk in His ways. God is not simply rebuilding the nation. He is remaking the people.
Day 251 – Ezekiel 37-39: Then Ezekiel is taken to a valley. It is full of bones. Not dying people. Not sick people. Not even freshly dead bodies. Dry bones. Whatever life had once existed there is long gone.
God asks Ezekiel, “Son of man, can these bones live?” Humanly speaking, the answer is obvious. No. Ezekiel prophesies, the bones come together, flesh covers them, and then the breath enters them. An army stands where a graveyard had been. That is salvation.
God does not look for people with enough life left in them to repair. He speaks life into the dead. The chapter then joins the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah into one people under one king, again identified as “David.” God promises to cleanse them, gather them, establish His covenant of peace with them, and dwell among them. Death becomes life. Division becomes unity. Exile becomes home.
Day 252 – Ezekiel 40-42: The final great vision of Ezekiel begins with measurements. Lots of measurements. If you find yourself struggling through these chapters, you are probably not alone. Ezekiel is shown an enormous temple complex, and the description can feel almost architectural.
Christians have disagreed about exactly how this vision should be understood. Some expect a future physical temple. Others see symbolic imagery portraying God’s restored presence among His people. Still others see the vision ultimately fulfilled through Christ and the new creation. But before getting lost in every measurement, notice what Ezekiel is preparing us for.
The temple is ready. The rooms are ready. The altar is coming. Someone is about to return. Remember that earlier in Ezekiel we watched the glory of God leave the temple because of Israel’s sin. The great question hanging over these chapters is whether the glory will ever come back. Tomorrow we get our answer.
Day 253 – Ezekiel 43-45: “The glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east.” What a moment. The glory returns. The sound is like many waters, the earth shines with His glory, and Ezekiel falls on his face as the glory of the Lord fills the temple.
This is what Israel truly needed. Not simply their land back. Not simply their city rebuilt. Not simply better kings, safer borders, fuller barns, or stronger armies. They needed God.
The tragedy of exile was ultimately the loss of fellowship with God. So the great hope of restoration is His return. God says, “This is the place of my throne… where I will dwell in the midst of the people of Israel forever.” The heart of salvation has always been the same: God dwelling with His people.
Day 254 – Ezekiel 46-48: Ezekiel’s vision ends with a river. Water begins flowing from the temple. At first it is shallow enough to walk through. Then it reaches the ankles, the knees, the waist, until finally it becomes a river too deep to cross. And everywhere the river goes, life appears.
Trees grow along its banks. Salt water becomes fresh. Fish multiply. Fruit grows continuously, and even the leaves of the trees are for healing. Life flows outward from the presence of God. It should be difficult for Christians to read this without thinking ahead to Revelation, where John sees the river of the water of life flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, with the tree of life growing beside it.
The Bible began with humanity expelled from Eden and the presence of God. It ends with the people of God dwelling with Him again. Ezekiel gives us a glimpse of that destination. And the final words of his enormous book may be the most beautiful: “The LORD Is There.” That is the destination of redemption. God with us.
Day 255 – Joel 1-3: Joel begins with disaster. Locusts have devastated the land. Crops are ruined. Joy has withered. The prophet calls the people to repentance and warns of the coming Day of the Lord. “Return to me with all your heart,” God says, but even here, judgment is not the final word.
Joel reminds us that the Lord is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.” God promises restoration, and then Joel gives us one of the great promises of the Old Testament: “I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.” Sons and daughters will prophesy. Old men and young men will receive the Spirit. Even servants, people the ancient world might have considered insignificant, will share in the gift.
Centuries later, on the day of Pentecost, Peter will stand before the crowd in Jerusalem and announce that this promise is being fulfilled. Ezekiel promised, “I will put my Spirit within you.” Joel promised, “I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.” And Jesus, risen and enthroned, pours out the Spirit upon His church.
Deep Dive: The Present Nobody Wants
The greatest gift God gives His people is His presence. And strangely enough, it may be the most unwanted present in the history of the world, right up there with the black socks Aunt Ruth gives you every Christmas. We say we want God. We sing that we want God. We pray for God to be near. But the story of Scripture keeps exposing something uncomfortable about us: we often want what God can give us much more than we want God Himself.
That problem begins almost immediately in the pages of the Bible. Adam and Eve already had what humanity has been trying to recover ever since. They lived in a world untouched by death. They had food in abundance, meaningful work, perfect fellowship with one another, and the presence of God. There was no temple because the whole garden was a holy place where God walked with His creatures. And it still wasn’t enough.
The serpent’s temptation was essentially, There is something better than trusting God. There is something He is withholding from you. Take it for yourself. Humanity has been reaching for that fruit ever since. We want life, but on our terms. We want God’s creation without God’s commands. We want His provision without dependence. We want His blessings without His holiness. We want heaven, provided heaven does not involve anyone telling us what to do. That same pattern appears in Israel.
God rescues them from Egypt, carries them through the sea, feeds them in the wilderness, brings them to Sinai, and says something astonishing: “I will be your God, and you shall be my people.” That is the covenant prize. Not a piece of real estate. Not military security. Not abundant crops or long life. God.
Yet while Moses is on the mountain receiving God’s covenant, the people are already building a golden calf below. The living God has come near, and they decide they would rather have a god they can manufacture, see, control, carry around, and manipulate. If God is really among us, we cannot pretend that our sin does not matter. We cannot redefine good and evil according to our preferences. We cannot hide behind appearances. His holiness exposes us. So we keep trying to take God’s gifts while maintaining a safe distance from God Himself.
Israel wanted the Promised Land, but repeatedly worshiped the gods of the people who lived there. They wanted protection from their enemies, but eventually demanded a king “like all the nations.” They wanted the temple, but often treated it like a religious good-luck charm while their hearts wandered after other gods. They wanted God’s blessing, but resisted God’s prophets.
That is what makes Ezekiel so devastating. God had given Israel the gift they claimed to desire: He dwelt among them. His glory filled the temple. And they filled His land with violence and His temple with idolatry. Eventually Ezekiel watches the glory of God depart. That may be one of the saddest moments in the Old Testament. God leaves the house His people no longer really want Him to inhabit.
But here is the staggering grace of God: He wants to come back. After everything Israel has done, God still says, in effect, I will be your God. You will be my people. I will dwell among you. He does not simply promise to rebuild Jerusalem. He does not simply promise to restore their economy. He does not merely say, “I’ll give you another chance to behave yourselves.” He promises a new heart. He promises His Spirit. He promises resurrection, a Shepherd, and the return of His glory.
Why is life in God’s presence better? Because God is the source of everything we are trying to find somewhere else. We chase security, but God is our refuge and strength. We chase significance, but God calls us His family. We chase satisfaction, but in His presence there is fullness of joy. We chase life, but God is the One who breathes into dry bones.
Sin continually promises us something outside God’s presence that can only truly be found inside it. The strange tragedy of humanity is that we keep leaving the fountain because we think we have discovered a better way to quench our thirst. And every broken cistern eventually runs dry. That is why the Christian hope is much bigger than “going to heaven when you die.” The Bible’s story is moving toward God dwelling with humanity again.
Jesus is Immanuel, God with us. John says that the Word became flesh and “dwelt among us.” Literally, He tabernacled among us. The God whose glory filled the tabernacle and temple came walking into His creation in human flesh. And once again, humanity’s response reveals our problem. God came to dwell among us. And we crucified Him. The presence of God showed up, and we preferred darkness because our deeds were evil. Yet even our rejection could not defeat His purpose.
Jesus rises from the dead, ascends to the Father, and pours out the Holy Spirit upon His people. God’s presence is no longer confined to a temple building in Jerusalem. His people become the temple of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost announces that the promise has begun.
And Revelation shows us where it is all going. The Bible begins with humanity driven out from God’s presence. It ends with God dwelling with humanity again. No temple is needed because “the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.” The river of life flows from God’s throne. The tree of life appears again. The curse is gone. His servants worship Him.
And then comes one of the most astonishing promises in all of Scripture: “They will see his face.” That is salvation completed. Not merely streets of gold. Not merely reunion with people we love. Not merely the absence of sickness, tears, or death. God. We will see His face.
That is why Ezekiel’s final words are so beautiful. After forty-eight chapters of rebellion, judgment, exile, death, promises, visions, measurements, restoration, and glory, the book ends by giving the restored city a name: “The LORD Is There.” Maybe that is the question Ezekiel leaves us with. Is that enough?
If God offered us everything we think we want: comfort, health, success, security, family, prosperity, but withheld Himself, would we be satisfied? I’m afraid for many people today, they would take that deal in a heartbeat.
But what if God gave us Himself even while some of those other things were missing, would we believe that we had received the better gift? The gospel is teaching us to say yes. Because the best thing about the new creation will not be that everything is finally the way we want it. The best thing about the new creation will be that God is there, and at last, our hearts will want Him more than anything else.