Visions in exile — the wheel within a wheel and the valley of dry bones
And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh.
Ezekiel 11:19Ezekiel was a priest taken into Babylonian exile in 597 BC, in the second wave of captives — eleven years before the final destruction of Jerusalem. In Babylon, by the Kebar River, the heavens opened and he saw visions of God. His ministry stretched from 593 to about 571 BC, overlapping with Daniel (in Babylon's palace) and Jeremiah (still in Jerusalem). Three prophets, three locations, one God, one message.
The book divides cleanly into three parts. Chapters 1-24 contain prophecies of judgment delivered before the fall of Jerusalem — including the famous opening vision of the wheel within a wheel and the four living creatures. Chapters 25-32 are oracles against foreign nations. Chapters 33-48 shift to restoration — the valley of dry bones, the promise of a new heart and a new spirit, the vision of the new temple, and the river flowing from its threshold to heal the dead waters.
Ezekiel is one of the most strikingly visual books in Scripture. He performs dramatic prophetic signs: lying on his side for over a year, shaving his head and weighing the hair on scales, packing exile baggage in the daylight. He sees creatures with four faces and rims of wheels full of eyes. He watches the glory of God leave the temple in stages — and prophesies its return. The book of Revelation borrows from Ezekiel more than from any other prophet except Daniel.
2 chapters per day · with Revelation alongside
The Spirit of the LORD sets Ezekiel down in the middle of a valley full of bones — very many and very dry. "Son of man, can these bones live?" Ezekiel answers, "O Lord GOD, thou knowest." Then God commands him to prophesy: "O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD." There is a great noise, a shaking, bones come together, sinews and flesh appear, then breath enters them and they stand — an exceeding great army. The vision's meaning is given immediately: this is the whole house of Israel, dead in exile, who will be raised. The chapter is one of the great resurrection passages of the OT, and the vision of national restoration finds its ultimate fulfillment in Pentecost (Acts 2) and in the final resurrection.
'A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you.' This single verse is the engine of the New Testament's doctrine of regeneration. Jesus tells Nicodemus he must be born again — born of water and the Spirit (John 3:5). Paul writes that anyone in Christ is a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). The Spirit who would only come upon select individuals in the OT now indwells every believer in the NT — and the source of this revolutionary promise is Ezekiel 36.
Near the end of Ezekiel's vision of the new temple, a river flows out from beneath the threshold. It starts as a trickle, deepens as it flows — ankle-deep, knee-deep, waist-deep, then waters to swim in. Where the river goes, life flourishes. Even the Dead Sea is healed; fishermen line its shore. Trees grow on both banks, bearing twelve crops of fruit, their leaves for healing. Revelation 22 picks up this image directly: 'And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb...the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.' Ezekiel's river becomes John's river. The vision spans both Testaments.
By the Kebar River in 593 BC, Ezekiel saw the most astonishing vision in the Old Testament. Four living creatures, each with four faces — man, lion, ox, eagle. Each had four wings. Beside each creature, a wheel — and within each wheel, another wheel. The rims of the wheels were full of eyes all around. Where the creatures went, the wheels went. Above them all, a crystal expanse, and above the expanse, a throne of sapphire, and on the throne, the likeness of a man surrounded by fire. This is the divine throne-chariot. Revelation 4:6-8 draws directly on this vision — the four living creatures around God's throne. Ezekiel sees God moving — God is not bound to a temple. God comes to his exiled people in Babylon.