エゼキエル書2:1-3:3　Ezekiel 2:1-3:3

This year is 2025 AD. As I mentioned last week, this means that it is the 2025th year since Jesus was born into this world. And before Jesus was born, we count the number of years as before Christ (BC). For example, if it was the year of 587 years before the year Jesus was born into this world, we would say 587 BC.

In that year, 587 BC, the city of Jerusalem, which was ruled by the descendants of King David, was attacked and destroyed by the army of the Babylonian Empire. However, this was not the first time that the Babylonian Empire’s army had attacked the city of Jerusalem. Ten years earlier, in 597 BC, the Babylonian Empire’s army had attacked and occupied the city of Jerusalem, and taken the man who was king at the time, Jeconiah, to the land of Babylon. Then, the king of Babylon installed Zedekiah, King Jeconiah’s uncle, as king and made him a retainer of the king of Babylon. At that time, the king of Babylon took not only King Jeconiah, but also 3023 other people of high rank who were in Jerusalem, and took them to the land of Babylon. Among these people was a priest named Ezekiel, who served God.

In 593 BC, five years after King Jeconiah was taken to Babylon, Ezekiel had a vision of a very strange creature that showed the glory of God in Babylon. God then called out to him, “I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me.” At this time, the Kingdom of Judah and its capital Jerusalem had not yet been destroyed. However, King Zedekiah and the people were disobeying God’s teachings, and so they were soon to be destroyed by God’s judgment. God commanded Ezekiel to go and tell the people about this message of God’s judgment. It must have been very painful for him to tell the people of his own country that their country would be destroyed by God’s judgment.

In his vision, Ezekiel was given a scroll with the words of people who were sad and grieving because their country was destroyed by God’s judgment. He was then told to eat the scroll. When Ezekiel ate the scroll in his vision, it was strangely sweet. Why was this? It was because God’s words, even if they are harsh judgements or words of sorrow and lamentation, will give comfort and hope to those who believe and accept them. In other words, even if a country is destroyed by God’s judgement, afterwards God will give people a righteous heart so that they can recover once more.

In this way, Ezekiel, who had been called as a prophet to speak God’s words, boldly informed the people that the city of Jerusalem would be destroyed. However, he also spoke of the hope that, after that destruction, God would give the people a righteous heart so that they could obey God. For example, he prophesied, “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, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them” (11:19-20). “The heart of stone” refers to a stubborn heart that is opposed to God, while “a heart of flesh” refers to a living heart that obeys God. Ezekiel also saw a mysterious vision of people who had died and become nothing but bones, who were then brought back to life with flesh and skin (chapter 37). This vision showed that the people who had been destroyed could recover and rebuild a community of people who believed in God. In this way, the prophets who conveyed God’s words to the people taught them to repent by speaking of God’s judgment and salvation, and gave them hope.