The Nature of His Prophecy - Like Daniel and the Apostle John, Ezekiel wrote his prophecy out of the Jewish national homeland; like theirs, his prophecy follows the method of symbol and vision. Pre-exilic prophets had directed their prophecies either to Judah or to the Northern Kingdom of Israel, even though many of their utterances were world-wide in scope; the message of Ezekiel is the voice of Jehovah to "the whole house of Israel." He speaks, not in plain and positive utterances and predictions, but in visions. He deals with existing facts and conditions and with future events in allegories, parables, and similitudes. Though writing on the banks of Chebar, he is transported in his prophetic visions into the scenes of Jerusalem as they were then and as they should be in future history.

In his spiritual illumination, Ezekiel often lived in unborn centuries embracing the closing years of the Old Testament dispensation, and throughout the New Testament era to the consummation and triumph of the Messianic kingdom. The immediate purpose of Ezekiel's prophecies was to keep before the generation of Jews carried into exile, and to those born while the exile continued, the national sins which had brought these calamities upon the nation (Ezek. 14:22,23). It was Ezekiel who sustained the faith of dispersed Israel by the prediction of national restoration and the glory of the Davidic dynasty in the coming of the Messiah. In his teachings, he laid special emphasis upon such matters as justice, morality, and spiritual religion. The doctrines of repentance and forgiveness are stressed, and the necessity for a new heart is given pre-eminence.

Outline - The book may be divided into five chief sections: I. Ezekiel's Call (1-3) II. The Destruction of Jerusalem Foretold (4-24) III. Prophecies against Foreign Nations (25-32) IV. The Restoration of Judah (33-39) V. Messianic Times (40-48)