Welcome to a Year in the Bible with Daily Grace.

From Eden to eternity, the Bible tells one big story of redemption.

My name is Tiffany, and I want to spend a few minutes with you every day walking through the Bible chronologically.

Together, we will explore God's sovereign plan as the events of Scripture unfold and point to Jesus.

Hey, friends! Welcome back to the podcast. Tiffany here, and today we continue our walk through Ezekiel.

Yesterday, we chatted about the context of Ezekiel, and then we read about his vision of God's glory

and his call as a prophet and watchman. Ezekiel has many hard days before him. The Lord will ask him

to do some interesting things to share his prophetic message, but each one serves a purpose,

and we will clearly see God's character

and his creativity in speaking to his people. In chapters four and five, God tells Ezekiel to

act out the coming siege and exile of Judah. These are symbolic actions to show how the people of Jerusalem will face

sword, plague, and famine. We want to remember that the events of chapters 4 through 24 take place

after the second siege of Babylon in 597 BC and before the final destruction in 586 BC.

The exiles already in Babylon likely hoped that judgment wouldn't fall on Jerusalem

and that they would return home sooner rather than later. But through Ezekiel, God makes sure that

they know judgment will come to Jerusalem. God will keep his promises to judge the nation.

The first symbolic act Ezekiel performs is to take a brick and build siege ramps around it.

The brick represents Jerusalem, and like a small child playing attack or war with their toys,

Ezekiel shows how Jerusalem will fall at the hand of Babylon.

But the Lord has him further perform symbolic acts

when he tells him to lay on his left side for 390 days

to bear the iniquity of Israel,

...