God disciplines his people so that they will reflect his glory

The prophet Ezekiel received 3 visions of God’s glory. The first one was in relation to his commissioning as a prophet. The second one was about God’s glory leaving the temple and the third one was about God’s glory returning to the temple. Ezekiel was a true prophet of God because what he prophesied was not against God’s law and actually took place.

Ezekiel’s name means ‘God strengthens’. This is relevant for the people because, whilst God disciplined his people, he also gave them a future hope that one day there would be a restoration. A modern application of this is in relation to parents disciplining their children. The children are actually helped as a result of this when it is done in an appropriate way.

In the case of the nation of Israel, their discipline was necessary because of the grievous sin of idolatry. God had said ‘You shall have no other gods before me’ but the people had brought an idol of a false god and placed it in the temple next to the altar of sacrifice which represented Jesus. That is why other nations came in and destroyed the temple. They were allowed to do this because they were God’s instruments to correct his people.