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Jeremiah Chapter Thirty-Seven

(Outline continues from yesterday)

4. With the Babylonian siege lifted, Jeremiah uses the opportunity to travel and settle some real estate business (Jer. 37:11-12).
5. Jeremiah is wrongfully accused of being a Babylonian spy, and imprisoned accordingly (Jer. 37:13-16).
6. Zedekiah sought a word from the Lord and set Jeremiah at liberty in the court of the guardhouse (Jer. 37:17-21).

Jeremiah Chapter Thirty-Eight

1. Zedekiah’s officials finally had enough of Jeremiah’s messages (Jer. 21,37), and lowered him into a cistern to die (Jer. 38:1-6).
2. Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian eunuch becomes the man of the hour, and rescues Jeremiah from the cistern (Jer. 38:7-13).
3. Zedekiah approached Jeremiah secretly, and asked what he must do to survive (Jer. 38:14-28).
   1. Zedekiah personally guarantees Jeremiah’s safety (vv.14-16).
   2. Zedekiah confesses his many fears (vv.17-19).
   3. Jeremiah warns Zedekiah to begin obeying the Lord immediately (vv.20-23).
   4. Zedekiah & Jeremiah agree to a “cover story” for their conversation, and respect the confidence of their discussion (vv.24-28).

Ezekiel Chapter One

1. Ezekiel was called to prophetic office at 30 years of age, when he could not enter into the priestly service because of his captivity in Babylon (Ezek. 1:1).
2. Ezekiel was given the spiritual capacity to view the spiritual dimension of heaven and was spiritually empowered by the hand of the Lord (Ezek. 1:1-3).
3. Ezekiel will never be able to physically travel to the Lord’s presence in Solomon’s temple, but the Lord traveled to Ezekiel upon His royal angelic chariot-throne (Ezek. 1:4-28).
4. The Word of the Lord came to Ezekiel.  He was commissioned with a Divine message for Israel (cp. Isa. 1:10; 38:4; Jer. 1:2,4; Hos. 1:1; Joel 1:1; Jon. 1:1; Mic. 1:1; Zeph. 1:1; Hag. 1:1,3; Zech. 1:1; Mal. 1:7).  This phrase occurs 60x in the Book of Ezekiel.
5. The chariot-throne of God is borne by four four-winged, four-faced cherubim (Ezek. 1:5-12).
6. Like the Apostle John on Patmos, Ezekiel falls on his face in the presence of such Divine majesty (Ezek. 1:28; Rev. 1:17).

Ezekiel Chapter Two

1. Ezekiel is called “Son of Man.”  This is a title he is addressed by 93x in this book, and shared only by the other exilic prophet—Daniel (Dan. 8:17).
2. Ezekiel is spiritually empowered to function in a unique prophetic ministry (Ezek. 2:2).
3. The Lord instructs Ezekiel to stay faithful to his message regardless of how poorly that message is received (Ezek. 2:3-7).
4. Ezekiel’s first glimpse of the Word of the Lord was an unpleasant message of lamentations, mourning & woe (Ezek. 2:8-10).

Ezekiel Chapter Three

1. Ezekiel ate the Word which the Lord fed him (Ezek. 3:1-3), and is warned again how obstinate his audience will be (Ezek. 3:4-11).
2. The Lord departed in His chariot, and Ezekiel was transported back to Tel-abib, waiting 7 days for his first sermon (Ezek. 3:12-15).
   1. These exiles went into captivity with King Jehoiachin in 597BC.
   2. They waited eagerly for any prophetic word concerning their return to Jerusalem—up to the very day that Jerusalem was destroyed in 586BC.
   3. The prophetic word did come, to Jeremiah in Jerusalem and to Ezekiel in Babylonia—the return will not occur for 70 years.

(Chapter Three continues tomorrow)