The tone of Ezekiel’s prophetic ministry changes from this point in the book. The final judgement on Jerusalem has now occurred just as Ezekiel had warned. Now, the prophet has his eyes on the restoration of the exiled nation. Before beginning his proclamation of this good news though, Ezekiel is called on to say one more thing about his previous oracles of judgement which were now fulfilled. God wanted his people to know that they had chosen what had happened; that it was not what God wanted for them: “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.” This is the hinge point in this book, because now we will begin to see what God really did want for his people. He wanted to restore them. Everything that had happened so far was with a view to the ultimate restoration of his people. God is always committed to restoration. You need to know that. God never writes a person off, no matter how bad they are, how far they stray or how many times they rebel. If a person turns back to God, they will never be turned away. This is simply because God always desires mercy over judgement. If he disciplines us for a time, it is always with a view to our restoration.
Where do you long to see God’s restoring power at work? Pray for this.
Read Ezekiel 33:1-20
