The book of Ezekiel contains many unique features. There are the strange apocalyptic visions of eye-filled wheels, four-faced beings, and dry bones coming to life in the middle of a valley. Then there are Ezekiel’s peculiar symbolic acts of enacting a siege with a clay tablet, lying on his side for 430 days, eating bread baked on burning dung, not mourning when his wife suddenly dies, etc. More positively and far less bizarre, Ezekiel is the only prophet to give us a blueprint of the future Millennial Temple and the only one to see the glory of God appearing, departing and returning to the land of Israel.
But of all the book’s exclusive characteristics, it is hard to miss the phrase scattered 72 times (ESV) throughout – variations of “that you may know that I am the LORD.” Recorded only 16 other times in the Old Testament, this phrase continually grabs our attention as prophecy after prophecy is detailed. Sometimes the target audience is the nation of Israel (or groups within it). At times, other nations are named (e.g., 29:6: “Then all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD”).1 Still other times, God’s objective is much larger: “And all flesh shall know that I am the LORD” (21:5). In a book with literally hundreds of specific prophetic statements, we need to remember the primary reason they have been provided. It is not to give us the inside scoop on the future, not to turn us into mathematicians using calendars and numerology to unlock coming events, nor even to scare us into spiritual action. Ultimately, prophecy is given so that we may know that God alone is God. He knows what’s going to happen, when it’s going to happen, how it’s going to happen and why it’s going to happen. He knows all things and no one else does. “There is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me. ‘Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other’” (Isa 45:21-22).
When He judges the sin of nations (25:17) or the sin of Israel (7:4,9), God does so “that they may know that I am the LORD.” When He scatters His people or brings them back again (39:28), He wants them to know that He is LORD. When He preserves a remnant (6:8-10) or rescues His people from the jaws of their enemies (38:16; 39:7), His desire is that they know He is the LORD. And when He puts His sanctuary in their midst in a day to come (37:28), He will do so that all may know that He alone is the LORD.
Ezekiel’s refrain was repeated often because the idolatry of His people was repeated often. And the bulk of his prophecies were related to Israel’s judgment because she had turned to idols so frequently. Ezekiel’s New Testament counterpart, John, seemed to share the same concern about God’s people today. And though we’re not the subjects of prophetic doom and gloom, John still exhorts us, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1Jn 5:21). It is just another way of telling us what Ezekiel already did so often: remember that God alone is God.
1 Bible quotations in this article are from the ESV.
