The prophet Jeremiah watched Judah's defeat as Solomon's temple
was destroyed by
Nebuchadnezzar, and tens of thousands of its citizens deported. Not
only had Jeremiah accurately prophesized the people's deportation to Babylon, he
also foretold that their captivity would last 70 years. Jeremiah 25:11
And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment;
and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
Among the first exiles in 598 BC was a young priest named Ezekiel. Five
years after his arrival in Babylon while near the Chebar river, he had a
vision of the throne of God being carried by mysterious winged creatures
surrounded by a wheel within a wheel. The creatures had the head of a man,
a lion, an ox, and an eagle. He heard the voice of the Lord speak
to him and he was given a scroll containing God's instruction. For
seven days Ezekiel continues to see visions and receive messages. At the
end of the seven days God said to him, Ezekiel 7:3. "Son of
dust, I have appointed you as a watchman for Israel; whenever I send my people a
warning, pass it on to them at once."
Pictured
is a stained glass representation of Ezekiel's winged lion. After the Gospels were recorded the 4 winged creatures were adopted as
symbols of the 4 evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
Ezekiel received many
visions by God concerning the future. He prophesized Christ's ministry on
earth comparing Jesus 's concern for His people to that of a Good Shepherd
watching over his flock. He also had visions
of the final times spoken about in the Book of Revelation when Jesus would return
again. In these prophecies, like John the Revelator, he
describes a final battle and a future heaven.
In one vision Ezekiel received a message that God
would restore the people in Babylonian captivity to the land they had been taken
from in Israel and Judah.
Ezekiel 37
1. The power of the Lord was upon me and I was carried away by the Spirit of the
Lord to a valley full of old, dry bones that were scattered everywhere across
the ground. He led me around among them,
3. and then he said to me:``Son of dust, can these bones become people again?''I
replied, ``Lord, you alone know the answer to that.''
4. Then he told me to speak to the bones and say: ``O dry bones, listen to the
words of God,
5. for the Lord God says, See! I am going to make you live and breathe again!
.............
11. Then he told me what the vision meant: ``These bones,'' he said, ``represent
all the people of Israel. They say: `We have become a heap of dried-out
bones--all hope is gone.'
12. But tell them, the Lord God says: My people, I will open your graves of
exile and cause you to rise again and return to the land of Israel.
13. And, then at last, O my people, you will know I am the Lord.
A king named Belshazzar came to
power after Nebuchadnezzar death. Daniel and his 3 friends
receive
no special place in Belshazzar's court and after 23 years, the year 539 BC, Daniel
has been, for the most part, forgotten.
Bible scoffers, always
attempting to disprove the Bible, claimed for years that Belshazzar was just an
invention. He never really existed in real history. Once
again, archeological findings are in favor of the Biblical truth. Inscriptions on a
stone, now on display in the British Museum in London, confirm the accuracy of
the Book of Daniel.
