A Word to Those Who Preach the Word
Introduction: The Problem with Preaching Ezekiel
Preface

Part 1: When God Abandons His People

Chapter 1: Where Is God When You Need Him? (1:1–3)
Chapter 2: In the Service of the King of Kings: Ezekiel’s Ordination Vision (1:1, 4–28a)
Chapter 3: In the Service of the King of Kings: Ezekiel’s Ordination Commission (1:28b—3:11)
Chapter 4: In the Service of the King of Kings: The Gravitas of the Calling (3:12–27)
Chapter 5: Putting on a Show! Dramatizing the Fall of Jerusalem (4:1—5:4)
Chapter 6: So this Was Not Just a Show! Proclaiming the Fall of Jerusalem (5:5–17)
Chapter 7: Fumigating the Mountains of Israel (6:1–14)
Chapter 8: Sounding the Alarm for the Land of Israel (7:1–27)
Chapter 9: What’s Wrong with This Picture? Ezekiel’s First Temple Tour in Jerusalem (8:1–18)
Chapter 10: Marked for Doom or Deliverance: Yahweh’s Response to the Abominations of Israel (9:1–11)
Chapter 11: Where Is God When We Demand Him? Yahweh’s Abandonment of His Temple (10:1–22; 11:22, 23)
Chapter 12: The Pot of Stew: Responding to an Upside–down World (11:1–13)
Chapter 13: The Gospel According to Ezekiel: Opening the Window to a Brighter Day (11:14–21)
Chapter 14: Packed for Exile: Fate of the Davidic Line (12:1–16)
Chapter 15: The Grace of Prophecy (12:17–20)
Chapter 16: Prophecy—True and False (12:21–28)
Chapter 17: Fake Visions, Fraudulent Divination: Hijacking the Prophetic Office (13:1–16)
Chapter 18: Phony Phemale Prophets: The Abuse of the Prophetic Office (13:17–23)
Chapter 19: The Fate of Fake Prophets: A Warning Against Prophetic Hijacking (14:1–11)
Chapter 20: The Price of Treachery: A Lecture on Divine Justice (14:12–23)
Chapter 21: A Metaphor on Divine Judgment (15:1–8)
Chapter 22: Rewriting the History of Israel, Part 1: Trampling Underfoot the Grace of God: Jerusalem, the Adulterous Wife (16:1–63)
Chapter 23: The Passion of God’s Love! Recalling the Boundless Grace of Yahweh (16:1–14)
Chapter 24: The Toughness of God’s Love: Perverting God’s Boundless Grace (16:15–43)
Chapter 25: The Triumph of God’s Love: The Persistence of God’s Boundless Grace (16:44–63)
Chapter 26: The Eagle and the Vine: A Fable Concerning the Davidic Dynasty (17:1–21)
Chapter 27: The Tender Sprig: Longing for the Messiah (17:1–4, 22–24)
Chapter 28: Disputing the Justice of God, Part 1: Closing the Door to Fatalism (18:1–24)
Chapter 29: Disputing the Justice of God, Part 2: Opening the Door to Divine Mercy (18:19–32)
Chapter 30: A Dirge for the Dynasty of David (19:1–14)
Chapter 31: Rewriting the History of Israel: Part 2 The Nation’s Story in Seven Phases (20:1–31)
Chapter 32: Reworking Future History (20:32–44)
Chapter 33: Unsheathing the Sword of Yahweh ((20:45—21:17 [21:22])
Chapter 34: When Divination Works: Guidance for Yahweh’s Agent of the Sword (21:18–32)
Chapter 35: Woe to the Bloody City! (22:1–16)
Chapter 36: No Sanctuary City Here! (22:17–31)
Chapter 37: Rewriting the History of Israel: Part 3 O Oholah! O Oholibah! (23:1–49)
Chapter 38: Lessons from a Boiling Cauldron: Twisting the Doctrine of Eternal Security (Ezekiel 24:1–14; 33:21, 22
Chapter 39: When Does God Not Cry? The End Is in Sight (24:1, 2, 15–27)

Part 2: When God Returns to His People

Chapter 40: Why Does Yahweh’s Fury Rage Against the Nations? The Bad Good News for Israel (25—32, esp. 28:20–26)
Chapter 41: When God Calls the Nations to Account (25:1–17)
Chapter 42: Tyre Is No More! (26:1–21)
Chapter 43: A Lament for the Magnificent Ship Tyre! (27:1–36)
Chapter 44: The Prince of Tyre: Pride Comes Before the Fall (28:1–10)
Chapter 45: Who Laments the King of Tyre’s Demise? (28:11–19)
Chapter 46: Announcing the Doom of the Kraken of the Nile (29:1–16)
Chapter 47: Giving Nebuchadnezzar and Ezekiel Their Due: A Laborer Is Worthy of His Hire (29:17–21)
Chapter 48: The Day of Yahweh in Egypt and Breaking the Arms of Pharaoh (30:1–26)
Chapter 49: Timber! Falling the Pharaonic Tree! (31:1–18)
Chapter 50: A Lament for the Kraken of the Seas (32:1–16)
Chapter 51: How Low Can the Monster Go? Egypt’s Descent to Sheol (32:17–32)
Chapter 52: Ezekiel’s Final Summons to Watchman Duty (33:1–9)
Chapter 53: When Theology Fails: Ezekiel’s Final Shofar Blast for His Compatriots in Babylon (33:10–20)
Chapter 54: What’s Wrong with These Pictures: Images of Ezekiel’s World as the Lights Go Out (33:21–33)
Chapter 55: The Good Shepherd Returns: The Salvation of Yahweh’s Flock (34:1–22)
Chapter 56: The Arrival of the Messiah: The Signet of the [Re]new[ed] Covenant (34:23–31)
Chapter 57: The Restoration of Yahweh’s Land: A Most Unusual Prophecy (35:1—36:15)
Chapter 58: A Divine Heart Transplant and the Restoration of Yahweh’s Honor (36:16–38)
Chapter 59: Can These Bones Live? The Resurrection of Yahweh’s People (37:1–14)
Chapter 60: Yahweh’s Original and Ultimate Vision for Israel as His Covenant People (37:15–28)
Chapter 61: Yahweh’s Guarantee of Israel’s Future: A Satire on Gog of Magog and His Allies, Part 1 (38, 39)
Chapter 62: Yahweh’s Guarantee of Israel’s Future: A Satire on Gog of Magog and His Allies, Part 2 (38, 39)
Chapter 63: Envisioning the Good News: Stand by and See the Return of Yahweh (Ezekiel 40:1–4; 43:10–12)
Chapter 64: Touring the Temple Compound with Ezekiel: Laying the Groundwork for a Theology of Sacred Space (40:1—42:20)
Chapter 65: Yahweh’s Return to His Temple (43:1–9)
Chapter 66: The Altar of Sacrifice: The Heart of the Temple Compound (43:12–27)
Chapter 67: Guarding the Holiness of Yahweh and the Sanctity of His House (44:4–31)
Chapter 68: The Riddle and Role of the Prince in Ezekiel’s Vision of Israel’s Future (44:1–3; 45:1–8a, 16, 17; 46:1–18)
Chapter 69: The Sacred Offerings and Festivals in Ezekiel’s Vision of Israel’s Future (45:16—46:15, 19–24
Chapter 70: The River of Life and Healing of the Land (47:1–12)
Chapter 71: Ezekiel’s Lesson on Geography: Israel as a Holy Land (47:13—48:7, 23–29)
Chapter 72: Yahweh Is There! The Mother Lode of Sanctity in the Holy Land (45:1–8; 48:8–22, 30–35)

Notes
Scripture Index
General Index
Index of Sermon Illustrations