Ezekiel - Lesson 20

Lesson number 20, The Tender Sprig, Longing for the Messiah, Ezekiel 17 1-4 and 22-24. Have you ever been involved in an experience that was a complete disaster and you were absolutely convinced that nothing good could come of it? As we have learned since we started these lessons on Ezekiel, especially as we were wrestling through chapter 16 and now chapter 17, it would be only a matter of time before that was exactly the situation in which the people in Jerusalem and Ezekiel's fellow exiles would find themselves. On God's calendar, he had highlighted August 16, 586 BC, that is the 7th of Av in Nebuchadnezzar's 19th year, 2 Kings 25 8, as the date for the armies of his agent, Nebuchadnezzar, to storm the walls of Jerusalem, burn his temple, the desire of the people's eyes, all the royal palaces and all the fine houses in Jerusalem, and what remained of the population to be slaughtered or dragged off into exile. Much later in this book, chapter 37, and much later in time, perhaps a decade, Ezekiel would quote the despairing survivors who lament, our bones are dried up, our hope is vanished, we are doomed, 37 11. There was no hope at all that the phoenix could rise from the ashes of the Babylonian holocaust, or was there? Well, at least for the prophet's immediate audience, our text for this session, 17 22 to 24, opens the door just a crack. If you have read or heard chapter 17 carefully, you will see that after the introduction, verses 1 to 2, it divides into two parts, the fable, riddle, verses 3 to 8, and the interpretation, verses 9 to 24. But each of these also divides into two parts, the riddle, fable, brings together two completely different stories, one about the topmost shoot of cedar, verses 3 to 4, and the other about the vine. The interpretation also divides into two parts, the explanation of the fate of the vines, that is Zedekiah, and the explanation of the topmost sprig of a cedar in verses 22 to 24. What surprises us is the order in which Ezekiel gives the interpretation of the two parts in the riddle. He explains the second part first, and then he returns to the first part, which in terms of subject, gives this chapter an ABBA pattern, where the A refers to the riddle of the sprig. You've got the riddle at the top. B is the riddle of the vine, verses 5 to 8. B prime, the interpretation of the riddle of the vine. And then at the end, he comes to talk about A. In A prime, the interpretation of the riddle of the cedar sprig, that's verses 22 to 24. These don't, the sizes don't match. Actually, the B segments in both are much longer. The A riddle is 34 words. The B riddle, 66, double. The B interpretation is 205 words. The A interpretation is 63 words. So, A gets a lot less attention than B. You see from the number of the words here that the riddles of the vine and its interpretation is more than three times as long as the riddle of the sprig and its interpretation, but that does not minimize the significance of what's happening here. So, let's go to the A elements of this chiasm, beginning with the verses 3 and 4, and then continuing in verses 22 and following. The following message of Yahweh came to me, human, compose a riddle, make up a fable for the house of Israel, and say a certain great eagle with large wings and extended pinions, a with full and brilliantly colored plumage came to Lebanon. He took the crown of the cedar and plucked off the topmost shoot. He brought it to a land of commerce in the city of traders. He said it. Well, in the previous study, we learned that the magnificent eagle with large wings was Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. Lebanon was a cipher for the royal palace that 1 Kings 7, 2 to 12 called the house of the forest of Lebanon, and the cedar tree referred to the royal palaces in Jerusalem built of luxury cedar from Lebanon. The destination for the transport of the topmost shoot is called the city of merchants in the land of commerce. This is Babylon, the political and economic capital of the empire. But to whom does the cedar spring refer? That's the question that's not been answered so far. That is the question to be answered here in the interpretation. The riddle continues, but now let's examine the passage for clues to the significance of this sprig in the riddle. First, it's a cedar sprig. If Lebanon is a cipher for the royal palace in Jerusalem, the house of the forest of Lebanon, then the cedar tree symbolizes the Davidic dynasty. Two, it is the topmost sprig of the cedar. Topmost suggests the head of the Davidic house, that is, the king. But about which king was he talking? Or one of the four kings who had reigned in Ezekiel's lifetime? Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiakin, and Zedekiah. That's actually five, isn't it? Third, it's a fresh shoot, literally a suckling twig, which suggests either a youthful king or one whose tenure was young. It was prematurely cut off. This youthfulness could apply either to Jehoahaz, the 23-year-old son of Josiah, who reigned only three months before he was taken to Egypt, so that's wrong, or it could be Jehoiakin, the baby-faced 18-year-old son of Jehoiakim, who also reigned only three months, but guess what? He was taken to Babylon. Fourth, the twig was taken to Babylon by a great eagle. This rules out Jehoahaz and leaves us with Jehoiakim. Although 1 Kings 24, 8-16 has nothing positive to say about Jehoiakim, in this context, Ezekiel's fellow exile is juxtaposed and contrasted with the wretched uncle Zedekiah, his uncle Zedekiah, verses 9-21. But if we move on to the interpretation, we may see additional clues to the identity and significance of this king that we find there. So let's look at this. Verse 22, thus has the Lord Yahweh declared, I myself will take a sprig. Really? I thought Nebuchadnezzar had taken the sprig, but now notice this is all on the theological plane now. God is the primary actor. I myself will take a sprig from the highest crown of the cedar and give, and then we're leaving some, from the top of its shoots I will pluck a tender sprig, and I myself will plant it on a high and towering mountain. Interesting. There's a fifth clue then. God was the one who took the sprig from the lofty top of the cedar. Oh really? I thought Nebuchadnezzar, the great eagle, had done this. But just as Zedekiah's treachery against the Babylonian overlord was treachery against Yahweh, so the interpretation segment of the oracle presented Nebuchadnezzar as Yahweh's agent for getting Jehoiakim to Babylon. Behind Nebuchadnezzar is the hand of Yahweh. However, in the middle of 22, we encounter another riddle in the Hebrew text. Literally, verse 22a says, I myself will take a sprig from the highest crown of the cedar and give. Give what? Give to whom? Ezekiel never finished the sentence. The corresponding statement in verse 4, which speaks of planting the sprig, doesn't help. So the question remains, what did Yahweh give Jehoiakim in Babylon? His protection? His promise to be with him? A special place among Nebuchadnezzar's captured kings? A place in the genealogy of Jesus? He is there, Jeconiah, Matthew 1, 11 and 12. Curiously, after describing the chaos in Jerusalem after Nebuchadnezzar had left, and in the wake of the murder of Gedaliah, the governor he had installed, 2 Kings 25, 22 to 26, the author of 2 Kings ended the book by casting his gaze off to the east in Babylon. In the 37th year of the exile of King Jehoiakim of Judah, Evel Merodach ascended the Babylonian throne. He was kind to Jehoiakim. He released him from prison on April 2 of that year. He spoke kindly to Jehoiakim and gave him a place higher than all the other exiled kings in Babylon. He supplied Jehoiakim with new clothes to replace his prison garb and allowed him to dine in the king's presence for the rest of his life. So the Babylonian king gave him regular food allowance as he lived, 2 Kings 25, 27 to 30. Remarkably, archaeological records have confirmed this sort of promotion. Ration lists on clay tablets from Nebuchadnezzar's 13th year, 592 to 591 BC, when Jehoiakim was only 22 years old, that list, this ration list, lists the generous rations assigned to Jehoiakim, whom the texts identify as king of Judah, Yaukin king of Judah, and five young children. He had apparently more than one wife, 2 Kings 25, 15. These tablets suggest that Jehoiakim enjoyed relative freedom in Babylon and that Nebuchadnezzar was favorably disposed to him. Again, this makes me wonder if Daniel and his three associates in high position in the government had extraordinary influence on the status of Judeans in the city, if not out in the villages. A sixth clue, whatever God did with a sprig, it took root and grew into a tree in its own right. Since it produced its own shoot, yinikah, that's Yahweh also snipped off. Although verse 22 attributes the sprig's transplant to Yahweh rather than the king of Babylon, the statement is silent on any punitive motivation. On the contrary, as we will see, this tree flourished. Indeed, the earlier reference to the land of merchants and the city of traders opens the door for a beneficent, a positive purpose. But halfway through verse 22, the interpretation begins a new phase, or as Paul Harvey used to say, and now for the rest of the story. The destiny of the second topmost sprig, verses 22c to 24. From the top of its shoots I will pluck a tender sprig, and I myself will plant it on a high and towering mountain. On the high mountain of Israel I will plant it, that it may bear branches and produce fruit and become a magnificent cedar. Every winged bird will nest under it, in the shelter of its boughs it will perch. Then all the trees of the countryside will know that I am Yahweh. I bring down the tall tree, and I exalt the low tree. I cause the green tree to wither, and I make the withered tree thrive. I am Yahweh, I have spoken, and I will perform as I have declared. To this point, the sprigs that the eagle and Yahweh have transplanted were obviously one and the same, this was Jehoiakim. However, the referent changes in the second half of verse 22. What was so special about this new tree? Well, first, the shoot was not only fresh, it was also tender. The addition of tender, rack, reinforces this quality, it was fresh. The word rack is not common in scripture. Its occurrence here reminds me of Proverbs 4, 3 to 4, when I was a son with my father, tender, rack, and my mother's favorite, he taught me and said to me, let your heart hold fast to my words, keep my commands, and live. Although it's clear that the word means tender, soft. Remarkably, this is the only place in the first testament where the word is used of a plant. However, it was used of a person in 2 Kings 22, 19. Speaking for Yahweh, Huldah the prophet said of the good King Josiah, Jehoiakim's grandfather, because your heart, your heart was tender, and you, rack, and you humbled yourself before Yahweh when you heard how I spoke against his place and against its inhabitants, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before me. Therefore, I have also heard you, the declaration of Yahweh. Ezekiel's use of the word tender invites us to associate this sprig with the last positive representative of the Davidic house. And whoever this sprig represents, in contrast to the stony hearts of Josiah's three sons, this person's heart will be soft. And because he will be responsive to Yahweh, he promises a new beginning, can you believe it, for the dynasty. So that pillar is not gone forever. Ezekiel's plant imagery links this passage with other texts that use related language for the revived house of David, but are more explicit in their messianic thrust. Isaiah 11, 1. A shoot, Hotair, will come up from the stump of Jesse. From his roots, a branch, Netzer, will bear fruit. Or Jeremiah 23, 5. Look, days are coming, declares Yahweh, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch, Tzemach, a king who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. Or Jeremiah 33, 15. In those days and at that time, I will make a righteous branch, sprout from David's line, he will do what is just and right in the land. Or Zechariah 3, 8. Thus says Yahweh of hosts, look, the man whose name is the branch, for he shall branch out from his place, and he shall build the temple of Yahweh. In Ezekiel, the tender shoot sets the stage for the messianic figure who will be presented in greater detail in later salvation oracles. We'll hear of him in chapter 34 and 37. Christians are not the only ones who interpret texts like this messianically. We find an explicit messianic interpretation in the Aramaic Targum, first to second centuries AD. At this point, the Aramaic text produced by Jewish scribes reads, I myself will bring near a child from the kingdom of the house of David, which is likened to the lofty cedar, and I will establish him from among his children's children. I will anoint him and establish him by my memra word on a high and exalted mountain. On the high mountain of Israel will I establish him, and he shall gather together armies and build fortresses and become a mighty king. And all the righteous shall rely on him, and all the humble shall dwell in the shade of his kingdom. And all the kings of the nations shall know that I, the Lord, have humbled the kingdom which was mighty and have made mighty the kingdom that was weak. I have humbled the kingdom of the nations which was mighty as a green tree, and I have made mighty the kingdom of the house of Israel, which had been weak as a weak dried-up tree. I, the Lord, have decreed it by my memra, and I will fulfill it. This is remarkable. This is done by Jewish scribes in the second or third century AD. They are interpreting this text messianically. There's a second thing to notice here. Ezekiel notes specifically that this sprig turns into a magnificent cedar, reinforcing its significance within the history of the dynasty. The sprig that Yahweh had transplanted took root and grew into a tall and magnificent cedar, with a healthy branches producing fruit. The triad of expressions, branches, fruit, and magnificence, majesty, invite comparison with the magnificent eagle who planted it. The tree is a reflection of the eagle and the grand eagle's intentions for the vine, but this is an entirely different kind of plant than we expected. Third, this shoot will have cosmic significance. Its exalted status is reflected in the physical size of the tree, a towering tree, its splendor, majesty, and its location on a high and lofty mountain. This was truly a Weltenbaum, a cosmic tree, towering over the forest and over the landscape more generally. That's amazing. No king in Israel had ever had that status. Fourth, the mission of the tree is universal. The purpose of its planting was that its branches might bear fruit, offer secure places for birds to nest, and for all to find relief from the sun in its shade. Verse 23. The reference to birds of every kind, literally every bird of every wing, obviously speaks to the tree's expansiveness and universal appeal. However, since Ezekiel's fable had used birds of a particular kind, the eagle, to represent Babylon and Egypt, respectively, it's possible that these birds represent the nations of the earth. That's possible. But it is more likely that they simply represent all the peoples of the earth, Gentiles to us New Testament, to use New Testament language, rather than nations as identifiable political units. The portrayal of nations as trees in verses 24 reinforces this interpretation. The prophet left it to his hearers either to scratch their heads over the double illusions or else to be entertained with them. Of course, by now we recognize that this image contradicted our boreal and botanical reality. There's something here that doesn't make sense. Cedar trees do not bear fruit. Remember? But this is a fable, which means that living things may behave contrary to nature. Lots of extraordinary things happen here. However, we should not miss the significance of this mixing of species. This tree flourishes in every way. It was pleasing to the eyes. It was valuable for lumber for construction projects like palace and temple, and it provided food for animals and humans. These features allude to the coming health and effectiveness of the Davidic dynasty against all present hopes. Yes, the Davidic kingship will be back. Indeed, this passage may have been inspired by Isaiah 11, 1-10, where the elements of a newly sprouted messianic shoot, the mountain of Yahweh, and the peaceful coexistence with wild animals. They're all combined. Isaiah had said, Out of the stump of David's family will grow a shoot, yes, a new branch bearing fruit from the old root, and the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him, a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and might, a spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, and he will delight in obeying the Lord. He will not judge by appearance nor make a decision based on hearsay. He will give justice to the poor and make fair decisions for the exploited. The earth will shake at the force of his word, and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked. He will wear righteousness like a belt and truth like an undergarment. In that day, the wolf and the lamb will live together. The leopard will lie down with the baby goat. The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion, and the little child will lead them all. The cow will graze near the bear, and the cub and the calf will lie down together. The lion will eat hay like a cow. The baby will play safely near the hole of the cobra. Yes, a little child will put his hand in the nest of deadly snakes without harm. Nothing will hurt or destroy all my holy mountain, for as the waters fill the sea, so the earth will be filled with the knowledge with people who know the Lord. In that day, the heir to David's throne will be a banner of salvation to all the world. The nations will rally to him, and the land where he lives will be a glorious place. That's the same sort of image. Fifth, the tree will be located on the high mountain of Israel. This plant, whose story began in Lebanon, verse 3, presumably referring to the royal palaces in Jerusalem, but then spent some time in Babylon, had returned home to Israel. Even though Ezekiel never referred to Mount Zion in this book, here, the mountain of Israel obviously alluded to this mountain. Although it will become increasingly significant in later oracles, here the motifs of the Davidic line and Zion have come together. They have merged, as we have it in Psalms 78, 68 to 72. Again, this alludes to two of the four pillars of Israelite security in Ezekiel's day. Yahweh chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, whom he loves. He built his sanctuary like the high heavens, like the earth which he has founded forever, sanctuary. He chose David, his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds, from tending, nursing, ewes. He brought him to be the shepherd of Jacob, his people, Israel his possession. With true heart, he shepherded them, and he guided them with his skillful hand. So there you've got the theme of temple and king together. This is Zion theology. By combining the tree with the mountain, Ezekiel reminded his audience that Yahweh had not forgotten his covenant with David, 2 Samuel 7, Psalm 132. The dynasty would survive the deportation. It would be revived within the context of its original founding, and its protective influence would be felt all around the world. The last verse of our text highlights the tree's universal impact in the form of a complex recognition formula. When all the trees of the field see this tree flourishing and offering its benefits to the world, they will know that I am Yahweh. When Yahweh finally exalts the tree, the tree will exalt Yahweh. This image reminds me of Jesus' words to the apostles in John 12. When some Greeks came to Philip and told him that they would like to see Jesus, John 12 20 to 21, Jesus said, and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself, 12 32. One might have anticipated that when all the trees, that is all the nations of the earth, observed the splendor, productivity, and protection offered by this tree, they would fall down before it in homage and submission. But this prophecy was not about Davidic imperialism. It was about cosmic sovereignty and the fidelity of Yahweh in the interest of his creation. Ezekiel's excitement is evident in verse 24, where he concludes this oracle on a high poetic note, I bring down the tall tree, I make the low tree tall, I cause the green tree to wither, and I make the withered tree thrive. At this point, Ezekiel seems to have been having his devotions in Hannah's prophecy 500 years earlier, in anticipation of what Yahweh would do with her son Samuel, and ultimately the appearance of Yahweh's king and his Messiah, 1 Samuel 2 20. She had declared, 2 Samuel 2, the Lord brings death and gives life, he sends some to Sheol and he raises others up, the Lord brings poverty and gives wealth, he humbles and he exalts, he raises the poor from the dust, he lifts the needy from the garbage pile, he seats them with noble men and gives them the throne of honor, for the foundation of the earth, for the foundations of the earth are the Lord's, he has set the world on them, he guards the step of his faithful ones, but the wicked are silenced in darkness, for a man does not prevail by his own strength, those who oppose the Lord will be shattered, he will thunder in the heavens against them, the Lord will judge the ends of the earth, he will give power to his king, he will lift up the horn of his anointed. I love this passage. It anticipates the earthly King David about to show up, but on the other hand, it speaks in such glowing terms of somebody as far bigger than any Davidic descendant ever would be. But back to Ezekiel. For a concrete illustration of bringing down the high, the listeners need to look no further than Zedekiah, whose fate had been described in verses 19 to 21. And as for the low being lifted up, this must be Jehoiakim. He may have been languishing in captivity in Babylon at the time of this oracle, but before long, he would be elevated above the other kings in the Babylonian court. But the ending to this text was not about Jehoiakim. This was about his descendant who would be restored to the throne of Israel and elevated to the status of universal king. This probably seemed like an impossible dream to the exiles who heard Ezekiel's riddle. I wonder if they even got it. But the final three lines guarantee it. I am Yahweh. I have spoken. I act according to my words. The roots of this oracle go all the way back to 2 Samuel 7, to the covenant that Yahweh had made with David four centuries earlier, as announced by Nathan the prophet. At that moment, Yahweh promised him eternal title to the throne of Israel, and David had recognized this in what we call his charter for humanity, his Torah ha'adam, 2 Samuel 7. This is the Torah for humanity. Yahweh had not forgotten his ancient word, nor would he betray this new word issued through Ezekiel in the interest of Jehoiakim. The dynasty would survive the exiles. Its best years were still in the future. This is a fabulous text. Literally, it's a fable. But on the other hand, what a glorious text as well. The theological and practical significance of Ezekiel's oracle of the tender sprig are exhilarating. First, in this passage we get a glimpse, the first glimpse at Ezekiel's vision of the Messiah. How focused his vision of the Messiah was at this point is not clear. The word Messiah doesn't appear here, the anointed one. What is clear is that the divine purpose in taking Jehoiakim into exile in Babylon was positive, to preserve a branch of the house of David to which he had irrevocably and eternally committed himself. Just as the exiles as a group represented the key to Israel's future as a nation, Ezekiel 11, 14 to 21, so the hopes of the Davidic house were pinned to Jehoiakim. This man who had gone into exile as an 18-year-old stripped of all honor would be rehabilitated. As it turned out, his grandson Zerubbabel, 522 to 486 BC, 1 Chronicles 3.19 and Haggai 1.1, Zerubbabel would serve as the governor of the new commonwealth of returned exiles established under the Persian administration. But this seed of Babylon, this royal member of the dynasty, would never fulfill the vision of the cosmic tree. That needed to await the arrival of a greater son of David, the Messiah, HaMashiach, who would claim the world as his kingdom, John 12.32, Revelation 22.18. The two Gospels that recount the birth of the Messiah in the New Testament both begin on a remarkable note. In the opening to the genealogy of Jesus, the Messiah, Matthew acknowledged the significance of Jehoiakim, whom he calls Jeconiah, his significance in the history of God's great redemptive plan. The history of the royal line divides into three parts, each consisting of 14 generations, the numerical value of David. David is three constants. D is worth four, V is worth six, and the second D, that's David, four plus six plus four is 14. That's the number of David. But note the anchors of this lineage, three, 14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 from David to Jehoiakim, and then 14 from Jehoiakim to Jesus, the Messiah. Jehoiakim represented that phase in the history of the line where the messianic hope was almost extinguished, hanging by a thread. But he also represented the key to its continuation. The messianic hope of Ezekiel 1722 was fulfilled in Christ. Luke's allusion to the Ezekielian prophecy is of an entirely different order. Reminiscent of Hannah's oracle in 1 Samuel 2, 6 to 10, after hearing Gabriel's announcement that she would give birth to the Holy One, the Son of God, and upon hearing that the baby in Elizabeth's womb, John the Baptist, had leaped when Mary greeted Elizabeth, she burst out in prophetic song celebrating what had been happening between the two of them. In her magnificat, she declared, from now on, all generations will call me blessed. The Mighty One has done great things for me. Holy is His name. His mercy extends to those who fear Him from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with His arm, and He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones and lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things, but He has sent the rich away empty. He has helped His servant Israel remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as He has promised our ancestors. We'll have much more to say about this in expositions of other Messianic pronouncements in the book of Ezekiel as we proceed, but this is important. Second, this text reflects a generally unknown but revolutionary theology of exile. When we think of the exiles in Babylon, we tend to think of punishment for Jehoiakim's and the Judeans' rebellion against Yahweh, and rightfully so. This is what Yahweh had said would happen in the covenant curses. When you father children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time, and you've acted corruptly and made sculptured images in any form, and you've committed the supreme evil in the eyes of Yahweh so that you provoke Him to anger, today I appeal to heavens and the earth to act as witnesses against you, that you will quickly be totally annihilated from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live long there in the land, but you will be totally destroyed. Yahweh will scatter you among the peoples, only leaving a few of you to survive among the nations to which Yahweh will drive you. There you may serve gods made of human hands of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell. That's Deuteronomy 4, 25 to 28. Now we learn that for the dynasty as for the people, Yahweh's purpose in taking Jehoiakim into exile was positive, to preserve a branch of the house of David to which he had irrevocably committed himself. This leads me to the third significance of this. Yahweh is indeed the Lord of history. When His people experience calamity, His hand is in it. When foreign nations sweep down on them, they come as His agents. No nation has ever become so powerful that God could not bring it down in a moment, and no people is so low that He cannot exalt it. By His providence, He governs human affairs so that the schemes of the wicked are frustrated and His own objectives are ultimately achieved. But this also applies to affairs of nations today. Throughout history, we have watched nations rise and nations fall. In our day, we have seen the Lord bring down the mighty Soviet empire almost overnight. And as we watch the political chaos in our own land, we need to keep reminding ourselves that the Lord is still on the throne. Washington and Springfield may be totally dysfunctional, but God is not. God knows exactly what He's doing, and we need to know that our well-being as the people of God is ultimately not dependent on governments that are sympathetic to us. In fact, alliances between the church and the state have typically been disastrous for the church, as was Zedekiah's reliance on Egypt. Fourth, whether to God or to each other, humans may violate the commitments they have made with impunity, but Yahweh is always true to His Word. Nebuchadnezzar's conquest of Jerusalem and his removal of Zedekiah from the throne had cast doubts on Yahweh's integrity and the truthfulness of His covenant with David. We can imagine the people shaking their fists in God's face and screaming, where were you when we needed you? And where are your promises of support for those whom you have chosen as your people? Ezekiel teaches us that though the benefits of covenant relationships are always contingent, Yahweh would never renege on His promise. True to His commitment, after the judgment on the horizon, He would raise up a tender sprig from the fallen house of David, and who would mount the throne of Israel and restore shalom not only to His own people, but also to the world. He is Yahweh. He has spoken. He will perform. Although Ezekiel could scarcely have imagined the fulfillment of this prophecy, envisioned in Revelation, this is exactly what the apostle envisioned in that book. And this is what the heavenly hosts celebrated repeatedly, especially in Revelation chapter 5, where the Lion of Judah, the Lion from the tribe of Judah and the root of David, there's that horticultural metaphor, receives the adoration of the elders and the four creatures, like the lion, the calf, the eagle, and the man, the creatures holding up the Lord's chariot in chapters 1 and 10, an innumerable host of angels and people from every tribe and nation. They sang a new song saying, You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom of priests to serve our God, and they will reign on earth, 5, 9 to 10. And worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise, 5, 12. And to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power forever and ever, Revelation 5, 13. This is the gospel according to Ezekiel.