Is Ezekiel In Chronological Order?

Q

You have said in the past that Ezekiel’s prophecies are chronological. I agree with your view. However, Ezekiel 37: 26-27 (KJV) talks about the Lord making an everlasting covenant of peace with Israel with the Lord’s sanctuary and tabernacle in the midst of them. Some scholars have suggested that this prophecy will see fulfillment during the millennium or at the second coming at the earliest. I guess I am having trouble placing the events of this passage of scripture prior to the Gog and Magog war where Israel is hardly in peace.

A

Generally speaking, Ezekiel’s prophecies are in chronological order. But that doesn’t mean everything from one chapter has to be accomplished before anything in the next chapter can happen. For example, Ezekiel 36 contains God’s promise to bring Israel back to the Land God gave them and then goes on to say He will cleanse them from all their impurities, give them a new heart, and put His Spirit in them. This last part is yet to come and will happen when they receive the New Covenant.

Likewise, Ezekiel 37 begins with the so-called dry bones prophecy that foretells the re-birth of Israel in the end times (Ezek. 37:1-14) the first 12 verses of which have been fulfilled. (Verses 13-14 will be fulfilled following Ezekiel 38-39). But then the Lord had Ezekiel go on to explain that the once divided Kingdom will be reunited (Ezek. 37:15-23) David will be their King again (Ezek. 37:24-25), and the Lord will put His sanctuary among them forever (Ezek. 37:26-28). This hasn’t happened yet either, so we consider Ezek. 37:15-28 to be a parenthetical view of Israel’s ultimate destiny.

Ezekiel 38-39 follows the nation’s rebirth (Ezekiel 36-37) but precedes the Millennium, which is described in Ezekiel 40-48.

This is something that happens in several sweeping Old Testament prophecies. For example in Isaiah 9:6-7 only the first half of the first sentence has been fulfilled. “Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given”. The rest awaits fulfillment in the 2nd Coming.