Ezekiel and Nonlinear Time

Last year, on a very, very hot day, Duane, Caitlin, and I ended up at World Market in La Jolla Village Square.  We didn't really want to go home so we went to the movies, and we saw 500 Days of Summer.  (I am not recommending this movie, for several reasons.)  It told the story of a man who fell in love with a woman who ultimately did not love him and then married someone else.  But it didn't tell the story in chronological order.  It started with day 30 and then went to day 420 and then to day 1 and was basically all over the place.  Well, to be honest I don't remember what day it started with, but you get the idea.  

At the end of the story, it all made sense, and we understood the chronological story.  But the director didn't tell it that way.  

These prophecy books are similar.  They don't always follow a nice neat timeline.  And I'm pretty sure in the end it will all make sense, but we haven't reached the end yet, and so we find prophecy confusing.  

I'm sure it all makes sense to God.  He sees time from a different perspective than we do. 

In fact, he created time.  

Yes, time is a creation.  

At any rate, I say all this because the book of Ezekiel is a little confusing.  Some of it addresses events happening while the Jews are in exile.  Some of it addresses events in the near future.  And some of it addresses events that haven't happened yet.  

With that said, it's all very hard to make sense of unless we study Ezekiel at the time time we study Isaiah and Revelation and Jeremiah and Daniel.  And I'm not going to do that.  

I believe God blesses us as we read Scripture even when it doesn't all make sense.  

I believe that the Holy Spirit speaks to us through God's Word.

And so, with that, I give you Ezekiel.