Chatting about Ezekiel

5 Minutes With . . .
19 Oct 2020
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Hi, Antony, who are you and what do you do?

I am Senior Pastor of the Beacon Church in Ashton-in-Makerfield, near Wigan, but I also serve as Theology Advisor for the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity (LICC). Previously, I was Head of Theology at LICC for 11 years, having taught biblical interpretation and biblical theology at the London School of Theology for 16 years.

Your latest book is this little study in Ezekiel, what led you to write it?

I was asked to write it by the team at LICC! It’s part of ‘The Gateway Seven Series’ being produced by LICC which looks at seven books of the Bible, each of which represents a different kind of writing. The idea is to explore each book in a way that’s sensitive to its genre as well as to the content and shape of the book itself. In doing so, we also hope to show how the biblical book – Ezekiel in this case – provides a ‘gateway’ to a deeper engagement with God’s word and its implications for the whole of life.

What surprised you about the book of Ezekiel as you distilled it into six studies?

What struck me afresh is the unrelenting love and commitment of God to his people – seen especially in his presence with them which brings about their restoration from sin and idolatry. Importantly, this is not for their own sake, but for the sake of the nations among whom they are called to live, and so that God himself might be glorified.

What do you think the key message of Ezekiel is for today?

I think the key message of the book is captured through the series of visions Ezekiel receives, which show a movement from God’s judgment of his people to their restoration and the renewal of his presence with them. Through the visions, Ezekiel comes to see that God will reconfirm his covenant relationship with his people – doing an inner work in them, giving them new life in order to respond to him. For Christians, the hope expressed in Ezekiel finds its ultimate fulfilment in Jesus, whose death, resurrection, and gift of the Spirit continue to shape us as God’s people today.

How can Ezekiel help us in our daily lives?

The key thing here is the situation into which Ezekiel’s ministry of challenge and comfort was addressed – to a people in exile, far away from their homeland. Although we find ourselves in a different time and place, the image of ‘exile’ – which reverberates across the pages of Scripture – captures something significant about our identity as Christians in the world. Ezekiel reminds us that with exile comes the opportunity to renew our faith and hope in God himself, to be faithful to Jesus in how we live, sustained by God’s presence with us and his promised renewal of all things.

Finally, what is your prayer for this little book?

I hope it will open up the book of Ezekiel – along with the world of Old Testament prophecy more generally – for readers. I pray that God will speak through Ezekiel, delight us with a sense of his love and grace, and enable us to capture Ezekiel’s message about who God is, his ways in the world, and our place as his people in those purposes.

Watch this interview (with extra questions!) below...