Ezekiel — The Prophet of Visions
Dry bones, the heavenly chariot, the new temple — one of the most visionary prophets in scripture
The Merkabah — The Heavenly Chariot Vision
Ezekiel opens with one of the most extraordinary visions in all of scripture. A priest from Jerusalem, exiled to Babylon with the first wave of captives in 597 BC, sits by the river Chebar when the heavens open. What he sees is so complex, so layered, and so unlike anything in ordinary human experience that biblical interpreters have been debating it for two thousand years.
Four living creatures — each with four faces, four wings, and a human form — moved in every direction at once without turning. Beside each creature was a wheel within a wheel, their rims covered with eyes. Above the creatures was a firmament of crystal, and above that, a throne of sapphire. And upon the throne:
Ezekiel 1:26–28
“And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face.”
Latter-day Saint theology reads Ezekiel 1 with special attention: God appeared to Ezekiel in the form of a man. Not a metaphor. Not a symbol. “The likeness as the appearance of a man.” This is consistent with Joseph Smith's First Vision, with Moses's face-to-face encounter with God, and with the LDS doctrinal position that God the Father has a glorified, tangible, resurrected body. The prophets who saw God consistently describe seeing a person.
Jewish mystical tradition called this vision the merkabah (chariot) and treated it as the most sacred and dangerous of all scriptural passages — so sacred that the rabbis restricted who could study it and at what age. The tradition recognized that Ezekiel had seen something that permanently altered what could be said about God.
Ezekiel as a “Watchman”
God appointed Ezekiel to a specific prophetic role — not just to deliver messages, but to function as a watchman. If Ezekiel warned the wicked and they didn't listen, their blood was on their own hands. But if Ezekiel failed to warn them, their blood was on his hands (Ezekiel 33:6–9). The accountability cut both ways.
This is a model of prophetic responsibility that LDS doctrine affirms directly. The Prophet and apostles are watchmen on the tower. The members who hear their words and act on them are accountable for that knowledge. The prophet who speaks is accountable for speaking. The relationship is not one-directional — it creates mutual obligation.
Ezekiel delivered some of the harshest words in scripture to Jerusalem before it fell, and then became a voice of hope and restoration for the exiles in Babylon after it fell. The same man who announced judgment was the one who received the vision of resurrection. The watchman does not only warn of danger. He also sees the rescue coming.
The Valley of Dry Bones
In Ezekiel 37, the prophet is carried in vision to a valley full of dry bones. The bones are “very many” and “very dry” — dead, bleached, completely without life. God asks Ezekiel a question:
Ezekiel 37:3
“And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest.”
It is one of the most honest answers any prophet ever gave. Not “yes” — that would be presumptuous. Not “no” — that would be faithless. “Thou knowest.” The question is above my pay grade. I trust you have an answer.
God told Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones. He did. There was a noise, a shaking, and the bones came together — bone to bone. Then sinews. Then flesh. Then skin. Then breath entered them and they lived and stood on their feet — “an exceeding great army.”
Can These Bones Live?
God explains the vision immediately: the bones are the house of Israel, who have been saying “Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost.” The vision is about national restoration — the return of Israel from exile, the regathering of a people who believed they were finished.
But Latter-day Saint theology reads the vision on multiple levels simultaneously, because it operates on multiple levels. The vision also points to resurrection — the literal, physical reassembly of the human body from death. Paul's description of resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15 describes a process that Ezekiel's vision prefigures: the body rebuilt, the Spirit re-entering, death reversed.
The question “Can these bones live?” is every person's question about their own worst losses. The marriage that died. The testimony that went cold. The faith that dried out in a difficult season. The nation that was scattered. The individual who gave up and cannot imagine coming back. God's answer to Ezekiel is the same answer He gives every one of those situations: I know what I can do with dead things. Prophesy to the bones.
The Two Sticks — Bible and Book of Mormon
Immediately after the valley of dry bones, God gave Ezekiel another sign-act — and this one has been specifically interpreted by Latter-day Saints as a direct prophecy of the Book of Mormon:
Ezekiel 37:15–17
“The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions: And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.”
The Bible — the stick of Judah — is the record of the Judahite line of Israel. The Book of Mormon — the stick of Joseph (Ephraim) — is the record of descendants of Joseph through Lehi, who was of the tribe of Manasseh. Both are records of God's dealings with the house of Israel. Together, they become one in the hand of God's covenant people.
This is not an interpretation that was invented after the Book of Mormon was translated. Moroni cited this very passage to Joseph Smith in 1823. The connection between Ezekiel's two sticks and the two sets of scriptures is part of the founding narrative of the Restoration itself. Ezekiel prophesied it. Joseph Smith fulfilled it. The two records are now in our hands, one in each, becoming one witness of Jesus Christ.
The New Temple
The last nine chapters of Ezekiel (40–48) contain an extended vision of a new temple — a structure so detailed it includes measurements for every chamber, gateway, court, and wall. A man with a measuring rod gives Ezekiel a guided tour. The vision concludes with the glory of the Lord re-entering this temple from the east — the same glory that had departed Jerusalem before its fall in Ezekiel 10–11.
LDS theology does not limit the fulfillment of Ezekiel's temple vision to any single historical structure. The restored gospel includes an understanding of temples as sacred space where heaven and earth intersect — where ordinances for the living and the dead are performed, where the glory of God can be present. The Nauvoo Temple was built in direct response to revelation. The temples being built today are part of a continuing pattern that Ezekiel saw: God's glory returning to dwell among His people.
The river of healing that flows from the temple in Ezekiel 47 — making the dead sea alive, bringing fish of every kind, growing trees on every bank whose leaves do not wither — is temple theology in symbolic form. What comes out of the house of God is life. Where the water flows, things live. Where it does not flow, things remain as salt. The temple is not a building. It is the source of living water.
What Ezekiel's Visions Mean for LDS Doctrine
Ezekiel is not a comfortable prophet. His visions are strange, his sign-acts were sometimes painful (he was commanded to lie on his side for months), his message was brutal to a generation that did not want to hear it. But the content of his visions maps directly onto the doctrines of the Restoration:
Ezekiel's Visions and LDS Doctrine
- God has a glorified, human form — Ezekiel 1:26 — consistent with D&C 130:22
- Physical resurrection is literal — Ezekiel 37 — consistent with Alma 11:42–45
- Two sets of scripture will be joined — Ezekiel 37:15–22 — fulfilled in the Book of Mormon
- Temples will be built in the last days — Ezekiel 40–48 — consistent with D&C temple revelations
- Israel will be gathered — Ezekiel 36–37 — consistent with the Restoration's gathering theology
Ezekiel was writing in Babylon, six centuries before Christ, and his visions have more direct relevance to Latter-day Saint theology than most LDS members realize. He is not peripheral. He is one of the most doctrinally significant prophets in the canon — and his visions are still being fulfilled.