Prophetic legacy

Dr Clifford Hill has long been one of Britain’s finest scholars of the Old Testament prophets, with a string of published books and booklets on various related topics and a host of articles gracing the pages of Prophecy Today over several decades.

Book titles include the formidable Prophecy Past and Present: An Exploration of the Prophetic Ministry in the Bible and the Church Today (1995); the more recent unique study, Living in Babylon: A Study of the Sixth Century BC Jewish Exile (2016) and its companion Living Victoriously in Babylon – both of which were co-written with Monica; and the sets ‘Today with Isaiah’ (3 volumes) and ‘Today with Jeremiah’ (2 vols) [1999-2002]; which are all part of the series ‘Today with the Prophets’.

Contents

The 2-volume set, ‘Today with Ezekiel' is also part of this series, two attractive and finely-presented productions. Volume 1 covers Chapters 1–21, in which the exiled Jewish people were weeping by the rivers of Babylon; this was when Ezekiel met their needs and founded the synagogue, establishing the Sabbath as central to the spiritual life of the nation. Ezekiel has long since been widely recognised as the architect of modern Judaism.

Volume 2 covers chapters 22–48 and contains even better news as Ezekiel recognises that the leadership of Israel, including the monarchy and the temple priesthood, all had to go so that God could do a new thing. He would give a new heart and a new spirit to His people.

Prophecy Today has already published ten short excerpts from these studies. Each study is easy to read, containing a separate and distinct teaching – be that Ezekiel’s call to ministry, the beginning of his mission, Ezekiel’s vision, Ezekiel the watchman, a new heart and a new spirit, or the valley of the dry bones.

Range of topics

But it’s important to remember that the studies that PT published comprise only a fraction of what is covered in these two books, each volume of which contains 68 (albeit rather short) chapters, well suited either for daily readings or as a straight-through read.

Other chapter titles include:

Volume 1

• The Broken Heart of God
• Sword, Plague and Famine
• The Cherubim and the Wheels
• Renewing the Covenant
• A Political Lament

Volume 2

• Two Adulterous Sisters
• The Oracles against the Nations
• The Tree of Life
• The Glory Returns to the Temple
• Offerings and Holy Days

These two volumes on Ezekiel will surely serve to enrich believers’ knowledge of the word of God, and reveal the remarkable ways in which a charismatic, and at times somewhat eccentric, prophet from two-and-a-half thousand years ago are still highly relevant today.

Probing the author

Prophecy Today put forward a few questions to Clifford to gain a better understanding about his recent releases:

1) Why did you choose Ezekiel as your follow-up study to the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah?

Cliff: Ezekiel and Jeremiah were contemporaries in the sixth century BC: Jeremiah’s ministry was in Jerusalem; Ezekiel’s was in Babylon. Very little is known about the exile in the Bible, but I had carried out extensive research for the book 'Living in Babylon'. I wanted to know more about the man who did more than anyone else to preserve the faith of the exiles from Israel.

2) What in particular did you personally learn from your recent extensive research into the book of Ezekiel?

Cliff: Ezekiel did not despair on being exiled – God had work for him to do. He was the first house group leader (Ezek 33:31) and he organised similar groups in all the village settlements of exiles around Babylon which became ‘meeting places’ (knessets) and later became synagogues. Ezekiel was the founder of modern Judaism.

3) What are the main significant lessons that readers can glean from reading your books?

Cliff: Among many other lessons learned, Ezekiel reveals God’s tender loving care for His people who were suffering at the hands of the Babylonians. God had withdrawn His cover of protection due to the unbelief of the people but as soon as they repented He restored them to His Shalom, giving them a new heart and a new spirit (Ezek 36:26).

4) There is much discussion among believers in regard to the prophecies contained in Ezekiel 38 & 39. What are the main points you draw from these perplexing chapters?

Cliff: Ezekiel was looking far into the future when anti-Semitism – hatred of God – would become a worldwide problem. Ezekiel 38 represents numerous attacks upon Israel as the people of God which they resist, but 39 is an eschatological prophecy representing the final conflict between good and evil, recognising that there are some people who are implacably opposed to the good purposes of God and only God Himself can deal with them in a final display of his glory – so that all the nations know the one true God when He pours out His Spirit through the house of Israel (Ezek 39:27).

5) What do you think Ezekiel teaches in regard to true and false prophecy?

Cliff: Ezekiel was deeply troubled by false prophets, both men and women, who gave nice little messages of comfort to the people. But they were undermining Ezekiel’s work of getting the exiles in Babylon to recognise the reason why God had removed His cover of protection over the people of Israel and Jerusalem, which was because of the sinfulness of the people. Both Jeremiah and Ezekiel condemned the false prophets who were misleading the people by saying “Peace, peace, when there is no peace” (Jer 6:14 and Ezek 13:10). They were undermining the work of God. We saw a similar thing when the Kansas City Prophets came to Britain around the turn of the 1990s. I had been to Kansas City and met with these men and I discerned that they were false prophets.

6) The theme of judgement runs right through the book of Ezekiel. But this prophet offers much in the way of hope and promise too. Which dominates, do you think, overall?

Cliff: By far the most difficult task Ezekiel had to deal with was to convince the exiles that they were the ones responsible for the catastrophe that had come upon Israel. He had to reach the point where they “loathed themselves” for their sins of idolatry and faithlessness. Then God could do the creative work of redemption – transforming the remnant into a redeemed company of believers who would rebuild Jerusalem preparing the way for Messiah. That is the ultimate purpose of the whole book of Ezekiel. It begins with judgement and ends with redemption. You cannot have one without the other.

7) Is it true that another volume is near to completion – on the not-so-‘minor’ prophets, Amos and Hosea?

Cliff: In the eighth century BC there were four prophets whom God raised up to try to save His people from the onslaughts of the Assyrians – they were Amos, Isaiah of Jerusalem, Hosea, and Micah. I wrote a commentary on Isaiah many years ago and I am completing the study of these men by doing one volume containing the life and work of Amos, Hosea, and Micah. I have completed Amos and Hosea and I am halfway through Micah, and I hope to publish them by the end of the year. 

'Today with Ezekiel' Volumes 1 & 2 are published by Handsel Press and are available from Issachar Ministries for £15 (for both) plus £3.70 p&p, or £10 each.