As Jesus spoke of his coming death, his disciples became confused and afraid. Jesus assured them that everything was going according to God's plan, and that he would give them another helper to carry on his mission. The sending of God's Holy Spirit would equip disciples of Jesus with everything they would need to fulfill God's kingdom purposes through their lives.

Just as God revealed his glory to Moses at Sinai, the Christian claim is that God has revealed his glory again. In Jesus Christ, the glory of God was put on full display for everyone to see. All who will receive God's incarnate glory will begin to reflect that same glory into the world, an attractive combination of grace and truth.

Communion with God, Incarnation, Life, Atonement, Judgment, Fear SUMMARY: Who is God? And what is he like? The entire story of the Bible, culminating in the incarnation of the Son of God, tells us that God is love. When we come to see the love of the Father, we will be transformed into God-like lovers ourselves.

Christians have been given the enormous privilege of enjoying communion with the one true God. Since Jesus is Lord, communion with God consists in submitting entirely to his rule and reign. This willing submission is a great mercy as we come to find deep satisfaction in his gracious kingdom.

The gospel is powerful to transform individuals from death to life, people to be united in one body under Christ, and societies to reconcile differences and restore relationships. The gospel works true transformation and brings genuine reconciliation. Slavery is incompatible with the gospel. To walk in the truth and love of the gospel is to walk away from slavery.

Ezekiel’s final vision concludes with a description of how the holy land is divided among the twelve tribes of Israel as their inheritance. The New Testament builds upon this image. With Jesus as our foundation, God’s people are to take seriously the life they have been given in Christ as stewards of a sacred inheritance.

Ezekiel’s tour of the temple comes to an end as he is shown a trickle of water flowing out from the temple and growing into a large river. Here we find one of the Bible’s most frequent images for the world made right. It is an image meant to encourage God’s people to remain steadfast in faith and service, confident that God is at work in them and through them to cause life to emerge even in the most barren places.

During Ezekiel's tour of the temple, he not only sees how big the temple is and how it is designed, he also hears the laws that govern its use. These laws ensure that the temple remains a sacred place where God can dwell among his people. But they also address the moral wrongs that his people have committed against each other, so that they never again have to fear the judgment of exile and broken fellowship with God or with one another.

Ezekiel’s final prophecy begins with a tour of the new temple in the new Jerusalem. His guide carefully measures the temple’s dimensions as the prophet describes some of its distinctive features. When the tour is complete, Ezekiel sees an amazing sight: the return of the glory of the Lord to the temple with the promise to never leave it again.

Ezekiel is taken back to the land of Israel where he sees the future glory of Israel's restoration. But this was far more than a vision of what was to come. Ezekiel is told to proclaim what he saw to his fellow exiles so that they would begin to live in the present in light of their certain future.