Ezekiel was a priest carried to Babylon with King Jehoiachin and thousands of other captives. See Ezekiel 1:1–3 and 2 Kings 24:14–16. Far from the temple, by the river Chebar, he saw the glory of God. That told the exiles something huge. The Lord hadn’t stayed behind in Jerusalem. He called Ezekiel a watchman, in 3:17 and 33:7. A watchman on the wall sees danger before the city does. If he sees it and stays quiet, the Lord holds him responsible, in 33:6. Your priest-age young men and older Young Women are close to being watchmen in a very real way. They’re ministering companions and class and quorum leaders. Soon they’ll be missionaries, roommates and co-workers. They may be the only Latter-day Saint some people know.
Ezekiel 33:10–20 answers a question teenagers ask out loud. Is repentance fair? The exiles said, “The way of the Lord is not equal,” in 33:17. The Lord’s answer is that direction matters more than history. Past goodness isn’t a bank account you can coast on. And a person who truly turns from sin won’t have those sins “mentioned unto him,” in 33:16. Ezekiel 34 then condemns shepherds who fed themselves instead of the flock. It lists what a real shepherd does. He seeks the lost, brings back the driven away, binds up the broken and strengthens the sick. See 34:4 and 34:16. Jesus called Himself the good shepherd in John 10:11. He told Peter, “Feed my sheep,” in John 21:17.
Ezekiel 36:26 promises a new heart and a new spirit. The Savior doesn’t only forgive. He changes us. Ezekiel 37 pictures that power. Dry bones come together and grow sinews, flesh and skin. But there’s still “no breath in them” until the Lord sends breath from the four winds, in 37:8–10. The Lord explained that the bones are the house of Israel saying “our hope is lost,” in 37:11. President Joseph F. Smith saw that the vision also points to the literal Resurrection, in Doctrine and Covenants 138:43. Then Ezekiel joins two sticks into one, one for Judah and one for Joseph, in 37:16–17. Latter-day Saints understand these as the Bible and the Book of Mormon. The Lord said those records would “grow together,” in 2 Nephi 3:12. Future missionaries will spend their days putting those two sticks in people’s hands.
Ezekiel 47 describes water flowing from under the temple. It gets deeper with every thousand cubits until it’s a river to swim in. It heals even the salty sea. The trees beside it have leaves “for medicine,” in 47:12. Compare Revelation 22:1–2. Youth preparing for the endowment, or already taking family names to the temple, are wading into that river. Keep it honest. Some of your youth feel like dry bones right now. This week’s message is that nobody is too far gone for the Lord to breathe into.
