So Ezekiel begins by telling that he was sitting by a river with the exiles and the Lord God began to give him visions. In Chapter 2 he gets his official call from the Lord. He is being sent to the Israelites – the rebellious nation. The Lord tells him that whether or not they receive the words, he is to go and tell them the messages from God. Then, in chapter 3 it gets really interesting. God tells him to eat the scroll that is before him and he opened it and ate it. It was sweet in his mouth – as sweet as honey. Then, the Lord tells him that He will harden Ezekiel’s heart so that it is like the people of Israel’s and yet, He commands him to go and speak His words to them – no matter their reaction. He just has to be faithful. Verse 10 strikes me as the Lord says to him, “Son of man, let all my words sink deep into your own heart first. Listen to them carefully for yourself. Then go to your people in exile and say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says!’ Do this whether they listen to you or not.
Alright Ezekiel, I am calling you. I am telling you that I am going to put my words in your mouth, and you are responsible to tell this rebellious nation, no matter what they respond with. But FIRST, I want you to hear these words. Let them sink – DEEP IN YOUR HEART. Then you can go to others. What an amazing lesson for the people of our day. How often are we ready to go to someone with a rebuke or a reproof and yet, have we really ingested the words for ourselves first? Galatians 6 exhorts us to go to our brothers when we see them in sin, but it also gives us a warning. Look at this, “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Each one should test his own actions. The, he can take pride in himself WITHOUT COMPARING HIMSELF TO SOMEBODY ELSE, for each one should carry his own load.”
Verse 12 says that the Spirit then lifted him up and he heard a rumbling sound. It is the coolest thing to realize that he pauses and literally says, “May the glory of the Lord be praised in this place!” He is so in awe of the presence of our God that he has to stop and just say, “praise the Lord!” in the middle of telling the story. Wow! How awesome is our God? His worth and beauty we are completely inept to understand! So, then he finishes telling the story that the Spirit carried him away “in bitterness and turmoil, but the Lord’s hold on me was strong.” He says, ‘I didn’t want to do it. I was kicking and screaming, but the Lord’s hand held me fast, and I couldn’t get away.’ I love that! He doesn’t have a great attitude, or a soft heart. The Lord told him that he was going to harden his heart like that of the people. So, it was with a hardened heart that he went to the people as God has told him. I love that! Talk about being willing to take on things that are uncomfortable for God. The Spirit carried him to the Kebar River again and he was overwhelmed and sat among them for seven days. Can you imagine everything he saw and felt and heard in that seven days? I cannot fathom it.
What sort of person would God choose to do things like this? He didn’t say that Ezekiel had a hard heart. When He spoke to Ezekiel, He said that he would harden his heart. That means that Ezekiel’s heart was soft. He was willing. He was ready to take the message, or God would not have chosen him. How hard it is to imagine that he went off in bitterness and anger and turmoil? What would that have been like for him? What would it feel like to have a hard heart that you didn’t spend time creating? How difficult would it be to be striving with the Lord when in reality he wanted to do God’s will all along. We harden our hearts to the Lord by telling Him no when He asks us to do things, or by not entering into painful places with Him because we have more fear than faith. But, what if we didn’t have a hard heart, and all of a sudden, the Lord shows up and says, I am going to harden your heart so that you can be a witness to these people. Overwhelmed for seven days seems pretty short to me. I think I might have been overwhelmed for a month! I can’t imagine what that would have made him feel like. The separation from the Lord. The knowledge that the Lord is Sovereign, and yet, the inability to respond to the Lord with a sweetness of spirit. Instead, it is a bitterness of spirit that he has to operate in. It is in turmoil that he was dealing with the Lord. After those overwhelming days, the Lord shows up again and speaks to him finally with the message. The message is not an easy pill to swallow. Read Ezekiel 3:16-21.
“After seven days the Lord gave me a message. He said, “Son of man, I have appointed you as a watchman for Israel. Whenever you receive a message from me, warn people immediately. If I warn the wicked, saying, ‘You are under the penalty of death’, but you fail to deliver the warning, they will die in their sins. And I will hold you responsible for their deaths. If you warn them and they refuse to repent and keep on sinning, they will die in their sins. But you will have saved yourself because you obeyed me. If righteous people turn away from their righteous behavior and ignore the obstacles I put in their way, they will die. And if you do not warn them, they will die in their sins. None of their righteous acts will be remembered, and I will hold you responsible for their deaths. But, if you warn righteous people not to sin, and they listen to you and do not sin, they will live and you will have saved yourself too.” Then the Lord took hold of me and said, “Get up and go out in to the valley, and I will speak to you there.” So I got up and went, and there I saw the glory of the Lord, just as I had seen in my first vision by the Kebar River. And I fell face down on the ground.”
Talk about responsibility. The Lord gives out responsibility in accordance with our faithfulness. He told Ezekiel that HE would be responsible for people’s death if he didn’t warn them as he was told! He was appointed a watchman for the people of Israel. God was basically telling him, “I gave you eyes to see so that you could warn them, and if you don’t use the gifts I have given, their death – in eternity will be on your head.” Wow. I wonder how the Lord would use us if we would have a willing Spirit. I wonder what things He wants to let us share in if we would only have hearts willing to do what He requires. I am not saying that I want to be responsible for other people’s salvation, but I am saying that aren’t we already? Hasn’t He already commanded us to go and spread the gospel? Hasn’t He commissioned each one of us with a calling that will both build up the body of believers and at the same time lead people to Christ? 1 Corinthians 14:26 says, “Well, my brothers and sisters, let’s summarize. When you meet together, one will sing, another will teach, another will tell some special revelation God has given, one will speak in tongues, and another will interpret what is said. But everything that is done must strengthen all of you.” God Himself has placed us in what body of believers He desires, and the Spirit has chosen which gifts to give us. It is our responsibility to work as unto the Lord in the body, and out of the body of believers. We are to share our gifts with the lost AND THE SAVED. We were not given gifts for ourselves alone. We were not given abilities to build ourselves up – but the whole church. Isn’t it time that we embraced the things that God wants for us? Every good and perfect gift comes from the Father of lights. He gives us so many riches that we stomp on the ground under our feet. Oh to have a willing Spirit like Ezekiel that doesn’t run away from the responsibilities that the Lord desires to give! I want to have a willing heart and mind. I want to have a heart that says “Yes” to God – and that when Satan goes to accuse me before God’s throne, He is so certain of my reaction that He would let me be like Job – just to show that my heart is faithful to Him above all things. Oh, Lord teach us how to have a spirit that is not weak. Help us to be strong in You alone! Help us to have a heart that fears your Name! Lord that we could say with the Psalmist in 119 that says, “I will hasten and not delay to obey your commands.” And Though I constantly take my life in my hands, I will not forget your law… My heart is set on keeping your decrees until the very end!” Help us Lord, pour your mercy down on us!
Alright Ezekiel, I am calling you. I am telling you that I am going to put my words in your mouth, and you are responsible to tell this rebellious nation, no matter what they respond with. But FIRST, I want you to hear these words. Let them sink – DEEP IN YOUR HEART. Then you can go to others. What an amazing lesson for the people of our day. How often are we ready to go to someone with a rebuke or a reproof and yet, have we really ingested the words for ourselves first? Galatians 6 exhorts us to go to our brothers when we see them in sin, but it also gives us a warning. Look at this, “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Each one should test his own actions. The, he can take pride in himself WITHOUT COMPARING HIMSELF TO SOMEBODY ELSE, for each one should carry his own load.”
Verse 12 says that the Spirit then lifted him up and he heard a rumbling sound. It is the coolest thing to realize that he pauses and literally says, “May the glory of the Lord be praised in this place!” He is so in awe of the presence of our God that he has to stop and just say, “praise the Lord!” in the middle of telling the story. Wow! How awesome is our God? His worth and beauty we are completely inept to understand! So, then he finishes telling the story that the Spirit carried him away “in bitterness and turmoil, but the Lord’s hold on me was strong.” He says, ‘I didn’t want to do it. I was kicking and screaming, but the Lord’s hand held me fast, and I couldn’t get away.’ I love that! He doesn’t have a great attitude, or a soft heart. The Lord told him that he was going to harden his heart like that of the people. So, it was with a hardened heart that he went to the people as God has told him. I love that! Talk about being willing to take on things that are uncomfortable for God. The Spirit carried him to the Kebar River again and he was overwhelmed and sat among them for seven days. Can you imagine everything he saw and felt and heard in that seven days? I cannot fathom it.
What sort of person would God choose to do things like this? He didn’t say that Ezekiel had a hard heart. When He spoke to Ezekiel, He said that he would harden his heart. That means that Ezekiel’s heart was soft. He was willing. He was ready to take the message, or God would not have chosen him. How hard it is to imagine that he went off in bitterness and anger and turmoil? What would that have been like for him? What would it feel like to have a hard heart that you didn’t spend time creating? How difficult would it be to be striving with the Lord when in reality he wanted to do God’s will all along. We harden our hearts to the Lord by telling Him no when He asks us to do things, or by not entering into painful places with Him because we have more fear than faith. But, what if we didn’t have a hard heart, and all of a sudden, the Lord shows up and says, I am going to harden your heart so that you can be a witness to these people. Overwhelmed for seven days seems pretty short to me. I think I might have been overwhelmed for a month! I can’t imagine what that would have made him feel like. The separation from the Lord. The knowledge that the Lord is Sovereign, and yet, the inability to respond to the Lord with a sweetness of spirit. Instead, it is a bitterness of spirit that he has to operate in. It is in turmoil that he was dealing with the Lord. After those overwhelming days, the Lord shows up again and speaks to him finally with the message. The message is not an easy pill to swallow. Read Ezekiel 3:16-21.
“After seven days the Lord gave me a message. He said, “Son of man, I have appointed you as a watchman for Israel. Whenever you receive a message from me, warn people immediately. If I warn the wicked, saying, ‘You are under the penalty of death’, but you fail to deliver the warning, they will die in their sins. And I will hold you responsible for their deaths. If you warn them and they refuse to repent and keep on sinning, they will die in their sins. But you will have saved yourself because you obeyed me. If righteous people turn away from their righteous behavior and ignore the obstacles I put in their way, they will die. And if you do not warn them, they will die in their sins. None of their righteous acts will be remembered, and I will hold you responsible for their deaths. But, if you warn righteous people not to sin, and they listen to you and do not sin, they will live and you will have saved yourself too.” Then the Lord took hold of me and said, “Get up and go out in to the valley, and I will speak to you there.” So I got up and went, and there I saw the glory of the Lord, just as I had seen in my first vision by the Kebar River. And I fell face down on the ground.”
Talk about responsibility. The Lord gives out responsibility in accordance with our faithfulness. He told Ezekiel that HE would be responsible for people’s death if he didn’t warn them as he was told! He was appointed a watchman for the people of Israel. God was basically telling him, “I gave you eyes to see so that you could warn them, and if you don’t use the gifts I have given, their death – in eternity will be on your head.” Wow. I wonder how the Lord would use us if we would have a willing Spirit. I wonder what things He wants to let us share in if we would only have hearts willing to do what He requires. I am not saying that I want to be responsible for other people’s salvation, but I am saying that aren’t we already? Hasn’t He already commanded us to go and spread the gospel? Hasn’t He commissioned each one of us with a calling that will both build up the body of believers and at the same time lead people to Christ? 1 Corinthians 14:26 says, “Well, my brothers and sisters, let’s summarize. When you meet together, one will sing, another will teach, another will tell some special revelation God has given, one will speak in tongues, and another will interpret what is said. But everything that is done must strengthen all of you.” God Himself has placed us in what body of believers He desires, and the Spirit has chosen which gifts to give us. It is our responsibility to work as unto the Lord in the body, and out of the body of believers. We are to share our gifts with the lost AND THE SAVED. We were not given gifts for ourselves alone. We were not given abilities to build ourselves up – but the whole church. Isn’t it time that we embraced the things that God wants for us? Every good and perfect gift comes from the Father of lights. He gives us so many riches that we stomp on the ground under our feet. Oh to have a willing Spirit like Ezekiel that doesn’t run away from the responsibilities that the Lord desires to give! I want to have a willing heart and mind. I want to have a heart that says “Yes” to God – and that when Satan goes to accuse me before God’s throne, He is so certain of my reaction that He would let me be like Job – just to show that my heart is faithful to Him above all things. Oh, Lord teach us how to have a spirit that is not weak. Help us to be strong in You alone! Help us to have a heart that fears your Name! Lord that we could say with the Psalmist in 119 that says, “I will hasten and not delay to obey your commands.” And Though I constantly take my life in my hands, I will not forget your law… My heart is set on keeping your decrees until the very end!” Help us Lord, pour your mercy down on us!
