God’s call to do His will . . .

 

READ Ezekiel 1–4

How does a Christian relate to a prophet who spoke gloom and doom to a rebellious people who knew of God but did not listen to Him or obey what He said?

God called Ezekiel the priest to be His voice to Israel in exile. He’d been taken to Babylon in 597 B.C. in the second wave of deportation. As a contemporary of Jeremiah, he prophesied when Judah was still a nation.

Like Jeremiah, Ezekiel did not see fruit yet remained obedient to the Lord’s will and faithful to his calling. He was not concerned about popularity nor did he water down God’s message. However, Israel refused to listen and were conquered by Babylon. This is what God said to Him:

Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day. The descendants also are impudent and stubborn: I send you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them. And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions. Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house. And you shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house. But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Be not rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you.

 At that, Ezekiel saw a hand stretched out with a scroll in it that God spread before him. He saw writing on the front and on the back, with words of lamentation and mourning and woe. (Ezekiel 2:1–10) Then God spoke again:

Son of man, eat whatever you find here. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” So I opened my mouth, and he gave me this scroll to eat. And he said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it. . . .  “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with my words to them. For you are not sent to a people of foreign speech and a hard language, but to the house of Israel— not to many peoples of foreign speech and a hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, if I sent you to such, they would listen to you. But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me: because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart. Behold, I have made your face as hard as their faces, and your forehead as hard as their foreheads. Like emery harder than flint have I made your forehead. Fear them not, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house . . . . Son of man, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears. And go to the exiles, to your people, and speak to them and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ whether they hear or refuse to hear. (3:1–11)

God made this prophet responsible to speak and if he refused, he was responsible for not warning those who were in rebellion against Him. That is, just as God would judge those who persisted in their sin, He would also judge anyone sent to warn them if they didn’t do what He asked. (3:20–21) I am responsible for my own sin of disobedience.

This is the part that helps me relate to Ezekiel. The Spirit entered into him and said to him:

Go, shut yourself within your house. And you, O son of man, behold, cords will be placed upon you, and you shall be bound with them, so that you cannot go out among the people. And I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, so that you shall be mute and unable to reprove them, for they are a rebellious house. But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ He who will hear, let him hear; and he who will refuse to hear, let him refuse, for they are a rebellious house. (3:24–27)

God wants me to be willing, to say yes to Him and be faithful to what He asks. He knows I cannot speak without Him enabling me to say whatever He gives me to say. I cannot condemn those who do not listen to God if I do not listen to Him myself. My refusal to obey Him is just as great a sin as theirs. Even if there is no visible fruit from my obedience, I still need to surrender totally to the will of God!