Ezekiel 3:16-27
A Watchman for Israel
16 And at the end of seven days, the word of the Lord came to me: 17 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. 18 If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. 19 But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul. 20 Again, if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand. 21 But if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning, and you will have delivered your soul.”
22 And the hand of the Lord was upon me there. And he said to me, “Arise, go out into the valley, and there I will speak with you.” 23 So I arose and went out into the valley, and behold, the glory of the Lord stood there, like the glory that I had seen by the Chebar canal, and I fell on my face. 24 But the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and he spoke with me and said to me, “Go, shut yourself within your house. 25 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. 26 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. 27 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.
I'm a little overwhelmed by this passage. In the latter half is Ezekiel’s first living parable when the Lord led him out to the plain, and he saw the glory of the Lord and had an encounter with the Spirit. There the Lord spoke to Ezekiel. It was awesome stuff, but hard things for Ezekiel to hear. Ezekiel would literally be a prisoner of God, unable to do anything until the Lord enabled him. He couldn’t intercede for the people of God in their captivity nor seek the Lord on behalf of the people. Can you imagine that? He was bound and unable to speak as the judgment of the Lord was being carried out on the people of God, who the Lord called a “rebellious house.”
This may sound strange, but we must keep in mind what was happening with the people of God at that time. Remember, Ezekiel and Jeremiah overlap in time. The southern kingdom of Judah and Jerusalem were being wiped out by the Babylonians because of the sin of the people. The Lord sought to turn the people from their rebellious ways time and time again, pleading with them to repent, but they refused. Now, after countless warnings, the judgment of the Lord was being carried out on His own people, and nothing could be done about it. Ezekiel was not allowed to bridge the gap between the people and the Lord. Can you imagine yourself in Ezekiel’s place?
However, something awesome and convicting was happening with the Exiles. Ezekiel was given the responsibility to speak warnings to the wicked (when they were being wicked) and to the righteous (as the righteous stumbled). The focus of the passage is not so much about what would happen to the people for their failure to respond to the Lord; the focus is on Ezekiel's responsibility to share the word of God.
Go back and read verses 16-21 again - awesome and frightening stuff. Can you imagine the weight of responsibility that Ezekiel must have felt as the Lord told him what he would have to do? As disciples of Jesus, we share a similar responsibility as Ezekiel. We have a responsibility to share the Gospel with others - we carry the same burden, the same weight as Ezekiel. That’s huge. It's not up to us to save anyone, but it is up to us to faithfully share the Good News of Jesus Christ with our words and through our lives. We must give people the opportunity to hear and respond; what happens next is between them and the Lord. Christians and missional disciples (for that is who we are) are called to be faithful to go and share the Gospel message, both by how we live and through our conversations. C.S. Lewis said it best:
Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.”
C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory
God bless you and have a great day. Know that you are lifted in prayer this morning.
If there is anything specifically that you would like me to pray about, please let me know.
Scott