God Prepares a Prophet.
Ezekiel 2: 1-3:15.
Eze 2:1 And He said to me, "Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak to you."
2 Then the Spirit entered me when He spoke to me, and set me on my feet; and I heard Him who spoke to me.
3 And He said to me: "Son of man, I am sending you to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have transgressed against Me to this very day.
4 For they are impudent and stubborn children. I am sending you to them, and you shall say to them, 'Thus says the Lord God.'
5 As for them, whether they hear or whether they refuse--for they are a rebellious house--yet they will know that a prophet has been among them.
6 "And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you dwell among scorpions; do not be afraid of their words or dismayed by their looks, though they are a rebellious house.
7 You shall speak My words to them, whether they hear or whether they refuse, for they are rebellious.
8 But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Do not be rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you."
9 Now when I looked, there was a hand stretched out to me; and behold, a scroll of a book was in it.
10 Then He spread it before me; and there was writing on the inside and on the outside, and written on it were lamentations and mourning and woe.
Eze 3:1-15 1 Moreover He said to me, "Son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel."
2 So I opened my mouth, and He caused me to eat that scroll.
3 And He said to me, "Son of man, feed your belly, and fill your stomach with this scroll that I give you." So I ate, and it was in my mouth like honey in sweetness.
4 Then He said to me: "Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them.
5 For you are not sent to a people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, but to the house of Israel,
6 not to many people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, had I sent you to them, they would have listened to you.
7 But the house of Israel will not listen to you, because they will not listen to Me; for all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted.
8 Behold, I have made your face strong against their faces, and your forehead strong against their foreheads.
9 Like adamant stone, harder than flint, I have made your forehead; do not be afraid of them, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house."
10 Moreover He said to me: "Son of man, receive into your heart all My words that I speak to you, and hear with your ears.
11 And go, get to the captives, to the children of your people, and speak to them and tell them, 'Thus says the Lord God,' whether they hear, or whether they refuse."
12 Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me a great thunderous voice: "Blessed is the glory of the Lord from His place!"
13 I also heard the noise of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and the noise of the wheels beside them, and a great thunderous noise.
14 So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the Lord was strong upon me.
15 Then I came to the captives at Tel Abib, who dwelt by the River Chebar; and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days.
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Eze 2:1 And He said to me.
The “He” here is obviously the Lord. Ezekiel’s calling came as a result of the vision in chapter 1.
Son of man.
God calls mere men, Ezekiel wasn’t anyone special, he was just a man that was a chosen vessel of God.
stand on your feet
Remembering the previous chapter where Ezekiel fell on his face at the glory of God. Ch 1:28.
This is the place from where God can work, a prostrate heart that has bowed to Him.
The scripture tells us that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.
1 Peter 5:5b, “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble”.
6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,
Eze 2:2 Then the Spirit entered me when He spoke to me
At the word of God the Holy Spirit entered him and he was able to rise to his feet.
What a wonderful picture of regeneration.
A man prostrate as dead before God and by the word, was lifted up by the power of the Spirit.
Just like Adam, an inanimate piece of clay, until God breathed life into him.
Just like us, dead in trespasses and sins, until God by His word spoke, and the Holy Spirit entered and regenerated us to life and we were able to rise up.
Just like Lazarus, who was bound in grace clothes, in the tomb. At the word of Jesus, he came forth.
Only God can raise the dead.
Charles Wesley wrote it like this:
Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
fast bound in sin and natures night.
Thine eyes diffused a quickening ray,
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light.
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth and followed Thee.
This was an act of God, not of Ezekiel himself.
Neither is our salvation anything of us.
Eph 2:8,9 By grace are you saved through faith and not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
John 1:13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Ezekiels commission.
3 And He said to me: "Son of man, I am sending you to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have transgressed against Me to this very day.
4 For they are impudent and stubborn children. I am sending you to them, and you shall say to them, 'Thus says the Lord God.'
5 As for them, whether they hear or whether they refuse--for they are a rebellious house--yet they will know that a prophet has been among them.
6 "And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you dwell among scorpions; do not be afraid of their words or dismayed by their looks, though they are a rebellious house.
7 You shall speak My words to them, whether they hear or whether they refuse, for they are rebellious.
8 But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Do not be rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you."
Notice, that God uses the word rebellious or rebelled, seven times. There is no doubt what kind of people they are.
Ezekiel was a messenger of God being sent on a mission to a rebellious and sinful nation. Being given the authority to speak on behalf of God.
'Thus says the Lord God.'
Whether they hear or not, or accept or refuse, it was not his responsibility. Ezekiel’s responsibility is to be obedient to the word of God.
This sounds very much like the commission of Jesus to the church. Go into the world and preach the Gospel.
Mark 6:15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
Matthew 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
We are to preach to a sinful and rebellious people and share the word of God.
Whether the world listens or not, whether they accept the Gospel or they refuse the Gospel, it is not our responsibility. However it is our responsibility to be obedient to the commission.
It is God that works in hearts and minds of the hearer and it is God that draws men to Himself.
John12:32 And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all peoples to Myself.”
John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
This is the reason the Holy Spirit came upon us, it wasn’t so that we could do miracles, heal the sick or speak in tongues and prophecy.
It was so that we could receive power, for what? to be witnesses.
Acts 1:8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
God has saved us to serve and we should not resist Him nor should we be afraid.
Eze V6 "And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them nor be afraid of their words
It is the same for us as it was for all of God’s messengers.
2 Chron 20:15 Thus says the LORD to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.
Whether we are refused or persecuted, God has promised to be with us and God will give us the words at the time.
Luke 12:12 For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”
Eze 2:9 Now when I looked, there was a hand stretched out to me; and behold, a scroll of a book was in it.
10 Then He spread it before me; and there was writing on the inside and on the outside, and written on it were lamentations and mourning and woe.
Ezekiel had been given a scroll of a book.
He had now a responsibility.
We also have been given a book, a book that is the Word of God and we too have a responsibility to read it, study it and to preach it and teach it.
Eze 3:1 Moreover He said to me, "Son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel."
2 So I opened my mouth, and He caused me to eat that scroll.
3 And He said to me, "Son of man, feed your belly, and fill your stomach with this scroll that I give you." So I ate, and it was in my mouth like honey in sweetness.
4 Then He said to me: "Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them.
The word of God is food to our hearts and minds and it is good to eat and digest.
Psalm 119:103, “How sweet are thy words unto my taste!
Psalm 19:10 More to be desired are they than gold, Yea, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
Interesting to note, that in Judaism, there is a custom for children on their first day of learning the Torah.
A custom in both Ashkenazi and Sephardi traditions is to spread honey over a board or a paper with the Hebrew alphabet (alef-bet) written on it, and let the young scholar lick the letters, demonstrating the sweetness of learning.
In general, the command to feed on the word is a call to fill the heart and mind with truth. As Paul will say to the Colossians, we are to have hearts richly filled with the Word of God. And so the general instruction for Scripture is to store the word of God in our heart.
Deu 8:3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.
This is the verse that Jesus quoted to the devil.
Mat 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
God repeats His words to Ezekiel in chapter 3.
Eze 3:10 Moreover He said to me: "Son of man, receive into your heart all My words that I speak to you, and hear with your ears.
11 And go, get to the captives, to the children of your people, and speak to them and tell them, 'Thus says the Lord God,' whether they hear, or whether they refuse."
It is important enough for God to repeat it.
12 Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me a great thunderous voice: "Blessed is the glory of the Lord from His place!"
13 I also heard the noise of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and the noise of the wheels beside them, and a great thunderous noise.
Ezekiel now experiences the same as his vision of chapter 1:23,24
It is not clear what happened to Ezekiel whilst having this encounter but the scripture says:
Eze 3:12 Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me a great thunderous voice: "Blessed is the glory of the Lord from His place!"
Whether he was taken up as was the Apostle John and the man the Apostle Paul referred to is not clear.
2 Cor 12:2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven.
Eze 3:14 So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away,
Whether this was a spiritual experience or a physical transportation like the Deacon evangelist Philip, we are not sure. One minute, Philip was with the eunuch and the next he was found at Azotus.
Act 8:38 And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.
Act 8:39 And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.
Act 8:40 But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea.
Whatever happened, Ezekiel ended up in the same place at the river Chebar and he sat where they sat for seven days, astonished at what had happened.
He was told to go to the captives and he went.
May it be that we too, a kingdom of priests, listen to the commission of Jesus, read and study His word and be obedient in our call to go to the captives.
How will they hear without a preacher?
