“Called to Proclaim His Righteousness”

Scripture: Ezekiel 3:17-27

Last week, we saw that Ezekiel, a priest of Israel, had been called to speak the Lord’s words to the nation, and that they weren’t going to be words that the people would be anxious to hear. God told him that they would be words of “lament and mourning and woe”. (Ezekiel 2:10) Not exactly the words that anyone would want to hear, but they were the very ones that the people needed to hear.
God is always faithful to give us all that we need, whether we feel we need it or not! That is the righteous nature of the Lord. He never back peddles, he never hedges, he never softens the message, he is never politically correct – he is always true and faithful. In Matthew 5:37, Jesus tells us that we never have to swear an oath of truth – that we only need to “let our yes be yes, and our no, no”. And he never expects us to do something that he wouldn’t do – his yes means just that, and his no is just as absolute. And when he tells the prophet to deliver his message to Israel, the message is a Godly truth regardless of the way that we want to take it.

Read Ezekiel 3:17

Two thoughts on this verse –
First, The prophet is called to be “a watchman for the house of Israel”. Ezekiel is being given a great responsibility as the Lord’s messenger - he is called to be a watchman. A watchman is one who is on guard for the camp. He is alert for danger coming from the outside; he is responsible to warn the camp of the approach of any enemy; he is to be the first line of defense for the people. The prophet, and actually any “servant of the Lord”, is to be on the alert for the enemy’s incursion into our lives, and to let the community know of every impending threat. But in Ezekiel’s case, the enemy was already in the heart of the nation – Israel and Judah had both been defeated in battle and had been taken into captivity, and Ezekiel’s job was to help them to recover from the calamity that had been their downfall, and to begin their journey back into God’s good grace.
And second, he was to receive the message that Jehovah God would give him, and to share it – repeat it – word for word, with the nation’s people. He wasn’t to make changes, he wasn’t to make additions, he wasn’t to leave anything out. The message would be complete in the precise way that the prophet would soon receive it, and his job was to pass it on in its entirety.

The Lord was very intentional in letting Ezekiel know that his sole responsibility was to be faithful to the word he was given. All too often, the people – those in that day and those in this day – feel that they know better than the word, that it falls short of what it should be, and they make all kinds of “corrections” and excuses to make the message more to their personal liking. God was not about to let this “son of man” have any flexibility in what he was about to share with the nation, and I believe the message for us today is that we have that same restriction – to share the message exactly as the Lord gives it to us. And the prophet was to get an object lesson regarding this responsibility.

Read Ezekiel 3:18-19

Not only are the servants of God to warn others of the sin in their lives, but they are to work diligently to lead the people away from their sinfulness. Sin is that other person’s problem, not the messengers, and if they fail to heed the warning, the penalty is theirs alone. But the problem for us is that if the messenger fails to offer a warning of the consequences of the sin, or fails to try to lead the person back into a life of grace, he, too, will be found guilty, and will pay his (or her!) own penalty.

Failure to follow is never an option – at least not in our relationship with Almighty God. When he calls us to do a task for him, the expectation is that we will do exactly as is required – no ifs, ands or buts! But many folks don’t understand this. The general sense is that we already know what the people need to hear, and we miss the bulk of God’s call, and we fill in the blanks from our own reservoir of inadequate and insufficient knowledge. And we fail the Lord miserably!

Sin - one, and righteousness - zero.

Read Ezekiel 3:20-21

It doesn’t make any difference if our nature is that of evil or righteousness – if we find ourselves far from his grace, then our hope in him is in jeopardy. And regardless of the quality of person’s past or present life, we are responsible for their relationship in the Lord. After Cain had taken the life of his brother Abel, God asked him where his brother was. Cain’s reply was “Am I my brother’s keeper?” And God’s answer was, in essence, “Yes - you are!” (Genesis 4:1-16) The answer was true, and is true to this day. Each of us is responsible for the lives of our brothers and sisters, and if we don’t hold the body accountable, then who will?
I know that this is never an easy task – I’ve been there and it wasn’t. But I also know that if we step out in faith, certain of what the Lord is asking of us, that we will receive a peace and assurance that will carry us through the call, and even beyond.
Give the Lord a chance to show you just how faithful he is!

Read Ezekiel 3:22-27

The Shekinah Glory – God radiance – was waiting for Ezekiel to come to him. And even as the chosen one falls head long on the ground to show honor to his Lord, he doesn’t remain there long, as the Glory lifts him to his feet once more.
And just a brief word on his being forced to stand. When the days of synagogue came to be, those who were listening to the teaching always stood. Standing apparently, was a sign of both attention and respect. Today, we do this in just the reverse order, but the point is that God was speaking and Ezekiel was listening, and this posture showed a far greater honor to the Lord than if the prophet had laid prone on the earth in front of the King. The Lord’s messenger was to hear every word and was not to miss a single one simply because he was filled with overwhelming awe.
And as he listened, he learned one more thing. Not only was Jehovah’s word the authority for his ministry, and not only was he to be a servant to that word, but he was to speak and act in the Lord’s time, and not in his own. As we journey through this book, we will see a lot of symbolism, and this passage is one of the first. Commentaries weren’t very helpful in explaining who specifically was doing the binding, so I’ll offer my own thoughts.
I believe that the Lord is telling Ezekiel that “The people won’t want to hear what you have to say, and they will try to prevent you from delivering my message. And even though I have demanded that you be perfectly faithful in telling them my truth, I will let you know when the time is right to give them my word.” The people would object and God would restrain the prophet from protesting until the time was right, and then he would be freed from all restrictions and would be allowed to speak the Lord’s words to “that rebellious house”.

And once the messenger is set free to prophesy, the people had better be ready to listen. Jesus Himself used the phrase a number of times – “he who has ears, let him hear”. (Matthew 11:11-15, etal) Note well that God doesn’t say “If you are interested in hearing what I have to say, then please listen.”, and he doesn’t say “If you like what you hear, then live these words.”. What he says is much more definitive - “If you have even the ability to hear, then you had better pay attention to what my servant has to say!”

This passage is as much for the people of today as it was for those living in the 5th century BC. First, for all who have been called to carry the Lord’s message, listen to him. Know what you are to say, know who you are to say it to, and know when it is to be delivered. And above all else, don’t hesitate, don’t delay, and don’t change the word.
And second, if you are the recipient of the message, you had better be listening with both ears wide open!
The call to carry God’s word must never be seen as a burden on our lives. When it is given, it is a blessing. When we are told to deliver God’s word to the lives of others, it is an honor. And when his word is given to us as correction, we should listen and be grateful. And in all circumstances, we had better not ignore it.

Our Lord could so very easily have done all the delivering by himself, but he doesn’t. He uses the likes of you and me to bring grace and mercy and blessing to the people of earth, and we must never shirk our responsibility as members of his body in this place.

Proclaim his glorious word and be blessed, that you might bring the Lord’s blessing to others. Amen.