Ezekiel 3:1-27

Experiences can be overwhelming.  Ezekiel is certainly having one of those experiences as He is given a glimpse of the glory of God and sent out to do the work of the ministry.  God commissions Ezekiel and He is overwhelmed by the experience to the point that he spend seven days in silence the first time he has the vision and then the Lord binds up his tongue the second time he has the vision.  It is not an easy or a trite thing to speak the Word of the Lord.  Our hearer’s response is not usually what we expect and it is a great responsibility. 

GOD WARNS EZEKIEL OF THE PEOPLE’S RESPONSE: God sends Ezekiel to his own people that are in exile with him.  He does not send them to a foreign land to speak a foreign language.  He does not send him to a great multitude of people who live a long ways away from him.  Ezekiel is sent to his own people to speak his own language and there are not very many people left in the nation that God is chastising.  However, God warns Ezekiel that the people’s response to his message will not be a positive one.  The people will pretend they cannot understand the message as if he were speaking in a foreign language.  The people will ignore him or worse yet, attack him as if he were an enemy from an invading country.  God warns Ezekiel that He is sending him to a people with a stiff neck and a hard forehead.  God also promises Ezekiel that He will give him a hard forehead to be able to face the attacks that are coming His way.  When God gives His children a hard job to do, He always gives them the necessary equipment to get that job done.  He may send us to difficult places to minister but He does not send us alone or in our own strength, He always goes with us and equips us for the work He calls us to do.

GOD WARNS EZEKIEL OF HIS OWN RESPONSIBILITY: Ezekiel returns to his people and sits among them in silence for seven days as the experience he has just had with God is overwhelming.  God then warns Ezekiel of the dangers associated with keeping silent about the warnings of God.  God compares the minister to the watchman on the wall of a city.  The watchman has the job of staying alert, seeing danger as it approaches the city and then urgently warning the people of the city about the impending danger.  The prophet of God has a very similar responsibility.  He is to warn the people of the danger of their sin.  When a wicked man walks in wicked ways it is the minister’s job to warn him of the impending judgment of his actions.  When a righteous man turns from his righteousness and begins to walk down the path of sin the minister must confront him and try to turn him back to the path of righteousness.  This is the God given responsibility of every man who knows the truth of the Gospel.  The people may ignore our message but that is their problem before God.  However, if we fail to proclaim the massage of warning they will still be judged by God but we too will be judged for our negligence of warning the people.  Once again Ezekiel is overwhelmed by the vision he has and God now sends him to his home with his tongue bound up and the clear instruction to only speak what the Lord tells Him to speak.  Our message comes from God and we are responsible to proclaim it in the power of God to all men no matter how they respond to it.