Ezekiel 2
McGeeCHAPTERS 2 AND 3THEME: Ezekiel’s call, preparation, and office as a watchman
Ezekiel 2:1
EZEKIEL’S CALLApparently after the vision Ezekiel had seen, he was not standing up, but was down on his face. He will now receive a call and commission and an endowment with power for the office to which God has called him. “Son of man"God addresses him as “son of man.” This title is found exactly one hundred times in the Book of Ezekiel. Daniel, also, is called the son of man. Only these two men in the Old Testament were called by this title. This is also the title that the Lord Jesus appropriated to Himself; eighty-six times in the New Testament He used this title for Himself. It speaks of Him in His rejection, His humiliation, and His exaltation; He is the Son of Man. Ezekiel did pass through a great deal of suffering. If someone were to ask me whose position I would rather not haveDaniel’s, Jeremiah’s or Ezekiel’sI would say I would rather not have Ezekiel’s. Certianly Daniel was in danger in the court of Babylonjust ask the lions down there in the den where Daniel spent a night with them! If God had not intervened, Daniel would have been lion food. But I would prefer his job to Ezekiel’s because he at least had luxurious quarters there in the palace of the king of Babylon. Also, Jeremiah at this time was pretty much retired, although he had been in grave danger during his active ministry until the deportation of the people into captivity.
However, this man Ezekiel was sent to do a hard job, a very difficult job. He had the job of speaking to an apostate people. He was sent to people who thought they were God’s people, but actually they were in rebellion against God. The Spirit of God now comes upon Ezekiel and prepares him for this office:
Ezekiel 2:2
The Spirit of God gave Ezekiel the power to do the job He had given him to do. I believe that when God calls you to do a job He will give you the power to do that job. In fact, God’s work can only be done with the power of God. If God has called you to do a certain thing, He’ll give you the power to do it. The best position you can come to is to recognize that you are not able in your own strength to do the job the Lord has given to you. Moses finaly came to the realizationafter forty years in the wildernessthat he could not deliver the people. God said to him, “I can do it through you.” God called him to deliver the people, and he was able to do itnot because there was anything in Moses, but because there was a great deal in God. This is so practical for us today: it works in the ministry, in the pew, and on the mission field. A young couple once came to me saying they had been called to the mission field. I questioned them carefully because I frankly did not feel they were called, although I could not be sure and certainly did not want to stand in their way. They went to the mission field but came back a casualty. As I talked to them, I found they were bitter and felt that God had let them down. They had been willing to go, willing to be martyrs; yet God had not used them.
I asked them, “Did it ever occur to you that if you had been called to the mission field, He would have given you the power to do the job?” They had never looked at it from that viewpoint. My friend, we need to recognize that, if we are called of God, He is going to give us the power to do the job. The important thing then is to make sure that we are truly called of God to do a certain thing. Ezekiel was called to do a better job than any man I can think of. God is going to tell him about his job. I think that if God had told me something like this when I entered the ministry I would have said, “Now wait a minute, Lord, I’m handing in my resignation right now. I think I’ll continue in my job as a bank clerk and see if I can work myself up in the banking world.” I’m glad He didn’t tell me what He told Ezekiel, because I must confess I am a coward and I come from a long line of cowards. I admire this man Ezekiel. Notice what God tells him about his job:
Ezekiel 2:3
This is a tremendous statement that God makes: “I am going to send you to these peoplethey are ‘a rebellious nation.’” The word rebellious occurs again and again in the Book of Ezekiel. They are a people in rebellion against God. The work that is translated “nation” is not the word that God generally used for His chosen people. The word in the Hebrew is goi, and it is the word that Israel used to speak of the Gentiles, the pagans, the heathen. What has happened is that Israel has sunk to the level of the heathen people who lived round about them. God says that they are “a rebellious nation"they’ve rebelled against Himand they are “impudent children.” My friend, the hardest people to reach with the gospel today are church membersthose who are in church and who have rejected the gospel and rejected the Word of God. Although they are in church, they are actually against God. They think that being a Christian means to be nice little boys and girls. They play at churchit’s a nice game for them. They seek to be sweet and to keep their noses clean. They want to live a life on the surface which is very sedate and comfortable.
They don’t want anyone coming in and telling them they are lost sinners who need to be saved and to become obedient to God. They are hard people to reach, and my heart goes out to my brethren who are in the ministry todaythey are sitting on a hot seat. And I would counsel any young man who is considering the ministry to be sure about his call. If he is not sure of his call, maybe he should sell insurance or something else rather than go into the ministry. To be in the ministry today is not easy if you are going to stand for the Word of God.
Ezekiel 2:5
God says to Ezekiel, “I am calling you to go to these people, and whether they hear you or whether they don’t, they are going to know that there was a prophet of God among themI’ll make sure of that.” After Ezekiel was gone, the people would say that he was certainly a prophet of God, although they disagreed with him. I’ll be frank with you. All I want after I’m gone is for people to say that I preached the Word of God the best I knew how. That is what is important.
Ezekiel 2:6
Apparently Ezekiel was going to be in danger, but God says, “Be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words.” The Lord really lays it on the line to Ezekiel just what his job was going to be like.