Read with me the contents of this chapter and then we will take a carfull look at the gems hidden in the different verses. May ou gracious God come very close to us.
1 Ezekiel’s commission. 6 His instruction. 9 The roll of his heavy prophecy.
ze 2:1 He said to me, “Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak to you.”
Eze 2:2 As he spoke, the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet, and I heard him speaking to me.
Eze 2:3 He said: “Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have been in revolt against me to this very day.
Eze 2:4 The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says.’
Eze 2:5 And whether they listen or fail to listen—for they are a rebellious people—they will know that a prophet has been among them.
Eze 2:6 And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions. Do not be afraid of what they say or be terrified by them, though they are a rebellious people.
Eze 2:7 You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious.
Eze 2:8 But you, son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not rebel like that rebellious people; open your mouth and eat what I give you.”
Eze 2:9 Then I looked, and I saw a hand stretched out to me. In it was a scroll,
Eze 2:10 which he unrolled before me. On both sides of it were written words of lament and mourning and woe.
Eze 2:1 He said to me, “Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak to you.”
“Son of man.” Heb. ben–‘adam. This is God’s customary formula of addressing to me, Ezekiel. You will find it 93 times throughout the book, called by my name.
Daniel is the only other prophet so named, but the title appears in his book but once. The Hebrew has several words for man: (1) ’ish, which refers to man as a male or husband; (2) ’enosh, which is a more general term, seldom used in the singular, more usually collective for the whole human race. It seems to comprehend man in his frailty, disease, and mortality.
(3) ’adam, which describes man in a generic sense. God said, “Let us make ’adam in our image” (Gen. 1:26). Our word “mankind” in many instances suitably translates ’adam; (4) geber, which describes man in his youthful vigour.
By addressing me as “son of man” (ben–’adam), is reminding me of the fact that I am a member of humanity. It was through human channels that God purposed to convey His message of salvation to perishing souls. He could have employed other means. Angels might have been appointed His ambassadors.
An audible voice from heaven might have been the evangel. But God desired to make man a sharer in the joys of unselfish ministry to others, and so He committed unto us the “word of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:19).
No “son of man” may avoid this duty. His attitude toward this duty will determine whether he succeeds in winning or failing to win souls. To be a “son of man” is an invitation to engage in private or public ministry out of a passionate love for other beings.
Eze 2:1 He said to me, “Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak to you.”
The vision of the glory of God had prostrated me. In a similar manifestation of the power of God, Daniel declared, “There remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength” (Dan. 10:8).
In the call to divine service Daniel and I were led first to feel our own weakness. Then divine power came and activated us, restoring to us physical strength and enabling us to receive the heavenly communication.
Eze 2:2 As he spoke, the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet, and I heard him speaking to me.
“The Spirit came into me.” Prophecy is one of the gifts of the Spirit. The call to prophetic office is not by personal choice, but by divine appointment (see Num. 12:6; 1 Cor. 12:28). The reception of the Holy Spirit, which imparts the prophetic ability, is the evidence of the genuine call.
Any claim to the gift apart from this prerequisite is false. When I received his call, the Spirit entered me, putting me into a condition that is called in prophetic language, “in the Spirit”.
While the prophet is “in the Spirit,” he may seem to take journeys to distant points, though in actuality he has not moved a step.
Eze 2:3 He said: “Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have been in revolt against me to this very day.
Here begins my commission. Basically, my message was to the exiles of Judah, however, in its wider scope it embraced the ten tribes who, more than 100 years before, had been carried into captivity by the Assyrians.
Changing fortunes had given to Babylon and Media the territories of Assyria, so that when the Babylonian captivity swallowed up the remnant of Judah the 12 tribes were in a sense reunited, all now being under a foreign yoke (see Jer. 50:17, 18, 33).
Rebellious nation. Literally, “nations that are rebellious.” The word rendered “nation” is the one frequently translated “heathen.” So low had Israel sunk in her wilful departure from God that she, who was to have been the royal nation, the kingdom of priests (see Ex. 19:6), is now addressed by the derogatory title “heathen,” and that with the additional epithet “rebellious.” I, the prophet is further reminded that Israel’s defection is of long standing.
Can you believe that God still cares about spiritual human dross?
Eze 2:4 The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says.’
The Lord was portraying a dark picture of Israel’s moral breakdown. As the prophet would soon learn, the illustration was not exaggerated .
This is what the Sovereign Lord says. The charge to me, Ezekiel is the divine commission to every teacher of the Word, to every expositor of sacred truth. God’s Word is not to be intermixed with human opinions. Private theories are fallible.
Concerning divine matters, only those things that God has revealed can be known as facts. All else is human opinion. With every wind of doctrine blowing and every species of interpretation abroad, men need the reassurance of a message backed by a “Thus says the Lord God.” Such a declaration is the voice of authority. I, Ezekiel needed such a warrant. Judah’s doom was impending. My message came bearing the credentials from the highest authority.
Eze 2:5 And whether they listen or fail to listen—for they are a rebellious people—they will know that a prophet has been among them.
A failure to heed must not be attributed to an act of predestination. God’s plan of salvation embraces all. All are given an adequate chance of salvation. All possible influences consistent with free choice and the issues of the great controversy are brought to bear upon men to induce them to accept the proffered redemption. But it is for men to decide whether they will hear or whether they will forbear.
The disobedient are without excuse. God will be able to say of every soul who is eventually lost: “What could have been done more … that I have not done?” (Isa. 5:4). People destroy themselves by their refusal to accept the salvation of Christ. As a culminating event in the great controversy the history of the world will be portrayed in panoramic view revealing to each soul his relation to the issues of the great conflict. As a result, all will acknowledge the justice of God and the adequacy of the grace offered them.
They will know.
The crowning evidence that the prophet bears divine credentials is the fulfillment of his word. Yet even while he is delivering his message the Holy Spirit testifies to hardened hearts that the message of the messenger of God is from heaven.
To the rebellious captives the Holy Spirit would send conviction that their course of obstinate impiety was unjustified. They might openly mock the divine messenger, but beneath the sneer of scorn would be deep-seated fear that the voice they were spurning was indeed the voice of God. My messages would be either a “savour of death unto death,” or of “life unto life”.
Eze 2:6 And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions. Do not be afraid of what they say or be terrified by them, though they are a rebellious people.
My opposition would come from rulers, priests, and pretended prophets. They would ridicule, misrepresent, accuse, and threaten me the prophet, but through it all I was to avoid giving way to their attempts to intimidate me and to the discouraging fears that beset me on every side.
Eze 2:7 You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious.
Eze 2:8 But you, son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not rebel like that rebellious people; open your mouth and eat what I give you.”
There was danger that with so forbidding a prospect, I would shrink from my responsibility. In so shrinking I would identify myself with the very rebellion I was sent to reprove. There was danger that I would be influenced by my environment of prevailing apostasy and that I would lose his sense of the exceeding sinfulness of sin.
There is a subtle poison in the atmosphere of evil society. It is difficult for a man to be faithful among the faithless, especially when the faithless profess the same hopes and aspirations as I. That is why the greatest danger to the church is from within, not without.
If those who are called to be leaders are themselves “rebellious,” like the “rebellious house,” then what else can be expected but a widespread departure from God? The history of the apostasy of Israel reveals the disastrous result of what happens when men look to men and trust in human leaders who themselves are practicing evil.
“Eat what I give you.” This is a symbolic prophecy, and the prophet ate the scroll in vision, not in fact. The figure is full of spiritual meaning. To impart to his fellow men, the teacher must first receive from God. Second, as physical nourishment introduced into the body becomes flesh, blood, and bones, so the message must be appropriated and become a part of the messenger.
The teacher cannot be fitted for service by a superficial and uncertain acquaintance with his message. The message must sink into the depths of his nature, must penetrate his being, must enter all the functions of his spiritual life. It must become an integral part of his thought and life.
Eze 2:9 Then I looked, and I saw a hand stretched out to me. In it was a scroll,
The hand was that of the four living creatures. It represented the intermediate agencies by which God imparts revelations to His servants the prophets. The messages themselves originate with God and therefor I the prophet can declare with conviction, “This is the word of the Lord.”
Eze 2:9 Then I looked, and I saw a hand stretched out to me. In it was a scroll, which he unrolled before me. On both sides of it were written words of lament and mourning and woe.
Books were anciently written upon skins or papyri sewed together to form long strips that were then rolled up. Normally these rolls were written on one side only. The one that was handed to Ezekiel was written on both sides, to denote abundance of subject matter.
This was a prophecy of “lamentations, and mourning, and woe.” Yet the disclosure of the threatened calamity was the means God used to awaken sin-hardened hearts that He might heal them with the gospel balm. As my work progressed, it was often my privilege to temper my discourses of denunciation with appeals of mercy.