EZEKIEL 1-3 EZEKIELS COMMISSION2010 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Ezekiel 1-3 Ezekiels Commission

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2010. Would you turn with me please to Ezekiel chapter 1, the book of Ezekiel chapter 1.

We get to start this wonderful prophetic book this evening and begin a new journey of prophecies and wonderful things that God has in store for us. And we'll be spending probably a little bit of time in the book of Ezekiel. It's kind of a long book and so we'll be spending probably the next several months going through the book of Ezekiel.

And when we start off a new book, I often like to include or give you something that you can kind of take home, you can spend time on, you can consider on your own and get a little bit more insight into the book that we're studying. And so hopefully as you are coming in today, you are given a handout that says Ezekiel Overview. And it gives you a little bit of information about the book of Ezekiel.

And, oh, quick announcements. I'm sorry, I forgot. Real quick, this coming weekend is the Pure Worship Conference. If you're interested in that, you can see Royce after the service, and he'll get you squared away. And then don't forget this coming Saturday, the day of prayer from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. here at the church. You can come for the whole thing or come for part of it as your schedule allows. And so we invite you to come and join us.

But here in Ezekiel, we have this, or you were given this overview, and it gives you a little bit of information that you can look a little bit on your own and consider and get some context as to what was going on as Ezekiel was ministering.

Ezekiel was a prophet that lived in the nation of Babylon. He was part of those who were taken captive and so he was ministering to the Jewish people who had been taken captive to Babylon.

I'm sure you remember as we went through Jeremiah and spent the last few weeks in Lamentations, how the city of Jerusalem and the nation of Judah was conquered by Babylon and the inhabitants were carried away captive to the nation of Babylon. And it's right around that time that Ezekiel is prophesying and sharing these things that we will be reading together as we go forward in the book of Ezekiel.

And so it's about 593 BC as Ezekiel begins to minister and he ministers for about 22 years to those captives that are there in Babylon, the Jewish people that are there taking captive to the nation of Babylon.

He ministered at the same time as Obadiah the prophet, who is a prophet that prophesied against the nation of Edom. We'll get there one day. And he also ministered during the same time as the prophet Daniel. Although Daniel was in the capital city and Ezekiel was farther away with the rest of the captives, they were ministering about the same time frame as Israel was in captivity.

One of the main themes of this book is that they shall know that I am the Lord. God wanted his people to know that he is the Lord. And so it's repeated about 70 times throughout the book. And so it's very clear this is something that God wanted them to pay attention to and God wanted them to know.

Inside there's some charts there. You can look at the timelines and kind of see the different prophets and kings and different events that were happening. And then on the back is a general outline to give you a good overview of the book of Ezekiel. So I encourage you to check it out on your own time. Spend some time preparing your heart for what God wants to do as we journey through this book. And I'm looking forward to what God wants to speak to us both this evening and the coming weeks as we look at the book of Ezekiel.

And so let's start out in chapter 1 of Ezekiel and look at verses 1 through 3. It says this,

Now it came to pass in the thirteenth year of the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river Chabar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. On the fifth day of the month, which was in the fifth year of King Jehoiachin's captivity, the word of the Lord came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chabar.

And the hand of the Lord was upon him there. Here we find, as we begin the book of Ezekiel, the calling of Ezekiel. And that's what we'll be looking at this evening. God's commissioning of Ezekiel. He's calling him and enlisting him in the prophetic ministry that he was called to.

And so he's going to, as we go forward in chapter 1, he's going to see a vision of God. And then in chapter 2, we'll look at that tonight as well, God's going to give him the message that he's to deliver and send him out with orders to speak forth the word of God. Here in chapter 1, we find that Ezekiel here begins to receive the vision at the fifth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin.

Now, if you remember back to the days of Jeremiah, as we were studying through that, there was three captivities for the nation of Judah by the nation of Babylon. Babylon conquered Jerusalem three times. The first time happened in 605 BC. Jehoiakim was king. He was defeated. He was taken captive and Jehoiachin was set up in his place.

Now when Jehoiakim in 605 BC was taken captive, others from the nation were also taken captive and it was at that time that Daniel the prophet was taken to Babylon.

Well, the second time that Babylon conquered Jerusalem was a few years later, it was 597 BC. And it was at that time, Jehoiachin, the king of Judah at that time, was conquered. He was taken captive. Others from the nation of Judah were taken captive. And it was at that time that Ezekiel was taken from the nation of Judah to the nation of Babylon as a captive. And

And then finally, the third captivity or the third conquering of Jerusalem was 586 BC. Zedekiah was king. And at that time, Nebuchadnezzar left no inhabitants. He just conquered the whole thing, demolished the city and took the rest of the people back to the nation of Babylon.

And so Jeremiah makes reference to the fifth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin. So it's five years after Jehoiachin, the second time that Jerusalem was conquered. Five years after that, Ezekiel begins to get this vision. He begins to hear from the Lord and God calls him to share his word to those who are captive there in Babylon.

And what we're about to read as we go on in chapter 1 is a very interesting description as Ezekiel sees this vision of the throne of God or the glory of the Lord. Now as we go forward in these things, I'm sure there's lots of questions and there's lots of things that we could wonder and consider. What exactly is Ezekiel talking about? And I can tell you right up front, I don't have all the answers.

It's not very clear. And what Ezekiel, I keep wanting to call him Jeremiah, but what Ezekiel is talking about

is this heavenly vision that he sees. He's trying to describe this heavenly vision to us. And so he's using words that we understand, but it doesn't quite make sense in our heads. And so we're going to have trouble looking at this and getting a clear and accurate picture, but we can get somewhat of an idea of what Ezekiel saw and the vision of God that he had. Now, one thing I do know for certain is that the vision that we're about to read through

is not something mechanical, it's not something, you know, of the modern technology, it's something spiritual. And so, some people try to make these things that we're about to read, you know, mean that he saw an airplane or a helicopter or things like that. But really, it's nothing like that. What Ezekiel saw is a spiritual revelation of the glory of God. And so, let's

Let's work our way through this vision starting in verse 4. It says, Then I looked, and behold, a whirlwind was coming out of the north, a great cloud with raging fire engulfing itself, and brightness was all around it and radiating out of its midst like a color of amber out of the midst of the fire.

Verse 2.

The hands of a man were under their wings on their four sides, and each of the four had faces and wings. Their wings touched one another. The creatures did not turn when they went, but each one went straight forward. As for the likeness of their faces, each had the face of a man, each of the four had the face of a lion on the right side, each of the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and each of the four had the face of an eagle.

Thus were their faces. Their wings stretched upward. Two wings of each one touched one another, and two covered their bodies. And each one went straight forward. They went wherever the spirit wanted to go, and they did not turn when they went. As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches going back and forth among the living creatures.

The fire was bright and out of the fire went lightning and the living creatures ran back and forth in appearance like a flash of lightning. We'll stop there for a moment. So here in verses 4 through 14, we have this vision beginning to be explained as Ezekiel is recording what he saw in this vision that God gave to him and it's

primarily centered here in this portion around four living creatures. And these four living creatures are what Ezekiel is seeking to describe to us and explain to us what they were like. And so Jeremiah says, no, not Jeremiah, Ezekiel says,

He looked and he saw this whirlwind coming. This whirlwind was coming. There's flashes of lightning. There's raging fire engulfing itself. It's a bright and glorious whirlwind that's coming. It's bright. It's fervent. There's lots of things going on. There's brilliant colors radiating out of it.

And he begins now to talk about the likeness of four living creatures. Now, he uses the word likeness a lot. Because again, what he's talking about is not that it's exactly as he is saying, but it's like what he is saying. He's using things that we know to try to explain or to give us a picture of something we really can't understand. And so...

as we will see here in a little bit, it's a vision that he has of the glory of the Lord. And how can you really describe the glory of the Lord? And how can you really define that and make it a clear picture like we would want?

It's beyond our comprehension. And so he's bringing it to our level and trying to relate to us. And so he uses this word likeness to try to say it's kind of like this. It was kind of similar. The silhouette is like this or the form is a little bit like this. And so he says it's the likeness of a man. They had bodies before.

Similar to humans, these four living creatures, they kind of had the human form as far as legs and a body and arms and a face.

But there were some differences. They each had four faces. Now I'm looking around and I think pretty much all of us, you may have four eyes, but you only have one face, right? It's one face for us, but for these guys, there was four faces. He goes on to explain that they each had four wings.

And so they're a little bit different than humans in that respect as well. Their legs were straight and their feet were kind of like calves' feet. And that begins to make a curious picture in our head and try to figure out what is Ezekiel talking about. They sparkled like burnished bronze. And so they're bright, they're colorful, they're shining. And that's what Ezekiel is describing here.

He talks about their faces and particularly what kind of faces they had. They had one face that was the likeness of a man. And so it was a human face that was on there. And then on the right side, there was a lion face. So you have the face of a man, the face of a lion. Then on the other side, you had the face of an ox. And then on the fourth side, you had the face of...

And so these four living creatures each have four faces. Each of them have these same faces all the way around. And they have four wings. They have bodies somewhat like humans. And as they're going around, they're flying wherever the spirit wants to go.

And he again describes in verse 13 that they were like coals of fire. And he talks about they went forth like lightning. And in appearance it was like lightning as they were flashing around. They're going back and forth, moving to and fro. They're very bright. They're shining. And so it's this bright and brilliant vision that Ezekiel sees, that he has, that God gives to him of these four living creatures.

Now later on in chapter 10 of Ezekiel, he'll be describing a similar scene and he refers to these living creatures as cherubim. And so we know that these are angels, they're angelic beings that Ezekiel is seeing, they're angelic cherubim. And it's interesting because these angels

These four living creatures are kind of referred to and there's some symbolism that goes along throughout the scriptures. The four faces that these cherubim have, the man, the lion, the ox and the eagle, are interestingly related to the way that the children of Israel would camp in the wilderness.

In Numbers chapter 2, it talks about the setting up of the tabernacle and then the setting up of the camps of the children of Israel around the tabernacle. And there were certain tribes that would camp on certain sides of the tabernacle. And the tribes of Israel

had banners that they would have. And so the tribe of Judah had the banner of a lion. The tribe of Reuben had the banner of a man. The tribe of Ephraim had the banner of an ox. And then the tribe of Dan had the banner of an eagle. And so you see those same four likenesses camped around the tabernacle where God would meet his people.

Here is Ezekiel is seeing this vision of the glory of the Lord. There's these four living creatures with each of them having these four different faces that correspond with the camping of Israel there in the wilderness.

We also see a similar scene in Revelation chapter 4, where John has a vision of the throne room of heaven. And he talks about the four living creatures, being a lion and a calf or an ox, a man and a flying eagle. And so these four types of creatures are kind of

woven throughout different aspects and are always related to the presence of God and the throne room of God. And there's great mystery surrounding that and great mystery about what that is really going to be like when we get there. But Ezekiel gets a glimpse of what is taking place. He gets a glimpse of the glory of God.

Another area that we find these four creatures is in the Gospels. And I'm not going to get into great detail here, but as you look at the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and look at who the Gospel accounts were written for, who the audience was, as well as the focus of Jesus on each of those Gospels, you can see that there are four creatures.

kind of discern and understand that there's a particular aspect of Jesus that is being presented. And in Matthew, for example, Jesus is being presented as the Messiah, as the Lion of the tribe of Judah. And so it's often related to that Matthew represents the Lion as far as these four living creatures are concerned. Then Mark presents Jesus as a servant.

He has no genealogy in his book because there's no genealogy necessary for a servant. And a servant is related to, you could correspond that with an ox, a beast of burden, the livestock of the field.

Well, Luke, the physician we often refer to him as, he really focuses on the humanity of Jesus. And we see in the Gospel of Luke much about him going off to pray and Luke points out some of the human and physical aspects of Jesus. And so it corresponds and relates to the face of the man. And then John says,

of course, focuses on the deity of Jesus Christ and the fact that he is God. And the eagle is representative of divinity. And so you have these four living creatures, these four faces. It's connected with the camp of Israel there in Numbers chapter 2. It's connected with the Gospels as they each portray Jesus Christ.

and different aspects about him. It's connected in the book of Revelation chapter 4. And so there's this great threads that are woven throughout the scriptures that God has placed here for us to look forward to and to get a glimpse of what heaven is going to be like and what kinds of things are going to be happening. And so he has this vision of these four living creatures and the vision continues in verse 15.

It says,

The appearance of the wheels and their workings was like the color of beryl, and all four had the same likeness. The appearance of their workings was, as it were, a wheel in the middle of a wheel. When they moved, they went toward any one of four directions. They did not turn aside when they went. As for their rims, they were so high, they were awesome, and their rims were full of eyes all around the four of them.

Verse 1.

When those went, these went. When those stood, these stood. And when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up together with them. For the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

So now it gets a little bit stranger. Now Ezekiel begins to talk about wheels. So there's these four living creatures. That's pretty difficult for us to envision. But next to or connected to or related to these four living creatures is four wheels.

And these four wheels are kind of described in an odd fashion as well because he says, as it were, so it's not even exactly a wheel. And so if you're picturing, you know, a wheel from your bicycle or car or something, that's not quite it. It's not like a chariot wheel, perhaps, but it's,

He says it's kind of like that. As it were, it was like a wheel. And they're big wheels, although not the three-wheeled big wheels they used to have. They're really massive. And he says they extend to the heavens. And they were awesome. And so the rims are full of eyes and eyes.

they go wherever the four living creatures go. There's four of the wheels next to the four living creatures and they move about, they go about, they go wherever the four living creatures go and when the four living creatures are lifted up, the wheels are lifted up and when they stand still, the wheels stand still and so on and so forth. And so you get the picture. They're connected. They're part of this scene. Whether it's something that Ezekiel is...

describing that's one solid kind of unit or maybe like a chariot or something like that and it was moving about here and there or if there's something else going on, that's very difficult to say for certain. There's a lot of room for imagination and stuff because he's trying to describe for us

Things that we can't fully understand and I think things that Ezekiel himself had some trouble grasping. You know, like the Apostle Paul, when he was caught up into heaven, he said, you know, he heard things that it would not be right or legal to try to express what he heard. He couldn't quite express it.

And even the things that he's seen, he doesn't even begin to talk about those. And so there's this so much more beyond in eternity. There's so much more beyond our comprehension and current understanding that I can imagine Ezekiel trying to write this down and probably being as frustrated as we are trying to figure out what he's talking about. He's frustrated like, how can I say anything better than this? What else can I do? Because it's not quite...

Doesn't quite paint the picture that I want to paint that I saw there in the vision, but it's what I saw. It's similar to what I saw and it's the best that He could provide for us. Verse 22,

The likeness of the firmament above the heads of the living creatures was like the color of an awesome crystal stretched out over their heads. And under the firmament, their wings spread out straight one toward another. Each one had two which covered one side and each had two which covered the other side of the body.

Verse 2.

And so now Ezekiel describes this firmament or this expanse, this section that was above their heads. So you have the wheels, you have the four living creatures, and then above their heads you have this space. And it's a space, he says, it's kind of like a brilliant crystal, an awesome crystal, he says, stretched out over their heads.

And so it's this clear space, this bright space, this beautiful firmament, as he describes it, that's spread out above them. And wherever they go, it goes. It continues to stay above them wherever they go. And when they stand still, it stands still. And as they're moving about, he says,

describes their wings as being like an army, being like the thunder or the noise of many waters. And so you can imagine this awesome scene that Ezekiel is just overwhelmed at all that is going on and he's trying to capture it for us. Verse 26...

And above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne. An appearance like a sapphire stone on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it.

Also from the appearance of his waist and upward I saw, as it were, the color of amber with the appearance of fire all around within it. And from the appearance of his waist and downward I saw, as it were, the appearance of fire with brightness all around. Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord."

And so you see here Ezekiel used the word appearance, likeness, the phrase as it were. Again, he's not describing it exactly because his words are limited, because he's stuck with the human form of expression. But what he saw above the firmament was...

It was like a throne and on the throne there was like a man and it's probably an appearance of Jesus Christ that Ezekiel is seeing here in all of his brilliance and all of his glory. And he describes it being bright and beautiful and these colors going everywhere and he describes it or he says this was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.

And so what he's seeing here, as he is there by the river Chabar, God is revealing to him his glory. He's showing to Ezekiel

How big God is. I think it's a message for Ezekiel that God is still on the throne. It's a good reminder for us as well. You know, at this time, Ezekiel has been in captivity for five years. It's not looking good for God's people. They were supposed to be the chosen ones. They were led out of the nation of Egypt and God did a great work for them. And I would imagine that Ezekiel is pretty discouraged.

But God is giving him this incredible vision and letting him know, I'm still on the throne, Ezekiel. I'm still in charge. All of these things doesn't change that. This is me in my glory. Have a good look. And so Ezekiel is coming to terms with the reality that God is King of kings and Lord of lords.

and that He is on the throne. And so he has this vision, this appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. Well, now from this scene, God will begin to speak to Ezekiel and call him into the ministry. Let's go on into chapter 2 and look at verses 1 through 5. It says, And He said to me,

Actually, back to the last part of verse 28. I don't think I read that, huh? So when I saw it, he says, I fell on my face and I heard a voice of one speaking. And so God's now speaking to him. And he said to me, Son of man, stand on your feet and I will speak to you. Then the Spirit entered me when he spoke to me and set me on my feet. And I heard him who spoke to me. 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. For they are impudent and stubborn children. I am sending you to them, and you shall say to them, Thus says the Lord God. 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.

And so here is the commissioning of Ezekiel. He sees this incredible scene. He's there. He's captivated by the glory of God. And now God speaks to him and says, Ezekiel, stand up. Get to your feet. I have a job for you to do. He says, stand up. And then it tells us that the Spirit entered him and stood him up. Nobody can do what God has called them to do without the Holy Spirit.

Ezekiel receives this command to stand up, but he's unable to comply until the Spirit enters into him. Until he's filled with the Spirit, then he is able to stand to his feet. You and I can relate to the prophet Ezekiel, I believe. We have a similar call, as we'll see as we continue on in chapter 2. We have a similar mission, and we have a similar need to be filled with the Spirit constantly.

in order to obey God and His call in our life. But we need to understand that we cannot do what God has asked us to do unless the Spirit has entered into us, unless we are filled with the Holy Spirit. Even Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit. We need the Holy Spirit in our lives. We need to be filled with

With the Holy Spirit. God gives the command and with the command He gives the resources that are necessary to obey that command by filling Ezekiel with His Holy Spirit. Similar to what Jesus did with His disciples there in Matthew chapter 28 as He gave them the Great Commission.

And he calls them to go and to make disciples in all the world. But he says, but don't go yet. Wait. There's a promise that's going to be fulfilled and you will be filled with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. And we find in Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost that the Holy Spirit comes upon the church and enabling them, giving them the resources necessary to obey the command that Jesus gave them in Matthew chapter 28.

And it's the same command that is still there for you and I today, that we are to go and we are to make disciples. But we cannot obey that command without the Holy Spirit. And so God tells Ezekiel, stand up.

And the Spirit enters him and sets him on his feet. And then it says that he heard him who spoke to me. And so we have another important aspect of the Holy Spirit here as well. That it's when we are full of the Holy Spirit that we can hear God. We can't hear God without the Holy Spirit.

And so again, the importance for you and I to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And that's something we'll come back to as we go forward tonight.

He's filled with the Spirit at this time. He hears God and God says to him, I'm sending you to a rebellious people. I'm sending you to the children of Israel. And they've rebelled against me. They've sinned against me. They're stubborn. They refuse to listen. But I'm sending you to them. And he says, as for you, or I'm sorry, as for them, whether they hear or whether they refuse...

they will know that a prophet has been among them. And so he says to Ezekiel, I'm sending you and they may receive you or they may refuse you, but one thing is for sure, they will know that a prophet has been among them. And so God is preparing him for the work that he's going to do. He's preparing him by letting him know, these people are tough, they're stubborn, they're rebellious, but I'm sending you to them.

Much like we saw in Jeremiah over and over and over again, I see the mercy of God here. Here's this people that has refused to listen to God. They're suffering the consequences of their rebellion, now in captivity in the nation of Babylon. And God still wants to speak to them. And He still wants to have a relationship with them. And He's still reaching out to them. He hasn't written them off or given up on them. He's saying,

I want them to have an opportunity to get right with me. God is so merciful, even in the midst of suffering the consequences for our rebellion against Him. Even though He knows we're stubborn and rebellious, He reaches out to us. He stretches forth His hand. He speaks to us. And He sends people our way to bring us back to Him.

Now God tells Ezekiel, however they respond, that's not the point. He's going to say this a few times, whether they hear or whether they refuse. That's not the point, Ezekiel, and that's not really your responsibility. What you're responsible for is to do what I have sent you to do. Verse 6. Verse 6.

He says,

So again here in verses 6 and 7, God says whether they hear or whether they're rebellious, that's beside the point. If they refuse, that's not your problem. Your responsibility is to speak my words to them. And Ezekiel, you must not let your own fear keep you from speaking my words to them. He says, don't be afraid of their faces.

Don't be afraid of their words. Again, I think we can relate pretty well to the prophet Ezekiel here. I think as believers, we know what it's like to be afraid of people's faces and people's words. But God says, don't be afraid. Don't let their faces...

You know, they're scowling at you, they're looking really angry, they're turning bright red. Don't let their faces keep you from speaking My words. They're making threats, they're mocking, they're laughing, they're jeering. Don't let their words keep you from sharing My words, sharing what I have said. Even if it's uncomfortable for you and it's like you're living in thorn bushes.

and briars and there's scorpions around you. Don't let that stop you from sharing My Word. He's making it very clear to Ezekiel. Nothing is to stop him. He is supposed to speak what God says no matter what. And again, there's just this great application. There's this great transfer to us that we have been given the same call and the same commission.

That we are to go and to make disciples and we're to proclaim the gospel. And we, well, we should not be afraid. And we can't let our fear keep us from obeying that command of God. We must overcome that fear. We must not let that fear cripple us and keep us from speaking the truth. What would it take for you to not share the gospel? You know, you go out and you're going about your day and

There's someone there that you feel led to minister to, but they got a scary face. You ever been like that? Sometimes Vianne freaks me out because we'll go somewhere and then you look over and she's with this crowd that you're like, "What on earth? They're gonna kill her! They're gonna tear off her head! What is she doing over there? She's not afraid of their faces and it's awesome!" Whereas me, I'd be like, "I'm crossing the street. I don't want to mess with those guys."

God tells Ezekiel, don't be afraid of their faces. Don't be afraid of their words. How many times do we hold back and we don't share what God says because of the words that people are going to say and how they're going to respond. We let their response dictate what we share. And God tells Ezekiel,

Don't worry about their response. Whether they receive it or refuse it, you are to share my word, to speak my word. You are to speak the truth. Don't let anything stop you from declaring the words that God has given to you. Don't let anything stop you from declaring the gospel to the world around you. Verse 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. Now when I looked, there was a hand stretched out to me, and behold, a scroll of the book was in it. 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.

And so God explains to Ezekiel, I'm sending you to this people. They're rebellious. But as for you, you don't be rebellious. Don't be like them, Ezekiel. Don't rebel against me. Don't be stubborn and refuse to listen to me. Even though you're, you know, among them and you're a part of those who are taken captive, Ezekiel, don't be rebellious like they are. And

And so God tells him, open your mouth and eat what I give you. Now I think if someone were to tell me that, I'd be like, I'm not doing that. I don't like different kinds of foods and I like to understand what I'm eating. But Ezekiel looks and what God is handing to him is a scroll.

And on either side of the scroll is written all of these words of lamentation and mourning and woe. And what God is doing is He's giving to Ezekiel the message that Ezekiel is going to be proclaiming. And it's a message of judgment. It's a call to repentance. And so it's lamentation and mourning and woe, much like we saw in the book of Lamentations and much like we saw from the prophet Jeremiah.

Chapter 3, verse 1. Moreover, he said to me, Son of man, eat what you find, eat this scroll, and go speak to the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that scroll. 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. And so Ezekiel now obeys God. He chooses not to be rebellious.

It's interesting that God didn't force this task upon him. He extended him the scroll. He said, don't be rebellious. Here, eat what I'm giving to you. And Ezekiel could have said no. He could have refused. He could have tried to fight God on it. But instead he accepts. He says, okay, Lord, give me what it is that you want to give me. Give me the words that you want me to have. And so he consumes this scroll. He receives...

The Word of God Himself. And this is important for all of us as we are called to proclaim the message of God, the good news, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Before we can go and share the message, we must first receive it ourselves. We first have to receive God's Word and let it impact us. We have to digest it. We have to accept it. It has to change us.

And as we receive, as the word of God impacts us, now we are able, we're in a position that we can go and we can share and declare those words to the world around us. And so here Ezekiel eats the scroll. He receives the word and it's part of God's preparation to send him out amongst the people. Verse 4, Then he said to me, Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak my words to them.

For you are not sent to a people of unfamiliar speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel. 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.

And so God is giving Ezekiel a little bit of clarity. He says, now go to the house of Israel and speak my words. What you've just consumed, what God has just given to you, now go and speak that to my people. And God makes a point here. He says, look, I'm not sending you to a foreign nation. I'm not sending you to a people that you have a hard time communicating with. You don't have to learn another language for the task that I'm giving to you.

What I'm calling you to do is to go to the people that you're familiar with, to the language that you're familiar with, and to share my words with them. And here again is where I see we can relate to Ezekiel so well. You know, there are missionaries that God calls me. He calls them out and they go out and they learn the language of the place that they go and they go and they do the work that God has called them to.

But for most of us, we're like in Ezekiel's shoes. God hasn't called us to learn a different language in order to communicate His Word. He has sent us to people that we're familiar with, with a language that we're familiar with, and He calls us to use that language that we both understand to communicate the Word of God to those around us. We are sent to our own people.

We're called to share with them the message that God has given to us. Verse 7.

He says,

So again, God says, I'm sending you to them and they are not going to listen. But notice what he says there in verse 7. He says, they will not listen to you because they will not listen to me. And again, God is taking responsibility off of Ezekiel for the response of the people. Ezekiel, you're not responsible for how they respond. You are responsible for sharing my words. He says, they're not going to listen to you

Because they won't listen to me. As we share with the people around us, as we go and make disciples as we're commanded to, we must not be discouraged by those who oppose the message. Because those who oppose the message are not opposing us, they're opposing God. And the reason why they don't receive what we have to say is not because of us, but it's because they refuse to listen to God. Sometimes I think we beat ourselves up

Because, you know, we didn't have the best argument or we didn't have all of the logical, we didn't win the debate. But it's not about overcoming them mentally or, you know, with the great and strong and powerful words that we have. It's about sharing the truth of what God has said and giving them the opportunity to receive it or reject it. And that's all that we're called to do.

God tells Ezekiel, look, I'm preparing you for this. I'm giving you what you need. I've made your forehead strong. Yeah, they're going to be stubborn and rebellious, but I'm going to give you what you need to be able to share my word with them. So don't be discouraged. Don't let their faces scare you away. Don't let their rebellion freak you out. You do what I've called you to do. Verse 10.

And so God tells him, Again, in order for us,

To go and to bring forth God's word, we must first receive God's word ourselves. We must let God's word impact us and minister to our hearts and change the way that we live. And as God speaks to us and we receive his word, now we are prepared to share that word with those around us.

This is one of the many reasons why we encourage you to spend time regularly and daily in the Word of God.

Because as you spend time in the Word of God, you open up and you do your devotions on a regular basis. Now you're receiving the Word of God and you have some ammunition. God begins to speak to your heart and He shows you things. He challenges you. He encourages you. He ministers to you. And now as you go out and you run into people and you bump into others, you have the opportunity to share that Word that God has ministered to your heart.

And so it's important for us to be spending time in the Word of God and to be receiving the Word of God that we might have the opportunity to share it with others. And so he says, Ezekiel, receive my words. Hear with your ears. Listen to what I'm saying. Now go, get out there, and go share my words with those people. And say, thus says the Lord. Here's what God says.

Whether they hear or whether they refuse. That's not your problem, Ezekiel. I'm not giving you responsibility for that. You're responsible for going. You're responsible for receiving my words and then you're responsible for going and sharing those words with the people that I send you to. And so here we have the commissioning of Ezekiel and

As we continue on in chapter 3, we won't do that tonight, but we'll see that God calls him as a watchman. And again, he emphasizes the need for Ezekiel to go and that he's responsible for delivering the message that God has given to him.

Ezekiel is sent to the nation of Israel that's there captive in Babylon. And he's responsible to hear from God and to deliver the messages that God gives to him to the people around him. And you and I have that same call. That we are responsible to hear from God and to go to our world, to go to our people, to

to our own people who speak a language that we're familiar with and we're to share with them those things that God is speaking to our heart. That's your call. That's my call. Whether you're a pastor or a children's ministry teacher or a Bible study leader or a parent or a neighbor or a co-worker, whatever capacity that you have,

and various different arenas and responsibilities, you and I are first and foremost children of God. We're disciples. And our task, our call is to make disciples. And so we need to receive the Word of God and then share it with others. Just like the prophet Ezekiel. But you know it started back in chapter 2, verse 2. Ezekiel could not even stand up. He couldn't even begin to think about going until the Spirit entered him.

And so as the worship team comes up and leads us in worship, I want to ask you to take this time to ask God to fill you with His Spirit, that you might be able to fulfill His command, the great commission that He gives to you and me to go and to make disciples. Let's take this time. Jesus told us in Luke chapter 11 that we were to ask and seek and knock. And He explains that asking...

meant that we were to ask for God to give us the Holy Spirit. And he explains, listen, earthly parents, they give their kids stuff. And when their kids ask for things, you know, they don't give them bad things. They don't give them a scorpion instead of bread. Earthly parents, they do their best to bless their kids. He says, well, how much more the Heavenly Father, who is good,

He's completely good. He's perfect. And He loves you more than anyone else does. And He wants what's best for you. And He knows what's best for you. He says, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask? And so as they lead us in worship, I want to encourage you to ask. Ask God to fill you with His Spirit that you might be able to stand up, to go,

to the people that God has called you to share His Word with. Let's worship the Lord together.