Ezekiel 2:1-7 Speak My Words

Ezekiel 2:1-7 (Evangelical Heritage Version)

1He said to me, “Son of man, stand up on your feet, and I will speak with you.” 2The Spirit entered into me as he spoke to me and brought me up to my feet. Then I heard him speaking to me.

3He said to me, “Son of man, I am sending you to the people of Israel, to disloyal nations, who have been disloyal to me. They and their fathers have rebelled against me to this very day. 4These children of mine are brazen-faced and hard-hearted. I am sending you to them, and you are to tell them that this is what the LORD God says. 5Then, whether they listen or do not listen—for they are a rebellious house—then they will know that a prophet has been among them. 6But you, son of man, do not be afraid of them, and do not be afraid of their words. Even though briers and thorns surround you and you are living with scorpions, do not be afraid of their words, and do not be intimidated by the look on their faces, for they are a rebellious house. 7You are to speak my words to them whether they listen or they do not, for they are rebellious.

Speak My Words

I.

Kavod Adonai, or Kavod Jaweh, the Glory of the LORD. That’s what Ezekiel saw in the last verse of Chapter 1, the verse before our text. I’m pretty sure Ezekiel was familiar with the Books of Moses. He knew that God had said: “You cannot see my face, for no human may see me and live” (Exodus 33:20, EHV). To make sure he didn’t see more than he should, Ezekiel took the prudent path and pressed his face to the ground.

Though it had seemed prudent to fall on his face, God told him to get up on his feet. “The Spirit entered into me as he spoke to me and brought me up to my feet. Then I heard him speaking to me” (Ezekiel 2:2, EHV). Isn’t that interesting? Even the act of getting to his feet before the LORD was not something Ezekiel could accomplish on his own. This was important for him to realize as God present him with his mission.

Ezekiel was to go to the people of Israel. “You are to speak my words to them” (Ezekiel 2:7, EHV). It was an important mission. What could be a higher calling than telling people the very Word of God?

Indeed, speaking God’s Word to people is the most important task in the world. But nobody said it was going to be easy. In fact, Ezekiel and some of his countrymen were already in less-than-desirable circumstances: they were living in exile in Babylon.

So there could be no doubt that it not be easy to speak God’s Word to the people, God said: “Son of man, I am sending you to the people of Israel, to disloyal nations, who have been disloyal to me. They and their fathers have rebelled against me to this very day. 4These children of mine are brazen-faced and hard-hearted” (Ezekiel 2:3-4, EHV). Disloyal people who had rebelled against God. That’s what they were. That was why they were in Babylon in the first place. The disloyalty and rebellion had not ended with their deportation, but was continuing, even at that very moment.

Brazen-faced, God called the people. Merriam-Webster defines brazen-faced as “marked by insolence and bold disrespect.” The Hebrew literally says: “hard of face.” Bold disrespect seems to fit their attitudes. So does hard-hearted.

Such were the people to whom Ezekiel was to speak. Disloyal. Rebellious. Brazen-faced with Insolence. Hard-hearted.

“I am sending you to them, and you are to tell them that this is what the LORD God says. 5Then, whether they listen or do not listen—for they are a rebellious house—then they will know that a prophet has been among them” (Ezekiel 2:4-5, EHV). No doubt it was clear to Ezekiel that the message from the LORD he was to speak would often be a less than pleasant one. He wasn’t to concern himself with the listening skills of the people, he was just to speak the message God gave to him.

II.

Have you ever noticed that how well people listen depends on whether what is being said is what they wanted to hear in the first place? Think back to your childhood. Unless you were the perfect child—and only Jesus was—there were some scoldings in your past. “Sit down right here, young man/young lady.” You squirmed in your seat as the lecture documenting your misdeeds began. Your face moved from side to side as you refused to look your parent in the eye. The main thought in your mind was how quickly you might be able to get away.

God’s law is designed to have you squirming in your seat. Earlier in the worship service we had the confession of sins. As the confession begins, each individual admits that he/she has sinned against God in our thoughts, words, and actions. We confess that we deserve God’s punishment, both now and forever.

Before the pastor announces the absolution, or forgiveness of sins, we have a moment of silence for meditation and reflection. That silence is designed to be a place to contemplate your personal sins. All the unkind and hurtful words you have uttered yet again this week. All the times you were impatient with others or unforgiving of them. All the times you worried about the strains of life, rather than taking them to the Lord in prayer. All the coveting you did—of people, of money, of more things. Maybe you had some very specific things you reflected on in that short silence. Maybe there were some things that made you squirm.

In that moment of silence, maybe you thought you have been pretty good this week; that there isn’t really all that much to confess. Then you thought back to the words the pastor speaks leading into the confession of sins: “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”

Though the litany of your sins might not seem so bad, you are led again into God’s Word. You think about the words of James: “Whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles in one point has become guilty of breaking all of it” (James 2:10, EHV). One sin or another rears its ugly head at you, even if you have managed to successfully redact all the others from your memory.

III.

Did God sound harsh to you as you listened to and followed along with this First Reading for the day? Perhaps what stuck out the most were words like “disloyal” and “rebelled” and “brazen-faced” and “hard-hearted.” Names for the people like “rebellious house” and “disloyal nations.” Comparisons of the people like “briers and thorns” and “scorpions.” God sounded rather harsh in his description of Israel.

But God also called the people: “these children of mine” (Ezekiel 2:4). The God who gave Ezekiel the words to speak identified himself as “the LORD God.” The LORD with all capital letters in the Old Testament is God’s proper name, Jaweh. Jaweh is the God of full and faithful love. Jaweh is the God of the Promise—the promise to send a Savior into the world; the God who promised that this Savior would be a descendant of this very rebellious house and disloyal nation.

That God was not abandoning his promise to the people—to all people. He would send that Savior. Jesus would experience the same kind of brazen-faced and hard-hearted people when he spoke as God’s prophet. Jesus looked so ordinary to them. They knew he worked as a carpenter. They knew his mother and his brothers. “Many who heard him were amazed... 3... And they took offense at him.” (Mark 6:2-3, EHV). They were both amazed and offended by the One who came to fulfill God’s promise.

It was for the rebellious house that were amazed and took offense in Jesus’ day, as well as the rebellious house of Ezekiel’s day, and the rebellious house that includes you and me today that Jesus came. He took the sins that make us all squirm—and the ones that should make us squirm, but we redact from our own memories—and payed for them all on the cross.

IV.

Remember Ezekiel when he was face-down on the ground before the LORD? Ezekiel said: “The Spirit entered into me as he spoke to me and brought me up to my feet” (Ezekiel 2:2, EHV). The third person of the Triune God came to Ezekiel in that moment when he was confronted with his unworthiness to stand before the righteous and holy God. It was the Holy Spirit who gave him faith and the power to stand on his feet and listen to the LORD.

It is the Holy Spirit who gives to each of us the faith we need to stand before God as righteous and holy in his sight. The Holy Spirit works faith in the Lord Jesus, who took the sins that make us squirm and gave us his own righteousness in place of those sins so that we can stand up before the glory of the LORD.

The LORD said to Ezekiel: “But you, son of man, do not be afraid of them, and do not be afraid of their words. Even though briers and thorns surround you and you are living with scorpions, do not be afraid of their words, and do not be intimidated by the look on their faces, for they are a rebellious house” (Ezekiel 2:6, EHV). It was the Holy Spirit who would continue to be with Ezekiel as he spoke words that were sometimes harsh and uncomfortable to hear. It is the Holy Spirit who is also with you and me when we proclaim that same message. It isn’t just pastors who are to tell people “this is what the Lord says,” but every Christian. Do not be afraid of them, and do not be afraid of their words. The God of full and faithful love is with you.

“You are to speak my words to them whether they listen or they do not, for they are rebellious” (Ezekiel 2:7, EHV). The message God gave to Ezekiel was to be proclaimed, no matter whether it seemed to have an impact on the listeners or not. His job was to speak God’s Word—faithfully. He was not responsible for the outcome. Some would believe and change. Others would not.

Speak God’s Words. Often when you tell the timeless truths of God’s Word, those who hear might squirm in their seats, longing for nothing other than to get away from you and what you are saying. Perhaps some you confront with God’s Word will simply parrot the answers they know you are looking for, just to avoid the squirming reality, or to go on redacting without considering the consequences.

I wonder how many changed hearts Ezekiel had the privilege of seeing. Some did, through God the Holy Spirit’s own working in them, turn back to the Savior God. Ezekiel’s job, however, was simple. “Speak my Words to them.”

Perhaps sometimes you will get to see some positive results. Sometimes it might seem hopeless. Keep on Speaking God’s Words to them. Amen.