7.4.21 Ezekiel 2:1–7
1 He said to me, “Son of man, stand up on your feet, and I will speak with you.” 2 The Spirit entered into me as he spoke to me and brought me up to my feet. Then I heard him speaking to me. 3 He 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. 4 These 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. 5 Then, whether they listen or do not listen—for they are a rebellious house—then they will know that a prophet has been among them. 6 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. 7 You are to speak my words to them whether they listen or they do not, for they are rebellious.
The First Amendment to our Constitution states,
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Europe had a long history of religious wars, due to countries trying to enforce one religion over another. That is why many German Lutherans came to America in the 1800’s, because the German government tried to force the Lutherans and the Calvinists to join together in ways that compromised their faith. Our founding fathers wanted to make sure that religions were free from government control so that they could openly confess their faith without fear of being arrested and locked up.
However, the fear is coming back in America as we are being confronted with more and more immoral behavior and being told to accept it and promote it. How do we fight against this? We keep speaking!
Use Your Freedom of Speech by Speaking
Ezekiel was called to speak as God’s prophet with direct revelations from God. Who was Ezekiel? Approximately 90 times in Ezekiel the Lord addresses Ezekiel as “son of man.” He was just a human being, a frail mortal, a simple son of man, who brought nothing but weakness to the task. He was the son of a priest, taken captive to Babylon along with King Jehoiachin and the best of the Israelite people in 597 B.C. God called Ezekiel to warn the people of Israel to repent of their sins prior to the Captivity.
God told Ezekiel, “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. 4 These children of mine are brazen-faced and hard-hearted. God had been nothing but nice to the Israelites. He provided them with a beautiful land to live in and plenty of food. He gave them a wonderful way to worship Him and receive forgiveness of sins through the sacrificial system. He provided protection from their enemies. But the Israelites decided to worship other gods. They became entitled, spoiled and violent little brats. Most of the true prophets were threatened with death, put in prison, and even violently put to death.
Nonetheless, God sent Ezekiel to go talk to them anyway. I am sending you to them, and you are to tell them that this is what the LORD God says. 5 Then, whether they listen or do not listen—for they are a rebellious house—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.
Notice a couple of things. First of all, God wanted Ezekiel to explicitly say that his words were by revelation from God. This wasn’t just Ezekiel’s opinion or thoughts or suggestions. Secondly, he didn’t want Ezekiel to show any sort of fear, no matter how scary they looked or what they said. Since Ezekiel was representing God, God didn’t want to make the people think that He was somehow afraid of what the people might say or how they might look at them or treat them. That was no easy thing!
You probably won’t have a direct vision from God in your life, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t have clear and decisive words from God. You’ve been taught right from wrong, salvation from damnation. This isn’t a matter of opinion or interpretation, as some like to claim. So you see a classmate that you were confirmed with post a picture of herself getting drunk and flipping off the camera. Your favorite grandchild decides to get divorced because he’s having an affair. You know it’s wrong. Do you say something?
Maybe you build up the courage to write something like, “I’m sorry, but . . . I don’t feel like this is a good idea . . .” Is that speaking with authority? We reduce our words down to “feelings” and “thoughts” out of fear for how someone will respond.
You probably know exactly how they’ll respond. You know it won’t end well. So you say nothing. You say nothing to your cousin. Nothing to your friend. Nothing to your grandchild. You try to comfort yourself by saying, “They know how I feel about it.” Or maybe you just get off social media. Save yourself the headache. You start saving for a cabin in the woods. Time to retire.
Ezekiel didn’t have that option. God didn’t give him a retirement package in the U.P. Speak my words. Are you called to be a prophet directly hearing from God? No. But are you a Christian? Yes. You are called on to be a brother and sister in Christ to those who are walking in the faith with us right here and right now. I just recently saw a video of a police office going from hotel to hotel to try and find a 13 year old girl who had been seduced by a grown man. He went above and beyond the call of duty to find her, and he did! It was great to see! That’s what we are called on to do too!
What was God’s message to Ezekiel? Don’t be afraid of what might happen or how people might respond. There are great examples in the Bible like Ezekiel and Jeremiah. You see John the Baptist get put in prison. Paul wasn’t afraid of offending Peter when he stopped eating with the Gentiles. If there’s one thing we admire in the Bible, it’s the courage of those who stood up. But you might say that these men had direct revelations from God. God even told Ezekiel that He would give him a steel fortitude. (Ezekiel 3:9) Granted. But these were still mere men. If God can give them courage, do you think He could do the same for you?
It should start at church. It’s sad to see how many churches are living in fear of offending people and turning people off. So there’s no mention of sin, just mistakes. No mention of hell, just grace. No mention of wrath, just love. No church discipline. And here’s the sadder part. Who needs mercy, when there is no sin? What do we need to be saved from, if God just loves everyone as they are? Ultimately, there is no need for the real Jesus who suffers and dies on the real cross. And that’s the saddest part of all. Jesus becomes expendable, when He’s anything BUT expendable. How will people cling to Jesus and find Him for forgiveness, strength, and comfort, when they have no real NEED for Him?
How can we receive courage? Sometimes we fear the unknown, when we are doing things we’ve never done before or when we don’t know whether what we do will work. God is honest with Ezekiel. There’s nothing unknown about it. He doesn’t tell him it’s going to be easy. 6 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. When you’re walking through thorns and briars there’s no way you aren’t going to get scratched up and bloody in the process. It was par for the course.
We need that reminder too. God never said this aspect of the faith would be pleasant. Jesus prophesied the exact opposite, that family units would be torn apart and there would be betrayal, imprisonment, and death for those who stood up for the truth. Paul spoke in soldier terms with Timothy. I need to remind myself that as well, because I’m not a big fan of confrontation and pain either, and I’ve had my share of cowardice as well. But sometimes some of our members need to be confronted. Sometimes your children and grandchildren need to be confronted. Sometimes WE need to be confronted too, and it’s painful to hear about what a sinner you are. Should you expect any less?
Notice, first of all, what puts Ezekiel on his feet. Son of man, stand up on your feet, and I will speak with you.” 2 The Spirit entered into me as he spoke to me and brought me up to my feet. When God spoke to him, the Spirit entered him and enabled him to stand. Isn’t that what enables us to stand yet today and gives us courage? We have to go back to the Word of God. He speaks to us, and the Holy Spirit enters to give us courage and strength.
How does it work? When we go back to the Word we remember how POWERFUL God is. We see Him protect Elisha and his servant from the army of Aram with powerful angels. We see Him come to the rescue of Moses when the people were going to attack by sending a plague. We see the pillar of fire come between the Egyptians and the Red Sea swallow the army alive. We see Peter be freed from prison. We remember that God is more powerful than any human threats. He and His angels have the POWER to protect us.
Yet that’s no guarantee that we won’t get hurt. We also see God’s people be imprisoned, beaten, and die. We even see our God die a terrible death on the cross. But then Jesus says, “Remember why I’m here. The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost. I came to give my life as a ransom for many. I’m here for a purpose, to save you.” He’s come to pay for your sins and GIVE you salvation. Yes, we ALSO SEE Jesus rise from the dead and CONQUER death and hell. We hear Jesus promise us, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am with you always, to the very end of the age. You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” You will fail along the way. You will fall flat. You will give way to fear. Let God’s forgiveness, mercy and grace give you courage. Let the blood of Christ put you back on your feet. By God’s grace you will stand holy and righteous before God through faith in Christ Jesus.
Just recently a woman’s video went viral. She was in a spa in LA, and she was complaining because a man went into the women’s bathroom and revealed his private parts in front of her and some other girls. In the reasonable days that man would have been arrested for indecent exposure and perversion. Now he is allowed by the law to abuse women in the name of tolerance and love. The woman plainly said it. “He’s a man. Get him out of there!” It was refreshing to hear and see someone standing up for what is obvious. That’s what it sometimes takes, just one person to say something, one person to stand up. If God could work through a normal son of man like Ezekiel, well, He can work through me too. He can work through you also.
God knew that the people weren’t going to listen to Ezekiel. He said in chapter 3, “the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you because they are not willing to listen to me, because the whole house of Israel is hard-headed and hard-hearted.” So why say anything? In the end, nobody could say, “I didn’t know.” In the end, nobody could accuse God of not TRYING or not CARING. When they ended up in Captivity in Babylon, having lost everything, they couldn’t say they weren’t warned. But then also, they could remember these warnings. They could recognize their own sin and rebellion. Then, perhaps, after they had suffered the consequence of their sin, the Holy Spirit could work these warnings, work through their pain and loss and bring them to their senses. This is what God promised Ezekiel in chapter 14 -
22 But wait! A group of survivors will be left in it, those sons and daughters who will be brought out.. . .Then you will be comforted concerning the disaster that I brought upon Jerusalem, everything that I brought upon it. 23 And they will comfort you, because you will see their ways and their actions. Then you will know that it was not without cause that I did everything that I did against the city, declares the LORD God.
After all was said and done, after all of the warnings, the suffering, and the captivity, some would listen . . . some would repent. Some would find forgiveness and mercy in the LORD. Then they’d be thankful someone said something about repentance and Jesus to them, and so would we. Isn’t that what we hope for too? Maybe SOMEONE will listen? And they do! When it happens, it is VERY encouraging!
Think about those who died in the high rise in Florida recently. Before that ever happened, a building inspector wrote a report. He wrote down what was wrong. He took pictures. But that’s ALL he did. Another lady complained about cement falling off of the building and finally decided to move out. But when the building collapsed, she was filled with remorse because she didn’t do more!
The signs of the end are showing. Now is not the time to be shy. Ezekiel needed courage, and so do we.
On the 4th we honor those who died to protect our freedoms here in America. Here in church, we especially honor the One who died to set us free from sin, death and the devil. Jesus courageously faced the men who came to arrest Him in Gethsemane, confessed who He was before Caiaphas, went to the cross, scorned its shame, and came out alive.
When you’re baptized into Christ, you have nothing to fear. Your sins are covered. Your God is taking care of your every need. Heaven is yours. And you still live in a country that allows freedom of speech. God give you the courage to use your freedom to speak! It’s not just about exercising your First Amendment rights. It’s about the true and eternal freedom people can have in Christ. But it won’t happen if we don’t speak. God give us courage to speak up right here and right now, in a time where people are losing their freedom more and more. Amen.
