“Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one–the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts,…Your affectionate uncle, Screwtape” (C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters).
To have boldness to confront sin, hear God’s word and see His glory. Listen to the Holy Spirit and speak God’s word. Warn people of their sin using object lessons. Open your mouth when God speaks and be silent when He desires. Obey God so you don’t waste away in anxiety, despair and slavery. Prophesy God’s word against lust of idols.
Hear God’s Word and See His Glory
Ezekiel saw visions of God when the heavens opened and His word came to him in Babylon. He saw an immense cloud with flashing lightning surrounded by brilliant light. In the fire looked like four living creatures with four faces and four wings each. Their wings touched one another. Each one had a face of a man and an eagle, on the right side a face of a lion with an ox on the left. The appearance of the living creatures was like burning coals of fire moving back and forth. Ezekiel saw a wheel sparkling like chrysolite on the ground beside each creature and intersecting one another. They went in all four directions and the four rims were full of eyes all around. Wherever the spirit would go, the living creatures and wheels went. When the creatures moved, Ezekiel heard the sound of their wings like the roar of rushing waters or voice of the Almighty. Above the expanse over the heads of the creatures looked like a throne of sapphire. High above on the throne was a figure like a man. From his waist up looked like glowing metal full of fire with brilliant light surrounding him, which was the glory of the Lord (Ezek. 1:1-28). Hear God’s word and see His glory when the Holy Spirit reveals it.
Listen to the Spirit and Speak God’s Word
The Spirit told Ezekiel that He was being sent to the rebellious and stubborn people of Israel. They would know a prophet was among them. He should not fear or be terrified even though he lived among thorns and scorpions. Ezekiel must speak His words whether they listened or not. He must listen to the Spirit, not rebel like rebellious Israel, open his mouth and eat what was given him. He saw a scroll with written words of lament, mourning and woe written on both sides. The Spirit told Ezekiel to eat the scroll, speak to Israel, open his mouth and fill his stomach with it. He ate the scroll and it tasted as sweet as honey in his mouth. They would not listen to Ezekiel because they were not willing to listen to God. Israel was hardened, but did not have an obscure or difficult language. He would make him harder than flint. After the Spirit took him away with bitterness and anger to the exiles living at Tel Aviv, he sat overwhelmed for seven days (Ezek. 2:1-3:15). Listen to the Spirit and speak God’s words whether people listen or not.
Warn People of Their Sin
When seven days were complete, God made Ezekiel a watchman to hear His word and warn Israel for Him. When God told a wicked man he would die and Ezekiel did not warn him from his evil ways to save his life, he died for his sin. God held Ezekiel accountable for his blood. If Ezekiel warned the evil man and he did not turn from his wickedness, he died for sin and Ezekiel saved himself. When a righteous man did evil and God put a stumbling block before him, he would die. Since Ezekiel did not warn him, he died for his sin and the righteous things were not remembered. Ezekiel was held accountable for his blood. If Ezekiel warned a righteous man not to sin and took the warning, he lived and Ezekiel saved himself (Ezek. 3:16-21). Warn people of their sin so they are rescued and you are not accountable for their blood.
Open Your Mouth When God Speaks
The Lord told Ezekiel to go out to the plain where He would speak to him. There stood God’s glory similar to what he saw earlier. The Spirit told him to shut himself inside his house where he was bound with ropes to prevent him from going out. He made his tongue stick to the roof of his mouth to keep him silent unable to rebuke the rebellious house. When God spoke to him, He opened his mouth saying that whoever listened, let him listen and whoever refused, let him refuse (Ezek. 3:22-27). Open your mouth when God speaks and be silent when He desires.
Obey God to Not Waste Away
God told Ezekiel to draw the city of Jerusalem on a clay tablet, erect siege works against it and battering rams around it. As a sign to Israel, he took an iron pan as a wall between him and the city in order to besiege it. God instructed him to lie 390 days on his left side, eat bread and 20 shekels of food using human excrement as fuel. It represented placing 390 years of Israel’s sin upon himself and eating defiled food among the nations God would drive them. Then he was to lie down 40 days on his right side to bear 40 years of Judah’s sin. God said Jerusalem would eat rationed food in anxiety and drink rationed water in despair because of scarcity. They would waste away because of their sin (Ezek. 4:1-17). Obey God to not waste away in anxiety, despair and slavery.
Use Object Lessons to Warn People
God told Ezekiel to shave his head and burn some of it representing fire and sword spreading to whole house of Israel. He said Jerusalem rebelled against God’s laws more than the nations around her. Because of their idols, fathers ate their children and children their fathers. God withdrew His favor because they defiled His sanctuary with vile images and practices. A third of the people died of the plague or famine, another third by the sword outside their walls and a third scattered to the winds being pursued with drawn sword. Jerusalem became a ruin and reproach among the nations with famine, wild beasts, plague, bloodshed and sword against them (Ezek. 5:1-17). Use object lessons to warn people of the deadly consequences of sin or idols leading to famine or plagues.
Prophesy God’s Word Against Lust of Idols
Ezekiel heard God’s word to prophesy against Israel that a sword destroyed high places, demolished altars, smashed incense altars and killed people in front of their idols. They knew He was Lord. Those who escaped the sword remembered God’s grief over their adulterous hearts lusting after idols. They loathed themselves for their evil and knew He was Lord. He made the land a desolate waste from the desert to Diblah (Ezek. 6:1-14). Prophesy God’s word against the lust of idols because people hate themselves even though they know He is Lord.
Listen for God’s word and see His glory so you are empowered to confront sin.
