Continuing the journey...
Ezekiel 3:1-3 - 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.
God had Ezekiel eat the scroll to signify becoming one - the prophet had to accept the Word, taking it into himself and knowing it. It must become part of the prophet's life and being. In essence it really reinforces the idea that in order to be good prophets or witnesses for God we really need to know His Word. If we don't thoroughly know it (and have it hidden in our hearts) then it would be like going to battle without armor or weapons. Sure we've gone, in faith no doubt, but we haven't properly prepared ourselves, and that is just as important as going itself.
Vs 7: But the house of Israel will not listen to you, because they will not listen to Me; for all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted.
God says that His people (the people of Israel that He is desperate to reach) are hard-hearted and will NOT listen to Ezekiel. But God still wants Ezekiel to go. He still sends Him out there to speak to them. Perhaps on the one side, this is another attempt in a long line of attempts on God's part to get their attention and repentance... it could be attempt #25 of 752 attempts. (If this idea interests you, read "The Shack" - it's amazing!) But also I think that being a prophet for God and witness to others is just as much about the prophet/witness following the orders of God, following their calling and His Word regardless of what He's calling them to do... as it is about the people whom God wants repentance from. It is about the prophet's/witness's growth, obedience, revelation, and reassurance that God is who He says He is - our provider (He will provide us with strength, courage, and the words to speak...).
Ezekiel 3:1-3 - 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.
God had Ezekiel eat the scroll to signify becoming one - the prophet had to accept the Word, taking it into himself and knowing it. It must become part of the prophet's life and being. In essence it really reinforces the idea that in order to be good prophets or witnesses for God we really need to know His Word. If we don't thoroughly know it (and have it hidden in our hearts) then it would be like going to battle without armor or weapons. Sure we've gone, in faith no doubt, but we haven't properly prepared ourselves, and that is just as important as going itself.
Vs 7: But the house of Israel will not listen to you, because they will not listen to Me; for all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted.
God says that His people (the people of Israel that He is desperate to reach) are hard-hearted and will NOT listen to Ezekiel. But God still wants Ezekiel to go. He still sends Him out there to speak to them. Perhaps on the one side, this is another attempt in a long line of attempts on God's part to get their attention and repentance... it could be attempt #25 of 752 attempts. (If this idea interests you, read "The Shack" - it's amazing!) But also I think that being a prophet for God and witness to others is just as much about the prophet/witness following the orders of God, following their calling and His Word regardless of what He's calling them to do... as it is about the people whom God wants repentance from. It is about the prophet's/witness's growth, obedience, revelation, and reassurance that God is who He says He is - our provider (He will provide us with strength, courage, and the words to speak...).
Vs 12: Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me a great thunderous voice: "Blessed is the glory of the LORD from His place!"
This reiterates what it said in the last chapter... "the Spirit lifted me up". I think it is so important to be repeated here because it is giving the clear indication that this isn't at all about Ezekiel's strength, but God's. It shows that he is being led by the Spirit alone, which is most important when we are faced with the calling of witnessing to others.
Vs 14: So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the LORD was strong upon me.
The part I love about this is the phrase "and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit". At first I had the notion that perhaps Ezekiel was bitter about having to leave and being guided away from (perhaps) something else he would rather do.
But then I began thinking about it more. And I realized that's not what it's about, because it makes no sense to be bitter when the Spirit of God is inside you. But that was the key - the Spirit was inside of Ezekiel. This bitterness & heat he refers to, I believe, refers to the righteous anger of the Lord towards His people... The Lord was angered by their sin and lack of repentance, and because it was His Spirit that was inhabiting Ezekiel, Ezekiel's own spirit becamed bitter and heated. That tells me that we will know when we are dealing with righteous anger when we definitely have His Spirit dwelling in us, and are angered by other's sin... not trivial things that our humanity gets angered about.
But then I began thinking about it more. And I realized that's not what it's about, because it makes no sense to be bitter when the Spirit of God is inside you. But that was the key - the Spirit was inside of Ezekiel. This bitterness & heat he refers to, I believe, refers to the righteous anger of the Lord towards His people... The Lord was angered by their sin and lack of repentance, and because it was His Spirit that was inhabiting Ezekiel, Ezekiel's own spirit becamed bitter and heated. That tells me that we will know when we are dealing with righteous anger when we definitely have His Spirit dwelling in us, and are angered by other's sin... not trivial things that our humanity gets angered about.
Vs 15: Then I came to the captives at Tel Abib, who dwelt by the River Chebar; and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days.
Ezekiel sat around with these people. It could signify the traditional amount of time in mourning for the dead, but I think we're given a picture here that is important... that Ezekiel was brought by the Spirit to this place and then he just sits down. Maybe he didn't feel the moving of the Spirit to speak again. But maybe he was scared, apprehensive about speaking out. Either way, how well could that work? God sends you somewhere to speak to His people to turn from their sin and repent, and you sit around silent just relaxing with them?
Vs 17: "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me:"
Ezekiel was called by God, a watchman. No, not a repairer of the Rolex, but a watchman. In these days a watchman was a guard who would keep watch, one who was often a sentinel on the city walls or hilltops... They would watch for weather, intruders, and the like. Sometimes a watchman would stay out in the fields for weeks at a time watching the crops to be sure that they were not stolen by anyone.
When they would see something of trouble, a storm perhaps, or intruders, he would be the early warning system for the people. Spiritually, a watchman was to warn and guide people spiritually. He was to warn of sins and the need to repent. He was also there to proclaim the good news about the paths of salvation.
God calls Ezekiel a watchman because he was sent to warn the people about the destructive path that their sins were leading them to. He was to tell them about how important it was that they repent and change their ways, turning to God.
Which makes me think... then what was he doing sitting around? In all reality it is much easier to sit around, among the people who are headed straight to destruction... much easer than speaking out against what they do, and facing the possibility of being shunned or worse. But if a watchman on the city walls just sat there when the storm came in, or when an enemy approached, then no one would be prepared or warned. The people would have no hope because they hadn't been told.
The strongest muscle in our body is sometimes the hardest to use, isn't it?
Vs 17-21: "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me: When I say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die,' and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. Yet if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul. Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because you did not give him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man that the righteous should not sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; also you will have delivered your soul."
This part was really heavy for me. I had always imagined that it wasn't good for you to ignore a calling or touch of the Spirit, to witness to someone... to speak God's Word to sinners (His people!!), but I had never really seen it in black and white like this. This much I couldn't ignore. It is the prophet's - the witness's - responsibility to speak truth and light to the people, to a particular person, to whomever we have been called to speak to. He, or she, has an obligation and condemns himself if he doesn't. How heavy is that?! The idea that ignoring these opportunities and pushes from the Spirit could sacrifice our very souls... wow. The punishment is the prophet's soul. If that isn't the steepest price to pay for refusing to use that 'strong muscle' then I don't know what is!
And how often are we so lax about it? How often we find it OH so easy to use that muscle for trouble, for chastisement, for reprimand, for meanness and sarcasm and anger... but when called upon to use it for the good of His people... of their souls... of the Kingdom... and all of a sudden we clam up. Nice one, human!
Our job is easy... if the Spirit has inclined us to speak, to witness... and often it has for the majority of us somewhere, sometime... our job is merely to warn of the impending danger. To say... "LOOK OUT FOR THE BUS!!" "GET OUT OF THE ROAD!!"
How hard is it... really? And if it is... WHY?
Vs 20: "and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die"
To me this speaks very clearly that God WILL lay stumbling blocks in the way of the righteous. At the very least, I believe he will allow the enemy to lay them for sure. Not only are these stumbling blocks in the way of the righteous as a test to the righteous man or woman themselves, but also to test the prophet - "will you speak?"
Vs 20: "But his blood I will require at your hand"
Ouch. Our silence is just as bad as if we rose against this person and killed them, because in the end, their blood is on our hands. You try washing off that stain when you stand before God.
Vs 24: "Then the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet, and spoke with me and said to me: "Go, shut yourself inside your house."
Here again the Spirit enters him and 'sets him on his feet'. The Spirit is the one to get Ezekiel moving again, getting his body in gear. Note the Spirit inhabits him again when He speaks to him which says perhaps Ezekiel's own words were talking to him, but from the Spirit Himself...
And on the idea that the Spirit can inhabit us... it is only logical to deduce that the evil spirits can do the same should we let them. Just confirmation that people can, in fact, be home to evil spirits who work through them... the sad part is that they rarely realize it.
And on the idea that the Spirit can inhabit us... it is only logical to deduce that the evil spirits can do the same should we let them. Just confirmation that people can, in fact, be home to evil spirits who work through them... the sad part is that they rarely realize it.
Vs 24-27
Ezekiel was afflicted (by God) with muteness until the fall of Jerusalem (33:21-22) except for brief periods when God commanded him to speak.
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Ezekiel 3:1-3 - 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.
"Funny" you and I have been talking about revisiting the Gospels where Jesus is tempted, and when I read this - of course this popped in mind:
Matthew 4:1-4
(1) Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
(2) And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward hungry.
(3) And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
(4) But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Which comes from (I knew it was written - but after our conversation about Jesus having the Bible, I thought it was important to look back at "where" it is written - what a comfort to know I'm reading the same words my Savior read while here on earth...):
Deuteronomy 8:3 KJV
(3) And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.
Interesting that Deuteronomy mentions that God let them suffer hunger before sending manna... and Jesus is reported as being hungry after fasting for 40 days - and he fights the temptation with this verse... God's Word clears the clouds and physical distractions from His joy.
Thank you LORD for BEING our strength, our wisdom, our clarity of mind - for the helmet of salvation and Spirit of truth to guide us against the schemes of satan.
Oh, I love that!
I'm thinking about the last chapter I read, lying in bed, and while I was reading I was munching on a snack. Haha. But I had found it so distracting... because I couldn't make my notes. So I stopped and then was able to get into the Word so much more.
And then earlier this week I spent a day alone for lunch, and was just praying and thinking and talking to God while I ate... and when I was finished, I just began to relax... but as soon as I had put down the fork is when I felt all that inspiration to write that stuff I had sent you.It's like I've gotten fed in two different ways in those instances, and noticed that the TRUE inspiration and talking from the Spirit comes once I've actually been filled with normal food. Sounds like I could have it backwards, but also that I don't get fed Spiritually until all the distraction of feeding myself physically have gone...
Interesting.
I'm loving this... and doesn't it seem filling anyway, the Word? I often notice that getting into these discussions and readings completely distract me from a hunger I might have felt previously, the physical hunger. Very cool that we can be filled physically when we eat Spiritually. But then, that just really confirms that the Spirit INHABITS....
Jeremiah 15:15-16
(15) O LORD, thou knowest: remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke.
(16) Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.
"Eat" here is defined in the Hebrew as:
A primitive root; to eat (literally or figuratively): - X at all, burn up, consume, devour (-er, up), dine, eat (-er, up), feed (with), food, X freely, X in . . . wise (-deed, plenty), (lay) meat, X quite.
Devour... feed - freely... sitting down and eating until you are filled - it's funny, I heard something last night about "eating the Word", and how God gave the Israelites FRESH manna every morning... and how we can't live on yesterday's bread of life - on yesterday's sermon - so I'm gonna dig on this.
Matthew Henry says, on this verse:
“Thy words were found, found by me” (he searched the scripture, diligently studied the law, and found that in it which was reviving to him: if we seek we shall find)... “and I did not only taste them, but eat them, received them entirely, conversed with them intimately; they were welcome to me, as food to one that is hungry; I entertained them, digested them... and was myself delivered into the mould of those truths which I was to deliver to others.”
The prophet was told to eat the roll, Eze_2:8; Rev_10:9. I did eat it - that is, as it follows, it was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart, nothing could be more agreeable. Understand it, [1.] Of the message itself which he was to deliver. Though he was to foretel the ruin of his country, which was dear to him, and in the ruin of which he could not but have a deep share, yet all natural affections were swallowed up in zeal for God's glory, and even these messages of wrath, being divine messages, were a satisfaction to him
The passage in Revelation is:
Revelation 10:9-10
(9) And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.
(10) And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.
(11) And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.
The Word is sweet to us sometimes - the Gospel is glorious and beautiful and speaks to us of love... but how many times do we "eat the Word" and realize that truly applying it to our lives and spreading it to others is bitter to the stomach. I truly believe that as we are given understanding of the Word, trials are the fire that try us to give us true understanding of it... We're hard-headed and flesh-bent, so it takes trials to teach us truth in a world bombarding us with lies.
I think you've hit something on the head, and obviously something is hitting me on the head - because I've heard this "eat the Word" several times now (repetition as usual; thank You LORD for being patient and understanding my inability to take in information the first time!).
And I think there's definitely something to what you were saying about when you got finished eating, that's when you really got filled by the Word... the physical hunger was a distraction to the spiritual filling...
I think that is true not just on "stomach" hunger, but on other "physical hungers" as well... one of our last Sunday School lessons was all about praying before you even open the Word. I've been trying to get in the routine of that - not just opening the flap of a book and reading pages; but realizing there is preparation before I even open the book... because if I haven't asked the Father to pour out the Holy Spirit's guidance in me and an ability in me to be led with that understanding; I'm trying to read God's Word without God's understanding... I won't get anywhere - my own physical distractions will get in the way of spiritual filling!
If we go to the table focusing on physical hunger, it will be a distraction to being spiritually filled (1 Cor 11:20-22 sort of goes here from a different direction)...
But I don't think it's just about "fill the physical hunger first" either... I think that is where fasting comes in - and not just stomach fasting, but fasting from other aspects of "physical hunger". It's about that discipline and separation from the desire for instant gratification of physical desires so that God can teach us to be truly and fully satisfied in the reading of His Word and communing with Him... even in spite of any physical hungers that might have tried to distract us...
Matthew 4:1-4 KJVR
(1) Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
(2) And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights,
he was afterward hungry.
(3) And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
(4) But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God
Jesus was physically hungry when the devil himself came to tempt Him - and satan of course focused on the obvious weakness in his attack.
Jesus replied WITH THE WORD (It is written) THAT THE WORD is more important than physical food, even in the face of physical hunger - and He had fasted for FORTY DAYS in the desert. We cannot even imagine the physical hunger after that amount of time...
I listened to Ravi this week - He has a three-part series on the temptation of Christ and how it relates to where we are in the world today... and instant gratification has ruined us. I didn't realize the series was on the temptation of Christ until I got into it, and when I heard that - and you and I had just been discussing wanting to dig into that section of Scripture, well again - Thank You LORD for tapping me on the shoulder over and over.
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