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Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Have you ever felt compelled to speak something to someone which you knew would be painful for them to hear, but you were very confident that if you DID NOT speak, it would be wrong to remain silent? Do you remember the emotions, the anxiety you felt as you wrestled with what you should say, what the right and ethical thing to do was? I wonder what you did.
Come with me again to the great city of Babylon about 2600 years ago. 10,000 Jewish captives had been marched from Jerusalem to Babylon under the escort of King Nebuchadnezzar’s army. Among them was a 25-year-old man named Ezekiel and over the past few days we’ve looked at a remarkable experience Ezekiel had through a vision God gave him 5 years after they arrived in Babylon. (Ez. 1:1-3)
Ezekiel had been so powerfully impacted by the vision he had fallen on his face, prostrate on the ground, (Ez. 1:28) but the voice of God in the vision had told him to get up and accept a very clear calling and assignment from God. (Ez.2:1,2) What assignment? Ezekiel was called to be God’s spokesman, a prophet of God TO the Jewish captives in exile in Babylon!! We looked at that calling in Ezekiel 2 last Friday. If you missed that day in “Walking with Jesus” I urge you to go to the archives and open your Bible and work through it.
So today, let’s continue in this experience with Ezekiel as we are witness to the rest of God’s unique calling and commissioning of Ezekiel as His spokesman to the Jewish captives. Perhaps we’d assume Ezekiel would be delighted that Almighty God would recruit him to such an important role, and perhaps we’d assume those 10,000 Jewish exiles would be overjoyed to hear that God saw their plight and had raised up a spokesman to bring them God’s messages? However, look with me at the truth of what happened because perhaps you and I have had the same experience.
God said to Ezekiel: “You must speak My words to the people, whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious. But you, listen to what I say to you. Do not rebel against Me like those rebellious people. Open your mouth and eat what I give you!’ Then I looked and I saw a hand stretched out to me. In the hand was a scroll, which He unrolled before me. On both sides of the scroll were written words of lament and mourning and woe….” (Ez. 2:7-10) Pause and reflect with me on what this means.
You’ll remember the breathtaking vision of God in His grandeur and majesty which Ezekiel explained to us in Ezekiel 1:4-28. Now this stunning vision continues with a hand, a scroll and instructions. Scrolls in those days, as we know, were the primary means of writing important documents to be saved for historical significance. Normally they were written on only one side and unrolled slowly for accurate reading. But Ezekiel noticed this scroll had writing on both sides, obviously a very important message and lengthy! Scrolls were to be read not eaten, but Ezekiel very clearly heard the instructions to actually eat this scroll! The voice continued: “Eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the people of Israel!’ So, I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat… So, I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth. Then He said to me, ‘go now to the people of Israel and speak My words to them…” (Ez. 3:1-4)
What do you think it means my friends? Who is speaking to Ezekiel, giving him instructions to eat the scroll? This voice is none other than Almighty God and the calling Ezekiel is receiving is the same calling Isaiah received (Is. 6:1-9) and Jeremiah received (Jer. 1:4-9) and Moses received (Ex. 4:12) and Samuel received (1 Samuel 2:35) and even the same calling the disciples received from Jesus (Matt. 28:18-20) and Paul and Barnabas received from the Holy Spirit. (Acts 13:2,3) What is this special calling from God? It is the privileged calling of being God’s representative, God’s spokesman to our world!
Now are you ready for a shocking statement from God? Listen to 2 Corinthians 5:17,20 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. The old has gone and the new has come and all this is from God!…We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God is making HIS appeal [to the world] through us!”
Do we understand the significance of this my friends? You and I, and anyone who has trusted Jesus Christ for their salvation from their sin bondage is viewed by God as one of God’s Ambassadors in very much the same role in our world as Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Samuel, Moses, Paul and Barnabas! What? You and I have the same role in our world as those great men of generations past? YES my friends, YES! God wants us to embrace our God given role of AMBASSADOR of Jesus Christ, speaking God’s truth to our world! Now let’s pause right there and let that simmer in our hearts for a moment.
What are the implications of that my friends for you and me today? Ezekiel was given a scroll of God’s truth in his vision and told to eat it and then speak God’s words to the people. It is symbolic of what I do every day for you and me as I prepare “Walking with Jesus”. I’m trying to help you and me understand God’s Word, the Bible, so our lives can then communicate God’s truth in our words, actions and attitudes to anyone we meet every day! But of course, you don’t need me! God’s desire is that both you and I would individually, personally DEVOUR God’s Word, so that we can then communicate God’s word to our world!
We need to pause right here, and I challenge you to embrace Ezekiel 3:1-4. Read it several times and look deeply into your soul, your heart and mind. Do you feel an appetite for God’s Word rising up in you or a repulsion, a fear, a resistance? What do you think that means about your readiness to be called and commissioned by God to be involved in God’s purposes in your part of the world today?
Here’s a powerful worship song that calls us to consider this holy calling! And join me again tomorrow, right here, because there is so much more in this Ezekiel experience, we want to learn from!
Today’s Scripture: Ezekiel 2:7-3:4.
Choose below to read or listen.
Ezekiel 2:7-3:4 Ezekiel 2
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Ezekiel 3
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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