Your Customized Calling, Ezekiel 3:22-27

God showed up in a whirlwind with flashes as lightning and the sound of many waters.

The hand of the Lord was strong upon Ezekiel, He entered him and lifted him and said to him, “Go and speak to the rebellious house of Israel.”

In this passion, and in this zeal, Ezekiel was released to his mission field beside the River Chebar.

Did he challenge like Elijah saying, “How long will you falter between two opinions?” 1 Kings 18:21.

Or command like Joshua, “Choose you this day whom you will serve?” Joshua 24:15

Or stand in water and call like John the Baptist “Repent!” Matt. 3:2.

Did he spin like a whirlwind and declare “Thus says the Lord, ‘You are a rebellious house!’” (God called them that about 10 times in the last two chapters).

Did he do anything like that?

Ezekiel 3:15, 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.

Sitting silent like a bump on a log was not exactly what the Lord had in mind when He said.

Go

Stand

Speak My Word

Do not fear

Do not rebel

Sounds simple. 

Hard, but simple. 

Which is characteristic of God’s commands.

Instead of standing and speaking. He sat in silence, with the rebels.

Have you ever disobeyed God?

 Obey the laws of the land (Romans 13:1-2, 1 Peter 2:13).

What’s the speed limit?

Have you ever sinned with your words? 

Eph. 4:29. Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up the one in need and bringing grace to those who listen.

Have you ever sat silent when God told you to speak?

Have you ever not done what He told you to do?

Ever felt like you missed your moment?

He called, He knocked, I didn’t answer. Now, it’s too late. I missed my chance.

Ever felt like that?

You’re not alone.

Guess what?

God knew you’d blow it before He ever asked you to do it.

Put yourself in Zeke’s shoes. God called me by name. He gave me a ministry. Set me up, and sent me out...

But I dropped the ball. No. Worse, I never even picked it up.

I let, fear of failure, cause me to fail, by staying silent and doing nothing.

At the end of life more people regret what they didn’t say, what they didn’t do, than what they did.

The songs unwritten, unsung are the most regretted.

The Good news is:

God knew you before He called you, and He never makes mistakes.

That means, God knew before He ever sent Zeke to speak, that he’d spend a week sitting on his hands in silence.

For we don’t have a Great High Priest who can’t be touched with the feelings of our infirmities but was tempted in all points just as we are, yet without sin. Hebrews 4:15. 

That means, Jesus was tempted just like we are, so He knows exactly how we feel.

So, God did not remove Ezekiel’s calling. He didn’t kick him out of Prophet training.

We know because we’re studying his book that’s 48 chapters long.

God will give Ezekiel amazing prophecies like Ez. 37, the rebirth of Israel. (May 14, 1948).

Like the war that’s taking shape right before our very eyes, (Ez. 38-39).

So, what does God do when He gives us an assignment, and we blow it?

He looks at the heart more than the hands.

When He looked at Ezekiel, He saw a man, that would fear, and fall, and fail, just like us.

He also saw a man that would get back up, and obey, not rebel.

And so, God showed up again, not with rebuke, but with Truth.

Son of man, I’ve made you a watchman. (That wasn't only meant for Zeke, but us too).

A watchman on the city wall watches for danger. Be it fire or storm or enemy. They are the eyes and ears of the city. The first responders. The security of the city lay largely on the alertness of the watchman.

A watchman for the Lord, is the eyes and ears of the Lord, watching, waking and warning a sleeping people. Watchmen for the Lord are responsible and accountable in some degree for another’s eternity.

There will be blood on the hands of a watchman who fails to watch and wake and warn.

God made the weight of a watchman’s responsibility abundantly clear to Ezekiel (and us).

However, Zeke, was more of a Silent Knight, than a siren screaming in the night (at least for now).

So, God’s great compassion, customized the calling just for Ezekiel.

He does the same just for you.

22 Then the hand of the Lord was upon me there, (by the riverside where he’d been sitting for seven days) and He said to me, “Arise, go out into the plain, and there I shall talk with you.”

God shows up right where we’re at.

He comes to us, in the mess we’re in.

The Lord loves us right where we are.

Too much to keep us there.

He appears with a plan.

If truly serving the Lord, you’ll never run out of things to do.

If actively following Jesus, you’ll never be bored.

Arise go.

23 So I arose and went out into the plain, and behold, the glory of the Lord stood there, like the glory which I saw by the River Chebar; and I fell on my face.

The same glory!

He hasn’t sidelined you.

He wasn’t taking you to the woodshed.

Obedience brings understanding. 

You fall to your face in humble honor. Oh Lord thank You for remembering me, a sinner.

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.

Entered me. Set me. Spoke with me.

 In Ezekiel’s day it was selective and rare for the Spirit to enter a person. They were chosen vessels the Lord used as His voice.

When from the heart you genuinely surrender to Christ, die to yourself, allow Him to be Lord, then He enters in, sets your feet on the straight and narrow, and keeps you there by speaking to you, this is the way, walk in it.

Christian won’t be something you do, but someone you are.

The Word of God will come alive in and through you saying:

Christ in me the hope of glory! Colossians 1:27.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! Philippians 4:13.

I am more than a conqueror through Him who loves me! Romans 8:37.

Go shut yourself inside your house.

Now this is where God customizes the calling just for Ezekiel.

God specializes in taking our mess and making a message.

So, when you mess up, don’t give up, give it to God.

Watch how God turns Ezekiel’s mess into a message.

Notice the object lesson.

The Word of God through the man of God was removed from a rebellious people.

Soon the Word of God through the Church of God will be removed from a rebellious people. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, 1 Corinthians 15:52.

The silence will speak.

Ezekiel, the Silent Knight, was sent home, not benched, not laid off, not fired, but on special assignment.

25 And you, O son of man, surely they will put ropes on you and bind you with them, so that you cannot go out among them.

Folks debate over whether this is literal or figurative binding.

In context what’s probably being said is something like this:

O son of man, try as you may to go out and speak to them, due to their impudent, hard-hearted, rebellious attitude, your hands will be tied.  

26 I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, so that you shall be mute and not be one to rebuke them, for they are a rebellious house.

So, I will withhold giving you anything to say to those rebels.

The Gift of Silence.

27 But when I speak with you (Divine Timing), I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God’ (Divine Words). He who hears, let him hear; and he who refuses, let him refuse; for they are a rebellious house.

Say what He gives you. Plant the Seed. Leave the results to God. You’re not responsible for their response.

Notice, the Greater, is the One to break the silence.

If you’re not speaking to someone. You be the one to reach out, break the silence. It doesn’t mean you’re weaker, or in the wrong, it means you're following God, and He isn’t weaker, He isn't wrong, ever.  

A time to speak.

Ezekiel became a Silent Knight, he went silent except for when God gave him something to say, then, he’d speak God’s word and often with dramatization and then go silent again.

No elaboration, no idle conversation.

This created curiosity.

So, the gift of silence made the heart grow fonder.

Folks would come to him, to see if he would speak or perform some bizarre dramatization.

This appears to have continued, until the fall of Jerusalem, about seven years later, (593-586 BC).

After that Ezekiel spoke more freely.  

Interestingly, that’s about one year for each day, Ezekiel sat silent by the riverside.

Divine Probation?  

We understand this timing because of what is stated later in Ezekiel:

And on that day a survivor from Jerusalem will come to you in Babylon and tell you what has happened. And when he arrives, your voice will suddenly return so you can talk to him, and you will be a symbol for these people. Then they will know that I am the LORD.” (Ezekiel 24:26,27, NLT)

On January 8, during the twelfth year of our captivity, a survivor from Jerusalem came to me and said, “The city has fallen!” The previous evening the LORD had taken hold of me and given me back my voice. So I was able to speak when this man arrived the next morning. (Ezekiel 33:21,22, NLT)

Some prophets were strong orators, but Ezekiel used object lessons.

Like shaving his hair with a sword and burning it. Like building a mini model of Jerusalem. Like laying on his side for hundreds of days and eating over a fire made of human dung (well, that was revised to be cow manure).

Why?

Lord willing, that’s what we’ll look at next week.

Let’s pray.

Lord Jesus, we give to You our lives, our mess, our everything. Thank You for turning the mess into a message and customizing a calling just for us to be used by You to lead others to You. So, when all is said and done we will see Your smiling face and hear Your beautiful words, “Well done.”

Thank You, Lord.

We love You, forever.

Amen.

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