The Word that I have spoken to you, shall I not do it?
What has the Lord spoken to you? What has He promised to do through you?
When Ezekiel was taken away to Babylon, he was called to give a message to Israel, which simply was…..
…..before you can return to the land, you must return to your God.
( He was with the group of engineers, smiths, and priests which Nebuchadnezzar carried away the second time. 2 Kings 14. Ezekiel was a priest. His name means “God will strengthen, or God will prevail”.)
Ezekiel 3:17 “Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from Me.”
It was the last days of the kingdom of Judah…..there would be nine more years after Ezekiel was taken, before the last of Jerusalem’s people were put under siege….and in the eleventh year….Jerusalem and it’s people fell. God removed them out of HIs sight….for a time.
These are the last days of the church age. Is there someone to whom we should speak….and give them warning from HIm?
God’s promises and God’s warnings are very important. He does not speak slightly….or carelessly….but every Word He gives is vital (Matthew 5:18)…..if we are to do the work He has for us.
Ezekiel 3:10-11 “Moreover He said unto me, Son of man, all My words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart, and hear with thine ears.
And go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the children of thy people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus saith the Lord God; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear,
Ezekiel’s ministry was to the captive prisoners near the River Chebar, which flows into the Euphrates.
Often they would come to him, because he was a priest, to hear what the Lord would say(Ezekiel 20:1)….especially when they would hear something had happened in Jerusalem and Judah.
The Lord had made Ezekiel responsible to speak His Word….whether they would hear it or not.
We, too, are responsible to speak to those we are called to. Whether at home, work, school, or wherever….we are to simply say HIs Words. Then it is between them and the Lord.
Obadiah 1:17 “But upon Mt Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.”
(Obadiah was the prophet who prophesied against Edom….because they helped Nebuchadnezzar when he came to destroy the city. Though they were the descendants of Esau…Jacob’s brother….yet they were glad and rejoiced when the city was taken. And they entered into the city to plunder what they could. God would greatly judge them for such unkind attitudes and actions against family.)
Israel shall be brought back….and possess again the land of their possessions. Though they sinned so great…as to be driven from the promised land….yet God would bring back a remnant, and work in them a “new heart” (Ezekiel 36:24-28).
God will not forget His promises….or HIs warnings.
We also are responsible to have the reality of HIs Word within ourselves….to possess our promised possessions.
2 Timothy 2:6 “The husbandman that laboreth must be first partaker of the fruits.”
In other words, we must have in our experience, to a degree, what we require at the hands of others.
Ezekiel was in captivity….he, too, felt the defilement of the heathen land. Yet he never lost sight of the call he received….speaking the Word of warning and promise…faithfully.
Though the captives were to build houses, and be useful citizens there as long as the captivity lasted….yet this time was given them and their children to repent and leave the idols they had turned to….and return to God, and HIs Word.
(And is this, not the message for today, for the church of Laodicea? We are to be good citizens…live the lives the Lord gives us….but return with all our hearts to God and HIs Word. “Be zealous therefore and repent”)
Through Ezekiel, God showed His people…that He had not left them. He would not be with them in their sin….yet He was never away from them.
Well, what has the Lord spoken to you? What word has He given you?
Hebrews 10:23-25 “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for He is faithful that promised;)
And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”
We are to watch out for one another…in prayers, words, deeds of kindness.
“Provoke” here means to incite for good, or to contend for the faith.
We are to incite…wake up and get them excited….unto love and good works. We are to exhort one another….again a word that means to wake up, each other, so we all will finish the ministry…or work the Lord has for us….in these last days of the Church age.
As God said to Israel…
Isaiah 1:18 “Come now,…(not tomorrow or next week)
….and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
And God says to us….
Hebrews 10:35-36 “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward.
For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.”
Let us hold on to our profession of faith….let us not cast away our confidence in God….but let us be as Ezekiel, and speak….and keep speaking to those in this time….whether they will hear the Lord, or forbear.
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 