Give them warning from Me
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.”
Ezekiel was a priest in Jerusalem, when the second taking away from the land came. He was carried away to Babylon and after five years….was called to the work of telling the captives….
…if they wanted to return to the land, they must first return to God.
Ezekiel means “whom God will strengthen”.
At his calling, he was given a revelation of cherubim going…”whithersoever the Spirit was to go”. Then he saw a wheel full of eyes round about…horizontal….and another wheel, perpendicular, full of eyes. A wheel within a wheel. Only the perpendicular wheel touched the ground…and these were the Providence of God.
We can only see part of the Providence of God….God’s eyes are all around, yet we can only see the part that touches us (the ground).
Then he saw God, high and lifted up, with the face of a man…..he saw the Lord Jesus Christ on HIs throne…over all.
All the cherubim stopped, and bowed their heads and put down their wings, at His appearing.
And Ezekiel fell on his face before Him.
God then called Ezekiel as His prophet….His watchman. (No other prophet was called as a watchman.)
A watchman is one whose sole job is to watch and warn of coming danger.
A watchman is in the city with the others, but he is lifted up and given a place to see the danger….to warn.
And so we come to Ezekiel’s message…his warning (I want to mention here, that this message is repeated and repeated. “Give them warning from Me”.)
Ezekiel 3:18-21 “When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
Again, When a righteous man doeth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.”
To “warn” is to “enlighten by caution”.
Ezekiel was not to grab them and shake them to awaken them….no, the Word of God would do that….when he enlightened them…by caution. But he was to continue to warn….till the danger is past or they are awakened.
(seven times in Ezekiel,…the number of completeness, perfection….this term is used. More times than any other book.)
Ezekiel was sent to a city…and was under the hand of the Lord to go.
(the “hand of the Lord” is a phrase often used. It symbolizes the personal guidance and empowerment of the Lord. Every prophet must have within himself, his message. It is not the mouth only that speaks, but the hand of the Lord upon the person, in their life.)
So he comes to the city, and what does he find? “Then I came to them of the captivity…and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days.” Ezk. 3:15
They were sitting….not doing anything about their situation. Not crying to the Lord for help, or seeking the good of the other captives.
(Jeremiah, back in Jerusalem, had sent a letter to those of the captivity to make them houses, and gardens and dwell there….for it would be years before they would return home. Seek the good of the city…and have peace.)
But they had refused this Word….and were sitting, waiting….for the Lord to do something without asking or seeking Him.
And He did….He sent Ezekiel to “warn” them…..whether they would “hear” (and obey)…or “forbear” (Ezekiel 2:7).
Forbear means to be lazy or indolent. And Ezekiel was “astonished”.
(And aren’t we the same way when we tell others about the salvation of the Lord? They “sit still”…”maybe later, at a more convenient time”…..and do not see their own situation before the Lord? We have been saved from our sin,….and we are astonished that others “forbear”!)
There were two kinds of people Ezekiel would be speaking to: the wicked…and their wicked ways. They are rebellious.
(Rebellious is used 17 times in Ezekiel…it means “unpleasant, to provoke”) God had given His people so much, but they despised it (Ps. 106:24). God had delivered them, time and time again…but they provoked Him. (Ps. 104:43)
…and the righteous. Those who are just and morally right. But when they commit iniquity….which suggests they are giving up on God’s Ways and turning to the world’s ways around them.
Then God will lay a “stumblingblock” before them. God does not tempt to sin (James 1:13-14) but He does give men over to their own corruptions….sometimes for a time, to chasten them…so they see the end of their sin (as the Prodigal, Luke 15:11-20)
…and sometimes forever.(as Demas 2 Tim. 4:10)
He was to warn….
…you will notice “but his blood will I require at thine hand”. Because we were made in the image of God.
Blood is the lifeflow of our bodies. And God has repeatedly stressed from the beginning that the blood is precious in HIs sight.
(Genesis 9:4-6 “…Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made He man….” This was before the Law, before Abraham,…God considers blood precious…and therefore the Blood of Christ, the perfect Son of God/Son of man was most precious and efficacious to pardon all our sins.)
Ezekiel was to see each man he spoke to…precious. That that man’s blood or life was part of his responsibility.
God still sees them as the house of Israel….but provoking Him to chasten them.
God will never break HIs covenant in Christ Jesus, but He will rebuke and chasten HIs own….that they may be “warned”…and hear and obey.
Revelation 3:19 “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.”
What of us? And what have we done with what He has given us?
No matter the people’s choice, Ezekiel was to speak to them….and we too, are called as witnesses….for we have seen His power and grace in our lives, and in the lives of others. We have experienced His Word and love….let us witness of Him:
Acts 1:8 “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 