You shall speak My words to them, whether they hear or whether they refuse. Ezekiel 2:7

RECOMMENDED SCRIPTURE EZEKIEL 2:1-10  “And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee.² And the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard him that spake unto me.³ And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this very day.⁴ For they are impudent children and stiffhearted. I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God.⁵ And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them.⁶ And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.⁷ And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious.⁸ But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house: open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee.⁹ And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein;¹⁰ And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.”

COMMENTS:  God’s words and instruction to Ezekiel were sobering to him and sobering to us.  We have the clarity of history to know and understand the powerful truth of words God have Ezekiel to say to his people in his time.  Words of warning and words of hope and redemption as a lifeline to life before destruction would come on them.  Picture a huge ship slowly but obviously sinking and a ship coming along side offering escape to passengers.  Ezekiel was instructed to tell his people that their conduct and sinfulness placed them on that sinking ship but a way of escape is available if simply get on the ship of redemption,  the ship of repentance, the ship of revival. They had to admit their sin and change back to obeying God’s commands and following Him instead of false gods of other nations.  They had to surrender to God in order to live.  BUT GOD THEN TOLD EZEKIEL TO TELL THEM EVE N IF THEY DON’T REPENT.  GOD KNEW THEY WOULD NOT REPENT AND WOULD FACE THE DESTRUCTION, BUT HE TOLD EZEKIEL NOT TO BECOME DISCOURAGED NOR GIVE UP. 

Today we too face a time not unlike what Noah endured.  A time when the world is increasingly following its own sinful ways and desires unrestrained without any boundaries a moral compass would set.  The moral compass the Bible set from the time of Moses and the Ten Commandments established on Mt. Sinai.   God came and lived and died as Jesus to give us a wonderfully complete way to redemption and life.  A lifeline of personal daily relationship along with Himself through the Holy Spirit desiring to live in and through us so we too can gain victory over sin’s clutches and misery and death.   Look at the evil and destruction and misery that dominates the news, drowning out stories of life and transformation those who accept Christ have to tell.

HE IS TELLING US, LIKE HE TOLD EZEKIEL LONG AGO.  HE IS TELLING US TO TELL THE GOOD NEWS OF THE ONE AND ONLY WAY TO LIFE.  TELL BOLDLY NO MATTER IF THIS GOOD NEWS IS RECEIVED OR REJECTED. 

Sadly, most or nearly all of Ezekiel’s people, including their king, rejected Ezekiel’s message and endured judgment.  NEEDLY JUDGMENT!  BUT JUDGMENT GOD HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO ENFORCE.  HE COULD NO LONGER DELAY AFTER THE FINAL WARNING WAS GIVEN.  Ezekiel was the messenger to his generation.  BECAUSE HIS WORDS ARE IN OUR BIBLE, THEY ARE AVAILABLE TO AND FOR OUR TIME TOO.   God’s command and instruction are clear.  Ezekiel suffered physically and emotionally because Israel rejected Ezekiel’s message from God.  But Ezekiel’s message was preserved and brought life to untold millions in the centuries from his time to present.   IT STILL CONTINUES TO BRING LIFE!  WHY?  Because Ezekiel’s message is from God and TRUE.  True for every generation, in every age, and in every time.  Today’s modern technology and access to knowledge doesn’t change the validity of that TRUTH.   God has not changed and satan hasn’t changed and people today are as they were in Ezekiel’s time.  BUT WE HAVE SOMETHING EZEKIEL DIDN’T HAVE.   WE HAVE THE NEW TESTAMEN T WHICH INCLUDES JESUS’ LIFE STORY AND MESSAGE.  WE HAVE THE AFFECT OF THAT MESSAGE ON THE DISCIPLES AND COUNTLESS FIRST CENTURY FOLLOWERS WHO ENDURED GREAT SUFFERING UNDER ROMAN IRON RULE.  We have the living abiding Holy Spirit accessible to everyone who received Jesus’ redemptive lifeline to LIFE.

Will some reject His message when we share it?  YES. Will some accept and embrace it?  YES!  If we go the rest of our lives and only gain one believer, IT WILL BE WORTH IT!  Look at Ezekiel and Isaiah and Jeremiah and all the other prophets (major and minor) recorded in our Old Testament.  Look at the ministry of the disciples and Paul in the New Testament.  Even look at Jesus’ ministry.  None had 100% success but none had 0% success.   So why should we expect to be any more effective?   If we are faithful, the results and responsibilities of successes and failures lie solely on His shoulders.  That should be freeing to us and encouraging to us but also motivating to us too.  BUT NO ONE WILL BE REACHED BY US IF WE FAIL TO DO OUR PART.   GOD WILL FIND ANOTHER IF WE REFUSE HIM, BUT WE WILLMISS HIS BLESSING AND RISK FACING HIS JUDGMENT TOO. 

So we really have no better choice or another good choice other than surrender and obeying His Call and Voice speaking to our souls – our spiritual hearts.  AMEN?  AMEN!

After one hundred years of Protestantism and in the wake of the Thirty Years’ War, Philipp Jakob Spener, a German pastor, called people back to regular Bible study, prayer, and piety. The Church had grown cold, and many Christians had become indifferent. Spener exhorted people to trust God completely and to produce good works. He felt pastors should rededicate themselves to ministering the Word of God to their people, and that youth should be well-instructed in Scripture.

For all this, Spener was frequently attacked, yet the revival begun under his ministry—called Pietism—touched Christianity in a way felt to this day.

It seems odd we’d be attacked for calling people back to God, back to Bible study, prayer, faith, and good works. Yet we live in a culture increasingly opposed to spiritual revival. Don’t be intimidated. God is able to protect us when we take a stand for Him. We need revival in our lands, and it won’t come unless it begins in us.

“If we succeed in getting the people to seek eagerly and diligently in the book of life for their joy, their spiritual life will be wonderfully strengthened and they will become altogether different people.”
Philipp Spener

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