Serve to Save

After Ezekiel waited in silence for seven days, God spoke to him. As we noted last week, it’s good to wait on God. There’s not much silence in our world today, and we’re often uncomfortable with it. Especially when we feel God is silent. Ezekiel probably wondered why God had called him to sit with the exiles and then didn’t speak to his prophet to give him the words to say to the people. But he waited. Finally, God spoke.

“At the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me. ‘Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me’” (Ezekiel 3:16-17).

• Ezekiel’s task was to guard and keep an eye on the people of Israel.
• It’s “too late” for him to guard them from evil; we’ve already read they weren’t listening to God.
• A guard watches over prisoners to prevent their escape.
• Israel would not escape God’s warnings and judgment.
• To warn someone is to tell about something bad or dangerous that will happen.
• It’s a wonder Ezekiel didn’t use a stronger word when the consequence for not paying attention is death.

*Why do you think God asked Ezekiel to wait in silence?

*Why did God appoint Ezekiel “watchman” over Israel?

 The verses that follow sound like warnings for Ezekiel, not for the people.

“When I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood” (Ezekiel 3:18).

Scripture contains many strong “if – then” statements.

• If the wicked do not turn from their sin, they will die.
• Wicked people are guilty not only of sin against God, but also of continuing in their ways.¹
• They will die due to their unbelief and rebellion against God.²
• This pattern of sinful action and resulting consequences—death—has been in place since Adam and Eve turned away from God’s way in the Garden of Eden.
• The Israelites’ evil ways were a consistent pattern in their lives.³
• The purpose of Ezekiel’s charge to warn the Israelites was to keep them alive with God.

Those who do not turn from their evil ways will die for their sin.

The sentence above is as true today as it was then.

“In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” [for sin] (Hebrews 9:22).

*What do we learn about sin in this passage?

*How does God warn people of the consequences of sin today?

 The wicked person’s sin that led to death was “iniquity,” twisted, perverted, intentional evil and conscious sin.⁴ God would hold Ezekiel accountable for the wicked who died in their sins, if Ezekiel failed to proclaim God’s warning.

• We are not “prophets,” but we are called to speak God’s truth to others.
• Ezekiel modeled how to speak and do the hard things God asks of us.
• Wait in silence before God and listen for Him to speak.
• Encourage unbelievers to turn from their evil ways to save their life.
  

*What patterns of sin do people practice today?

*In what practical ways can we follow Ezekiel’s example?

But if you do warn the wicked person and they do not turn from their wickedness or from their evil ways, they will die for their sin; but you will have saved yourself” (Ezekiel 3:19).

• God’s Word takes root in some people and they repent.
• His Word also falls on hardened hearts, those who choose to not turn back to God.

“So, as the Holy Spirit says: ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness, … That is why I was angry with that generation; I said “Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.”’ … See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God” (Hebrews 3:7-8, 10, 12).

• Ezekiel’s task was to faithfully speak God’s Word, to deliver God’s message to His people.
• Ezekiel was held accountable only for warning the Israelites, not for their response.

“I [Paul] planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow” (1 Corinthians 3:6-7).

• His obedience delivered, or rescued, Ezekiel from God’s judgment.
• The Hebrew phrase specifies Ezekiel’s “soul” was delivered—his “breath, inner being, thoughts, and emotions.”⁵
• This might imply the prophet could sleep at night, in peace and confidence he had obeyed God.

*Why do some people harden their hearts and reject God’s Word?

*When have you experienced peace in your soul after obeying God?

 “Again, when a righteous person turns from their righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before them, they will die. Since you did not warn them, they will die for their sin. The righteous things that person did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. But if you do warn the righteous person not to sin and they do not sin, they will surely live because they took warning, and you will have saved yourself” (Ezekiel 3:20-21).

• A righteous person had the “attitude and actions God had and expected His people to maintain.”⁶
• However, a person may know all the right things to do and still choose to do evil.
• God will place a stumbling block in their path that causes them to perish because they rejected God.⁷
• What does God require?

“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).

• God called Ezekiel to warn the “righteous” as well as the wicked.
• All need to hear God’s plan of deliverance from sin through His forgiveness.

 “He said to them, ‘You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight” (Luke 16:15).

Ezekiel used various words to describe sin and evil.

• “Sin” in verse 21 has a different connotation, to “purify from sin or free from sin.”⁸
• There are “righteous” acts, which people may turn from and choose evil.
• There’s an inward, heart righteousness, evidenced by heeding God’s warnings of woe and judgment and repenting.
• Those people choose not to maintain a lifestyle of sin and stay on God’s righteous path.
• They will surely live—to stay alive in the end with God.
• God cautioned Ezekiel to speak His message to all, those who appear evil and those who appear “righteous.”

“… The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7b).

*What purpose(s) does God intend His stumbling block to fulfill?

*How do you interpret God’s requirements for those who walk a path of righteousness?

*How does Ezekiel’s message point to God’s plan for salvation?

*What promises and aspects of God’s character do we learn from this passage?

 

1. Warren Baker, D.R.E., Eugene Carpenter, Ph.D. The Complete WordStudy Dictionary: Old Testament. (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2003), 1080
2. Ibid., 587
3. Ibid., 248-249
4. Ibid., 814
5. Ibid., 746
6. Ibid., 939
7. Michael Card. “Scandalon.” Sparrow Records, 1986. CD
8. Ibid., 611