II.—THE ENTRANCE BY EZEKIEL ON THE EXECUTION OF HIS COMMISSION. CHAPS. Ezekiel 3:16-17
Ezekiel had been fully accredited, but did not begin his work as a messenger of the Lord when he was sent among the people. He remained in their midst, silent and astonied—stunned—for a season. Then came instructions, conveying distinct intimation of the responsibilities of his position, of the thraldom in which he would be held, and thereto the first communications for the people followed.
1. RESPONSIBILITIES ILLUSTRATED (Chap. Ezekiel 3:16-21)
EXEGETICAL NOTES. Ezekiel 3:16. “At the end of seven days the word of the Lord came.” The power to prophesy is not inherent in man. It is not produced by his agency. It comes and goes according to occult influences which do not obliterate the mental condition of the recipient. Rather they enter into such correlation with him as to enhance his susceptibility for what is divine, and are always in a certain correspondence with constitutional ability, circumstances, acquirements of the person on whom they operate.
Ezekiel 3:17. “I have made”—given—“thee a watchman.” This shows to Ezekiel how he is to think of himself in the work appointed. He is, as it were, to cover with his eyes the objects placed under his view, and to take action in correspondence with their appearances. He is to look, search, announce or denounce. The watchman is thus closely allied to the seer—only this is the passive state of which the former is the active. “Unto the house of Israel.” Not as an organic unity, but as made up of individuals, part of whom are wicked and part righteous, and the prophet is to inspect carefully the marks which are traceable on each so as to impart appropriate warnings. “Hear the word at my mouth.” He is not to produce his own opinions, or to state that which may agree with the opinions of the people; he is to stand in the light of pure truth and goodness and tell its manifestations. “Give them warning.” Be not a lecturer on history or business; do not sit as a professor to set forth the doctrines that are to be accepted as credible; spend not your time in making up complaints for the people about their distresses as captives in a foreign land. Show that the real evil is in themselves, not in their environment; rouse up a conviction of danger to them so long as they cherish any delusion as to external relationship to the Lord God, if they are disregarding His laws. The future is ominous with storms, and they will be struck down if they follow the ways of their own heart. “From me.” It is I who warn. I speak to thee and use thy capabilities. Take a fearless message, for I am with thee. Do not travesty the sketch I intrust thee with by inserting colours which I warn thee not to put there.
Ezekiel 3:18. “When I say unto the wicked.” God comes into personal communication with transgressors when His servant delivers His message faithfully. “Thou shalt surely die.” The identical threat against the first sinner (Genesis 2:17) is valid throughout all generations. In every world sin is death as contrasted with life. “Nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way.” Once to give warning is not to fulfil the charge devolving on the prophet. There are to be repetitions and perhaps private appeals. The representations are to be made, moreover, against both the man and his doings; for there are sin and sins—an evil disposition and exhibitions thereof. “To save his life.” The purpose of the Lord in speaking to the wicked man is to bestow life upon him—not merely to put a stop to iniquity. He hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked. If life is not secured he “shall die in his iniquity,” in the sins he has committed; so he will bring the penalty upon himself; “but his blood will I require at thine hand.” His blood is typical of his life, and He, whose are all souls, will take a reckoning for that life towards the loss of which a guilty negligence has contributed.
Ezekiel 3:19. “Yet if … he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way;” if he do not repent—change his mind and conduct; “thou hast delivered thy soul:” thou wilt stand clear of any accusations of having dealt unfaithfully in thy office. In later times Paul was able to say, “I am pure from the blood of all men.”
Ezekiel 3:20. A parallel case to that of the wicked is now illustrated, but having reference to a righteous man. It is supposed that “a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness.” He does not show a simple weakness in obeying, but a disposition to evil. He yields his members to “commit iniquity, and I lay—give—a stumblingblock before him.” God tempteth not any man, but He arranges the circumstances of men so that an evil heart finds occasion to assert its power, and to draw from the paths of righteousness into the ways of sin. Thus gold and silver (chap. Ezekiel 7:19), and a regard for sensuous worship (chap. Ezekiel 14:4; Ezekiel 14:7), affected the Israelites so that they stumbled. Pharaoh is an illustration of an individual, under providential events, becoming hardened against the good and holy will of the Lord (Exodus 7:3; Exodus 7:22; Exodus 8:15). “Because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin.” The watchman will be counted guilty of negligence, but his neglect will not excuse the sin of the wanderer from righteousness. That will bring death. “And his righteousness,” his external habits and actions, which, “touching the righteousness which is in the law,” were blameless, “shall not be remembered,” they shall be regarded as if they had never been.
Ezekiel 3:21. On the other hand, “if thou warn the righteous man that the righteous sin not;” or, if thou warn the righteous not to sin as a righteous man, i.e., as professing to have a character which is unspotted by iniquity, and he is confirmed in his right standing by your words, “thou hast delivered thy soul.”
Thus Ezekiel learns the principles by which he is to be moved in carrying on the office of a watchman. Incidentally the procedure of the divine government, in respect to moral character, is indicated, but that is a subject deferred to chaps. 18 and 33 more especially.
HOMILETICS
God’s call to service is a trust (Ezekiel 3:16-17)
Such a call may be special and capable of being distinctly realised, as by Ezekiel; or it may be general and only its principles appreciated, as by those on whom wishes to do good, vague aspirations, dreams, impressive events have been operating; but whatever be the method in which the call is made, its character as a trust is never altered.
I. Its features as relating to God show this.
1. The call is conveyed by God. He can act on the human will through any one of the faculties which affect it. Prepared eyes can see visions of God, as did Ezekiel, Paul and others; sensitive ears can perceive the sounds of His voice, as did Isaiah, John, and others. He uses the means for producing clear views of duty, more or less definite desires and purposes, firm resolves; and whether these tend towards prophesying, preaching, teaching in families or schools, directing the sickly or dying, they who experience them should receive them as coming from the Father of Lights, the Ruler of all events. They may be recognised, so far as they issue from Him, as sent by Him, though the recipients should not have “heard His voice at any time or seen His shape.” The labourers go to work in His vineyard at the hour in which He finds them idle. The child of a godly mother responds to His impulse with, “O Lord, truly I am thy servant.” An apostle affirms, “A dispensation of the gospel is committed to me.”
2. It is concerned with the truth of God. His truth contains knowledge for the wayfaring man, guidance for the lost, bread for the hungry, healing for the wounded, life for the dead in sins—who will dare to smother its virtue? Let the methods of the call be what they may, the work is to be begun and continued in simple acquiescence to that which He reveals. He will not allow another standard. No herald, soldier, minister should think of modifying the terms in which a government made a declaration of war or a proffer of peace to another government. Less reasonable is it to affect to modify the terms which the mighty God may instruct His servants to bear. “The foolishness of God is wiser than men.” His words are perfectly and always true. One man’s mind may apprehend them somewhat differently from that of another man, one speaker proclaim them less vigorously than another; but, in any case, the truth in Jesus must not be departed from, must not be tampered with; it must be set forth as His.
3. Its contents are meant for all hearers. Ezekiel is appointed watchman, not for some individuals or for some sections of his people, but for the whole house of Israel. The Lord of the spirits of all flesh has teachings for the young and adult, for poor and rich, for wicked and righteous, and it is not for those whom He calls to be His messengers to alter or prescribe limitations to the reach of His words. He may endow one with a gift suited for children, and another with that adapted to the rough or the cultured, and a third with that fitted for the unconverted or believers; each is to use his gift in the distinct understanding that the truth of God is applied to specific conditions. Underlying this conviction of the adaptation of God’s word to each person should be the strong living thought that the whole world lies within the scope of the divine holiness and love. In our own houses, or outside of them, there are those for whom His food is prepared, and are we not to distribute it? “I am debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise.”
II. Its features in those who are called show this.
1. In reference to the messages they receive, there is to be:
(1.) A consistent impressibleness to their power. His servants must stand in living and persistent regard to God. Creeds, catechisms, systems, churches, and ecclesiastical assemblies of all kinds, are as likely to interfere now between Him and the single-mindedness of those whom He sends forth, as was manifested by the old priesthood, of whom it was said, “Ye have caused many to stumble at the law.” We need to abide with the Holy Spirit, so that the truths already learned of Christ should retain as fresh a divine power over us as truths which may have been newly given to us; we should seek for the ability to link on the one to the other, so as to be “perfect and complete in all the will of God” whensoever we speak for Him.
(2.) A readiness to accept more. Ezekiel had seen the glory of the Lord and been lifted up by the Spirit, but he is to expect further revelations. None have such abundance of light and impulse for service that they need no more. They have not yet attained. The glory and grace of the Only-begotten cannot be comprehended in a lifetime. Our minds must receive the mould which is suited to our Lord’s own promise, “To him that hath shall be given.”
2. In reference to the responsibility imposed on the messengers. They are required:
(1.) To look at things in the light of God. It is sometimes an object of desire to see the truth of things just as God sees them. Such desire is worse than foolish, whether it relate to our sins or duties. But to ask that we may rightly perceive how either sin or duty stands in view of the Holy One is wise, and fitted to move us toward conformity to the mind of Christ. Many a sailor can satisfactorily tell what he must do with his vessel in a storm, and yet is unable to measure the pressure or the velocity of the wind. And the simplest servants of the Lord may so learn His thoughts and ways as that they shall be practically agreed with God, and yet be still far from complete knowledge of Him. Nevertheless, practical walking in the light of His countenance is to be maintained continually.
(2.) To tell others what is shown of God. The spiritual eye and the heart sensitive to His presentations respecting man’s procedure and what man should do are not to be unused. They are to be made means of convincing all and judging of all ungodly deeds and righteous efforts. Plainness and faithfulness must be brought to the front. Evasion or compromises are out of place in the service of Him who seeth not as man seeth. The message is from Him, and will be associated with His gracious power working in us to will and do. “If a watchman want eyes and knowledge, how can he discern danger, instruct the ignorant, heal the wounded, reduce the straying, lift up the fallen, feed the hungry, comfort the feeble, resolve conscience, and compare things past with things present and future?”—Greenhill.
Postulates for an effective watchman (Ezekiel 3:18-21).
1. Discrimination in addressing the people. He has to act for all, but the wicked are to be spoken to as wicked and the righteous as righteous. Human intelligence may not be capable of distinguishing the inward moral character of persons; that inability must not lead to the confounding of wickedness with righteousness. The warning has to be uttered with all plainness, in reference to disposition or action. The application must be somewhat personal—like that of Nathan to David, “Thou art the man!” The forms of application may be indefinitely varied, but the gist of it will ever define the separation which discriminates “the precious from the vile.” The fear or the gentleness which prevents a follower of Christ from making it clear that sin is death—no matter whether the sinning one be poor or rich, a so-called worldly man or a so-called Christian—must be counteracted by the remembrance that “God cannot be mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.” Preachers and teachers of the gospel may be deficient in some valuable qualifications; they must not be deficient in determination to avoid whatever will lead into a mistake as to moral conduct. They have nothing to learn from the maxim, “Live and let live.” They have to hold forth the word of life to those who may be dead in sins, and to those who may have been freed from sin but been tempted to go back to their former master, so that they may know they have not life.
2. Singleness of aim. The purpose of God, in calling men to receive and promulgate His messages, is to save from death. He does not want the soul to revise its past records but to make new records. He does not care so much to avert punishment as to repress the tendencies to punishable conduct—to turn from wickedness and wicked ways to righteousness and righteous ways, from death to life. There may be many pleasant results following our religious efforts, yet the labourer must not aim at less than saving the souls alive of those for whom he acts. He is intrusted with that on which depends, not the mere pleasure or comfort or happiness of men, but their lives, and no consideration should be allowed to divert the directness of the aim he is appointed to take.
3. Certainty of influence. He who brings the word of the Lord does not work in vain. It may be that he does see results such as he wishes to see, or results such as he most earnestly deprecates should not occur; but the Master sees that he sheds “a savour of life unto life, or of death unto death.” Still it can never be matter of indifference to learn what is the influence which is exerted. “When Jesus beheld the city He wept over it.” “There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” “What is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?” How needful to abide under the seriousness of the conviction that we are affecting, for weal or for woe, those with whom, as Christ’s servants, we have intercourse, and seek “by all means to save some.” “Let us throw the net oft, we may catch fish in a dead sea.”
4. Subordination to God. He retains in His own power all decisions as to death and life, and His messengers are but instruments for declaring the principles on which He grounds His procedure. He calls them to “be not weary in well-doing”—to be “instant in season, out of season;” but to not one of them does He give a title to pronounce, over the wicked or righteous man, the sentence, “I condemn thee to die. I absolve thee from thy sins.” “Who art thou that judgest another?” It is arrogancy and boldness to step into Christ’s place, and impose any laws, decrees, or inventions of men upon the consciences of others, or to judge the conditions of men, without warrant from Christ and His Word. Prophets may not do it, much less others. That power is not transferred; the power which He does confer is to declare that God Himself denounces death on the impenitent, that He gives life to those who turn to His ways. He who teaches otherwise does not stand to his appointment as a watchman and travesties the authority which he might rightly wield.
5. Award according to faithfulness. Office in the kingdom of God does not screen its holder from the righteous judgment of God if he is negligent in duties. He will reckon with them, both for what has been let alone or unfaithfully carried out, and for what has been attended to and faithfully fulfilled. The day will come when He will announce the reward or woe. Omission of duty may be as fatal as commission of evil—the negligence which does not extinguish a spark may occasion a conflagration as destructive as that which intentional malice may cause. How earnestly is the question to be pondered: Do we watch for souls as they that must give account, that we may do it with joy and not with grief?
Laws for judging moral conduct (Ezekiel 3:18-21)
1. Impartiality will be dealt out. “There is no respect of persons with God.” The righteous man, if he turn to evil, is condemned equally with the wicked man, and a wicked man, if he turn to righteousness, is saved equally with a righteous man. They who have served the Lord cannot expect that He will wink at, or take no account of their transgressions of His law, on the ground that they have been serving Him, just as they whose hearts have been stout against Him are not to suppose that He will be indifferent to the repentings which are kindled in them. They who have begun wrong may turn to righteousness and will be treated as righteous doers, while they who have done right may turn into a wrong way and will be treated as wrong. This rule for moral life has to be looked at without blinking—I am to have sentence passed upon me by the holy God not for what I profess to be, but for what I do.
2. Judgments proceed according to the direction of conduct. One step aside does not of itself proclaim that a man has left the way in which he has been walking. His fixed departure is known by the steps which succeed to the first. Those successive steps will result from the disposition of the traveller, and God alone can judge of that. We can see, however, that a first stumble out of the way of righteousness may be the commencement of a new course, which, if followed on, will bring to the way of wickedness. The man, as he verges away, may still wear some of the habits he has used hitherto, and may speak in an idiom often different from that of the country whose frontiers he has crossed over; but he has changed his direction—the light falls upon his back, and his face is becoming more suffused with the darkness towards which he is tending. His case calls for the warning that he has left the right way, and that the end of his movement is death—no matter if he does retain some resemblance of his former gait. A wicked man abides in death not because of one sin, or one class of sins, so much as because he goeth on still in his trespasses—because he “hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.”
3. Guiltiness is not transferable. One’s wicked or righteous doing is from himself. No scheme is possible to be devised by which we can transfer our moral conduct so that it shall be no longer ours. There is no escape from the righteous judgment of God. Circumstances, tempters, preachers can never bear the blame of that which has been perpetrated by our own hearts. We may not have been advised or warned by those whose duty it was to advise or warn us; their failure does not, in any degree, alter the character of the direction we have taken. “Every man must bear his own burden.” Ignorance may be a ground for inflicting few stripes upon a disobedient servant, but cannot destroy his obligation to the master. “I never was told” will never be a lever by which we can lift off from ourselves the unrighteousness and the death which is by sin.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Readiness to serve.—It is infinitely sweet and lovely to be the organ and spokesman of the Most High. The most painful divine truths have for the spiritual man a gladdening and quickening side.—H.
To my Master I stand or I fall; what to me is the world’s acclaim?
I hear not its loud applause, I heed not its bitter blame.
I am not bound by the laws of Herod’s judgment-hall,
When it praiseth me, it hath cause;
Yet what it seeth for flaws
It seeth, nor seeth it all.—Greenwell.
He shall die.—Christ died to save the world from the curse of death under which it is; not a future death of misery, but an actual death of worse than misery, a death which involves our liking that which is evil. It does not occur to us that to like to be wicked is to be damned. We say that mere wickedness, mere self-indulgence, merely being alienated from God, is not worthy to be called death unless there be misery conjoined with it—that suffering is more to be feared than sinning. In that speaks the death of man. That is death which fears suffering more than sinning. A sinful state is the chief of evils; sinning is damnation: self-indulgence is to be cast into hell; the worm that dieth not and the fire that is not quenched are unbridled passions. To be damned is not to be miserable but to be bad, and Christ is spoken of as saving us from sin, from corruption, from vain conversation, from this evil world, never from pain. It is hard to believe that damnation can be a thing that men like. Corruption is corruption in man’s view, though worms like it. Is damnation less damnation in God’s view, though men like it? To be loved by a man whom we treat as an enemy is to have coals of fire heaped upon our head. To be loved as God loves us, we being such as we are, is to be cast into a lake of fire. The love of Christ, the sight of God as He truly is, must have power to save men from sin. They learn that sin is damnation and understand their Maker.—Hinton.
A wrong direction fatal.—
The painful warrior, famoused for fight,
After a thousand victories once foiled,
Is from the books of honour razed quite,
And all the rest forgot for which he toiled.—Shakespeare.