The Symbols and the Sign

Day Five

          Ezekiel: Chapters 4 & 5

The Tile
The Iron
The Sharp Knife
The Razor and
The Balances

Ezekiel prophesies the doom of Israel with a symbolic drawing—an outline of the city of Jerusalem under siege drawn on a clay tile.  Setting an iron pan between him and the tile, Ezekiel signifies to the rebellious house of Israel that their cries for deliverance would not change the oncoming judgment of God. Jerusalem would be destroyed.

A second symbolic sign was given to Israel when Ezekiel followed the instructions of God to lie on his left side for 390 days and then on his right side for 40 days. A third sign followed, which was the defiled bread. This sign symbolized that the people of Israel would be defiled and their food source scarce during the siege of Jerusalem. The bread was made of wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and fitches. Ezekiel was originally to bake it by the heat of human dung, but his plea to God prompted God to allow him to fuel the heat by animal dung. Still, this bread represented defilement and was meant to be disgusting to the house of Israel.  This bread was a sign that they would eat defiled bread among the Gentiles. The idea of the bread repulsed Ezekiel who called out to God pleading, “Ah Lord God! …my soul hath not been polluted; from my youth up even until now…”

It totally boggles my mind how modern “Ezekiel Bread” has become popular and sold as a good-for-you complete-nutritious recipe supposedly given for beneficial diet directly by God in Ezekiel 4:9. If you type Ezekiel Bread into your search engine (Google it) you will find many varieties, recipes, and testimonies to the nutritious qualities attempting to tie them to Ezekiel and God’s provisions for his people. What I encourage is for you to read Ezekiel chapter 4, this is a recipe for a defiled bread it is not something you want to bake or buy for your family. Ezekiel did not want to eat it. Israel did not like what it symbolized.

The fourth sign, Ezekiel was commanded to shave his hair. With a sharp knife and a razor the hair from his head and beard was shaved and then weighed on balances. Divided into four parts, three equal piles to be burned, chopped with a sword and scattered in the wind. These actions represented the house of Israel being killed by plague and/or famine and taken into exile.  The fourth smaller part of hair were only a few in number and they were held back to symbolize the few believing remnant, but even some of them where then taken and thrown into the fire because some of the believers would also suffer oppression.

Ezekiel declares the word of God and pronounces His divine judgments on an unrepentant people. God has not changed; He is the same today as he was in the day of Ezekiel.  Even though, people of today would like to fashion God into a God who is not capable or willing to punish sin and they shield themselves behind a false notion that God understands them and tolerates disobedience against Him, the hard fact remains that God has not changed. He is the creator not the created. God’s power is sovereign and He is a jealous God. Ezekiel 5:11 discloses Israel’s sin. Israel was guilty of defiling the sanctuary in Jerusalem with detestable things and with abominations making God furious. Un-repented sins of today’s societies will not go unpunished. What sins does our nation continue to revel in against God’s Holy commandments? Why would God be anything other than furious with us as a nation?

God is not mocked, and His judgments are nothing to be taken lightly. Repent.   

Task & Responsibility

Day Four

          Ezekiel: Chapter 3

The prophet, Ezekiel, was commanded to “eat” the roll (or scroll) depicting that he was to first receive the Word of God. The first task of those that are called by God remains the same today, we are to first study God’s Word and then we can communicate it to others. Ezekiel was told upfront that his task would not be easy. In fact, he was informed that even though he would be speaking to people of his own language that could understand his speech; they would not pay any attention to what he had to say. Those to whom he would address was the house of Israel, God’s chosen people. They had become impudent and hardhearted against God.

In our world today we witness to people who can understand our words but refuse to hearken to the words of God. They, too, have become impudent and hardhearted against God. Yet, God cares about them and His desire is to redeem them back to Himself. God wants no man to perish but for all to come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. For this reason He has called us, as He called Ezekiel, to proclaim the truth of God and to warn of the impending danger.

It would be a fearsome task for Ezekiel to stand before a rebellious people and boldly proclaim the words of an angry God to them. But this was the task he was called to do—to receive God’s Word and to deliver it faithfully. God knew what Ezekiel would need to be able to fulfill his calling and He gave it to him-- He equipped Ezekiel.  In verse eight of chapter three we read about the mental and spiritual strength and endurance God gave to Ezekiel to sustain him through the difficult task ahead.

Today, it is a fearsome thing to stand before people that do not trust in God and for us to deliver His truths. There are people who do not want to hear, they are bold in their rejection of God’s ways and their desire to serve themselves and the world is strong. Repentance is not on their list of things to do for the day. Besides, they might ridicule us and call us intolerant if we share God’s Word. They won’t want to socialize with us and could even make our life difficult if we stand firm and make our beliefs known. Nevertheless, our call is to deliver the truth. No matter what field your call has taken you into, ultimately your task remains the same as Ezekiel’s. You must first receive God’s Word and then faithfully deliver it. No fears, God will equip you—He doesn’t call the equipped, He equips the called. He will prepare you just as He prepared Ezekiel.

Ezekiel was overwhelmed, to be called in such a dramatic way and be asked to preach to a world without any prospect of being heard. Our calls can be overwhelming as well. So much like Ezekiel, after we are called to do something for the Lord we are reluctant and need further instructions and motivation. God had to impress upon Ezekiel how crucial it was for Israel to hear what God had to say to them through Ezekiel. The responsibility God placed on Ezekiel was extremely heavy.

Ezekiel was called to be God’s watchman to warn both the wicked and the righteous. His message was to be clear and precise just as the call of the ancient watchmen who warned the city of approaching enemies who could destroy the city. If Ezekiel put forth the warnings and the people refused to heed then Ezekiel was blameless. However, if Ezekiel did not warn then he would be charged with the sinner’s death.

With Ezekiel’s responsibility came restrictions. His fellowship with society was limited. His voice was taken from him so that he could not speak except by divine permission. This was a sign to Israel that when Ezekiel did speak it was from God and not of himself. Also, it caused Ezekiel to surrender to God and not be able to give his own opinions.

Too many times, we fall victim to giving our opinions and not sticking to delivering the message of God and allowing the Spirit to do the work. How many times have we come across those who have left the church due to hurt feelings or the malicious tongue of a Christian? What if we had the same restrictions as Ezekiel and carried the same burden of responsibility? Would we give our personal opinions less and do more to fulfill our call to God? What if our neglect to warn our neighbor resulted in being charged for his sin? Would we make it a priority to warn?