Ezekiel 2:1-3:11
Preparation for Ministry~
the Message of God
Open your Bible to…
Ezek. 2:5 As for them, whether they hear or whether they refuse—for they are a rebellious house—yet they will know that a prophet has been among them.
Pray
Intro
√ Preparation for ministry ~ the message of God
Chapters 1-3 record Ezekiel’s call to ministry, which can be outlined like this…
The vision for the work ~ chapter 1
The message for the work ~ chapters 2-3:11
The motivation for the work ~ chapters 3:12-27
We pick up our study in chapter 2 where we find the record of the God’s preparation of Ezekiel to take His message to the Jewish people.
He is…
Empowered to take the message
Equipped to preach the message
Endurance to persist with the message
So that the Jewish people would know without a doubt that…
“…a prophet has been among them.” ~ vs. 5
How? Because they would see the testimony of God’s anointing upon him as he pursued the call of God on his life.
Ap. Ministry requires God’s involvement (always look for personal application)
Without fail we find that the record of Scripture bears out this truth…
“Without me you can do nothing” ~ John 15:5
Oh men have tried to do God’s work without him but the result is always the same…
…failure!
Moses with his sword
Sampson without his hair
Sons of Sceva without the Spirit
All because God’s work must be done God’s way and with His power!
There are no substitutes!
So, this section of Ezekiel serves as a great model for ministry and life as to how God prepares a person to do what He has ordained for them to accomplish.
Empowered to take the message (vs. 1-5)
Ezek. 2:1 And He said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak to you.”
Ezek. 2:2 Then the Spirit entered me when He spoke to me, and set me on my feet; and I heard Him who spoke to me.
Ezek. 2:3 And He
said to me: “Son of man, I am sending you to the children of
Ezek. 2:4 For they are impudent and stubborn children. I am sending you to them, and you shall say to them, “Thus says the Lord GOD.’
Ezek. 2:5 As for them, whether they hear or whether they refuse—for they are a rebellious house—yet they will know that a prophet has been among them.
√ Empowered to take the message
We left off at the end of chapter 1 with Ezekiel flat on his face!
“So when I saw it (God’s glory), I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of One speaking.” ~ vs. 28
That’s a wise choice when you’re in God’s presence! The reality is that no one can stand in God’s presence without a touch of His power.
Daniel…
“Then again, the one having the likeness of a man touched me and strengthened me.” ~ Dan. 10:18
John…
“And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last.” ~ Rev. 1:17
So, like Daniel and John, Ezekiel finds himself on his face before the King Who then commands him to…
“…stand on your feet, and I will speak to you.” ~ vs. 1
But, note how it is that he is able to stand up in the Lord’s presence…
“Then the Spirit entered me when He spoke to me, and set me on my feet…” ~ vs. 2
The point is that Ezekiel couldn’t even stand in God’s presence without the empowering of the Holy Spirit…
…how much less would he be able to do God’s work without the same empowerment?!
Ex. Empowering of the Holy Spirit
Study the great men and woman of God throughout the Scripture and you’ll discover that each of them was first empowered by the Spirit…
…before they sought to do God’s work.
Ex. The Judges
You’ll read this same text over and over…
“The Spirit of the LORD came upon…”
…Othniel, Gideon, Jephthah, and Sampson!
Each of them was then enabled to do mighty works for the Lord that they could not have done without the empowerment of His Spirit!
That truth remains to this day!
Ex. The work of the Church
Jesus told the disciples not to do anything until they had been empowered by the Holy Spirit…
Acts 1:4 And
being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from
Acts 1:5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
And…
Acts 1:8 But you shall receive power when the Holy
Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in
The Church cannot do the work of the Kingdom without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.
That doesn’t mean we can’t attract crowds of people, or build larger facilities…
…rather, it means we can’t do the real work of transforming sinners into saints!
The reality is that it takes the Power of God to do the Work of God because we’re engaged in war with a power greater than that of Man’s…
…the power of the Devil.
Ex. Charles Spurgeon
“Whatever your ability or experience, it is the Spirit of God, who must bless your labor. We are nothing; you are nothing. "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts," (Zech. 4:6) is a message that should make us lie in the dust, and utterly despair of doing anything in and of ourselves, seeing that all the power is of God alone. It will do us good to be very empty, to be very weak, to be very distrustful of self, and so to go about out Master's work.”
Ap. We all need to be empowered by the His Spirit
If you find yourself unable to stand for…
The Lord
His Truth
Your witness
…then it may be that you lack the empowerment of His Spirit even as Peter did when he failed to stand for Jesus in the courtyard of Caiaphas.
Ask the Lord to Baptize you with the Holy Spirit as He promised to do and you’ll find a new power to stand for Him.
So, Ezekiel found that he needed to be empowered to take the message to the people that they might know that a “prophet has been among them”.
Equipped to speak the message (vs. 2:6-3:3)
Ezek. 2:6 “And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you dwell among scorpions; do not be afraid of their words or dismayed by their looks, though they are a rebellious house.
Ezek. 2:7 You shall speak My words to them, whether they hear or whether they refuse, for they are rebellious.
Ezek. 2:8 But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Do not be rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you.”
Ezek. 2:9 Now when I looked, there was a hand stretched out to me; and behold, a scroll of a book was in it.
Ezek. 2:10 Then He spread it before me; and there was writing on the inside and on the outside, and written on it were lamentations and mourning and woe.
Ezek. 3:1 Moreover
He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak
to the house of
Ezek. 3:2 So I opened my mouth, and He caused me to eat that scroll.
Ezek. 3:3 And He said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly, and fill your stomach with this scroll that I give you.” So I ate, and it was in my mouth like honey in sweetness.
√ Equipped to speak the message
The next step in Ezekiel’s preparation for ministry is he must be equipped to speak the message.
That is, not only must he have the Power of God to do the work of God…
…he must also be equipped with the Word of God to speak a message for God.
The reminder here is that no one can speak for God without first having received a word from God.
√ The work of the Prophet
The work of the prophet is serious business! That’s because the one who proclaims…
“Thus says the LORD…”
…better be hearing from the Lord!
All through Scripture we find examples of men and woman who took it upon themselves to speak for God…
…when in fact He had never spoken to them.
Those who did so soon found themselves suffering under God’s hand of judgment!
Jer. 14:14 And the LORD said to me, “The prophets prophesy lies in My name. I have not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them; they prophesy to you a false vision, divination, a worthless thing, and the deceit of their heart.
Jer. 14:15 Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name, whom I did not send, and who say, “Sword and famine shall not be in this land’—‘By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed!
So, we’re going to find Ezekiel really getting into the Word of God…
…or better put, the Word getting into him before he goes out to speak a the message of God.
√ Eat the scroll
Ezekiel sees a hand held out to him with a scroll, or a book, in it and then hears a command from God telling him to…
Eat the scroll! ~ Ez. 3:1
A little strange to be sure, but if God tells you to do something it's probably best not to argue with Him!
So he does what he's told and opens his mouth so that God can feed him the scroll!
Once he does he finds that it wasn’t bad, tasted like chicken…
…sorry, like honey!
What does all that mean?
Vs. 10 of chapter 2, and vs. 1 of chapter 3 provide us with a clue to interpret Ezekiel’s experience…
Ezek. 2:10 Then He spread it before me; and there was writing on the inside and on the outside, and written on it were lamentations and mourning and woe.
Ezek. 3:1 Moreover
He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of
This is a familiar symbol in Scripture, a scroll with writing on both the inside and outside…
…just like what John saw in the Revelation!
Both men were commanded to eat the scroll (or book) and to both of them it tasted like honey, though John reports it made his stomach sour.
In both cases the book is symbolic of God's Word, or the Message of God that was given to these prophets to proclaim.
Note that in Ezekiel’s prophecy he tells us that the scroll contained, lamentations, mourning and woe (vs. 10)…
…the content of the Word that he was commanded to speak to the people as recorded in chapters 4-32!
(side note ~ it doesn’t reflect what’s found in the rest of the prophecy which may explain why Ezekiel is re-commisioned in chapter 33!)
The eating of the book conveys to us that Ezekiel became a partaker of the contents of the book.
That is the Word of God had to first be assimilated into Ezekiel’s heart before he could speak with his mouth.
The understanding and application is that we can only give to others what we have first received from the Lord.
Ex. Jesus ~ our role model
Jesus set an example for us in ministry, that is, He spoke only what the Father gave Him to speak!
John 12:49 For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.
How much more then should we be apply ourselves to knowing and understanding God’s Word so that we might be able to share it with those who need to hear it?
Ap Get into the Word, and let the Word get into you!
I once heard a pastor respond to the question…
“How do you know some much about the Bible?”
…by telling us that he simply made the Word apart of his daily life.
Read it daily
Read it for leisure
Read it for knowledge
Read it everywhere
There’s no substitute for the Word of God to equip you for the work of God.
Endurance to persist with the message (vs. 4-11)
Ezek. 3:4 Then He
said to me: “Son of man, go to the house of
Ezek. 3:5 For you
are not sent to a people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, but to the
house of
Ezek. 3:6 not to many people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, had I sent you to them, they would have listened to you.
Ezek. 3:7 But the
house of
Ezek. 3:8 Behold, I have made your face strong against their faces, and your forehead strong against their foreheads.
Ezek. 3:9 Like adamant stone, harder than flint, I have made your forehead; do not be afraid of them, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.”
Ezek. 3:10 Moreover He said to me: “Son of man, receive into your heart all My words that I speak to you, and hear with your ears.
Ezek. 3:11 And go, get to the captives, to the children of your people, and speak to them and tell them, “Thus says the Lord GOD,’ whether they hear, or whether they refuse.”
√ Endurance to persist with the message
This section along with verses 6-8 of chapter 2, tell us that Ezekiel was in for a tough assignment!
God tells him that the people he’s going to minister to are hard of…
…hearing, hard hearted, stiff necked, and stubborn!
What fun!
Worse, the people that God’s talking about are His own people!
In fact, God says in 3:6 that had He sent Ezekiel to a Gentile nation that they would have listened…
…but not the Jews!
Ex. Jonah’s message received by the Assyrians!
So, in view of the fact that Ezekiel is going head to head with a hard headed people…
…God promises to give him a harder head!
Ezek. 3:8 Behold, I have made your face strong against their faces, and your forehead strong against their foreheads.
Ezek. 3:9 Like adamant stone, harder than flint, I have made your forehead; do not be afraid of them, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.”
I get this picture of a “spiritual head-butt”!
What an interesting “witnessing” technique!
The point is that part of Ezekiel’s preparation for ministry is that God gives him endurance so that he can see the work through to the end.
That’s important because it’s much easier to start a ministry…
…than to stick with it to the end.
The problem with most people is that they lack the endurance to see anything through to completion.
Ex. Life
People give up on marriages, coaches, jobs, projects, kids as well as ministries because they won’t stick with something (or someone) long enough to enjoy the benefits.
Ap. Ministry takes endurance
Heb. 10:36 For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:
And…
Heb. 12:1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
The testimony of God throughout the Bible is that He is more interested in how a person finishes their race…
..than with how they start it.
Ex.
Solomon is a great illustration a man to whom God gave everything…
…yet ended his life poorly.
We see the same sad testimony in the Church today, lives of men and woman who began so well and ended so poorly.
How can we ensure that we endure? The answer is in vs. 2 of Hebrews 12…
Heb. 12:1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
How do we run with endurance?
Heb. 12:2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
We set our eyes, our affection, and our heart on Jesus Who has run before us and knows how to help us finish strong.
Ex.
I would never have made it to the end except for the encouragement of my team mate Larry Shields…
”just stick to my wheel”
…with him leading the way and protecting me from the wind I was able to finish and win the race.
Ap. Just stick to His wheel
Well, Ezekiel did say He had wheels! The point is that if we’ll just focus on Jesus then He will get us to the finish line of our faith where a great reward awaits us!
Close
√ Preparation for ministry ~ the message of God
Ezekiel’s experience reminds us that we must be…
Empowered
Equipped
Endurance
…to do the work that God has given us to do.
Ap. Have you received the power?