God’s instructions to Ezekiel were precise and had to be followed exactly as He commanded.
He said to me: Mortal, go to the house of Israel and speak my very words to them (Ezekiel 3.4).
God’s dealings with Ezekiel emphasize that when God gives us a message, our responsibility is to deliver it exactly as we received it. We shouldn’t soften or complicate it; our job is simply to repeat what God has said.
The outcome is in God’s hands.
Ezekiel’s experience may have caused him to think this about his audience: “Trying to explain something to you is like speaking another language. Except in this case, the language is God’s will, and you forgot to bring the translation app!”
The prophet should not have been surprised that his fellow exiles weren’t able to translate his message and hear the truth of God’s will. God told him in advance that this would be the case.
For you are not sent to a people of obscure speech and difficult language, but to the house of Israel—not to many peoples of obscure speech and difficult language, whose words you cannot understand.
Surely, if I sent you to them, they would listen to you.
But the house of Israel will not listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me; because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart (Ezekiel 3.5-7).
In the mid-60s A.D., Paul echoed what God had told Ezekiel in 593 B.C.: People only want to hear what aligns with their desires, words that let them continue living apart from God’s will while still expecting His blessings.
Paul refers to this as preaching to those with “itching ears.”
“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
It is foolish to expect God to bless us while we are living in rebellion against His will. If God blessed us in that state, it would trap us in a destructive way of life.
The only way we can receive God’s blessing is by hearing His message, accepting it into our lives, and obeying it.
Hard-Headed People
We use the term “hard-headed” to describe willful people—those who are determined to get what they want, regardless of the consequences.
In contrast, willingness characterizes people who are open to hearing what God or others have to say and respond appropriately.
God told Ezekiel that his audience would be hard-headed. They wouldn’t listen to Him, and Ezekiel couldn’t expect them to listen to him either.
However, Ezekiel was called to be willing, faithfully following whatever God instructed him to do, so that the people would know that a true messenger of God had been among them.
See, I have made your face hard against their faces, and your forehead hard against their foreheads.
Like the hardest stone, harder than flint, I have made your forehead; do not fear them or be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.
He said to me: Mortal, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart and hear with your ears; then go to the exiles, to your people, and speak to them.
Say to them, “Thus says the Lord God,” whether they hear or refuse to hear (Ezekiel 3.8-11).
Reflections
One thing I remind myself to do when reading the Bible is to ask how I might be like the “bad guys” in the story. When I compare my life to theirs, it convicts my heart and gives me the opportunity to repent.
The question I need to ask is: Am I willing to listen to God, or do I insist on having my own way, surrounding myself with teachers who simply tell me what I want to hear?
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross and I discussed this passage on YouTube today. It is on the Bob Spradling channel.
Real Voices 