by Pastor Darren Green, St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church, Redwood Falls, Minnesota
Ezekiel 2:1–7: He said to me, “Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak to you.” As he spoke, the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet, and I heard him speaking to me. He said: “Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have been in revolt against me to this very day. The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says.’ And whether they listen or fail to listen—for they are a rebellious people—they will know that a prophet has been among them. And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions. Do not be afraid of what they say or be terrified by them, though they are a rebellious people. You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious.”
Albert Einstein, the German-born mathematician, slowly watched his homeland give in to Adolf Hitler’s fascist dictatorship. Einstein wondered if anyone would oppose Hitler. He said, “When Hitlerism came to Germany, I expected the universities to oppose it. Instead, they embraced it. I hoped for the press to denounce it, but instead they propagated its teachings. One by one the leaders and institutions that should have opposed Nazi philosophy bowed meekly to its authority. Only one institution met it with vigorous opposition, and that was the Christian church.” The commitment of at least a part of the Church to stand against evil, regardless of the consequences, made a profound impression on Albert Einstein. He confessed, “That which I once despised, I now love with a passion I cannot describe.” This is not to say, however, that Einstein became a Christian.
This is the July fourth weekend, and like the German Christians of the past and Ezekiel in our text, we are in the midst of a nation of rebels and unrest. We see all about us those that have rebelled against God’s Word. Can the Church do any less today than those who stood on the Word of God in the midst of a rebellious nation? We have the same God, the same powerful Word, and the same command … “This is what the Sovereign Lord says.”
In our text today, we hear God speak to Ezekiel. He describes the people Ezekiel would speak to. How fitting it is to (1) listen to what God sees in people. It is no different from what we will find in people today, including ourselves. The situation does not look good or easy, but our Lord gives the same exhortation to His people: (2) “Do not be afraid!”
In our text, the Lord comes to the prophet Ezekiel to call him to share His Word with His people. As opposed to a call coming from a church, Ezekiel receives his directly from God. “Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak to you” (v. 1). God never addresses Ezekiel by name; He calls him “son of man” as a reminder of his weakness. This prophet is going out in weakness but has the Lord behind him.
The Lord continues to call and provide leaders in His Church to share His Word. Each believer also has that same Word of God to share. We too address our fellow countrymen in our sinful weakness. We stand humbly before a holy God and wonder what He can do with us. Like He did for Ezekiel, He has plans for us, and He stands behind us with His strength and wisdom. Look at what the Lord does for Ezekiel.
“As he spoke, the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet, and I heard him speaking to me” (v. 2). He receives the supreme Helper, the Spirit of God. He also is given the Word of God. This supplies the power and message that he will need as he meets upcoming challenges. We have been given this same power. We have 66 different books of the Bible which God the Spirit had recorded, and these provide our direction and give us strength. It sounds so simple, but it is true; as Luther said, God’s Word is “a mighty shield and weapon” when we are up against the struggles and challenges of life.
Ezekiel was living in captivity in Babylon. The nation of Judah had not been completely devastated yet, although two large groups had been taken captive, and the Lord wanted the people to look to Him. You would think that with all these scary things happening, they would look to the Lord. However, this is not what was happening. From captivity, the Lord would use Ezekiel to speak to His people. God reveals what He sees in His people. It is important that we listen to what God sees in people, for we will see it around us and in our own hearts.
He said: “Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have been in revolt against me to this very day. The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn” (v. 3, 4). This was the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people through whom He would bring the Messiah. They were of the line of Abraham, but they took God and His promises for granted. In the Gospel reading, we heard of Jesus going to His hometown. They rejected Him and His message because they couldn’t get over the familiarity of this hometown boy being the Messiah. It is a reminder that all human beings have this obstinate, stubborn, hard heart in each of us. This is what the Lord sees. What is the answer? “This Is What the Sovereign Lord Says.”
It is easy for us to take Jesus and His Word for granted. As the saying goes, “Familiarity breeds contempt.” Jesus and His Word can easily be taken for granted. How easily these words or thoughts come out of us: “I know it well enough.” “I have studied that before.” “I have faith, I am good, I believe.” It is so easy for other things to start to get in the way of our time with Jesus in personal devotions, Bible reading, and worship. This allows our stubborn, rebellious, obstinate hearts to start controlling our lives. We begin to only have time for Jesus occasionally. Are we then taking Him with us in our lives, letting Him shine in our words and actions? What does our Lord see in us at times like this? “Lord, You are not that important to me. Leave me alone, I will come to You when I need You. You are here to serve me.”
Not only do we find this in ourselves, but it is also what every human being is born with, for we are all born in sin. It is only by the Spirit’s work that we know Jesus and have faith in His promises; that He forgives us and goes with us. God knows that about His creation, and so He reminded His messengers: “The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says.’ And whether they listen or fail to listen—for they are a rebellious people—they will know that a prophet has been among them. And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions” (v. 4-6).
From the beginning, Satan rebelled and is still the father of lies. Why do you think God speaks of him ruling the earth? It is not that he is free. God has him chained, but Satan knows that if he can use this natural rebellion to question God and to look to selfish earthly wisdom, it could destroy our faith and relationship with our Savior and God. He knows what God sees in people. He knows that if people do not listen to the Creator and stop listening to their Savior, then they will question God and judge Him by their own feelings. How quickly people can start to worship the creation in place of the Creator. When this happens, then respect for God and respect for life quickly gets pushed aside. Suddenly children, elderly, and preborn infants are just a burden and something that can be eliminated if it is best for the whole. Consider how people like Hitler convinced people to follow such horrid ways; so did many of the Israelites as they followed the false gods of the nations.
Is our country any different, as we have “public” schools that supposedly don’t teach about the true God? They do teach a religion, but just a religion of man which says, “You can do whatever you ‘feel’ is best.” It is a religion that teaches and follows a false god. Are we surprised to hear our schools and government speaking of killing unborn children and the elderly or of allowing young adults to surgically change the gender that God gave them, the gender that they were born with? Teachings like this do not come from God, but from rebellious people that want to tell God what He can and cannot do. What does God say as we live our faith in such a hostile world?
“Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says.’” As you listened to Jesus interact with His hometown people, you could feel His heart ache for them. Because of their hard hearts and unbelief, He was not able to heal many. Because if they didn’t see their need and didn’t come and look to Him, they were lost. Is it any different for those that know Jesus and have learned of His creating work and saving them, yet as He is pushed away, their rebellious hearts will eventually destroy them?
What do we do? Look to your Lord, remember the compassion of Jesus, fight to stay close to Him with His Word, speak His Word to your own heart, and share it with those in your life. Let His light shine and “do not be afraid!” Your Lord God goes with you. He knows the world we live in. He knows us. He is still directing His Church and using His messengers to share His Word that will always win out. Yes, we will have struggles at times with things God tells us in His Word. That is what happens with sinful human beings. God created us. He knows us, and He knows the broken world we were born into. In these struggles, He will continue to win souls, just as there were still people that came to Jesus at night and when the crowds were not there, even in His hometown.
In East Germany, following Hitler’s demise and when it was under communist control, East German policemen would come to have their children baptized at night; they were Christians and were not ensnared by the blatant and mocking unbelief of their government. They expressed their faith by their hidden actions, which they were not strong enough to express openly.
My friends, we have a God who loves His creation. He sent His Son into this rebellious world to save rebels and sinners like us. How often God says, “Do not be afraid!” You have the Word of God, the Sovereign God, the only God. All will stand before Him one day. We know that each soul is precious to our Lord. He wants us to not be afraid as we live, knowing He goes with us. He protected Ezekiel and brought His people back. Jesus came into our world just as promised, fulfilling the Sovereign Lord’s Word. In Him we are precious! In Him we have salvation! In Him may we shine in this world.