The Gospel According to Ezekiel, Chapters 2-4 (Part 1 of 2)

The Central Theme: The Glory of God

There is a central theme within the book of Ezekiel presented in these chapters: the glory of God is what is absolutely most important to each and every one of our lives. The foundation for the calling of Ezekiel is the demonstration of the glory of the Lord so that Ezekiel would stand in awe of the glory of the Lord as a foundational principle for his commissioning as a prophet.

Ezekiel was a priest, probably serving in the temple when carried off with King Jehoiachin into exile. For his commissioning as a prophet, it was essential that he be wide-eyed and mystified by the glory of the Lord. He would stand in awe of the glory of God, and that would be his primary motivation for ministry. This remains the primary theme throughout the book of Ezekiel.

These chapters also reveal the need for absolute trust in the absolute sovereignty and grace of God. In the midst of profound and difficult teachings, it is essential to grasp the mercy and grace of God displayed in these pages. This is why the title of this series is The Gospel According to Ezekiel—not just judgment, but revelations of the heart of God permeate these pages.

Gospel Motivation: Awe and Empowerment

Ezekiel 2:1-3
Then he said to me, “Son of Man, stand on your feet that I may speak with you.” As he spoke to me, the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet and I heard him speaking to me. Then he said to me, “Son of Man, I am sending you to the sons of Israel, to a rebellious people who have rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have transgressed against Me to this very day.”

At the end of chapter 1, Ezekiel is prostrate before the Lord, having seen visions of God's glory. As a right response, he has fallen on his face in worship. God instructs him to stand, but supplies the Holy Spirit to enable him to do so. This is the first gospel principle: Ezekiel shows us gospel motivation.

The progression is clear: in chapter 1, he stands in awe of the glory of the Lord, compelled by God's magnificence to fall prostrate in worship. He listens to God and is sent out. The foundation of awe of God's glory motivates worship, which motivates mission. Ezekiel is sent—like an apostle—to announce an Old Testament gospel to Israel in exile.

F.F. Bruce notes: “Ezekiel had very naturally fallen prostrate before the vision of the glory of God. But when a man who has thus humbled himself is raised to his feet by God, he can stand square in the face of every adverse wind that blows.” Examining God first grants us purpose. Ezekiel did not stand on his own initiative; the Spirit animated him, just as with Paul in Acts 13.

Two forms of gospel motivation: be overwhelmed by the awesomeness of God, and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Stagnant Christians lack awe of God—like still water that stinks from immovability. Ezekiel moves as the Spirit moves; when the Spirit does not, he worships.

Ephesians 5:18
Do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.

Dissipation is anti-salvation living. Being filled with the Spirit means being under His control and satisfied with Him—crucial for endurance in suffering or temptation. We receive the Spirit more permanently than Ezekiel, yet we must be filled: under His influence, satisfied with His separation from the world.

The people are stubborn—hard-faced and hard-hearted, stone-faced and stone-hearted. This resistance to God requires God Himself to change them, or they are doomed.

Eating the Scroll: Sweet and Bitter

Ezekiel 3:1-3
Then He said to me, “Son of Man, eat what you find; eat this scroll and go, speak to the house of Israel.” So I opened my mouth, and He fed me this scroll. And He said to me, “Son of Man, feed your stomach and fill your body with this scroll which I am giving you.” Then I ate it, and it was sweet as honey in my mouth.

Ezekiel eats the scroll—sweet as honey, yet written with lamentations, mourning, and woe. Parallels Revelation 10. God sends him not to foreigners with unintelligible speech, but to Israel—who will not listen.

Ezekiel 3:7-9
Yet the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, since they are not willing to listen to Me. Surely the whole house of Israel is stubborn and obstinate. Behold, I have made your face as hard as their faces, and your forehead as hard as their foreheads. Like emery harder than flint I have made your forehead. Do not be afraid of them or be dismayed before them, though they are a rebellious house.

Gospel principle: the people are hardened by sin's deceitfulness.

Hebrews 3:13
Encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Yet gospel stubbornness: be immovable for Scripture's truths. Do not cave, as some denominations have. God makes Ezekiel more stubborn than the people.

Take God's words into your heart—value and be pleased with them, even when they convict. Be pleased with sin's revelation, correction, commands on marriage, submission, contentment, obedience. Come to church to receive God's agenda, well-pleasing because it is His.

Gospel Rage and the Watchman

The Spirit lifts Ezekiel; he hears the rumbling of God's glory. He goes embittered in the rage of his spirit—intense passion (not violence) for God's message. Among the exiles at the Chebar canal, he sits seven days, causing them consternation. His presence torments them, as holiness torments the sinful (cf. Romans 1).

Ezekiel 3:17-19
“Son of Man, I have appointed you a watchman to the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, warn them from Me. When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. Yet if you have warned the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity, but you have delivered yourself.”

Similar warnings for the righteous who turn to iniquity. Ezekiel is a watchman—responsible to warn, though God holds them accountable for their sin. The righteous here are morally upright but not yet saved believers.

God then shuts Ezekiel in his house, binds him with ropes, makes his tongue stick so he cannot rebuke freely—only speaking when God opens his mouth: “Thus says the Lord God.” He who hears, let him hear; he who refuses, let him refuse—for they are a rebellious house.

Addressing the Objection of Ezekiel's Responsibility

There are warning passages—at least four, with a questionable fifth—where individuals are warned not to turn back from the knowledge of salvation in Jesus Christ and rebel into sin. The message is to continue into salvation. If the righteous person continues and does not apostatize or commit these deeds, they will have salvation—not that a righteous person could lose salvation.

This doesn't fully answer why Ezekiel would be punished or held responsible for the deaths of the wicked and righteous if he fails to warn them. Consider these points: It is equally unbelievable that God would hold Ezekiel responsible yet prevent him from reproving them, as the verses indicate. God fills Ezekiel with His Holy Spirit, changing his spiritual disposition toward these people, making him as stubborn—if not more so—than they are toward sin. Ezekiel's mouth is shut by the Lord, prevented from speaking except when God causes him to speak.

God makes Ezekiel more stubborn for the gospel than Israel is for sin. Prior to this, God instructed Ezekiel to be fearless, instilling awe of His glory to remove fear. Then God shuts Ezekiel's mouth and causes him to speak.

Notice Ezekiel 36:25-27:

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.

There are no commands of God expected to be fulfilled outside of His empowerment. No commands in Scripture are to be fulfilled in our own strength, but through the outpouring and filling of the Holy Spirit, the grace of God. The only true obedience is Spirit-empowered obedience.

God commands Ezekiel to go to them, but God is ultimately responsible for fulfilling this in Ezekiel's life, so God receives all the glory for the message. God gives commands no natural man can obey to empower us by His Holy Spirit, working in us to fulfill them, receiving all glory.

The message presents Ezekiel as liable for their deaths to show the seriousness of the message and the need for it. God receives glory for delivering it, not Ezekiel. Ezekiel's name means "God strengthens me," a theme throughout the book. His muteness continues until chapter 33—approximately seven years—where only God's words come from his mouth.

A New Testament illustration is 1 Corinthians 15:10-11:

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. Whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

For marriages, singleness, friendships, family, co-workers, church ministries, suffering, temptations—trust nothing but the glory and grace of the sovereign God, or you will fail. The only way to live the high calling of the Christian life, radically different from the world, is by God's grace and sovereignty working in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

Chapter 4: Visual Demonstration of Jerusalem's Siege

Now you, son of man, get yourself a brick, place it before you, and inscribe a city on it—Jerusalem. Then lay siege against it: build a siege wall, raise a ramp, pitch camps, place battering rams against it all around. Get an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between you and the city; set your face toward it so it is under siege and besiege it. This is a sign to the house of Israel.

Lie on your left side and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel on it. You shall bear their iniquity for the number of days you lie on it. I have assigned 390 days, corresponding to the years of their iniquity—you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. Then lie on your right side a second time and bear the iniquity of Judah for 40 days, a day for each year. Set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared and prophesy against it. I will put ropes on you so you cannot turn from one side to the other until you complete the days of your siege.

Ezekiel bears the iniquity of Israel and Judah for days equal to the years of their iniquity—430 years total, or 430 days. There may be significance: approximately 430 years before the siege began, David made Jerusalem the capital, bringing the ark there as the center of worship—a neutral city uniting Israel and Judah.

From there, 430 years later, Jerusalem is besieged, and the temple destroyed. The siege lasted 560 days total, but was lifted when the Egyptian army helped (Jeremiah 37:5), making 430 days feasible for the actual siege. God uses Ezekiel to show the exiles the coming destruction due to 430 years of iniquity—like that of the nations. God vindicates His holiness, demonstrating intolerance of sin by judging Jerusalem.

Verse 9: Take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, spelt; put them in one vessel and make bread. Eat it for 390 days, 20 shekels a day by weight, from time to time. Drink water, a sixth of a hin by measure, from time to time. Eat it as barley cakes, baked in their sight over human dung.

The Lord said: Thus the sons of Israel will eat their bread unclean among the nations where I banish them. Ezekiel protested: I have never defiled myself; no unclean meat has entered my mouth. God allowed cow's dung instead.

Baking over dung was common to heat stones, but human feces was unclean. This shows how Israel will eat among nations, losing distinction. Moreover: I am breaking the staff of bread in Jerusalem. They will eat by weight in anxiety, drink by measure in horror because bread and water will be scarce; they will waste away in their iniquity.

The rationing implies famine from the siege, causing dismay (as Jeremiah laments). Some view this as God being cruel. Atheists object, citing alleged contradictions like treatment of women and homosexuals. But this is man-centered: 430 years of rebellion.

As sovereign Creator, is God free to determine creation, law, and decrees as He desires? Or must He submit to man? The response is reverence for God's sovereignty—not delayed justice (Ezekiel 18)—but awe that He is in charge.

These people wasted away in iniquity—the word means a festering wound. Sin is not mere bad habits but a cancerous disease oozing, growing, overtaking to demise—like Job's maggot-infested wounds. For God's elect, this shows sin's horrendousness. They eat and drink in horror from sin's results.

The Gospel Principle of Repentance

This brings the gospel principle of repentance. This is about God's grace: He grants grace to Israel by this message, revealing more in Ezekiel 18: I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that they turn and live. But God's justice and holiness prevail.

For the remnant, seeing judgment and sin's effects is gracious. Grace reveals what festers, causing waste. It is unloving not to confront sin. Picture two fathers and sons nearing a 2,000-foot cliff with jagged rocks below.

First son runs to jump for "freedom" like a bird. Father lets him, and he falls to ruin. Second son runs similarly. Father chases, tackles, wrestles, pins him down until he tires and stops. Which father loved more?

God is gracious, exposing sin's effects—even when mixed with Yahweh worship, adding Molech. He reveals sin's ruin, deadness, and a way to avoid it: cling and believe in Him. Don't miss the grace showing sovereignty and sin's effects.