The Gospel According to Ezekiel, Chapters 33 (Part 1 of 2)

Transitioning from Judgment to Restoration

We have come out of the gloom and doom of the first 32 chapters of Ezekiel, which are largely judgment-oriented. We are now moving into greener pastures with restoration passages, the second section of Ezekiel that deals primarily with the restoration of Israel, God's people.

The prophet Ezekiel is essentially going to be re-commissioned. He was initially commissioned as a prophet of judgment. Yet even in those first 32 chapters, we encountered much gospel. Now, as a prophet of restoration, God still emphasizes the importance of prophesying about judgment and rejecting his message.

Ezekiel 33 and 34 show the importance of paying attention to God's message, hearing it, and responding appropriately. As usual in Ezekiel, we see the wrong way to respond, then the right way, and the wonderful effect of responding positively.

God's message is not a killjoy. It is an issue of life or death, but also of enjoyment. There is specific enjoyment in following God's message, promised by God. It is ridiculous not to follow the gospel. These messages save from sin's ruin and misery, from condemnation, unto eternal life and inexplicable joy. A proper response is the only response.

We will also hear about the actual fall of Jerusalem, both historical and biblical reality, and see how the prophet is re-commissioned. There are responsibilities for the prophet and the hearer. The Hebrew word for "learn" is the same as "teach"—a circular responsibility: teach so others learn and can teach.

The Watchman’s Responsibility

Ezekiel 33:1-6:

And the word of the Lord came to me saying, “Son of man, speak to the sons of your people and say to them, ‘If I bring a sword upon a land, and the people of the land take one man from among them and make him their watchman, and he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows the trumpet and warns the people, then he who hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning—and a sword comes and takes him away—his blood will be on his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning; his blood will be on himself. But had he taken warning, he would have delivered his life. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require from the watchman’s hand.’”

These verses make sense in terms of war, illustrating God's judgment. If the watchman blows the trumpet and people ignore it, their death is their fault. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and fails to warn, it is his fault. God deals justly.

Now as for you, son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a message from My mouth and give them warning 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 from your hand. But if you on your part warn a wicked man to turn from his way and he does not turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your life.

God’s Message to the Righteous and Wicked

“Now as for you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus you have spoken, saying, “Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we are rotting away in them; how then can we survive?”’ Say to them, ‘As I live!’ declares the Lord God, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?’”

And you, son of man, say to your fellow citizens, ‘The righteousness of a righteous man will not deliver him in the day of his transgression, and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he will not stumble because of it in the day when he turns from his wickedness, whereas a righteous man will not be able to live by his righteousness on the day when he commits sin.

When I say to the righteous he will surely live, and he so trusts in his righteousness that he commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but in that same iniquity of his which he has committed he will die. But when I say to the wicked, ‘You will surely die,’ and he turns from his sin and practices justice and righteousness, if a wicked man restores a pledge, pays back what he has taken by robbery, walks by the statutes which ensure life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of his sins that he has committed will be remembered against him. He has practiced justice and righteousness; he shall surely live.

Yet your fellow citizens say, ‘The way of the Lord is not right,’ when it is their own way that is not right. When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, then he shall die in it. But when the wicked man turns from his wickedness and practices justice and righteousness, he will live by them. Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not right.’ O house of Israel, I will judge each one of you according to his ways.

These concepts echo Ezekiel 3 and 18. There are the wicked, the righteous, and the remnant. Here, God deals with the righteous and wicked in Ezekiel's re-commissioning.

The righteous cannot save themselves by their righteousness—it is an utter inability. A Christian holds zero semblance of personal righteousness, whether actual or professed, but clings to an alien righteousness: Jesus Christ's. The righteous must trust God's message. The wicked must turn from their way and trust God's message for salvation.

Trusting in one's own righteousness is iniquity—proto-legalism. God says to the righteous, "You will surely live," but if they trust their own righteousness instead, none of it is remembered; they die. The Greek translation calls trusting one's righteousness an injustice.

Consider Ray Comfort's approach: asking if people are good, then walking through the Ten Commandments. People admit to lying, stealing—even small things—and yet claim goodness. No personal righteousness impresses God. Christians abandon self-righteousness, clinging to Christ's, embracing that we always sin but are acceptable through him.

In verse 10, the people confess: "Our transgressions and sins are upon us; we are rotting away. How can we survive?" This seems proper, but it is hopeless, like Jeremiah 18. God responds: He takes no pleasure in the wicked's death, but in their turning to live. Repentance is always the response to God's message about sin.

Prideful responses to sin confrontation include deflecting ("You sinned too"), defending as victimhood, or psychological excuses. The right response is to repent, abandon sin. Christians, abandoning self-righteousness, more easily repent into God's joy.

The Fall of Jerusalem and Re-Commissioning

In the twelfth year of exile, on the fifth of the tenth month, refugees from Jerusalem came saying, "The city has been taken." Jerusalem has fallen; the temple is destroyed, bringing more exiles.

Now the hand of the Lord had been upon me in the evening, before the refugees came; and He opened my mouth at the time they came to me in the morning. So my mouth was opened and I was no longer speechless.

Ezekiel could not speak until the word came; now it is lifted. He is content as God's mouthpiece.

Son of man, they who live in these waste places in the land of Israel are saying, “Abraham was only one yet he possessed the land; so to us who are many the land has been given as a possession.”

This is a logical deduction in an interesting interaction between God and the people.

God's Response to Israel's False Profession

The people reason that since Abraham, one man, was given this land, and they are his many descendants, they should easily possess it. They've met their own criteria and shouldn't remain in exile. But God responds:

Thus says the Lord God: You eat meat with blood in it, lift up your eyes to your idols, and shed blood. Should you then possess the land? You rely on your sword, commit abominations, and each of you defiles his neighbor's wife. Should you then possess the land?

If you claim to be God's people and belong in the land, why don't you obey God? You profess to be His people, but your lives don't reflect it.

^{1 John 2:4} The one who says, "I have come to know him," and does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him; ^3:6 but whoever keeps his word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in him. The one who says he abides in him ought to walk in the same manner as he walked.

The life of Jesus is not just His testimony, but yours too. Whoever keeps God's message—His word perfected in them—shows true love for God. This echoes the third use of the law in the New Testament: the moral law endures, pointing us to look like Christ, distinct from the nations. The ceremonial laws installed in Israel an understanding that they belonged to God and desired what He desires.

These exiles claim to belong in the land as God's people, but physical descent from Abraham doesn't save. Paul teaches it's those of Abraham's faith who are true Israel.

Judgment on the Unfaithful

Thus says the Lord God: As I live, those in the waste places shall fall by the sword, whoever is in the open field I will give to the beasts to be devoured, and those in strongholds and caves will die of pestilence. I will make the land a desolation and a waste, and the pride of her power will cease. The mountains of Israel will be desolate so that no one will pass through.

This mirrors the judgment on Egypt in chapter 32. Then they will know I am the Lord, because of their abominations.

Hearers, Not Doers

As for you, son of man, your fellow citizens who talk about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses speak to one another, saying, "Come now and hear what the message is that comes from the Lord." They come to you as people come and sit before you as my people and hear your words, but they do not do them. For their heart goes after their gain. You are to them like a sensual song by one who has a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument. They hear your words but do not practice them. When it comes to pass, then they will know that a prophet has been among them.

Restoration is coming, but first, the people must change their approach to the messenger. Preaching judgment matters because without it, restoration is just entertainment. These people treat Ezekiel like a performer, gathering as if in church, saying the right things—"Come hear the Lord's message"—but pursuing their lusts. They go through the motions but remain unchanged.

Even hard messages, like Israel as an unfaithful bride or 32 chapters of judgment, can become sensual entertainment if sinful desires persist. People hear judgment on sin yet treat it like a concert. Sermons aren't for checking off duties or entertainment; church is where you receive God's agenda, like homework or a mission.

If desires contradict God's word, restoration sounds like music. Prove you're a doer, not a hearer only.

^{James 1:22-25} Prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.

The mirror shows who you are from God's view: things to stop, start, or continue. Hearers forget and become ineffective. Doers see results and blessing.

James's vain mirror-gazer illustrates hearing God's word: it reveals you accurately. Walk away without doing, and you forget God's view—leading to sin, ineffectiveness in marriage, work, ministry, or grief. Righteousness not rooted in Christ burns up. Doers find joy, effectiveness, lasting ministry without burnout. In suffering, you need effective deeds and real joy, not hopeless grief.

Abandon sinful desires. Be doers, and enjoy effective change and joy. That's yours.