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“Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter?” Ezekiel 16:20.

As Paul the Apostle acknowledged, confronting Christians with their backsliding and disobedience of the Lord is not an easy matter.

It causes much heartache to the one required of the Lord to do it!

The apostle wrote to the Corinthian church, which he had to rebuke very sharply for their departure from the truth of God: “For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you,” 2 Corinthians 2:4.

If there is anything of the Father’s love and concern for His children in the heart of a faithful minister, then he will act in a manner like that of the Father!

“And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby,” Hebrews 12:5-11.

The passage in Ezekiel from which we have chosen our  verse, begins with the record of the Lord’s past mercies to Israel and ends with the oft repeated promise of future blessings.

In between is the sad account of Israel’s sins as seen by the Lord.

Stark Language

The language and descriptive terms the Lord uses when dealing with the sins of His covenant people, indicates that to the Lord the ‘backsliding’ and ‘rebellion’ in which His people were engaged at that time, was far more abhorrent and offensive to Him than the offenders could possible understand!

Backsliding dims our view of sin and it becomes ‘less sinful’ and more excusable than it is otherwise perceived to be by sanctified eyes! (more…)

“And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.

And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious. But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house: open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee.

And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein; And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe,” Ezekiel 2:6-10.

On the morning of 30th August, I read the second chapter of Ezekiel and I also read from 1 Corinthians, chapter 4, as part of my daily Bible reading.

“Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.  Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God,” verses 1-5.

Some 650 years separate the writing of these two portions of Holy Scripture but it is immediately seen that the prophet and the apostle were called upon to serve the Lord amidst opposition to their witness by a rebellious people and they were judged to be anything but what they truly were, the servants of God seeking to deliver God’s message to those whose hearts were set on defiance of God.

Both Ezekiel and Paul were sadly deemed to be purveyors of anything other than God’s Word by many believers!

In this the second and concluding part of our study, I come to a sad conclusion.

I. EZEKIEL OBEYED THE LORD BUT THERE WAS NO HEEDING OF HIS WARNINGS!

“Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll. And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness. And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them. For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel; Not to many people of a strange speech and of an hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee. But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted,” Ezekiel 3:1-7.

Ezekiel was made a ‘watchman’ by the Lord. (more…)