Ezekiel 2:1 says, And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee. Ezekiel said that God told him to stand up and God would speak to him. The title Son of man is used for no other prophet, but it is God’s ordination of Ezekiel as a prophet. It emphasized that Ezekiel was just a human being like all others, just as the title for Jesus Christ emphasized that when He came to earth to live and die for all mankind He was as human as anyone else. God had all the angels at His beck and call, but He was going to us a mere man to accomplish His work. Ezekiel was seeing many visions, but God was telling him not to begin to think of himself as anything more than any other man. When we become a follower of Christ, we don’t become something more than any other person. We are still but a sinner saved by grace.
Verse two adds, And the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard him that spake unto me. Ezekiel said that the Spirit entered him then and set him on his feet so that he could hear what God had to say to him. In Ezekiel’s time, the Spirit of God was usually seen as being outside of people, where they could only feel His presence in certain places, but Ezekiel said that the Spirit entered him. When we become a Christian, the Holy Spirit comes into us at that time and empowers us to do what God wants us to do.
Verse three continues, And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this very day. Again, referring to Ezekiel as the Son of man, God said He was sending him to the children of Israel, God’s chosen people, who had rebelled against Him for at least a generation. As followers of Christ today, we need to ensure that we don’t rebel against Him. Ezekiel was not being sent to those who were not a part of the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people. We as Christians today need to be reaching out to the lost people of the world, and we cannot afford to find ourselves in need of someone sent from God to us to tell us that we are a rebellious people.
Verse four states, For they are impudent children and stiffhearted. I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God. God continued to emphasize that the people of Israel had become impudent children who were stiff-hearted or refused to listen to God. Ezekiel was to tell them that what he was proclaiming to them was the word of God. As followers of Jesus Christ, we need to pray that we never need for God to send a messenger to us to tell us that we are impudent and stiff-hearted people. Of course, we also have the responsibility of carrying the gospel to the lost, and we need to make sure that it is God’s word that we share with them.
Verse five adds, And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them. Ezekiel was not given assurance of his success in reaching the people, because they were a rebellious people. Still, once Ezekiel went to them and shared God’s message to them, they would know that there was a prophet among them. Once more, we need to pray that God doesn’t have to send a messenger to people in the church today to tell us that we are a rebellious people. Still, when we do share the gospel with others, we are never assured that we will be successful in having them to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord, but if we do, they should know that there has been a Christian among them sharing God's word.
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