Read Ezekiel 33:1-20
Have you ever been given great responsibility for something? Perhaps it was as a parent caring for a newborn human. Maybe it was teaching a rowdy group of middle schoolers about Jesus. Maybe it was making it through each day with a smile on your face. Ezekiel’s responsibility was huge in this passage.
So many lives will depend on Ezekiel being responsible and not running the other way out of fear or a feeling of incompetence. Those are the fears that can grip us. Especially when we’re faced with hard decisions to keep us in line with Biblical values.
Ezekiel had to deliver a hard message. God said, “ I only want them to turn from their wicked ways so they can live. Turn! Turn from your wickedness, O people of Israel! Why should you die?” This would be hard for people who didn’t understand their own wickedness. They would be thinking that message was for someone else.
People were going to have to change in radical ways to come to a place of repentance. It’s one thing to say, “I’m sorry.” It’s another thing entirely to mean it. Ezekiel’s audience would be hard hearted, self-absorbed, pleasure-seeking people. Wait. That sounds like I’m describing the people we probably passed on the street today.
If given this much responsibility, God must have given Ezekiel some tools. God started by using the image of a watchman. An image most people would understand and relate to. However, this role was way more than one of those overnight security guards you may have pictured when you read the word, “watchman.” The duties of this watchman are to “watch” for danger or evil. When such is detected, “he sounds the alarm to warn the people.” There is no room for error. People that don’t get the warning may die.
God is giving Ezekiel a message to be this “alarm” alerting the people of something they should pay attention to. The stark warning is this: repent or die. What if you heard those words? Would you believe them? Would you assume God would never kill you because you were exempt from his judgment? Many people died because they didn’t pay attention.
God must have known the people wouldn’t listen and that Ezekiel may feel like he failed. This prophecy reassures Ezekiel, telling him not to take the results personally. That was another tool or revelation. As long as Ezekiel shared God’s message with the world, he had fulfilled his mission. What the people did with that message was on them.
I know how hard it can be to look back at an event or time of teaching when I expected real “a-ha” moments, and they just never came. Have you experienced similar disappointment? As a leader or a planner, it’s hard not to see “fruit” or overwhelming results. Wo often take the blame if not everyone had a “mountain top experience.” Here, it’s like God is saying to us, “no worries, Mate! You did your part, they just didn’t listen.”
Maybe this will help you in working through a hard day, or any disappointment in ministry. So long as we are faithful in bringing the gospel to others, we have done our part. What the people do with that message is up to them. We really hope they experience Jesus and want to build a relationship with him, too.
There is one verse that really stuck out to me today. Verse 13 says, “When I tell righteous people that they will live, but then they sin, expecting their past righteousness to save them, then none of their righteous acts will be remembered. I will destroy them for their sins.” People are going to sin, even righteous people. We all stumble. God looks at our hearts and our intentions. We shouldn’t expect our righteousness to cover us. For that, we need Jesus.
Ezekiel’s first audience must have needed a dose of reality. If they wanted to live, they would need to take heed to Ezekiel’s message from God and repent. It was good to see that God was giving them another chance. God had sent this call for repentance to his other prophets, too. Ezekiel was in another place, in exile already himself, bringing a message to people back home.
In closing, reflect on verse 20. “O people of Israel, you are saying, ‘The Lord isn’t doing what’s right.’ But I judge each of you according to your deeds.” The justice of God. Are your deeds pleasing to God?
Let’s pray. LORD, I know salvation comes from trusting in you and declaring you as LORD of my life. Forgive me for times when I rely too much on my own efforts. I thank you for how you equip me for success each day despite my missteps. I want my deeds to be pleasing to you. I acknowledge you have also given me the responsibility to share about you in this world. Open up opportunities and give me the tools I need to complete that mission. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
