Ezekiel 3
OUTLINE:
I. \\#Eze 1:1-23:49\\ Before the Siege (c.593-587)
A. \\#Eze 1:1-3:15\\ The First Message
1. \\#1:1-28\\ God
a. \\#1-3\\ The Setting
b. \\#4-28\\ The Glory of the Lord
c. \\#4\\ The Cloud
d. \\#5-14\\ The Four Living Creatures
e. \\#15-21\\ The Four Wheels
f. \\#22-25\\ The Firmament
g. \\#26-28\\ The One Above
h. \\#28\\ Ezekiel’s Reaction
2. \\#2:1-3:15\\ The Commission of Ezekiel
a. \\#2:1-2\\ God’s Strengthening
b. \\#2:3-3:15\\ God’s Calling
(1) \\#2:3-5\\ Go to God’s People
(2) \\#2:6-3:3\\ Go with God’s Words
(3) \\#3:4-11\\ Go with God’s Equipping
(4) \\#3:12-15\\ Go with God’s Spirit
B. \\#Eze 3:16-7:27\\ The Second Message
1. \\#3:16-21\\ Go as God’s Watchman
2. \\#3:22-3:27\\ Hardships for Ezekiel
a. \\#3:22-24\\ A Shift in Location
b. \\#3:24-27\\ Three Commands Given
I. \\#Eze 2:1-3:15\\ The First Message, The Commission of Ezekiel
A. \\#2:1-2\\ God’s Strengthening
B. \\#2:3-3:23\\ God’s Calling
1. \\#2:3-5\\ Go to God’s People - See chapter 2 notes.
2. \\#2:6-3:3\\ Go with God’s Words
3. \\#3:4-11\\ Go with God’s Equipping
a. \\#4\\ God’s Command - “go… speak… my words unto
them” - This is the reason Ezekiel was called by God.
It is the most common reason any person is called.
b. \\#5-7\\ Israel’s Problem
(1) \\#5\\ “Not… a strange speech” - God emphasized
that the problem Ezekiel would have with Israel
would not be in communication or “understanding”
\\#6\\…
(2) \\#7\\ …but obedience. (i.e. “…all… are impudent
and hardhearted.”
c. \\#8-9\\ God’s Solution - The Gift of Stubbornness
(1) \\#8\\ “I have made thy face strong… and thy
forehead strong”
(a) That is God’s way of saying He had made
Ezekiel head-strong or stubborn.
(b) Stubbornness is not a bad characteristic if
one is stubborn about the correct things.
(2) \\#9\\ “harder than flint have I made thy
forehead” - God gave Ezekiel the nature he
needed for the purpose to which He had called
him.
(3) Why had God made Ezekiel this way?
(a) Obviously so that Ezekiel would not quit but
even more….
(b) “fear them not neither be dismayed” - So
Ezekiel would show no fear or perplexity
no matter how much opposition he ran into.
(4) Fear is a sign of a weak faith or a weak god. Our
God does not desire us to portray Him as weak.
Phi 1:28 And in nothing terrified by your
adversaries: which is to them an evident token of
perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of
God.
d. \\#10-11\\ God’s Repetitions
(1) \\#10\\ “all my words… receive in thine heart”
As in \\#Eze 2:8\\, God desired that Ezekiel be
obedient to His word. A servant of the Lord
must be submissive to the Lord.
(2) \\#11\\ “go… and speak”
(a) Having been told of his gift, God repeated
to Ezekiel his instructions \\#Eze 3:1\\.
(b) “whether they will hear… or forbear” - God
had given and had repeated this statement
before.
i. \\#Eze 2:5, 7, 3:11\\
ii. God was not saying that He did not know
how Israel would respond to Ezekiel
for He had already told him how Israel
would respond.
Eze 3:7 But the house of Israel will not
hearken unto thee…
iii. God was saying that it did not matter
how Israel responded.
iv. Whether Israel listened and obeyed or
refused God, Ezekiel had his orders and
was to preach faithfully and without
fear.
4. \\#3:12-15\\ Go with God’s Spirit
a. \\#12\\ “Then the spirit took me”
(1) At this point, the “spirit” which had been upon
the wheels (whom we believe to be the Holy
Spirit) lifted Ezekiel up.
(2) Ezekiel was still in his first vision beside the
river Chebar, but it is possible that it was
ending at this point and that the Spirit was
"returning" Ezekiel’s spirit to his body.
b. “voice of a great rushing” - Ezekiel heard a voice
which sounded like the wind blowing or the earth
shaking.
c. “behind me” - Ezekiel does not tell us whose voice he
heard; BUT if living creatures are cherubims like
John saw, it was likely them.
d. “…saying, Blessed be the glory of the Lord” - The
voice praised the Lord as God's glory departed with
Ezekiel.
e. \\#13\\ “I heard also…”
(1) Ezekiel described what happened after the
Spirit lifted him, namely that the glory of
the God of Israel was lifted up as well.
(2) Ezekiel heard the “noise of the wings.” The
wings of the living creatures were moving.
(3) He also heard the “noise of the wheels” although
we do not know what noise they made in flight.
(4) And he heard another noise, possibly of a strong
wind moving.
f. \\#14\\ Ezekiel’s Condition - Ezekiel felt two
emotions as he was being transported.
(1) “I went in bitterness”- Discontentment,
heaviness.
(a) Probably not that Ezekiel felt this toward
God or even his calling.
(b) As Ezekiel was being called and filled with
God’s Spirit, he began to feel as God felt
about Israel: discontent and heavy.
(2) “heat of my spirit” - Ezekiel was hot, angry.
(a) Again, probably not toward God.
(b) These emotions were likely coming with the
calling given to Ezekiel.
(c) The anger he felt might have been the anger
God felt toward Israel for their sin.
g. \\#15\\ Ezekiel’s Location
(1) “to them of the captivity at Telabib”
(2) We do not know where Tel-Abib was but it was
located along the river, Chebar.
h. Ezekiel’s Response
(1) Ezekiel sat with the captives for seven days, in
astonishment at what he had seen.
(2) Again, it is possible that the first vision
stopped here, but the message to GO continued.
II. \\#Eze 3:16-7:27\\ The Second Message
A. \\#3:16-21\\ Go as God’s Watchman
1. \\#16\\ "at the end of seven days"
a. Even though there is a break of seven full days
and a possible change in how God revealed this
message to Ezekiel (i.e. Ezekiel may not be in
a vision at this point but hearing God talk
directly to his spirit or even audibly), yet
the message had the same purpose.
b. It was to call and motivate Ezekiel to be a
faithful prophet.
2. \\#17\\ "watchman" - To emphasize Ezekiel’s role in
God’s service, God designated him by a task that was
understood clearly in that time.
3. \\#18-19\\ A Message to the Wicked
a. \\#18\\ "thou shalt surely die" - If God sends a
message of judgment…
b. "thou givest him not warning" - …and Ezekiel
does not warn him…
(1) "the same wicked… shall die" - …then the
guilty will still die…
(2) "but his blood will I require at thine
hand"
(a) …but God will hold Ezekiel responsible.
(b) It is hard to comprehend exactly
what God meant by this, but it is
obvious that Ezekiel would have to
give an account for failing at his
calling.
(c) Was God saying a saved person could
be stripped of his salvation?
i. No. The text does not state
that.
ii. However, somehow God would have
held Ezekiel accountable. As
it was, Ezekiel did not fail at
his task so the condition never
came to pass.
iii. However, there is the
legitimate application of this
passage whereby all the called
of God (all believers) will be
responsible for those they
failed to warn.
c. \\#19\\ "Yet if thou warn the wicked" - But if
Ezekiel did give the warning…
(1) "he turn not" - …and the wicked do not
repent…
(2) "he shall die" - …the wicked shall die…
(3) "thou hast delivered thy soul" - …but
Ezekiel would have no blame.
4. \\#20-21\\ A Message to the Backslider
a. \\#20\\ "when a righteous man doth turn"
(1) Ezekiel was not charged with ministering to
the wicked only but also with helping to
keep the righteous on the correct path.
(2) So if a righteous person turned to
wickedness…
b. "thou hast not given him warning" - …and
Ezekiel did not warn him…
(1) "he shall die"
(a) …the man would die in his sin.
(b) Is this not a righteous man losing
his salvation?
i. No.
ii. This is a man losing his earthly
LIFE. That is the same thing
God warned about in the New
Testament.
1Co 11:30 For this cause many are weak and
sickly among you, and many sleep.
1Jo 5:16 If any man see his brother sin a sin
which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he
shall give him life for them that sin not unto
death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say
that he shall pray for it.
(2) "his righteousness… shall not be
remembered" - His past righteous life will
not stop God from dealing with his more
current sinful ways.
(3) "but his blood will I require at thine
hand" - And again, if Ezekiel failed to
fulfill the calling that God had given to
him, he would bear some kind of
consequences.
c. \\#21\\ "if thou warn the righteous man" - But
if Ezekiel did warn the backslider….
(1) "that the righteous sin not" - …and he
repents…"
(2) "he shall surely live"
(a) …then the righteous man will not
die due to the sins he had
committed…
(b) With man’s repentance, comes God’s
forgiveness.
(3) "also thou hast delivered thy soul" …and
Ezekiel would not bear any bad
consequences since he faithfully fulfilled
his calling.
B. \\#3:22-3:27\\ Hardships for Ezekiel
1. \\#3:22-24\\ A Shift in Location
a. \\#22\\ "the hand of the Lord was there upon me" -
(1) Ezekiel could feel the presence of God filling
and working on him.
(2) It seems likely that Ezekiel recognized some
fresh filling, enabling him to hear and obey
God’s voice.
b. "Arise, go forth into the plain"
(1) The fact that Ezekiel moved himself from one
location to another might also indicate that
this is not a vision.
(a) We do not know the plain to which Ezekiel
went. If still in a vision, Ezekiel could
have traveled to any plain on the globe for
God was empowering his movements.
(b) Neither are we sure how long he stayed in
the plain.
(c) It is possible that Ezekiel stayed in the
plain to receive all of the instructions
given from \\#Eze 3:24\\ through to what
seems to be the next message \\#Eze 8:1\\.
(d) If so, everything we read in this section
are instructions which Ezekiel did once
he returned to his house.
(2) As mentioned in \\#Eze 3:12\\, it is sometimes
difficult to discern when one vision has ended
and the next as begun.
(3) Whether this is a new vision or not, there seems
to be a new emphasis. Instead of discussing the
call of Ezekiel, God begins to discuss the sins
of Israel.
c. \\#23\\ "the glory of the Lord stood there" - When
Ezekiel arrived, whether physically or spiritually
being transported, God was there.
d. "as the glory which I saw by the river Chebar" - This
is the same image of God that Ezekiel had seen in
Ezekiel 1 and 2.
e. "and I fell on my face" - The impact of seeing God’s
glory was also the same \\#Eze 1:28\\.
f. \\#24\\ "the spirit entered… and set me upon my
feet" - God’s Holy Spirit again empowered Ezekiel to
hear and obey God.
2. \\#3:24-26\\ Three Commands Given
a. \\#24\\ "Go, shut thyself within thine house… \\#25\\
thou shalt not go out among them."
(1) This is not to say that Ezekiel’s house was
located in the plain, but that once home,
Ezekiel was to enter and stay within the
confines of his home.
(2) From this it would appear that Ezekiel’s
movements among the captives was to be directed
by the Lord. That is not to say that Ezekiel
never left his house for he did, but it is to
suggest that God orchestrated even his
movements.
b. \\#25\\ "they shall put bands upon thee, and shall
bind thee"
(1) Someone was to bind Ezekiel.
(2) This binding was a picture of what Babylon would
do to Jerusalem in laying siege against the
city. The city’s siege will be discussed more
fully in chapter 4 through other illustrations.
c. \\#26-27\\ "I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof
of thy mouth, that thou shalt be dumb"
(1) This is not as much a command as a limitation
God put on Ezekiel. God removed Ezekiel’s
ability to speak except when He had a message
from God.
(2) \\#26\\ "shalt not be to them a reprover" - God
explained why He did so.
(a) God did not want Ezekiel to be a constant
reprover or rebuker to the people.
(b) That is not to say that rebuking and
reproving are all together wrong for they
have their place.
Pr 27:5 Open rebuke is better than secret love.
6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the
kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
Pr 28:23 He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall
find more favour than he that flattereth with the
tongue.
Mt 18:15 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass
against thee, go and tell him his fault between
thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou
hast gained thy brother.
Jas 5:19 Brethren, if any of you do err from the
truth, and one convert him;
20 Let him know, that he which converteth the
sinner from the error of his way shall save a
soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of
sins.
(c) But God’s calling for Ezekiel was to deliver
fresh messages from God’s lips directly to
the people’s ears.
(3) \\#27\\ "I will open thy mouth" - When God had
something for Ezekiel to say, God would let him
say it.
(4) "he that heareth… he that forebeareth" - It will
then be up to the people to respond as they
desire.
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