Result of Rebellion
God tells Ezekiel another truth about the state of the Hebrew
people. They have eyes to see but don’t
see. They have ears to hear but don’t
hear. For me, here is the really
significant point. The reason that they
are in this state is because of their rebellion. Because they are a rebellious house they have
ears and eyes but neither see nor hear.
I have to speculate upon this point. Is this fundamentally the reason that any
adult does not have the ability to hear and see God’s hand at work? When I meet adults who can claim to have
“gone to church all their lives” and “lived a good life” yet they can neither speak
truth into the lives of others nor even see God’s truth in their own life,
could it be that such a status is really an indicator of their own rebellion
against God?
I think this is actually true.
How is it that a person gets to an age of maturity yet is incapable of
speaking from a mature Christian perspective in order to bring truth into the
lives of others? Simply put, it is
because the person has not pursued their own spirituality. Other things in life took such precedence
that they did not develop as God desired.
If they were not developing spiritually, I am willing to bet that they
were pursuing their own agenda rather than pursuing the agenda of God. What do we call that but rebellion? It is our rebellion from God and our desire
to pursue our own interests that cause us to become a people who should see and
hear God at work but who are actually clueless.
So, what do we do if we recognize that we are in such a
state? What is a person to do if they
are of a mature age but yet feel as though they have no truth to speak into the
life of another person? First, become
humble before God. Second, repent of
that reality. Third, spend time
developing spirituality. Fourth, when
ready, teach others what God has taught you.
It is one thing to recognize that through rebellion one is “coming late
to the party.” It is another thing to
never get to the party because one is embarrassed to have become physically and
emotionally mature but stayed spiritually like a child.
As an aside to this discussion, I need to preface that I am not
speaking about the young here. Children
often do not see and hear because they are still developing. So please don’t take my words here to be also
true about children. Sometimes children
miss things because they aren’t mentally and spiritually developed yet. Children are a whole different ball game.
Exile
Because of the spiritual immaturity of the people – their
incapability to see what God is doing among them – God tells Ezekiel to do
something. Ezekiel is to pack as though
he is an exile. He is to dig a hole
through the wall of his house. Then, in
the presence of all the people, he is to leave his house as though being
dragged into captivity.
Just for a moment, stop and ask yourself how you would respond if
God told you to dig a hole in the side of your house and act this way before
your neighborhood. Would you have the
guts to do it? Could you be
obedient? Could you bring truth into the
lives of other people?
Obedience
Ezekiel is obedient. He
does as the Lord commands. He is
spiritually mature. He cares more about
God’s decree than what people think of him.
Also, note that this is a second time that Ezekiel is told to
leave his house after God told him to stay put as his base ministry. Again – for a short time – God changes
Ezekiel’s calling in order to accomplish a short-term ministry. See my blog post on Ezekiel 5 for more on
this topic.
A Difference in the Response to Ezekiel
Then, something cool happens.
Something happens that only happens among people who are willing to
explore humbleness before God. When
Jeremiah did things like this inside of Jerusalem, people laughed at him and
mocked him. They threw him in prison and
ignored him. But here in this passage we
hear God telling Ezekiel that the people are questioning him. They are curious. They want to know what is going on. They hearts are soft, malleable, and open. They don’t mock this man doing strange
things. They want to question, listen,
and learn.
You see, when people are at least willing to be humble before God
they will show a response. They will do
more than mock and laugh. They will
actually be willing to think. They will
ponder. They will be open to learning.
I’ve made this point many times in doing studies in the New
Testament. People assume Jesus taught in
parables in order to make things easy to understand. If you actually read how the Gospels talk
about Jesus’ parables, the parables didn’t make it easier to understand at all! In fact, Jesus’ disciples had to ask Him to
explain the parables at greater depth every single time! Rather, what a parable does is help the one
who is making disciples learn who the people are who are ready to become a
disciple. Jesus knew who to bring into His
circle by who came up to Him and asked for more information when he was done
teaching. That is the purpose of
parables.
What is Ezekiel doing in this passage but acting out a
parable! In doing so, a few people begin
to ask him what is going on. There
Ezekiel discovers who has their hearts open to God. Ezekiel knows who God has prepared for
learning by who comes to him as a result of not understanding the parable that
he is acting out.
Want to know a secret to spiritual leadership? Good spiritual leaders don’t usually teach
crowds with the impression that the people are learning what the leader has to
say. Good leaders teach crowds with a
deft eye towards who is going to seek them out later for greater
understanding. Spiritual leaders teach
crowds to prompt personal questions.
Those personal questions lead to a foundation of spiritual
relationship. The opportunity to be
before a crowd is nothing more than an opportunity to seek for disciples.
Spiritual leaders teach crowds more out of looking for disciples
than believing that the crowd actually understands what the leader has to say.
With several visions Ezekiel goes before the people: packed bags,
bread, complaints against prophecy. But
each vision that God gives has a lesson to learn. Ezekiel teaches those lessons to those who
come to him as he acts out the visions of God.
Remember, he is doing this in the sight of those who are already exiled
with him to Babylon while Jerusalem is currently under siege. {Ezekiel
was part of the exile that happened in 597 BC.
Jerusalem fell completely in 586 BC.}
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