Ezekiel 33:1-6
This passage establishes the role and responsibility of the watchman. He was to warn the city of attack or announce the arrival of a messenger bringing news. This role of a watchman isn't just for prophets, pastors and teachers, but for us all to some degree. It is frightening enough to keep us in the fear of the Lord.
- A watchman who watched and blew the trumpet in warning performed his role. The responsibility to heed the warning was on those who heard. Those acting on warning save their life
- A watchman who doesn't watch or blow the trumpet is one who refused to warn the people. They in turn will perish by the sword in their iniquity. The blood of this person is required of the watchman.
Ezekiel 33:7-9
With the responsibility established, the Lord told Ezekiel to speak the warning to the people of Israel as He gave it to him. He was the 'hear' and 'warn'. If he failed to do so, they would die in their iniquity and their blood would be required of Ezekiel. Ezekiel becomes a type of Christ, stepping into the gap for his people. His life is bound up with them. He was responsible to warn; to make sure they heard, but not for their response. This is serious business. The lives and eternity of people are at stake.
See Hosea 8:1 and Amos 3:6 for more on watchman.
Ezekiel 33:10-11
Therefore, Ezekiel was called to inform them. To stay in sin and rot away in it (pine), there is no option of life. God wants them to know he takes no pleasure in the death of the unrepentant. God isn't trying to catch them in their sin, if so, they would have already been caught. He longs to see them turn away from their evil ways and find life.
Ezekiel 33:12-16
The righteousness of the righteous man won't do us any good in the day of judgment. Righteousness is how we are supposed to act every day. We can't bank it up to make up for our shortcomings. On the day of judgment, when accounts are settled, they need something else.
The wicked come at this day from a different perspective. He has no goodness to offer, nothing else to trust in. It won't fall on that day if he repents. He's not called to catch up accounts to be weighed on the scales of justice. He is simply called to repent.
The wicked won't be able to live in their wickedness; but the righteous won't be able to live in their righteousness either. If he trusts in his own righteousness, he needs to know none of that is remembered. When the wicked turn away from their wickedness, their wickedness will also no longer be remembered.
None of us bring anything of value to the Lord. Our righteousness is as filthy rags. It is useless and has no value in the Lord's economy. Only His righteousness and holiness meet the mark. We can only be saved when we repent and trust in Him.
Ezekiel 33:17-20
They were a people who knew the law and the requirements of the Lord. They had turned from their righteousness. The Lord disciplined them that they may turn back. When that time of judgment came, their previous righteousness or any righteousness works were of no value. It wasn't a scale where they had to weigh out more righteousness than wickedness. They had turned and were now the wicked. There was hope for life for them if they turned.
Ezekiel 33:21-22
The date was Jan 19, 585B.C. when this man came and told them of the fall of Jerusalem. It took him 5 months to travel from Israel (Ezra 7:9). This man probably didn't escape Jerusalem, he is more likely to have escaped death and was brought in captivity with others. Ezekiel had warned the day would come. Even though he was suspecting it, this must have had a profound affect on him. Their home was essentially gone, their nation destroyed.
The Lord gave the message of verse 1-20 to Ezekiel prior to this announcement. He spoke of Ezekiel's responsibility as a watchman and the accountability of the people for their sin. The Lord prepared Ezekiel prior to the man's arrival. Ezekiel's mouth was opened as a fulfillment to prophesy given in 24:27. He had been silent 7 years, speaking only the words of the Lord (3:26-27). This begins a new phase to his ministry.
Ezekiel 33:23-30
The people that survived the destruction of Jerusalem were speaking as if they had been preserved to inherit the land. They saw themselves as the remnant, a special people kept by God. This wasn't God's plan. It's hard to imagine the arrogance to see this as possibility when they were guilty of all the things the Lord had convicted them of. Their time had not yet come. It had been prophesied this would happen. Those that were left in the land would die by the sword, wild beasts and pestilence. There is no escaping the judgment of God.
When the land is desolate to the point no one would pass through. When God's says 'no on' I would assume he meant no one. Then, the people would look at all that had happened. There was only one conclusion, the one so many avoid so many ways; Yahweh is the Lord!
Ezekiel 33:31-33
The people in exile there in Babylon heard Ezekiel's words but didn't apply them to their lives. They thought it was for those in Israel, still in Jerusalem. Maybe they thought it was for the other people who need it, but not them, they were pretty good. They liked to listen to Ezekiel like one listens to a nice song. It was entertainment only. There was no lasting affect; the word did not move them or bring change. Yet, when they see all the words come true, they will know that he is a prophet.
©2020 Doug Ford
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