How do you measure the faithfulness of a prophet?
Ezekiel 2:3-5
As the Lord appeared to Ezekiel in an overwhelming vision of glory, he commissioned him as a prophet to the nation of Israel. He would be another in a long line of prophets from Moses on who were entrusted by God to speak his words to Israel. Stephen rightly summed up their universal experience in his brilliant defense in Acts 7 when he charged Israel with being “a stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears,” and said, “You are just like your fathers! You always resist the Holy Spirit! Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute?” (Acts 7:51-52) So it would be for Ezekiel as well. But God was very plain to him as he commissioned him, for he honestly told him that they were an obstinate and stubborn people, rebellious against him.
Despite all that, God commanded Ezekiel to speak all the words he would entrust to him, “whether they listen or fail to listen” (Ezekiel 2:5). His task was the faithful delivery of the words of God, not their faith-filled response. This commissioning charge was full of foreboding for Ezekiel, and it must have made perfect sense. For Ezekiel himself was with the Jews in exile from the Promised Land already, part of the punishment of the nation for generations of idolatry and wickedness. At that key juncture, God wanted Israel to know that he was not done with them; God was not intending to forsake his people, for, “The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29). Ezekiel’s ministry among them as a prophet from God was clear evidence of this. If he would be faithful to speak all the words of God, no matter what they contained, they would know that a prophet had been among them… that God was still wooing and winning Israel despite their great sin.
If he would be faithful to speak all the words of God, no matter what they contained, they would know that a prophet had been among them.
This call of God extends beyond Ezekiel’s ministry to our present day. As Christians, we are called to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to a world living in rebellion against God. The gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ as King, a righteous and holy King, whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light, a servant King who laid down his life for his people. That is good news to any whose heart is made ready to submit to that yoke by repentance and faith. But that heart work is infinitely beyond us as messengers of the gospel. Only God can remove the heart of stone and replace it with a living heart (Ezekiel 36:26). We are called to speak the words of life… just deliver those words boldly and clearly. The favorable heart reaction of the people is God’s work alone.
Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, defined evangelism as “taking the initiative to share Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and leaving the results to God.” Knowing that we are to speak these words of life whether people listen or fail to listen is liberating for us, for we soon experience the depth of people’s stubbornness and rebellion against God, as Ezekiel did. Probing that hardness of human hearts by regular evangelism could become an overwhelming burden for us if we believed it was up to us to craft the words and approach in such a way as to produce results. It would inevitably cause us to change the message of the gospel into something that is no gospel at all, but merely a tickling of the ears, telling people what they already believe about themselves and God.
Prophet-like power comes from the Holy Spirit, and he ministers it to us in our generation by the example of the prophets like Ezekiel, who faithfully told the truth to their own generation of hard-hearted rebels. And whether they listened or failed to listen, they knew that a prophet had been among them. So must it be for us. We must share the truth of Christ, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, to our rebellious generation. And whether they listen or fail to listen, they will know that a messenger from God has been with them.
