Take and Eat His Word to Speak

Ezekiel 3:1-15 

1 Moreover He said to me, "Son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel." 2 So I opened my mouth, and He caused me to eat that scroll.

3 And He said to me, "Son of man, feed your belly, and fill your stomach with this scroll that I give you." So I ate, and it was in my mouth like honey in sweetness.

4 Then He said to me: "Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them. 5 For you are not sent to a people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, but to the house of Israel, 6 not to many people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, had I sent you to them, they would have listened to you. 7 But the house of Israel will not listen to you, because they will not listen to Me; for all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted. 8 Behold, I have made your face strong against their faces, and your forehead strong against their foreheads. 9 Like adamant stone, harder than flint, I have made your forehead; do not be afraid of them, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house."

10 Moreover He said to me: "Son of man, receive into your heart all My words that I speak to you, and hear with your ears. 11 And go, get to the captives, to the children of your people, and speak to them and tell them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD,' whether they hear, or whether they refuse."

12 Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me a great thunderous voice: "Blessed is the glory of the LORD from His place!" 13 I also heard the noise of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and the noise of the wheels beside them, and a great thunderous noise. 14 So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the LORD was strong upon me. 15 Then I came to the captives at Tel Abib, who dwelt by the River Chebar; and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days.

The scroll book was commanded to be ingested by Ezekiel so he would be full of God’s words as it was written to come back out to His people.  He willingly obeyed and ate of the sweetness of that scroll written by the LORD (Jeremiah 15:16, Psalm 119:103, Revelation 10:9).  He was to take those words and speak them back out to God’s people Israel, not to the nations who would actually hear and accept them.  No, he was to speak to God’s own rebellious people as a testimony against them and a chance of repentance for a small remnant who still had hearts for God.  He could have gone where other languages made it difficult to hear but they would have taken the message to heart once the communication barriers were breached.  Those of rebellious Israel, however, were hard headed and resisted the word of the LORD, yet that was to whom Ezekiel went with that message ready to burst out from him (Jeremiah 20:9, Psalm 39:3) like a fire confined until it erupted.  God gave him strength and protection from their assaults like a flint rock that is hard and sparks a flame into existence when struck (Isaiah 50:7) and he spoke His words without shame or fear.  He gave such a foundation rock of resolve in the prophet that may have been as hard as a diamond, tougher than even flint, against opposition.  He was told then not to fear or be disappointed in the people as the message hit them hard and their harder hearts let it bounce off.  He was still to preach the word of God to them as it was written, whether they heard or refuse to listen to the words of God treasured in his heart from the book.  God then lifted him by His Spirit as a thundering voice (John 12:28) pealed out praise of His glory from heaven’s throne and the living beings thundered in response.  He was taken from that moment of glorious praise and left with bitterness because of the coming rejection of the wonderful message, just as now men reject the wonderful good news of Jesus Christ who is God’s Word given and spoken to us all to hear and accept or reject.  Ezekiel was stunned by it all and had to sit for a week among his outcast people to take it all in and prepare for the events to follow.  We are also to consider the message of the good news in man’s bad condition of sin as we take and eat of His word to speak it to others.