Unyielding Will

Read Ezekiel 1-7
 
Ezekiel 3:24-27 Then the Spirit came into me and set me on my feet. He spoke to me and said, “Go to your house and shut yourself in. 25 There, son of man, you will be tied with ropes so you cannot go out among the people.”
 
GOD called Ezekiel to prophesy after Ezekiel was among the second group exiled to Babylon. Jeremiah is still prophesying in Jerusalem. Daniel has begun his life and God’s work in Babylon in the first deportation. As we have read, Isaiah and Jeremiah had prophesied these events. Ezekiel’s work begins through active illustrations of Jeremiah’s messages to a hard-hearted people.
   Ezekiel 3:24 is the first of five extremely severe illustrations of God’s sure judgments. In addition to 1) being locked up and tied in a home, illustrating exile, Ezekiel is to: 2) Build a model siege wall of brick and put an iron griddle between himself and the wall. The brick and the skillet show God’s uncompromising will. 3) Ezekiel, bound in the ropes, must lie on his left side for 390 days and on his right side for 40 days. He would do this for a period of time each day. He had to cook his meager portions, also. There is no sure interpretation of the number of days for Israel, then Judah. We can trust this is God’s number to show the depth and completeness of sin in his broken nation. Israel’s sentence was longer because their years of idolatry were many more than Judah’s.
   Then we go to 4) Ezekiel’s diet. He is restricted to only eight ounces of a poor quality bread and minimal water to demonstrate the upcoming hunger. This is about one-fifth of a normal man’s daily needs. Starvation will cause much suffering and death in Jerusalem. 5) Ezekiel must cut his hair and divide it into three parts. In this illustration, Ezekiel represents the Jewish nation, and his hair symbolizes the Jews. The razor represents the conquering nation, Babylon, about to “cut-up” the country and city. For a Jewish man to have his beard cut and head shaved often meant sorrow and disgrace. So it will be for Judah. A third part of the hair is to be burned in the midst of the city. Many will perish there. Another third is distributed in small portions about the city to show some would die in various battles inside the city and along its walls. The remaining third was scattered into the wind, pointing to those who would be driven away into captivity.
   Such was the reality of Babylon’s conquest of Jerusalem. God had repeatedly warned Judah’s kings for decades that their country and city would be destroyed if they continued to refuse the LORD’s commands. God’s unrelenting will would be done.
   As we justly focus on Jesus’ sufferings for our sins, we can easily overlook others whom God has called to great suffering to advance his salvation plan to us today. Here is God commanding Ezekiel, as he has other prophets, to extraordinary suffering and physical deprivation for the sake of Israel. We thank God for such people who suffered then. And we thank the countless Christians today who are called to suffer for the King.