Ezekiel: Willing to speak

Having just looked at Daniel, I'm now back-tracking to look at Ezekiel. While both were living in exile in Babylon, Ezekiel's ministry begins five years after the first group of exiles was deported to Babylon. Given that Daniel lives through the reigns of Nebuchadnezzar, his son, and Darius and into the days of Cyrus too, it seems Daniel was part of the later group of exiles.

Ezekiel and Daniel had very different ministries. Daniel was called to serve in the heart of the Babylonian court and empire. He was given a position of power and prestige - though this was threatened by his faithfulness to God and his powerful enemies. Ezekiel lived among the exiles who were a community forced from their home, strangers in a foreign land with no status or wealth. He belonged to the priestly class but instead of being able to serve his ministry in the temple in Jerusalem, he finds himself placed by God in a ministry of unrelenting preaching to a people who didn't want to know. Daniel saw some remarkable miracles: the saving of his three friends in the fiery furnace, his own deliverance in the lions' den, Nebuchadnezzar's humbling, the writing on the wall... He saw some of the Babylonian rulers come to recognise God's greatness and uniqueness. Ezekiel, speaking to God's own people, saw none of this. He faced rejection for his hard message, yet he did not compromise; he persevered.

Much like Isaiah, Ezekiel experiences a 'call' to be God's prophet, to speak His words to the people, with a heavenly vision. As he is commissioned, he is told repeatedly that the people are 'nations of rebels' (chapter 2 v3). 'Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house. And you shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house. But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Be not rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you.' (v6-8) In language echoed later in Revelation, it seems that Ezekiel saw a vision of Christ Himself who gave him his mission ('seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance' chapter 1 v26). I was thinking about my own mission, wondering if I would be as willing as Ezekiel if I knew it was -in human terms- going to be a failure and mean so much isolation and rejection.

There are certainly times where we feel we are not seeing fruit, where it's hard to persevere. I'm challenged through Ezekiel's call that God is asking me, 'are you willing to speak for Me, even when people don't listen?' If God's people are willing to speak the words that He gives them, before whoever He puts them, then it could be kings and princes or the poor and needy; it doesn't matter. It gives Him glory. Are you willing?