Dr Hill has just finished writing two volumes of commentary on Ezekiel which will be published at Easter-time under the title ‘Today with Ezekiel’. What appears in this series is a foretaste of these books.

“He then said to me: ‘Son of man, go now to the house of Israel and speak my words to them. You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and difficult language.’”

Ezekiel was given specific instructions in regard to his mission. Although he was in Babylon, surrounded by men and women whose language he could not understand, he did not have to study their speech and try to understand them. He had not been sent as a missionary to Babylon. Certainly, he had to learn to live among them, but he had no responsibility to take the word of God to them – the Babylonians were not his mission field! Nevertheless, God acknowledged that if Ezekiel were being sent as a missionary to the Babylonians, that would have been an easier task than the one to which God was calling him! But God promised him a forehead of stone!

Transforming the Despairing

The specific ministry to which God was calling him was not to the Babylonians but to his own people, his fellow Israelites, some of whom were still sitting beside the rivers of Babylon and weeping; others were in open rebellion, saying that God had deserted them. It was no easy task: ministering to his fellow exiles, to transform them from a despairing, defeated group of outcasts, to a confident, secure people of purpose, who would go back to rebuild Jerusalem and prepare the way for the messianic age – this was an incredible task!

The task to which Ezekiel was being called was indeed a difficult one, but God never gives a task without giving the enabling for its accomplishment!

The people would heap scorn upon him, dismissing him as a lunatic, even subjecting him to physical violence. The road ahead was indeed hard! He was going to need that forehead of stone that God was promising. But this was the mission for which God had been preparing him since his birth into a Zadok family, where he would be trained for the priesthood and be steeped in the knowledge of the Torah and the history of Israel from the time of Egypt and Moses and the establishment of the covenant at Mount Sinai. All this was part of the preparation for the greatest challenge that could be presented to any man: the re-creation of the nation of Israel – the resurrection from the dry bones – laying the foundations of the new Jerusalem.

Communicating from Strength

It was God’s purpose to raise up one of the exiles who had actually experienced the hardships and physical suffering of the thousand mile trek from Jerusalem to Babylon and had to make his home among the people in exile, so that as the bearer of the word of God he would be able to communicate to them from a position of strength – that is, being one of them and not just an outsider who did not understand or share their plight.

Ezekiel was told in no uncertain terms that the people of Israel would not listen to him, because they wouldn’t listen to God. As the messenger of God, carrying his word, he would be bearing the same burden as God was carrying, and sharing in the same grief for the people whom he loved in the same way as God loved his people. His message had similarities with that of Hosea some 200 years earlier whose words Ezekiel would have heard from his childhood in the temple in Jerusalem: “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. But the more I called Israel, the further they went from me” (Hos 11:1-2).

As the messenger of God, carrying his word, he would be bearing the same burden as God was carrying, and sharing in the same grief for the people whom he loved in the same way as God loved his people.

Experiencing the Heart of God

Ezekiel had to learn to experience the heart of God if he was to minister effectively to the people in exile. This is why he had to go to Babylon and be one of them in order to be the ‘Prophet of the Exile’. He had to prepare the people to be the redeemed community of believers who would go back to Jerusalem and prepare the way for the Messianic community of the future when God would fulfil his purpose of sending Messiah and inaugurating the Messianic Age.

The task to which Ezekiel was being called was indeed a difficult one, but God never gives a task without giving the enabling for its accomplishment! He would give Ezekiel a forehead as hard as stone. Every insult that was thrown at him would simply bounce off him and leave him unharmed.

The Servant’s Heritage

This is similar to the promise given to Isaiah: “All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish” (Isa 41:11). Ezekiel may have remembered from his study of the prophet Isaiah the promise, “‘No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me’, declares the Lord” (Isa 54:17). This would certainly come true for Ezekiel.

Despite whatever pressures are put upon you, he will never leave you alone. You too will have a forehead of stone!

The Promise of God

This is the promise of God to all his servants who run into difficulties in fulfilling the mission that God has given to them. “Do not be afraid of them or terrified by them, because they are a rebellious house” (Ezek 3:9). This was the word of the Lord and his promise to Ezekiel that would enable him to fulfil the mission that God was entrusting to him. It is the word of the Lord to each one of us who runs into difficulties through standing firm upon the word of the Lord in these days when, even in the church, truth is sacrificed on the altar of expediency. Provided the servant of the Lord remains faithful to Jesus, despite whatever pressures are put upon you, he will never leave you alone. You too will have a forehead of stone!