Suffering for the cause of God and the bringing forth of His people

WHILE WE ARE STILL ALIVE, ALL THE PAIN, STRESS AND EMOTIONAL AFFLICTIONS, STILL DOES AFFECT US……………. THOU WE DIE DAILY.

Ezekiel 3:14 states, “So the Spirit lifted me (Ezekiel) 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”. The Spirit of God physically lifted Ezekiel up and took him to the river Chebar where God’s people were being held captive. Ezekiel sat with them seven days, at the end of which God spoke to him the following:- (1) that He had made him a watchman unto the house of Israel, and (2) that He will speak to him and Ezekiel is to warn the people on His behalf. So whether you are watching over a church, people, a city or a country, you need to speak up about what you have seen or heard that has gone wrong, because that is exactly what God wants. The river Chebar represents both a place of captivity and a place where God will speak to you.

Essentially, God wants us to warn the wicked, to warn sinners, to warn His people (Christians) who have turned from righteousness before we pronounce His destruction or cursings upon them. Please spend some time and read Ezekiel 3:18-21. Verse 18 begins “When I (God) say unto the wicked, Thou shall surely die; and thou (Ezekiel) givest him not warning…..”, and it goes on to say that God will hold us responsible when the man dies in his iniquity and was not warned. If however, the man dies in his iniquity and was warned, God will not hold us accountable (verse 19).

Verses 20-21 of Ezekiel 3 suggest that when a righteous man (Pastor, Priest, Prophet or any person of God ) turns from his righteousness and this is seen by the watchman and he says nothing to warn the person, then the persons righteousness shall not be remembered when he dies and the watchman shall be held accountable. If the person is warned however, then the watchman will not be held accountable at the person’s death.

There are too many church leaders out there who consider themselves beyond reproach or rebuke so they have not and probably will not return to righteousness in spite of repeated warnings. God will ultimately consider them reprobates and in the end say to them depart from me, I know you not.

I will summarize Ezekiel chapter 4 on how God used Ezekiel tremendously as a sign to Israel and Judah, and although it must have been extremely difficult, Ezekiel obediently acceded to his Master.

1. God told Ezekiel to take a tile (large flat stone) and to build a miniature (small) version of the city of Jerusalem. He was then to lay siege against it (attack it). This included building a fort against it, casting a mount against it, camping against it, setting battering rams against it, taking an iron pan and setting it between the miniature Jerusalem and himself. All this was to be done as a sign to the house of Israel (in full view of them). This was like a dress rehearsal.
2. God told Ezekiel to bear the iniquity of Israel and Judah as a sign to them. So he was made to lie on his left side 390 days for the 390 years of iniquity for the house of Israel. He then had to lie 40 days on his right side for the 40 years of iniquity of Judah. Ezekiel had to suffer a day for each year of iniquity of both Israel and Judah.
3. Ezekiel then had to besiege Jerusalem by facing it with his arm uncovered while prophesying against it. For the amount of days during which he lay the siege, he could not move from side to side as God had banded him in one position.
4. During the 390 days that he would lie on his side for Israel’s iniquity, he would eat specific amounts of cake baked with cow’s dung and drink specific amounts of water as a sign of how polluted and scarce the food would be while they were among the Gentiles. All this happened because of disobedience, stubborness, idol worshipping, wickedness, rebelliousness, etc. These are some serious precepts of God.