SON OF MAN

EZEKIEL AND JESUS

THOUGHTS FROM EZEKIEL

2:1 And He said to me, "Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak to you." 2 Then the Spirit entered me when He spoke to me, and set me on my feet; and I heard Him who spoke to me.

We shouldn't pray for doing something, plan for working for the Lord, make pleas to God for more strength to work, or for the success of His kingdom and then go sit and watch TV. I'm not sure what significance "stand on your feet" is but when the Spirit entered Ezekiel, he set him on his feet. The first step to prepare to do something is to get up.

2:3 And He said to me: "Son of man, I am sending you to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have transgressed against Me to this very day.

"A rebellious nation" - This was a nation ruled by God, a Theocracy. When Israel is called a rebellious nation, their rebellion is not against human authorities or powers.

"Against Me" You can transgress against the church, against your wife, against a brother, or against a loved one, but all transgressions that are indeed sin are transgressions against God. We can each make rules that people can transgress and we may transgress the rules of others, but it is a fearful thing to transgress against God and the consequences (verse 10) were lamentations, mourning and woe.

2:4 "For they are impudent and stubborn children. I am sending you to them, and you shall say to them, ` Thus says the Lord God.'

Impudent is from stiff-necked without the neck. Synonyms include severe and obstinate. My footnote has Hebrew - hard of face. Stubborn is "stiff-hearted" as in fixed or stiff in understanding.

The message was not from Ezekiel, it was from God. God had an issue with them.

This is certainly parallel to the Jews of Jesus day. Stephen in Acts 7:51 calls them stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart. Paul says they establish their own righteousness. Jesus says that they have their own house. Matthew 23:38. Jesus and Paul quote from Isaiah 6:10:

"Make the heart of this people dull, And their ears heavy, And shut their eyes; Lest they see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And return and be healed."

2:5 "As for them, whether they hear or whether they refuse -- for they are a rebellious house -- yet they will know that a prophet has been among them.

They will know that a prophet has been among them. Thus they will know why they are being punished and what they should have done to prevent it. In the New Testament the apostles of Jesus preached for 40 years or so to change the hearts of Israel. Some heard, some didn't. When it was over, all knew a prophet had been among them.

2:6 " And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you dwell among scorpions; do not be afraid of their words or dismayed by their looks, though they are a rebellious house. 7 "You shall speak My words to them, whether they hear or whether they refuse, for they are rebellious. 8 "But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Do not be rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you." 9 Now when I looked, there was a hand stretched out to me; and behold, a scroll of a book was in it. 10 Then He spread it before me; and there was writing on the inside and on the outside, and written on it were lamentations and mourning and woe.

Just as Ezekiel, Jesus spoke the words that needed to be said.

3:1 Moreover He said to me, "Son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel."

Ezekiel was not given any lea way for any self interpretation or interjection of his own thoughts. Jesus said concerning his teaching as recorded in John 12:49-50:

"For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. 50 "And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak."

Just as Ezekiel, Jesus was sent to the house of Israel. (Matthew 15:24) He told his 12 apostles to go to the house of Israel recorded in Matthew 10:5-6

"These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: "Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. 6 "But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

3:2 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.

It was at the rejection by the Jews to the Gospel that Paul and Barnabas turned to the Gentiles. Acts 13:46. In this passage and the verses which follow we find:

Paul and Barnabas speak saying,
"we turn to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us: `I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, That you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.' "  Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.

3:8 "Behold, I have made your face strong against their faces, and your forehead strong against their foreheads.

Does the expression butt heads come to mind here. This is how stuborn the Jews were. In Ezekiel's time and in Jesus' day they butted heads with God and his word. I can imagine the sadness in Jesus as he spoke the words recorded in Matthew 23:37.

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!"

3:9 "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."

God always wins!

3:10 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."

. . . 17 "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me:

In the next few verses, we find the personal accountability of those who teach truth. If you do not warn, they will still perish but their blood will be required of Ezekiel's hand. We want to note here that the warning was from God. A number of times Ezekiel is told, words to the effect, "You speak what I tell you to speak. He who hears, let him hear. He who refuses, let him refuse." This is their rebellion.

When I warn and I believe I do. May I speak from God's word. When I teach, I'm not with this group speaking to those who would have difficulty understanding. Same is true with Jesus and the apostles as they addressed the Jews of Jesus days. The prophecies were not new. The need to repent was not new. The call to repentance was not new.

. . . 25 "And you, O son of man, surely they will put ropes on you and bind you with them, so that you cannot go out among them. 26 "I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, so that you shall be mute and not be one to rebuke them, for they are a rebellious house. 27 "But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, `Thus says the Lord God.' He who hears, let him hear; and he who refuses, let him refuse; for they are a rebellious house.

With Jesus they did not stop him but he took precaution not to be captured before the proper time. With the apostles, they were beaten, told not to speak, imprisoned, killed. The word is a powerful tool in the hands of a good servant, but just as noted. The power is for those who hear, not for those who don't except that those who don't must recognize their doom.

4:1 "You also, son of man, take a clay tablet and lay it before you, and portray on it a city, Jerusalem. 2 "Lay siege against it, build a siege wall against it, and heap up a mound against it; set camps against it also, and place battering rams against it all around. 3 "Moreover take for yourself an iron plate, and set it as an iron wall between you and the city. Set your face against it, and it shall be besieged, and you shall lay siege against it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel.

Both tell of a siege against Jerusalem.

5:1-12 "And you, son of man, take a sharp sword, take it as a barber's razor, and pass [it] over your head and your beard; then take scales to weigh and divide the hair. 2 "You shall burn with fire one-third in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are finished; then you shall take one-third and strike around [it] with the sword, and one-third you shall scatter in the wind: I will draw out a sword after them. 3 "You shall also take a small number of them and bind them in the edge of your [garment]. 4 "Then take some of them again and throw them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire. From there a fire will go out into all the house of Israel. 5 " Thus says the Lord God: `This is Jerusalem; I have set her in the midst of the nations and the countries all around her. 6 `She has rebelled against My judgments by doing wickedness more than the nations, and against My statutes more than the countries that are all around her; for they have refused My judgments, and they have not walked in My statutes.' 7 "Therefore thus says the Lord God: `Because you have multiplied disobedience more than the nations that are all around you, have not walked in My statutes nor kept My judgments, nor even done according to the judgments of the nations that are all around you'-- 8 "therefore thus says the Lord God: `Indeed I, even I, am against you and will execute judgments in your midst in the sight of the nations. 9 `And I will do among you what I have never done, and the like of which I will never do again, because of all your abominations. 10 `Therefore fathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments among you, and all of you who remain I will scatter to all the winds. 11 `Therefore, as I live,' says the Lord God, `surely, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable things and with all your abominations, therefore I will also diminish you; My eye will not spare, nor will I have any pity. 12 `One-third of you shall die of the pestilence, and be consumed with famine in your midst; and one-third shall fall by the sword all around you; and I will scatter another third to all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.

In this prophecy we see the dividing by 1/3. This could have parallel in Revelation 8, but we want to look specifically at verse 9. "I will do among you what I have never done, and the like of which I will never do again." This was because of all the abominations. Jesus statement in Matthew 24:21
"For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be."

is obviously similar. The hardness of the famine, verse 10, is certainly similar to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD.

6:2 Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them,

The prophecy of great destruction is continued here. Note in this verse the call to Israel. Jesus was sent to the lost of Israel as we have noted.

7:2 And you, son of man, thus says the Lord God to the land of Israel: `An end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land.

In Matthew 24:3, Jesus' disciples ask when the end of the age would be. Ezekiel writes while in captivity, but before the great fall of the Southern Kingdom in 570 BC. Israel has been in captivity a number of years. Adam Clarke places the time of writing about 590 BC. Similarity lies in the fact that a great destruction of the land is coming soon.

8:12 Then He said to me, "Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the room of his idols? For they say, `The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land

"Son of man occurs 6 times in chapter 8. We are noting one. This one shows that the leaders of Israel were corrupt. In secret they were doing wrong and felt that the Lord did not see them. In Christ's day the rulers were evil and filled with hypocrisy. They denied that the Christ was in their midst even thought all the evidence taught differently. The leaders in Ezekiel's day did not give up their evil deeds and said that God had forsaken the land. In John 11:47-53 we have these words:

"Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, "What shall we do? For this Man works many signs. 48 "If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation." 49 And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all, 50 "nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish." 51 Now this he did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad. 53 Then, from that day on, they plotted to put Him to death."

It is obvious here that the Jewish leaders of Christ day were not concerned about God. They were concerned about the Roman authorities. Caiaphas' statement not only shows their determination to keep their power, but shows also God's power to use the works of evil doers to accomplish his will. Man cannot fight against God.

The leaders of Israel in Ezekiel's day and in Jesus' day were devoid of God in their thinking and action.

11:1-4 Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the East Gate of the Lord's house, which faces eastward; and there at the door of the gate were twenty-five men, among whom I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azzur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people. 2 And He said to me: "Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity and give wicked counsel in this city, 3 "who say, `The time is not near to build houses; this city is the caldron, and we are the meat.' 4 "Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O son of man!"

In chapters 9 & 10 Ezekiel see another visions of wheels and also things in the temple. Now in this chapter he is taken by the Spirit to the East Gate of the Lord's house. In 8:16, Ezekiel has seen 25 men facing East worshipping the Sun. These men are among the leaders of the people. One of the men, Pelatiah, is slain as Ezekiel prophecies against him. The Israel of Ezekeil's day were prepared to stay in Jerusalem. Their self-centeredness lead to many being slain. Jerusalem would be taken from them. Same was true in Jesus's day, the leaders were determined to have it for themselves. God's will and prophecies were not part of their plans. This prophecy is against the leaders just as Jesus warned the people but condemned the leaders.

11:15-20 "Son of man, your brethren, your relatives, your countrymen, and all the house of Israel in its entirety, are those about whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, `Get far away from the Lord; this land has been given to us as a possession.' 16 "Therefore say, `Thus says the Lord God: "Although I have cast them far off among the Gentiles, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet I shall be a little sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone." ' 17 "Therefore say, `Thus says the Lord God: "I will gather you from the peoples, assemble you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel." ' 18 "And they will go there, and they will take away all its detestable things and all its abominations from there. 19 "Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, 20 "that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.

Pride such as this was also manifest in Jesus day. According to the historians, the Jews of Palistine considered themselves to be the true Jews, others could come and worship but they were of a lower place. The elitism extended to the borders of Solomon's time which reached to the Euphrates at least as far as influence was concerned. Jews of Syria, Egypt, Asia were not given the same respect as those of Palistine. Even those who lived around the old Babylon, the ones who didn't return were excluded from the elite of Judea.

Those that were scattered, however, were to be brought back. This did not occur until the Gospel was preached. The restoration was to heavenly Jerusalem. Many, however, who were scattered did gather in Jerusalem and suffered in the fall along with all those who continued to stay there after Jerusalem was surrounded by the Roman armies. The promise in verses 19& 20 is very similar to Jeremiah 31:33, "I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people."

12:2 "Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, which has eyes to see but does not see, and ears to hear but does not hear; for they are a rebellious house."

Isaiah had prophesied years before about this phenomena. The people in Ezekiel's time had the problem and Jesus applies Isaiah's prophecy to His generation.

12:22-25 "Son of man, what is this proverb that you people have about the land of Israel, which says, `The days are prolonged, and every vision fails'? 23 "Tell them therefore, `Thus says the Lord God: "I will lay this proverb to rest, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel." But say to them, "The days are at hand, and the fulfillment of every vision. 24 "For no more shall there be any false vision or flattering divination within the house of Israel. 25 "For I am the Lord. I speak, and the word which I speak will come to pass; it will no more be postponed; for in your days, O rebellious house, I will say the word and perform it," says the Lord God.' "

Just as the words of Ezekiel's prophecy were to take place in his generation, the words of Jesus would take place in his generation. The time was at hand.

12:27-13:3 "27 "Son of man, look, the house of Israel is saying, `The vision that he sees is for many days from now, and he prophesies of times far off.' 28 "Therefore say to them, `Thus says the Lord God: "None of My words will be postponed any more, but the word which I speak will be done," says the Lord God.' " 13:1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 "Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy out of their own heart, `Hear the word of the Lord!' " 3 Thus says the Lord God: "Woe to the foolish prophets, who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing!"

Compare this with II Peter 2&3. In chapter 2, Peter speaks of false prophets. II Peter 2:1-2

"But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed."

Then in chapter 3, verses 1-4 we find:

"Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), 2 that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, 3 knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4 and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation."