The sins of Ezekiel’s day sound very much like the sins of today.
Ezek. 22:9 There are men in you who slander to shed blood, and people in you who eat on the mountains; they commit lewdness in your midst.
Ezek. 22:10 In you men uncover their fathers’ nakedness; in you they violate women who are unclean in their menstrual impurity.
Ezek. 22:11 One commits abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; another in you violates his sister, his father’s daughter.
Ezek. 22:12 In you they take bribes to shed blood; you take interest and profit and make gain of your neighbors by extortion; but me you have forgotten, declares the Lord GOD.
I believe the book of Ezekiel has several points for us as ministers of the Gospel.
Ezek. 2:5 And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them.
It is important that we recognize our role. Whether people hear or refuse to hear is not within our power. We are only called to preach the Word of God.
Ezek. 3:15b …And I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days.
Ezek. 3:16 And at the end of seven days, the word of the LORD came to me.
We need to realize that God’s timing is not our timing. God had called Ezekiel to be His prophet, yet Ezekiel “sat there overwhelmed” for seven days. Then the word of the Lord “came” to him. God did not give him the words to say until he was ready for it. Quite often in our zeal we are in a hurry to address things when we are not prepared. We need to be careful not to speak our own words, but to only speak what the Spirit tells us.
Ezek. 3:18 If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.
Ezek. 3:19 But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.
We must preach the whole Word of God. If we do not, the blood of those whom we have not warned will be on our hands. Quite often we hear of “prosperity gospel” preachers who refuse to preach on sin. Not only are we condemning those people to Hell, we will be held accountable for it.
I pray that as we minister and prepare for full time ministry we will keep these precepts in mind.