Articles
The Hearing of Faith - Ezekiel 33
The Hearing of Faith - Ezekiel 33
God warns Ezekiel of his solemn duty as a prophet: whatever the LORD reveals to him is to be preached faithfully to the people, whether they listen or not. IF they listen, they can be blessed. If they refuse, they will face God’s wrath. That is not Ezekiel’s problem! He will be held accountable for HIS faithfulness to the LORD.
God again, as He had done in chapter 18, explains that those who do righteous will live, but those who turn from the Lord unto wickedness will die. God is fair and just. They are not punished for other’s sins, they have enough of their own!
Then, as God had foretold, the city of Jerusalem fell to the Babylonian army. The city was destroyed but many of the poor were left in the land. They yet did not learn! They again rest in their lineage from Abraham (vs. 24). Surely God will give us the land.
What could these people expect? God again lists their sins and transgressions (25-28), pronounces that He will make the land a desolation, and then “they will know that I am the LORD” (29).
They come to hear, but not to do. They hear the message but refuse to obey. They hear the words but they do not practice them (vs. 32). Can they expect God to keep providing the blessings of the covenant when they have refused to keep the requirements of it? God will NOT. He will be faithful to the covenant in bringing curses and not blessings.
God expects His people to be righteous. Even though we are under a different covenant, the kingdom of God is “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17). We are to be ‘slaves of righteousness’ (Rom. 6:18). John wrote: “Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous” (1 John 3:7). And again: “By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother” (1 John 3:10).
Are we to be like those in Ezekiel’s day who come to hear but do not do? James said: “prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves” (James 1:22). Are you a faithful doer or a forgetful hearer?
Hugh DeLong
