Ezekiel 3: 16 At the end of seven days the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 17 “Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman to the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, warn them from Me. 18 “When I say to the wicked, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way that he may live, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. 19 “Yet if you have warned the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered yourself. 20 “Again, when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I place an obstacle before him, he will die; since you have not warned him, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. 21 “However, if you have warned the righteous man that the righteous should not sin and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; and you have delivered yourself.”
(Observation) Ezekiel is commissioned by God to warn “the house of Israel,” Whenever God directs him, that the wicked man “will die in his inequity” if he does not turn from it. Likewise a righteous man will die in his sin if he “turns away from his righteousness.” Further God warns Ezekiel that if he fails to warn them as commanded and they fail to repent, God says “his blood I will require at your hand.”
(Interpretation) The blood of those who fail to repent will be on the head of Ezekiel only if he fails to warn them when God directs him to do so. They are responsible for their own failure to repent whether Ezekiel tells them or not. Ezekiel delivers himself from any responsibility by telling them as God directs. Ezekiel got his orders by direct revelation from God. I suggest to you that today God directs the Christian by His word (the bible) and by circumstances in which He has the Christian and by His Holy Spirit, which indwells each Christian. So, the obedient Christian shares what God has given him, indeed what God has commanded him to share, as he goes, as God gives him opportunity, “whether they listen or not.”
(Cross-reference) Acts 20: 24 “But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.
Matthew 28: 18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
2 Peter 3: 9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
Ezekiel 2: 7 “But you shall speak My words to them whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious.
(Application) I can not know for sure to whom or if God would have me witness tomorrow, but I can know that He is “…not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” I can also know that He is in control of all circumstances. I can also know that His Holy Spirit is in me.
What do you think? Knowing these things, Is it not in the Christian’s best interest to share his faith with those God brings into his life “whether they listen or not?”
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