Ezekiel 2:5, commentary and pictures

God sends His messenger to a rebellious people who may listen to his message or refuse to listen, yet even in refusal they will be made to know that a prophet has been among them. The command lays duty on every messenger to deliver what God gives him whether people hear or forbear, and their response neither cancels nor changes that duty. That duty is to speak plainly, faithfully and fully, declaring the whole counsel of God without narrowing or withholding it to suit acceptance or opposition. The delivery itself stands as a witness, so the messenger is not responsible for convicting or converting the hearers, while those who hear remain responsible for their choice and are left without excuse if they turn away. To reject the light and evidence God sends through His messengers is to reject Christ Himself, for there is no other Saviour.

Words and Historical Setting

God sent Ezekiel to a rebellious house with a message they might either hear or refuse to hear. Whether they listened or refused to listen did not cancel the sending, and the duty to deliver the message stood regardless of their response. Even in refusal they would still come to know that a prophet had been among them. The same holds for those who set themselves against messages from the Lord, whose rejection does not prevent them from recognizing that God sent a prophet to them.

The second chapter of Ezekiel is to be studied together with the sixth chapter of Isaiah. Together they show that God directs complex work with perfect order. Under His instruction human agents carry out their assigned parts.

The verse belongs to a message connected with the judgment described in Ezekiel 9. Under that message wrongdoers are under God's scrutiny. Judgment will come upon them.

Duty to Deliver Message

The verse lays on the prophet, and on every messenger after him, the duty to deliver what God has given whether the rebellious house will listen or will refuse to listen. The response of the hearers does not cancel, excuse, remove, determine or change that duty to speak and to warn. Truth must still be spoken whether people accept it or refuse to hear it, and the message for the neglected Southern field and the work of religious liberty must be written and presented regardless of how people respond. Workers facing difficulty and opposition are therefore to carry out their calling without being deterred by resistance, examining their own conduct rather than hindering or judging fellow workers.

That duty is to be done plainly, clearly, straightforwardly, faithfully and fully. It calls for declaring the whole counsel of God and speaking what is known to be true, presenting the full, broad gospel without narrowing it to suit how people may respond. A warning must be stated plainly even when hearers refuse to accept it, for their refusal does not change the truth or the duty to speak. Whether they hear or forbear, they will know that a prophet has been among them.

What is to be delivered in this way is reproof and warning, with counsel and encouragement. It includes a plain testimony against selfishness and sin, rebuke of wrongdoing, and denunciation of oppression, hypocrisy and worldliness, given in order to move people to repent and seek God's favor. The messenger is to warn, counsel, reprove and encourage without making human approval the aim. If after such denunciations people refuse to repent, He may withdraw His light and leave them to their chosen way.

The warning must go forward whether people are pleased or displeased, whether they accept or reject, whether they listen and change or refuse to listen. When God lays the burden to speak, His servants must not hesitate, hold back, abate one jot or tittle for favors, or withhold for frowns and alienations. They are not to be swayed by favor, opposition, consequences, fear that the message will be dismissed, or the prospect that some will leave the church and the truth, but with solemn resolve to vindicate what is right they are to stand at the assigned post, repeat the faithful testimony until wrongs are expelled, and trust results with God. Even refusal will not prevent the hearers from knowing that God sent a prophet among them.

The delivery itself stands as a witness to the hearers. They are to be warned so that they may know that God's message has been delivered to them and that a prophet has been among them, leaving those who reject the testimony without excuse and responsible for their choice.

Hearers' Responsibility and Outcome

Whether they hear or forbear, though they are a rebellious house, they will come to know that a prophet has been among them, and God will make them know it, and their refusal does not remove their responsibility. The word with its warnings and encouragement is designed to come to those in darkness and ignorant of the faith, and the warning is to be given to all as a witness whether they will hear or forbear. It is to be held forth as the word of life and salvation so that all may have opportunity to receive the truth if they will.

Those who proclaim it are not responsible for convicting or converting the hearers, nor for their response and its consequences, for only God's power softens hearts. Heavenly intelligences work with human effort to present words of life to those ready to perish, while the messenger rests in God's love and leaves results and consequences with God. The hearers are responsible for their choice, and those who turn from truth of heavenly origin bring condemnation upon themselves. Having received the testimony they are left without excuse.

Many will not hear because they have already refused the Great Teacher, and many will not accept correction because they trust their own judgment and consider their own ways right. Even those who reject the light and evidence God gives will know that a prophet has been among them, but rejecting that light is rejecting Christ, and there is no other Saviour. The same pattern holds for Christ's messengers, so that rejecting their words is rejecting His words, as those who refused to hear His words would refuse theirs. The denunciations against oppression, hypocrisy, and worldliness are declared to move people to repent and seek God's favor, yet if they refuse to repent He may withdraw His light and leave them to their chosen way.

Faithful Witness in Practice

Faithful witness means speaking what is known to be true and what God commands, whether people listen or refuse, presenting it as light from God rather than personal wisdom. Personal words must not be substituted for the Lord's words, for that would weaken the testimony, and the message is to be given as the Spirit impresses, in love and with zeal under the constraining influence of Christ's love. The response belongs to the hearers, while the messenger leaves the matter and the results and consequences in God's hands and with Jesus. Resting in God's love in the knowledge that duty has been done, the messenger does not calculate consequences and does not make human approval the aim, but warns, counsels, reproves and encourages faithfully. Faithful witness is also borne by a consistent life of self-denial, obedience to God's commandments, love for Christ and following His example, by which influence helps others see the way to life in God's city.

The verse requires standing faithfully at the assigned post and not leaving the work, repeating the faithful testimony until wrongs are expelled from the churches. Not one jot or tittle is to be abated for favors, nor is the message to be withheld because of frowns and alienations. This steadfastness holds even when the leavening influence of doubt and questioning is at work, spiritual life is ebbing from the churches, lightness, trifling, jesting and joking prevail, and brethren withdraw confidence, misjudge, misstate and refuse to confess their wrong course. The same testimony applies to those who firmly oppose the Lord's messages and try to bring heaven's message into contempt: their rejection does not remove their responsibility and does not prevent recognition that God sent a prophet, and God deals with His people in the present as in the past.

Workers facing difficulty and opposition are to carry out their calling without being deterred by resistance, examining their own conduct rather than hindering or judging fellow workers. The command to write and present the neglected Southern field is to be obeyed regardless of how people respond, whether they hear or forbear. At North Fitzroy the warning divided hearers, with some receiving it as life-giving water while others rejected it and remained disaffected. Though they could have been healed, their chosen course left them hardened and its influence persisted. The warning may still bring people to know Christ and lead them to work for others' salvation, so labor is not a failure if even one is brought to salvation, and results that seem fruitless may be revealed in eternity. The Lord sustains the faithful worker, with His everlasting arms beneath him to finish the work God gave.