Ezekiel 3:16 - Meaning and Application

These further instructions came to the prophet after seven days, that is, on the seventh day after the vision he had seen. It is very likely that both this meeting and the earlier one happened on the Sabbath day, which the house of Israel, even in captivity, still observed as well as they could in those conditions.

Their conquerors and oppressors do not seem to have forced them into steady labor, as the Egyptians once did. So they could keep the Sabbath rest as a sign that set them apart from their neighbors. Yet they had no temple or synagogue for Sabbath worship. It seems they had a place by the river where prayer was usually made (Acts 16:13). There they gathered on the Sabbath day, and there their enemies taunted them with the songs of Zion (Psalm 137:1, 3). There Ezekiel met them, and the word of the Lord came to him.

He who had spent the whole week thinking deeply about the things of God was fit to speak to the people in God’s name on the Sabbath. He was also ready to hear God speak to him. On this Sabbath, Ezekiel was not honored with visions of God’s glory as he had been the Sabbath before. Instead, he was given a clear and simple picture of his duty, which he was to pass on to the people.

We should remember that spiritual raptures and bursts of joy are not the daily bread of God’s children, even though they may be fed with them on special occasions. We must not deny that we truly have fellowship with God (1 John 1:3), even if we do not always feel it as strongly as at other times. And although the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven can sometimes be explored, ordinary plain teaching is usually what builds people up most.

God here tells the prophet what his office is, and what the duty of that office includes. We may suppose Ezekiel was to tell this to the people, so they would pay attention and benefit from it. It is good for people to understand what charge their ministers carry for them, and what account those ministers must soon give of that charge.

The prophet is first told what office he has been called to. God says, “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel” (Ezekiel 3:17). The vision Ezekiel had seen had overwhelmed him, and he did not know what to make of it. So God used this plain comparison, which was better suited to help him understand his work and accept it.

Ezekiel had sat among the captives and said little, but God now tells him that silence will not do. He is a watchman, and he has something to say to them. A watchman in a city guards against fire, thieves, and troublemakers. A watchman over sheep guards against thieves and wild animals. But especially, a watchman in camp, in a country under attack or a city under siege, watches the enemy’s movements and sounds the alarm at the first sign of danger.

This means the house of Israel is in a kind of battle state, exposed to enemies who are clever and never stop trying to harm it. It also means each member of that house is in danger and must be on guard. Ministers are watchmen on the church’s walls (Isaiah 62:6), watchmen who go about the city (Song of Solomon 3:3).

This is a tiring office. Watchmen must stay awake, even when sleepy, and remain outside, even when it is cold. They must keep their post in all kinds of weather, on the watchtower (Isaiah 21:8; Genesis 31:40). It is also a dangerous office. At times they cannot hold their post without risking death from the enemy, who succeeds if he kills the sentinel. Yet they also dare not leave their post, or they face death from their commander. Church watchmen live in that hard place. People will curse them if they are faithful, and God will curse them if they are false.

Still, it is a necessary office. The house of Israel cannot be safe without watchmen, and yet, unless the Lord watches over it, the watchman stays awake in vain (Psalm 127:1-2).

The duty of this office is to take notice and give notice. First, the prophet as a watchman must pay attention to what God says about this people, not only about the nation as a whole, which was the usual focus of Jeremiah and the other prophets, but also about particular persons, according to their character. He must not, like other watchmen, scan the horizon for danger and gather reports. He must look up to God, and that is enough. “Hear the word from my mouth” (Ezekiel 3:17). Those who are to preach must first hear, because how can they teach others if they have not learned themselves?

Second, he must pass on what he hears. A watchman must have eyes, but he must also have a tongue. If he is silent, he is almost as bad as if he were blind (Isaiah 56:10). “Warn them from me,” God says, and sound the alarm on the holy mountain, not in the prophet’s own name, but in God’s name and by God’s authority. Ministers are God’s mouth to people. The Scriptures were written for our instruction, and by them your servant is warned (Psalm 19:11). Yet because words spoken aloud often make the deepest impression, God is pleased to use people like ourselves, who are personally involved, to press home the warnings of the written word.

In his preaching, the prophet must tell the difference between the wicked and the righteous, the valuable and the worthless, and speak to each one in a fitting way. He must give each person what is needed. If he does this, he will have done his duty, whatever the result. If he does not, he will be accountable.

Some of the people he must deal with are wicked, and he must warn them not to keep living that way, but to turn from it (Ezekiel 3:18-19). The God of heaven has said, and still says, to every wicked person, that if he goes on in his sin, he will surely die. His sin will certainly bring him to ruin. It leads to ruin, and it ends in ruin. He will die in his sin, under its guilt and under its power.

But if a wicked person turns from his wickedness and from his wicked way, he will live, and the threatened ruin will be prevented. To turn in this way, he must be warned of the danger he faces. The wicked person will die if he keeps going, but he will live if he repents. He must turn from his wickedness and from his wicked way. It is not enough to change outward behavior, which may happen simply because sin has left him alone. He must also turn from the love of sin and the inward pull toward it, through a true inward change. If he does not even turn from his outward wicked way, there is little hope that he has turned from his wickedness.

Ministers have a duty both to warn sinners about the danger of sin and to tell them the good that comes from repentance, turning back to God. They must show people how miserable they are if they keep living in sin, and how happy they can be if they repent and change their ways. The ministry of God’s word deals with life and death, because it sets before us the blessing and the curse, so that we may avoid the curse and receive the blessing.

If ministers fail to warn wicked people as they should, that does not excuse the people who keep living in sin. Even if the watchman did not sound the alarm, they will still die in their sin, because God’s providence and their own consciences gave them enough warning. If they had listened, they might have saved their lives.

If ministers are unfaithful to their calling and do not warn sinners about the deadly outcome of sin, but let them go on without correction, then God will hold them accountable for the blood of those who perish because of that carelessness. On the day of judgment, it will be charged to them that their unfaithfulness helped bring about the ruin of precious souls. For who knows whether, if they had been clearly warned, they might have escaped the coming wrath in time? If it is a terrible guilt to help bring about the death of a dying body, how much worse is it to help bring about the ruin of an immortal soul?

But if ministers do their duty and give warning, and people still refuse to listen, the ministers can still take comfort in this, they are clear from the guilt of that blood and have delivered their own souls, even if they cannot rescue the souls of others. Those who are faithful will receive their reward, even if they are not successful in every case.

Some of those Ezekiel had to deal with were righteous, at least in a charitable judgment he had reason to think so. Even so, he had to warn them not to fall away and turn from their righteousness (Ezekiel 3:20, 3:21). Even the best people in the world need warning against falling away, and they need to be told both the danger of that fall and the danger that comes from it. God’s servants must be warned not to neglect his work and leave his service. One good way to keep from falling is to keep a holy fear of falling. So let those who think they stand take care, and not be proud, but afraid (Psalm 19:11; Hebrews 4:1; Romans 11:20).

There is a kind of righteousness that a person may turn from. It is only a seeming righteousness, and when people turn from it, that shows it was never sincere, no matter how fair it looked. If they had truly belonged to God’s people, they would have stayed with them (1 John 2:19). Many begin in the Spirit but end in the flesh. They start out looking toward heaven, but then look back. They once had a first love, but they lose it and turn away from the holy commandment.

When people turn from their righteousness, they soon learn to do wrong. Once they grow careless in worship, neglect it, or become weak and lazy in it, they become easy prey for the tempter. Omissions make room for sins of action. When people turn from righteousness and commit sin, it is right for God to put stumbling blocks before them, so that they grow worse and worse until they are ready for destruction. When Pharaoh hardened his heart, God hardened it too. When sinners turn their backs on God, leave his service, and bring shame on it, he justly withdraws his restraining grace, gives them over to their own sinful desires, and orders their lives by providence in ways that stir up their sin and speed their ruin. Even Christ himself becomes a stone that makes some stumble and a rock that offends them (1 Peter 2:8).

The righteousness people give up will never be remembered for their honor or comfort. It will do them no good in this world or the next. People who fall away lose all they have done. Their service and suffering count for nothing, because they did not continue in them. In the law, a thing is not truly counted as done if it does not continue. We are said to do only what we keep on doing (Galatians 3:3, 3:4).

If ministers fail to give fair warning about how weak even the best people are, how easily they can stumble and fall, what temptations they face, and what the deadly results of falling away are, then the ruin of those who do fall away will be laid at their door, and they will answer for it. This does not mean there are no people who are warned and still turn from righteousness. But that is not the case being pressed here, as it was with the wicked man. Here the point is the opposite, that a righteous man, when warned, takes the warning and does not sin (Ezekiel 3:21). If you instruct a wise person, he will become even wiser.

We must not flatter the wicked, and we must not flatter even the righteous as if they were completely safe anywhere short of heaven. If ministers give warning and people accept it, that is good for both. Nothing is more beautiful than a wise reproof received by an obedient ear. The one will live because he was warned, and the other has delivered his soul. What more could a good minister want than to save himself and those who hear him? (1 Timothy 4:16)