After the glorious vision of Ezekiel 1, the LORD speaks. The vision was not just God revealing a glimpse of His glory to Ezekiel, but rather so that Ezekiel would understand the magnitude of the message.
The LORD told Ezekiel to speak to the people of Israel, no matter if they listened or didn’t listen. They were a rebellious people but Ezekiel’s mission wasn’t based on whether people responded or not, but rather that God had sent him to speak. And one thing that God would establish is that the people would know that there was a prophet among them.
It wasn’t going to get the positive, uplifting message that the false prophets were proclaiming. That’s what the people wanted to hear, but it wasn’t the truth. Instead it was going to messages of “lamentation, mourning and woe” (v. 10), the very thing the people did not want to hear.
This is such a human parallel throughout world history. People hear what they want to hear, and they rebuke what they don’t want to hear. In times of evil this is especially the case. And when people are suffering, they really, really only want to hear that God is going to bring the good, and hope and restoration. It’s not fun to face sin and suffering and judgment. But that was the case here.
Also we see Ezekiel, a contemporary of Jeremiah and Daniel, being given a very similar mandate that Jeremiah had. Speak whether people listen or not. Sometimes crowds will come and sometimes crowds will go, but the message needs to be unwavering.
What an important message that is. The message of God doesn’t fluctuate with the masses that come and the masses that go. The message of God should never be so contorted to fit what people want that it waters down the message. The message is what it is, no matter how people respond to it. It can be delivered in love, but truth must not be compromised.
