Bible Studies
A Sensual Song and a Beautiful Voice (Ezek. 33:30-33)
Series: God Speaks to Our People In ExileIntroduction:
1. Have you ever heard a song on the radio that got stuck in your head and if anyone asked you what that song was about you could not tell them? 2. Maybe you didn’t even hear the words. You just enjoyed the tune. 3. Such was the case for many who heard the words of Ezekiel. 4. Read with me Ezek. 33:30-33. 5. God’s people were entertained by the message of the Lord, but they did not practice what they heard.Discussion:
I. The chapter opens in an entertaining way with a parable (33:1-6). It is meant for the people.A. It is a story about a watchman.
1. Watchmen were common in Ezekiel’s day.
2. They would be stationed on the city wall, perhaps atop the city gates or in a tower.
3. The watchman’s job was to detect an approaching enemy, sound the alarm so that the city could make the appropriate actions to be prepared. The women and children would find a place of safety inside the city. The men would take defensive positions on the wall.
B. In this story it is God that is bringing a sword upon the land.
C. The watchman has a responsibility and each person has a responsibility.
1. If he blows the trumpet (shofar) and warns the people and he who hears do not take the warning and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head.
2. If he heeds the warning he will have delivered his life.
3. If, however, the watchman sees the enemy coming and does not blow the trumpet and a sword comes a takes a person, he is taken in his iniquity, but God will require his blood from the watchman.
D. Three observations.
1. The sword comes as a result of God’s judgment against iniquity.
2. But God holds the watchman accountable for giving the warning.
3. God holds the individual accountable for heeding the warning.
II. In some cases after a parable is given there is an explanation that follows immediately (cf. Ch. 17 and the parable of the two eagles and the vine). There is no explanation given to the parable of the watchman, but verses 7-9, and the historical context make the meaning clear.A. God had appointed Ezekiel as a watchman for the house of Israel.
1. Ezekiel was to be God’s mouth. He was God’s agent to warn the wicked.
2. If Ezekiel did not warn the wicked man that wicked man die in his iniquity.
3. But God would require his blood from Ezekiel’s hand.
B. If Ezekiel did warn the wicked man to turn from his way and yet that man did not turn (repent), he would die in his iniquity, but Ezekiel would have delivered his own life.
1. Ezekiel was held responsible to communicate God’s message to the sinful.
2. If he did not do his job, the sinner would die, and Ezekiel would die.
3. It is obvious from the previous chapters that Ezekiel is doing his job. It is also obvious in the next statement that Ezekiel was doing his job (see v. 10).
III. He had done his job so effectively that the people were saying, “How can we survive?”A. Maybe you have come to a similar state. Recognizing your spiritual bankruptcy, your sin and its inevitable consequence of death you have felt despair. Perhaps you have asked, “How can I survive?” Sometimes things look hopeless for us.
B. And without the grace of God they are.
1. But God says, “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked.” Some may believe that God is such an ogre, but He is not.
2. His graciousness is evident in His desire for the wicked to turn back from his evil way.
a. His righteousness will not deliver him when he sins. A man’s righteousness is not like a bank account where righteous deposits are made and a corresponding amount of sin can now draw out some righteousness.
b. The problem is sin and it involves a whole sense of direction. It results in death.
c. This is not about an occasional sin. It is not about having told a lie, but about being a liar. It is not about making a mistake. It is about choosing a course that leads to death.
d. Yes, we need to turn from individual sins, but the whole sacrificial system was designed to address this, and as long as they continued to be turned toward the Lord there was forgiveness. But they had turned away from Him, thus they needed to repent. This was the same kind of repentance that John the Baptist demanded. This is the same repentance demanded in Acts 2:38.
3. God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked and He took no pleasure in the death of the rebellious in Israel. He invited them to turn from their wickedness and turn to Him. They needed to “walk by the statutes which ensure life.” With repentance “none of his sins that he has committed will be remembered against him;” “he shall live.”
4. With God’s grace there is no reason for despair and hopelessness. This had been the course all along (Deut. 16:18ff). God had always called for righteousness. It was not a “perfect” righteousness, a righteousness that never involved an occasional sin, but a direction involving loyalty to the covenant relationship with the Lord. Note the “Lord your God” (Deut. 16:20-21).
5. It is a myth that God’s people are perfect by performance. They are made perfect by forgiveness. If you want to find fault among God’s people you will not have to look far. If you think someone is faultless it is because you do not know him or her well enough. If you think you are faultless it is because you do not know yourself well enough.
6. When a man turns to God in covenant commitment, “None of his sins that he has committed will be remembered against him” (33:16).
C. Yet they said, “The way of the Lord is not right” (17-20).
1. That is an oppositional stance!
2. That is not repentance!
IV. And so, we are not surprised with the message, “The city has been taken” (33:21-22).A. To claim the land in the name of Abraham missed the point (23-24).
1. Abraham was a man devoted to covenant commitment to God.
2. That is what they were supposed to be.
3. That is what we are supposed to be.
B. In verses 25-26 God identifies specific violations that give evidence of their violation of their covenant commitment.
1. Was this all they had done wrong? Certainly not!
2. These violations were merely representative of their whole direction.
3. Therefore God’s judgment!
C. And so, they invited others to come hear the message of the Lord from Ezekiel, but God told him that he was to them like a sensual song sung by one with a beautiful voice who plays well on an instrument.
1. “Nice song, Ezekiel. I can’t remember the words, but the tune kinda gets stuck in your head.”
2. Is that what we do with the message of God?
Conclusion:
1. Are you assembling to hear the word of God, while withholding commitment? 2. If you are not in covenant relationship with God judgment and death is the result. 3. Do not be deceived, “Faith without works is dead.” Faith without works is no faith at all. 4. What does the Lord require? Genuine covenant commitment!
