(REFLECTIONS ON EZEKIEL 33:21-33)

30 “As for you, son of man, your people are talking together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, saying to each other, ‘Come and hear the message that has come from the Lord.’ 31 My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to hear your words, but they do not put them into practice. Their mouths speak of love, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. 32 Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice.”

Is that all I am to you? What is our relationship to each other, and what is our relationship with God? Is it still about relationships or has it become about one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, but whose message is lost in the performance? Has our voice, like Ezekiel, become nothing more than a sound, a wonderfully crafted speech, an eloquent public speaker that is here to entertain like a performer on a stage to be watched, applauded, or on the flipside, critiqued and criticized?

Do we hear God’s words anymore? Isn’t the speaker but just a vessel, like Ezekiel, that is not someone that just sings love songs with a beautiful voice, but one that has been called to deliver God’s message to His people? Yet, even to Israel, Ezekiel has been reduced to just another performer. His words are talked about throughout the city, and his speeches publicized as if a great orator has come to town.

Sounds more like a promotion for a circus, than anticipation for the words of God, through the voice of His servant, truth to the world. Yes, many people gather in anticipation to watch this amazing performance, these skills of speech and rhetoric, but in the end the message is lost, and the people do not put God’s words into practice.

Is that all I am to you? Just a performing artist, a flavor of the month, the new hot thing? Is that all you are to me? An audience, to give me applause, to boost up my ego, to be my fans? What is our relationship to each other, and what is our relationship with God?

Yet there will be a day, when the words of Ezekiel, that are the very words of God, will not just be an artistic expression, but will be fulfilled in their midst. And when it does, they will know that a prophet has been among them. But when they know, will it be too late?

May we hear God’s words through the mouth of the prophets. May we hear God’s words through His servants and His people. May ours be a relationship built on the words of God, the love of God, and hope in God. May ours be a relationship in community and in Christ. Remember, prophets are not just fortune-tellers, but are those that speak the word of God, yesterday, today, and forever.

33 “When all this comes true—and it surely will—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”

Pastor Michael Lu
Enduring Word Bible Commentary: Ezekiel 33