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Welcome to the Cross References podcast on the Book of Ezekiel. In this study, you learn how every small piece of the Bible tells one big story- and most importantly, how they all connect to the cross and Christ.
Whether you’re a newbie Christian or a veteran Bible reader, my goal is that God’s Word will make more sense to you after every episode.
Host: Luke Taylor
Hit Mute and Know God
Ezekiel 33:21-33
Ezekiel series, Part 60
Alternate title: Are God’s Promises Conditional?
Introduction
I have heard all my life about declaring God’s promises. The idea was that certain things in scripture became true in reality as long as you declared them to be so.
Sounds a little bit magical. But is it biblical?
We’re going to talk about that today. We’ll also wrap up Ezekiel 33, and for the first time in 30 chapters, Ezekiel is going to be allowed to speak freely. You may have forgotten, but Ezekiel’s mouth was shut for a large chunk of his time in ministry. God supernaturally prevented him from speaking.
We’ll talk about that. And nobody wants to be unpopular, but if you listen to the end today, you’ll also learn about the dangers that come with being too popular.
So are God’s promises something you just have to declare? Are they activated by faith? Or are there conditions that have to be met for God’s promises to be fulfilled?
You’ll find out today on the Cross References podcast.
[theme music]
(Continued)
Welcome to the book of Ezekiel: a Cross References Bible study where we learn how every small piece of the Bible tells one big story- and how they all connect to the cross and Christ.
My name is Luke Taylor, and I’m not a big talker. I try to be a better listener than I am a talker. That’s because when I was pastoring, I had to do so much talking (“professionally”) that I tried to listen and give somebody else a chance to say something whenever I could.
And I became a pretty good listener. And I think a lot of us would do well to become better at listening and not loving the sound of our own voice so much. One guy who got a crash-course in listening was Ezekiel the Old Testament prophet. That’s because he had his ability to speak taken away by God for seven years.
Ezekiel actually could still speak, but he was only allowed to share the prophecies as we have written down in his book. Other than that, Ezekiel was not allowed to say anything until his prophecies finally came to pass, and that lasted from chapter 3 when he agreed to be a prophet right up to chapter 33, which we’ll be finishing up today.
Ezekiel 33 is the chapter I’ve been referring to as Ezekiel’s Greatest Hits. This is a transitional chapter from the dark judgment prophecies that have characterized the first part of the book, and now we’re about to enter the last major section of Ezekiel, which are the more hopeful and positive prophecies.
But this chapter, as I said, is transition, and so Ezekiel is recapping some earlier lessons. As I said, these are his greatest hits. And so in this final section today, he’s going to be repeating the information that he last shared in chapter 24, which was about the fall of Jerusalem. He’s also going to repeat some info that he shared in chapters 12 and 13. I did a lesson way back then called Can You Name it and Claim it?
V21-22, No Longer Mute
Ezekiel 33:21-22
21 In the twelfth year of our exile, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, a fugitive from Jerusalem came to me and said, “The city has been struck down.” 22 Now the hand of the Lord had been upon me the evening before the fugitive came; and he had opened my mouth by the time the man came to me in the morning, so my mouth was opened, and I was no longer mute.
So this is the moment that Ezekiel’s tongue is finally loosed. He can once again speak. It gave a time-stamp for when he could begin speaking again, and this was actually 7 years after Ezekiel first began his ministry, so he has been mute for seven years.
A good cross reference for this idea of being mute is Zechariah in the New Testament. He was John the Baptist’s father, and when an angel came to Zechariah and told him that his elderly wife would bear him a son, Zechariah expressed doubt, and so he was given a bit of a faith-building exercise and told he could not speak until the child was born.
Ezekiel and Zechariah were made mute to teach them a lesson. Zechariah doubted God when a literal angel showed up and told him what was going to happen. Ezekiel had less of an excuse; God Himself showed up to call Ezekiel as a prophet, and the first time he was asked, Ezekiel refused! He sat on the side of a hill for a week and fumed about it. He argued about his calling with God.
So why was Ezekiel made mute? Let’s travel back to
Ezekiel 3:26 and hear why
And I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, so that you shall be mute and unable to reprove them, for they are a rebellious house.
So Ezekiel obviously had an argumentative spirit, and God says that when you tell the people what you’re supposed to tell them, I don’t want you arguing with them. You won’t be able to defend yourself. You won’t be able to add fuel to the fire. You’ll say only what I tell you to say and you won’t be permitted to say anything else.
So whatever lessons Ezekiel needed to learn from that process, he has apparently learned them, because God lifts the restriction off of him right here as soon as news of Jerusalem’s fall is given. Keep in mind, in case you’re new here: Ezekiel is not prophesying from Jerusalem. He’s in Babylonian land. He was kidnapped and carried off, along with about 10,000 other Jews, and he’s been kept in captivity away from his homeland for the past several years. And now he’s just received word that his homeland was destroyed. So all these Jews who have been kept in captivity thought they had it rough; in reality, they’re now learning that they were the lucky ones.
So now it’s going to recap the reasons for Jerusalem’s fall, because God wants to make sure that these Jews in Babylon understand why God let his nation of Israel be destroyed.
V23-29, Standing on the Promises of God?
Ezekiel 33:23-24
23 The word of the Lord came to me: 24 “Son of man, the inhabitants of these waste places in the land of Israel keep saying, ‘Abraham was only one man, yet he got possession of the land; but we are many; the land is surely given us to possess.’
So this starts by pointing out a prideful statement that many of the people here believed: that since they were Jews, the promised land of Israel would always belong to them. So they say: Abraham was just one man, and God gave him the whole land of Israel. We are many many children of Abraham, much more than just one person; how much more should the land belong to us!
So it’s like, they haven’t learned anything. They can’t get it through their heads that they are under God’s judgment, even after God’s judgment has already fallen. The babylonians have ran through the land, ransacked it, burned Jerusalem, and still some Jews are looking around at each other like: “Well God promised that this belongs to us, so we’ve got to just believe God’s promises, regardless of what it appears like to our eyes.”
Now, that sounds very spiritual and faithful, and it’s great to have confidence in God; but sometimes our theology can be wrong, and we don’t realize it because we have too much confidence in ourselves. So hear me on this: 100% confidence in God is good. 100% confidence in your own understanding of God is bad.
Because we are faulty human beings, and we can get things wrong. We can even look at something that appears plain as can possibly be in the Bible and misunderstand it.
For example, let’s read God’s warning to Israel in
Leviticus 26:27-33
27 “But if in spite of this you will not listen to me, but walk contrary to me, 28 then I will walk contrary to you in fury, and I myself will discipline you sevenfold for your sins. 29 You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters. 30 And I will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars and cast your dead bodies upon the dead bodies of your idols, and my soul will abhor you. 31 And I will lay your cities waste and will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your pleasing aromas. 32 And I myself will devastate the land, so that your enemies who settle in it shall be appalled at it. 33 And I will scatter you among the nations, and I will unsheathe the sword after you, and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste.
Well that’s exactly what happened! God had told them hundreds of years before what was going to happen if they didn’t fulfill their side of the covenant. Leviticus 26 is a great cross reference chapter for this book because everything that God warned the people about in Leviticus 26 if they didn’t obey Him happened in the book of Ezekiel.
So yes, God made a promise to Abraham, but that promise came with conditions.
Good luck with name it and claim it! You can’t just name it and claim it when it comes to God’s promises. You need to go back and read the fine print. Review it and do it! Forget Name-it-and-claim-it. Review it and do it.
These Israelites had read and believed their Genesis, but they hadn’t read and believed the stipulations in Leviticus.
If you believe that God’s promises have entitled you to certain benefits or lifestyles- and then life doesn’t go the way you think it should- perhaps God hasn’t failed you, perhaps you’ve misunderstood what God expected. Maybe He wasn’t asking you to declare something in order for Him to fulfill that promise. Perhaps God hadn’t forgotten it and needed reminded. Perhaps God was waiting for you to do your part as well.
So back to Ezekiel 33, here is what the people had done to lose their land. They correctly understood that the land had been given to Abraham, but what was faulty in their understanding when it came to their own possession of the land? Because God would do His part, but they also had to do their part. They wanted the promise of Abraham, but they didn’t want to demonstrate the faith of Abraham. Here’s what they did instead:
Verses 25-29
25 Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord God: You eat flesh with the blood and lift up your eyes to your idols and shed blood; shall you then possess the land? 26 You rely on the sword, you commit abominations, and each of you defiles his neighbor's wife; shall you then possess the land? 27 Say this to them, Thus says the Lord God: As I live, surely those who are in the waste places shall fall by the sword, and whoever is in the open field I will give to the beasts to be devoured, and those who are in strongholds and in caves shall die by pestilence. 28 And I will make the land a desolation and a waste, and her proud might shall come to an end, and the mountains of Israel shall be so desolate that none will pass through. 29 Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I have made the land a desolation and a waste because of all their abominations that they have committed.
The fact is, God’s promises come with conditions. God will always keep His promises, but we have to satisfy the conditions for that promise. You have a part to do.
You can’t just claim God’s promises by faith and yet do whatever you want. Or we might say it this way: salvation is by faith, but activating God’s promises comes by works.
Here’s an example. We all like to quote that Satan is under our feet. That greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world.
But here is what Jesus said: You’ll have the power to tread on snakes and scorpions- He said this in reference to demonic entities. Yes, you are more powerful than them. But Jesus also said this: some will only come out with much prayer and fasting. So yes, it’s a promise of God that we can defeat Satan. But we won’t cast out every demon with faith alone. It takes some work. It takes some service. It takes some sacrifice if we’re going to win every battle. Some battles won’t be won without prayer and fasting.
It’s not about writing a bible verse on your bathroom mirror and quoting it to yourself every day and making yourself feel good with it. You can memorize and quote that Satan is under your feet all day long. But you also have to DO the things that Jesus told you to DO.
So next time you hear someone talking about declaring the promises of God, there’s nothing wrong with that. But you might have to go back and look again at what the promise actually says. Read the fine print.
Here’s a great promise:
II Corinthians 6:16 through 7:1
“I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
Oh, that’s a great promise, isn't it? God said this to Israel all the time throughout the Old Testament, and look here, God will say it to you as well. Such a beautiful promise from God. It’s going to say this is a promise from God in just a moment. God promises His presence. I want God’s prescreens in my life, how about you? But guess what: I can’t activate the promise of His presence by faith. I can’t. Faith is great. But I can’t activate that promise by faith. Here’s the condition:
17 Therefore go out from their midst,
and be separate from them, says the Lord,
and touch no unclean thing;
then I will welcome you,
18 and I will be a father to you,
and you shall be sons and daughters to me,
says the Lord Almighty.”
(Chapter 7 verse 1)
Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
It’s a promise. We have the promise. The promise of His presence. But I can’t get it just by declaring it. Like Michael Scott in The Office declaring bankruptcy. And he just walks into the middle of the room and says, “I declare bankruptcy.” And then someone comes to his office later and says, “You can’t declare bankruptcy just by saying the word “bankruptcy.” And he says, “I didn’t say it; I declared it.”
Well guess what: we can’t change anything just by declaring God’s promises. God’s promises don’t work like a buffet where you just freely take what you want. God’s promises are more like a vending machine. You have to put something in to get something out. You have to do something. If you want God’s presence, you have to cleanse yourself and fear the Lord.
V30-33, The Dangers of Popularity
We have just a few more verses left to cover today and then we’ll be done with this chapter. And this is going to be a warning to Ezekiel about being careful with popularity.
When the book of Ezekiel began, God told Ezekiel in chapters 2 and 3 to be prepared for unpopularity- to be prepared for everybody to be mad at him because of his prophecies.
But in this chapter, the people in Ezekiel’s town have just received word that Jerusalem was actually destroyed, and therefore, Ezekiel’s prophecies have come true. So now Ezekiel is suddenly going to have a lot of credibility with the people because of this. So now God is going to advise Ezekiel about how to handle it when people actually listen to him.
Ezekiel 33:30-33
30 “As for you, son of man, your people who talk together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, say to one another, each to his brother, ‘Come, and hear what the word is that comes from the Lord.’ 31 And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain. 32 And behold, you are to them like one who sings lustful songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say, but they will not do it. 33 When this comes—and come it will!—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”
So as verse 30 said, people are going to start paying close attention to Ezekiel’s words now. They’re going to flock to Ezekiel, saying, “Come, and hear what the word is that comes from the Lord.” Ezekiel’s going to be somewhat famous. Respected. It won’t be like before.
And yet, God says, don’t get carried away with that. Because God warns him that their attention on his words is superficial. They will listen to what he says with earnest attention- that’s what it means when it says they’ll see him as one who sings “lustful” songs in verse 32. They’ll desire his words- however, they won’t do what he says. “They hear what you say, but they will not do it.”
If people are so enraptured by Ezekiel’s words, why will they not do what he says? The answer is that their hearts have not been changed. They have a mental awareness or they acknowledge that Ezekiel is a genuine prophet. But they haven’t had the heart change yet that is necessary to truly follow God. Verse 31 there said, “their heart is set on their gain.”
They are still too prideful in heart to actually repent. Prior to Jerusalem being destroyed, they could hold out hope that Ezekiel was wrong, that the Israelites were going to rally together and come save these captives in Babylon. But now that word has been brought to the exiles that Jerusalem is no more, now they can admit the truth to themselves that God is punishing them because they’re sinners. That’s a necessary step. But they aren’t broken for their sins. They aren’t contrite in heart. Any admission of guilt on their part is just to try to get favor with Ezekiel and God. “Their heart is set on their gain.”
A few verses ago, they were pridefully declaring their ownership over the land of Israel. They really haven’t grasped the reality of their situation. They just want to do whatever they need to do to get their land back and go back home. So their attitude toward their sin is just, “Yeah, I messed up, what should I do to get back what I lost.” Their attitude should instead be, “Wow God, I’m a filthy sinner, I humble myself at your feet and accept whatever consequences you place on me.”
So God is warning Ezekiel, “Don’t get excited when people start paying more attention to you and hanging on your words. Because I want them to be DOERS of the Word and not hearers only.”
And by the way, that should be how we respond to God’s Word as well. I think I listen well at church. I am really great at taking notes in church. I can usually give you an outline of what the preacher talked about by the time any sermon that I listen to is over. So I’m great at listening. But that doesn’t automatically make me more virtuous. Virtue is when I DO the things that I HEAR about.
God wants us to listen. But you won’t know whether God has penetrated someone’s heart until action takes place in response.
And with that, we’ll call that a wrap on chapter 33 of Ezekiel. In just a moment, I’ll give some closing thoughts and tell you where we’re heading next time.
[end of chapter music]
Housekeeping/Mailbag
Next time on this podcast, we’ll start into chapter 34 of Ezekiel. This is a chapter about what it means to be a good pastor, using a shepherd analogy. So we’ll get into that next time. Make sure you’re subscribed so you can get it!
Ezekiel might not care about being popular…but I want your 5-star reviews.
[Mailbag response in response to a recent episode about faith and works. Kim: Yep, I was really interested to learn that as well. It really put some pieces together for me that made me understand my bible a little better.]
Closing Thoughts
We talked about Ezekiel. We talked about Zechariah. But there was another guy who didn’t speak in the Bible except what God allowed Him too speak.
But first, think about this: for 7 years, Ezekiel said nothing except what God would let him say. That sounds tough, especially when you’re at the Drive Thru in Chick-Fil-A. You are not getting that cookies and cream shake unless God wants you to have it! I don’t know how Ezekiel got through all those drive thru lanes during those 7 years because you gotta remember: they didn’t have Door Dash back then, so he couldn’t just use an app. He had to order his waffle fries the old fashioned way.
Let me get back to my point. That would’ve been a tough 7 years. But there was someone else in the Bible who did it longer: try 33 years. That’s right, I’m talking about Jesus.
Jesus said in John 12:49
For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak.
And Jesus makes similar comments in other places as well. He said He only speaks what He hears the Father saying.
Can you imagine living your life that way? If we only spoke what God approved of us saying? I imagine most of us would say a lot less. I imagine a lot of us would choose our words a lot more carefully. I imagine we wouldn’t get ourselves in so much trouble if we only spoke as we felt led to speak by the Holy Spirit.
Now, we can debate how literal Jesus was being right there, or if it only applied to what he was saying in John 12 or if He lived that way all His life. It’s a little unclear if he meant that as a general rule for Himself. But at the very least, we can conclude that Jesus lived in such a way that He knew how to keep His mouth shut.
And that’s a skill a lot of us would be wise to practice more often. If we could only speak when God allowed us to speak, for some of us, that would cause a lot of grief. But for all of us, it would spare a lot of grief.
I think a lot of us should have a time in our prayers where we just hit mute on ourselves for a little bit and give God a chance to speak to us.
Psalm 46:10 says
Be still, and know that I am God
That means take a little time every now and then to just quiet your thoughts and quiet your mind and be still. And that takes discipline. It takes discipline to sit still and wait on the Lord. But this is how you come to know Him more deeply. Just about every time God speaks to me is when I’m willing to give Him a little of my day and stop doing what I do and just sit and listen for Him.
Hit mute and know God.
I’m not sure if Jesus meant He literally never spoke any word unless God let Him. But I do know that Jesus could hit mute when He needed to. He hit mute when it mattered most.
On the way to the cross, he opened not his mouth.
Isaiah 53 says
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
Why is that significant? Because if Jesus wanted to avoid the pain and suffering of the cross, all He had to do was open His mouth and defend Himself. All He had to do was say He’s not a blasphemer, that these charges were false.
Mark 15:3-5
3 And the chief priests accused him of many things. 4 And Pilate again asked him, “Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you.” 5 But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.
Why did He do that? Why not answer? Because if Jesus did answer, He could have proved Himself innocent, avoided the cross, and then we would have no sacrifices for our sins, and you and I would go to hell.
So instead, He opened not His mouth, even when it cost Him dearly, because He wanted to follow God’s will.
May we learn to have that same control over our mouths.
Thanks for listening to this Cross References Bible Study on the Book of Ezekiel. This has been Luke Taylor, and I hope the Bible makes more sense to you after this episode.