Yahweh tells Ezekiel of his role as Israel's watchman, to turn the wicked from his way, since Yahweh has no pleasure in the destruction of the wicked. Then he tells Ezekiel:
"And you, son of man, say to your people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him when he transgresses, and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall by it when he turns from his wickedness, and the righteous shall not be able to live by his righteousness when he sins. Though I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, yet if he trusts in his righteousness and does injustice, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered . . ."
--Ezekiel 33:12-13
It seems many of the Jews of Paul's day, with whom he was in dialogue and by whom he was flogged five times, extracted passages like Lev. 18:5 and some passages from Deuteronomy and left behind passages like this one.
Notice the imagery of Ezekiel with the creatures with four faces...Face of a Man, Lion, Eagle, and Ox. These are the four faces of the Gospel...
ReplyDeleteLion - A King - Gospel of Matthew
Ox - A Servant - Gospel of Mark
Man - Humanity - Gospel of Luke
Eagle - Diety - Gospel of John.
Also notice that Ezekiel is charged with getting this message out and the blood of those who do not hear it will be on Ezekiels hands is he dosen't share the message.
Ezekiel foreshadows our roles as Christians today. Get the word out...Notice how it also states in Ezekeil that God is sending him to his own people...if he sent him to a land of forieng tongues...they would listen.
We should be brave with the Gospel...and share the good news that we know.