Eat Your Words

Read: Ezekiel 2:1–3:15

Son of man, let all my words sink deep into your own heart first. Listen to them carefully for yourself. Ezekiel 3:10

IN WORD

A biblical prophet is more than an oracle giver. Many religions have “seers,” people who can discern a message from a supernatural source and tell it to someone else. But when God calls a person, He usually gives that person more than an oracle. He makes him wear the message, intertwining the prophetic word and the prophet himself.

Such was the case with Ezekiel. Throughout his prophecy, we read of Ezekiel performing bizarre, visual illustrations of God’s word to the captives. In the story of his call, he is told to eat the scroll of God as a visual demonstration that the Almighty’s words would dwell within him. Ezekiel’s name means “God strengthens.” Truly the message and the messenger were one and the same.

That has always been God’s way. Abraham didn’t have a message about faith, he was a man of faith. David didn’t just write about worship, he was a worshiper. Elijah didn’t just say “the Lord is God,” he lived that message and even bore the message as his name. And Jesus, as we know, isn’t just a message about salvation; He is salvation. With God’s people, message and messenger are fully united.

IN DEED

Can you say that about your life? Is your message consistent with who you are as a messenger? Does the deep work that God has done in your heart show up in who you are outwardly?

God told Ezekiel to “listen carefully and take to heart” the words given to him to speak to the exiles (NIV). They weren’t simply to be repeated, they were to be lived. And perhaps more than any other prophet, Ezekiel lived his message. We have no hint that he was lukewarm about anything he said; in fact, just the opposite. He suffered enormous ridicule and objection as a representative of God. Why? Because a representative of God is more than a speaker. He embodies the Word itself.

ADDITIONAL READING: Revelation 10:8-11

We are the Bibles the world is reading.

BILLY GRAHAM