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Ezekiel, part 12, Restraints and Silence

When a watchman gives warning, he/she should keep in mind the principle in Ephesians 4:15,

¹⁵ But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ.

There is a right way and a wrong way to fulfill a watchman’s duty. Many turn truth into a weapon as they hurl it at assumed enemies. In doing so, they tend to curse the deaf and turn truth into a stumbling block in front of the blind. Some think that a prophet’s calling means having the ministry of criticism or a ministry of threats. In so doing, they discredit themselves, and when no one believes their word, they identify with the prophets whose word was often rejected.

I recall a word from the Lord many years ago, where He told me how to warn others or bring correction of some kind. I was not to come with an accusation but humbly with an apology, identifying myself not as a righteous judge but as a fellow imperfect man who has often failed to hear or obey the word of the Lord. I took this admonition very seriously.

In addition, I learned not to think of anyone as an implacable enemy but as a future believer. This mindset is difficult for those who believe that God will destroy all who oppose Him and cast them into a never-ending torture pit. But for those who understand the gospel and have the ministry of reconciliation, believing that God is able to overcome all opposition by turning His enemies into friends, it is easier to see that God’s enemies are temporarily blind and deaf.

In other words, a watchman is not only responsible to convey warning according to the word of God but to speak the truth in love. This is much easier if one has eaten and assimilated the scroll of God’s plan to reconcile all things, whether they be in heaven or in earth (Colossians 1:16-20).

Immortal Life in the Law

Ezekiel 3:21 says,

²¹ However, if you have warned the righteous man that the righteous should not sin and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; and you have delivered yourself.

The terms “live” and “life” in the Old Testament are interpreted in the New Testament as immortal life—not merely as one’s current mortal life. The law says in Leviticus 18:5,

⁵ So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them….

In Luke 10:25, a lawyer asks Jesus what he must do to “inherit eternal life.” Jesus directs him to the law. After the lawyer cites the commands to love God and one’s neighbor, Jesus answers in Luke 10:28, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.”

Jesus’ wording echoes Leviticus 18:5. Because the question explicitly concerns eternal life, “you will live” carries that meaning in this exchange.

Again, Paul explicitly cites the law’s promise in Romans 10:5,

⁵ For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness.

Here, the law’s promise of life enters Paul’s discussion of salvation through the risen Christ. The broader context identifies the ultimate life in view: God will give immortal life to believers’ mortal bodies (Romans 8:11). Paul is not saying that sinners successfully attain immortality through law-keeping. He explains how the promise is fulfilled through Christ.

In Galatians 3:12, Paul again quotes Leviticus 18:5, saying, “He who practices them shall live by them.” He then explains that Christ redeemed us from the law’s curse (judgment for sin) so that the blessing of Abraham might come to the nations and we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

A Renewed Encounter with the Glory

Ezekiel 3:22–27 shows that the watchman’s commission includes both speaking and silence. Ezekiel must warn the people, but he must do so under God’s direction, at the time and with the words God gives him. The hand of the Lord comes upon Ezekiel, and God directs him to go out to the plain, where He will speak with him. There Ezekiel sees the same divine glory he had seen beside the river Chebar, and he again falls on his face.

Ezekiel 3:22, 23 says,

²² The hand of the Lord was on me there, and He said to me, “Get up, go out to the plain, and there I will speak to you.” ²³ So I got up and went out to the plain; and behold, the glory of the Lord was standing there, like the glory which I saw by the river Chebar, and I fell on my face.

The repeated vision confirms the source of his commission. The following instructions come from the One enthroned above the living creatures. There is a significant movement between settings. God has met Ezekiel beside the river, among the exiles, and now on the plain. His presence is not confined to Jerusalem’s temple. He can reveal His glory and speak to His servant in the land of captivity.

Ezekiel 3:24 continues,

²⁴ The Spirit then entered me and made me stand on my feet, and He spoke with me and said to me, “Go, shut yourself up in your house.”

The Spirit raises him, then commands confinement. As in Ezekiel 2:2, the Spirit enters Ezekiel and sets him on his feet. The command may appear surprising immediately after his appointment as a watchman. Yet the commission does not give Ezekiel unrestricted freedom to act. There is a time to hear in order to know what to speak.

The Restraints

Ezekiel 3:25 continues,

²⁵ “As for you, son of man, they will put ropes on you and bind you with them so that you cannot go out among them.”

God tells Ezekiel that ropes will be placed upon him so that he cannot go out among the people. The verse does not identify precisely who applies these restraints or explain their physical circumstances. Yet the immediate emphasis is clear: Ezekiel’s freedom of movement will be restricted. This prepares us for the bodily restrictions associated with his symbolic enactments, including the ropes mentioned later in Ezekiel 4:8.

God declares in Ezekiel 3:26,

²⁶ “Moreover, I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be mute and cannot be a man who rebukes them, for they are a rebellious house.”

Ezekiel will be unable to function freely as a watchman among these rebellious people. The restriction is imposed by God, making the silence itself part of the judgment. Earlier, Ezekiel was warned that withholding God’s warning would bring accountability upon him. Here, however, God commands the restriction. There is a difference between refusing to speak when God commands and remaining silent because God has restrained speech.

The people’s rejection has consequences for their access to prophetic correction. God does not withdraw His word entirely, but He certainly imposes deafness and blindness upon those who have already rejected His word. That is a theme best developed by Isaiah. The clearest passages are Isaiah 6:9–10; 29:9–18; 42:18–20; and 43:8.

Isaiah 29:9-18 is perhaps the most striking example of this. After giving the prophet a vision of Jerusalem’s destruction in Isaiah 29:1-8, He tells the prophet that He has blinded the eyes of the prophets and seers. Ezekiel 29:9, 10 says,

⁹ Be delayed and wail; blind yourselves and be blind; they become drunk, but not with wine, they stagger, but not with strong drink. ¹⁰ For the Lord has poured over you a spirit of deep sleep. He has shut your eyes, the prophets, and He has covered your heads, the seers.

The people refused to believe that God would destroy Jerusalem and His temple. Their rejection of Isaiah’s prophecy blinded themselves to the truth. For this reason, God put a sack over the heads of the seers, preventing them from seeing or understanding this vision. This blindness continues even to the present day in the church. We too experience the restraint in spite of our warnings, because few actually hear (or read) any teaching on Isaiah 29.

Ezekiel 3:27 says,

²⁷ “But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth, and you will say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ He who hears, let him hear; and he who refuses to hear, let him refuse, for they are a rebellious house.”

God reserves the authority to open his mouth for the messages He gives. This makes Ezekiel’s dependence especially visible. His hearers encounter a messenger whose speech is governed by the divine commission. Later, Ezekiel 24:25–27 anticipates the ending of this restriction, and Ezekiel 33:21–22 records his mouth being opened after the news of Jerusalem’s fall arrives.

The closing words distinguish the hearer who receives the message from the one who refuses it. They do not make obedience optional in the sense of being without consequence. They emphasize the hearers’ responsibility. Ezekiel must deliver the word, and they must answer for their response.

For the governmental theme we have been tracing, the watchman’s authority remains subject to the throne in both speech and silence. He must resist pressure to suppress God’s word, while also resisting the impulse to speak beyond what God has entrusted to him.