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Ezekiel, part 7, The Commission

Ezekiel 2 moves from the revelation of God’s glory to the commissioning of His prophet. Ezekiel 2:1, 2 says,

¹ Then He said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet that I may speak with you!” ² As He spoke to me, the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet; and I heard Him speaking to me.

Ezekiel has fallen on his face before the throne (1:28). God now commands him to stand, and the Spirit supplies the ability to obey.

“Son of man” first identifies Ezekiel as a human being. The Hebrew expression is ben-ʾadam, literally “son of man” or “son of Adam.” In this setting, it emphasizes the contrast between the mortal prophet and the glorious One addressing him. Ezekiel belongs to Adam’s race, and as a descendant of Adam, he inherits at least a portion of Adam’s original call to rule and be fruitful. After Adam sinned, a descendant (inheritor) of Adam was required to undo the resulting chaos and to restore creation.

The address is therefore a messianic title whenever it occurs, but here it addresses Ezekiel himself as a type of Christ. Ezekiel’s calling as “Son of man” was to prophesy and declare the restoration of Israel from its current state of rebellion to full agreement with the mind of God. Its use contributes to a broader biblical pattern that reaches its fullest expression in Christ.

The Spirit Enables Ezekiel to Stand

Verse 2 explains how the command is fulfilled: “the Spirit entered me.” The command and the enabling come together. This suggests a New Covenant calling. Recall that the Old Covenant did not enable the people to fulfill their vow of obedience; hence, it was designed to fail and to expose man’s inability. But here God tells Ezekiel to stand, and the Spirit enters him and sets him upright. God supplies the power to fulfill the calling He gives. That is a New Covenant pattern.

The sequence is also significant: the Spirit sets him on his feet, and he hears God speaking. Before being sent to speak, he must receive the word. Standing here expresses readiness to hear and serve, following the humility expressed by falling on his face.

From Adam’s Son to the Messianic Son of Man

Three passages help explain how the expression acquires its messianic significance. (1) In Psalm 8:4-6, “Man” and “the son of man” describe humanity, whom God appoints to exercise dominion over His works. (2) In Daniel 7:13, 14, One “like a Son of Man” comes with heaven’s clouds and receives dominion and a never-ending kingdom. (3) In Hebrews 2:6-9, the human calling finds its fulfillment in Jesus, who suffers death and is crowned with glory and honor.

Jesus explicitly applies this imagery to Himself in Mark 14:62, while answering Caiaphas:

⁶² And Jesus said, “I am, and you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.”

Ezekiel is a son of Adam who receives the Spirit and is sent to speak God’s words to a rebellious people. In that respect, his commission supplies a pattern that Christ fulfills perfectly: Jesus receives the Spirit, speaks the Father’s words, and faithfully carries out His mission despite rejection.

There is also a striking connection with the preceding vision. Ezekiel sees a human likeness upon the throne and then hears himself addressed as “son of man.” As a theological reading, this links humanity’s earthly service with the heavenly government it was created to represent. Ezekiel serves beneath that throne; Christ, the last Adam, fulfills humanity’s calling and reigns in full subjection to the Father (1 Corinthians 15:27, 28).

Thus, “son of man” humbles Ezekiel by identifying his humanity, while the Spirit’s entrance equips him to represent God. In Jesus, the Son of Man, the Adamic vocation reaches its fulfillment, and the faithful Man receives everlasting dominion. As a type of Christ, Ezekiel’s calling is largely limited to the restoration of Israel, while the greater calling of Christ Himself includes the restoration of creation itself (Colossians 1:16-20).

The Prophet’s Calling

Ezekiel 2:3-5 says,

³ Then He said to me, “Son of man, I am sending you to the sons of Israel, to a rebellious people who have rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day. ⁴ I am sending you to them who are stubborn and obstinate children, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ ⁵ As for them, whether they listen or not—for they are a rebellious house—they will know that a prophet has been among them.”

Ezekiel 2:3–5 defines the prophet’s commission: God sends him to a rebellious people, authorizes him to speak His words, and makes faithfulness—not the people’s response—the measure of his ministry. Having raised Ezekiel to his feet by the Spirit, God now sends him to the united tribes of Israel. The authority of the prophet rests upon this divine commission. Ezekiel does not appoint himself.

The rebellion of Israel and Judah is first of all against God. Their eventual resistance to Ezekiel must be understood in that light. The prophet will encounter opposition because he carries the word of the One they have resisted. Although Ezekiel lives among the Judahite exiles, God calls his audience “the sons of Israel.” The name recalls their covenant identity and responsibility. Their descent from Israel does not exempt them from judgment; it makes their unfaithfulness especially serious.

The reference to rebellion continuing from their fathers “to this very day” shows an established pattern. The present generation is not merely blamed for its ancestors’ conduct. They continue the same rebellion themselves. Ezekiel 18 will clarify that each generation is accountable for its own response to God.

Stubborn Faces and Hardened Hearts

God describes them as “stubborn and obstinate children.” The Hebrew imagery concerns hardness of face and hardness of heart. The face expresses their outward defiance; the heart identifies the inward resistance from which it proceeds. This points back to the law in Deuteronomy 21:18-21,

¹⁸ If any man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father or his mother, and when they chastise him, he will not even listen to them, ¹⁹ then his father and mother shall seize him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gateway of his hometown. ²⁰ They shall say [i.e., bring their accusations and evidence to be examined] to the elders of his city, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey us, he is a glutton and a drunkard.” ²¹ Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death; so you shall remove the evil from your midst, and all Israel will hear of it and fear.

Israel was said to be God’s son, first to Moses (Exodus 4:22) and later in Hosea 11:1. Both Hosea and Ezekiel accuse Israel of rebellion, even after generations of lesser punishments, including the many captivities recorded in the book of Judges. Those wooden yoke captivities resulted in temporary repentance, but the stubborn rebelliousness soon continued. Finally, both Israel and Judah, as national entities, were executed and the people exiled.

This death sentence is described later in Ezekiel 37:1-10, which pictured Israel in a valley of dry bones. The prophet’s calling was to declare restoration in Ezekiel 37:9-14. Yet this was to be fulfilled in the distant future.

Repentance and Restoration

The hardened heart of Israel in Ezekiel 2:4 explains why prophetic instruction alone will encounter resistance. The promised remedy reaches inward: God must change the heart so that His people become willing to walk in His ways. So Ezekiel 36:26 says,

²⁶ Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

In that this is a promise of God, based upon His will, it is part of the New Covenant, rather than the Old Covenant. This does not mean God will restore Israel apart from their repentance; instead, it shows that repentance is something that God will inspire so they can be restored. This is important, because many today attempt to apply this promise to the so-called restoration of the Zionist nation in 1948. The Zionists, however, did not repent, did not accept Christ or His New Covenant, and did not receive "a new heart" or "a new spirit." Their hearts are as hard as they were in the days of Ezekiel. Furthermore, Israel and Judah have yet to be reunited under "David." Hence, the prophecy was not fulfilled in 1948 in the state that men call "Israel."

God does not promise Ezekiel an immediately receptive audience: “Whether they listen or not … they will know that a prophet has been among them” (Ezekiel 2:5). Rejection does not invalidate a genuine commission. At the same time, opposition by itself does not prove that someone is a prophet. Ezekiel’s authority comes from God’s actual sending Him with His word, not from the fact that people oppose him.

The statement that they will know a prophet has been among them points toward the vindication of God’s word. As His warnings unfold, they will recognize that Ezekiel’s message was more than personal opinion. Recognition, however, does not necessarily mean repentance.

For Kingdom administration, these verses establish a demanding principle: God’s representative must remain faithful to His word without making the audience’s approval the condition of obedience. Ezekiel is responsible to deliver the message; his hearers are responsible for how they receive it.