Ezekiel 3:16-21
At the end of seven days
The seven days here refer to the verse before this one, that tells us that Ezekiel went from the dazzling vision he had back to the people in exile, and sat among them for seven days--deeply distressed.
The word of the Lord came to me: "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to a wicked person, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. But if you do warn the wicked person and they do not turn from their wickedness or from their evil ways, they will die for their sin; but you will have saved yourself (from accountability).
Again, when a righteous person turns from their righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before them (to perhaps turn them around but they don't), they will die. Since you did not warn them, they will die for their sin. The righteous things that person did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. But if you do warn the righteous person not to sin and they do not sin, they will surely live, because they took warning, and you will have saved yourself (from accountability)."
Now we see an instruction to Ezekiel that we can take as a principle that applies to our lives as Christians: We are also watchmen to our families and neighbors, to live our lives as examples of how God's ways work and bring strength, discernment, and prosperity in every way. When we are living these triumphant lives, others will ask us how we can do it, and we need to be prepared to answer them with the Gospel. We need to tell them God's Truth from His Word, whether to turn the wicked person from his ways or to remind the righteous person of that right way to continue to go.
God prepared Ezekiel for the hard message he was to deliver by having him "eat" or ingest the sorrow and heartbreak God felt for His people who Ezekiel was being sent to preach to. And we need also to realize how God's heart breaks for all the people who are muddling and stumbling through life, not knowing God or how much He loves each of us and has already met all our needs.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
