PHIL HARRIS | Seeker of Truth |
Introduction
In the previous chapter it has been established that Ezekiel is a Levitical priest and that he is having a vision of God. This means he has both the opportunity and obligation to speak for God. In this chapter we learn that he is personally commissioned by God to do this.
These rebellious people (Israel) are unwilling to repent of their sins and are being lied to by false prophets. These false messengers are telling them that they will soon return to their homeland. However, they have already been told by the prophet Jeremiah that it would be 70 years before a remnant of them will be allowed to return.
Since Ezekiel is having a vision, he is awake while receiving these instructions from the Lord. However, as will see, this is much more than an ordinary vision because he will be given a literal scroll and commanded to literally eat the words of “lamentation and mourning and woe”.
Finally, after the commentary of the this chapter has been completed, we will take a parenthetic break to focus on the meaning and use of the word “remnant”. According to Scripture, who and only whom does God call his remnant people?
Ezekiel Is Given His Calling
In Ezekiel 1:28, at the moment Ezekiel realized he was on holy ground, he had fallen on his face. The LORD (Strong’s H3068 Jehovah “the existing One”) now speaks to him:
And he said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.” And as he spoke to me, the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me.—Ezekiel 2:1-2
Before he has a chance to respond, the Spirit of God enters into him and raises him to his feet. He is addressed as “son of man” by the LORD which appears to be a reference to his being in the line of Adam.
Since the Spirit of God has entered into Ezekiel, he now has the power of God within him to withstand anything this apostate people may threaten to do to him.
And he said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day.The descendants also are impudent and stubborn: I send you to them, and you shall say to them, “Thus says the Lord GOD.”— Ezekiel 2:3-4
Interestingly, the NASB95 renders verse three this way:
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.”—Ezekiel 2:3 NASB95
God normally refers to Israel as “my people Israel” whereas “nations” would be “gentile nations”. Instead this appears to be a reference to all of Israel, the already-exiled northern kingdom and the southern kingdom of Judah that was under siege and exile when Ezekiel received his vision. The northern kingdom of Israel had already gone into Assyrian exile and had become assimilated into the local people where they were taken. Judah was being taken to Babylon, and some of Judah was exiled to Egypt.
Ezekiel is called “son of man” many times in this book, referring to his humanity. What God is saying is that, with God directing what he says and does, he has nothing to fear. He is to say to rebellious Israel that God has sent him, and his message is God’s message.
Ezekiel would most certainly have known and heard the preaching of the prophet Jeremiah along with witnessing the ongoing rebellion of the people who refused to repent of their sins. What must have been a surprise is that God has now chosen him to carry on from where Jeremiah had left off here on the Chebar canal outside the city of Babylon.
Jeremiah had prophesied that Judah would be in bondage for 70 years before any of them would be allowed to return to their homeland. Most would die in exile whereas the false prophets were still telling lies and giving them false hope.
And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them.—Ezekiel 2:5
At the very least, the Lord promised Ezekiel that this “rebellious house” would know a true prophet had been among them. Even if they refused to repent and believe, they would know that God had spoken to them. Even when God’s people are being disciplined, no-one can go beyond God’s protection and will. He remains faithful. What Paul assures the church is the truth of God’s faithfulness even to Israel:
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?—Romans 8:31
God’s Instructions for Israel
And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions. Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.—Ezekiel 2:6
Ezekiel is commanded not to be afraid of them nor their words because they are in rebellion against God, which is the reason they are in captivity in a foreign land. He is not to fear their haughty looks nor any of the ways they may threaten to harm him.
And you shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house. “But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Be not rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you.”—Ezekiel 2:7-8
Ezekiel is not to rebel at becoming the Lord’s mouthpiece. The Lord is warning Ezekiel it won’t be an easy job; the rebellious people will likely rebel against him and his message because they are rebelling against God. Then he is told to open his mouth and eat what the Lord God gives him.
And when I looked, behold, a hand was stretched out to me, and behold, a scroll of a book was in it.And he spread it before me. And it had writing on the front and on the back, and there were written on it words of lamentation and mourning and woe.—Ezekiel 2:9-10
The Lord gave Ezekiel the essence of His message for Israel. Ezekiel had to internalize the lamentation and mourning and woe that God’s people were experiencing. He couldn’t be a messenger on the side looking on. He had to internalize Gods judgment of His people—and he had to deliver that message. The next chapter records Ezekiel’s response.
God’s Remnant People
The word “remnant” in Scripture can have various applications or meaning. However when it comes to people it can only be referring to the remnant of Israel who in faith accept God’s word and will and repent of their sin; ultimately, the remnant of Israel will be those who confess Jesus Christ as their Messiah.
God’s remnant people of Israel is mentioned numerous places in the book of Ezekiel:
“However, I will leave a remnant, for you will have those who escaped the sword among the nations when you are scattered among the lands.Then those of you who escape will remember Me among the nations to which they will be carried captive, how I have been broken over their adulterous hearts which turned away from Me, and by their eyes which played the harlot after their idols; and they will loathe themselves to their own faces for the evils which they have done, for all their abominations.Then they will know that I am Yahweh; I have not said in vain that I would do this calamitous evil against them.”’—Ezekiel 6:8-10 LSB
With reference to the promised Messiah, the prophet Isaiah said this to these rebellious people who were carried away to Babylon:
In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.For though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness.For the Lord GOD of hosts will make a full end, as decreed, in the midst of all the earth.—Isaiah 10:20-23
In the history of Israel there has always been a remnant who repent of their wickedness and in faith surrender their lives to God.
Contrasted to this we have the false claims of Seventh-day Adventism. They called themselves “the remnant church” meaning they believe they are the true church who have replaced and inherit all the promises that were given to Israel. For example, you see this when you consider Revelation chapter 7 and learn they believe the 144,000 are Adventist evangelists, and with this idea in mind, we see their strange interpretation of Revelation chapter 14 where Adventists are interpreted to be the “three angels” who carry God’s last-day message to the world. .
Here is what the Apostle Paul has to say concerning who is God’s remnant people:
I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel?“Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.”But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. (Rom. 11:1-5)
Paul clearly tells us that the biblical remnant of God is made up of Israelites who trust God and embrace the Lord. In any court of law, earthly or heavenly, the verdict is that Seventh-day Adventism is a false organization teaching a false gospel with no claim to being a remnant of anything promised in Scripture.
Summary
- In the first chapter we learn that Ezekiel is a Levitical priest who is now old enough to begin serving in the temple in Jerusalem. Instead of commencing priestly duties, however, he is one of the captives who have been taken to the Chebar canal outside of the city of Babylon.
- In vision Ezekiel sees the Lord God and then realizes that he is standing on holy ground and falls on his face. In this chapter the Spirit sets him back on his feet.
- Not being in Jerusalem, Ezekiel has no temple to function in as a priest. Instead, God has a unique mission for Ezekiel which is the subject of this chapter. In context we should keep in mind that he is following in the footsteps of the prophet Jeremiah who was preaching and warning an unrepentant and rebellious people.
- The Lord tells Ezekiel that regardless of how these rebellious people will respond to him, they will know a prophet has been among them with the warning to not be rebellious like they are.
- Then Ezekiel is shown by the Lord a scroll that has words of “lamentation and mourning and woe” recorded on it. In the next chapter we will learn that he is told to eat this scroll.
- The subject of the remnant comes up numerous times in the book of Ezekiel along with many other places in Scripture making it clear that the Seventh-day Adventist claim to being God’s remnant church with the blatant intent to replace the eternal promises given only to the people of Israel—is a false claim. In Ezekiel’s time there would be a remnant few who would repent and be ready to return to Jerusalem at the end of 70 years as promised by Jeremiah.
—All references unless otherwise stated are taken from the ESV.
- Ezekiel 2: Lamentations and Mourning and Woe - February 5, 2026
- Ezekiel 1: The Radiance of the Glory of God - December 11, 2025
- Daniel 12: In the Last Days—Abomination of Desolation - October 9, 2025