Sign-witnesses must bear great burdens
Son of man, eat your bread with shaking, and drink water with trembling
and with tearfulness. - 12: 18Ezekiel's prophetical ministry carried a
great burden with it. He was not left to bear only the burdens of his
own family; he had to carry the burden of the entire nation. You must
here the true picture: the last king of his race was sitting upon the
throne of David, the man after God's own heart. And this king,
Zedekiah, was not after God's own heart. The fall of Zedekiah would
mean the ultimate failure of theKingdom of Israel until the Messiah would come. The glory had already gone from the Temple, and now the glory was about to leave the royal house. Zedekiah would be driven from Jerusalem
into exile and would die there. The words which Hosea had prophesied
were about to be fulfilled: Where is now thy king, that he may save
thee in all thy cities? And thy judges of whom thou saidest. Give me a
king and princes? I have given thee a king in Mine anger and have taken
him away in my wrath. - Hosea 13: 10, 11. This prophecy lay heavily on
the heart of Ezekiel. Every circumstance and humiliation, which should
attend the flight of the king, the prophet himself must first suffer.
He even had to cover his face in order not to see the ground with his
eyes, since Zedekiah's own eyes were to be put out. The prophet could
foresee that which was later described by Jeremiah: And the king ofBabylon put out the eyes of Zedekiah: and the king of Babylon bound him in chains, and carried him to Babylon and put him into prison until the day of his death. - Jer. 52:10, 11.
So today, sign-witnesses must carry the heavy burden for a decadent church and a lost world.
Oh, for a heart that is burdened,
Infused with a passion to pray;
Oh, for a stirring within me,
Oh, for His power each day!
Sign-witnesses cannot divorce themselves from their message
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 was written within and on the back. And there were written in it words of lamentation and mourning and woe. He said to me. Son of man, eat what you find in this book; eat this scroll, then go and speak to the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and He caused me to eat the scroll. And He said to me. Son of man, eat this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it. Then I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. - Ezekiel 2: 9-3: 3. Politicians may disassociate themselves from their message, but prophets, never! They and their message are one. Ezekiel was bidden to eat the message he had to deliver so that it became a very part of him. The prophetical ministry is not something one can "take up", but it is something he is. If you are a sign-witness, then you are the message of God and you will live out this message in your daily life.
A sign-witness is a living illustration of the very message he delivers. Now God wants you, my brother and sister, to be sign- witnesses for Him in your village, town, city, and nation. Sign-witnesses are desperately needed everywhere throughout the world today. Are you willing right now, this very moment as you read this message, to pay the price for this prophetic ministry? Yes, it will cost you something, but through your tears there will be the hallelujah-shoutings as the glory of God rests upon your ministry.
You will notice the preparation of Ezekiel for becoming a sign-witness. Like John on the Isle of Patmos, he fell on his face at the revelation of the glory of the Lord and the majesty of the Voice that spake. It is only when we lie as broken vessels before God that we can receive a commission from Him. It is only when we feel and know our utter nothingness that God will say to us, "Stand upon thy feet and I will speak unto thee." (2: 1) After the Holy Spirit entered into Ezekiel, he received his commission to be a prophet of God among a rebellious and stiff-hearted people. Finally, Ezekiel had to digest the message of God. The messenger of God must first inwardly appropriate God's truth, himself, before he speaks it to others. He must accept and feed upon the Word, finding nourishment from the knowledge of God's ways, however mysterious they might appear to him. Ezekiel bowed before the Word of God without criticizing it. In preparing us to be His messengers. God is going to make the prophecy a living thing that has taken place in us. Then when we speak we are only making known something we ourselves have already experienced. As in the case of Ezekiel, God may lead you in strange and deep ways in order to accomplish His purpose, stopping at nothing and touching everything. The vessel thus wrought upon then becomes the living oracle of Jehovah. ONLY A PROPHET WHO HAS LEARNED IN SUCH A SCHOOL CAN CONVEY GOD'S MESSAGE. Oh, my brother and sister, it is a sin against immortal souls to attempt to pass on undigested truths to others. The people do not come to hear what you say; they come to see what you have to teach. Yea, they come to see what you are; to see the vessel God has so wrought upon that He can speak through him. Oh Lord, make us true sign-witnesses for Thy glory!
This is copyrighted material from James Stewart's book Come O Breath!, available from Revival Literature, PO Box 6068, Asheville, NC 28816.
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