Ezekiel - Lesson 3

Lesson number three. In the service of the king of kings, Ezekiel's ordination commission, Ezekiel 1, 28b, 2, 3, 11. As we saw in the previous lecture on Ezekiel's ordination vision, the book of Ezekiel opens with an overwhelming encounter with a transcendent glory and holiness of Yahweh and introduces us to his unlimited sovereignty, so that Yahweh could invade Marduk's space in Babylon and appear to Ezekiel by the river Kibar. But this was only the first phase of his divine ordination to priesthood over the exiles from Judah. What follows in chapters 2 and 3 are the second and third phases of that ordination. Here our concern is chapter 1, verse 28b, the second part, to chapter 3, verse 11. This section recounts the Lord's commissioning of his prophetic priest. This section divides into four parts. There's a preamble to Ezekiel's commission, 1, 28b, to 2, 2. Then the Lord's first commissioning speech, 2, 3, to 7. Then the prophet's visionary swallowing of the scroll, 2, 8, to 3, 3. And then the Lord's second commissioning speech, 3, 3, to 11. In our exposition of this text, I propose to examine Ezekiel's commissioning by asking four questions. First, what sort of person did Yahweh call to prophetic and priestly service here? Second, to what sort of mission did Yahweh commission Ezekiel? Third, who would be Ezekiel's audience? And four, what resources did Yahweh give his agent to perform his vocational duties? When we've answered these questions, we will not only understand this prophetic priest better, but we will also gain an understanding for the call of God on our own lives. So let's begin. Ezekiel, an unlikely candidate for divine service. How does God call people into his service? And why does God call certain people and not others? Well, here we must distinguish between a call in normal circumstances and a call, his call, in abnormal circumstances. In the Scriptures, God called people into his service in a variety of ways. Some of these were quite exceptional. In Exodus to Numbers, the Lord set apart the Levites as a tribe to carry the ark of a covenant, to stand before him, to serve him, and to bless the people in his name. That's Deuteronomy 10.8. But these were not the only people called or who served the Lord. Some exercised leadership on his behalf by virtue of their position as in heads of households, elders in the town, or by virtue of their maturity and demonstrated giftedness, counselors, generals, scribes. While some of these institutions do not apply to the church, it strikes me that Acts 13.1-3 provides a picture of the normal process of the call of God to his ministers in a healthy church climate. Here's Acts 13.1-3. Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers. Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manan, a lifelong friend of Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off. That's normal. Unfortunately, in ancient Israel, in part because things were rarely normal, we find many fascinating accounts of people being called into the ministry. We tend to think of candidates for divine service to be men and women of exceptional spiritual and character. More often than not, they are called out of evil environments without any prior hint that they were any different from the rest of the population. Look at Abraham called from Ur of the Chaldees, Moses, many of the judges, and in the New Testament, the apostle Paul whom God arrested while he was heading to Damascus to persecute followers of Jesus. Ezekiel's case bears a closer resemblance to Paul's call than we might think.So let's reflect a few minutes on the clues to Ezekiel's spiritual state at the time of his call. Once we get into chapter 4, we will see a man totally submissive to and controlled by God. And by the time we have finished hearing all of Ezekiel's prophecies, we are impressed with this man's skill as a rhetorician, his authenticity as a spokesman for Yahweh, his stature as a theologian.But this did not mean that he was naturally so, or that this was Ezekiel at the time of his call. Indeed, if we read the entire call narrative without interruption, we begin to have second thoughts, because the account raises at least a dozen nagging questions about Ezekiel. Question number one, why was the visionary prelude to his commissioning so utterly overwhelming, over the top? Two, why did the Divine Spirit need to enter him and set him on his feet before he would listen to the voice of Yahweh, after he had been commanded to stand up, that I may speak with you? Three, why did Yahweh need to address him ten times as Ben Adam, son of man, a member of the human species, in the course of this ordination call, and a total of ninety-three times in the book, compared with only fourteen occurrences of that expression elsewhere in the first testament? You only have fourteen outside of the book of Ezekiel, here we have ninety-three, son of man. In this book, this is not a messianic title, as it is in the New, based on Daniel 7, but here it is a reminder that while Ezekiel may be called into divine service, he was of the species Homo sapiens, not a wild or domestic animal like those represented in the vision in chapter one, but nor a heavenly angelic being like Gabriel and others who serve in God's heavenly court. Ezekiel will be reminded almost one hundred times that while he may be called to divine service, he was a mere human representing fallen humanity, he was one of them, not one of us. Four, why did Yahweh warn him not to be rebellious like the rest of his people? Two, eight. Five, why did Yahweh need to command Ezekiel three times, eat the scroll, eat the scroll, eat the scroll, and for that matter in the end, why did Yahweh stuff the scroll into the prophet's mouth himself? Six, why did Yahweh deliver two in many respects redundant commissioning speeches to Ezekiel, two three to seven and three four to eleven? Seven, why did the prophet emerge from the commissioning and bittered in the rage of his spirit, mer bachamath ruach, chapter 3 verse 14, which necessitated the strong hand of God upon him? Eight, when Ezekiel returned to the exiles, why did he sit among them for seven days in a state of shock or emotional desolation, 315? Nine, when Yahweh finally broke the silence, why did he deliver such a stern warning to Ezekiel against noncompliance with the prophetic charge, that's 316 to 21? We'll deal with that in the next session. Ten, why were such severe restrictions placed on the prophet's movements? He was to shut himself up in his house, others would bind him, and God would tie his tongue. And eleven, why was the prophet explicitly forbidden to defend or mediate on behalf of his people? And twelve, why did the spirit and the hand of Yahweh play such a dominant role at the time of his call and throughout his prophetic ministry? The coming of the Spirit upon him in particular is reminiscence of the Spirit's activity in the book of Judges, when Israel needed leaders, but few were disposed toward doing the will of God, and so God sent his Spirit to grab them by the scruff of the neck and send them out. Well, answers to these questions, a dozen of them, do not come easily until we recognize that the prophet himself must have represented a serious problem to the Lord who was calling him into his service. Now, we should probably not be surprised if Ezekiel was tempted to rebel against his prophetic calling. After all, he was one of the 10,000 exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken captive to Babylon in 598-97 BC, and that was as God's punishment for their history of rebellion against him. With the exception of Ezekiel's prophetic contemporary Jeremiah, who was also of priestly background, as Judah's twilight approached, the priests as a class were more part of the problem that precipitated the fate that awaited the nation than the solution that Yahweh had prescribed them to be. When we recognize this, we see that the Lord had ample reason to warn Ezekiel not to be insubordinate like the rest of the household of which he was a part. Now, the word rebel, or the noun, rebel, meri, actually serves as a key word in these commissioning speeches. It appears no fewer than six times, two, five, six, seven, eight A, eight B, and three, nine. This word comes from the verb marah, to be insubordinate. In Deuteronomy 21, 18-21, it refers to an incorrigible son who refuses to submit to his parents or become a responsible member of the household. In fact, house of rebellion, bet meri, is one of Ezekiel's favorite expressions for the people of Israel, which appears five times in this commission and nine times elsewhere in the book. Whether or not he wanted to, Ezekiel was to break out of the family system and willingly serve the head of the household, who was Yahweh himself. It seems that Yahweh was grabbing him by the scruff of his neck and conscripting him as his agent. Apparently, as it was in the days of the judges, spiritually qualified people were hard to find, but the Lord was determined to build his church, and human insubordination would not stand in his way. This is Ezekiel. Now let's look at the nature of Ezekiel's commission. I've mentioned several times already that since Ezekiel was from the priestly family, this was his thirtieth year when he would be ordained, and his messages would be preoccupied with priestly concerns, see his tours of the temple in 8 to 11 and 40 to 43, the present autobiographical narrative signifies his ordination to priestly ministry. The point of the present commissioning speeches, however, is to emphasize another dimension to his divine service. He is hereby also being commissioned as a prophet. The Lord does not announce directly, I am sending you as a Navi prophet to the sons of Israel, but he declares his role indirectly. First, while he was on his face, he heard the sound of someone's voice saying, human, stand that I may speak with you. Well, immediately we are aware that this was no casual conversation. Ezekiel was overwhelmed by the amazing vision, but he realized now that he had found himself in the presence of God. In a sense, this was both a sign of divine affirmation, Psalms 24, and a signal of unprecedented and life-changing experience. Whereas kings and gods would normally invite people into their courts for an audience with them, here Yahweh had brought his court to Ezekiel with the express purpose of engaging him in his service. So first, that's the first clue to a prophetic calling. Second, the opening words, I am sending you, is used regularly of envoys sent out by a higher authority to deliver a message to a third party on the sender's behalf. In chapters 13 and 14, Ezekiel will deal with fake prophets who are auto-inspired. They're not sent by the Lord. They make up their own messages. Jeremiah had to deal with the same issues back home. In the middle of a lengthy dispute with false prophets, Yahweh had declared, I didn't send the prophets, yet they ran. I didn't speak to them, but they prophesied. Third, in verse 4, the Lord authorized Ezekiel to use what is commonly recognized as the messenger formula. I prefer to call it the citation formula, but it's a formula used by somebody with authority to a messenger. He says, I am sending you to them, and you shall say to them, thus has the Lord, Yahweh, declared. But if you read the text, there's no message that follows.This expression occurs 123 times in the book, and elsewhere, everywhere else, it's always followed by a quotation of the message the Lord is giving his people. But here we have only the formula, suggesting that this was an oral moment of Yahweh authorizing Ezekiel to prophesy. He may use the formula as his legitimately commissioned agent sent out to serve as his spokesman.But the use of the formula was no guarantee of authenticity. As I said, according to 13.1 to 16, there were false prophets in Ezekiel's word who used formulas like, listen to the word of the Lord, or the declaration of the Lord. But the Lord had never spoken to them, let alone commission them as his spokesman.Fourth, in 2.5, Yahweh predicts that when Ezekiel's prophecies are fulfilled, his people will know, and now finally we have the word, then they will know that a prophet, a navi, has been in their midst. This word, navi, is a passive, I-class theme vowel form referring to one called, commissioned by God. Again, in Ezekiel's world, there were many people who falsely claimed the title, but their prophecies were never fulfilled.Not so with Ezekiel. He is truly a prophet in the train of Moses, whom the Lord promised Israel in Deuteronomy 18. Moses says in verse 17, And Yahweh said to me, A prophet I will raise up from them among their kinsfolk like you, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And as for the person who will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will hold him accountable. But mark the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name, that I have not committed him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die. That's the death sentence on anyone who claims, who uses the formula that Yahweh has not authorized him to use. But suppose you say in your heart, back to Moses in Deuteronomy 18, suppose you say in your heart, how may we recognize the word that Yahweh has not spoken? Well, when a prophet speaks in the name of Yahweh, if the declaration does not happen, or if the event does not occur, that's a declaration that Yahweh has not spoken. Somebody spoke it, but it wasn't Yahweh. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not fear it. Well, in our commissioning text, Ezekiel not only heard God authorizing him to speak for him, he would experience physically the internalization of the message, as we'll see in just a little bit. That's the nature of his ministry. Second, our third, the identity of Ezekiel's audience. This is a tough assignment. For many church growth gurus and pastors, this passage presents a serious challenge. A full house and a large following are not necessarily signs that everything is right, and we should praise the preacher for his success. Ask William Carey, who spent more than four decades in India as a missionary. By the time he finished, he had made significant contributions to the educational system in northern India, but he had few, if any, converts to show for it.In fact, he preached Christ in Bengali for seven years without a single conversion. This is the reverse of the picture the Lord paints for Ezekiel. In his second commissioning address, he says, chapter three, verse four, human, son of man, go to the household of Israel, speak to them with my words. After all, you are not being sent to a people with unintelligible speech or difficult language, but to the family of Israel. Nor are you sent to many peoples with unintelligible speech or difficult language, whose conversation you are unable to understand. Surely, if I had sent you to them, they would listen to you. But the household of Israel will refuse to listen to you because they are not willing to listen to me. Indeed, the entire household of Israel has a hard forehead and an obstinate heart. Three, four to seven. Now, in the first commissioning address, the Lord had been even more forthright about the condition of the audience. Chapter two, verse three, human, son of man, I am sending you to the descendants of Israel, to the nation of rebels who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have been in revolt against me to this very day. Now, the descendants are insubordinate and obstinate. I am sending you to them, and you shall say to them, thus has the Lord Yahweh declared. And as for them, whether they listen or not, for they are a rebellious house, I mean, that's the given, for they are a rebellious household, but you shall declare my words to them, whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious. It's all very redundant, isn't it? Did you hear all the epithets the Lord uses for Ezekiel's people? Oh, descendants of Israel, that's their ethnic identity. They're Israelites. But look at all the expressions for their spiritual identity. There are nations of a nation of rebels. The plural may suggest the exiles represent a microcosm of the nations of the world who have rebelled against me. They and their ancestors have been revolt against me to this very day, which in this context means they have violated their vassal duties and breached, rejected the covenant that Yahweh had made with them. They are an insubordinate household for which he uses three expressions, insubordinate, stiff of face, hard of heart, and a house of insubordination or defiance. Yahweh suggested the way they express their spiritual condition in verse five and seven with whether they listen or not. On first sight, we may interpret this to mean that, oh, some might actually listen to the prophet, but the Lord quickly deflates any such hope the prophet might have had. They are insubordinate family, and they will refuse to listen even when you speak. Of course, this raises the question, if no one will respond positively to Ezekiel's ministry, then why send him at all? Why not just let history take its course and let the people rush headlong to their doom? But as we will discover in the restoration oracles at the end of the book, the primary issue in the book is not the fate or fortune of God's people. It is the reputation of God. Ezekiel's long-range goal will be to demonstrate that God is absolutely just in bringing in Nebuchadnezzar to punish his people for their history of rebellion. But the issues were not that simple. The theological implications of God's judgment of his own people are intolerable to God. The nations will not understand the relationship between Israel's sin and their demise. They will interpret the coming holocaust for the people as a sign that either Yahweh has changed his mind about his chosen people, or he was impotent to defend them against Marduk and his agents, the Babylonians. Either way, they have wrong thoughts about God. For this reason, Yahweh was calling Ezekiel to make it absolutely clear that while on the surface and with their creedal statements, the Israelites may have appeared orthodox in their theology, they have actually been thoroughly corrupted, so corrupted that they made the pagans look like saints. We'll see that in chapter 5 and in 16. So, put yourself in Ezekiel's shoes. How would you feel? These are your people, you are one of them, and suddenly God charges you to take the other side in this dispute. As we will see in the next session, Yahweh will not allow Ezekiel to intervene on the people's behalf. Don't try to stop God from his judgment of Israel and Jerusalem and Judah. From now on, in this contest of wills, Ezekiel must represent Yahweh and Yahweh alone. Now, that's a very tough assignment, especially if you start out as one of them. It leads to our final question. What resources did God give his agent to perform his professional duties? Well, let's look at these resources. The way the Lord prepared Ezekiel is not only interesting, it's also shocking. We had witnessed an early hint in 2, 1 to 5, where Yahweh had declared that he would equip him with the professional resources that he would need. One, an overwhelming vision of the glory and the majesty of the one who was calling him. Two, an unequivocal and clear commission he was sending him. Three, authorization to use the divine messenger formula, thus has the Lord declared, and the name of the professional office, he is a prophet. Now, we need to understand that the institution of prophecy in Israel was an ad hoc institution. God had told Moses he would raise up prophets as needed. Unless prophets like Samuel also wore other hats along with the hat of prophet, as prophets they had no legal, no administrative, no executive or judicial power, authority to enforce compliance with the commands that God charged them to pass on to the people. They had no power, no political power. However, as the Lord told Moses in Deuteronomy 18, 19 to 20, the Lord would personally hold accountable the people, the prophet's audience, that he'd hold them accountable for their response. The prophet's role was simply to be a messenger for God. In 2, 6, the construction. Now, as for you, human, son of man, this signals a shift in the focus of attention away from the hard-hearted and stone-faced audience back to the prophet. As for you, human, having described them, but now we're talking to you. With this address, Yahweh began to prepare his agent for the mordor he was about to enter. On the one hand, the Lord warned him not to take on the character of his audience and be as insubordinate to him as they are. As for you, human, listen to whatever I declare to you. Don't be rebellious like that rebellious household. But on the other hand, he reassured Ezekiel with three divine provisions. First, the prophet need not fear either his audience or the insults and the vitriol they would hurl at him because the Lord promised to put a hedge around him for the difficult road ahead. Although most translations interpret the references to nettles, savim, and thistles, solonim, and scorpions, acravim, concessively, as metaphors for stinging effects of the people's words, as in ESV, though briars and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions, ouch, in this triad of expressions, it's unlikely that acravim refers to the arthropods, the scorpions, with two pincers and an upturned tail with a stinger on the end. Rather, this is best interpreted as a third figurative instruction for some sort of thorny plant. In this case, the conjunction ki translated as though in ESV and NIV, it actually bears its more common sense because, do not fear because you are sitting among nettles and thorns and scorpion plants.That's the natural reading. This interpretation is reinforced when we compare this commission with what we find in other call narratives, precisely at this point where the Lord tells his agent, fear not. This is followed with a reason why the person should not fear, in Jeremiah 1.8, do not fear them because I am with you to rescue you. Accordingly, these thorny plants represent the wall of protection that the Lord promises to maintain around his prophet. Second, the Lord promised to provide Ezekiel with a script for his utterances. He promises protection and he promises the words in verse 7, you shall declare to them my words, whether they listen or not, not your own, my words.This meant that the prophet was neither responsible for the message he proclaimed nor free to declare whatever he wanted to proclaim. This is the equivalent to what the Lord had told Jeremiah at the time of his call, do not say I'm only a youth for you will go to everyone I send you and speak whatever I tell you. For the drama that would be Jeremiah's experience, the Lord promised to be both his choreographer and his script writer.For Ezekiel, the focus was on the script, but it was dramatized with a highly unusual if not grotesque symbolic sign act. Chapter 2 verse 8, open your mouth and eat whatever I give you. Then I noticed, I looked and see behold, a hand stretched out toward me, that's an expression of surprise and in it was a rolled up scroll.He unrolled it before me, it was full of writing front and back inscribed on it were laments, moaning and wailing. Then he said to me, human, whatever you find here, eat, eat this scroll, go speak to the household of Israel. So I opened my mouth and he gave this scroll to eat. He said to me, human, gorge your stomach, fill your belly with this scroll which I'm handing you. So I ate it and it turned sweet as honey in my mouth. Well, here we witness the first hint of the dramatic nature of Ezekiel's prophecies to come.I have no idea what Ezekiel expected when the Lord says to him, eat whatever I give you. Was it manna, bread, bitter herbs, a donut? His hesitation at the beginning and his reaction at the end suggest that he recoiled at the sight of this unusual food, a scroll probably made of vellum or calf skin or parchment sheep or goat skin, but its sweetness in his mouth caught him by surprise. But this is not the first time we've heard of eating the Lord's words.In Jeremiah 15, 16, Ezekiel's contemporary back in Jerusalem wrote, your words were found and I ate them. Your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Yahweh God of hosts. That's the highest privilege, to be stamped with the name of the Lord. What a privilege that is. But what's different with Ezekiel is that what were only metaphors for other prophets to use in their utterances, became real experiences for him. We'll see this with a barber in chapter 4 and Isaiah 7, 20. Nor would this be the last we hear of this motif of eating the scroll. In the New Testament, we hear in Revelation 10, 8 to 10, now then the voice that I heard from heaven spoke to me again saying, go take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land. So I went to the angel and I told him to give me the little scroll and he said to me, take and eat it. It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey. So I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter. I had a stomach ache. But our question today is, what was the significance of this scroll that Ezekiel ate? I can think of three answers. One, God hereby gave the prophet a concrete sign that he would provide him with a script. Here it is in writing. This scroll was inscribed front and back, which meant there would be no room for Ezekiel to add anything to his message. Second, Yahweh announced that he would be the dominant theme of Ezekiel's prophecy, at least that it would give the dominant theme of Ezekiel's prophecy, at least in the first phase of his ministry, laments, moaning, and wailing, which together meant, oy vey, doom, we're finished. But third, with this, God sent a signal that Ezekiel was to digest the words that Yahweh gave and in his body represent his message. In 310, the Lord would express this notion in more concrete terms. Human, all my words which I speak to you except in your heart, listen with your ears. Here heart stands for your inner being, the seat of thought, feeling, passion, will. Whereas Ezekiel had ingested the scroll through his mouth, in the future Yahweh's words would be received through the prophet's ears, but they could not remain in his ears. He would need to absorb them and let them become essential to his physical and mental being. In Marshall McLuhan's words, the medium would indeed become the message. This applied both to the scroll and the messenger. In the second commissioning address, we notice a third divine provision for Ezekiel. Faced with the prospect of an audience with stone faces and fossilized hearts, Yahweh declared, look, I've made your face as hard as their faces and your forehead as hard as their forehead. Like Emery, harder than Flint have I made your forehead. Do not be afraid of them nor terrified of them.After all, they are a rebellious household. Now it's interesting and significant that the Lord did not say to Ezekiel, oh don't worry, everything will turn out well for you. Great will be your reward in heaven.There's none of this. Nor did he invite him to find some sort of masochistic joy in his pain. Instead, he hardened his own head so that it would be a match and exceed the hardness of his opposition. Indeed, by adding, like Emery, harder than Flint have I made your forehead, he metaphorically predicted Ezekiel's triumph and vindication. Indeed, when it happens, and it surely will, his hardened audience would be forced to admit that an exceptional prophet has been in their midst. The scene concludes with a final summary of his prophetic charge. Now go, go to the exiles, go to your people, speak to them, declare to them, thus has the Lord Yahweh declared, whether they listen or not. This is the way that commissioning speech ends. But what about the theological and practical implications of this passage? Whether or not we are called into ministry that resembles Ezekiel's in any way, this account of Ezekiel's commission offers vital information on the relationship between God and those whom he calls into his service.Even if it doesn't apply directly to us, we lay people need to have a biblical theology of ministry to understand those whom the Lord calls to lead us. In the end, the church is well served if a text like this helps us pray more passionately and more intelligently for our pastors, our elders, and Sunday school teachers, and our missionaries out there on the front lines away from the comfort of our home church. So what lessons do we learn on the ministry? First, whoever would serve as a messenger of God must recognize that the calling comes from God alone.Neither the needs of the field, nor oratorical gifts, nor education, nor any other external qualifications authorize us to enter divine service. Moreover, the God who appoints his servants also defines the task. He chooses the field of service. He provides the message. He assumes responsibility for the outcome. And the less evident the fruit for one's ministry, the clearer must be this sense of calling. Second, those who would serve as God's messengers must first have a clear vision of the one who sends them. Although Yahweh prepared Ezekiel for his ministry by hardening him commensurate with the hardness of his audience, the primary preparation occurred in chapter 1. Unless the servant of God enters divine service with a sense of awe at the privilege of representing the glorious King of heaven and earth, and the less one is convinced of his sovereignty over all the earth and over all human history, the ministry will not only be a burden, it will be one's undoing, especially in the face of opposition and in the absence of evident fruit. Third, whoever would serve as God's messenger must be empowered by the Spirit of God. I mentioned earlier Ezekiel was the prophet of the Spirit. Animated and energized by the infusion of God's Holy Spirit, he serves as a model of all who stand in the Lord's presence and all who would enter his service. Fourth, whoever would serve as a messenger of God must be inspired by the message of God.To be sure, the personalities of God's agents colors the way they fulfill their calling. This was certainly the case with Ezekiel, who as a personality feels so different from Jeremiah, his contemporary. But the prophet was primarily accountable to God and the divine word.Twice Ezekiel's word is labeled as, thus has the Lord Yahweh declared. Three times the prophet was charged to speak my words in verses two, chapter two, seven, three, four, and ten. Three times he was told to ingest the divine message that he was to proclaim, two, eight, three, one, three, three.Twice he was told to listen to what God had to say, two, eight, and three, ten. Now, obviously, merely hearing the message wasn't good enough. It must be digested, internalized, incorporated, embodied, and lived.The medium becomes the message. Furthermore, the message of God's spokespersons derives not from private reasoning or logic, nor mystical reflection, but revelation. Even so, prophetic inspiration does not cancel out or overwhelm natural abilities and qualities.On the contrary, it uplifts and quickens them. And fifth, whoever would serve as the messenger of God will be divinely equipped commensurate with that calling. God is aware of the challenges his agents face. When he assigns a task, he assumes responsibility for preparing them for that work. Indeed, God does not base his call to service on people's gifts, but it's the opposite. He gives gifts in keeping with the assignment. Six, whoever would serve as the messenger of God must recognize that the calling is not to success, but to faithfulness. Every aspect of vocational service remains under the sovereign control of God, especially the results. Accordingly, apparent effectiveness is no proof of calling, nor even a criterion by which to measure faithfulness. Nor is apparent ineffectiveness a sign of unfaithfulness. God's messengers embark on their mission as emissaries of the divine King. That privilege alone should provide sufficient motivation for unconditional service, for God and for his glory.