Ezekiel 2:3-5 “I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their fathers have been in revolt against me to this very day. The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says.’ And whether they listen or fail to listen–for they are a rebellious house– they will know that a prophet has been among them.”

Did you get what God was trying to say about the nation of Israel, the people to whom he was sending the prophet Ezekiel? A rebellious nation, in revolt, obstinate, stubborn, a rebellious house–the terms are even stronger and more colorful in the Hebrew. From the day Israel left Egypt 850 years before Ezekiel, from the time of the forefathers of this nation five hundred years before that, they were a people that defied God at every turn. The story of their lives reads like a soap opera, or a tragedy. Greed, lust, betrayal, murder, and ultimately, abandonment of their faith had brought even God to his wits end. These were key to his decision to send the prophet Ezekiel on this task to call them to repentance.

Thank God we aren’t like that, right? Maybe 20 years ago Danny was sitting in the 7^th and 8^th grade Sunday school class studying the history of Israel’s wandering in the wilderness. After all God had done to help them, after all the power he had shown, Danny was simply incredulous that these people could be so thick, and complain so much, and rebel so often. They accused God of trying to starve them to death, worshiped the golden calf, refused to go into the promised land, rebelled against Moses’ leadership, and on and on. What was wrong with those people? “Now Danny,” his teacher would remind him. “Maybe they aren’t so different than us.” I don’t know what examples he gave, or what might have happened in Danny’s life to confirm the observation. But after about six weeks of these stories, Danny was the one who offered, “Maybe they aren’t so different than us.”

Maybe. If we were so good, and had our lives all together, and our faith was so secure, why would God have to send us a prophet to preach his word? Understand that the prophet’s task is to deliver God’s message to rebels. We need to own that about ourselves. We need to be corrected. We should expect Christianity to confront us. We need it to make us feel uncomfortable. We don’t need to go looking for a message that never challenges us and fits our current thinking in every way. Otherwise, how can any change for the better ever happen?

Isn’t it a matter of grace that God sends his prophets to rebels such as you and me? He doesn’t reject us and annihilate us for turning against him. He seeks us to turn us and make us his children. He offers forgiveness for the sins we commit. He sacrificed his own Son on a cross to redeem us and free us and make us his own. Don’t misunderstand. He is not content to leave us rebels. He will not be finished with us until he has transformed us entirely into obedient sons and daughters. But the prophet’s task is to deliver his message to rebels until we are changed into allies by his love.