31 May 2005 Devotion for Today “Dramatic Messages” Ezekiel 4
Creative arts ministry is a very effective way of getting across the message of God’s Word. Such builds the awareness of who God is and introduces those who may have never heard of Christ to start reading the Bible for themselves. Once in a while we will employ the use of Christian drama, puppets, or some other creative genre that people will respond to much more readily than a “sermon.” I do not downplay the importance of the sermon. But there are times when people’s hearts are just not open to being “preached at.” And while this may say more about those who are hearing than the effectiveness of the speaker, it behooves one to find another way of communicating a message that needs to be communicated.
Ezekiel understood the importance of doing creative ministry. We find him in this chapter not speaking one audible word, yet he still communicates through a series of object lessons:
1 "You also, son of man, take a clay tablet and lay it before you, and portray on it a city, Jerusalem. 2Lay siege against it, build a siege wall against it, and heap up a mound against it; set camps against it also, and place battering rams against it all around. 3Moreover take for yourself an iron plate, and set it as an iron wall between you and the city. Set your face against it, and it shall be besieged, and you shall lay siege against it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel. 4"Lie also on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it. According to the number of the days that you lie on it, you shall bear their iniquity. 5For I have laid on you the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days; so you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. 6And when you have completed them, lie again on your right side; then you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days. I have laid on you a day for each year. 7"Therefore you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem; your arm shall be uncovered, and you shall prophesy against it. 8And surely I will restrain you so that you cannot turn from one side to another till you have ended the days of your siege. (Ezekiel 4:1-8)
At first, we find the prophet playing in the dirt, building and making a model city- the city represented there is Jerusalem. It almost appears that Ezekiel is playing “army man” like I did as a boy with soldiers, laying siege to the city. The ones laying the siege are the Chaldeans- the Babylonians. As the crowd gathers around, Ezekiel takes a frying pan and places it between himself and the model besieged city- symbolizing judgment- and places human symbols within it demonstrating that the people of the city are going to get “fried,” as it were by God’s judgment for their wicked ways. Then the prophet lies on his side for 390 days for each day representing each year of unsubmissive refusal to stand up to the obedience which God requires. Lying or reclining on your left side was turning away one’s face from fellowship- a gesture of rudeness to the Jews. Then he was to turn over to his right side for forty days, representing the punishment they would have to bear for as many years.
Ezekiel continues in the chapter with a few more object lessons- one is actually more graphic than I would like to discuss. There is no doubt that the prophet is getting his point across. Yet I wonder if those who were observing truly caught the message in their heart. Ezekiel’s presentations may have been inspiring, perhaps even entertaining- yet the people still did not respond in repentance. They would carry the visage of the prophet’s dramatic lessons in their minds the entire way to Babylon in chains reminding them that they should have repented, but they did not.
All around us God is trying to get our attention through the dramatic outplay of events that go on around us, but we are impervious to them. Instead of being awed and inspired by them, they ought to cause us to change our behavior and get right with God. How is God trying to get your attention today?
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