Ezekiel 33

Today, my Bible reading plan brought me to one of my favorite chapters in the Bible, Ezekiel 33. Here's a quick run-down of why it is so meaningful to me.

• Verses 1-9: It is a challenging and sobering thought that we are responsible to communicate our knowledge of Christ with those who don't know Him, although we obviously have no control over their response. Paul, toward the end of his life, said that he was innocent of the blood of all men, because he never shrunk from proclaiming the gospel to people. Ezekiel, though, had already received this challenge from God when he was first commissioned.
• Verses 10-20: God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but wants all to turn to Him. We really need to see people who are lost as just that--as people who need a Savior just as much as we do. Still, our God is a just God, who must ultimately meet those who reject His grace and mercy with the wrath their sins deserve. (Paul explains this as well in Romans 2:1-16.) And remember, it's not that God did not demand justice for the sins of those who trust His Son, but that God met His Son with the wrath that should have been put on us.
• Verses 21-22: As soon as Jerusalem falls to the Babylonians, God lets Ezekiel speak again (previously, Ezekiel was only able to speak when God was directly speaking). This concept was one of the biggest motivating factors in beginning my policktical fast. The idea is that God wanted nothing of Ezekiel coming from Ezekiel, because otherwise that might corrupt the pure message of God. I realized that much of what was coming out of me was not God's pure message (the hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ), but a lot of party-line rhetoric, some of which having dubious Scriptural roots, even though it might not have been outrightly contrary to Scripture. In the process, I built walls between people of different ideologies that were a hindrance to the gospel, since I might have been giving the impression that to be a Christian, they needed to vote for exactly the same people I would vote for. Thus, I had to get rid of it, at least for a little while.
• Verses 23-33: When I first read this, I didn't really know how to tie it together, so I will instead quote the thoughts of D.A. Carson in his For the Love of God:

  So the news arrives: Jerusalem has fallen (33:22). Ezekiel is now released from the silence God earlier imposed: he can converse openly and can say things other than what was given to him as a prophet. But all that he says in the rest of this chapter are more words from the Lord. He has two themes. (a) Regarding the people left among the ruins of Jerusalem, they are ever the optimists. They think they will reestablish themselves, even though they have not renounced their sins. So God will continue his chastening until there is only desolation, so that they will learn that he is the Lord (33:23-29). (b) As for the exiles whom Ezekiel addresses directly, they have learned to enjoy listening to him, as one enjoys listening to a gifted orator--but they have not learned to repent.

  Where are the closest analogies to such stances today?

There are a lot of challenging ideas here for only being a 33-verse chapter!