The start in life.
Ezekiel here describes the commencement of his active ministry. Hitherto he has been under preparation, receiving communications from heaven in vision and word. Now the time has come for him to start on his errand and begin his work among the captives of Babylon.
I. THE PROPHET IS CARRIED AWAY BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD. Although we need not suppose that Ezekiel was carried up bodily into the clouds, blown over the fields, and dropped down in the midst of a crowd of his countrymen, we are not to suppose that his visit to them was any the less one of Divine impulses. Like Philip the evangelist, when he was taken from the Ethiopian convert and sent to Azotus (Acts 8:39, Acts 8:40), Ezekiel felt a mighty power of God driving him to his work. Inspiration does not only illumine; it impels. The Spirit of God drove Christ into the wilderness (Mark 1:12). Such an action does not involve forcible constraint against the will. God only works on men in this way through their wills. The will of the man is so completely subservient to the will of God that it no longer acts separately; it voluntarily obeys as though it were but a Divine instrument. The highest work for God is always done in this way. Without the mighty spiritual impulse such tasks as God sets his servants could never be accomplished; but with it the hardest service ends in success.
II. THE PROPHET GOES IN GRIEF AND ANGER.
1. In grief. The prophet is in bitterness. The cause of his sorrow is that he is to speak of bad subjects, and to face unwilling hearers. Nothing can be more painful to a sympathetic soul. If a preacher could delight in denunciation and take a pleasure in describing the horrors of future punishment, he would be little better than a demon at heart. A true preacher of repentance must be a voice of sorrow. Moreover, it must be painful to a sensitive man to find himself compelled to create unpopularity for himself by fidelity to his message. His face may be as adamant; but his heart will bleed.
2. In anger. Ezekiel went "in heat." There is a righteous wrath. Christ could be "moved with indignation" against cruelty and hypocrisy. The man who is incapable of this anger lacks power of conscience. Love must lie at the heart of the servant of God, but anger at sin and at the wrong of it to God and man may show itself in his voice and manner.
III. THE PROPHET FEELS THE MIGHTY HAND OF GOD UPON HIM. God does not only send his servant; he accompanies him. The Spirit carried Ezekiel forth; the hand of God was strong upon him all the way. This hand of God is felt in various ways.
1. In pushing forward. God thus keeps his servants to the front. While he is with them he will allow of no cowardice or indolence.
2. In support. This hand of God is a helping hand, a holding hand, a supporting hand. God sustains those whom he sends.
3. In restraint. While pushing his servants on in the right way, God is ready to hold them back from peril, error, and ruin.
4. In uplifting. The servants of God may slip and even fall. Then they are not deserted. The same strong hand which sent them forth lifts them up and sets them on their Jest again. Thus the mighty ever-present God stands by to help his feeblest servants and lead them on to victory.