Declare All That You See (9/9)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Ezekiel 40-41.

“In the visions of God He brought me into the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain, and on it to the south there was a structure like a city. So He brought me there; and behold, there was a man whose appearance was like the appearance of bronze, with a line of flax and a measuring rod in his hand; and he was standing in the gateway. The man said to me, ‘Son of man, see with your eyes, hear with your ears, and give attention to all that I am going to show you; for you have been brought here in order to show it to you. Declare to the house of Israel all that you see’” (Ezekiel 40:2-4).

After being introduced to this man with a measuring rod in a vision, Ezekiel sees him measure the temple area, is given the specific measurements, and is expected to “declare to the house of Israel all that [he] sees.” There are some lessons in here for preachers of today:

Give attention to the Scriptures – Ezekiel was to “give attention” to the vision. Preachers must “give attention to…Scripture” (1 Timothy 4:13). Preachers cannot preach what they do not know (1 Timothy 1:6-7).
God wants us to know His revelation – Ezekiel was told, “You have been brought here in order to show it to you.” The word of God that has been revealed is what He wants us to know (1 Corinthians 2:10, 12); otherwise, He would not have revealed it (Deuteronomy 29:29).
Declare all that has been revealed – Ezekiel was not to pick and choose which parts of the vision he thought were worthy of sharing, declare those, and ignore the rest. He was to declare all of it. Preachers today must preach “the whole purpose of God” (Acts 20:27). It is not our place to determine what is worthy of being declared and what can be ignored.