The No Longer Silent Prophet
Ezekiel 36:22-28
May 17, 2026 anno Domini
That was 10 seconds of silence. Silence is hard to take. Imagine if the angels were silent at the open tomb of Jesus when the women came. What if Peter had not spoken a word on Pentecost day after that loud rushing wind and the flames of fire appeared and everyone came together. What if your new pastor showed up from the seminary and his first sermon was 15 minutes of silence followed by amen.
The Lord called Ezekiel to be a prophet in the year 593 B.C., but he did not speak a word of prophecy until 586. He was called and ordained a prophet in chapter 2, but does not prophesy until chapter 11. Nine chapters of God’s Word and seven years of preparation before Ezekiel’s first sermon and when he did open his mouth his congregation wasn’t too happy with the sermon.
A prophet who does not speak. A pastor who does not preach. What do you think God’s people assumed when Ezekiel gave them the silent treatment? The same thing you assume when someone gives you the silent treatment – He’s angry.
God was angry with Israel. He had every reason not to be silent, not to send another prophet. God sent Moses to deliver Israel from slavery and Israel complained about the food God provided in the wilderness and the freedom He secured. She wanted to go back to slavery. God brought Israel to the promised land, but she was afraid to cross the threshold. God sent good men, the judges like Joshua, and Gideon and Samson to defeat her enemies, but Israel wanted a different man. She wanted a King like all the other nations. To put it mildly Israel was a flirt, never happy with the Lord as her husband. To put it bluntly she fooled around with every god she laid eyes on.
What would you expect if you were caught having an affair? Two affairs? Five? Affair after affair. The Lord God of Israel had enough. He let His people go. Assyria took Israel captive in 722 B.C. Then He let Judah go. Beginning around 605 B.C. the Babylonians invaded and in 586 they destroyed Jerusalem and the temple. The prophet Ezekiel was among the captives taken to Babylon. Who knows? He might have been a friend of Daniel and the three guys who got thrown into the fiery furnace.
So, what does all that ancient adulterous history have to do with us on this seventh Sunday of Easter in the year of our Lord 2026? Well, it begs the question. What gods are you fooling around with? Judah fooled around with the gods of Canaan – the gods of the land. What are the gods of America? I don’t think they’re hard to name – we worship the new god, the different god. We want something new, something different than what we have – a new car, a different hobby, a new spouse, a different career. Saint Paul writes in Romans 7 that once the law taught him what coveting was, he realized that all he did was covet. What are the biggest temples in our land? The temples to health, entertainment, money. The virtual temple of the internet. Behold your gods.
We fit right in with Israel grumbling about the manna in the wilderness, growing bored with God’s gifts, desiring slavery to sin over the freedom of forgiveness, wanting a fun god instead of the true and good God, afraid to live fully in God’s house under His rule.
By rights God could have walked away from Israel and from you. He let His people go into exile, but He did not let them go. Ezekiel prophesied. Ezekiel finally spoke at the Lord’s command. “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.
God did not act because Israel was such a great prize. He acted for the sake of His name. Back in the days of Abraham God claimed this particular people – the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He chose them, saved them, brought them home to the promised land. He swore an oath and made a vow. I will be your God and you will be my people. Through you all the world will be blessed. The union of the Lord and Israel would give life to the world. He didn’t make the promise based on how beautiful a bride Israel was or would be. He swore by Himself, on His own. His name is at stake and If He doesn’t do what He says, He’s a liar.
Israel profanes the Lord’s name. She dirtied and sullied His reputation. She did not live as His chosen, forgiven, loved, saved, and blessed bride who lived in a home she did not build and drank from vineyards she didn’t plant. She acted as if life was all about her, when in truth her life was all in Him, from Him, by Him, with Him alone.
The Lord did not let her go. He brought her back from Babylon under Ezra and Nehemiah. He rebuilt the Temple and Jerusalem – all for her, but not because of her, but because of Him, His name, His love, His Word, His choosing her for life, and His choosing you for life.
This is what He promised His bride: I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. If those words remind you of baptism, good. If you heard “new heart” and “new spirit” and started singing the offertory to yourself good. If you thought of Pentecost day, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and how you should live a sanctified life walking in the ways of the Lord, good.
Because you are the end of Ezekiel’s prophesy – you, the Holy Christian church. God brought His bride Israel back to the land of Judah so a guy named Jesus could be born of Mary. Jesus is God keeping His Word, upholding the oath He swore in His name, to forgive the sins of His people, to cleanse every blemish and spot from His beloved. Jesus is the heavenly bridegroom who laid down His life for His bride. This is how God saved His beloved – He made her (you) lovely again by loving you to death. He married Israel so she would bring forth His Son so you could be united to Him and have life.
Like His bride of the Old Testament God did not chose you because of you. And that should be of great comfort to you. Our love, sinful human love grows tired and bored and then goes looking for something else to love. God’s love never grows weary, because His love is based on Him, His name, His will, His being God. He stuck with His bride for 1500 years in the Old Testament and 2000 years in the New Testament. His love never fades or fail – it lasts to all eternity and it is for you.
When you were walked down the aisle in your baptism, you were wed to Christ. Everything that is His is delivered to you. He has washed you clean of your sins in baptism. He delivered you from your false gods and shows you the true God. His love changes your heart from stone to flesh, from dead to living, from selfish to sanctified.
If your wedding day didn’t change your heart then your marriage will not endure. Baptism changes you. Your heart now beats according to God’s Word. Your will desires His will. You gladly follow Christ because He is your head, your Lord, your Savior. He is our God and we are His people.
Thanks be to God that He did not go silent. Ezekiel spoke to Israel. The angels proclaimed Christ is risen at the tomb. Peter preached at Pentecost and the Spirit united 3000 people to Christ in Holy Baptism in one day. God is not silent. He spoke His Son into the world for the sake of His name, to keep his Word, to love His Israel, His bride, the Church, you. In the name of Jesus. Amen.