Ezekiel 33:33 - Homiletics

The recognition of a prophet.

I. A PROPHET IS NOT ALWAYS RECOGNIZED . Ezekiel was among his people as a prophet, yet they did not admit his claim. This is the more remarkable because they recognized the charm of his preaching, which had become exceedingly popular. His higher ministry was still ignored. While the common people heard Christ gladly, and confessed that "never man spake like this Man," his greatest message was ignored, and his chief claim set aside by the multitude. God sometimes sends a prophet to these later times. His gifts and powers are recognized, but the world is slow to perceive that he brings a message from God.

1. The deeper truth does not show itself in outward effects on the senses .

2. Men are too often out of all sympathy with spiritual truth .

3. A prophet ' s words may refer to the future .

II. A PROPHET WILL BE RECOGNIZED WHEN THE TRUTH OF HIS WORDS IS CONFIRMED BY EVENTS .

1. A prophet's words are true . The mere utterance of lofty thoughts is of little value if those thoughts are not true. The authority of a prophet resides in the truth of his message.

2. A true prophet's words concern facts of life . They have not only to deal with unseen verities; they also concern the application of those verities to everyday experience. There they may be seen and tested. Religion bears upon life. Its truth is illustrated by its working in the world. If our faith will work, we have a good reason for believing that it is grounded in truth.

3. A prophet's words will be tested by events . The false prophet will be surely exposed. If people had not very short memories they would observe how a succession of modern prophets have fixed near dates for the accomplishment of predictions in Daniel and the Revelation; the wave of time has wiped out these fatal dates, and yet the world exists! On first thought we should think it a privilege to have been contemporaries with the prophets-to have heard Isaiah preach, and Ezekiel, and Hosea; to have listened to Peter and John and Paul; above all, to have been in the throng that gathered on the shores of the Sea of Galilee when Jesus was on earth. Yet our present privileges are really greater than any could have been under those circumstances, because we have the grand confirmation of history.

III. A PROPHET SHOULD BE RECOGNIZED BY HIS HEARERS .

1. Not to recognize him reveals spiritual callousness . The true prophet is not only discerned by visible signs. We are required to "try the spirits" ( 1 John 4:1 ). Thus it is possible to know whether a man comes to us from God. At all events, we may judge by the present moral and spiritual results of teaching. Without waiting for historical events, "by their fruits ye shall know them" in their influence on present-day life. It is to the disgrace of the Church that some of her best teachers have been tabooed as heretics or neglected with chilling indifference.

2. Not to recognize him means to miss a golden opportunity . For a prophet to have been among us, and yet not to have been recognized, means a sad loss. He may have been popular as a preacher, yet we have grieved his heart if we have not acknowledged his Divine mission. When it is too late this is seen. No sooner is the persecuted or neglected prophet departed than a chorus of praises springs up around his grave. It would have been better to have hearkened to his living words. Men build the tombs of dead prophets, and stone their living successors.