"Eat The Scroll"

“Eat This Scroll”

When Ezekiel was called to be a prophet, God wanted Ezekiel to eat the scroll God gave to him in his vision (Ezek. 2:8-3:3). We see this happening just one other time in Scripture, and this is when John was commanded to eat a scroll in his vision at Patmos (Rev. 10:9-10). John’s scroll, like Ezekiel’s, was sweet to the taste (Ezek. 3:3), but John added that once swallowed, it made his stomach “bitter” (Rev. 10:10). That was not recorded in Ezekiel.

This scroll was unique because it was written on both sides (Ezek. 2:10). Usually, a scroll had words written on only one side. This scroll had been completely filled, and the words were words of “lamentations, mourning, and woe.” Considering the people he was sent to (Ezek. 3:5-7) and the time in which it would be preached, it makes sense that these would be words of “lamentations, mourning, and woe.” These people had sinned against God and lived in rebellion for many years, and now they would suffer the consequences of their decisions by being exiled and enslaved by the Babylonians.

What is implied in this statement, “Eat this scroll”? It means God expected His mouthpiece, Ezekiel, to speak all and only what He had revealed. Just as in physical eating, God expected His words to be assimilated into the mind and soul of Ezekiel. In other words, when this is accepted and assimilated, then this is what is going to come out of Ezekiel (I Pet. 4:11).

Jesus would teach a similar truth from a negative perspective in Matthew 15. He warned that “those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man” (Matt. 15:18-20). Thus, what our hearts are filled with is what will come out! We can fill it with worldliness, or we can fill it with the Word. Which will we choose? Ezekiel, John, and many other faith heroes determined to fill their hearts with God’s word, and not only were they blessed, but they blessed those who heard them and saw their examples (Matt. 5:14-16; I Tim. 4:16; etc.).

Why fill our minds with those things that will harm us when we can be filled with that which will bless us? Just like medicine, sometimes, the truth will hurt (Ezek. 2:10; Rev. 10:10). Recall how many Old Testament prophets called their message a “burden”! This is because the truth hurts. However, that pain is necessary if people are going to repent and change their ways. Don’t forget this pain must first be personal. In other words, I need to repent and get my life right so I can help others get their lives right (Matt. 7:5). Like Ezra, I need to learn the truth so I can do it and then teach others (Ezra 7:10). Though he had no sin, Jesus followed this pattern of first doing and then teaching (Acts 1:1). Will we “eat the scroll?”

Let us follow Ezekiel’s example (Rom. 15:4). “Eat the scroll!” Let it change your life, and then take this knowledge and help bring others to the Lord.

- Jarrod M. Jacobs