The passage of today's readings that I found rather fascinating was the section on Noah, Daniel and Job.
It seems that the people were under some sort of delusion that God wouldn't actually punish Israel because of the faithful remnant - reminiscent of Abraham praying to save Sodom if there were 10 righteous men in the city.
But Ezekiel firmly and repeatedly states that people are not saved corporately, they are saved personally.
Our parents, no matter how devoted they are to God, cannot save us. Going to a Bible-preaching church won't save us.
Every single individual needs to have their own personal relationship with Jesus in order to be saved.
Now, why these 3 men in particular? I looked up a few different sermons and commentaries and here are some of their thoughts....
Mark McWhorter (in a children's sermon) says that It is possible that God is representing different aspects with the three men. Noah represented preaching to the world. Daniel represented preaching to a nation. And Job represented preaching to a family. These three great men fulfilled their roles well. Yet, not even these men, if they preached at this time, could get God's people to listen to them. (It is interesting that Daniel was living at this time but was not prophesying as yet.)
Here is another possible way God was using the three men. Noah represented the preaching realm. He preached to the world. Daniel was in the political realm. He had a good amount of power and was close to the ruler. Job was a wealthy man with many possessions as well as a loyal family. He represented a family man. These men were successful in each area of life represented. But even if they could bring the message that Ezekiel was bringing, it would not matter. The people that Ezekiel was speaking to were not going to listen.
According to this sermon, another possibility is that the 3 men represented different portions of the scripture at the time (the Law, the Prophets and the Writings which were everything else) - Noah was the earliest patriarch and represented the Law or the Torah, Daniel represented the Prophets and Job the Writings. The Word of God (the Law, the Prophets, the Writings) cannot save us either - only the saving blood of Christ can save us. The Word is obviously extremely valuable to the believer, but is not what saves us.
The same sermon or commentary adds that we can see some symbolism of the Trinity here, with Noah, the father of nations representing God the Father; Job, the suffering servant representing the Son; and Daniel, the prophet, representing the Holy Spirit.
The three men also represent the universal nature of God's work.....
Noah was the father of all the nations, of course, after the Flood. God made a covenant with him that was supposed to apply to all humanity, not just Israel (see Gen. 9:12-16). Job was from the land of Seir (Edom), as far as we know, probably before Israel even left Egypt – he was not an Israelite. Finally, Daniel lived almost his entire life in Babylon & Persia, and his prophecies – unlike those of the other Major Prophets – focused primarily on the rise and fall of empires outside Israel, rather than the future of Israel itself. They were the perfect characters to illustrate the universal problem of sin and judgment (”for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Rom. 3:23), and the universal solution that God provides – salvation through the blood of Jesus (”all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus,” Rom. 3:24).
Tomorrow's passage: Ezekiel 17-19
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