Turn and Live: God’s Justice and Our Responsibility

Fourth, when the Lord disciplines us, we should not look for anyone else to blame but ourselves. Ezekiel’s generation wanted to know why they were suffering. They know now their exile is not because God is unjust or because He laid on them the sins of their parents. It was time for Israel to stop blaming others and accept responsibility for their own actions. We should too. As a pastor I frequently meet people who cannot get over some aspect of their past. Though we may blame certain circumstances on our fathers, we cannot blame our sins on them. We alone make our choices, and we alone will be held accountable for them.

Bad News: God Will Hold Us Accountable for Our Sins, and Just One of Them Is Worthy of the Full Measure of His Wrath

Ezekiel 18:21-29

The Lord’s kindness leads us to repentance (Rom 2:4). To be led by the Lord to acknowledge our sins and to turn from them is a grace to us. In the initial moments of conviction, we may not view our experience as a period of grace, but anytime the Lord does not leave us in our sin, it is nothing but grace. The very reason Israel is thinking and processing sin is because they have been disciplined. Their problem was they were thinking on the sins of their fathers and not their own. God, however, is about to change this practice.

The people of Judah did not just need to be rescued from Babylon; they needed to be rescued from their sin. Block notes, “One’s appreciation for grace is directly proportional to one’s consciousness of sin. A prophet does no one a favor by promoting a sense of well being when one is governed by the law of sin and death” (Block, Ezekiel 1–24, 590). If what they heard from the Lord in Ezekiel 18:5-20 was true, then what they claimed in Ezekiel 18:2 was false. If God deals justly with each generation, then they too must be guilty. And they were (20:30-32). Their parents had certainly committed sin (20:4-29), but their generation continued to defile themselves by practicing idolatry (20:31). Something bad was not happening to a people who were good. No, God was using something bad to discipline people who were bad, ultimately to produce a good result. God disciplines His people for the purpose of repentance and restoration and not for ruin.

To help Israel understand their accountability for their actions, the Lord provides Ezekiel with two more examples. In the first example a wicked person turns from his sins, follows the Lord’s way, and lives (18:21-23). In the second example a righteous person turns from the Lord’s ways, practices iniquity, and faces death (v. 24). In one example there is a person who has turned from sin and in the other example, a person who has turned to it.

What can we learn from the examples? First, we do not have to stay the way we are. What a great word of hope! Those who have walked in wickedness can be counted among the righteous. Just because Israel walked in idolatry up to that point did not mean they had to continue in it. Ezekiel’s generation could recognize their sin and repent of it. In the New Testament there are real-life examples of what Ezekiel was telling them. For instance, there were the tax collectors, Matthew and Zacchaeus, who turned from their practices and followed Christ. There was also Paul, who went from persecuting the people of God to pastoring them. The Lord’s grace can bring true and lasting change in our lives.

Second, past righteousness never covers present sin. The second example is one the church crowd might want to give special attention. We cannot live in obedience to God the first portion of our life and then use that as a righteous slush fund to spend our credits on disobedience. Faith is demonstrated in a consistently godly life. With regard to righteousness, there is no time like the present. Is there current evidence of the fruit of the Spirit? Are we growing today as a disciple in Christ? As much as Ezekiel was to exhort the wicked to turn from their ways, he was also to encourage the righteous to continue in theirs.

I fear in my denomination eternal security has been emphasized far more than the call to persevere in Christ. The concept of New Testament conversion is not “I’m saved, so now I can do what I want,” but “I’m saved, and for the first time I can do what He wants.” Some seem to think that as long as one confesses the “sinner’s prayer,” then it does not matter what happens with the rest of their lives. The second example provided to Ezekiel should serve as a reminder to us that righteousness is not merely to be professed once in our lives but practiced daily.

However much we may glean from the two examples God provided, Ezekiel’s audience did not like them. They said, “The Lord’s way isn’t fair.” They struggled to process what they were hearing from the Lord. How could one who was wicked not be punished, and how could one who walked in righteousness face punishment? God cut to the heart of Israel by saying the issue was not His own fairness but theirs (vv. 25,29). God is not being arbitrary or unpredictable. He is punishing the one who turns to sin and forgiving the one who turns away from it, and He will do the same for the exiles (v. 30). For Israel to want Him to do otherwise reveals they are in no position to declare what is fair and what is not.

Greatest News: God Has Laid All of Our Sin on Christ that We Might Turn and Live

Ezekiel 18:30-32

As Ezekiel 18 comes to a close, one might expect the Lord to grow weary with His obstinate and ignorant people. If His fairness was what they questioned, then perhaps He should give them a full taste. He, however, has a better plan.

We are sinners born from sinners; therefore we should not be surprised by the Lord’s judgment but by His mercy. Judgment is deserved, but mercy is not. The fact the One we have rebelled from is the One who begs us to repent should not be lost on us. We should never cease to be amazed Ezekiel 18:30-32 is recorded in the Bible. After enduring their rebellion and their accusations, God offers His people (and us) grace and life instead of judgment.

God, the offended party, pleads with us, the offenders, to repent and turn from all our transgressions, so they will not be a stumbling block that causes our punishment. His desire is for us to throw off all the transgressions we have committed and get ourselves a new heart and a new spirit. He takes no pleasure in anyone’s death. As obstinate as His people have been in their sin, He is as steadfast in His love. To punish sin, God is being nothing but fair, but to forgive it, He is being nothing but gracious.

What Israel needed was a proper vision of God. Theirs was clearly flawed with thoughts of His weakness and injustice. What they learn is that He does punish the wicked, but He takes no pleasure in it. What they also learn is that their lives are precious to Him. He has stepped in and disciplined His people because if they continue on the path of sin it will lead to only one thing—death. He is pleading with them to turn from their rebellion and live.

In order for God to forgive, His people must repent and throw off all of their transgressions. What does it mean to repent? It means we turn from sin and from ourselves and turn to God. Repentance is not the same as remorse, which means we feel bad for a little while but then keep walking the same path. No, repentance involves not merely a momentary change but a fundamental one. We walk differently because we have been made different.

True repentance requires a new spirit and a new heart. From where will these come? God. He does for His people what we are incapable of doing for ourselves. He says,

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will place My Spirit within you and cause you to follow My statutes and carefully observe My ordinances. (36:26-27)

All that God expects from His people, He provides for them. The only way to “get” a new spirit and a new heart is to go to God.

Where exactly should one throw all of their transgressions? There is no other place but Christ. He alone has taken our sins upon Himself and paid the price for them. For those who repent, the only place God remembers our sin is at the cross of Christ. God’s offer of life to His people comes only through the death of His Son.

At the close of Ezekiel 18, I cannot help but wonder if we are as passionate with our pleading with sinners as God is. The last words in the chapter are, “Repent and live!” He is calling sinners to abandon the path of death and choose His path of life. Is this how we treat people who wound us? Do we seek their best though they have sought our harm? One of the clearest ways we can image God is to initiate reconciliation with those who have sinned against us. Instead of waiting for them to come to us, like God we should go to them.

God still appeals to sinners today to turn and live. His appeals are offered through us. Paul contends, “We are ambassadors for Christ, certain that God is appealing through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, ‘Be reconciled to God’” (2 Cor 5:20). The pleading of Paul was the pleading of God, and it is the same through us. If any of our loved ones, coworkers, neighbors, or friends perish, may they do so only with our pleading ringing in their ears.

Reflect and Discuss