Ezekiel 33:17-20

17 "Yet your countrymen say, 'The way of the Lord is not just.' But it is their way that is not just. 18 If a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does evil, he will die for it. 19 And if a wicked man turns away from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he will live by doing so. 20 Yet, O house of Israel, you say, 'The way of the Lord is not just.' But I will judge each of you according to his own ways."

This is a compelling and interesting passage from the prophet Ezekiel. He ministered for 22 years in Babylon 7 years before the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC and 15 years after. God called him to warn the nation of Israel about the Judgment that was coming upon them because of their disobedience to God and His law. Then after the destruction of Jerusalem he speaks about God's plan for the Jewish nation to cast a vision of hope for restoration to the Jewish nation.

The book is logically divided into 3 sections:

1. Judgments against Israel (1 – 24)
   
2. Judgments against other nations (25-32)
   
3. Restoration for Israel (33-48)
   

So now we jump headlong into the 3^rd section of this fascinating book. Chapter 33 is the beginning of this new section, and we see a renewal of the call upon Ezekiel's life to be a faithful watchman for the Lord – to warn the people about what God has revealed to Ezekiel (33:1-9). We have recorded for us a sobering picture of the responsibility it is to warn people of coming danger. Ezekiel took this responsibility seriously. And so should we.

A certain question is on the minds of the Jews in exile. That question is recorded in verse 10 and answerer in verses 11 – 20. The question is:

"Our offenses and sins weigh us down, and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live?" NIV

"If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live?" KJV

"Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and
we rot away because of them. How then can we live?" ESV

The idea here from the Jewish people is that their sin as a nation from generations past has put a debt of sin upon them, that all they will ever experience in life is more of God's judgment. How they lived today was not going to make any difference because they were damned by the sins of their parents. They felt as if they had no hope as a nation or as individuals to live a life of meaning and purpose. Would they be able to move back to their land? They questioned God's faithfulness to His covenant with Abraham – had God rejected them as a people forever? Ezekiel speaks words of hope to the people looking for sincere answers to this all important question.

The next 15 chapters give hope and direction to the nation of Israel – but here we are only looking at this one fundamental issue in 33:10-20. What we see is the Jew living in Babylon is NOT condemned to death because of his nations past, but based on his individual life right now. Ezekiel is exhorting them to look at their life today and live a righteous and holy life that is pleasing to God. To administer justice, to follow God's Law and do right, this is a good definition on righteousness – "doing right".

When the word "death" is used in this passage we have no alternative but to understand it literally as death. The judgments decreed by God upon Jerusalem for their sinful practice was death. The Babylonian army physically came to Jerusalem took their swords and ended the biological existence of many Jewish people. By contrast the word "life" means biologically alive.

Application

The answer to the question "How then can we live?" is to stop using your life and your heritage as an excuse for continuing in personal sin. Don't blame God for judging you unfairly – when you are rationalizing your choice to live in sin, and experience pain and even death because of your own bad choices.

God is just to judge each of us for our sins. Ezekiel reminds Israel if they sin God is just to punish them. Paul reminded the Church of this in 1 Cor. 11:30. Sin always has consequences. If we put our trust in Jesus Christ and his complete and finished work on the cross as payment for our sins we are forgiven and made spiritually alive forever, according to God sovereign plan. One consequence of my sin is that Jesus had to go to the cross and die for me – my sin required death.

As a forgiven follower of Jesus I still experience the consequences of my sins each day, and so do you. We feel pain of broken relationships because of the sin of pride, or gossip. We pay for the sin of speeding through the ticket fee and higher insurance rates. We pay for the sin of greed when our homes are foreclosed on because we over extended our finances. We pay for the sin of adultery by our marriage dissolving. God forgives us from the eternal penalty of our sin, but we still face the just consequences of our sin.

God judgment has a dual role in the lives of His people, first to discipline us and second to make us holy. His judgment and his love go hand in hand.

Do you find yourself under a burden of sin so heavy you ask yourself "how can I go on living?" God's Word gives you hope even today – stop sinning and live a righteous life. Experience the joy of living the way God has told us. Be sanctified! Find your satisfaction in bringing glory to God and trusting in his Word.

Other Reflections

It is imperative we understand this passage is not speaking to the issue of our salvation or eternal forgiveness of our sin by God. Ephesians 2:8-9 clearly reminds us that our salvation is by grace through faith – not by our works.

It is backwards, and dangerous to take any single passage of scripture out of its context and use it to prove our point. We must value all of God's Word enough to do the hard word of digging into it and taking it for what it says.

Dan Sterken
12/30/08

Word to Youth Leaders

Christian Author David Wells was asked this question in an interview.  It is wise and it is a good statement of what we are attempting at our church in the teen ministry.

 If you were to address a room full of youth workers and you had the opportunity to communicate one message to them, what one message would you communicate?

DW: It is time to get brave. Let's stop the pandering. Kids see right through it. Let's give them the real thing. They are looking for it. No one has demanded anything of them; let us tell them that if they come to Christ, he bids them die. No one has told them that they can know truth as something other than their own private perspectives; let us tell them there is Truth and those who know it, lose their lives. No one has told them that there is a different way of life. What many churches have done has been to run after the kids fearing that they will be lost irretrievably to MTV, rock, sex, and drugs. So, better to give them small, undemanding doses of Christianity that won't interfere too much with their lives and which they will be willing to accept, than none at all, we think to ourselves. Wrong! If we tell them that they can have Christ on their own terms, we are selling them down the river. They instinctively know that. So, let us not make fools of ourselves anymore.