i. The fact that God does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked does not mean that it will not happen. God’s general desire for all humanity is that they would repent, turn to Him and be saved; yet He will not spare the requirements of justice and holiness for those who refuse to turn to Him. The fact that God does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked does not mean that it will not happen. God’s general desire for all humanity is that they would repent, turn to Him and be saved; yet He will not spare the requirements of justice and holiness for those who refuse to turn to Him.
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ii. It is especially important to understand these statements in their context; that Ezekiel spoke this regarding the judgment to come upon Judah and Jerusalem in this life, and not in first reference to eternal judgment. Nevertheless, since this principle is so rooted in God’s character, it applies to God’s eternal judgments. God is not “happy” when people choose hell; His general desire for all humanity is that they would repent, turn to Him and be saved.
c. Turn, turn from your evil ways: This communicates the desire, even the pleasure of God. The LORD’s longing is that men and women would choose life (Deuteronomy 30:19) and not death. God wanted Israel to live and not die. The question, why should you die, O house of Israel? means that they didn’t have to perish in the coming judgment.
2. (Ezekiel 33:12-16) The principle of the changed life.
“Therefore you, O son of man, say to the children of your people: ‘The righteousness of the righteous man shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression; as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall because of it in the day that he turns from his wickedness; nor shall the righteous be able to live because of his righteousness in the day that he sins.’ When I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, but he trusts in his own righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous works shall be remembered; but because of the iniquity that he has committed, he shall die. Again, when I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ if he turns from his sin and does what is lawful and right, if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has stolen, and walks in the statutes of life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of his sins which he has committed shall be remembered against him; he has done what is lawful and right; he shall surely live.
a. The righteousness of the righteous man shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression: God told Ezekiel to speak to another accusing objection from the people of God. This was an accusation based on fatalism, which basically said: the good are good and the bad are bad and nothing can be done about it. To answer that objection, God reminded them all that every righteous man could end up with a life dominated by his transgression. His prior righteousness would not rescue him on the day of God’s judgment.
b. As for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall because of it in the day that he turns from his wickedness: On the same principle, someone who lived a prior life of wickedness was not pre-ordained to continue that way. They could turn and be spared in the season of God’s judgment.
c. When I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, but he trusts in his own righteousness: No one is so righteous that they cannot fall into great error and danger if they were to trust in their own righteousness instead of God and His mercy. To do so may mean to have all of one’s righteous works account for nothing before God, and he shall die. The same principle worked in reverse for the wicked. In both cases, if God pronounced “he shall surely live” to the righteous or “you shall surely die” to the wicked, neither was an irrevocable or irreversible pronouncement.
d. If the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has stolen: Again, the point is clear. God does not want us to regard human destiny as fatalistically determined by a person’s past, either for good or evil.
3. (Ezekiel 33:17-20) Unfairness found with Israel, not God.
“Yet the children of your people say, ‘The way of the LORD is not fair.’ But it is their way which is not fair! When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall die because of it. But when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is lawful and right, he shall live because of it. Yet you say, ‘The way of the LORD is not fair.’ O house of Israel, I will judge every one of you according to his own ways.”
a. The way of the LORD is not fair: This was another accusation against God and His prophets. When Ezekiel and others announced God’s coming judgment, some responded by questioning the fairness of it.
b. But it is their way which is not fair: God boldly replied to their accusation. God was entirely fair; it was the children of your people who unfairly looked to fate or the past to determine a person’s destiny.
c. When the righteous turns from his righteousness…when the wicked turns from his wickedness: Yet, as in the previous verses, God declared that man is not fatalistically bound to his past, whether his past was righteous or was wicked.
d. I will judge every one of you according to his own ways: This was God’s standard of judgment, and it was (and is) entirely fair. It was fair under the old covenant, which was greatly based on works. It is also (in another sense) fair under the new covenant, where a person’s faith is proved to be real by their works (James 2:14-17).
C. The messenger from Jerusalem.
1. (Ezekiel 33:21) The messenger arrives.
And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, that one who had escaped from Jerusalem came to me and said, “The city has been captured!”
a. In the twelfth year of our captivity: This was seven years after the first prophecies of the Book of Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1:2-3).
b. The city has been captured: The messenger told of what Ezekiel had long predicted, that Jerusalem would be utterly overwhelmed by the armies of Babylon. This was a sad and tragic vindication of the prophet.
2. (Ezekiel 33:22-24) The arrogant proclamation of the few Jewish survivors remaining in Judea.
i. The fact that God does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked does not mean that it will not happen. God’s general desire for all humanity is that they would repent, turn to Him and be saved; yet He will not spare the requirements of justice and holiness for those who refuse to turn to Him.
ii. It is especially important to understand these statements in their context; that Ezekiel spoke this regarding the judgment to come upon Judah and Jerusalem in this life, and not in first reference to eternal judgment. Nevertheless, since this principle is so rooted in God’s character, it applies to God’s eternal judgments. God is not “happy” when people choose hell; His general desire for all humanity is that they would repent, turn to Him and be saved.
HAVE A BLESSED LIFE, MAY THE LORD ADD A HEDGE OF PROTECTION OVER YOU AND YOUR FAMLILIES IN THE AIR, ON THE GROUND AND IN WATER IN JESUS MIGHTY NAME. THANK YOU FOR ALL THE WAYS YOU SUPPORT THIS PROPHETIC MINISTRY.