I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies, repent and live

Ezekiel 18 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ² “What do you mean by using this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, ‘The fathers eat the sour grapes, But the children’s teeth are set on edge’? ³ As I live,” declares the Lord God, “you are surely not going to use this proverb in Israel anymore. ⁴ Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine. The soul who sins will die.

⁵ “But if a man is righteous and practices justice and righteousness… ⁹ if he walks in My statutes and My ordinances so as to deal faithfully—he is righteous and will surely live,” declares the Lord God.

¹⁰ “Then he may have a violent son who sheds blood and who does any of these things to a brother …will he live? He will not live! He has committed all these abominations, he will surely be put to death; his blood will be on his own head.

¹⁴ “Now behold, he has a son who has observed all his father’s sins which he committed, and observing does not do likewise… but executes My ordinances, and walks in My statutes; he will not die for his father’s iniquity, he will surely live. ¹⁸ As for his father, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother and did what was not good among his people, behold, he will die for his iniquity.

¹⁹ “Yet you say, ‘Why should the son not bear the punishment for the father’s iniquity?’ When the son has practiced justice and righteousness and has observed all My statutes and done them, he shall surely live. ²⁰ The person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father’s iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son’s iniquity; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself.

²¹ “But if the wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed and observes all My statutes and practices justice and righteousness, he shall surely live; he shall not die. ²² All his transgressions which he has committed will not be remembered against him; because of his righteousness which he has practiced, he will live. ²³ Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked,” declares the Lord God, “rather than that he should turn from his ways and live?

²⁴ “But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity and does according to all the abominations that a wicked man does, will he live? All his righteous deeds which he has done will not be remembered for his treachery which he has committed and his sin which he has committed; for them he will die. ²⁵ Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not right.’ Hear now, O house of Israel! Is My way not right? Is it not your ways that are not right? ²⁶ When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity and dies because of it, for his iniquity which he has committed he will die. ²⁷ Again, when a wicked man turns away from his wickedness which he has committed and practices justice and righteousness, he will save his life. ²⁸ Because he considered and turned away from all his transgressions which he had committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die. ²⁹ But the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not right.’ Are My ways not right, O house of Israel? Is it not your ways that are not right?

³⁰ “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, each according to his conduct,” declares the Lord God. “Repent and turn away from all your transgressions, so that iniquity may not become a stumbling block to you. ³¹ Cast away from you all your transgressions which you have committed and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! For why will you die, O house of Israel? ³² For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies,” declares the Lord God. “Therefore, repent and live.”

In today’s text God speaks about the concept of inherited sin. The text says: Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “What do you mean by using this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, ‘The fathers eat the sour grapes, But the children’s teeth are set on edge’?  As I live,” declares the Lord God, “you are surely not going to use this proverb in Israel anymore. Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine. The soul who sins will die.     The idea of inherited sin goes all the way back to the beginning. Romans 5:12 says:     through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned      Through the disobedience and sin of Adam and Eve, sin entered the world and we all inherited that nature of sin. Numbers 14:18 says:    ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generations.’      That was the understanding of the people of the nation of Israel, that God actually punished successive generations for the sins of their fathers. The reality is that the punishment for sin is death. The text says:   The soul who sins will die.   Romans 6:23 says:  For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Before we move on to looking at that free gift in Christ, lets understand that death, physical and spiritual death was and is the penalty for sin. What the Israelites experienced and what we sometimes see as generational sins and punishment are really the consequences of sin. The “visiting” of the iniquities on future generations is the lasting consequences of sin and disobedience. It is not God’s punishment for sins of prior generations, but rather the lasting consequences of disobedience and sin, how the choices we make affect the future in the same way that the choices of others have affected the present.

Now then, let us who are under the new covenant in Christ look at this through the lens of that new covenant. How does this apply to us the same way or differently than it did to those in Ezekiel’s day? Today’s text tells us what God says about sin. What does Jesus, the one who died for our sins to give us the free gift of eternal life, say about sin? First, in John 12:49-50, Jesus says:   “ I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak.  I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me.”      All that Jesus says is in agreement with what the Father says. God is indeed loving and righteous, full of mercy and grace, but indeed He has said: The soul who sins will die.    God has not changed His mind about sin or the penalty for sin. Jesus Himself says:  “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.  For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:17-20)     So Jesus was and remains in agreement with the Father, with all that God said and says about sin.

Jesus did not abolish the penalty for sin established by God. The wages of sin is death. Jesus fulfilled the law. He Himself, on the cross died so that we don’t have to. He paid the price for sin, fulfilling the requirement of the law that:  The soul who sins will die.     Jesus did not do away with sin or the penalty for sin. He paid the price for sin. Jesus says:  “I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”      We cannot by our own actions exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. Romans 3:10-12 says:    as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.”    Verse 23 says:  all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.      So rather than our own righteousness, we put on the righteousness of Christ. We live in the fulfillment of the law He provided.

In today’s text God says:    Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked,” declares the Lord God, “rather than that he should turn from his ways and live?   2 Peter 3:9 says:  The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.     God’s desire is not to punish anyone, it’s not that anyone should die for their sins. In today’s text God speaks of those who say that God is unfair in the way He judges sin. Many today also say that it is unfair, that a God of love would judge anyone. God says:   But the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not right.’ Are My ways not right, O house of Israel? Is it not your ways that are not right? “Therefore I will judge you, each according to his conduct,” declares the Lord God. “Repent and turn away from all your transgressions, so that iniquity may not become a stumbling block to you.  Cast away from you all your transgressions which you have committed and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! For why will you die?  I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies,” declares the Lord God. “Therefore, repent and live.”    Jesus has paid the price for our sins, but He too says: Repent, He says: go and sin no more! To repent is to completely change both our actions and our way of thinking. We cannot be in Christ, put on His righteousness, if we think as the world thinks, that sin is of no consequence. We must believe that:   The soul who sins will die.   But also that: “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”   

Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit, Your word and Your will never change. You loved us from the beginning and where we failed You made a way. I believe. I choose life in Christ rather than death.   Amen