SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/8/2015
10:22 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Individual Responsibility PT-3
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ezekiel
18:19-24
Message of the
verses: The following verses come under the sub-section of “You can blame
yourselves:” “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.”
Ezekiel is answering a question in this section that
comes from verse nineteen in the same way he answered a question from verse two
as seen in our last SD. We see the description
of a two men in this section, one of a man who repented in verses 19-23 and on
from a man who was living a righteous life, but went back into a sinful
life. Dr. Wiersbe writes that “the
reason for the two examples is obvious and answered their questions: people
determine their own character and destiny by the decisions that they make.” He goes on to talk about what was going on in
Jerusalem during this time. The people
in Jerusalem had the prophet Jeremiah living among them telling them what the
Lord wanted them to do, but they refused to obey the Word of the Lord, and
instead worshiped their idols. As a
result the Babylonians were used of the Lord to attack them. After the first attack King Zedekiah broke
the covenant with the Babylonians which caused them to come back and to destroy
the city and the temple. We see in Jerusalem
some who were true believers and some that were not as described by Ezekiel as
he gives the answer to the exiles.
Dr. Wiersbe writes “Ezekiel was giving the Jewish nation
a message of hope! If they would truly
repent and turn to the Lord, He would work on their behalf as He promised (1
Kings 8:46-53; Jer. 29:10-14). However,
if they persisted in sinning, the Lord would continue to deal with them as
rebellious children. God has no delight
in the death of the wicked (Ezek. 18:23, 32, see 1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9), but
He isn’t obligated to invade their minds and hearts and force them to obey.”
Now when we look at verse 24 some may think that Ezekiel
is dealing with the security of the believer, which is not what he is dealing
with, but he is dealing with the issue of physical life or death which was
stated in God’s covenant as seen in Deuteronomy 30:15-20; and Jer. 21:8. We have heard the story of the believer who
decides to go out and gets drunk one day as he is tempted and falls to his
flesh, and then he falls and breaks his arm.
He is a believer and God will forgive him of his sin, but the result of
his disobedience to the Lord he still has a broken arm. 1/8/2015 10:50 AM 1/8/2015 11:59 AM
I want to quote an endnote from Warren Wiersbe to help
explain more about this passage (verse 24).
We have to realize that Ezekiel is speaking to the exiles and is
speaking about the people who are living in Jerusalem and as we read and study
this we can receive applications from it.
“The case described in verse 24 isn’t that of a righteous man who
commits one trespass, but it describes a righteous man who adopted a sinful
lifestyle and repeatedly defied God’s law.
Certainly he could have repented and returned to God, even as King
Manasseh did (2 Chronicles 33:11-19); but the man Ezekiel described persisted
in his sins. It’s possible to have an
outward behavior that appears righteous and still not have saving faith in the
Lord.”
1/8/2015 12:06 PM
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