While the situation may have its distinctive twentieth-century features, it is by no means new. The prophet Ezekiel was one of the first group of exiles from Judah into Babylon after an invasion by Nebuchadnezzar in 597 B.C. They too had lost their sense of sin, and were trying to blame all their misfortunes on the sins of their fathers. They had a proverb (also quoted by Jeremiah who stayed behind in their homeland) which went like this: "The parents ate the sour grapes, but the children got the sour taste" (18.2). In effect they were saying that their exile was the result of God "bringing punishment on those who hate me and on their descendants down to the third and fourth generation" (Ex. 20.5).
In our reading, Ezekiel was not denying that father's sins have consequences for their children, but he was emphasising individual responsibility, declaring life for the just man and death for the wicked man, irrespective of their parentage. He also declared that holy love of God by which He must accept the repentant sinner and reject the just man who turns to evil. And then that pleading cry of God's love - "Why do you Israelites want to die? I do not want anyone to die," says the Sovereign Lord. "Turn away from your sins and live" (18.31b,32)
So we need to look at three important themes: I. Individual responsibility; II. God's judgment; and III. God's redemptive love.
Firstly, then, people have a free will and are therefore responsible for their own moral condition.
This is not to deny the reality of what is called "original sin." By nature we have a bias towards evil - this is a matter of common observation and experience. The Bible says that this is due to the wrong moral choice an the part of our first parents. But when Paul speaks of the universality of sin - "everyone has sinned and is far away from God's saving presence" (Rom. 3.23) - he is stating that all are sinners because they have actually sinned. They have been confirmed in evil by their own choice and action, and are therefore responsible as individuals to God. The Jew was fond of making distinctions between himself and the Gentile, but Paul declared, "there is no difference at all." In spite of the Law, the Jew had still followed his sinful inclination, and become equally guilty before God and equally in need of his grace.
To say that people are responsible for their own misdeeds is not to deny that the sin of one brings suffering on others - again this is a matter of common experience. A person committing a grave crime brings dishonour on the family name. All the members of a nation can be under suspicion because the leader makes a false move, and they may have to bear the brunt of the retaliation. And if this generation should be foolish enough to engage in a nuclear war, any remnant would have to live in suffering and distress. Such things are part of life here in this world - God can even use such suffering for our highest good.
However, whatever the tendency to evil inherited from the past, whatever the present suffering because of the sins of others, all are guilty before God because they live in rebellion against him and in separation from him. Of their own free will they have chosen the way that is against God's will. For that they must answer individually to him.
This brings us, secondly, to consider God's judgment, which is nothing less than what we deserve on account of our sin.
If God is the moral Ruler of the universe and all people are responsible to him, if he is supreme over all, the Creator of all that is in the universe and the one who formed humanity and breathed into us the breath of life - then the statement follows quite logically, "It is the one who sins who will die" (v. 20). The penalty of death for falling short is perfectly just. For God to deal with us otherwise would be a denial of his moral character. The universe would be a moral chaos.
A little girl ran in to her mother and said, "Mummy, there's an elephant in the garden!" This kind of thing had been going on for some time and was getting beyond childish fantasy. Her mother wanted to make the serious point that truthfulness is important. "My dear," she said, "you're telling lies again! Run up to your room and ask God to forgive you!" Five minutes later the girl returned, and her mother asked, "Well, did God forgive you?" "Yes, and he said, 'Don't worry, Miss Smith, I thought it was an elephant myself at first'."
We laugh at such childish silliness. Yet how often we ourselves think that God winks at our sins or takes them lightly. We say that God is love, and therefore sin doesn't matter. We think of God as a kind of Santa Claus who gives liberally to all his children and wouldn't hurt anyone. But could such a being be the Creator and Sustainer of this vast universe? Surely not!
The Scriptures speak in graphic terms of the God who must deal with sin, in whose eyes sin is such an offence that it cannot pass by unnoticed. Since people are individually responsible to God, as long as we persist in our life of sin, we incur the punishment of God on ourselves. What hope is there for any of us? The past is enough to condemn us and yet we know our present weakness!
And so, thirdly, we think of the love of God which has effectively dealt with sin through Jesus Christ.
This chapter in Ezekiel is bright with hope. It reveals the Holy Love of the God who, though he must pass judgment on sin, yet seeks and loves the sinner.
The Jews had an idea that the wicked person deserved punishment even if he reformed his life. "Do you think I enjoy seeing an evil person die?" asks the Sovereign Lord. "No, I would rather see him repent and live" (v. 23). This Love, which had chastised the people of Israel by allowing them to go into exile, was seeking them still in that sorrowing cry, "Why do you Israelites want to die? I do not want anyone to die. Turn away from your sins and live."
Francis Thompson, in The Hound of Heaven, depicted the soul fleeing from the Love of God, finding no shelter or contentment in the earth, till the Voice rings out:
I said before that "God must deal with sin." The "good news" of the Gospel is that God dealt with sin in the coming of Christ. In Christ he was reconciling the world to himself. There have been many ways of attempting to understand the Atonement, but ultimately it is the fact of what God has done that matters to us. "But because of our sins he was wounded, beaten because of the evil we did. We are healed by the punishment he suffered, made whole by the blows he received. All of us were like sheep that were lost, each of us going his own way. But the Lord made the punishment fall on him, the punishment all of us deserved" (Is. 53.5,6). In his suffering and death, Christ took on himself the consequences of our sin, thus satisfying the claims of Righteousness and enabling the Father to forgive sinful men. Salvation is therefore as much an expression of God's righteousness as Judgment is.
Two men went through University together, the one studying Law, the other Commerce. They became firm friends, but after University days they lost touch with each other. The first became a prominent judge, the second rose to a high position in the business world. One occasion the second had come to court on charges of embezzlement - he had diverted some $100,000 of the company's money to his own use. What would the judge do? When sentence was given, it involved the heaviest possible penalty, together with complete restitution, in default a long period of imprisonment. The defendant trembled in the dock - he couldn't pay, the money was gone it meant imprisonment for him. But at that moment, the judge removed his wig, ran to his friend and embraced him. "Don't worry," he said, "I will pay it all for you!"
That strikes us as an incredible and unlikely story. Yet it is the loving God who set the standards and such penalties for all who fall short, and then declared, "I will come and bear all the punishment for you, and give you the strength to do my will!" That is what God has done for us in Christ.
But we still have a free will - we can accept or reject God's offer of salvation in Christ. He does not compel, but invites, us to receive eternal life through him.
Ezekiel, it is true, living in Old Testament days, does not speak of the work of Christ, but tells them, "get yourselves new minds and hearts" (v. 31). Twice in his prophecies declares that it is the Lord who works this change (11.19; 36.26). He urges them to repentance - "don't let your sin destroy you".
If we would have life, true life, life as God intends it we too must turn back from sin with faith in the one who bore our sins on the tree - the faith that perseveres, that shows its fruit in godly living.
Perhaps someone here has been holding back from God, trusting in his/her own way, living for self alone. God looks on our hearts, sees us as we really are, knows all the uncomfortable - no, the tragic - truth about us! That's why this God of love calls us, "Why do you want to die, (he calls us by name!)? I do not want anyone to die," says the Sovereign Lord. "Turn away from your sins and live!''
It is his invitation "Turn away from your sins and live!"
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