STUDY THEME: GOD OF GRACE AND GLORY 9-08-02
"GOD IS JUST." EZEKIEL 18: 1-4, 19-20, 23-24, 25-29, 30-32.
PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO EZEKIEL 18.
In this five lesson series we will be looking at three attributes of God. Last Sunday from 1 Chronicles 16 we learned that God is Holy. Today we move to the 2nd attribute, "God is Just." He rewards each person according to his or her ways. Because God is just, every individual faces God’s judgment and is accountable to Him.
Before we begin, I want to give you some background into this matter. It will help us in understanding the context behind what we are about to read.
The historical context of Ezekiel 18 starts to unfold in 609 BC, with an event that took place in 2 Kings 23: 28-29. In this account Pharaoh Neco of Egypt killed King Josiah when they met at Megiddo. Egypt ruled Judah for about four years until it was defeated at Carchemish by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar in 605 BC, and many Jews were taken into exile in Babylon.
Ezekiel lived about 400 years after David. In 597 BC he was taken into Babylon, along with King Jeoiachin, in the first captivity in Ezekiel 1:1-3. He was a young priest at that time and a few years later, was called to be a prophet.
What happened to the social setting, in which Ezekiel was told to preach, is quite interesting. The people had been subject to many false prophets and teachers who were only interested in ear tickling. These pseudo prophets deceived people into thinking that deliverance from the captivity was in the near future. Congregations were fooled into thinking that they had favor in God’s eyes and that deliverance was really near.
The exiles could not accept the fact that they were paying for their own sins. This is the reason for the delight in the lies given by the false prophets. In Ezekiel Ch. 18, Ezekiel proclaimed God’s justice and tore down any misconceptions relating to their sins. He told the Israelites that they were not suffering the Babylonian exile because of their father’s sins. They were suffering because of their own wickedness. While Ezekiel was preaching to the exiles in Babylon, Jeremiah was doing the same to those in Judah.
In Ezekiel 12:2 God described the Israelites of Ezekiel’s day to him. "Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, which has eyes to see but does not see, and ears to hear but does not hear, for they are a rebellious house." Ezekiel was commanded to act as though he was gong into exile at that time. The people developed a proverb that said in Ezekiel 12: 22, "The days are prolonged, and every vision fails." Captivity was no threat to them. But in Ezekiel 12:23 God said "The days are at hand, and the fulfillment of every vision."
Now, in Ezekiel 18:2 the people are in captivity in Babylon, seeking an excuse for their captivity. Agin they had a proverb. They are not guilty. It is their father’s fault. "The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and he children’s teeth are set on edge." They are charging God with injustice, as if the judgments executed were wrong. "We are bring punished for the sins of our ancestors."
They suggest it is unreasonable that the children should smart for the father’s folly and feel the pain of that which they never tasted the pleasure of, and that God was unrighteous in thus taking vengeance and could not justify it. Now by this it appears that they were unhumbled under the rod, for instead of condemning themselves and justifying God, they condemned Him and justified themselves, "but woe to him that thus strives with his Maker."
The people must have felt they were justified in his conclusion by the earlier history of Israel. For example, in two of God’s key teaching to their forefathers He had spoken of the sins of one generation being visited on succeeding generations. The Second Commandment is followed by the warning, to those who make graven images. In Exodus 20:5 we read, "I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me." In the high points of the O.T. revelation in Ex. 34:7 God revealed to Moses the name of the Lord. After emphasizing the love and forgiveness of God, the Lord added, "and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation."
The proverb the people loved was, "The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge." An illustration of the proverb would entail the punishment for the parent’s sins being distributed to the child. Next in line the child becomes a parent and his or her sins are passed on to his or her own child. The problem arises when one asks the question: "If this statement holds true, then whose sins was the first father punished for?" This question brings us to the doctrine of "original sin."
Original sin is inferred in this small proverb. Original sin refers to the sins of the very first father; "Adam." Original sin is the first sin of Adam that affected the whole human race, and caused condemnation and death to come upon all people. This sin is also known as the "Transgression of Adam." Adam was punished for sin when he and Eve ate the forbidden fruit in Genesis Ch. 3. Adam was not punished for Eve’s sin or vice verse. They were each punished in Gen. 3:13-19 for their own sin.
The condemnation and death that came upon all people through the first sin, are the effects of the first sin. We experience condemnation and death for Adam’s sin. What we need to realize is that a sin cannot be passed on to the next generation, but the effects of sin may. According to William Bruner, this means that the exiles in Babylon…were not being punished, they were merely suffering the misfortunes that the sins of men naturally bring upon their children and fellowmen. The effects of sin are inherited, but they cannot make their victims sinful or guilty.
The topic of original sin leads us to what we encounter in Ezekiel Ch. 18. We see the doctrine of "individual responsibility" in Ch. 18. The sour grapes proverb reveals a lack of individual responsibility and portrays a more corporate type of responsibility. This proverb was in use as a way for the Israelites to pawn off their sins on someone else.
The origin of the sour grapes proverb is found in Exodus 20:5b which says, "….for, I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of the parents, to the third and fourth generation of those who reject Me."
Like we of today, the Children of Israel looked for someone else to blame for their own sin. In their search for self-justification they came up with a really cute and logical proverb that meant that whatever the fathers of each successive generation did may not affect them but it would surely affect their children and grandchildren. This was Israel’s way of blaming their forefathers’ and even God, for the sin that they committed and the judgments they had to face. In using this proverb they absolved themselves from the penalty for their own sin and placed it upon the head of their ancestors.
The exiles in Babylon had completely forgotten Deut. 24:16 which says, "Parents shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their parents; only for their own crimes may a person be put to death."
Just listen to any psychologist or psychiatrist and they will attempt to persuade you that criminals commit crimes largely as a result of their past environment. The blame for sin is never placed squarely on the shoulders of those who commit acts of violence or other crimes. It is always the fault of someone or something else. Perhaps it was your father, mother, aunt, uncle or some other adult who wronged you as a child and destroyed your self-esteem. Perhaps it’s peer pressure from school friends or co-workers that caused you to fall.
After all, the man who loses his job as a postal worker, because he was lazy and had a bad attitude, is somewhat justified in walking in and killing his former co-workers, because it wasn’t his fault that he was fired, it’s their fault for being better employees than he was. I know that sounds warped but that’s the prevalent thinking of our day. The criminal has rights while the victim is looked upon as just coincidence in the act of the crime and shouldn’t have been there in the first place.
Christians don’t act much different than those who are worldly when it comes to facing up to their sin. We love to play the blame game too. I hear people say things like, "my former Pastor didn’t teach me right"; "The church that I used to attend didn’t have a good training program or Bible study class"; "I was never taught that doing or saying things like that were wrong"; and I have heard other thing come from the lips of Christians as well, because we don’t want to admit that we have sinned and that it is us who are at fault and in need of repentance.
In Vsl 3 the Sovereign Lord declared, "You will no longer quote this proverb in Israel." Jeremiah, preaching at the same time in Jerusalem in Jeremiah 31:29-30, "In those days they shall say no more "the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children’s teeth are set on edge. Everyone shall die for his own iniquity; every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge."
We can lay the blame wherever we want, but God spoke plainly to Ezekiel in Vs. 4 that "the soul that sins will be one who dies and not those who lived in the past." They will answer for their own sin and so will each of us. We cannot lay the blame for what we do at the feet of another person.
James 1:14-15 say, "But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed: Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." It isn’t the fault of anyone else when we sin. It’s our own fault. Until we realize that fact, there can be no forgiveness of sin and when we face the judgment we will have no excuse.
Especially now, in these New Testament times, we have no excuse for sin and we cannot lay the blame for our "sour grapes" on anyone else. We have the presence of the Holy Spirit, and the Word of God, and the blood of Jesus Christ to wash us, cleanse us, and teach us to walk uprightly before God.
In Ezekiel 18: 5-18 Ezekiel presents three case studies. Case study 1 is a just man. Case 2 is an evil son. Case 3 is the son of an evil man. I have shortened these in order to save time.
In Vs. 5-9 we have a righteous man. Here is a man who has upheld the Lord’s command. He is just before the Lord. Prov. 21:21 says, "He who follows righteousness and mercy finds life, righteousness and honor." Now, based on this information, will this man live or die? (He will live.)
Case study #2 Vs. 10-13 continues from the righteous man in Vs. 9. Suppose a righteous man has an evil son. The son may think he will be saved because his father was righteous. Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death." Is the evil son saved because his father was righteous? ( No! He will die for his own sins.)
Case study # 3 Vs. 14-18 continues from the evil son in Vs. 13. If the evil son grows up and becomes a father himself, and then has a child, and his child realizes that his father is evil and decides not to be evil, will he die for his father’s sins. (No! The father will die for his evil, and the child will live for his righteousness.)
Ezekiel presented us with examples of three generations here. The father’s sins did not carry on to the children. Each individual was responsible for his or her own actions. Each has the choice between life and death. The Lord says in Deut. 30:19, "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live." We are responsible for our own actions, and it is our responsibility whether or not we choose life or death. The Lord gives a choice, so choose life.
At the age of 10 I knew I was lost. I was taught that I could not be saved until I was 12. I lived in terrible fear for those 2 years. I was saved at age 12. Last month my grand-daughter Amy received Christ as her Savior at age 5. She will never know the fear I endured.
Right here the Israelites revealed their desire to uphold the sour grapes proverb. They wished to hang on to their excuse for their sins so that they would not have to be held accountable. If you remember, I mentioned earlier how the exiles could not accept the fact that they were paying for their own sins. They were delighting in the lies given by the false prophets. They thought of themselves as good people of evil fathers, yet they were being punished for the sins of their fathers. They were made to feel that personal righteousness was unattainable. No one could come to a proper relationship with the Lord. Since they were being punished for their parent’s sins, there was no way of escape.
Ezekiel anticipated someone asking him, Why does the son not share the guilt of his father? His answer declared that the son who did what is right, and just and who had kept God’s decrees would surely live. The Lord declared the principle of individual responsibility again in vs. 20. The soul who sins is the one who will die. The righteous person will live because of his righteousness. The wicked will die because of his wickedness. Neither parent nor child will suffer the guilt of the other one.
A new element enters the chapter 18 in Vs. 21-24. The possibility of repentance and change of life from sin to righteousness is mentioned in Vs. 21-22. The prophet proclaimed that God would not bring death upon a wicked person who turned from his wicked ways and turned to doing what is just and right. God would not even remember the person’s offenses he had committed. The repentant person would live.
Vs. 23 reveals the mercy of God. Through Ezekiel the Sovereign Lord asked if anyone thought the Lord took pleasure in the death of the wicked. His reply was "He takes no pleasure at all that the wicked should die." Instead, His joy is in seeing a sinner turn from his ways, and live.
In Vs. 24 the righteous person turns to evil and becomes a wicked person. Notice how serious are the person’s sins. He commits all the abominations that the wicked man does. The Lord asked, "Shall he live?" The clear answer is no—("In his sins that he has sinned, in them shall he die.")
The doctrines of election and security of the believer are not doctrines of presumption that condone a life of sin. Those who turn from what appears to be a righteous life to an ungodly life and continue in it are either badly backslidden or they have never experienced God’s saving grace. Jesus warned in Matt. 7:21, that just professing His named did not ensure salvation. Faith that fizzles at the finish was faulty at the first.
The third saying of the people is quoted in Vs. 25. They were saying, "The way of the Lord is no just or fair." They were still claiming that God had punished them for the sins of their evil forefathers. In doing this, God was not being just or fair. They also seem to have added to their list that forgiving sinners was not just. This forgiveness allows a formerly evil person to be spared while more righteous people who seemed to need no repentance, are punished.
To this accusation, God made a counter charge He was not unjust, they were. They had been claiming to be righteous people, who were being punished for the sins of their evil forefathers. But the truth of the matter was that they were at least as guilty as, if not more guilty than, their ancestors. They were in exile because of their own sins.
Instead of God being unjust, He revealed His great mercy and desire to forgive Israel of their sins. In spite of this stern warning, in Vs. 27, God had good news for Ezekiel’s listeners. A wicked person can save his life by turning away from his wickedness and doing what is just and right. The word "wicked" means that which is "morally wrong," or "sinful." Wickedness is the opposite of righteousness. A person who does wickedness does things that are the opposite to the deeds that are just and right. By turning away from wicked deeds to righteous deeds, a wicked person can save his life. Acts 3:19 tells us, "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come."
What makes the wicked turn from his sins? In Vs. 28 the Lord said the wicked person considers all the offenses he has committed. A strong motivation for repentance is the realization that one is actively revolting against the Almighty God. To turn away from sin and turn to obedience is to live. In James 4:8-10 James reveals that we should be sorrowful about our past sins, and that we should lament, mourn, and weep. If we are sorrowful about our past sins, the Lord will forgive us, because He knows we are sincere in our desire to be forgiven.
In Vs. 29 the Lord again quoted Israel as accusing Him of not being just. Their reasoning was the same: They contended that God was punishing them for their fathers’ sins. The Lord answered again in the same way with the two questions in Vs. 25. In light of everything He said through Ezekiel in this chapter, God asked "Are my ways unjust? He also asked, Is it not your ways that are unjust?
Ezekiel closed this chapter by proclaiming God’s call to repentance. He first restated the theme of God’s message to His people in Vs. 30. The Sovereign Lord declared He would judge each person according to that person’s ways, not the ways of his father. Each person would live or die according to his or her own deeds. People suffer the consequences of the sins of others, but God does not punish other people for the sins of someone else. He will not even punish sinners, for their own sins, if they will repent, and turn in faith to him. In 1 John 1:9-10 He says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us." Through Christ we will be forgiven our sins if we confess that we have sinned, but if we say we have not sinned, that someone else sinned instead, then the Lord is not in us.
In Vs. 31 Ezekiel tells us that the Lord says, "Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit." David echoes these same words in Ps. 51:10-12: "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy Spirit." The Lord urges us to repent and to seek his salvation.
The options were to repent and live or to refuse to repent and die. God is pictured as Judge in Vs. 30, but He is pictured as a loving Father in vs. 32. God’s loving heart is revealed in this verse. He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. As Vs. 23 indicated, His joy is in the repentance of sinners. Ezekiel 33 is parallel to Ch 18 in many ways. Ezekiel 33:11 brings it all together: "As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked: but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: for why will ye die, O house of Israel."
Many people fail to heed the warning because they believe they are already righteous. Only people who confess their sins and trust in the Lord will be forgiven. Romans 10:9-10 says, "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him for the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."
NEXT WEEK FROM JONAH 1 AND 2ND PETER 3 WE WILL SEE THAT GOD IS PATIENT: HE DOESN’T WANT ANYONE TO PERISH, BUT FOR ALL TO REPENT.
A.V. DAUGHERTY 9-08-02