Ezekiel 33:12-20
If you’ve ever struggled with an ongoing, life-consuming sin I’m willing to bet that at some point during that awful season, you blamed God, right? If God is as loving and kind and merciful as we’re led to believe, why is my life a non-stop dumpster fire? If He has such a wonderful plan for my life when the heck am I going to see it?
I remember many times when I justified the amount of alcohol I was consuming on God’s lack of fairness. Being able to blame Him – I cannot lie – made the beers go down that much easier. I had a long list of people I blamed for the crummy way I was living, but Jesus was right there in the top spot. Jesus makes for a great scapegoat because as much as I would blame Him for everything, He pretty much stayed quiet.
My understanding of God and fairness was short-sighted.
Throughout scripture we hear a lot about how God can be nothing but fair, it’s His nature and to be anything less wouldn’t be God-like. There’s a little referred-to run of verses in the Old Testament where God explains to His people just how fair He is. The explanation is shared through the prophet Ezekiel, and that may explain why these verses aren’t turned to more often.
The Book of Ezekiel is one of the most challenging reads in the Bible. The LORD chooses to reveal His glory to Ezekiel through visions and instructions that are, well, unique, especially in the early chapters. As it progresses though, Ezekiel’s message turns to one of pure encouragement. God reassures His people about His love for them and in chapter 33, God speaks to Ezekiel on the topic of fairness. He tells the prophet that He’s aware that the people grumble about the consequences imposed on them for disobedience. In verse 11 of chapter 33, He says this. “As surely as I live, I take no pleasure in the death of wicked people. I only want them to turn away from their wicked ways so they can live. Turn! Turn from your wickedness, O people of Israel! Why should you die?”
Listen, God sends no one to hell. Hell becomes a reality for those who consciously decide not to live in a relationship with God. You can’t expect to reap the benefits of knowing God while choosing not to know Him! God lays it out very clearly to Ezekiel. If you’re living a righteous life, but choose to reject it and surrender to sin, sin will destroy you. Not because God wants it to, His heart breaks when one of His children rejects Him. Likewise, if someone’s been living a wicked life, but then turns away from that and seeks God’s righteousness, they will be forgiven and saved.
Understand that Jesus loves every soul in hell and grieves over them because disobedience is such a senseless and avoidable cause of death. But the beauty of the cross is the promise that death resulting from sin never has to be a foregone conclusion.
The LORD tells Ezekiel this about sinners who turn from their wickedness. “They will surely live and not die. None of their past sins will be brought up again.” That’s the promise that Jesus extends to all of us every day. It’s a demonstration of love that transcends fairness and it’s there for the asking no matter what you’ve done.
That’s pretty good news for those of us who tend to sin, amen?