ESOCS Devotional 14 July 2024 – God’s Fair Judgment
MEMORY VERSE: “Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’” Ezekiel 33:11 NKJV
TEXT: EZEKIEL. 33:10-20
“Therefore you, O son of man, say to the house of Israel: ‘Thus you say, “If our transgressions and our sins lie upon us, and we pine away in them, how can we then live?” ’ 11 Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’
12 “Therefore you, O son of man, say to the children of your people: ‘The righteousness of the righteous man shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression; as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall because of it in the day that he turns from his wickedness; nor shall the righteous be able to live because of his righteousness in the day that he sins.’ 13 When I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, but he trusts in his own righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous works shall be remembered; but because of the iniquity that he has committed, he shall die. 14 Again, when I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ if he turns from his sin and does what is lawful and right, 15 if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has stolen, and walks in the statutes of life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die. 16 None of his sins which he has committed shall be remembered against him; he has done what is lawful and right; he shall surely live.
17 “Yet the children of your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ But it is their way which is not fair! 18 When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall die because of it. 19 But when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is lawful and right, he shall live because of it. 20 Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not [e]fair.’ O house of Israel, I will judge every one of you according to his own ways.”
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“Righteousness is right standing, specifically before God. Among the Greeks, righteousness was an ethical virtue. Among the Hebrews it was a legal concept; the righteous man was the one who got the verdict of acceptability when tried at the bar of God’s justice. Christ’s death took away our sins and made it possible for sinners to have “the righteousness of God,” i.e., right standing before God (Rom. 1:16-17). That gift of righteousness is to be followed by upright living (Rom. 6:13-14).” (The Shaw Pocket Bible Handbook, Walter A. Elwell, Editor, Shaw Publ., Wheaton, IL; 1984), p. 356.
Those who despaired of finding mercy with God were answered with a solemn declaration of God’s readiness to show mercy. The ruin of the city and state was determined, but that did not relate to the final state of individual persons, so long as they repent.
This passage emphasizes what is gained in life through turning to righteousness from wickedness. Ezekiel’s primary reference is to life after this present life. Now, they seem to feel heavy guilt for rebelling against God for so many years. Therefore, God assured them of forgiveness if they repented (vv. 10-12). He wants everyone to turn to Him. He looks at what we are and not what we have been.
Good works will not save a person, who may decide to turn to a life of sin. Some people think they have done enough good deeds to more than cover the sins they don’t want to give up. But it’s useless to try to be good in some areas and yet be deliberately bad in others (v 13). God requires wholehearted love and obedience.
While good works will not save us, our salvation should lead to righteous actions (Eph. 2:10; James 2:14-17). This includes restitution for past sins. God expects us to make restitution whenever necessary, for the wrongs we have committed (v 15). Ezekiel’s message was to the whole house of Israel, but its application was to be made on an individual basis (v 12-16). The righteousness of the one turning to wickedness very likely has reference to the superficial righteousness of an unregenerate person.
If we turn from righteousness and do evil, we will die in our evil ways. We must not trust in our own righteousness. We all sin and we need Christ. The question is, do you trust in righteousness or in Christ? The warnings found here are warnings of hope. They show the way to life. They reveal the mercy of God: “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked” (v 11).
- Have you trusted in self-righteousness?
- I am so thankful for the truth of God’s Word, that the righteousness of God is that righteousness whereby, through grace and sheer mercy, I have been justified by faith through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Further Reading: Deuteronomy 5:1-21; Mark 14:43-53; Acts 7:17-36
ESOCS Devotional 14 July 2024
