1 Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
This word is to Ezekiel directly. Anyone who is given a message by the Lord should listen up.
2 "Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, 'When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman:'"
When a people are expecting an enemy attack, they appoint someone to keep watch on the wall of the city to warn its inhabitants as soon as possible so they can defend themselves.
3 "'If when he sees the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people;
4 "'Then whosoever hears the sound of the trumpet, and takes not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.'"
If the watchman does his job and people ignore him, their death is their own fault.
5 "'He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that takes warning shall deliver his soul.'"
Those who listen to the warning will be able to fight their way out or run and hide right away. They will live.
6 "'But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.'"
If the guard sees the enemy coming but doesn’t warn anyone, their deaths are all his fault. He will bear the guilt when he stands before God on judgment day.
7 "'So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shall hear the word at My mouth, and warn them from Me.'"
God had appointed Ezekiel to be a guard. In the same way, He has appointed all who preach or pastor to be guards over people’s souls. “Obey your spiritual leaders, and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable to God. Give them reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow. That would certainly not be for your benefit.” -Hebrews 13:17 New Living Translation
They must preach the truth at the risk of their own soul.
8 "'When I say unto the wicked, "O wicked man, thou shall surely die;" if thou do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.'"
When God sends a message that someone is sinning and on the way to eternal death (Hell), if the person He sends the message by doesn’t deliver it, the messenger will be held on charges of murder in God’s eyes.
9 "'Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou have delivered thy soul.'"
If the message is delivered but ignored, the sinner will still go to Hell, but the messenger is no longer guilty.
10 "'Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel; "Thus ye speak, saying, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live?"'"
If we sin, and continue to sin, we won’t live.
11 "Say unto 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 ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?'"
“The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.” 2 Peter 3:9
“[God] wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth.” 1 Timothy 2:4 (New Living Translation)
God wants everyone to go to Heaven. It doesn’t please Him when people choose Hell instead. It makes Him sad.
If God is all powerful (as we know He is), and He wants everyone to be saved, why aren’t they?
The Bible clearly teaches, especially in the verses we are fixing to read, that God IS all powerful. He can do anything He wants to… including give us free choice. He wants us to really love Him and love, by definition, is a choice. Without choice it’s force, and God is too much of a gentleman to force us to love Him.
He chooses to love us of His own free will. He wants the same from us. That can only happen if we really have the choice to go to Hell.
12 "Therefore, thou son of man, say unto the children of thy people, 'The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression: as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turns from his wickedness; neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sins.'"
Here God summarizes the rule: the man who lives a righteous life but then chooses to sin will die eternally. The man who lives a sinful life but then chooses to turn away from sin and towards God will live eternally. It matters what direction you are facing when you die, not where you are on the road.
13 "'When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousness shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he has committed, he shall die for it.'"
Many people trust in their own righteous life to get them to Heaven.
I, for example, could easily say I don’t drink, smoke, gamble, sleep around, murder, steal, etc. so I know I deserve to go to Heaven. The fact is, though, I was raised in the kind of home where these things simply aren’t done. It’s not the culture I grew up with. It’s natural to me to refrain from them. They don’t even tempt me. God looks in the heart, though, and sees selfishness, greed, hate, and self-righteousness, as just as bad of sins as the things listed above. These things I AM guilty of.
So, though I appear to have lived a righteous life, if I am trusting in my right-living, if I am not facing God, heading towards TRUE righteousness inside and out, choosing to Love Him, I am on the way to Hell.
14 "'Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shall surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right;'"
If a sinful person (and we all are) turns from his sin and heads toward God…
15 "'If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die.'"
Even if this person has spent ninety years committing the worst of all sins, if he turns around and chooses to head toward God for the last day of his life, he will live eternally.
16 "'None of his sins that he has committed shall be mentioned unto him: he has done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live.'"
“As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” Psalms 103:12
When we turn from our sins, God erases them. He throws them into outer space, never to be seen again.
17 "'Yet the children of thy people say, “The way of the Lord is not equal:” but as for them, their way is not equal.'"
The Jews had their own ideas of what was right and what was wrong and they didn’t mesh with God’s ideas. They thought there was a tally board and your good had to outweigh the bad. They also believed sin was a genetic thing; some were just programed to be evil.
Actually, they were right. Some are just programmed to go to hell. Where they erred was in assuming they were exempt. ALL human beings have the genetic predisposition to sin.
And no human being can ever be good enough to erase all the evil on their tally board. It just isn’t possible. That was Jesus job.
18 "'When the righteous turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, he shall even die thereby.
19 "'But if the wicked turn from his wickedness, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby.'"
God repeats that it is the direction you are going when you die, not the direction you started on, that decides where you spend eternity.
20 "'Yet ye say, “The way of the Lord is not equal.” O ye house of Israel, I will judge you every one after his ways.'"
Since the Israelites believed themselves to be genetically superior to everyone else (why else would God choose them over everyone else?) they likely also believed that those born to bad families had no choice but to be bad and would automatically go to hell. They probably believed that good-blood would produce good works and you would then go to Heaven. This would mean someone who had sinned all his life couldn’t possibly change, much less erase all the bad he had done. This is not the way God thinks.
21 And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, that one that had escaped out of Jerusalem came unto me, saying, “The city is smitten.”
This group of captives now receives word that Jerusalem has indeed fallen.
22 Now the hand of the Lord was upon me in the evening, before he that was escaped came; and had opened my mouth, until he came to me in the morning; and my mouth was opened, and I was no more dumb.
From the time God first began speaking through Ezekiel until now he has been unable to talk except when delivering a message from God. The night before he receives word of Jerusalem’s fall, he is able to talk again.
23 Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
24 "Son of man, they that inhabit those wastes of the land of Israel speak, saying, 'Abraham was one, and he inherited the land: but we are many; the land is given us for inheritance.'"
“You’ve had this land since the time of Abraham.”
25 "Wherefore say unto them, 'Thus says the Lord God; Ye eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes toward your idols, and shed blood: and shall ye possess the land?'"
“But you don’t obey My laws. You eat meat with the blood still in it, worship idols, commit murder…”
26 "'Ye stand upon your sword, ye work abomination, and ye defile every one his neighbor’s wife: and shall ye possess the land?'"
“You rely on your own skill with the sword, sin all over the place, and commit adultery. Why should I leave you in the land?”
I like the way the Living Bible words it: “Murderers! Idolaters! Adulterers! Should the land belong to you?”
27 "Say thou thus unto them, 'Thus says the Lord God; As I live, surely they that are in the wastes shall fall by the sword, and him that is in the open field will I give to the beasts to be devoured, and they that be in the forts and in the caves shall die of the pestilence.'"
“War, wild animals, disease, one way or another, I’ll get you!”
28 "'For I will lay the land most desolate, and the pomp of her strength shall cease; and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, that none shall pass through.'"
God emptied the land out completely, leaving only enough people to barely keep it from becoming totally wild.
29 "'Then shall they know that I am the Lord, when I have laid the land most desolate because of all their abominations which they have committed.'"
“Then these sinners will recognize Me at last.”
30 "Also, thou son of man, the children of thy people still are talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, 'Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that comes forth from the Lord.'”
The captives there with Ezekiel would gather together, saying they wanted to hear the word of God.
31 "And they come unto thee as the people comes, and they sit before thee as My people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their covetousness."
But they don’t mean it, at least, not in their hearts. They might act like they have God, but that isn’t enough. Your heart has to be right.
32 "And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that has a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not."
They were really gathering to hear Ezekiel because they don’t have TV yet. He was the best entertainment around.
33 "And when this comes to pass, (lo, it will come,) then shall they know that a prophet has been among them."
But they will recognize Ezekiel as a true prophet someday.