And thou, son of man, say unto the house of Israel, Thus ye speak, saying, Our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we waste away in them, how then should we live?
Here it is the people who speak, and their words are a verdict on themselves: no way out. Everything that follows turns on how God answers that despair.
The judgment on the nation has fallen. One writer sets this cry at the point where God lays down a fresh basis for His dealings.
In view of these judgments, God sets up a completely new principle. He now deals with each person according to his own conduct, and not by the consequences of national sin (v. 10, 11). So the door was still wide open to individual repentance, based on a testimony that spoke to each person, whatever the national judgment might be.
The same picture appears earlier in Ezekiel. There God warns a grieving people that this wasting away would be all they had left.
Nothing would be left for them but wasting away in their sins and groaning to one another. What a picture of despair, when the sorrow lies too deep for tears, and an overwhelming sense of guilt forces men to abandon hope!
Their words sound like confession, but they work as an excuse. One writer reads the cry as a plea that God's righteousness has left no way to live, and then gives the Lord's reply.
They were now ready to plead, and indeed were pleading, that no one could live before the unbending righteousness of God. But the Lord replies, as He had already declared again and again, that He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He wants them to turn from their wickedness and live. For anyone who truly turned to Him, God would not remember any of his past wickedness against him. Could God go on with them in their evil ways? Even they could not think so. There was then only one choice left... Why would they die? Their death was of their own will and not His.
Another writer links this despair to the charge they made against God elsewhere in the chapter, and shows where the mercy they needed came from.
The exiles knew that the just wrath of God rested upon them as a nation and that their sins were unforgiven... They also accused the Lord of inconsistency by saying, "the way of the Lord is not equal." ... Judgment rested upon them as a nation, but the individual still could turn to the Lord in repentance. The wicked man who confessed and gave up his sin would find mercy and forgiveness... And this gracious promise was given looking forward to the work of the cross, the redemption by the blood of Christ. In it God declares His righteousness in passing over the sins of Old Testament believers who turned to God (Rom. 3:25).
The reply says nothing about their guilt. It shows what God Himself feels about judgment.
It is not because judgment is His delight... If God pleaded like this with Israel long ago, we may be sure He is no more willing to judge Christendom and the nations now. Even where He foretells those judgments in the most solemn words, He speaks of rising to do His work. He calls it "his strange work," and His act "his strange act."
The same cry rises from anyone who wakes up to his own guilt. One writer traces where that road ends.
He has tried to be innocent. He has pleaded, "Not as guilty as my neighbours." He has tried to mend his ways. He has tried to keep the law of God, and he has broken it more and more... And so, sooner or later, every saved sinner is brought to utter despair about all help in self, or in what self can do.
That cry gets a direct answer.
"I know I am a sinner. I am sure I have broken God's laws... Can I be saved? Is there hope for me?" Yes! yes, dear soul; Jesus died for such as you. He was nailed to the cross for the ungodly. Every sin-convicted soul that looks to Him, He saves.
- Cry — The words are the people's, not God's: guilt still on them, and no way left to live. Sorrow this deep has stopped expecting anything.
- Excuse — Underneath the despair sits an accusation. They pleaded that God's righteousness left no way to live. Elsewhere they said outright that His way was not fair.
- Answer — God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He calls judgment His strange work. Their death was their own will, not His.
- Door — National judgment had fallen, yet individual repentance stayed open. Whoever truly turns finds his past not remembered against him.
- Today — Every awakened conscience reaches the same dead end of self-help. The reply is still to turn and live. Jesus died for exactly such people.
Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, 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?
These words come to exiles who had just watched their nation fall under God's judgment. They had decided that God was finished with them. Into that despair God swears an oath about His own heart — and turns the question back on them: why will you die?
The people were not asking an idle question. They had weighed their own guilt and decided that no one could live.
The second part of the address begins at verse 10, where the lesson of chapter 18 is pressed again. They were now ready to plead, and were in fact pleading, that no one could live before the unbending righteousness of God. But the Lord replies, as He had already declared again and again, that He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that they turn from their wickedness and live.
The nation's sentence had already fallen. That did not close the door on any single person inside it.
In view of these judgments, God sets up a completely new principle. Each person's own conduct now becomes the ground on which God deals with him, instead of the consequences of national sin (v. 10, 11). So the door was still wide open to individual repentance, resting on a testimony that spoke to each person, whatever the national judgment might be.
"As I live" is an oath. God stakes His own life on what He says next.
God then has revealed Himself: no lost soul from its far-off place of misery shall ever be able to challenge Him in this respect. He swears it even: "As I live, says the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies."
The New Testament says the same thing, and says it about every person alive.
The great truth stamped on the opening verses of 1 Timothy 2 is that God is every man's sincere well-wisher. He desires all men to be saved, and to come to a knowledge of the truth. It is a lie of Satan that some people come into the world marked out beforehand for eternal ruin. If this were true, every gospel offer in Holy Scripture would be only a mockery and a sham.
When judgment does fall, it is not because God enjoys it.
First, it is not because judgment is His delight... No; it is not that God has any pleasure in the destruction of any. It is rather that men, sadly, despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and patience.
"Why will you die?" puts the responsibility on the sinner. Death is real, and men choose it.
Christ dying for the world, the testimony of God's love to men at large, is no vain thing because in fact not all are saved by it. It shows us that infinite goodness which men have to break away from... Men die because of their own will, not of God's will; yet they die. And men crudely ask why God's power cannot convert them all. But that power itself must be limited by His other attributes.
Turning does not leave the old record standing. God clears it.
Judgment rested on them as a nation, but the individual could still turn to the Lord in repentance. What a wonderful declaration it is that is recorded in verse 11!... The wicked man who confesses and gives up his sin would find mercy and forgiveness. Those who refused to repent would surely die and not live. "None of his sins that he has committed shall be mentioned to him." This gracious promise was given looking forward to the work of the cross, the redemption by the blood of Christ, by which God's righteousness is declared in passing over the sins of Old Testament believers who turned to God (Rom. 3:25).
One man's struggle shows what to do with this verse.
At last he took a piece of paper and wrote, "As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked" (Ezekiel 33:11). Then he added, "I am one of the wicked." And further, "Therefore the Lord GOD has no pleasure in my death." That is how he came to believe that he was within reach of the divine mercy.
- Despair — The people decided that God's righteousness left them no way to live. Verse 11 is His answer.
- Oath — God does not just state how He feels toward the wicked. He swears it. No lost soul can ever accuse Him of unwillingness.
- Desire — His wish for the sinner is sincere, not a formality. A God who marked men out beforehand for ruin would make every gospel invitation a sham.
- Door — National judgment did not cancel personal mercy. The individual could still turn, and God would never bring up his sins again.
- Decision — "Why will you die?" leaves the choice with man. Men die by their own will, not God's. The cure is to write your own name into the promise.
And 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; and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness; neither shall the righteous be able to live thereby in the day that he sinneth.
The exiles had watched their nation fall, and they said their own sins were crushing them. God's answer cuts both ways, and it raises two hard questions: why does past obedience give no credit, and what do "live" and "die" mean here?
The judgment on the nation had already fallen. That is the setting for a new basis on which God deals with people:
In view of these judgments, God sets up a completely new principle. Individual conduct is now the ground on which God deals with people. This stands in contrast with the consequences of national sin. So the door was still wide open to personal repentance, based on a testimony that spoke to each person, whatever the national judgment might be.
Repentance was what the moment called for. And the mercy offered rested on something still to come.
Since a day of judgment had come upon them, true repentance was what they needed. A past righteousness could not shield them from judgment if they had sinned. "As for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall by it when he turns from his wickedness." The wicked person who confesses and gives up his sin would find mercy and forgiveness, while those who refused to repent would surely die and not live. And this gracious promise was given in anticipation of the work of the cross, the redemption by the blood of Christ, through which God's righteousness is declared in passing over the sins of Old Testament believers who turned to God (Rom. 3:25).
The verse names one man's failure: he trusts his own righteousness. That trust is what collapses. The same word that takes away his prop holds out mercy to the worst offender.
Suppose someone who had been righteous trusted in that past righteousness of his and gave himself up to wickedness. Then none of his righteous deeds could be remembered. He would surely die in the sin he had committed. But the greater emphasis falls on the mercy that awaits even the worst and vilest person who turns to God.
The same writer warns against reading this as a verdict on a soul's eternal destiny. He takes it as God's government now, over people still living on earth.
Former sin, or former righteousness, cannot be remembered. Past sin will not cancel out the present righteousness a person has turned to. Past righteousness will not cancel out his present sin either. We must remember in all this that the final account in eternity is not in view. What is in view is the present entering into God's favour, or under His judgment, in His government.
Commentators differ in emphasis. One keeps the passage inside God's present government; another reads the mercy in it as pointing forward to the cross.
Read as an offer, this verse hands a man his own case to manage. That is its point, and its limit.
This is plainly not the announcement of the gospel, of One who "justifies the ungodly." It is goodness that takes up a wicked man and tells him to turn from his wickedness, do what is just and right, and so save his life. It puts a man on the ground of saving himself, to see if he has the "strength." God may forgive the past; the future the man must provide for.
So where can a righteousness that holds come from? Not from the man himself:
No man can have righteousness without looking outside himself to Him whom God always meant to send, as everyone who feared Him knew... To be self-satisfied, or indifferent, is to be unrighteous at the root. To believe God and look for the Saviour is the only right way.
- Ground — The nation was already under sentence, so God turns to individual conduct. The door stays open to anyone who repents.
- Record — A past righteousness shields no one on the day he sins; the ledger of yesterday is not the measure of today.
- Trust — The man who falls is leaning on his own righteousness. The word that knocks away his prop offers mercy to the vilest who turns.
- Reach — A bad past does not hold back the man who turns. A good past does not carry the man who sins. God weighs where each stands now.
- Refuge — No one's own record can carry him. Righteousness must be sought outside himself, in the Saviour God meant to send.
When I say to the righteous that he shall certainly live, and he trusteth to his righteousness and doeth what is wrong, none of his righteous acts shall be remembered; but in his unrighteousness which he hath done, in it shall he die.
God speaks here to people who thought a good record would carry them. He answers by showing what His promise of life does not cover. Two hard questions follow: what happens to a man's past righteousness when he sins, and what death does God threaten?
These words were spoken to a nation already under judgment. One writer warns against reading a day of judgment as though it were a day of grace:
It was a day of judgment, not a day of grace, though some strangely confuse the two. Despair would achieve nothing; repentance would. Past righteousness should not shield present sin, nor should past sin hinder turning away from it now. But let such people walk carefully. The ways of righteousness are unchangeable; the wages of sin, death.
God has judged the nation as a whole, so now He deals with each person one by one. That is why the verse follows one man and not Israel's history:
God appeals to each person's conscience; each one must be judged by his own ways. Now that God has judged the nation, the condition of the individual before God is everything.
The man in the verse does not simply slip. He leans on his own past record while doing wrong. That trust is what makes the record count for nothing:
If even one who had been righteous trusted in this past righteousness of his and gave himself up to wickedness, none of his righteous deeds could be remembered. In the iniquity he had committed, he would surely die. But what is emphasized more is the mercy that awaits even the worst and vilest who turn to God.
Another writer brings the same danger closer to home. Real uprightness can itself keep a person away from Christ:
Watch that uprightness does not become a snare to you. The young man in the gospel might have been better, had he not been so good. His honesty and moral uprightness was his undoing — or rather, his high opinion of them. Better he had been a tax collector, driven to Christ by the sense of his sin, than a Pharisee, kept from Him by a good opinion of his own integrity.
Writers are careful about how far this death reaches. One of them marks off what it is not:
The death threatened to the wicked is not simply the death we are all under. Nor is it eternal death as the doom of every unrepentant soul, as people commonly suppose. It is a removal from earth under the government of God — a government that even now works for the blessing of those who walk uprightly with Him.
Another writer ties the language of dying in this book to life in the land:
Ezekiel says, "the soul who sins shall die." Even so, the passage is dealing with a living man, responsible on the earth. It may be used as a warning and a threat, but it applies to life on the earth in the land of Israel.
People often use this verse to argue that a believer can be lost in the end. One writer answers that such passages belong to another subject:
These scriptures, and countless others like them in the Old Testament and the New, open up the deeply important subject of God's moral government. To be merely a subject of God's government is one thing; to be a subject of His unchangeable grace is another. We should never confuse them.
Another writer draws a second line, this time between two covenants:
Be careful to distinguish the Old Covenant from the New. The Old demanded righteousness; the New gives God's righteousness.
- Say. God says of the righteous, "he shall surely live." He says it in a day of judgment, not of grace. Despair achieves nothing; repentance does.
- Trust. The ruin is not the sin alone. It is leaning on a past record while sinning — uprightness itself can become a snare that keeps a person from Christ.
- Forget. Past righteousness shields no present sin, and past sin blocks no present turning. God does not remember a record used as cover.
- Die. Here the death threatened is God's open dealing with a man living on the earth, not the doom of eternity.
- Distinguish. Being under God's government is one thing; being under His unchangeable grace is another. The old covenant demanded righteousness; the new gives God's righteousness.
And when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt certainly die, and he turneth from his sin, and doeth judgment and justice;
God has already passed sentence on the wicked man. Yet He tells Ezekiel to announce that a real turning can still undo it. The exiles were blaming God's ways, and the verse raises two questions. Why warn a man at all if judgment is fixed? And what is the "life" promised to the one who turns?
God repeats His own verdict on the wicked man, then offers him a way out. One writer finds the purpose of such a warning in God's dealings with the city of Nineveh:
Nineveh has listened to God. Now, if God threatens, it is so that man may turn from his iniquity and be spared. Why else should He warn the sinner? Why not leave him to ripen unwarned for judgment? But these are not the ways of God.
The exiles had sunk into despair. One commentator sums up what God's answer says to it:
It was a day of judgment, not of grace, which some strangely confuse with it. Despair would achieve nothing; repentance would. Past righteousness should not shield present sin. Past sin should not block a present turning away from it.
The promise hangs not on the turning alone but on doing what is just and right. Commentators treat that visible change as the test of a real turning:
If a man claims to have repented, we can rightly require the change to show in his daily life before we fully accept his claim. But this has nothing to do with preaching good works as an aid to our justification.
Much depends on what "you shall surely die" and "he shall surely live" refer to. One writer sets the passage on the level of God's dealings with men on earth, not eternity:
Notice that in all this we are on the level of God's outward, visible government. That government stands out clearly in the prophecy of Ezekiel, and it fits there. So the death threatened to the wicked is not simply the death we all live under. Nor is it eternal death as the doom of every unrepentant soul, as many suppose. It is a removal from earth, under the government of God, which even now works for the blessing of the upright with Him, as the apostle also tells us, that "godliness holds promise for the present life" as well as "for the life to come."
Another writer keeps that government apart from grace:
To be merely a subject of God's government is one thing; to be a subject of His unchangeable grace is another. We should never confuse them.
Judgment had fallen on the nation. Yet the door stayed open for each person inside it, and one writer shows what that open door rested on:
The answer Jehovah sends them shows the principles by which He will deal with each one as a just God… Judgment rested on them as a nation, but the individual could still turn to the Lord in repentance… The wicked man who confessed and gave up his sin would find mercy and forgiveness, while the unrepentant would surely die and not live. This gracious promise looked ahead to the work of the cross, the redemption by the blood of Christ. That is how God could pass over the sins of Old Testament believers who turned to Him and still be shown righteous (Romans 3:25).
Set beside the case of the righteous man who falls, the weight of the section rests on the other side:
But what is emphasised more is the mercy that awaits even the worst and most wicked who turn to God. Yet the people would lay all the blame on the Lord's ways, as if they were not equal. It was their own ways that were unequal, and their conscience must surely testify against them.
- Warning — God announces death to the wicked so that the man may turn and live. Silence would leave him to ripen for judgment unwarned.
- Turning — despair achieves nothing; repentance does. Past sin is no barrier to turning from it now.
- Doing — daily life tests a claimed change. The works prove repentance; they do not help to justify.
- Living — the life and death here belong to God's visible government on earth. Commentators keep that apart from His unchangeable grace.
- Mercy — the stress of the passage falls on mercy for the worst. The nation stood judged, yet one man in it could turn and live, on the ground of a redemption still to come.
if the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had taken by robbery, walk in the statutes of life, doing nothing that is wrong; he shall certainly live, he shall not die.
God speaks these words to a nation already under judgment. The verse spells out what a real turn from wickedness looks like in daily life, and it raises two hard questions: why mercy carries conditions, and what "life" it promises.
One commentator warns against reading this chapter as a message of grace.
It was a day of judgment, not of grace, though some strangely confuse the two. Despair would gain nothing; repentance would. Past righteousness should not shield present sin. Past sin should not block a present turning away from it. But let such a person walk carefully. The ways of righteousness never change; the wages of sin is death... those who confess and forsake their sins find mercy.
God had judged the nation as a whole. Yet He lays down a different basis for His dealings here. The fall of the nation does not shut out the single repentant person.
In view of these judgments, God sets up a completely new principle: individual conduct is the basis of God's dealings, in contrast with the consequences of national sin (v. 10, 11). So the door was still wide open to individual repentance. It rested on a testimony that applied to each person, whatever the national judgment might be.
Another writer names the ground on which God could promise life to a repentant man long before the cross.
Judgment rested upon them as a nation, but the individual could still turn to the Lord in repentance... This gracious promise was given in anticipation of the work of the cross, the redemption by the blood of Christ, which declares God's righteousness in passing over the sins of Old Testament believers who turned to God (Rom. 3:25)... All this must be seen as under the covenant of law.
The verse does not ask for regret in the abstract. It names the pledge and the stolen property. One writer makes restitution the test of whether repentance is real.
There are sins against God and against people that we cannot count as truly repented of unless the wrongdoer makes restitution. Take a man who robs God, or robs his neighbour. If he has genuine faith in the value of Christ's sacrifice for the forgiveness of that sin, restitution will follow, as man's part alongside God's forgiveness... The forgiveness of God produces practical fruits in our everyday life. As people forgiven by God, our first duty to others is to make them honourable restitution for any specific wrong we may have caused them.
The man who turns does not just start again. He must keep the statutes of life with nothing charged against him. That clause, one writer argues, exposes how little room the law leaves.
On other ground — in this case, as always, the ground of sacrifice — God can show mercy, and even forgiveness. Man may be allowed to cancel the old page and turn over a new one. Yet the new page must be kept unblotted, as the old was not. "When the wicked man turns away from his wickedness," he must do "that which is lawful and right," to "save his soul alive."... Here the law cannot give way by the smallest stroke, and so man's case is hopeless. The law brings nothing but condemnation.
Restitution to a neighbour is possible; restitution to God is not. One writer answers that Christ has made the restitution we never could.
How can those who are already sinners make restitution to Him? It is impossible... He has therefore made full and adequate restitution (we can say it, if we believe) for all our trespasses. There is not a single breach that could be charged to us which He, in His wonderful grace and mercy, has not repaired.
The promise of life here needs care. The same writer reads it as life under God's government on earth, not as the gospel's offer of eternal life.
Remember in all this that the passage does not speak of the final account in eternity. It speaks of entering God's favour now, or coming under His judgment now, as He governs. It does not speak at all of the grace of God's mercy, as the gospel has shown it to us. It is God's ways in government that are before us, which is the constant theme of the prophet.
- Moment. The chapter speaks in a day of judgment, not of grace; despair changes nothing, repentance does.
- Ground. God sets aside national reckoning and deals with each person by his own conduct. The door stays open even when the nation is under sentence.
- Proof. Repentance shows up in returned pledges and returned property. God's forgiveness bears fruit in restitution to people.
- Limit. The new page must stay unblotted, and on that footing the law can only condemn — man's own case is hopeless.
- Restorer. Christ has restored to God what we never could, repairing every breach charged against us.
None of his sins which he hath committed shall be remembered against him he hath done judgment and justice; he shall certainly live.
Ezekiel speaks here to exiles who have watched national judgment fall and concluded that their sins have sealed their fate. Against that despair God shows how He deals with people one by one. The man who turns and makes things right will live, and God will not hold his past against him.
Chapter 33 marks a shift. God had already judged the nation as a whole. Now He sets out a different basis for dealing with the people still left.
In view of these judgments, God sets up a completely new principle. What each person does now becomes the ground of God's dealings, instead of the results of national sin (v. 10, 11). So the door was still wide open to personal repentance, resting on a testimony that spoke to each person, whatever the national judgment might be.
The chapter keeps the same order. One man is sent to warn, and each hearer then answers for himself.
It is individual responsibility that becomes now the ruling principle, though this does not take away, as we see, the call and duty of one man to warn many.
Verse 15 sets the terms that verse 16 rewards: the pledge given back, the stolen goods repaid. The same demand stood in the law of the trespass offering.
Where fraud had taken place, paying it back was a very healthy test of repentance. Any try to dodge it would mean that the priest could not offer the trespass offering, because the offering and the repayment had to go together.
The words just before this verse are God's own answer to the despair of the exiles.
The exiles knew that the just wrath of God rested upon them as a nation and that their sins were unforgiven. So they asked, "Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we rot away because of them. How then can we live?"… What a wonderful declaration verse 11 records! "As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?" What compassion and mercy! … The wicked confessing and forsaking his sin would find mercy and forgiveness, while those who refused to repent would surely die and not live. This gracious promise was given in view of the work of the cross, the redemption by the blood of Christ, through which God declares His righteousness in passing over the sins of Old Testament believers who turned to Him (Romans 3:25).
The promise cuts both ways. A past record of righteousness will not shelter a man who turns to evil.
Former sin, or former righteousness, cannot be remembered. The sin of the past will not make useless the present righteousness a person has turned to. And the righteousness of the past will not cancel the present sin. In all this God is not speaking of the final account in eternity. He is speaking of entering now into His favour, or coming now under His judgment in government. And the grace of God's mercy, as the gospel shows it to us, is not in view here at all.
The word "die" in Ezekiel is often stretched further than it goes.
People quote Ezekiel 18 for this all the time, and good people mean well when they do. But it speaks only of death in this world — present judgment here, and not for a father's sins but for our own.
Verses like this one get used in arguments about whether a believer can be lost. One writer answers that such arguments mix up two different things.
These scriptures, and countless others in the Old Testament, open up the deeply important subject of God's moral government. Similar passages in the New Testament do the same. Now to be merely a subject of God's government is one thing; to be a subject of His unchangeable grace is another. We should never confuse them.
- Turn — the door. National judgment had fallen, yet God opened a door no ruin could shut. He now dealt with each person by his own conduct, so anyone could still repent.
- Turn — the proof. Returning the pledge and repaying what was stolen shows the turning is real. The offering and the repayment belong together.
- Turn — the welcome. God swears He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, and calls the guilty to turn back and live.
- Turn — the result. God does not raise the past again. Earlier sin does not cancel present righteousness, and earlier righteousness does not cancel present sin.
- Turn — the sphere. The "life" and "death" here belong to God's present government on earth, not to the final account in eternity. So do not turn the verse into a rule about a believer's standing in grace.
Yet the children of thy people say, The way of the Lord is not equal but as for them, their way is not equal.
Ezekiel told the exiles in Babylon how God deals with the righteous and the wicked. They answered with a verdict on God Himself — His way is not fair — and this verse hands that charge straight back to them.
These were not detached thinkers. They were a defeated nation who knew why they were in exile.
The exiles knew that the just wrath of God rested upon them as a nation and that their sins were unforgiven. So they asked, "Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we rot away because of them. How then can we live?" They also accused the Lord of inconsistency by saying, "The way of the Lord is not just." The answer the Lord sends them shows the principles by which He will deal with each person as a just God… Judgment rested on them as a nation, but the individual could still turn to the Lord in repentance.
God does not brush the accusation aside. He answers it, and the answer leaves them with nothing to say.
The mouth of Israel is closed. Their complaints were only quibbles. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?… It is always likely to be this way. Those who put the Lord's ways on trial, whether in mercy or in judgment, have never seen themselves in His light. How humbling for Israel, or for anyone, that God should stoop to justify His own dealings! How humbling that He should press home to us the conviction of our own sinfulness!
That stooping is itself remarkable, given what their conduct had been.
The godless in Israel dared to challenge whether God was consistent in His dealings with the people. He took account of this. He came down in grace to reason with them. By then their ways had become so bad that He had left His own sanctuary… The Lord stooping this low is striking in the light of Deuteronomy 32:4: "The Rock, His work is perfect, for all His ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is He."
The verses just before set out the standard they objected to.
It was a day of judgment, not of grace, though some strangely confuse the two. Despair would achieve nothing. Repentance would. Past righteousness should not shield present sin, and past sin should not block turning away from it now. But such people had better walk humbly. The ways of righteousness never change. The wages of sin is death… So it was pointless for anyone to complain that the Lord's ways were not fair. It would be better if they felt their own sin.
The charge of unfairness struck at God's mercy, not at any harshness in Him.
For anyone who truly turned to Him, none of his past wickedness would be remembered against him… There was only one alternative. God still pleaded, as He had been pleading, that they turn from their evil ways so that they might live. Why would they die? Their death was their own choice and not His… But what is emphasised more is the mercy waiting for even the worst and vilest who would turn to God. Yet the people would lay all the blame on the Lord's ways, as if they were not fair. It was their own ways that were unfair, and their conscience must have told them so.
The nation's case was settled. From here God's dealing takes a different shape.
In Ezekiel the time has come to announce that the Lord could not act on the principles of His former dealings with Israel. He sets out a new line of conduct. He appeals to individual conscience. He will judge each person according to his own ways. The condition of the individual before God is everything now that the nation is judged.
The instinct to grade God's conduct did not die with these exiles.
They dare to measure how God governs by the standard of their own shallow thoughts — to weigh the infinite by the finite. In short, they measure God by themselves.
- The charge. The exiles knew God's judgment rested on them. They blamed His fairness instead of facing their own sin.
- The mirror. God turns the measuring around. Those who put His ways on trial have never seen themselves in His light.
- The rule. A good past does not shield present sin. A bad past does not block turning back today. That is the way they called crooked.
- The mercy. They complained about an open door. Anyone who turns finds his past forgotten, so death is a man's own choice.
- The reach. Judgment now falls person by person. Your own way, not the nation's and not God's, is what stands on trial.
When the righteous turneth from his righteousness, and doeth what is wrong, then he shall die therein.
Ezekiel 33 opens a new phase in the prophet's message: the nation stands judged, and God now deals with Israel person by person. Verse 18 gives the hard half of that rule, and it raises two questions: what death is meant here, and can a saved person be lost?
The verse sits in a passage where God answers a people in despair. One commentator sums up what that hour asked of them:
It was a day of judgment, not a day of grace, though some strangely confuse the two. Despair would achieve nothing; repentance would. Past righteousness should not shield present sin, nor should past sin prevent a present turning away from it. But let such people walk carefully. The ways of righteousness are unchangeable; the wages of sin, death.
Before this chapter, Israel had been dealt with as a nation carrying the guilt of its ancestors. That is now over, and it is why the prophet is set as a watchman blowing a trumpet over individual heads.
Ezekiel 33 opens a new series by announcing individual responsibility from now on, instead of national solidarity with their ancestors' guilt as in Ezekiel 18.
The change came because appeals to the nation had stopped working:
Our prophet sees the people completely hardened. No moral appeal reaches them any more, and they are no longer open even to rebuke... The appeal now goes to the individual conscience; each must be judged according to his own ways. The condition of the individual before God is everything, now that the nation stands judged.
Readers often take "die" in Ezekiel to mean eternal ruin. One writer ties the word instead to God's government over people living on earth:
The death threatened to the wicked is not simply the death we all live under. Nor is it, as many suppose, eternal death as the doom of every unrepentant soul. It is a removal from earth under the government of God — a government that even now brings blessing to those who walk uprightly with Him.
Another writer makes the same point about the parallel chapter, warning that the word is often stretched past what it carries:
Ezekiel 18, constantly quoted for this and used by good people with good intentions, speaks only of death in this world — present judgment here; not for a father's sins, but for our own.
Some use this verse to argue that a believer can fall away and be lost. One commentator answers that the verse belongs to another subject entirely:
These scriptures, and countless others in the Old Testament and the New, open up to us the deeply important subject of God's moral government. To be merely a subject of God's government is one thing; to be a subject of His unchangeable grace is another. We should never confuse them.
Another writer explains what the law could and could not promise:
Under the law, no one could announce everlasting life to be enjoyed now. Those living under the law were shut up to keeping the law for life, right to the end of their days on earth. So it is in Ezekiel 33:18, where God's dealings in government are set out... Under the law anyone who kept it all his days — if there had been such a person — would never have died. But who could match that, and live for ever?
Verse 18 is one half of a pair, and the pair is not balanced evenly. Verse 19 promises life to the wicked man who turns — and that is where the weight of the passage lies:
So if even a man who had been righteous trusted in that past righteousness of his and gave himself up to wickedness, none of his righteous deeds could be remembered. He would surely die in the iniquity he had committed. But the greater emphasis falls on the mercy that awaits even the worst and vilest who turn to God.
Israel's response was to call God inconsistent. The answer put the charge back on them:
They also accused the Lord of inconsistency by saying, "the way of the Lord is not equal"... Judgment rested on them as a nation, but the individual could still turn to the Lord in repentance... A past righteousness could not shield them from judgment if sin had been committed.
- Judgment. The nation stood judged, yet each person still answered for his own ways — not for a father's sins.
- Principle. Past righteousness does not shield present sin, and past sin does not block present repentance.
- Death. The death threatened here is removal from earth under God's government, not eternal doom.
- Distinction. Being under God's government is one thing. Being under His unchangeable grace is another. Never confuse the two.
- Mercy. The weight of the passage falls on mercy: even the worst and vilest may turn to God and live.
And when the wicked turneth from his wickedness, and doeth judgment and justice, he shall live for these things.
Ezekiel speaks to exiles under God's judgment as a nation. They complain that His ways are not fair. Verse 19 is His answer in its simplest form: a man's past need not decide his future.
This word comes at a moment when God's government over the nation was actually falling. One commentator reads the whole passage in that light, and draws out what each side of it forbids.
It was a day of judgment, not of grace, though some strangely confuse the two. Despair would achieve nothing; repentance would. Past righteousness should not shield present sin. Past sin should not block present turning away from it.
The reply separates what God was doing with the nation from what stayed open to each person.
The answer Jehovah sends them makes known the principles on which He will deal with them one by one, as a just God: "O house of Israel, I will judge each of you according to his ways." Judgment rested upon them as a nation. Yet the individual could still turn to the Lord in repentance… The wicked man who confessed and gave up his sin would find mercy and forgiveness. Those who would not repent would surely die and not live.
The chapter sets a warning to the righteous beside a promise to the wicked. One of the two carries the weight.
Suppose a man had been righteous, trusted in that past righteousness of his, and then gave himself up to wickedness. God would remember none of his righteous deeds. He would surely die in the iniquity he had committed. But the emphasis falls on the mercy that awaits even the worst and vilest person who turns to God… Their death was of their own will and not His.
The promise is not that turning is enough by itself; a standard is named, and that standard is never relaxed to make the offer easier.
The mercy of God may blot out the past and allow a new beginning. But it never alters the terms of final acceptance, if those terms are to be legal terms… When the wicked man turns from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he shall live. But it must be what is just and right — nothing less. And that is the very thing which is so hopeless.
Another writer treats the same offer as a test aimed at the will of people who blamed their fathers for their fate.
It was a fair offer to blot out all the past and begin again; and this offer was made, remember, to those who were complaining that their destinies were not in their own hands. Could a fairer offer have been made?
Commentators apply the passage in different directions — some keep it strictly to God's government of Israel under judgment, others hear in it His attitude to everyone. What none of them allows is that the offer might be a pretence.
This declares a way of salvation, too — not simply a righteousness that needs none. It speaks of the wicked man, the man who can already be called that, and who as such needs salvation. It announces forgiveness of sins for him… So God pledges His mercy to a returning soul. He must pledge it in all sincerity and truth, of course, or it could not be from Him.
The verse promises life, but it does not say how God could pass over the sins of those who turned to Him. One writer traces the promise to the cross.
God gave this gracious promise looking forward to the work of the cross — the redemption by the blood of Christ. That work declares God's righteousness in passing over the sins of Old Testament believers who turned to Him (Romans 3:25).
Another writer brings that same ground into the present, for the worst of sinners.
God is still reaching out to even the greatest of sinners. None are too wicked for Him to forgive. "The blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 1:7)! On this righteous basis God can forgive.
- Turn — everything hangs on the wicked man turning. Despair achieves nothing; repentance does.
- Turning counts today — a good record does not shield present sin. A bad record does not block present turning.
- Turning is personal — the whole nation was under judgment. Each person could still turn and find mercy.
- Turning has terms — God promises life to the one who does what is just and right, and He never lowers that standard.
- Turning meets a sincere God — He pledges mercy to the returning soul in all sincerity and truth. The blood of Christ, which cleanses from all sin, is the righteous basis.
Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, I will judge you every one after his ways.
Israel was in exile and Jerusalem had fallen. Instead of admitting their guilt, the people called God's dealings unfair — and this verse is God's reply to each of them.
The charge came out of despair, not curiosity. Older translations read "the way of the Lord is not equal" where the ESV has "not just."
The exiles knew that God's just wrath rested on them as a nation and that their sins were unforgiven. So they asked, "Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we rot away because of them. How then can we live?" They also accused the Lord of inconsistency by saying, "the way of the Lord is not equal" (verse 20; see also 18:25, 29). In His answer Jehovah makes known the principles on which He, as a just God, will deal with each of them. "O house of Israel, I will judge each of you according to his ways." Judgment rested on them as a nation. But each person could still turn to the Lord in repentance.
The same complaint appears earlier in Ezekiel. One writer traces it to a failure of self-knowledge.
The mouth of Israel is closed. Their murmurs were only quibbles. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?… It tends always to be like this. Those who put the ways of the Lord on trial, whether in mercy or in judgment, have never seen themselves in His light. How humbling for Israel, or for anyone, that God should stoop to justify His own dealings! How humbling that He should press home on us the conviction of our own sinfulness!
That God stoops to reason with them at all is the striking thing.
The godless in Israel dared to challenge the consistency of God's ways in His dealings with the people. He took account of this and graciously came down to reason with them, at a time when their ways had grown so bad that He left His own sanctuary. Deuteronomy 32:4 shows how telling this condescension of the Lord is: "The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he."
The words "each of you according to his ways" mark a shift. God had dealt with Israel as one nation. Now He deals with each person.
In view of these judgments, God sets up a completely new principle. Individual conduct now becomes the ground of God's dealings, in contrast with the consequences of national sin (v. 10, 11). So the door was still wide open for each person to repent. That repentance rested on a testimony addressed to each one, whatever the national judgment might be.
Personal responsibility does not leave people to face it alone.
Individual responsibility now becomes the ruling principle. But this does not set aside the call and duty of one man to warn many.
The verses leading up to this one refuse to let anyone bank on his record.
It was a day of judgment, not of grace, though some strangely confuse the two. Despair would achieve nothing; repentance would. Past righteousness should not shield present sin. Past sin should not stop a person from turning away from it now… So it was useless for anyone to complain that the Lord's ways were not equal. It would be better if they felt their own guilt. Life belongs to those who walk righteously; death to those who turn from the Lord.
One writer marks the limits of what this passage settles.
We must remember in all this that the subject is not the final account in eternity. It is entering now into the favour of God, or coming now under His judgment, in His government. Nor do we have the grace of God's mercy, as the gospel has shown it to us, spoken of at all. It is God's ways in government that are before us, which is the constant theme of the prophet.
- The charge. The exiles called God inconsistent. This verse records their charge, and God answers it.
- The mirror. Those who put God's ways on trial have never seen themselves in His light. Better to feel your own guilt.
- The principle. God now deals with each person by his own conduct, not by national guilt. So the door stays open to anyone who repents.
- The warning. Past righteousness does not shield present sin. Past sin does not block turning back today. Despair achieves nothing; repentance does.
- The scope. This verse settles God's present government of His people, not the final account in eternity.