Ezekiel 33:10-20--Why Will You Die, Israel?

Ezekiel 33:10-20
English Standard Version

Why Will You Die, Israel?
10 “And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, Thus have you said: ‘Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we rot away because of them. How then can we live?’ 11 Say to them, 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?

12 “And you, son of man, say to your people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him when he transgresses, and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall by it when he turns from his wickedness, and the righteous shall not be able to live by his righteousness when he sins. 13 Though I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, yet if he trusts in his righteousness and does injustice, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered, but in his injustice that he has done he shall die. 14 Again, though I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ yet if he turns from his sin and does what is just and right, 15 if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has taken by robbery, and walks in the statutes of life, not doing injustice, he shall surely live; he shall not die. 16 None of the sins that he has committed shall be remembered against him. He has done what is just and right; he shall surely live.

17 “Yet your people say, ‘The way of the LORD is not just,’ when it is their own way that is not just. 18 When the righteous turns from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it. 19 And when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he shall live by this. 20 Yet you say, ‘The way of the LORD is not just.’ O house of Israel, I will judge each of you according to his ways.”

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The LORD declares His heart to His people here in this passage.  Does the LORD delight in the destruction of the wicked?  He says clearly that He does not, and that answer will not change as long as He lives, and He lives forever and ever.  He delights when the wicked come to repentance.  The people feel convicted of their sins, but that is not enough.  Their so-called "righteousness" will never be righteous enough to earn their salvation, and any amount of wickedness is enough to condemn a man to eternal separation from God and and eternity in what we call "hell," though it is more appropriate to call it the Lake of Fire, since "hell" can also refer to the temporary holding of the wicked as they await judgment.

It's actually much worse than it first sounds though.  Because of Original Sin, we are all born wicked and bent towards evil.  We naturally rebel against the LORD and our first inclination from the moment we are born is to sin (whether or not we are held accountable for that sin until we volitionally choose it is a topic for another time, but we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God and there is none righteous, no, not even one.  All we like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way.....  However, there is good news!  That last verse I was quoting ends with, "and the LORD has laid on [Jesus] the iniquity of us all."  Though our sins be as scarlet, they shall be be washed as white as snow.  The only way to be declared righteous (it is a judicial verdict that the Judge must give, you cannot declare yourself righteous) is for you to receive the righteousness that belongs to the Righteous One (that is Jesus Christ) as a free gift.  He will take our "old man" that is wicked, filthy and vile and it will die with him on the cross, and we will be given the righteousness of Christ in exchange--something we could never earn or deserve.  It is not a fair exchange, but it is a just exchange, and by His wounds, we are healed.  The vilest offender who truly believes, that moment, from Jesus, a pardon receives!

The LORD then states that there is an expectation that the transformed heart that one receives after genuine salvation should lead to a transformation in actions.  The one who has been made righteous will desire to make right the wrongs he has committed--making restitution wherever and whenever possible, and seeking forgiveness and restoration when possible.  He will also be forgiving because he has been forgiven much, and He will seek to live a life in obedience to the LORD's commandments, not out of obligation, but out of love.  "if you love Me, you will keep My commandments."  With such a man, the LORD will blot out his transgressions and will choose not to remember them on the day of reckoning.  His "bill" for the sin debt he owed will read "Paid in Full" because of the finished work of Jesus who took the death penalty that we deserved and gave us the eternal and abundant life that only He deserved.

Let no one speak evil of the LORD and call Him unjust or wicked.  The LORD is the absolute standard of what is good, right, true, and lovely.  Since this is the only way of salvation (See John 14:6), anyone who rejects it actively or passively (you can reject by saying you will think about it or do it later, and never get around to it), will die a physical death where his soul will be separated from his body, and a spiritual death where his soul will be separated from the eternal life that only belongs to God and those He has made righteous.  Such a wicked man will face eternal death which is the second death, that is, The Lake of Fire.  The LORD then warns Israel that each person should be known by their works.  He will repeat this in the New Testament by talking about a tree and its fruits and by their fruits you will know them--you will not only know the righteous and the wicked, but you can discern the true prophet and the false prophet.  There is only one way to be declared righteous and it is to put your full faith and assurance in the finished work of Christ to take your infinite "debt" and to give you His infinite "riches."