EZEKIEL 33:1-29
1) ¶ Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 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:____________________________ 3) If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; 4) Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. 5) He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. 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. 7) So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me. 8) When I say unto the wicked, O wicked [man], thou shalt surely die; if thou dost 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. 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 hast delivered thy soul. 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? 11) Say unto them, [As] I live, saith 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? 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 turneth from his wickedness; neither shall the righteous be able to live for his [righteousness] in the day that he sinneth. 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 righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it. 14) Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right; 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. 16) None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him: he hath done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live. 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.18) When the righteous turneth from his righteousness, and committeth 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. 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. |
Explanation of Text:
1) The Lord spoke unto Ezekiel, the prophet 2) "Mortal man," God said, "tell the people of Israel that when I, God cause a war to come unto a land, if the people of that land being attacked, should choose a man and appoint him to be a lookout and watchman, he has a specific duty to perform on behalf of others.___________________________ 3) When the watchman sees the enemy and the enemy horseman and foot soldiers (or tanks and planes) advance into the land, the appointed watchman is to blow his trumpet (sound the alarm) to warn all the people of an invading enemy. 4) If the people hear the warning and do nothing about it, if the enemy kills him/her, the watchman who has warned them, is NOT responsible. Each warned person is answerable for his own death. 5) He has no one else to blame, especially not the watchman. The one who was to warn, did his job. But when the people were warned, they paid no attention to the warning. If they had paid attention, if they had done what was necessary to save themselves from the danger, they could have lived______ 6) However if the watchman saw the enemy coming and did nothing, if he failed to sound the alarm, if he failed to warn, then if the unwarned people are killed, God holds the watchman responsible for the death of the people. The watchman is worse than an enemy, he/she, knowing the danger, is like a murderer. How does this apply to the church? Who makes up the church? How then does this apply to you?_______________________________ 7) Now, Ezekiel, (Christian believer) I, God, am putting you on guard duty, an observer, a watchman for the nation of Israel for both those on their way to heaven and those not on their way to heaven. (For those in your community) You must warn the people. Pass on to them the warnings I, God, give you._______________________________ 8) God tells us that people who are in their sinful way of life and who continue in that way of sin, will earn for themselves eternal death in the lake of fire. And it is a horrible, suffering, tormenting, torture that goes on and on and on, not for seconds, minutes, hours or days, but for month after month, year after year, for ever and ever and ever and ever and ever. Now for those of you who are not motivated to warn those on their way to hell, to save them from this doom, try this on. If you do not speak to warn the sinful person, that person will die and go to hell, but I, GOD, will hold you responsible as if you murdered them. The apostle John writes that no murderer...hath eternal life. Jesus said, Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter heaven, but he that does “the will of my Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21) Do you want to take a chance that you will not go to heaven? What is the other eternal destiny? __________ 9) But, I God, have made it simple for you, if you warn the wicked to change their ways and they don't do it, they'll die in their sins well-warned and at least you will have saved your own soul from eternal damnation in the lake of fire. So which will it be? Smoking or non smoking? Heaven or hell? You decide! ____________________________ 10) Therefore, Ezekiel (or in this present time, Christian man) speak unto those in your community of Israel (or in your local community or your church), tell them: “If you continue in any sin that God has warned you not to do, you will not go to heaven.” (If you need specifics read the Ten Commandments [not suggestions]). If they (or you) continue in these sins AND if you do not warn them, how will you obtain, have and keep eternal life and go to heaven? Well, is it worth the risk to stay complacent?____ 11) "Tell them, 'As sure as I am the living God, I do not have any joy or satisfaction when the devil deceives one and a person dies in that sinful way without repentance. I, God, so loved the sinner, I allowed God the Word to take on flesh as Jesus. Jesus then lived a perfect life without sin. Then Jesus became sin (but not a sinner) and died for all the sins. So I, Father-God want those who are sinning to repent, change their ways, turn from sin, accept Jesus and live. O lost man, “Change. Turn to Me,” a Loving God! “Give up satan and his ways.” ”Why die and go to eternal death in the Lake of Fire?” Does this apply to us Christians? Does God expect us to be Ezekiel to our church, to our community, denomination?_____________________ 12) "There's more, Ezekiel. Tell the children (Heb=child, member of group) -(church?) people: 'The best of your righteous good is like filthy rags before God (Isa.64:6). Your good deeds or things you do that are good won't save you, and especially, if you later rebel against God and live in continual sin. Do not trust in your past good works or the baptism that your parents may have put you through, or your dedication as a baby, not even your confirmation or an adult baptism. That is only a good work. Do not trust in anything you have done and continue in sin, I, God warn you THOSE former THINGS will not save you from eternal damnation in the lake of fire. BUT, on the other hand, a sinful, bad person who lived a wicked life must repent, (turn from his sinful ways of life). If he gives up his rebellion then the former bad life will not prevent him/her from going to heaven. Neither will a past life of good actions help a person who sins and then lives in continual sin. That former ‘good person’ can't expect to have life eternal in heaven when he chooses to sin. Jesus said you must repent or perish. Luke, chapter 13: verses1-5______ 13) It's true that I tell people who love God and have repented of the sins they have done, that they shall surely have eternal life in heaven. But, if that person trusts in their “good deeds” or former life with God, and turns to the evil ways of satan, her/his past good life won't help keep him from an eternal destiny in the lake of fire (Rev. 21:8). They'll die in their continual, sinful way of life.________ 14) "'On the other hand, I tell a sinner, "You'll die for your evil life." But, if he turns, repents of sin, (as did Nineveh, at Jonah’s preaching) and turning from the sinful way lives a life in Christ’s righteousness 15) - if his repentance is demonstrated, such as in restoring what he had taken illegally or unethically, walking in the ways of Christ, a life that no longer hurts others - he'll be given life eternal. He won't die and go to the lake of fire. 16) His past life is forgiven. None of his sins will be kept on the books by God. Those sins will be cast in the sea, not remembered against him when the final judgment comes. He will surely make heaven and have eternal life. This is provided to those who accept the death of Jesus and the legal pardon. They are to repent of sin and live in Christ’s righteousness. Does this apply to the homosexual? Does this apply to those who do or do not warn the ones in sexual sin so he/she can turn from burning? What is your duty?_________________ 17-18 ) But the Pharisee type, the church folk and those trying to make it by their good deeds think this stinks. They do not think Creator God (who sends the sunshine and the rain, Who created the oxygen to breathe) is being fair to them. God says, those who have lived a good life, who have trusted in good deeds, (their righteousness) rather than in Christ Jesus and His death in their place will not have eternal life in heaven. “We are going to get up a petition to change that. We are going to protest at a town council meeting,” they say.______________________ 19) Living with the self righteous, who is not going to heaven is bad enough, but look at this. Now God is saying that if the sinner, the woman who was, well, you know, and the man who was, well, you get the picture changes then he/she makes it into heaven. We never invited them to church or our functions. Well you understand why. 20) so we the creation declare THAT’s NOT FAIR! GOD replies: I AM the Judge. I will Judge Righteously. Do you keep all Ten of the Commandments all of the time? No?!? Well then you only have One Way to make it to heaven and avoid hell. My Judgement is this: You must believe Jesus is Lord. You must accept His death in your place for your sins. He has provided a legal pardon for you. You must admit you are a sinner to accept His legal pardon on your behalf. You must be born again. What else must you do to be saved from eternal death in the lake of fire? To know you are right (or to be right) with God: see Romans, chapter 10:9-13 and read 1st Thessalonians, chapter 1:5-10. Acts 16:31. |