It’s hard to imagine your life being on any path, other than the one you’re on.
If your life is going well, you tend to think it will always be like this. If you know God loves you, he’ll always do so.
Or perhaps life’s going badly. You’ve made some big mistakes; maybe you feel you’re paying for them. God will always judge you. He’s written you off.
It’s inevitable. Inevitable God will bless you. Inevitable God will push you away.
It’s easy to feel like that.
Actually, there’s nothing inevitable at all about God. The Bible consistently shows us a God who relates to us. It’s a real relationship. The things we do and say, the decisions we take, the direction we turn, genuinely affect how things go.
Which means the choices we make matter. They affect the way our life goes. They dictate how things turn out.
One chapter in the Bible that spells this out quite wonderfully is Ezekiel chapter 18. It’s on page 845.
Setting the Scene
The people of Ezekiel’s time felt trapped. Things had not been going well, and they felt it was always going to be that way. It was inevitable. There was nothing they could do about it.
Let me set the scene for us. We’re roughly in the year 590 BC. God’s people, the people of Israel had sinned. They had not been loyal to God. They had followed other gods. They had oppressed the poor. They had broken their marriage vows. And lots of other things besides.
So God was angry. He said that an army from Babylon would attack their city, Jerusalem. The people and the city would be destroyed.
And sure enough, in the year 597 BC, Babylon attacked. Some of the people were carted off to Babylon, and a puppet ruler was left in charge to pay taxes and to stay loyal.
The prophet Ezekiel went to Babylon. He ministered in Babylon to some pretty fed up people. Why had they been the ones to be taken away? Things had gone so badly wrong. God didn’t seem to care. Did he even notice? And it’s all because of them back home. It’s so unfair. The people who were left behind, they were the ones who had done the worst things wrong. And they’re the ones still sat at home drinking tea. Most unfair!
That’s what you get in verse 2: What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel: The parents eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge?
Well God’s got some good news for them, and it’s good news for us. Nothing’s inevitable for them. God’s not the type to trap his people on a fateful path. He’s a wonderful and kind God and there’s lots of hope.
To show us that hope, Ezekiel spells out two ways in which they’re not trapped. They’re not prisoners on some inevitable path. Then he shows them two wonderful things about God. And then he calls on them to make a response.
Here we go. Two ways they’re not held prisoner.
Not a Prisoner to our Background
First, we’re not a prisoner to our background. Not a prisoner to our background.
These people looked back one generation; to their ancestors who were in Jerusalem. That generation made some pretty big mistakes. And now they were paying for it.
It doesn’t work like that, says God. Verse 4: For everyone belongs to me, the parent as well as the child – both alike belong to me. The one who sins is the one who will die.
God owns each and every individual. He knows us uniquely. And sin and punishment always belong together. The one who sins is the one who will die. Not their parents. Not their children. Them.
Then God spells it out. We didn’t have these verses read, as they’re quite long, but glance down now. Verses 5-9, imagine a man who does everything right and nothing wrong. Verse 9: He will surely live.
But then he has a son who makes every mistake in the book. Verse 13: Will such a man live? He will not. Because he has done all these detestable things, he is to be put to death; his blood will be on his own head.
Just because dad lived how God wanted, that doesn’t give the son immunity. What matters is how he lives.
Then we get the third generation, the grandson. Verses 14 to 17. The grandson does not copy his dad’s wayward lifestyle. He lives the right way. And so, end of verse 17: He will not die for his father’s sin; he will surely live.
They thought the wrongdoings of their ancestors left them without hope But they’re not a prisoner to their background.
And neither are we to ours.
Some of us have a wonderful background. We give thanks for parents, for teachers, for others who influenced us and set us on the right path in life. We are not a prisoner to our background, even if that’s a good background. What matters before God is how we live.
Others have a background that’s full of problems. We may not talk about it very much, but we can track lots of our bad habits back to the way we were brought up, our upbringing, those who shaped us in ways that were not healthy. Well we’re not a prisoner to our background either.
Whatever your background, God doesn’t hold you accountable for how the people before you lived. It’s the one who sins who will die. We’re not a prisoner to our background.
Not a prisoner to our past
But second, we’re not a prisoner to our past. Not a prisoner to our past.
The passage changes in verse 21. Listen to verses 21 to 22: But if a wicked person turns away from all the sins they have committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, that person will surely live; they will not die. None of the offences they have committed will be remembered against them .Because of the righteous things they have done, they will live.
You see? This time it’s not what another person did in the past. It’s what they did in the past. Their own actions in the past. Mistakes in the past. Back on the right road in the present. They’re not a prisoner to their past.
Or verse 24: But if a righteous person turns away from their righteousness and commits sin and does the same detestable things the wicked person does, will they live? None of the righteous things that person has done will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness they are guilt of and because of the sins they have committed, they will die.
These people came from Jerusalem. They were just as bad as those who didn’t get taken away. And they’ve not done much better since they’ve arrived in Babylon. Never mind that, God says. It’s not about what you did in the past. It’s about what you do next.
If we’re a typical church, most of us have pasts that are not suitable for public display. We’re not a prisoner to our past. It’s what we do now that counts.
Ezekiel shows them that they’re not prisoners. And neither are we. We’re not a prisoner to our background. We’re not a prisoner to our past. We’re free to respond to God today. Us not our parents. Today not yesterday.
And the reason that’s a good thing is because of the two wonderful things Ezekiel wants to tell them about God.
God longs for us to turn to him
The first is that God longs for us to turn to him. God longs for us to turn to him.
The God of this chapter is totally even-handed. Fair. If someone does wrong, they get punished. If someone turns back to God for forgiveness, they are restored. Totally fair.
God’s not afraid to judge. He’s just. He must judge and punish wrong. And God’s not slow to be merciful. He’s gracious. He must forgive those who repent. That’s what Jesus died for.
He’s just. He’s merciful. He’ll judge. He’ll forgive. But these two sides to God’s character are not equals. Judging and forgiving don’t give God equal pleasure. Indeed, judging gives God no pleasure at all. Whereas he delights to forgive. He’s happy to do both. He must do both. But he’d much rather be forgiving people than punishing them.
Look at verse 23: Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live.
Or verse 32: For I take no pleasure in the death or anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord.
Have you ever been in a position when there’s something you must do, but you’d rather not?
I’ve never been a policeman, and I’ve never interviewed to become one, but one interview question I hope they put in is this: What do you do if you’re investigating an offence, and you find your best friend has done something wrong?
You have to arrest them, don’t you? You can’t turn a blind eye because it’s your best friend. Your job, your public office, requires it. But there’d be something sick if you enjoyed doing it. You’d rather be arresting just about anyone else. But you have to do what you have to do.
That’s what it’s like for God when he punishes people for doing wrong. He has to do it. Not that he’s trapped. His own character demands that he does it. He is just. He is justice. He is perfectly right and good. He cannot turn a blind eye to evil. But he would rather do anything else if he could. He’d much rather forgive.
Which is why he sent Jesus into the world. He must punish wrong, but he’d love to forgive us instead. So Jesus allowed himself to be punished in our place. He did it quite willingly. As Jesus died on the cross, God’s punishment fell on himself, on his own son. Because by doing that, he can do what he’d much rather do, which is forgive us.
And so it’s that same Jesus who told the story of the lost sheep. The shepherd who left the 99 safe sheep to go looking for that one lost one. Or the woman who lit a lamp and swept the dirt floor of her home looking for one coin. Of the father who watched every day for his wayward son to come back home, and abandoned all dignity to run to meet him.
And it’s the same Jesus who wept over the city of Jerusalem, longing for her to receive the forgiveness he came to bring. In Jesus, God wept real, wet tears over those who refuse his forgiveness. Because more than anything he longs for us to turn to him. He longs to turn back to us, and show us kindness and forgiveness.
God longs for us to turn to him.
God waits for us to turn to him
Ezekiel has a second truth about God for us. God waits for us to turn to him. God waits for us to turn to him.
There’s no single verse that says this. The message of the whole chapter says it loud and clear.
Look for example at verse 24: But if a wicked person turns away from all the sins they have committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, that person will surely live; they will not die. None of the offences they have committed will be remembered against them .Because of the righteous things they have done, they will live.
If a person turns back to God for forgiveness and a fresh start, that is what they will get. None of their offences will be remembered. But that is because they turned back to God.
Verse 31 is a passionate appeal from the heart of God to his people.
Rid yourselves of all the offences you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the sovereign Lord. Repent and live!
Why will you die? For if you refuse this appeal, that is what will happen. If you don’t turn back to me you will die. So repent. If you repent you will live. Only if you repent, will you live.
God waits for us to turn to him. He doesn’t force his kindness and forgiveness on us against our wills. Everyone who turns to the Lord Jesus will be forgiven. But we must turn.
God waits for us to turn to him.
Conclusion
That’s the God we’ve got, according to Ezekiel 18.
He loves us enough to long to forgive us. He respects us enough to wait for us to say yes to him.
We’re not a prisoner to our past or our upbringing. Whether the past has been good or bad, what matters is how we respond to God today.
Verses 31 and 32: Rid yourselves of all the offences you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the sovereign Lord. Repent and live.