Day 244 (Ezekiel 18-20) - Year 4
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When today's reading opens, God starts out by addressing a common saying of the time, because it's starting to inform their theology, and it's wrong. The saying conveys the idea that children will be punished for the sins of their parents. And while children are certainly impacted by the sins of their parents and might even inherit some of those traits, they aren't punished for them.

Despite the corporate impact and effects of sin, God says he will judge each person individually. In the midst of wiping out most of their generation, he lets them know he's provided a way out. He's preserving a remnant, so who will be a part of that? Just because your dad was destroyed doesn't mean you have to be. This is great news.

He lists out what righteous living looks like and boils it down to demonstrating his character to the world around them. That's what life in the kingdom of God looks like. And for the people who don't live according to God's ways, that's what death looks like.

And just to make sure everyone gets the point, God gives an illustration of a righteous father with a wicked son and a wicked father with a righteous son. He wants to make sure they understand that everyone will be judged individually. Righteousness doesn't transfer genetically and wickedness doesn't either.

But one important caveat here. The point of this passage is not that we're saved by doing good works or being good people, whatever that means. That would run contrary to the whole rest of the Bible. The point of this passage is that our righteous works are evidence of our love for God and our faith in Him. And that kind of faith is individual, not inherited. Then, just in case anyone is discouraged, God reminds them in verse 21 that it's never too late to turn to Him and have the debt of their sins paid for.

God wants to make sure they know this because he says he doesn't actually want to kill the wicked. It's a much better scenario if they repent. Unfortunately, for those who don't repent, his righteousness requires justice. And Israel's response to all this great news is to object to everything God just said. They think it's not fair for God to pardon the wicked if they repent, which is incredibly ironic because that's Israel's only hope at this point.

They're objecting to the mercy he's extending to them. I can't think of a better way to follow their response than with a lament from Ezekiel. And that's what we get in chapter 19.

In his lament, he portrays Judah as both a lioness and a vine. The lioness raises one cub, but he gets captured and taken to Egypt. This is probably referring to Jehoahaz, the fourth final king. Then she raises up another cub, probably Zedekiah, the final king, but things don't go any better for him. He's taken to Babylon. You can see what a defeat this is for the tribe associated with such esteemed lion imagery.

Next up, we have another vine metaphor. Judah is like a vine that has grown so tall and strong that it gets turned into a scepter, then eventually burned. And again, Ezekiel laments over Judah's demise. In chapter 20, we get a recap of God's history with the people of Israel. Here's how it unfolds. The leaders of Israel come to ask God questions.

Two days ago in chapter 14, God told the elders that if they come to him to inquire of him before repenting of their idolatry, he would only speak to them about their idolatry. And since they haven't repented yet, he says, no, they can't ask anything of him. Then he's like,

But while you're here, pull up a rock. I'm going to tell you a story. He spends the next few paragraphs reminding them of how he's provided for them for years, but they continue to rebel and disobey. It happened in Egypt. It happened in the wilderness. It happened in the promised land. And now, of course, it's happening in Babylon. No matter their circumstances, enslaved, challenged, blessed, or oppressed, they reject God.

He says their hearts go after idols. And he speaks the truth to each new generation, and they do the same thing. So no, he won't let them ask their questions. And the text doesn't say this, but in my opinion, hypothetically, if he had let them ask him questions and he responded by telling them the truth, chances are they'd just ignore what he said regardless. So, God reminds them how wicked they've been. Then, because God is who he is, he circles back around to remind them that he's going to restore things in the end.

We can hardly go three chapters without him bringing it up. He's pumped about restoration. God does say something that could be confusing in this chapter, though. And if you tend to zone out while you're reading, you probably got jolted back somewhere around verses 25 through 26, where it sounds like God is saying he misled them and ordered them to do a bunch of terrible things. It says,

I gave them statutes that were not good and rules by which they could not have life. And I defiled them through their very gifts in their offering up all their firstborn that I might devastate them. And if you were jolted back to the text when you read that, that's fitting because it seems like that's the exact response God wanted the Israelites to have when they heard it too. This statement he makes could either be sarcastic or it could be God expressing the Israelites' viewpoint of his laws or even some combination of the two.

But there is a deeper point to it, and that point is echoed in the New Testament, in Paul's letter to the Romans. Romans chapter 7 goes on at length about the purpose and the effect of the law. God's laws on their own don't bring life. They serve to reveal how broken and helpless we are and how righteous God is. We can't keep the law even if we try. The law does not lead to life. It points to death, and it is devastating.

But this is where my God shot comes in. In both today's reading and in Paul's letter to the Romans, we see the rest of the story. The law leads to death, but God pours out his mercy and his grace, which lead to life renewed.

In Ezekiel 20, 44, God says it like this, You shall know that I am the Lord when I deal with you for my name's sake, not according to your evil ways, nor according to your corrupt deeds, O house of Israel. And in Romans 7, 24-25, Paul says it like this, Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Trying to keep the law isn't the path to righteousness. There's only one path to righteousness. He calls himself the way, the truth, and the life. The law is important and necessary, but keeping the law isn't the gospel. The word gospel means good news, and the thought of having to keep the law is certainly not good news because we can't. What's good news is that God the Son, who kept it perfectly, paid the debt for those God the Father has adopted into his family.

The law acts like an MRI, revealing where we're broken, but it can't heal us. For that, we need a surgeon, and he gives us a new heart. And those new hearts know him and praise him because he's where the joy is. If you've ever wanted to learn more about the mysteries of the Trinity, I have some exciting news for you. I've written a Bible study about it. It's called, He's Where the Joy Is, Getting to Know the Captivating God of the Trinity.

This six-week study is a great way to learn more about God and His character, and you can order your copy today. So check out the link in the show notes or head to thebiblerecap.com forward slash books.