#DailyDevotion God doesn’t want to punish us but rather to forgive and love us.
January 9th
Read Ezek 3:12–28
Eze 3:18-21 If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. (19) But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul. (20) Again, if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand. (21) But if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning, and you will have delivered your soul.”
There is a lot that is going on the in visions Ezekiel is having that makes us scratch our heads and go, “Hmm, I wonder what that is all about?” While all of scripture is important to us, some parts are or at least seem to be more important than others. So in the midst of these crazy visions we have this nugget we can grasp hold and say, “Here’s something I think I can understand!
The prophet Ezekiel is given a charge. One might even conclude that it is a charge given to all those whom the Lord calls into the service of his word. This is the charge that we are given: to warn sinners whom God, the Lord has placed in our path of their coming destruction. It is a call to repentance he calls us to pronounce. It isn’t because God doesn’t want us having any fun. It isn’t because he gets his joy from punishing us. It is because he loves us that he warns of the consequences of our sins that we might turn from them and avoid the consequences. He loves us. He doesn’t want to punish us or to inflict vengeance upon us. As St. Peter says, 2Pe 3:9 “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”
So for the sake of the one’s being warned and for the sake of the soul of the preacher, we preach the Law, we threaten with damnation and eternal punishment. It doesn’t please us to do so. It’s the most difficult thing a preacher can do. But he does it in the hopes of wakening people up concerning the direction they’re heading, like giving a shove to a person asleep at the wheel. It is the hope that they’ll realize the state they are in and seek a different path.
And therein lies the joy of the prophet/preacher, to proclaim the glad tidings of the Lord, the good news that God forgives them for Jesus’ sake. It is the good news the Lord forgives and gives eternal life to all who turn to Jesus and his merits as the basis of their standing before God which changes our lives from those who seek to do wicked things to those who struggle against it and seek how we may be of service to our fellows. The new mindset that comes with faith gives us a new perspective in which we can see our God as someone we love and cherish rather than fear and hate.
Lord God, heavenly Father, ever place in the lips of those around us, your word of warning concerning our sins but even more so place in their lips the word of forgiveness for Christ’ sake that we may turn from our sinful ways and live in your life. In Jesus’ name. Amen