“When a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it; for the injustice that he has done he shall die. Again, when a wicked person turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he shall save his life. Because he considered and turned away from all the transgressions that he had committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die. Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ O house of Israel, are my ways not just? Is it not your ways that are not just?” (Ezekiel 18:27-29)
Ezekiel spoke to the people of Judah who had experienced the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple and were now exiled in Babylon. They felt that the Lord had been unfair and unjust toward them. They, like so many today, claimed they had done no wrong, that they were being punished by God for sins committed by their ancestors. The punishment of the people of Judah was well earned, for the sins of the fathers had repeated themselves in the children even though those children did not admit to the extent of their own sin. They claimed that they had done no wrong, even though in exile, they were still engaging in detestable idolatry and immorality.
The Lord, however, is fair and just. He judges each one separately according to his own deeds and sins, not the sins of others. We may often suffer because of the sins of others of course, but they are responsible for their own sins before God and so are we. This is true even though we all tend to repeat the sins of those we respect, fear or emulate such as our parents or other family members. They often set an example of ungodliness and sin that leads many astray.
These words of Ezekiel speak to Americans in this time of violence and social unrest. People are crying out for justice but they want justice on their own terms, according to their own definition of what that is, according to their own interpretation of the facts or rumors of the incidents they decry. Yet they do not want justice to fall on them: they demand mercy, tolerance, and forgiveness for themselves while denying it to others. They claim that our judicial system, our national ethos is unjust and unfair and indeed it is in those cases when it often favors the rich and the elite or leaves blatant wickedness unpunished.
Many of those protesting today are saying the same thing the Jews of Ezekiel’s day, that God is unfair and unjust for, even though many of them deny His existence, it is He who ordains and empowers government to rule with justice and fairness, to punish the wicked. In addition, in the Kingdom of God, no one can blame someone else for their sinfulness nor for the punishment it brings. Faith with its accompanying repentance and righteousness will remove the ultimate penalty of eternal separation from God. Those who refuse to repent, who continue in wickedness and excuse their sins as “lifestyle choices” will find only condemnation. It is up to the church to be prophetic and warn them of the danger before it is too late.