Ezekiel 13-18

Ezekiel 13-18 is not a pleasant, upbeat passage of Scripture. On the contrary, hearing God issue thunderous denunciations of His people is downright frightening. "'Because you did not remember the days of your youth but enraged me with all these things, I will surely bring down on your head what you have done, declares the Sovereign LORD'" (Ezekiel 16:43). This is disturbing imagery, to be sure, but it hits at a fundamental truth: Human beings are sinners.

From Genesis 3 onward, mankind has been plagued by sin. Sin separated us from God in the Garden and it continues to interfere with our relationship with Him even now. A holy and just God cannot simply overlook sin and allow us--the most wretched of creatures--back into His presence as if nothing had happened.

Fortunately, God's justice and wrath is matched by His mercy and His great love for us (John 3:16). While God cannot simply ignore sin, He is fully satisfied to accept Jesus' death as its all-encompassing, everlasting propitiation (1 John 2:2). If you truly desire the forgiveness and eternal life that we are promised in Jesus' blood, you can have it (John 3:16, Romans 10:13, 1 John 2: 3-6). And Ezekiel foreshadows this truth as well. "Why will you die, people of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live" (Ezekiel 18:31)!

It is difficult--impossible, even--to appreciate our restoration to God without first fully acknowledging the totality of our separation from Him. Ezekiel can help us do this just as he tried to help the people of Judah so many years ago. What dark night, what bright new day.