Ezekiel 33:10-16, 20 [Between a Person’s Past and Present]

[Things to Meditate On]

1. Are you perhaps living in despair or giving up because you think of yourself as a sinner (verse 10)? The passage above can become a word of hope for those who are suffering and discouraged because of sins they committed in the past. A person who thinks of himself as a sinner must never despair or give up because of that sin. Rather, he should listen even more to the word of God and strive to turn back to that word of life. This is because God does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked, but takes pleasure when the wicked turns from his evil way and lives (verse 11).

2. In the Bible, there are many good examples of great sinners who deserved to die, yet were able to turn back through the word of God and live again. In particular, the king and people of Nineveh recorded in Jonah 3 can be one of those examples.

“God sent the prophet Jonah and had him proclaim that Nineveh would be overthrown after forty days. When the king and people of Nineveh heard that message, they believed God, proclaimed a fast, put on sackcloth, and repented. Hoping that God would turn from His purpose and turn away from His fierce anger so that they would not perish, they humbly relied on the mercy of God (Jonah 3:9). The result was that God saw that the king and people of Nineveh had turned from their evil way, and He repented of the evil that He had said He would do unto them, and He did it not (Jonah 3:10).”

Thus, God does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather takes pleasure when the wicked turns from his evil way and lives. Because there is life in the word of God, even a very great sinner can surely live again if he turns back and obeys the “statutes of life” (verse 15; Nehemiah 9:29).

3. On the other hand, those who think of themselves as righteous must never become proud (Luke 18:9-13). This is because no one can say before God, “I have already attained; I have already been made perfect.” If yesterday’s righteous person commits sin today, the Lord said that none of all his righteous deeds done in the past will be remembered, but rather he will die because of the sin he has committed (verses 12-13). Therefore, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall (1 Corinthians 10:12), and he must always humble himself before the word of God. This is because, as mentioned above, we are not those who have already obtained, but those who must still run daily toward the mark.

Philippians 3:12-14 “12Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. 13Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

[Decision and Application]

God is the One who rewards every person according to what he has done (verse 20, Matthew 16:27, Revelation 22:12). And the fact that He rewards according to what each person has done means that God already knows all our works. Therefore, because God knows all our works and will reward us according to what we have done, during the time called “today,” we must strive daily to please Jesus, rather than doing evil.

2 Corinthians 5:9-10 “9Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. 10For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”

Thus, because Jesus knows every person’s works and will reward each person according to what he has done with righteousness and equity (Proverbs 24:12, Psalm 98:9), we must always live in reverent fear of the word of God while we live in this world (1 Peter 1:17).

Proverbs 24:12 “If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?”

Psalm 98:9 “Before the LORD; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.”

1 Peter 1:17 “And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear.”

According to the words of Ezekiel 33:10-16 above, God regards “the present me” as more important than the past. Therefore, we also must not try to judge either ourselves or others according to the wrong things or the good things done in the past (1 Corinthians 4:5), but must strive to live each day in the present, fearing God. As we have seen above, because God will reward us according to what we have done, in the end, it will surely go well with those who fear God. Therefore, we must not be bound by the past, but during the time called “today,” we must fear Jesus and humbly live according to His word.

Ecclesiastes 8:11-13 “11Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. 12Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him: 13But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.”

Malachi 3:15-16 “15And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered. 16Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.”

Hebrews 11:7 “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.”

Amen.