Ezekiel 18:31 Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby you have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit… Why will ye die? The prophet has just exhorted the house of Israel to repent, to turn away from all sin, to turn unto God, so that iniquity should not prove their ruin. And now he addresses to them the brief and awakening interrogation, "Why will ye die?" This inquiry, interpreted in harmony with its context, implies, what has been already stated more than once in this chapter, that persistence in sin leads to the death of the soul. The prophet has also repeatedly stated that turning from sin to righteousness leads to life. And now, having completed the vindication of the Divine government against the charge implied in the popular proverb, "The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge," he earnestly appeals to them to turn from their transgressions to God, and thus to turn from death to life. And in this appeal he utters the solemn and startling inquiry. "Why will ye die, O house of Israel?" Wherefore will ye not repent, and live? Why will ye persist in sin, and die? I. THE RUINOUSNESS OR PERSISTENCE IN SIN. It leads to death. "Why will ye die?" Man can live spiritually only in union with God. "In his favour is life." Cut our world adrift from the sun with his light and heat, and ere long it would be one region of invariable and total death. All life of every kind would perish from the earth. The soul cut off from God dies; for he is its Life and Light. Apart from the grace of God, and the influences of the Holy Spirit, all men are dead through their trespasses and sins. Every genuine Christian is said to have passed from death unto life: "He that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of death into life;" "We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren." Absence of sensibility is the great characteristic of dearth. In a dead body the eyes are there, but they see not; the ears are there, but they hear not; the nose, but it smells not; the organs of speech, but they speak not; the nerves, but they feel not. Sensibility has departed. And they who live in sin lack spiritual sensibility; they do not perceive the beauties of truth and holiness; they do not hear the voice of God speaking through their conscience or through his Word; they do not realize the joys of religion: they are spiritually dead. But from this state they may be quickened into life by the Word and the Spirit of God; they may be renewed in heart and in life. But persistence in sin, resistance of the influence of Divine grace and of the Holy Spirit diminish the possibility of the soul's renewal, and tend to render its death permanent. Redemptive facts and forces, even when applied by the Holy Spirit, affect the soul less and less unless they be yielded to. And conscience, even when quickened by the Holy Spirit, speaks ever with decreasing authority unless its authority be practically recognized. And so the moral condition proceeds from bad to worse. Persistence in sin leads to a deeper, darker death; or, speaking more accurately, to a more fully developed death. "Sin, when it is fullgrown, bringeth forth death." Who shall express the dread significance of this death? It has been spoken of thus: "The words of pardon, the language of love, will fall unheeded. The glorious redemption of man's soul by Christ, and Christ alone, will have no power. That power has departed. Every day it grew less. Sin has deadened all the senses; and no longer can he see the radiant form of the Son of heaven .... Every good shall die. Every ray of hope shall die. Every offer of mercy shall die. Every idea of future blessedness shall die. Every resolve of hallowed obedience, every repentant feeling, every sorrowful emotion, shall die The sinner left to himself; the sinner left alone; the sinner bereaved of good, bereaved of holiness, bereaved of God; the sinner left alone to die; - this were hell, at which the stoniest heart would quail, and the stoutest soul recoil!" (J.W. Lester). This death, which is the full development of sin, is, we think, unutterably and inconceivably dreadful. Persistence in sin is ruinous. II. THE WILFULNESS OF PERSISTENCE IN SIN. "Why will ye die?" The inquiry' implies that man's ruin is of himself. The whole drift of this chapter has been to the same conclusion. 1. Man does not die because of any unwillingness on the part of God to save him. "I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God;" "He delighteth in mercy;" "The Lord thy God is in the midst of thee, a Mighty One who will save: he will rejoice over thee with joy, he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing." He finds infinite satisfaction and joy in delivering souls from death, and in granting to them life and light. He has proved his willingness to save men by the infinite cost at which he provided salvation for them. "He spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all." 2. Man does not die because of any deficiency in the Divine provisions for his salvation. The purposes and provisions of Divine grace for human salvation are inexhaustible and infinite. Spiritual forces are not limited and exhaustible as material forces are. The reconciling or atoning power which is adequate for one sinful soul is adequate for a million, or any number of millions, of such souls. "Christ Jesus gave himself a ransom for all;" "He died for all." 3. Man does not perish because of his inability to appropriate the salvation provided for him by God. It is offered gratuitously on condition of repentance for sin and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. "Repent ye, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions," etc. (ver. 30); "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house;" "Who soever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life." Man is summoned by God to repent and believe the Saviour, and God never summons man to any duty, but man either has the power to obey the summons, or God waits to bestow that power upon him. In the latter case man has but to be willing to receive the power and it will be given unto him in ample sufficiency for his needs. Man is prone to believe. In many things he believes too readily. And in Jesus Christ there is everything to awaken and attract the heart's truest, tenderest, and most reverent trust. Salvation is offered on such terms that every man may avail himself of the offer if he will do so. It is in the human will that the mischief lies. "Because I have called, and ye refused," etc. (Proverbs 1:24, 25); "How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Ye will not come to me, that ye may have life;" "This is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil." III. THE UNREASONABLENESS OF PERSISTENCE IN SIN. "Why will ye die?" Man is so constituted that he should act from reason. He has instincts and other impulses which lead to action; but these should be guided and governed by his reason. His instincts and passions should be ruled by his reason, which is the glory of his nature, and raises him above the inferior creatures in this world. When reason holds its proper place and exercises its proper power, then the lower impulses of our nature contribute to our true development and progress. "When Reason, like the skilful charioteer, Can break the fiery passions with the bit, And, spite of their licentious sallies, keep The radiant track of glory; passions then Are aids and ornaments. Triumphant Reason, Firm in her seat and swift in her career, Enjoys their violence, and, smiling, thanks Their formidable flame for high renown." (Young.) The Most High appeals to man's reason. "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord," etc. (Isaiah 1:18); "Produce your cause, saith the Lord; bring forth your strong reasons," etc. (Isaiah 41:21); "Why will ye die?" This inquiry implies that man should have some reason for persistence in the way that leads to death. It also implies that he has not a satisfactory reason. It is, perhaps, designed to bring man to pause, and lead him to consider his ways, and to ask himself why he pursues the way of death. There is no satisfactory reason why men will die. Persistence in sin is utter and suicidal folly. "Why will ye die? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live." - W.J. Parallel Verses KJV: Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? |
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