Ezekiel 14:6 says, Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations. Ezekiel was to tell the people that it was time to repent and turn to God if they expected Him to hear them. As stated before, until a person comes to God by repenting of their sins and by faith in Jesus Christ, He is not going to hear what they have to say.
Verse seven adds, For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the Lord will answer him by myself: God said that those who came to hear from Him by a prophet but they were worshipping idols and were a stumbling block to those who professed to be His people that He would answer them Himself instead of through a prophet. This also applied to those who were in the land of Israel, but who were not Israelites by birth. God is never going to accept anyone, no matter where they are from, until they repent of their sins and come to Him by faith. If they don’t accept God’s call to repentance and put their faith in Him, He will one day speak to them as their judge. God calls all people to Him, but unless they repent of their sins and accept His gift of salvation, He will one day speak to them as their judge.
Vese eight continues, And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. God said He would make an example of those who wouldn’t believe the prophets and who He spoke to Himself and He would cut them off from the land of Israel and they would know that He is God. Those who do not accept the gospel and turn to Jesus Christ in repentance by faith when the gospel is proclaimed to them will one day face God as their judge and they will be forever cut off from His kingdom in heaven.
Verse nine states, And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. God said that if prophets deceived the people, it was because He had caused them to do so. Though it may seem to imply that God caused them to proclaim lies, it really means that He didn’t prevent them from doing so and that one day God would stretch forth His hand to punish them. Neither the one who leads people away from God’s word or the one led away can blame God for it. He will always have called them to Himself, and they will have refused to respond to His call.
Verse ten adds, And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him; God said that both the false prophet and those who listened to him would be judged together. We might think that the false prophet would be judged more harshly, but since both would be sent away to everlasting punishment, the degree of that punishment would be the same. Still, I wouldn’t want to be either. We can be certain that all sinners who have not repented and put their faith in Jesus Christ will be sent away to everlasting punishment.
Verse eleven continues, That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord God. God said that when all the false prophets and those who followed them were removed from the land and only those who continued to put their faith in Him remained that they would no longer be polluted by their transgressions but would be His people. I don’t believe that this means that they would never sin again, but that when they did, they would always repent and obey Him once again. Once we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord, we are a child of God forever, but this doesn’t mean that we will never sin again, but that if we do, we will repent and return to living by the leadership of the Holy Spirit.
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