Ezekiel 20:33

Ezekiel 20:33 says, As I live, saith the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you:  God said that as surely as He lived that He would rule over the people of Israel with a mighty hand and a stretched out arm.  The people of Israel thought that the best way to survive and prosper was to adopt the ways and gods of the Babylonians, but God told them this was not to happen.  They had not responded to God when He had blessed them with everything that they needed, so now He was going to allow them to feel the oppression of those that they had put their faith in.  Anyone who professes to be a Christian but follows the way of the world instead of following God’s commandments will one day feel God’s punishment because of their disbelief.   

Verse thirty-four adds, And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched-out arm, and with fury poured out.  God said that they were not without hope though if they would turn to Him, but that while He would deliver them, He would rule over them by His power, and they would feel His wrath on their actions instead of feeling His kindness that they had felt when they were obedient too Him.  God will not allow those who are followers of Christ to sin and not one day be held accountable for it even though they are forever saved.  We must take sin seriously and cannot just adapt the ways of the world as our guide.   

Verse thirty-five continues, And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face.  God said He would bring them into the wilderness and plead with them face to face.  God may allow us to feel His wrath if we are not obedient to Him and allow us to suffer in the wilderness, which is where the people of Israel were before they entered the promised land by faith, but He will then plead with us face to face.  Even when we are disobedient to God, especially before we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord, God is going to plead with each of us individually to accept His gift of salvation and come out of the wilderness of sin and into His kingdom.  If we are Christians and stray away into the wilderness of sin, once more He will call us individually to return to Him.   

Verse thirty-six continues, Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord God.  God said that He would plead with them just as He had with their fathers in the wilderness when the left Egypt.  He didn't force them to remain true to Him then, and He was not going to force the people of Israel to be true to Him now, but until they did, they would still be in the wilderness of sin.  God is still going to call us to put our faith in Him, but He will never force us to.  The choice is always up to each individual.