Ezekiel 33:14

Ezekiel 33:14 says, Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right;  God then had a word of hope for the wicked, which we are all until we accept Jseus Christ as our Savior and Lord.   

Verse fifteen adds, If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die.  God said that if the wicked restored what they had robbed to its owner, or took responsibility for their actions in other words, lived by His word, and no longer sinned, that they wouldn’t die.  Though we do need to take responsibility for the consequences of our sins that are spelled out by the God's and we should do our best to sin no more after we do, all this will not matter if we don’t accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord.   

Verse sixteen continues, None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him: he hath done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live.  God said that the wicked who did repent and who did the things mentioned in the last verse would live because they had done what was lawful and right.  I believe this means that if they had done these things while putting their faith in God alone that they would live spiritually as a part of His kingdom.  I do know that we cannot become righteous and live spiritually with God forever by any action we take other than accepting God’s gift of salvation.   

Verse seventeen states, Yet the children of thy people say, The way of the Lord is not equal: but as for them, their way is not equal.  God said that the children of the people of Israel would say that God’s ways were not equal to all people.  I believe they were saying that they were somehow more important to God than other people, but they were only more important because God had chosen to work through them to call everyone to Him.  It was their relationship to God that set them apart from the rest of the world, but all people were sinners in need of redemption and equal in God’s sight.  We as citizens of the America are no better or worse than anyone else in God’s sight just because we were born here.  We are no better spiritually than our worst enemy simply because of where we were born, but we are only better spiritually when we are born again.   

Verse eighteen adds, When the righteous turneth from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, he shall even die thereby.  This would seem to imply that people who were righteous could fall from righteousness and die spiritually without being a part of God’s kingdom.  We know that God also tells us that none is righteous of their own merit, and we are only made righteous by accepting the righteousness of Jesus Christ, which will never fail, so once we have accepted Him as our Savior and Lord, we will never die spiritually.  Of course, if we are depending on our own righteousness to redeem us, we will always fail.   

Verse nineteen continues, But if the wicked turn from his wickedness, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby.  God said that if the wicked turned from their wickedness and lived by His laws that they would live.  Of course, we all fall short of living up to God’s commandments, so we cannot live with Him forever by our own righteousness.   

Verse twenty concludes, Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. O ye house of Israel, I will judge you every one after his ways.  God then said that even though the people of Israel might say that not everyone was equal in God’s sight that they were wrong. God said then and it is still true today that each person would be judged for their own sins, no matter where they might have been born.