Ezekiel 18:1-4 was quoted in Part 1 of this series and is shown below to maintain context.

“The word of the Lord came to me again, saying, ‘What do you mean when you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying: “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge”? ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God ‘you shall no longer use this proverb in Israel. Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine; the soul who sins shall die.’” Ezekiel 18:1-4.

Here we see God’s ownership, and our personal responsibility. We are reminded that God is sovereign and can do anything He wants. But He does not, God deals with individuals according to their ways, “the soul who sins shall die”.

However, men are sinful stubborn brutes who will do whatever they please, including treating their fellow creatures in the cruelest of manners, especially if they are poor, helpless and needy.

“It came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, that certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the Lord, and sat before me.” Ezekiel 20:1.

This incident, which is recorded after the one in chapter 18 quoted earlier gives an account of the hypocrisy of the elders who came before Ezekiel and further shows the heart of men.

The Lord’s reply is adamant and very indignant; He indicts the character of these men and their forefathers and at the same time makes His own case. Please read this chapter for a clearer understanding, since I am only going to skim it.

The Lord first tells them that He will not be inquired of by them, He then launches into a history of the idolatry of Israel.

While the children of Israel were still in Egypt, God told them to rid themselves of the idols that they worshipped in Egypt. It is shown in Ezekiel 20:5-9 that they did not cast them away.

“Then I said to them [before leaving Egypt], ‘Each of you, throw away the abominations which are before his eyes, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.’ But they rebelled against Me and would not obey Me. They did not all cast away the abominations which were before their eyes, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt.” Ezekiel 20:7-8a.

He again warned these same people about their idols after they left Egypt and entered the desert in Ezekiel 20:10-17.

“…because [while in the wilderness] they despised My judgments and did not walk in My statues, but profaned My Sabbaths; for their heart went after their idols.” Ezekiel 20:16.

God then spoke to their children and again warned them against idolatry in Ezekiel 20:18-26.

“But I said to their children in the wilderness, ‘Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, nor observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols.’” Ezekiel 20:18.

When they entered the land of Canaan, God again warned them against idolatry and rebellion in Ezekiel 20:27-29.

“When I brought them into the land concerning which I had raised My hand in an oath to give them, and they saw all the high hills and all the thick trees, there they offered their sacrifices and provoked Me with their offerings. There they also sent up their sweet aroma and poured out their drink offerings.” Ezekiel 20:28.

The very elders whom Ezekiel is speaking to here about 850 years later are guilty of the same sins and some far worse than the original settlers even dreamed of.

“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Are you defiling yourselves in the manner of your fathers, and committing harlotry according to their abominations? For when you offer your gifts and make your sons pass through the fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols, even to this day. So shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live,” says the Lord God, “I will not be inquired of by you. What you have in your mind shall never be, when you say, ‘We will be like the Gentiles, like the families in other countries, serving wood and stone.’” Ezekiel 20:30-32.

So, you see even though it is not apparent, willful sin is present, and it can be either a hypocritical, or an unrecognized sin. Unrecognized because we have become used to the sinful world around us, it becomes commonplace, and the promptings of conscience are ignored.

How well the Lord can speak to many Christian churches today as He did to Pharisees of old.

“These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.” Matthew 15:8.

These words quoted by Jesus were first spoken through the prophet Isaiah some seven hundred years before in Isaiah 29:13, mankind simply does not change, although they claim that we are moving toward a better world.

This lack of a sense of sin causes men to blame God for the miseries they have brought on themselves.

It is not that complicated to see the results of man’s willful departure from the true God. There are places in Brazil where homeless children roam the streets like so many wild dogs. Families that are too large to support more children just abandon any new arrivals.

Prostitution and promiscuity account for many more, other countries (particularly third world countries) have similar problems. The attendant AIDS and other STDs (venereal diseases) are rampant in these places for the same reasons. What men call enlightenment, and the new morality is to blame for this.

Drug addiction is another reason for prostitution, pornography and pandemic crime. Drugs are, in part, the result of the teachings of evolution as fact.

Where there is evolution there is no God. Where there is no God there is no hope nor a solid foundation for a sound moral life. We are left to struggle for answers in a world with no answers.

Yet the blind continue to lead the blind by telling them that the answer is just around the corner, and that mankind will find a way to create heaven on earth.

As one scheme fails another takes its place, whether it is Nazism, socialism, or communism, whether by education, or indoctrination, men will always try to find a way to modify the sin nature and free themselves from God.

Again, God is not the cause of this degradation of life; it is man’s stubborn refusal to acknowledge Him as the only one capable of caring for all those born on the earth.

Though this is not exactly what the Lord Jesus was trying to illustrate in the parable of the prodigal son, the end results are quite similar (Luke 15:11-32).

In the story the son goes to his father and asks him for his portion of the inheritance, the father complies and gives him a great deal of money.

The young man then takes this money, travels to a far country, and wastes his inheritance on loose living.

It is a simple fact that if you use something up, there must be a source to replenish that which was used up. Without replenishment, there is a gradual slide to the lowest level; this is a fact, not just a possibility.

The story tells us that when the man hit bottom and came to his senses, destitute and near starvation he returned to his father’s house and asked only to be made as one of his father’s hired hands.

Nevertheless, it was to the father’s joy that his son returned to him, and while the son was yet a great way off the father rushed to him and received him again as his son.

One of the most important parts of this story is that, while the son was yet a great way off, the father ran to him and embraced him. The father was watching for his son every day, longing for his return, even to the point of running to him.

The Scriptures say this:

“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” James 4:8a.

This part of the story is always the same, God wants you as His own dear child, and He gave His own Son up to die for our sakes, so we could have that relationship. This is the attitude of God.

The attitude of man is to take all God has given us and use these things for our own enjoyment, as though we had, somehow, pulled them out of thin air without God’s help at all. This is theft, but it is okay, because it will not be the first time we have robbed God.

Consider also that as these blessings start to run out, the principle of non-replenishment starts to take over, and the inevitable slide downhill is indeed slippery and the swamp at the bottom is most foul and dismal.

Moreover, who will replenish these things, just as the young man was far away from his father and unable to be sustained by him, so men have grown far from God and have only themselves and the devil to hold them up.

Alas, men are weak, and the devil wants only to destroy us body and soul.

“I am the door. If anyone enters by Me [Jesus], he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief [Satan] does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. John 10:9-11.

Sickness, Disease, Pestilence and Death! Part 2, taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 8-20-15, updated on 3-24-24 ck.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.