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God Is Not Fair Ezekiel 33
God Is Not Fair Ezekiel 33
Jotting down some basic principles stated in Ezek. 33:10-20 shows us:
- God has no desire for the death of the wicked (vs. 11).
- The WICKED will die for their sins (THIS is the principle as stated in Ezek. 18:4, 20)
- IF a righteous man turns and does evil, he will face judgment for the evil done (vs. 13, 18).
- If the wicked turn from doing evil and do right, they can find mercy (vs. 14-16, 19).
- God will judge each person according to their ways. (vs. 20).
YET Judah was saying that "the way of the LORD is not just" (vs. 17, 20). WHY? Because they are not seeing things clearly. They are blinded by their own self-righteousness. It is hard to be impartial when we are judging ourselves.
The bottom line is simple God's judgment will be 'fair'; they will be just. The foundation of the throne of God is righteousness and justice (Ps. 89:14). God will not do that which is wrong. Men don't always understand what God is doing or all the facts that God considered when deciding His course of action and hence they conclude God is not being fair.
When it is a NATION that is punished it is not 'eternal' punishment that is handed it out but temporal. As such, those who are part of that nation do suffer but it is not personal punishment. Hence we see the righteous in Judah suffered along with the ungodly. Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, etc. were all godly men who suffered while God was bringing chastisement upon Judah. Such is the way of national judgment.
In the area of personal judgment God has stated He will be just. Those that sin will face the penalty for such sin. In the spiritual realm, such sin results in spiritual death. In the temporal world, there was a death penalty attached to many of the sins outlined in God's law. In both cases, temporal and spiritual, it is stated that the son will not be punished for the sin of the father. Likewise, the father will not be punished for the sin of the Son. (Read again Ezekiel 18).
Men are often the judges of such breeches of law and hence there are cases of travesty of judgment. Even under the law of God, when men act as judges they sometimes get it wrong. Sometimes the judges themselves were corrupt and sinning in their judgment. Sometimes the evidence that brought the sentence of guilt was just fabrication and lies. The bottom line is that with men judgments are sometimes unfair and wrong.
In the end, God will make things right. I know that we have short-sighted vision because we judge things from our earthy short-lived perspective. The final judgment will be about eternity. God will bring ALL information into consideration, even the thoughts and intents of the heart. God will make no mistakes. Paul spoke of it as 'the righteous judgment of God' (Romans 2:5)
Along with all the other things that God is, God is fair.
Hugh DeLong
