CHAPTER 18

(594 B.C.)

THE SINNER SHALL DIE

¹The Word of the LORD came unto me again, saying,

²What mean you, that you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the childrens teeth are set on edge? (The miseries suffered by the people in Jerusalem because of the Babylonian war were declared by them to be due to their fathers sins, for they themselves, or so they claimed, were righteous. Hence, their proverb of Verse 2, repeated in Verse 19, was insisted upon in Verses 25 and 29. That is, they charged God with injustice, for man always throws the blame upon God, as did Adam [Gen. 3:12; Ex. 20:5].)

³As I live, says the Lord GOD, you shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel. (Actually, this proverb declared, even in a round about way, that there was unrighteousness with God. They were taking a proverb which had a measure of truth in it and distorting it into a falsehood.)

⁴Behold, all souls are Mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is Mine: the soul that sins, it shall die. (Emphatically, the Lord through the Prophet declares that these people are suffering for their own sins, not the sins of their fathers. The soul that sins, it shall die, proclaims the truth that God judges each person upon his own actions, not upon the actions of others.)

THE RIGHTEOUS SHALL LIVE

⁵But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right (the righteous principle upon which God acts in pardoning original sin and personal sins is revealed in Rom. 3:21-26),

⁶And has not eaten upon the mountains, neither has lifted up his eyes to the idols of the House of Israel, neither has defiled his neighbors wife, neither has come near to a menstruous woman (the idea of this and the following Verses is not the promotion of Salvation by works, but instead that if a person has truly repented and is attempting to do that which is lawful and right, such action will portray itself in a definite way in his life, thereby, showing True Repentance),

⁷And has not oppressed any, but has restored to the debtor his pledge, has spoiled none by violence, has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment (true Faith, Faith in Christ and the Cross, always produces good works; however, good works can never produce true Faith);

⁸He who has not given forth upon usury, neither has taken any increase, who has withdrawn his hand from iniquity, has executed true judgment between man and man (traits of the righteous!),

⁹Has walked in My Statutes and has kept My Judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, says the Lord GOD. (Once again, we state: true Faith will always result, in one way or the other, in true works.)

THE WICKED SON OF A RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL DIE

¹⁰If he (the righteous man) beget a son who is a robber, a shedder of blood, and who does the like to any one of these things (Verses 10 through 13 portray the wicked son of a righteous father, in which the righteousness of the father does not atone for the wickedness of the son),

¹¹And who does not any of those duties, but even has eaten upon the mountains, and defiled his neighbours wife (once again, the truth is conveyed that unrighteous individuals produce unrighteous acts),

¹²Has oppressed the poor and needy, has spoiled by violence, has not restored the pledge, and has lifted up his eyes to the idols, has committed abomination (as the righteous is ever upward, the unrighteous is ever downward),

¹³Has given forth upon usury, and has taken increase: shall he then live? he shall not live: he has done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him. (He shall surely die, means that he will lose his soul, that is, if he continues in such a lifestyle.)

THE RIGHTEOUS SON OF A WICKED FATHER SHALL LIVE

¹⁴Now, lo, if he beget a son, who sees all his fathers sins which he has done, and considers, and does not such like (this son is the exact opposite of the son of Verse 10; he will be treated accordingly, which the Holy Spirit brings out),

¹⁵Who has not eaten upon the mountains, neither has lifted up his eyes to the idols of the House of Israel, has not defiled his neighbors wife (the Holy Spirit goes to all lengths to place responsibility upon the individual involved, meaning that each person will give account, irrespective as to the disposition of his father, whether righteous or unrighteous),

¹⁶Neither has oppressed any, has not withheld the pledge, neither has spoiled by violence, but has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment (Christianity that shows no love for ones fellow man, despite the loud profession, has no love for God),

¹⁷Who has taken off his hand from the poor, who has not received usury nor increase, has executed My Judgments, has walked in My Statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live. (He shall not die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live, places the responsibility upon the individual involved. The father is not responsible, spiritually speaking, for the sins of his son, as the son is not responsible for the sins of the father. Each person, in the Eyes of God, is responsible for his own sins.)

THE WICKED FATHER SHALL DIE FOR HIS SINS

¹⁸As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, spoiled his brother by violence, and did that which is not good among his people, lo, even he shall die in his iniquity. (The Holy Spirit again and again proclaims the truth that the ungodly father is not saved as a result of the Godly son, as the ungodly son is not saved as a result of a Godly father.)

INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY; THE WAYS OF GOD ARE JUST

¹⁹Yet you say, Why? does not the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son has done that which is lawful and right, and has kept all My Statutes, and has done them, he shall surely live.

²⁰The soul that sins, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. (This proclaims in no uncertain terms that Salvation is entirely a personal matter.)

²¹But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he has committed, and keep all My Statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. (So far from God punishing a man for the sins of others, He will not even punish him for his own sins, if he repents and avails himself of Gods Salvation, which is Christ. As well, this Promise is given to any and all, with none excluded!)

²²All his transgressions that he has committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he has done he shall live. (Actually, this Passage, although in a veiled way, speaks of Justification by Faith.)

²³Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? says the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live? (The question of this Verse is answered in Verse 32. The Lord has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Actually, for every wicked person who dies without God, the terrible death of Christ on Calvary was in vain.)

²⁴But when the righteous turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? All his righteousness that he has done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them shall he die. (As all sins are blotted out upon ones Repentance, likewise, all righteousness is blotted out if one ceases to have faith in Christ and what He has done at the Cross. This, thereby, completely refutes the unscriptural doctrine of Unconditional Eternal Security [Heb. 6:4-6; 10:26-29].)

²⁵Yet you say, The Way of the LORD is not equal. Hear now, O House of Israel; Is not My Way equal? are not your ways unequal? (Self-righteous men object to Gods justice, however plainly manifested, because they do not wish to recognize it. They want God to condone sin. That, however, if He is to be true to His Nature, He cannot do!)

²⁶When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and dies in them; for his iniquity that he has done shall he die. (When a righteous man, actually means any righteous man, and denotes that God is no respecter of persons. All come under the same rules, whether wicked or righteous, which is for the benefit of all.)

²⁷Again, when the wicked man turns away from his wickedness that he has committed, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. (The word, Again, refers to the Holy Spirit going to the trouble of repeating the same thing He has said in Verse 21. Once again, the offer is given for all past transgressions to be blotted out and new life to be given to the individual. It is mankinds greatest offer! The Holy Spirit emphatically states, He shall save his soul alive. The manner in which this is done is for the individual to accept Christ and what Christ has done for us at the Cross [Jn. 3:16].)

²⁸Because he considers, and turns away from all his transgressions that he has committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die. (He shall not die, refers to spiritual death, not physical death.)

²⁹Yet sa ys the House of Israel, The Way of the LORD is not equal. O House of Israel, are not My Ways equal? are not your ways unequal? (Gods Ways are always equal, because He demands the same of all, irrespective of their status, position, gender, or the period of time in which they live. Mans ways are grossly unequal, because unrighteous judges can be bought off. Legislatures make laws which favor some and abuse others, with prejudice, racial and religious bias playing their insidious parts relative to mankind.

To be frank, the ways of man are so unequal as to be preposterous! And as unequal as mans ways are, as equal are Gods Ways!)

SINNERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPENT AND LIVE

³⁰Therefore I will judge you, O House of Israel, every one according to his ways, says the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. (The Holy Spirit through the Prophet now gives an Altar Call. It is one of the clearest, most impassioned pleas found in the entirety of the Bible.)

³¹Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby you have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will you die, O House of Israel? (Conversion and Regeneration can only be effected by the Holy Spirit. But the sinner is responsible to repent and to seek this new moral nature. Directly he tries to provide himself with these, he discovers his helplessness. Broken in spirit and casting himself on God for Salvation, the Holy Spirit reveals Christ to him and, thus, works the mighty miracle of the New Birth.)

³²For I have no pleasure in the death of him who dies, says the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live you. (Twice the Holy Spirit emphasizes the truth that the Lord has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. The repetition is not by accident.)