Have I any pleasure at all that
the wicked should die? saith the Lord God: and not that he should return from
his ways, and live? (Ezek. 18:23).
(I)
[Source: The
Biblical Offer of the Gospel [Youngtown,
Tasmania: The Magazine and Literature Committee of the Evangelical Presbyterian
Church of Australia, n.d.], pp. 19-21; italics Connor's.]
God
deals with sinners as rational, moral creatures from the ethical view point. The passages [i.e., Eze. 18:23,
31-32; 33:11] speak of the wicked who turn and the wicked who do not turn. For
all the wicked it is true that life can be found only in the way of turning.
Turning and living are in the highest sense pleasing to God, as we have seen.
For in the turning sinner God’s precept and decree meet and agree. However, it
is clear that it is only the wicked who turn who shall live and have life
bestowed upon them according to the delight of God.
The prophet’s instruction that the death of
the sinner is not pleasing to God is designed to assure believers that God is
ready to pardon them as soon as they are touched by repentance, but to make the
wicked feel that their transgression is doubled because they do not respond to
God’s great kindness and goodness. God’s mercy will always, accordingly, go to
meet repentance, but all the prophets and all the apostles, as well as Ezekiel
himself, clearly teach to whom repentance is given (Calvin, Institutes 3.24.15).
The
passages reveal the glory of the goodness of God: “I have no pleasure in the
death of him that dieth” (18:32). And again: “As I live saith the Lord God, I
have no pleasure in the death of the wicked” (33:11). The passages do not teach
that God has an active pleasure, delight or desire that all men should receive
life through repentance. Such an active principle of delight within God Himself
would necessarily remain unfulfilled, for the majority of Judah did not repent.
This would mean that God is less than perfectly blessed in Himself, which can
never be. Therefore, it is not correct to say, as does Rev. Stebbins, that
there is a principle “in” God whereby He delights that all sinners should
actually turn and live. The passages do clearly teach, however, that the God of the
everlasting Covenant of Grace reveals Himself in a way that is full of
encouragement to burdened and guilty sinners. Does God really delight in
bestowing life in the way of repentance? The answer is yes. How is it possible
that can God do this? Because God is life and the source of all life in and of
Himself. As such He actively and necessarily delights in life and only in life,
never in death, and is pleased to open up a way to life for sinners through
faith and repentance.
That
God delights in life means firstly, that God delights in the
perfect, all blessed life of communion with Himself. This is all blessed life
and delight in life that God has in and of Himself as Father, Son and Holy
Ghost. This life lacks for nothing. This life is the possibility of the life
offered to unworthy sinners through the gospel of God’s wondrous grace.
Secondly,
and importantly for our text, it is into this life of blessed communion that
God delights to bring to lost sinners as adopted sons alone through Jesus Christ,
and alone in the way of repentance and faith. Oh, yes! God delights in life,
and the fearful sinner under the conviction of sin and deep sense of his
unworthiness may be assured that God delights abundantly in bestowing eternal
life upon every sinner who turns. The Lord delights in this with a perfect and
righteous joy and the heavenly hosts join their rejoicing to that of Jehovah.
Thirdly,
and in the highest sense of the word, God delights in bestowing heavenly life
upon the redeemed, sanctified and glorified sinner. Thus He brings His adopted
children into the fruition of creaturely blessedness in communion with Himself
through Jesus Christ. This delight is in the life of the glorified saint as a
precious son or daughter with whom God fellowships and communes. This life, in
the experience and fruition of all good in Him, is the realization of man’s
chief end in the enjoyment of God forever. Life for sinners is possible exactly
because God delights in life. That is, God delights that the sinner who turns
should live. God delights in bestowing life upon the sinner who turns. God’s
delight in the life of those who turn is in perfect harmony with His delight in
the administration of the penalty of death as demanded by His righteous justice.
However, when we speak of God’s delight in life and His delight in justice, it
is to be insisted that life and death meet and are perfectly reconciled in the
person and work of Jesus Christ. It is the death of the Mediator which
purchases life for every elect sinner. He it is who satisfies the justice of
God by enduring the infinite wrath of His offended justice in their stead. God’s
delight in life, therefore, is displayed to sinners only through the person and
work of Jesus Christ on behalf of His elect. Christ and His elect body cannot
be separated. God’s delight in life is focused upon the living of His elect
people in Christ. Still God is one, as is His purpose, as is the object of His
delight.
The
passages are therefore, full of sweet comfort and encouragement to any and
every guilt-laden sinner who longs for deliverance. The way is clearly set
before every sinner. All who repent will find God to be abundant in mercy, and
may be assured that they, like the prodigal son, will be met by the open arms of
their heavenly Father. These verses are fashioned by the sweet grace of God to
draw labouring and heavy-laden sinners through the doorway of faith and
repentance into that blessed rest and life laid up for them by Christ in
communion with God. The verses, however, say nothing of a delight within God
for the salvation of those who do not turn. If they did, then the encouragement
that is here for all who turn and believe becomes nothing more than an
ineffectual wish of God.
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