Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord
God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn
from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die,
O house of Israel? (Ezek. 33:11)
(a)
[Source: Common Grace Considered (2019 edition),
pp. 347-349]
The
context here is a charge to the elders in Israel to be watchmen on the walls of
the city, whose responsibility it is to warn the inhabitants of the city of the
approach of an enemy. If they fail to do this, and people perish as a result,
the blood of these people will be required of the watchmen.
It
is worth our while to note that the principle God lays down in Ezekiel 33 is
still in force today. How dreadful it is when the elders of a church fail to
warn the people of enemies who constitute a spiritual danger to the church. And
how much more dreadful it is when these watchmen actually conspire with the
enemies to assist them in entering the city—something they do when they approve
of false doctrine.
Ezekiel
is therefore told that he must warn the people of the enemy. If he does this,
and the people do not listen, then Ezekiel will be free from their blood (v.
9).
Apparently,
the people of the captivity, to whom Ezekiel prophesied, complained that they
were so punished by God in being brought into captivity that they saw no
possibility of living once again (v. 10). The implied criticism of God was that
God had no interest in them anymore and that He did not really care if they
died in Babylon.
To
this, Ezekiel, speaking God’s word, tells them that God has no pleasure in the
death of the wicked. He does have pleasure in repentance and a turning away
from the wicked ways that characterized Israel’s life.
One
more remark needs to be made, and that is that Ezekiel is addressing the nation
in captivity in their organic unity.
That is, he is addressing the nation as a whole. But the nation, we must
remember, consisted of many wicked who had gained control over the life of the
nation and had led the nation into terrible idolatry so that the nation became
ripe for judgment.
But
there was also in that nation a remnant according to the election of grace.
This remnant was small and seemingly insignificant. But it was represented by
Daniel and his three friends, by Ezekiel himself, and by those who sang Psalm
137.
This
word was spoken to the whole nation in its organic unity; that is, in such a
way that the wicked and the faithful both heard it.
This
truth remains always the same. The word of the gospel is proclaimed in the
church in its organic unity. In that church are hypocrites and unfaithful
members. But in that church are also believers, saved by the power of the
gospel. To them all, comes the word of God: “I have no pleasure in the death of
the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye
from your evil ways, for why will ye die, O house of Israel?”
That
is, as Canons 2.5 expresses it: God
promises eternal life to all who receive
the gospel and repent of their sins; but God condemns those who refuse to
obey the command of the gospel.
Looking
at the preaching from God’s point of view, and from the viewpoint of His
eternal purpose, God uses that gospel with its promise and its command to save
His people through the work of the Spirit in their hearts. And He uses the same
gospel to harden the wicked in their way that it may be shown that God is
righteous in all His ways.
(b)
[Source: Common Grace Considered (2019 edition),
pp. 352-353]
The
two passages in Ezekiel (18:31, 33:11) underscore … an extremely important
truth concerning God’s purpose in the gospel.
That
God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked is not at all difficult to
understand. God has no pleasure in sin. It is contrary to His own holy being.
He detests sin and is filled with fury against it and the sinner. The
punishment of the sinner is necessary because it is the manifestation of His
hatred of sin. He must destroy the wicked to preserve His own holiness.
How
out of keeping this is with the thinking of much of the church in our day. If
one would listen to theologians one would get the impression that God does not
mind sin all that much. He overlooks it rather easily and winks at the sinner
as if the sinner is only a little naughty boy who does not know any better.
Common
grace, with its doctrine of God’s universal love, takes sides with modern
theology. But it is all unspeakably degrading of the holy God. Let us preserve
at all costs the great holiness of Jehovah God before whom the angels cover
their faces and cry all the day, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty.”
One
final remark. Some will conclude from that what I have outlined here implies “two
wills” in God. There is the will of His decree, and there is the will of God’s
command. After all, the counsel of God is called God’s “good pleasure” in
Scripture (Is. 44:28). And Scripture (and the Canons in 3–4.8-9) speaks of God’s serious command that all men
repent of sin and believe in Christ and call this serious command, God’s good
pleasure. On the one hand, therefore, God’s good pleasure is to reveal His
justice in reprobation; while it is also God’s good pleasure to demand that all
men repent of sin.
Reformed
and Presbyterian theologians have always recognized that a distinction must be
made between the eternal will of God’s counsel and the will of God’s command.
But it would be a wrong conclusion to interpret this distinction as referring
to “two wills” in God. The fact is that the will of God’s command is the means by which God carries out the will
of His decree. God made man holy and able to keep all the commandments God
laid down. Obedience to those commandments was required because those
commandments expressed God’s purpose in creating man.
Man
transgressed and lost completely his ability to obey God. God, rightly, and
with perfect justice, still requires of man obedience. Man cannot and will not
obey God. But in the hearts of the elect, God works through Christ’s perfect
obedience to the law the salvation of His elect. So, both the eternal decree of
election and reprobation are accomplished through
the on-going demand of the law. In the elect, God accomplishes His purpose
in Christ by enabling the elect to keep the law. In the reprobate God
accomplishes His eternal purpose in the way of man’s refusal to repent of sin.
Perfect
harmony, perfect justice, perfect mercy, and a perfect will of God to bring all
praise and glory to Himself.
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