Ezekiel 18:19-22
Personal faith; reward for the righteous; the power of repentance
The Old Testament is a great place to study the character of God. Journeying through the Book of Ezekiel I came across some powerful words from the Lord. I summarise…..
• Our faith is a personal faith. We are not responsible for the sins of our parents and equally, they will not be punished for our sins (Ezekiel 18:19-20)
• Righteous people will be rewarded (Ezekiel 18:20)
• If a wicked person turns away from their sins and follows God, they will surely live(Ezekiel18:21)
• God forgets all our past sins when we repent (Ezekiel 18:22)
• God does not like seeing wicked people die. He wants everyone to repent and live (Ezekiel 18:23)
Ezekiel was a prophet who God called to minister to the exiled Israelites in Babylon, starting 593BC. Although it was a very different time to today, we see that the character of God remains the same. He desires that all people come into a personal relationship with Himself, and grieves when a person dies unbelieving. Repentance is rewarded with eternal life. I love the fact that at our conversion God chose to purposely forget ALL our past sin, and when we repent of present sin He forgets that too. Don’t you just love our just and gracious God.
Life is so much richer in the presence of God.
About Pastor Julie
I’m passionate about the church – building believers up in their faith, to be all God intended them to be; and I’m passionate about sharing the love and hope of Jesus with people who don’t know Him yet.