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Ezekiel 3
Ezekiel 3 (New King James Version)
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ezekiel 3&version=50
Ezekiel Is a Watchman
16 Now it came to pass at the end of seven days that the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 17 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me: 18 When I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. 19 Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.
20 “Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because you did not give him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. 21 Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man that the righteous should not sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; also you will have delivered your soul.”
22 Then the hand of the LORD was upon me there, and He said to me, “Arise, go out into the plain, and there I shall talk with you.”
23 So I arose and went out into the plain, and behold, the glory of the LORD stood there, like the glory which I saw by the River Chebar; and I fell on my face. 24 Then the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet, and spoke with me and said to me: “Go, shut yourself inside your house. 25 And you, O son of man, surely they will put ropes on you and bind you with them, so that you cannot go out among them. 26 I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, so that you shall be mute and not be one to rebuke them, for they are a rebellious house. 27 But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD.’ He who hears, let him hear; and he who refuses, let him refuse; for they are a rebellious house.
What does it mean the prophet will have to give account? will his soul perish forever? or will he just die a physical death? how does this apply to us? aren't we told not to judge and concentrate on our own sins? then what is the point of servants? if they have nothing to minister to others... proverbs says "do not rebuke a scoffer for he will hate you" "rebuke a wise man and he will love you"
More I want to ask is there no chance for repentance for this righteous man who committed iniquity? David the prophet commited sin and he was forgiven and restored. I know the bible says a righteous man falls seven times and rises up again. So why does there seem to be a contradiction? Does this falling seven times.. is that only acceptable to beginners?
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ezekiel 3&version=50
Ezekiel Is a Watchman
16 Now it came to pass at the end of seven days that the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 17 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me: 18 When I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. 19 Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.
20 “Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because you did not give him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. 21 Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man that the righteous should not sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; also you will have delivered your soul.”
22 Then the hand of the LORD was upon me there, and He said to me, “Arise, go out into the plain, and there I shall talk with you.”
23 So I arose and went out into the plain, and behold, the glory of the LORD stood there, like the glory which I saw by the River Chebar; and I fell on my face. 24 Then the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet, and spoke with me and said to me: “Go, shut yourself inside your house. 25 And you, O son of man, surely they will put ropes on you and bind you with them, so that you cannot go out among them. 26 I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, so that you shall be mute and not be one to rebuke them, for they are a rebellious house. 27 But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD.’ He who hears, let him hear; and he who refuses, let him refuse; for they are a rebellious house.
What does it mean the prophet will have to give account? will his soul perish forever? or will he just die a physical death? how does this apply to us? aren't we told not to judge and concentrate on our own sins? then what is the point of servants? if they have nothing to minister to others... proverbs says "do not rebuke a scoffer for he will hate you" "rebuke a wise man and he will love you"
More I want to ask is there no chance for repentance for this righteous man who committed iniquity? David the prophet commited sin and he was forgiven and restored. I know the bible says a righteous man falls seven times and rises up again. So why does there seem to be a contradiction? Does this falling seven times.. is that only acceptable to beginners?
Comments
When it says he must give account, it means he is responsible for warning the sinners, giving them a chance to repent. If he doesn't, his soul will perish, not just a physical death.
The mere act of acknowledging that someone has sinned is not necessarily judging. So, sunday school teachers should warn others about sinning in a certain way.
"Do not rebuke a scoffer." I'm not sure how to answer this but I would like to bring up the words of Jesus when he says "My WORDS shall condemn you," and also "If you were blind, you would have no sin, but now you see so your sin remains." Perhaps the Jews were blind as well as rebelious and so, they did not know that they were sinning and their conciences were not warning them. The commandment to ezekiel reminds me of Jesus when he says to the pharisees "How can you possibly escape the condemnation of hell." And also St. Stephen when he said to the pharisees "you always resist the Holy Spirit."
If a righteous man repents can he be saved? No. Not in the old testament. Perhaps God would forgive his sins but he would still have to go to Hades because his sin is against the Infinite One and requires infinite atonement. (This is not to say that he was going to go to heaven if he hadn't sinned.) But when Jesus, the Infinite, died, he took those righteous (who had sinned and repented) and brought them to paradise. But it is a message to us that when we sin, until we repent, our righteousness is "forgotten" and we are (spiritually) dead and we cannot enter heaven without repentance regardless of how righteous we were before we sinned.
Please do not take my interpretation as the absolute word of God, but..."test the spirits, to see whether or not they are from God."
"But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him." (Ezek 18:21-22)
When David sinned, the second he repented Nathan told him "And God has also put away your iniquity." Nevertheless, he still faced consequences of his sin.
I don't think God forgets all (or any) of a person's righteous deeds when he sins and repents. Has he not written them in his book? But in a way, they are forgotten. When a person sins, his heart becomes "less" pure. He must then do spiritual works--works of repentance-- to achieve that former state of purity. But does he start from scratch? I don't think so. Perhaps David was forced to face those tribulations to help him achieve and even exceed the purity he had before he had sinned.
Also, I like to think of it in terms of the ressurection. When we sin, Jesus must die. But can't God ressurect him? If God burns the book that contains our righteous deeds, can't he restore it?
One more thing I wanted to mention. When God told Ezekiel "whether they hear or not, preach to them," do you think maybe God was trying to keep Ezekiel from judging? In other words, was God trying to say "whether you think they are righteous or not, preach to them"?
I hope this helps but "In the multitude of counselors there is safety."
"One more thing I wanted to mention. When God told Ezekiel "whether they hear or not, preach to them," do you think maybe God was trying to keep Ezekiel from judging? In other words, was God trying to say "whether you think they are righteous or not, preach to them"? "
I don't know maybe. Yes in a sense you are not judging people if you care for there salvation and don't just tell them you are going to hell to make them feel bad because you hate them but you warn them of the danger of their sin because you love them.
It is like what Jesus said to the disciples "wipe the dust of you feet as a testimony against them" that they had the word of God preached to them but they rejected it. Same with what God wanted Ezekiel to do. Just do your duty of preaching and warning and then they will have to give account of it.