Context for Ezekiel 14-15
God makes a clear distinction: His punishment is intended against the rebellion of those who have turned from Him. Even though the faithful are swept up in that rebellion and its consequences, the faithful will endure as the faithless are punished.
How is it fair that the faithful are swept up in the rebellion and the consequences of the faithless? This was a thing that happened in Ezekiel’s time as much as it happens today. Then as now, it seems hardly fair, yet God allowed it to happen then and now.
These things happen because we live in a sinful world. In fact, we ourselves are sinful, justified only by grace through the faith we have been given. Through the lens of that faith, then, we can see why God might allow the faithful to be swept up with the faithless.
Through that lens, we can see that all things work together for the good of God’s faithful. What is that good? That we will get to Heaven and receive the reward for our faith, that is eternal life. Because we see the truth of such things, what happens to us here is really not so important.
Further, what happens here is often for our own good. What might have happened if God had allowed Jerusalem to remain in its sin for the sake of a few of the faithful? Would those few have remained faithful in the face of such willful rebellion? Instead, God punished the rebellion and preserved the faithful by putting an end to Jerusalem.
This is a hard thing to accept, yet it is a thing that holds true throughout God’s Word. God preserves His faithful people sometimes by the very acts He uses to punish sin. He did so when He destroyed Jerusalem using the Babylonians. He did so again when He put our sins on Jesus’ shoulders on the cross.
What we need to remember, then, is that all things do work for our good. This is a hope we can cling to, even when things seem to be at their worst.
