Context for Ezekiel 18-19
God’s will for His people has never really changed. His desire for them has always been for them to remain faithful to His Word and His will, a faithfulness He gives to them though His grace.
In Ezekiel 18, God clearly outlines the nature of His command to everyone who believes: do My will, do what is righteous, and you will live. Do otherwise, and you will die. This faithfulness is for each believer to fulfill through the faith God has already given him.
This outline is just as sure for us today as it was for the Jews of Ezekiel’s day. The only difference is that our faith is in a promise fulfilled while their faith was in a promise hoped for. The outcome, however, is the same in either case. God gives us faith by His grace through His Word. All we have to do is live by that faith and we will truly live.
The problem is that the devil, the world, and our own sinfulness constantly war against our faith. It was that war that the people of Judah in Ezekiel’s day succumbed to, and it is that war that we are constantly on guard against.
Our only sure defense against that war is the Word, and through that Word, the Sacraments by which the Holy Spirit comes to us. Remain in the Word, and we remain strong in our faith and righteousness. Stray from the Word, and we stray from our faith as well.
