Ezekiel 33:7-11: a reflection

7“So you, son of man, I have set you a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore hear the word from my mouth, and give them warnings from me. 8When I tell the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you don’t speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man will die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at your hand. 9Nevertheless, if you warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, and he doesn’t turn from his way; he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul. 10“You, son of man, tell the house of Israel: ‘You say this, “Our transgressions and our sins are on us, and we pine away in them. How then can we live?”’ 11Tell them, ‘“As I live,” says the Lord GOD, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why will you die, house of Israel?”’

God gives Ezekiel a hard job as a watchman, to warn people of coming judgment. But in the middle of it, God reveals his own heart, and it is not what we might expect from a warning about judgment. As I live, says the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways; for why will you die?

Notice what that tells us about God. He is not eager to condemn, not looking for reasons to destroy, not taking any pleasure in the death of even the wicked. His desire runs the other way entirely: that people would turn and live. And hear the tone of it, the almost pleading repetition, turn, turn, and the anguished question, why will you die? This is not a God reluctantly holding back wrath; it is a God longing for repentance, not wanting anyone to perish.

That reshapes how we hear God's warnings, and how we come to him. The warnings are not the words of a God who wants to condemn you, but of a God who wants you to turn and live, and warns you precisely because he does not delight in your ruin. If you have thought of God as eager to judge, hovering to catch you out, hear his own words: he takes no pleasure in death; he pleads with you to turn and live. And if you have wandered far and fear it is too late, hear the invitation in his voice: turn, turn, and live. Why would you not?

Lord, you take no pleasure in the death of the wicked but plead, turn, turn, and live. Thank you that you are not eager to condemn me but long for me to turn and live. When I have wandered far and feared it is too late, let me hear the pleading in your voice, and turn to you and live.