As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of wicked people. I only want them to turn from their wicked ways so they can live. Turn! Turn from your wickedness, O people of Israel! Why should you die? [Ezekiel 33.11]
God, through Ezekiel, gives us some real insight into His basic character. He is loving - but His love, because it is the deepest most genuine love, cannot and will not ignore justice. God is indeed love and so, necessarily just.
There is no way around God's justice. Whether a person holds to Old Testament or New Testament 'theology' God's justice must be satisfied! Our sins must be covered by blood in order for God's favor to have full course in our lives.
God's message has not changed in that He requires us to repent! The only difference in OT and NT repentance is that OT repentance required subsequent animal sacrifice (bloodshed) where NT repentance requires faith in Jesus (Who consequently shed blood on our behalf). The great failure of modern Christian thinking is to believe that God no longer requires repentance. Repentance is paramount to forgiveness. Repentance means to turn away from sin and turn to God. There is no substitute for repentance just as there is no substitute for justice. In regard to sin, justice cannot be circumvented - it must be satisfied - every sin requires consequent justice.
In Old Testament times, God's justice was satisfied by forgiveness leading to sincere and sufficient sacrifices involving blood. However, God saw the incompleteness of this program (using only animal blood to pay for human sin) and instituted a new plan that involved human blood for human sin. And, because this human blood was also God blood, this new plan carried with it a permanence of effect (a once-and-for-all benefit) ...once activated. The activation of this new benefit still requires repentance, but it also requires faith. In fact, the old system was deactivated in the eventual destruction of the Temple (first symbolized while Jesus was on the cross and the veil in the Temple was torn). So, there is now only one way to 'be right' with God and that is through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.
To know God is to know He is love. To know God is to know He is just. Contrary to popular belief, there is only one way to God. He set His system up quite adequately to satisfy His own love and justice (remember, justice cannot be simply ignored). No other 'alternate way to God' offers sufficient satisfaction to God's justice - no other way offers the unique quality of co-mingled human/God blood to permanently pay the blood price upon sin.
Even so, repentance and faith are required.
Father, thank You once again for Jesus. LORD, I believe! Let Your conviction be unhindered in my life and my response of repentance be fluid.
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