The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
Ezekiel 18:20
The most scary part of Ezekiel 18 to me is where it warns that if the righteous turns from their righteousness, all their former righteous deeds shall be forgotten (v. 24).
However, today, I learnt something new. I found that there were three generations outlined in this chapter. I have never looked at it from that angle before.
From verse 5, it presented a righteous man. It was clear that the verdict on this man as in verse 9 was that he was righteous because he followed all that God commanded.
In verse 10, it was outlined that if the same person had a son that lived in wickedness and shed blood, he would pay for all his evil deeds if he repented not.
This evil man could give birth to a child in verse 15 that saw all the atrocities of his father and decided that he would not go this route. This same person would be spared from judgement but live because he was adjudged righteous.
Within these generations, righteousness began, interrupted by wickedness and the full cycle of righteousness restored in the third generation.
So, it was declared in verse 20 that it is the soul that sins which would die!
This tells us that we have the power of choice. The devil doesn’t have to define our generational reality; our choices do.
So, the way out for you is to walk in the righteousness enabled by the saving grace in Jesus Christ. Accept Him today as your Lord and personal Saviour to get the power to live in righteousness all your days.
I pray that His enabling grace shall empower you today to live in constant righteousness in Jesus name. Amen!
Jesus is Lord!
