God Judges Individuals

Michelangelo Buonarroti [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

10 “Now as for you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus you have spoken, saying, “Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we are rotting away in them; how then can we survive?”’ 11 Say to them, ‘As I live!’ declares the Lord God, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?’—Ezekiel 34:10-11

In our culture, more and more people view God as distant and uncaring or as a blood-thirsty, angry God bent on revenge. This passage makes it clear that God is neither. He knows, loves, and cares deeply for each person as an individual. This is not to ignore the way the sins of others or the righteousness of others affects individuals, they do, but clearly God eternally judges each individual based on his own actions and thoughts (v. 20): ‘“20 Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not right.’ O house of Israel, I will judge each of you according to his ways.”’