The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 1 — Section 342

Ver. 31.-.A solemn and startling inquiry. "Why will ye die?" The prophet has just exhorted the house of Israel to repent, to turn away from all sin, to turn unto God, so that iniquity should not provo their ruin. And now he addresses to them the hrief and &wakening interrogation, "Why will ye die?" This inquiry, interpreted in harmony with its context, implies, what has been alrearly stated more than once in this chapter, that persistence in sin leads to the death of tbe soul. The prophet has also repeatedly stated that turning from sin to righteousness leads to life. And now, having completed the vindication of the Divine government against the charge implied in the popular proverb, "The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge," he earnestly appeals to them to turn from their transgressions to God, and thus to turn from death to life. And in this appeal he utters the solemn and startling inquiry, "Why will ye die, 0 house of Israel?" Wherefore will ye not repent, and live? Why will ye persist in sin, and die? I. THE RUINOUSNEBS OF PERSISTENCE IN BIN. It leads to death. ,, Why will ye die 1" Man can live spiritually only in union with God. "In his favour is life." Cut our world adrift from the sun with his light and heat, and ere long it would be one region of invariable and total death. All life of every kind would perish from the earth. The soul cut off from God dies; for he is its Life and Light. Apart from the grace of God, and the influences of the Holy Spirit, all men are dead through their trespasses and sins. Every genuine Christian is said to have passed from death unto life. " He that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of death into life ; " "We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren." Absence of sensibility is the great characteristic of death. In a dead body the eyes are there, but they see not ; the ears are there, but they hear not; the nose, but it smells not; the organs of speech, but they speak not ; the nerves, but they feel not. Sensibility has departed. .A.nd they who live in sin lack spiritual sensibility; they do not perceive the beauties of truth and holiness; they do not hear the voice of God speaking through their conscience or through his Word; they do not realize the joys of religion : they are spiritually dead. But from this state they may be quickened into life by the Word and the Spirit of God; they may be renewed in heart and in life. But persistence in sin, resistance of the influence of Divine grace and of the Holy Spirit, diminish the possibility of the soul's renewal, and tend to render its death permanent. Redemptive facts and forces, even when applied by the Holy Spirit, affect the soul less and less unless they be yielued to. And conscience, even when quickened by the Holy Spirit, speaks ever with decreasing authority unless its authority be practically recognized. And so the moral condition proceeds from bad to worse. Persistence in sin leads to a deeper, darker death; or, speaking more accurately, to a more fully developed death. "Sin, when it is full- grown, bringeth forth death." Who shall express the dread significance of this death ? It has been spoken of thus: "The words of pardon, the language of love, will fall unheeded. The glorious redemption of man's soul by Christ, and Christ alone, will have no power. That power has departed. Every day it grew less. Sin has deadened all the senses; aml no longer can be see the radiant form of the Son of heaven. . . . Every good shall die. Every ray of hope shall die. Every offer of mercy shall die. Every idea of future blessedness shall die. Every resolve of hallowed obedience, every repentant feeling, every sorrowful emotion, shall die. . .. The sinner left to himself; the sinner left alone ; the sinner bereaved of good, bereaved of holiness, bereaved of God; the sinner left alone to die ;-this were hell, at which the stoniest heart would quail, and the stoutest soul recoil!" (J. W. Lester). This death, which i~ the full development of sin, is, we think, unutterably and inconceivably dreadful. Persistence in sin is ruinous. II. THE WILFULNESti OF PERSISTENCE IN SIN. "Why will ye die?" The inquiry implies that man's ruin is of himself. The whole drift of this chapter has been to th<3 same conclusion. 1. 1llan does not die because of any unwillingness on the part of Gud to Rave him. " I have no pleasure in the death c,f him that dieth, saith the Lord God ; " "He delighteth in mercy;" "The Lord thy God is in the midst of thee, a Mighty One who will save: he will rejoice over thee with joy, he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with sin~iug.'' He finds infinite satisfaction and joy in delivering souls from death, and in granting to them life and light. He h&s proved his willingmss to savo  THE BOOK OI<' 'l'HB PROPHET EZEKIEL. [oH. x1x. 1-14.