Info@AnglicansForLife.org

Anglicans For Life logo with registered mark

Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32

The word of the Lord came to me: “What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel: “‘The parents eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’? “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel. For everyone belongs to me, the parent as well as the child—both alike belong to me. The one who sins is the one who will die. “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear, you Israelites: Is my way unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust? If a righteous person turns from their righteousness and commits sin, they will die for it; because of the sin they have committed they will die. But if a wicked person turns away from the wickedness they have committed and does what is just and right, they will save their life. Because they consider all the offenses they have committed and turn away from them, that person will surely live; they will not die. Yet the Israelites say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Are my ways unjust, people of Israel? Is it not your ways that are unjust? “Therefore, you Israelites, I will judge each of you according to your own ways, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!

By: The Rev. Dr. W. Ross Blackburn

Of all words in our cultural vocabulary, justice may be the most meaningless. Why? Because we have no agreement as to what it might mean. Abortion is a perfect example. One argues that the rights of women trump the rights of the unborn. Another might argue that the unborn child’s rights trump the rights of the mother. Notice how both are appealing to justice. Everyone is for justice, but we disagree on what is just. And so justice becomes a wax nose, to be manipulated according to my desires or thoughts about what must be right. How can we know what is just? Apart from knowing the ways of the Lord, we cannot. All we are left with are preferences. It is the essence of sin to declare, when our preferences conflict with the ways of the Lord, “the ways of the Lord are not just.”

Sinful man would always rather decide for himself. To know justice is to know God. The ways of the Lord are just. This is far more than simply taking the right positions on certain issues. It is good and right to know what the Lord says about abortion. But it is not enough just to take a correct position. We will know justice in the area of abortion when we both defend the fatherless and plead for the widow (Isaiah 1:17). In other words, we seek to protect the unborn while at the same time seeking to bless the mother (and father) in crisis.

If we find ourselves thinking “the ways of the Lord are not just,” there is one solution. It is Ezekiel’s solution. Repent.