Personal Responsibility

MEMORY VERSE: “Behold, all souls are Mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” —Ezekiel 18:4

EZEKIEL 18:2-13, 30-32

“WHAT mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge?”—Ezek. 18:2

The proverb had its origin with the Prophet Jeremiah (31:29), who spoke of a coming time when God would make a new covenant with the house of Israel. The New Covenant, says the prophet, will not be like the old Law Covenant that they were not able to keep because of the weakness of their flesh; but under the New Covenant God will write his law in their hearts, and they will be able to keep his law, and he will be their God and they will be his people.—Jer. 31:28-34

Since Adam was disobedient in the Garden of Eden this proverb has been true of all of Adam’s progeny. The Apostle Paul states in Romans 5:12, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”

In our text it is evident that the nation of Israel were aware of the hopelessness of their plight and were using the proverb as an excuse for not making an effort to live up to the terms of the law. And in Ezekiel 18:3,4 the prophet quotes God as saying, “As I live, saith the Lord God, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel. Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.”

The Lord in effect is saying that the time is coming when he will change the conditions so that Israel will no longer die for Adam’s sin, but that they, and all men, will die only if they as individuals sin. This is the condition that will prevail during Christ’s thousand-year kingdom.

The Apostle Peter, in Acts 3:19-23, speaks of this time as the “times of restitution of all things.” And he states that this time was foretold by Moses (vs. 22; Deut. 18:15), “For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.”

This part of the prophecy speaks of Jesus, who gave his perfect life as a ransom price for Adam. The Bible teaches that since all men were condemned in Adam (who was perfect before he sinned), all could be released from condemnation in and by the sacrifice of the one perfect man, Jesus. This was Jesus’ work during his first advent.—John 1:14; I Cor. 15:21; Mark 10:45; I John 2:2; I Pet. 1:18; Rev. 5:9

Jesus, the foretold prophet, was to be like Moses, a mediator of a covenant—the New Covenant—and it is under this covenant that God will write his law in men’s hearts. The prophecy continues that it will be mandatory that the people hear and obey the prophet’s instructions. In verse 23 he states, “And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.”

It is in the kingdom that God will bring to an end the reason for the proverb, “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” It is then that each man will have a personal responsibility for his own life by being obedient to the laws of God.

The conditions that will prevail under the New Covenant will be much more favorable for Adam’s children to be obedient than in present or past circumstances, for the Bible tells us that for the thousand years of the kingdom Satan will be bound so that he can deceive the nations no more.—Rev. 20:2,3

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