In Ezekiel 18, the LORD lays out for Jeremiah a new application of His law to the people. It had been said that the fathers “ate sour grapes,” and the children’s “teeth were set on edge.” Now, the LORD said the one who lived righteously would live, and the one who sinned would die. If a man lived righteously, but his son lived in sin, the son would die. If a man lived sinfully, he would die, but if his son lived righteously, he would live. The illustration is taken to the third generation to show if the next generation after a righteous man lived sinfully, that generation would die. The LORD also noted that within a generation if a man was sinful, but repented and became righteous, he would live. The LORD’s point is twofold: He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, and His desire is their repentance and return to righteousness, and each person is responsible for his or her own life. This does not say that generational curses have no power. Certainly, a family that lives in sin, will model that to their children, and the tendency will be for that sin to be passed to the next generation. The good news is that is not necessarily the case. Each generation has the opportunity to break the curse and live in righteousness!
Ezekiel 19 compares the princes of Israel to two young lions, the first was captured by Egypt and the second by Babylon. Each in turn was put in a cage, so that its splendor was no more. Then Israel is compared to a vine that bore much fruit. Eventually, though, it was burned and it was no more. These illustrations show us how the power, strength and beauty of Israel were subdued and overcome. It doesn’t mention this was because of her turning away from the LORD, but with all we’ve read so far, that is certainly the point.
Ezekiel 20 starts with a recollection of the sin of Israel and their fathers, from the time they were in the land of Egypt, through their wilderness journeys and then into the promised land. In each era of Israel’s history they rejected the LORD and His laws and worshiped idols, nature, and even offered their children as sacrifices to the false gods. For that the LORD punished them and would continue to punish them. Yet, in the latter portion of the chapter, the LORD promises to restore Israel, to bring them back from the lands where He scattered them. In that time, He would act according to His righteousness and not according to their sinfulness. That is always a necessary reality in our lives. We are fallen, sinful people. It is our nature to sin. That means we rely on the LORD’s righteousness. In our case that comes from the righteousness of Jesus. He lived a perfect life in our place. He died in our place. He rose from the dead to show that we, too, may live with Him here and now and for eternity.
As we return to Matthew 21 , Matthew records the “Triumphant Entry” of Jesus into Jerusalem. As Jesus enters the town, the people praise Him. He overturns the tables of the money changers in the Temple, and then heals many sick people. The religious leaders tell Jesus to have the people stop offering Him praise, but Jesus tells them it was the LORD’s will for this to happen. After all this, Jesus returns to Bethany for the night. The next morning, as Jesus and the twelve walked back to Jerusalem, Jesus was hungry. He reached out to a fig tree, but it had no fruit. Jesus cursed the tree and immediately it shriveled up. The disciples were amazed and asked Jesus how He did that. Jesus response was if we have faith and do not doubt, we can say to a mountain, be cast into the sea and it will happen. He followed with this principle: Ask whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith. In other places, such as John’s gospel, Jesus adds when we ask “according to my name.” That’s a helpful qualifier, because God is not a genie who grants us our wishes. Our prayers are to be aligned with His will, so they are offered to advance not just our personal desires, but the purposes of God’s Kingdom.
As Jesus returned to the Temple area, He was questioned by the religious leaders about what authority He had to perform the miracles He performed. Jesus responded with a question: Was John the Baptist’s authority from heaven or from men? The question put the leaders in a bad position. If they said from heaven, Jesus would ask why they didn’t follow Him? If they said from men, the people would attack them, because they believed John was a prophet. They said, “We don’t know.” Jesus told them He wouldn’t tell them where His authority originated either.
Jesus then told a parable about a man with two sons. He asked each to go out and work in the fields. One said he would but didn’t. The other said he wouldn’t but did. Jesus asked which did the will of his father? The leaders said it was the one who said no but then did what his father wanted. Jesus’ punchline was the tax collectors and prostitutes would go to heaven before them, because they believed in Jesus. Jesus followed up this parable with the parable of the tenants, about the vineyard owner who left his vineyard under the care of tenant farmers. When the harvest came, the owner sent representatives to collect his portion of the harvest. They mistreated and killed the owners representatives. At last, he sent his son, because he thought they would respect him, but they killed him, too. Jesus said the owner would punish these men severely. The religious leaders recognized Jesus was talking about them, so they wanted to arrest Him, but they were afraid, because the crowd held Jesus to be a prophet. We must always remember Jesus gives us a great deal of freedom and we must never abuse it, by misrepresenting Him or even mistreating Him. We don’t want to be found in the category of religious leaders who say we are following God, but end up being the very ones who attack Jesus through our actions!