Within the book of Ezekiel, the following warning is given to all who call themselves the children of God: Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman: If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand (Ezekiel 33:2-6). As Christians, we have the obligation to warn others about the judgment to come and the salvation offered through the shed blood of Jesus. We have an obligation to warn them that their good works and deeds will never balance God’s scale of justice – only the blood of Christ can do that. We have an obligation to warn them that through Christ alone is there any hope for Heaven, yet too often we remain silent. I honestly believe there are going to be many Christians weeping at the judgment seat of Christ as we see those lost souls – coworkers, family, friends, spouses all standing and found lacking and we had the knowledge that could have saved them but did not sound the warning. Ezekiel teaches that their blood will be required – their blood will be on our hands.
Just as humanity did not come up with the laws of physics or gravity, humanity can never define its own sense of morality. Mankind can never define its own salvation or what it considers a just life. Anyone that is a parent can fully appreciate this – what kind of home would we have if we allowed our children to define the family rules and values? Just as parents have to be the authority within the home, humanity must submit to a higher authority – which is God. It is not civilization that has determined “thou shall not kill,” and “thou shall not bear false witness” but God, the creator of people. It is not humanity that has set what defines someone who has been saved or redeemed, as our definition of fairness changes with each generation. It is God that has set the standards by which people must live by. For me, it became easy to follow the teachings of Jesus once I fully accepted that He is my Lord, my King, my Creator, and my God.
