282. The Just will surely Live
Ezekiel 18:9 Hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord God.
We can put this another way, as Paul in Romans 1 quotes Habakkuk: “The just will live by faith.” The conditional promise is: if you keep my commandments, then you will surely live. The NT says: if you believe, then you will be just and you will live. The issue is “be just.” The question is: “How do I become just?” I become just (and so I will live) either by keeping the commandments or by faith. When we believe in Jesus Christ we are declared just. We can’t keep the commandments, and so we will fail to live by trying that method. But Jesus kept the commandments perfectly for us, and He gives us perfect obedience. By faith we are just, and by being just we will live. We live by faith. “Whoever believes in Me has eternal life.”
Truly dealing justly, walking in God’s Law and keeping His commandments is surely living. The Law will make us truly alive, living well, and living forever, if we could keep it perfectly. Of course, we cannot, so we turn to the Gospel. Believing the Gospel makes us just, and the just will surely live. OK, is it by faith or by works? We know the obvious answer.
This is not just a matter of life or death; it is a matter of eternal life or eternal death. We already have a life, but it Is a life that will end; it is short; it is temporary; it is weak and vulnerable. This life is not life; it is not living; it is not forever; it is full of pain and suffering. And it is my fault: death is the wages of sin, my sin. I am a sinner: therefore I do not really have life, but I have death. I am forgiven: therefore I do not really have death, but I have life.
By faith I will surely live. This is the promise. Each day new life is given to me right in the middle of and next to this body of death. At the same time that I suffer the pains of a short life with its death I am also enjoying a life that has no pain, no suffering and no death. Believe the promise, and live eternal life every day.