In Ezekiel 20 God gives the prophet a survey of Israel's history from their time in Egypt until the Exile. It was a history of God's faithfulness and Israel's unceasing rebellion. Ezekiel was told to give the elders of Israel in exile a history lesson on "the abominations of their fathers," even why He would not listen to them now when they were inquiring of Him. 

God called Israel to obey Him in Egypt and swore to bring them into the Promised Land.

On the day when I chose Israel... on that day I swore to them, to bring them out from the land of Egypt into a land that I had selected for them, flowing with milk and honey... I said to them, ‘Cast away, each of you, the detestable things of his eyes, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am the Lord your God’ (Ezekiel 20:5-7).

BUT Israel rebelled in Egypt

But they rebelled against Me and were not willing to listen to Me; they did not cast away the detestable things of their eyes, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt (Ezekiel 20:8).

So God determined to annihilate them, but He relented because of His Name

Then I resolved to pour out My wrath on them, to accomplish My anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt. But I acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations among whom they lived, in whose sight I made Myself known to them by bringing them out of the land of Egypt (Ezekiel 20:8-9).

God fulfilled His promise to bring them out of Egypt - and again commaned obedience

So I took them out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. I gave them My statutes and informed them of My ordinances, bywhich, if a man observes them, he will live. Also I gave them My sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them (Ezekiel 20:10-12).

BUT Israel again rebelled in the wilderness

But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness. They did not walk in My statutes and they rejected My ordinances, by which, if a man observes them, he will live; and My sabbaths they greatly profaned (Ezekiel 20:13). 

So God determined to annihilate them, but He relented because of His Name

Then I resolved to pour out My wrath on them in the wilderness, to annihilate them. But I acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, before whose sight I had brought them out... My eye spared them rather than destroying them, and I did not cause their annihilation in the wilderness (Ezekiel 20:13-17).

Then God called the children of rebellious Israel to obey Him

“I said to their children in the wilderness, ‘Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers or keep their ordinances or defile yourselves with their idols. I am the Lord your God; walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and observe them. Sanctify My sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God’ (Ezekiel 20:18-20).

BUT the children of rebellious Israel rebelled too

But the children rebelled against Me; they did not walk in My statutes, nor were they careful to observe My ordinances, by which, if a man observes them, he will live; they profaned My sabbaths (Ezekiel 20:21).

So God determined to annihilate them, but He relented because of His Name

So I resolved to pour out My wrath on them, to accomplish My anger against them in the wilderness. But Iwithdrew My hand and acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out (Ezekiel 20:21-22).

Finally, the generations in the Promised Land also rebelled against God

“Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed Me by acting treacherously against Me.28 When I had brought them into the land which I swore to give to them, then they saw every high hill and every leafy tree, and they offered there their sacrifices and there they presented the provocation of their offering (Ezekiel 20:27-28).

Through this survey of their history, God revealed to the elders of Israel in Exile that they would be just like their fathers in rebelling against Him. He would not be inquired by them, instead, He would act apart from their empty faith and work on the basis of His own Name:

When you offer your gifts, when you cause your sons to pass through the fire, you are defiling yourselves with all your idols to this day. And shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live,” declares the Lord God, “I will not be inquired of by you... Then you will know that I am the Lord when I have dealt with you for My name’s sake, not according to your evil ways or according to your corrupt deeds, O house of Israel,” declares the Lord God" (Ezekiel 20:31,44).

Friends, let us learn this lesson from Israel about the human condition. God says that none of us are righteous. None of us seek Him out. We all turn away and make ourselves worthless. With unequivocal clarity, Paul declared this universal condition of mankind: "no one is righteous, not even one". 

There is no one righteous, not even one;
    there is no one who understands;
    there is no one who seeks God.
All have turned away,
    they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
    not even one (Romans 3:11-12).

Will you and I inquire of God?! We will not. God will act for His own Name to save us and to draw us to saving faith. As Israel was stubbornly rebellious, so also are we stubbornly rebellious. 

Yet, we can confidently come before Him through Jesus Christ. On the basis of His grace through Christ we can inquire of God and make our appeals to Him:

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need (Hebrews 4:15-16).

But for the sake of my name, I brought them out of Egypt. I did it to keep my name from being profaned in the eyes of the nations among whom they lived and in whose sight I had revealed myself to the Israelites. But I withheld my hand, and for the sake of my name I did what would keep it from being profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out. You will know that I am the Lord, when I deal with you for my name's sake and not according to your evil ways and your corrupt practices, you people of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord.'" (Ezekiel 20:9, 22, 44 NIV)

Let us understand that God brought deliverance again and again to His people not because they were righteous, repentant or faithful but simply because of His Name, that is, His reputation in the world and throughout history. It was for His own sake, that He chose Israel in the first place, and it was for His own Name's sake that He preserved them throughout the many generations. 

This is the same for Christians. We are not different. God did not choose us because we first chose Him in faith, as if there was any wisdom or righteousness in us to make such a decision. This is why the apostle John writes that believers were "born not of natural descent nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God" (John 1;13). He chose us and perserves us until heaven soley for His Name's sake, because He who promised is faithful. 

---------

A word about those that still preach generational curses. God has done away with these in the New Covenant in Christ. If you recall, we learned this truth from Jeremiah:

"In those days people will no longer say,'The parents have eaten sour grapes,and the children's teeth are set on edge.' Instead, everyone will die for their own sin; whoever eats sour grapes—their own teeth will be set on edge. "The days are coming," declares the Lord,"when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. (Jeremiah 31:29-31 NIV)

We learn it again from Ezekiel:

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. The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them. (Ezekiel 18:1-3, 20 NIV)

In other words, God will not visit the sins of the father on their children, as He had done in the past in keeping with the Law of Moses. 

There was a woman that took the stage at a Gateway Pastor's Conference to talk about Christians under generational curses. She even formulated the precise wording one needed to pray to set a Christian free from generational curses. This woman certainly did not know the Scriptures. As if pastors didn't already have enough burdens to address, now she added a baseless burden, as well as a vain prayer. It pains me that such a large and influential church like Gateway Church would sponsor and support such wrongful teaching, and that to pastors.

In Ezekiel 20:11, 13, 21 we see an often repeated phrase: "which, if a man does, he shall live by them." It has reference to the Law of Moses. Paul cites this very phrase in Galatians 3:10-14

For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.” Yet the law is not of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them.” Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

The Law of Moses, which is the statutory aspect of the Old Covenant, follows this principle: If you put yourself under the Law, you will be judged by your performance of it.  That is the meaning of "which, if a man does, he shall live by them." When the Israelites bound themselves to the Law of Moses on Mount Sinai, they were obligated to obey it. In obeying, they would be blessed, but in failing they would be cursed. Consequently, most of the blessings and perhaps all of the curses (read "judgments") in the Old Testament arise out of the people's obedience or disobedience to the Law. Under the Old Covenant, the so-called "prosperity theology" was true. If you obey, you would be healthy and prosperous, no one would be poor and none would miscarry. Now, the other side of this was also true; namely, if you disobey, you would die by sword, famine, or plague or by the wild beasts of the earth. And the generations of your children after you would also experience these judgments.

Now, Paul's argument in Galatians is that we are no longer under the Old Covenant Law of Moses. We have been given freedom in Christ. However, some were teaching that Christians, particuarly Gentile Christians, needed to continue to follow the Law of Moses, represented in the epistle in the rite of circumcision. Paul says, if they do this, they were in effect putting themselves under the obligations of the Law, and in so doing also putting themselves under the curse of the Law. And if there is an historically-verified lesson from Israel's experience of the Law in the Old Testament, it was this: They could not keep the Law, and so throughout their history, rather than blessing, they experienced all the curses of the Law. Paul also taught elsewhere (Romans 7) that the Law was not given to show how righteous people could be but just how wicked they actually are. So, he can also write in Galatians 2:16, "For by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified." And again, Paul writes,

Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace (Galatians 5:1-4).

But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain (Galatians 4:9-11).

Friends, why do I spend so much time discussing this matter. It is because today, there are still so many people that have only a piecemeal understanding of the Scriptures. They do not know that the Law of Moses, which includes not only those termed "ceremonial and civil laws" but also the moral laws in the Ten Commandments, are no longer Christian obligations to follow. That does not mean we are lawless, but we have a new "Law of Christ," which largely hinges on the principle of love and is detailed in the apostolic epistles.

This means that when we come to a verse that promises blessing based on the Law of Moses, we won't naively claim the promise for ourselves. Too many Bible teachers, for instance, try to claim a promise like the one found in 2 Chronicles 7:14 ("If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."), which was given in response to Solomon's Temple dedicatory prayer in claiming the covenant promises of God. This is not a promise for America, such that if you pray, God will heal America. As another example consider Malachi 3:8-12, God's blessing upon those that bring in the full tithe. Again, this has no direct application to Christians, because it is a promise connected to the Old Covenant Mosaic Law. Yet, Christians have a deluded notion that if they too tithe, God will bless them richly for doing so. There is no such promise from God for the NT believer, and if there are cases of people who are so blessed, you can bet that there are as many or more cases of people who are not. But you only hear about the former.

A proper understanding of the Law of Moses with respect to the Christian will give a proper perspective to correctly handle Old Testament interpretation. An improper understanding will only result in disillusionment and disappointment.

I pray that we serve the Lord today wholeheartedly from wherever we belong. His love endures forever and today's text shows God's faithfulness to His people. He could easily put an end to the rebellious nation of Israel but He is patient with them and utters His promise through His prophet that His people will be restored again. I fall many times but will never remain fallen because of His faithfulness to the elect just as He was to His chosen people! His love stirs my heart, makes me zealous for new heart and new mind everyday. May His name be glorified forever and ever!