Ezek 18:32   For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD . Repent and live!

  

I find this one of the most encouraging verses in the Bible. There are those, normally ignorant, Bible critics and critics of God who talk about the harsh God of the Old Testament, to which I reply, “You really haven't read much of it have you?” Yes, God does bring judgement and yes, God did help Israel defeat their enemies and yes, that did frequently mean killing many of them, but all of those times were either times where the Lord had warned again and again, or the enemy were coming to destroy Israel and the killing was purely a defensive measure. No, the truth is that God would much rather have alive followers than dead antagonists!

 

The unpleasant truth is that God does terminate lives but it is never without warning and it is only the ultimate step because there has been outright refusal to repent. Repentance is the key to life. We all of us deserve to die but because God doesn't rejoice over our deaths, He has sent Jesus to die in our place and we appropriate his work on the Cross through repentance.

 

Whenever we have blown it, the way back to God is through repentance – saying sorry and forsaking your sin. As soon as we do that the work of the Cross applies and we are forgiven. If we are living open, righteous lives, saying sorry when we have blown it, then we never need fear a judgment of death. Life is ours.