Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast:
The verse pictures the Lord sending pestilence into a land and pouring out fury upon it in blood, so as to cut off from it both man and beast. It stands within the wider warning of Ezekiel 14:14-20 concerning a time of severe judgment and anguish. In that judgment, even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were present in the land, they would deliver only themselves and could save no other person, not even son or daughter.
The righteousness by which they would deliver only their own souls is the imputed righteousness of Christ. Each person must therefore stand alone before God by his own righteousness and answer for himself, and the righteous can deliver only their own lives. No one can save another soul even by giving his own life, for each stands between life and death upon his own choice to die to self and serve the Lord. The coming crisis will require every person to stand alone in just this way.
The verse pictures the Lord sending pestilence into a land and pouring out fury upon it in blood, so as to cut off from it both man and beast. It stands within the wider warning of Ezekiel 14:14-20 concerning a time of severe judgment and anguish. In that judgment, even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were present in the land, they would deliver only themselves and could save no other person, not even son or daughter.
The righteousness by which they would deliver only their own souls is the imputed righteousness of Christ. Each person must therefore stand alone before God by his own righteousness and answer for himself, and the righteous can deliver only their own lives. No one can save another soul even by giving his own life, for each stands between life and death upon his own choice to die to self and serve the Lord. The coming crisis will require every person to stand alone in just this way.