Ezekiel 17-18
Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord GOD. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live.
Ezekiel 18:30-32
If all we hear from the prophets is “doom and gloom”, if all we see is an angry, vengeful God, if all we come away with is condemnation, then we are missing the point completely. Yes, it is true that the prophets speak a lot about God’s wrath. Yes, it is true that the prophets proclaim a tremendous amount of unpleasantness to the unrepentant. But no, God does not delight in these things. His desire is for His people to live, to escape His wrath; otherwise, He would not bother sending prophet after prophet to warn them time and again, pleading with them to repent. It is sin that destroys us, and that is what God hates. The trouble is not that God “has it out for” people. It is that He has it out for sin, but people cling to sin.
For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live!