Shall Surely

...you shall surely die.

 - From Ezekiel 33

Someone said once, probably a comedian, that there are only two sure things in life: Death and taxes.

There may be no more important truth in all of Scripture, than "You shall surely die." God declared it to Adam, which gave rise to the great lie in all of Scripture spoken by the Serpent of Eden: "You shall not surely die."

Thus was formulated the critical dichotomy that established our nature, our problem, and the solution.

God says we die. Satan says we don't.

Is there any other concept in all of Scripture, or all of history, that is so plainly divided: one is true, the other is not. And they cannot both be true. One is said by God. One is said by God's arch-enemy.

And the thing is . . . we know it to be true. Even Science can agree with this Scriptural statement, because we have all been to funerals and we know that we die. We all die. 

And so when God commanded Ezekiel to tell the Hebrews: "You will surely die," it comes out as nothing terribly earth-shattering, for we know that it is painfully true. 

The truth of God becomes something simple, something that we already knew. 

And yet, we need to be reminded of it, over and over again . . .because the lie is so enticing.