Saved by His righteousness

Ezekiel 14:12-23 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ¹³ “Son of man, if a country sins against Me by being unfaithful, and I stretch out My hand against it, destroy its supply of bread, send famine against it, and eliminate from it both human and animal life, ¹⁴ even though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job were in its midst, by their own righteousness they could only save themselves,” declares the Lord God. ¹⁵ “If I were to cause vicious animals to pass through the land and they depopulated it, and it became desolate so that no one would pass through it because of the animals, ¹⁶ though these three men were in its midst, as I live,” declares the Lord God, “they could not save either their sons or their daughters. They alone would be saved, but the country would be desolate. ¹⁷ Or if I were to bring a sword on that country and say, ‘A sword is to pass through the country,’ and I eliminated human and animal life from it, ¹⁸ even though these three men were in its midst, as I live,” declares the Lord God, “they could not save either their sons or their daughters, but they alone would be saved. ¹⁹ Or if I were to send a plague against that country and pour out My wrath on it in blood to eliminate man and animal from it, ²⁰ even though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in its midst, as I live,” declares the Lord God, “they could not save either their son or their daughter. They would save only themselves by their righteousness.”

²¹ For this is what the Lord God says: “How much more when I send My four severe judgments against Jerusalem: sword, famine, vicious animals, and plague to eliminate human and animal life from it! ²² Yet, behold, survivors will be left in it who will be brought out, both sons and daughters. Behold, they are going to come out to you, and you will see their conduct and actions; then you will be comforted for the disaster which I have brought against Jerusalem for everything which I have brought upon it. ²³ Then they will comfort you when you see their conduct and actions, for you will know that I have not done without reason whatever I did to it,” declares the Lord God.

Today’s text says: Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Son of man, if a country sins against Me by being unfaithful, and I stretch out My hand against it, destroy its supply of bread, send famine against it, and eliminate from it both human and animal life, even though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job were in its midst, by their own righteousness they could only save themselves,” declares the Lord God. What of our country then? What should we expect since we have been unfaithful and sinned against God? We have removed Him from our government, our schools and our public places. Why should we not expect the same judgment that God has declared against other cities and nations? Should we presume on God’s mercy and grace, when He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for their evil and unrighteousness?  The text says: “As I live,” declares the Lord God, “they could not save either their sons or their daughters, but they alone would be saved. Or if I were to send a plague against that country and pour out My wrath on it in blood to eliminate man and animal from it, even though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in its midst, as I live,” declares the Lord God, “they could not save either their son or their daughter. They would save only themselves by their righteousness.” 

The good news though is that God continues saying: “How much more when I send My four severe judgments against Jerusalem: sword, famine, vicious animals, and plague to eliminate human and animal life from it! Yet, behold, survivors will be left in it who will be brought out, both sons and daughters. Behold, they are going to come out to you, and you will see their conduct and actions; then you will be comforted for the disaster which I have brought against Jerusalem for everything which I have brought upon it. Then they will comfort you when you see their conduct and actions, for you will know that I have not done without reason whatever I did to it,” Romans 8:28-29 says: God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.  God isn’t the cause of the evil and darkness that exists in our culture and society. He is not responsible for the violence that we see in our cities, our neighborhoods and our schools. In Genesis 1:1-3 it says: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was a formless and desolate emptiness, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. The word that is translated as formless and desolate emptiness is the Hebrew word Tohu wa-bohu, it could also be translated as chaos. Without the presence of God and the power of His word, the order of the world will spiral into increasing chaos. God will cause the chaos in the world to work for the good of those who love Him, causing them to choose good over evil.

We cannot be saved by the righteousness of Noah, Daniel, and Job, or any others who live among us. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says: He made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Our salvation is in Christ alone and God wants us to be conformed to His image, to choose God’s order and His light over the chaos and darkness of the world. John 3:16 says: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.”  Verses 17-21 tell us what is the result and the evidence of our believing: “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him. The one who believes in Him is not judged; the one who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light; for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light, so that his deeds will not be exposed. But the one who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds will be revealed as having been performed in God.”

Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ our Savior and precious Holy Spirit. I choose light over darkness, good over evil; I choose to believe in Christ. Amen.