There is a great story in Ezekiel 16. God compares His rescue of Israel to the rescue of abandoned newborns. He saves them, nurtures them, feeds, clothes, and adorns them with jewelry. He makes them beautiful, redeems their broken lives and makes them amazing. And what happens? They become proud of their beauty and make a whirlwind of bad choices and destroy everything, until they are humbled by shame and illness and ugliness, and they finally turn to God.
“On the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water, to make you clean… No one looked on you with pity or had compassion enough to do any of these things for you. Rather, you were thrown out into the open field, for on the day you were born you were despised. Then I passed by and saw you kicking about in your blood, and … I said to you, ‘Live!’ I made you grow” Ezekiel 16:4-5
“I dressed you in fine linen and covered you with costly garments. I adorned you with jewelry: I put bracelets on your arms and a necklace around your neck, and I put a ring in your nose, earrings on your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. So you were adorned with gold and silver … You became very beautiful and rose to be a queen” Ezekiel 16:10-13.
Has God ever blessed you this way? Restored you? Rescued you and turned your life into a thing of amazing beauty? How did you respond?
Israel did not respond well.
“But you trusted in your beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute. You lavished your favors on anyone who passed by and your beauty became his … You also took the fine jewelry I gave you, the jewelry made of gold and silver, and you made for yourself male idols and engaged in prostitution with them” Ezekiel 16:15 and 17.
As the story goes on, Israel commits more and more grievous sins. Finally, God pours out His wrath. But then He returns to His covenant:
“Yet, I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed … and you will know that I am the Lord. Then when I make atonement for you for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed” Ezekiel 16:60, 62-63.
Something important happens at the end of the story—the final verse of the chapter. Did you catch it?
God says, “when I make atonement for you for all you have done” 16:63.
There is not even a suggestion that Israel can fix this. The corrupt nation cannot atone for itself. We cannot atone for ourselves. Only God can make atonement for sins. You cannot save yourself, you cannot earn forgiveness, you cannot fix the wreckage of your life. Let God do that!
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