Reading… and Thinking

Son of man, if a country sins against me by being unfaithful and I stretch out my hand against it to cut off its food supply and send famine upon it and kill its men and their animals, even if these three men—Noah, Daniel and Job—were in it, they could save only themselves by their righteousness, declares the Sovereign LORD. Or if I send wild beasts through that country and they leave it childless and it becomes desolate so that no one can pass through it because of the beasts, as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, even if these three men were in it, they could not save their own sons or daughters. They alone would be saved, but the land would be desolate.

— Ezekiel 14:13-16 (NIV)

And, Ezekiel goes on, same thing if the punishment is war or plague: these three faithful men would save only their own lives by their righteousness. This statement from the Lord through Ezekiel is, well, it’s kind of strange, isn’t it?

What an honor for these three faithful men to be singled out in this way. But here’s a strange thing: two of them are from the ancient past. Noah is way back in Genesis 6, at least 2,000 years earlier. And Job dates back to at least 1,000 years before Ezekiel, maybe more. But the third man, Daniel, is living right then! Like Ezekiel, he too was a captive from Jerusalem. And, he’s probably just a teenager! Possibly a little older, but not much. What a tribute this is to a faithful young man.

We might well ask why these individuals were chosen. A clue is in the statement “they could save only themselves”. In fact, all three of them had saved others by their righteousness. Noah saved sons and daughters (in-law), which God specifically says here that they couldn’t save in this situation. (Genesis 6: 8,18) Job saved his friends by praying for them, after God condemned them for speaking wrongly about Him. (Job 42:7-9) And Daniel saved all the magicians and enchanters from being put to death, by offering to tell Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. (Daniel 2:12-13,24) So it’s strange that God would say they could only save themselves.

Just what is God saying here through Ezekiel? He says that if He pronounces judgment against a country, and starts executing it, then He will accept no intercession for the wicked, even from a person of great faith. The judgment has been pronounced, it will be carried out.

But (and this is important) He follows up with these verses: “How much worse will it be when I send against Jerusalem my four dreadful judgments—sword and famine and wild beasts and plague—to kill its men and their animals! Yet there will be some survivors—sons and daughters who will be brought out of it.” (verses 21-22) In other words, His just judgments will be carried out on nations that don’t know Him, so how much worse on His own people, who knew Him and yet spurned Him. But—against all expectations, He will leave some survivors, some “sons and daughters”, when He judges Jerusalem. He is saying that He will have greater mercy on this people than they deserve. This too may seem a strange thing, but it results from God’s great mercy.

By that same mercy, He will not deal with us according to what we deserve. We have a righteous advocate, Jesus Christ. Although God could declare that Jesus would only save his own life by his righteousness, by God’s own design Jesus in fact is saving countless undeserving “sons and daughters”.

This should fill us with awe. By all rights, we should perish. But we won’t, if our unrighteousness is washed away from us in baptism, and if we remain close to Jesus. His righteousness covers us—all God sees is the righteousness of Jesus, and so He accepts us. But we better not wander away from that protective covering!