GOD’S GREAT GRACE

Your Grace Finds Me by Matt Redman has become one of my favorite songs. Here are some of the lyrics.

It’s there in the newborn cry
There in the light of every sunrise
There in the shadows of life
Your great grace.

It’s there on the mountain top
There in the everyday and the mundane
There in the sorrow and the dancing
Your great grace oh, such grace.

From the creation to the cross
There from the cross into eternity
Your grace finds me.
Your grace finds me.

When you begin meditating on the book of Ezekiel you find that God’s great grace is the true theme of this amazing book. God’s judgment of the people’s detestable acts comes through on a first reading of the book. Here are some of the reasons God judges them.

Judgment for an adulterous heart, chapter 6
Judgment for detestable conduct and practices, chapters 7 & 8
Judgment for failure to grieve and lament for their sin, chapter 9
Judgment for not keeping God’s law, chapter 11
Judgment for heeding false prophets, chapter 13
Judgment for acting like a brazen prostitute, chapter 16
Judgment for hearing but not doing, chapter 33

One of the harshest judgments is found in chapter 4. Here God says he will be against his own people. He will no longer work on their behalf. He will no longer be for them. As a result they will be under siege and scattered.

The second section of the book is found in chapters 25-32. Here Ezekiel brings prophecies against nations that opposed God and the people of God.

There is an undercurrent in all the judgments that gradually rises to the top. By the end of the book it becomes the dominant theme of its message: God’s great grace. You can’t read chapters 34 – 48 without seeing it. I love the last line of the book, “And the name of the city from that time on will be: THE LORD IS THERE.” Here is a beautiful statement of God eternally dwelling with his people. It is a word picture of the new heavens and new earth as well as the New Jerusalem found in Revelation 21 & 22.

My aim in the remainder of the article is to highlight how God’s grace is seen throughout the book of Ezekiel. A good place to start is chapter 11. Here God is pronouncing judgment on his people for not keeping his law. In the midst of this judgment we find these gracious words, “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered. . . I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh”(11:17, 19). Notice that this is what God will do. All the action is based on him and not dependent on anyone else. It is a picture of his great grace.

Chapter 14 is important because here God clearly tells his people how to escape judgment. “Therefore say to the house of Israel, This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Repent! Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices”(14:6). Notice how repentance is defined: turning from and renouncing. Have you turned from and renounced the idols of your heart? God has graciously given you that opportunity.

Chapter 16 is an amazing chapter. Here Jerusalem is pictured as a brazen prostitute. But the chapter concludes with these astonishing words, “So I will establish my covenant with you, and you will know that I am Lord. Then, when I make atonement for you for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your humiliation, declares the Sovereign Lord”(16:62-63). God established the covenant. God atones for their sin. What is left for them to do but stand before him in stunned silence? Isn’t the same thing true of us? It reminds me of 1 Corinthians 1:18-31.

I have given Ezekiel 22 this title: God’s Great Grace. The focus of the chapter is the rebellion of Israel against God. Yet, in verse 44 we find God’s infinite, marvelous grace, “You will know that I am the Lord when I deal with you for my name’s sake and not according to your evil ways and your corrupt practices, O house of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord.” Aren’t you glad God deals with us in grace and not the way our actions deserve? Make this passage personal by inserting your name in the place of “O house of Israel” and then read Romans 3 – 6.

I close with Ezekiel 34:11, “For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search for my sheep and look for them.” Now read John 10:11 where Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Again, God’s great grace.

Your elder,

Jim Gordon