No One Can Save Us!

Ezekiel 14:12-16:41; Psalm 106:1-12; Proverbs 27:4-6

Noah was the man through whom God saved enough humans and animals to repopulate the earth after the world-wide flood of judgment. Daniel was the man through whom God saved all the Babylonian magicians when the king was ready to kill them all. Job was the man who endured Satan’s attacks and through whom God saved the friends who had come to comfort him, but who had instead attacked Job and spoken falsely about God. Now hear what God led Ezekiel to write:

The word of the LORD came to me: "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.

"Or if I bring a sword against that country and say, `Let the sword pass throughout the land,' and I kill its men and their animals, 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.

"Or if I send a plague into that land and pour out my wrath upon it through bloodshed, killing its men and their animals, as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, even if Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, they could save neither son nor daughter. They would save only themselves by their righteousness. – Ezekiel 14:12-20

The most righteous of men cannot save us from God’s wrath.

But God Himself wants to save sinners. And so He sent His divine Son, Jesus Christ—fully God—to earth. Jesus Christ came and lived among us—fully human—living a sinless life that far surpassed the righteousness of Noah, Daniel and Job. And Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. Then Jesus rose from the dead, proving that He is the Lord God, the only sinless man, the perfect one that death can’t keep hold of. And He lives to make peace between God the Father and us. What Noah, Daniel and Job could not do by their righteousness, Jesus did by His righteousness: He saved not just a few others, but all who will come to Him and confess that He is the Lord God Almighty and confess their sins and seek His merciful forgiveness. There is no way to the Father except through Jesus.

Father, may many put their faith in Jesus Christ today. And may those who already hope in Him find their faith renewed, their peace assured, and their service empowered.