“For thus says the Lord God, I will deal with you as you have done you who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant. Yet I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish for you an everlasting covenant.”
– Ezekiel 16:59–60
Oh, what a picture here in Ezekiel 16 of God’s patient, faithful, steadfast, everlasting love.
God is saying to his people as a whole, “You have sinned against me and I will deal with you as you have done. You have despised the oath in breaking the covenant. You have been unfaithful to me. And you have turned aside and worshiped all kinds of gods and idols in this world, and you deserve judgment and consequences for your sin.”
Ezekiel 16:59–60 Points Us to the Gospel
Yet Ezekiel 16:60 says, “Yet,” in other words, that’s not the end of the story, “Yet I will remember my covenant with you.” In other words, I am a faithful God. In other words, I will be true to my promises to you and I will establish for you an everlasting covenant. He will make a way for sinners who trust in him, despite their sin to be reconciled to him, to experience an everlasting, never-ending relationship with him.
This is the gospel. This is the greatest news in the world. You and I have sinned against God. We deserve judgment from God, eternal everlasting judgment from God, and God loves us and is made a way through faith in Jesus, through trust in who Jesus is, through trust in God’s love for us. It would lead him to send his son to die on a cross, to pay the price for our sins, to rise from the grave, so that anyone who trusts in Jesus can be forgiven of all their sin, can be reconciled, restored to relationship with God and experience everlasting a life and relationship with him.
Called to Trust Jesus with Our Life
Now, if you’ve never believed in this gospel, trusted in Jesus with your life, I encourage you to do that today. For all who have, I encourage you today to thank God all over again for the gospel, for his everlasting covenant, for his love, for you and for me despite our sin. Let’s resolve to make this good news known in our lives today, to share this with somebody today and to make this good news known to the ends of the earth.
God, we praise you for the gospel. We praise you for your love, Lord God, that though we deserve eternal everlasting, never-ending judgment for our sin, God, we deserve to be in hell right now. Yet, God, we praise you for that yet, yet you love us and you’ve sent your son Jesus to die across for us, to rise from the dead and for victory over sin and the grave and Satan, so that we could be forgiven of our sin and reconciled restorative relationship with you.
Ezekiel 16:59–60 Leads Us to Praise God for the Gospel
God, we praise you for this reality. We praise you for the gospel, for this good news and we pray, help us to live as sinners saved by your grace, free from sin, enjoying life in you to the full, following you to the full, and God, help us to share this good news with somebody else today. God, help us to share the gospel today with somebody in our path. We pray that you’d help us to share this good news to the ends of the earth, to all the peoples of the world.
God, we pray for the Tharu people of Nepal, 1.7 million of them, a Hindu people group, no known followers of Jesus among them. We pray that the Tharu people would know your love for them. God, that somebody would go to them. You would send out laborers into the harvest field. That the Tharu people might be reached with the gospel, with your grace, with the good news of your everlasting love.
Praying for Billions of People Around the World
God, we pray for that for billions of people in the world, who don’t know it right now. May they know this yet, this good news that even though they have sinned against you and worshiped all kinds of other gods. Yet you love them, and yet, you’ve made a way for them to be reconciled to you. We praise you for this gospel. We pray that you help us to live according to it. And to give our lives spreading it, until all people have heard it. In Jesus’ name, we pray according to Ezekiel 16:59–60. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
