Scripture Daily

Context No. 3821 of 4322 · Ezekiel

Context · Reflection

Ezekiel 14:12-16: in context

12The LORD’s word came to me, saying, 13“Son of man, when a land sins against me by committing a trespass, and I stretch out my hand on it, and break the staff of its bread and send famine on it, and cut off from it man and animal— 14though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver only their own souls by their righteousness,” says the Lord GOD. 15“If I cause evil animals to pass through the land, and they ravage it and it is made desolate, so that no man may pass through because of the animals— 16though these three men were in it, as I live,” says the Lord GOD, “they would deliver neither sons nor daughters. They only would be delivered, but the land would be desolate.

God gives a solemn word about the limits of borrowed righteousness. If a land sins grievously and comes under judgment, he says, then even if three renowned righteous men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would save only their own lives by their righteousness; they could not deliver even their sons or daughters.

This is a sobering truth. Righteousness is finally personal; we cannot lean on someone else's faith or goodness to stand in for our own before God. The piety of a parent, a spouse, a friend, however great, cannot be transferred to cover us; each person stands before God on their own account. No one can ride into God's favor on another's coattails. And yet this very truth points to our need for something more. If even Noah, Daniel, and Job could save only themselves, then we need a righteousness that can actually be given to others, and that is precisely what God has provided in Christ, whose righteousness, unlike theirs, is credited to all who trust him.

Am I resting on my own personal faith and God's gift of righteousness in Christ, rather than presuming that someone else's goodness can stand in for mine before God?

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