THEME:
Jesus is the unexpected Savior who brings mercy and knowledge of God to those who receive Him as their Lord, Savior, and greatest treasure. People need to understand the depth of mercy and compassion of God and turn their hearts to Him in worship.
KEY SCRIPTURE:
Ezekiel 16
Unexpected Exaltation and Treachery
God’s grace and exultation of Israel and their shocking treachery grieves the heart of God.
Ezekiel 16:1-58 (excerpts)
Unexpected Mercy
Yet: “I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall know I am the LORD.”
Ezekiel 16:59-60
“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 16:62-63
“I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the LORD, that you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I atone for you for all that you have done, declares the Lord GOD.”
Unexpected Messiah
Jesus’ arrival as the unexpected covenant; He is God who can be known as Ezekiel prophesied.
Various unexpected details of Messiah’s arrival
Unexpected Rejection
Jesus, the expected Messiah, revealed Himself to His people, the Jews, and they rejected Him.
John 1:11
“He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.”
Unexpected Revelation
The gospel, through faith, is the revelation of God – is how you can know God.
Romans 1:16-17
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”
Unexpected Mercy for You and Me
Jews rejected the covenant and God (Jesus) who brought it, but you, a Gentile who was even farther from God than even the people Ezekiel described, can receive Him and know Him.
John 1:11-14
“He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”