How great an atonement!

Ezekiel 16:62-63
So I will establish my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the 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.’”

Ezekiel 16 is all about Israel's infidelity to their creator, redeemer, provider and protector. They were rescued, restored, refined and renowned by God and yet they played the harlot with foreign gods and foreign nations. Yet, when all is done, God does not respond as one would expect. His final judgment is not based on their infidelities but on His everlasting covenant (v. 60). The path that He takes to restoration is not through their offerings of atonement, but His. Catch that phrase in verse 63, "when I make atonement for you...." Even here in the Old Testament, in prophesies revealed long ago, God's plan was to make atonement for humanity through His Son Jesus Christ. This atonement sets Christianity apart from every other religion. In Christ along has God made atonement for sin. Human acts of atonement are incomplete and ineffective because they are offered through unclean hands and sinful people. Yet Christ in His divinity and perfect holiness was able to offer a complete and effective atonement for not only Israel, but also the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:1-2). How great an atonement!!
God does not expect us to clean ourselves up and atone for our own sin. He has done every work of redemption and only asks us to receive it. What have you done with the lavish love of God that He would redeem you at His expense, that He would pay for your atonement?

Father - Thank you for your great love and atonement. I am so unworthy... yet I am so grateful. Amen.