Ezekiel's prophecy points out something that runs completely counter to what our modern version of Christianity would think. See how God is going to exalt himself? He is going to exalt himself by bringing enemies against his people. He is going to exalt himself by showing his people that they are not able to overcome their enemies. He is going to exalt himself by bringing victory over the enemies of his people, and by gathering his people out of adversity. He does not exalt himself by keeping them from all adversity but rather by delivering them out of adversity. This is the work of the Lord and it is good. This is deliverance, not that we avoid all troubles but that our Lord rescues us from trouble.
For this reason, confession and absolution are central to our life in Christ. Daily we confess that we are sinners. Daily we confess that we are without hope except that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has laid down his life for us. Daily we confess that we cannot earn forgiveness by ourselves. And we daily confess that Christ in his mercy has forgiven us. We daily confess that Christ has given himself, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God. We receive deliverance because we need deliverance. We are rescued from very real sin. We are brought out of very real condemnation into the very real forgiveness of God.
Have we received this forgiveness? Let us then live in hope. Let us rejoice that our Lord has in fact rescued us. Let us confess that we have been gathered from bondage into the freedom given us by our Lord. Let us rejoice that we have received this deliverance from real sin, that we could not deliver ourselves, and that our Lord has done all that is needed for us.
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