Overcoming Great Sin

Ezekiel 16:62-63
(62) I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the LORD,
(63) 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."

Ezekiel 16 is pretty graphic. He compares Jerusalem to a beautiful girl who is even worse than a prostitute. Jerusalem went after other lovers, but instead of receiving payment for her services like prostitutes she actually gave gifts to her lovers. The overall message is that Jerusalem broke her side of the covenant. But then the chapter finishes with this passage.

What is this covenant? I have a hard time seeing it as any of the covenants made up to this because the tense is future, though in Hebrew you have to be careful about being too dogmatic about that. Still, the rest of the sentence indicates that this is something that will happen in the future. So what does this mean?

It seems to me that this points us forward to Christ, which would fulfill the covenant made to David and to Abraham with a new one. The Lord promises to make a new covenant that will atone for all that they have done, which is plenty. They deserved to be cut off forever.

I don't know about you, but that reminds me of me. I deserved death for my sin. I went hard after my sin. I was at least as bad as Jerusalem with my idolatry. Yet God made a way for atonement for my sins. It's at the cross.

Won't you look to the cross today? There is forgiveness there. The blood of Christ washes away the guilt and shame of sin. Ezekiel 16 describes how Jerusalem was unclean in her blood, but in the New Testament we have:

1 John 1:9
(9) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Oh, how precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow!
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.