Well, let us turn to this portion
that we've read in Ezekiel 16, directing you to the words that
we have here at verse 8. Ezekiel 16, 8. Now when I passed by them and
looked upon them, behold, thy time was the time of love, and
I spread my skirt over them, and covered thy nakedness, yea,
I swear unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith
the Lord God, and thou becamest mine. It's a remarkable chapter
of Holy Scripture as I said in the reading of it, it's a very
long chapter, we've only read the opening part and those concluding
words at the end of the chapter that I would commend to you the
reading of the chapter all the way through. Now it says before
us the grace of God and that grace is in spite of all the
rebellions and all the sins of his covenant people. Now here
the truth that stands for so plainly in the text is that of
the covenant I swear unto thee, says God, and entered into a
covenant with thee, and thou becamest mine." And we see different
aspects to this covenant clearly. It was the time, the time of
the covenant as we read there in the middle of the verse. Thy
time was the time of La, the time of La. Surely here we are
to think in terms of that fullness of the time when the Lord God
sends forth His only begotten Son into this world to accomplish
that great salvation. What a time of love was that
when the fullness of the time was come. And God sent forth
His Son made of a woman and made under the law. And there have
been Other times throughout the course of the Day of Grace when
the Lord God has been pleased to manifest that great love,
times of gracious awakenings, revivals, the Psalmist says,
Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion for the time to favour
her, yea, the said time is come. All things in that covenant of
God's are ordered And sure, there is a time for all things, as
we're reminded there in the book of Ecclesiastes. There's the
time of the covenant, there is also the promise of the covenant. And not only the promise, but
also the oath. And we see that again here in
this verse. At the end of the verse, God
says, Yea, I swear unto them, I swear unto thee, and entered
into a covenant with thee." Oh, that's covenant. It concerns
not only the promise of God, the word of God, but also the
oath when God made promise to Abraham because he could swear
by no greater. We're told that he swore by himself
and said in blessing, I will bless thee and so forth. And In that sense we know that the
Lord God has established His Word above all His Name. He has
magnified that Word above all His Name as we read in the 138th
Psalm. He cannot break His Word because
that would be a denial of Himself. But more than that of course,
the Covenant is sealed now with the precious blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ There's the time of the covenant, the promise
of the covenant, and then we're also reminded here, surely, of
something of the power that God demonstrates in the covenant. As He says at verse 6, When I
passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto
thee, When thou wast in thy blood, Live! Yea, I said unto thee,
When thou wast in thy blood, Live! is power in that word of
God where the word of a king is we are told there is power
there is a certain certainty with regards to what God says
and we see it at the end don't we in that 62nd verse I will
establish my covenant with thee he says and thou shalt know that
I am the Lord I will says God and thou shalt the power of God's covenant they
shall be my people he says and I will be their God how remarkable
it is and we see it even really in some ways
with regards to what he says concerning that spreading of
the skirt and covering her nakedness it's pictured in a way in what
we're told concerning the authority that went from the prophet Elijah
to Elisha in 1 Kings chapter 19 and there at verse 19 we read
something of it Elijah departed thence we're told and found Elisha
and he's ploughing with twelve oxen and Elijah passed by him
and cast his mantle upon him. And he left the oxen, we're told,
and ran after Elijah. There's something about the mantle,
the covering, and it's brought out even further in what we subsequently
read in the second book of Kings, and there in the second chapter.
where we have the record of the death of Elijah. And what follows is dying. The mantle is taken up there
by Elisha in 2nd Kings chapter 2. Verse 8 we read Elijah took his
mantle wrapped it together, and smoked the waters, and they were
divided thither and thither, so that they too, that is, Elijah
and Elisha, went over on dry ground, and he came to pass.
When they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask
what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And
Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit
be upon mine. And he said, Thou hast asked
a hard thing. Nevertheless, if thou see me
when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto them, but if
not, it shall not be so. And it came to pass, as they
still went on and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot
of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder,
and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it,
and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the
horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more, and he
took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces.
He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and
went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan. And he took the mantle
of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said,
Where is the Lord God of Elijah? And when he also had smitten
the waters, they parted thither and thither, and Elisha went
over. There is something surely significant.
There is an authority associated with that mantle, that covering,
that Elisha takes, as it were, from Elijah, and has the same
authority. And so it is in God's covenant. The covenant is made up of shalls
and wills. None can frustrate that eternal
purpose of the Lord God. Here we have the covenant in
its promise, as well as in its power. But then also, in the
covenant we see that God is the one who takes possession of his
people. At the end of the 8th verse,
thou becamest mine. And when God delivers the children
of Israel out of Egypt, and takes them into the wilderness of Sinai,
and brings them to the mount, what does He say in Exodus 19
verse 4? He brought you, I brought you,
He says, unto myself. Thou becamest mine, I brought
you unto myself they become his own personal possession and of
course it's the same when we come to the gospel the words
of the apostle when he writes to the church at Corinth and
reminds them that they're not their own what know you not that
your body is a temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you which
you have of God and you are not your own for you are bought with
a price therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit
which are God's God takes possession of his people then as he accomplishes
his gracious covenant purpose in the salvation of their souls
and then and this is what I really want to concentrate on tonight
the covering the covering of the covenant that is so significant,
surely, in this particular verse. Now when I passed by thee and
looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love, and
I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness, yea,
I swear unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith
the Lord God, and thou becamest mine. The theme then I want to
take up for a while, a little while, is that of the covering,
the covering, and the significance really of what we have at the
very heart of this particular text. And there are four truths,
four truths that I want to try to set before you. First of all,
what is set forth here is the idea of a spousal and marriage. That's what the Covenant is,
of course. And we've many times said that, of course, a wedding,
a Christian wedding, sets before us that great truth of the Covenant,
the words that The Prophet Malachi addresses to the people who were
forsaking the wives of their youths how the Lord was a witness
against them because they were forsaking the wife of their youth,
the wife of their covenant it says. And so here we have this
idea of a spousal and marriage and we know that when the Lord
God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt and entered into
covenant with them it's spoken of isn't it by Jeremiah in terms
of entering into a marriage relationship in Jeremiah chapter 2 I remember
them the love of thine espousals when they went just after me
in the wilderness Israel was holiness unto the Lord the language
that's being used there in the opening verses of Jeremiah chapter
2 and the significance really of this spreading of the skirts
and covering her nakedness there's an interesting commandment that's
given in Deuteronomy 22.13 where it says a man shall not take
his father's wife a man shall not take his father's wife and
then it follows nor discover his father's skirt. And of course
there are parallel statements. One of the features of the Hebrew
is, certainly in poetical passages, the use of parallels. But we
have parallels here in the commandment. And the one statement helps us
to understand the other statement. A man shall not take his father's
wife. A man shall not discover his
father's skirt. This whole verse, this 8th verse
is clearly speaking to us of marriage and of course we see
it quite remarkably in the history of Ruth and ultimately she is
married to Boaz. Remember what she says to him
there in the 3rd chapter when she recognizes that he is a near
kinsman and she requests that he spread is skirt over her spread
thy skirt over me she says for thou art a near kinsman and it's
the idea of the the kinsman who redeems it's the law again of
Leviticus in Leviticus 25 and verse 25 the man who is the nearest
kin to a brother who has died is that he is to he is to take
care of that A woman is now bereft and widowed. He is to take her,
even as his wife, the duty of the near kinsman. And it's the
same word that's used in that great verse that we have in the
book of Job, I know that my redeemer liveth and that he shall stand
in the latter day upon the earth. And it's the same word, the kinsman. It's the same word that Ruth
employs when she's speaking to Boaz. He's a near kinsman. He's
a near kinsman redeemer. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
that one, of course, who is the bridegroom of the church. And as we see there in the familiar
passage at the end of Ephesians 5, he loves the church and he
gives himself So here we have this covering suggesting to us
the idea of espousal and marriage. But it is a statement that is
really full of meaning. There is not only the idea of
the espousals but also here is set forth the truth of reconciliation. Now when I pass by this and looked
upon thee, behold thy time was the time of laugh, and I spread
my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness." And it's in the
covering of the nakedness that we have the idea of the reconciling. Here we have both ruin on the
one hand and reconciliation on the other hand. we see sin and
salvation. There's the nakedness of sin,
there's the covering of reconciliation. So, just consider that for a
little while. The nakedness of sin. Surely
we're to know something of our own nakedness before God, what
we are. How does the chapter open? Again
the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, cause
Jerusalem to know her abominations. She is to know what she is, as
before God, exposed to God's all-searching eye. Remember what we're told in the
fourth chapter of Hebrews concerning the word of God, how it's quick
and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, and it pierces
to the dividing of son of soul and spirit and joints and marrow
it's a discerner of the thoughts and every attitude of the heart
of men and it says neither is there any creature that is not
manifest in his sight for all things are naked and open to
the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Oh God! God sees
us as we are in all our nakedness and in the covenant we have to
come to a knowledge of just who this God is and it certainly
closes on the note that when we know God we will know something
of ourselves I will establish my covenant with thee and thou
shalt know that I am the Lord that thou mayest remember and
be confounded and never open thy mouth any more because of
thy shame when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou
hast done, saith the Lord God." Oh God shows us what we are in
the light of His Holy Lord of course. That's the ministration
of the Lord, it's that ministration of condemnation. That ministration of death to
the sinner. and seeing ourselves, are we
not those who are then brought to self-loathing really? And
that's what we see later here in the 23rd chapter. Now the
20th chapter I should say. Verse 43 There shall you remember your
ways and all your doings wherein you have been defiled, and ye
shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils
that ye have committed. God will show his people themselves. He does that by means of the
law, but it's not just the law of God. Law and terrors do but
harden all the while they work alone. But that sense of blood,
Lord, pardon, soon dissolves the heart of stone, says the
Lord God. Or they shall look upon me whom
they have pierced, and mourn for him as one mourner for an
only son, and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness
for his firstborn. The nakedness is something that
we have to learn what we are in the sight of God. there is
the covering, and the covering speaks of reconciliation. I spread my skirt over thee,
and covered thy nakedness. And it's interesting, because
in the Old Testament, the Hebrew word, the surrender, reconciliation,
or atonement, that's the word that's usually used of course,
It comes straight out of Tyndale's version. It's one of those words
that the great commentator and martyr coined, atonement. But the word that's translated
that way literally means, or is derived from the verb that
means to cover. To cover. And we see it in the
32nd Psalm. Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputed not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is
no guile. What statements those are there as they all complement
one another. The man's transgression is forgiven,
his sin is covered, he's reconciled now to God, he was in a state
of enmity and alienation. But now there's reconciliation.
And again we have it there in the very last verse of the chapter
where the word pacified appears but it's reconciliation when
I am reconciled toward them for all that thou hast done saith
the Lord God and all of that is so wonderfully set forth in
the typology of the tabernacle when we consider the Holy of
Holies, where was to be kept the Ark of the Covenant and atop
of the Ark the Mercy Set. The Ark containing the tables
of the Old Covenant, the Law, but covered, covered with the
Mercy Set, where the blood of Sprinkling was applied on the
Great Day of Atonement. In the Covenant then there's
reconciliation. In the Covenant there's more
than that. What else is set forth here is that righteousness. It says in verse 10, I clothe
thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badger skin,
and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee
with silk. I spread my skirt over thee,
and covered thine nakedness. Reminds us, this is all to be
understood in the context of espousals and marriage, it reminds
us of that psalm that is called the Song of Loves. Psalm 45. Remember what we what we read
there in that psalm verses 13 and 14 the king's daughter
is all glorious within her clothing is of wrought gold she shall
be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework the virgins are
her companions that follow her shall be brought unto the with
gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought they shall enter
into the king's palace and so forth And in a sense we see the
truth of sanctification and justification. She's all glorious within. Isn't that sanctification? She's
holy. But her clothing is of broad
gold. She comes to the King in Rome and to Middle-earth. It's justification. She's clothed
with a righteousness that is not her own. Justification is the great comforting
truth, is it not? Righteousness within the rooted
may appear to take thy part, but let righteousness imputed
be the breastplate of thy heart, says Joseph, heart in the hip.
Oh, there is a righteousness which is not her own, that that
the apostle so delights in, not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. What does the Lord God say here
at verse 14? He speaks of my comeliness which
I had put upon her. His comeliness becomes her comeliness. The wonder of what God has done
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He was made sin for us, that
we might be made the righteousness of God. In Him, there's the blessed
exchange. He has taken all that sin, all
our sin to Himself, made sin for us, bearing that punishment
that was our desert, and we made the righteousness of God in Him. This is His name. whereby he
shall be called the Lord our righteousness. And as his name
is the Lord our righteousness, so too her name. You compare
Jeremiah 23.6 and Jeremiah 33.16. This is the name wherewith she
shall be called the Lord our righteousness. And so we see
clearly here in this covering of the of the covenant, the idea
of espousal and marriage, and the idea of reconciliation with
God, and righteousness, and also, fourthly, we see protection. And we see that with Ruth, that
lovely little book of Ruth. What does Boaz say to Ruth? The
Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of
the Lord God of Israel, under whose wing thou art come to trust. She is under the wing of God
himself. Spread therefore thy skirt over
thine handmaid, she says to Boaz. And he's a type of the Lord Jesus,
for thou art a near kinsman. the wonder of it, the fullness
of gospel blessings that we see in this new covenant that this
chapter is so full of really through the great abominations
of Jerusalem and Israel and yet the wondrous majesty of the grace
of God in his provision for such a wicked people who were full
of spiritual idolatry. Now when I passed by thee, and
looked upon thee, behold, thy time was a time of love. And
I spread my skirt over thee, and I covered thy nakedness.
Yea, I swear unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith
the Lord God. And thou became as mine. May the Lord bless these few
thoughts. and the Lord grant that we might
know the accomplishment of his truth in our own hearts. We're going to sing a hymn. We don't sing it very often.
I don't know if you've ever sung it before actually. 1040. It's
clearly based on this chapter. 1040, the tune 699, you know. When we lay in sin, polluted, Wretched and undone we were,
all we saw and heard was suited only to produce despair. Ours
appeared a hopeless case, such it had been but for grace. meaning what no hand could give. Then the Lord, who's praise be
endless, calls me forth and bid us stand. His force helping to Christ was Christ indeed. Christ
was Christ indeed. Christ was Christ indeed. Christ was Christ indeed. Christ was Christ indeed. Christ
was Christ indeed. Christ was Christ indeed. Christ was Christ indeed. Christ was Christ indeed. Christ
was Christ indeed. Christ was Christ indeed. Christ was Christ indeed. Christ was Christ indeed. Christ was
Christ indeed. Christ was Christ indeed. Christ was Christ indeed. Christ was Christ indeed. Christ
was Christ indeed. Christ was Christ indeed. Christ was Christ indeed. Christ was Christ
indeed. Christ was Christ indeed. Christ was Christ indeed. Christ was Christ indeed. Christ was
Christ indeed. Christ was Christ indeed. Christ was Christ indeed. Christ was Christ indeed. Christ was
Christ indeed. Christ was Christ indeed. Christ was Christ indeed. Christ was Christ indeed. Christ was
Christ indeed. Christ was Christ indeed. Christ was Christ indeed. Christ was Christ indeed. Christ was
Christ indeed. Christ was Christ indeed. Christ was Christ indeed. Christ was Christ indeed. Christ
was Christ indeed. Christ was Christ indeed. Christ was Christ indeed. Christ was Christ indeed. Christ
was Christ indeed He's just displeasure and determined to forgive But
he chose a hopeless case with a view to show his grace