Let us turn to the portion of
scripture we were reading in Ezekiel chapter 16 and drawing
your attention this morning to the words that we find here at
verse 8. Ezekiel 16, 8. 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." Considering then these words,
and we see quite clearly it was very much the Lord's time to
favour His people As it says there, at the beginning of the
verse, Behold, thy time was the time of love. God set his love
upon these people not because they were more numerous than
any other people, but because the Lord had a delight in them. We know from the Psalms that
there is that time that God has set to favour Zion. Psalm 102 verse 13, Thou shalt
arise and have mercy upon Zion. It says, For the time to favour
her, yea, the said time is come. Again, the preacher tells us
in Ecclesiastes that all our times are in the hands of God. But that great time is what God
has appointed for the salvation of His people. And that salvation,
of course, that centers in the person of His only begotten Son. When the fullness of the time
was come, God sent forth His Son, we're told, made of a woman,
made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law,
that they might receive the adoption of sons. God's purpose in God
has a purpose to fulfill. All our times are in the hands
of God and we see how that purpose and power is very much unfolded
in terms of the outworking of his eternal covenant. Here at
verse 6 It says, 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! Well, this is the language of
that God who is sovereign in all His works, who accomplishes
His goodwill and pleasure. What do we relate in this long
chapter there in verse 62 he says I will establish my covenant
with and thou shalt know that I am the Lord and observe the
language that he uses he says I will and thou shalt that is
covenantal language and in that covenant of course we have not
only the promises of God. But we know
that all those promises have been confirmed by the oath of
God. Because when he made his promise
to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, we're told
he swore by himself, saying, blessing I will bless or how
God, as it were, states His own being upon the performance of
the covenant. And that's what we have here
in the text. I swear unto thee, it says, and entered into a covenant
with thee, and thou becamest mine. And as we come to consider
these words here in verse 8 for a little while this morning,
I want to take up the theme of the provision that God makes
in the Covenant. The provision that God makes. His purpose being fulfilled,
His power being demonstrated as He executes that work that
really He had purposed from the time of eternity before ever
the worlds were made. The provision then of the covenant. 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. And as we think of the
provision I want to deal with some four aspects, four headings
really, with regards to what God has provided for his people
in terms of this covenant. And first of all here, we have
the language of espousal, the language of love. The covenant
that he's spoken of very much speaks of espousal, even marriage. God says Behold, thy time was
a time of love, and I spread my skirt over thee." God has loved his people from
all eternity. There is an eternal union with
him in terms of that covenant that was entered into before
the foundation of the world, that inter-trinitarian covenant
involving all the persons in the Godhead, But there, the eternal
Son of God willingly becomes the Lord's servant, and the great
God commits to His Son a people to be redeemed in the fullness
of the time. And so there is an eternal union
between the Lord Jesus Christ and those who were given to Him
in that covenant, behold I and the children which God hath given
me, he says but that eternal union must be made something
real in time, in the fullness of the time there must also be
an experience of that blessed union when the eternal union
as it were becomes an experimental union and We see it all in type, in the
way in which the Lord God deals with the children of Israel here
in the Old Testament. If we go back to the words of
Jeremiah chapter 2 and verse 2, where again, the prophet is
commanded to go and speak to Jerusalem, just as we have here
in this 16th chapter of Ezekiel. The word that comes to the Prophet,
Son of Man, caused Jerusalem to know her abominations. Well,
back there in Jeremy chapter 2 and verse 2, the Lord God gives
a similar instruction to Jeremiah. Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem
and say, I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth. the love
of thine espousals when they went just after me in the wilderness
Israel was holiness to the Lord well God is speaking you see
of that time when he began to manifest his great favor towards
that people that typical people that Israel that is a type of
the true spiritual Israel of God they were bidden then by
the Prophet to remember those days. And in a sense it's the
same truth that we have here in these opening verses of this
16th chapter in Ezekiel. And as I said, it's the language
of love, it's the language really of a marriage union that he's
being entered into. Behold thy time was the time
of love, it says, and I spread my skirt over This interesting figure that
we have, the spreading of the skirt, we see it mentioned back in the
Lord in Deuteronomy 22 and verse 30. It says, A man shall not
take his father's wife, nor discover his father's skirt. And those
are parallel statements. There again we have the mention
of the skirt, and it has to do with the the man, as it were,
taking the woman to be his wife, making her his peculiar care. A man shall not take his father's
wife, nor discover his father's skirt." It's a relationship that
is clearly forbidden there. And we see the consequence where
there is the transgression of that law, even in the New Testament,
in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, where one in that church had taken
his father's wife, it wasn't his own mother necessarily, he's
not saying that at all, but he was taking this woman who had
become the wife of his father for himself, and it was forbidden,
it wasn't even mentioned, it says, amongst the heathen, such
a sin. But this spreading of the skirt
is a thing that we're interested in, in particular. And of course,
we see the significance of it in the book of Ruth, where Ruth,
a Moabitish damsel, has come back with Naomi, and Naomi has
lost her husband, she's lost her son, she's lost everything.
She's simply left with this faithful woman, Ruth, who will cling and
cleave to Naomi. And Boaz is the near kinsman. And remember the request that
Ruth makes to Boaz. Spread thy skirt over me, she
says there in chapter 3, for thou art a near kinsman. And she's appealing really again
to the Old Testament law, the law that we have in Leviticus
chapter 25 and verse 25. And what do we read in that particular
verse? Well, it says, If thy brother
hath waxen poor, and hath sold away some of his possession,
and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem
that which his brother sold. There's the law that belongs
unto the person who is the near kinsman to the one who apparently
has lost all his inheritance because he has come into poverty. and it's that particular law
that is so significant in the book of Ruth and we see it when
we come to the end of that book there in the final fourth chapter
the way in which it is Boaz who takes on that responsibility
though there was a kinsman who was of a nearer relationship
Yet it is Boaz who stands forward because the other man refuses
to take on that responsibility of the kinsman-redeemer. In Ruth
4, verse 3, Boaz says unto the kinsman, Naomi that is come again
out of the country of Moab, Salath, a parcel of land which was our
brother Elimelech's. And I thought to advertise thee,
saying, Buy it before the inhabitants, and before the elders of my people.
If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it. But if thou wilt not redeem
it, then tell me, that I may know. For there is none to redeem
it besides thee, and I am after thee. And he said, I will redeem
it. Then said Boaz, What day thou
buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also
of Ruth, the mother by Tess, the wife of the dead. to raise
up the name of the dead upon his inheritance. But then that
nearer kinsman refuses. I cannot redeem it, he says,
lest I mar my own inheritance. And so it's Boaz who comes forth
and does the very thing that Ruth herself had requested back
in chapter 3 and verse 9, spread my skirt over for thou art a
near kinsman. This is what the spreading of
the skirt is indicative of then. It's a man taking a woman to
be his own, to be his wife. It is very much the language
of a spousal that we have here in our text. Behold thy time
was the time of love, says the Lord God to Israel, and I spread
my skirt over them. and what we have there in Ruth
the kinsman redeeming that inheritance directs us so clearly to the
Lord Jesus Christ even in the language that we find in the
book of Job that great text Job 19.25 he says I know that my
Redeemer liveth and he shall stand upon the earth in the latter
day And the word that we have there, my Redeemer, is my kinsman. My kinsman Redeemer. Directing
us again to the activities of Boaz and all that he did for
Naomi and especially for Ruth. And all of this directing us,
in type as it were, to God and the care, the kindness that God
shows towards his people, the language of the covenant. What
is the language of the covenant? We can think of a covenant in
terms of marriage where a man and a woman come together and
exchange solemn vows and promises. And in a Christian marriage I
do that of course in the very presence of God. Solemn words. It's a covenant that's being
entered into. And we see it in the Old Testament, at the end
of the Old Testament there in the book of the prophet Malachi
in chapter 2 and verse 4 as God, through his servant, is rebuking
the people because they are despising the wives of their youth. And
he speaks there in Malachi 2.14 of the wife of thy covenant. And remember how all of this
is taken up so clearly in the New Testament. when Paul is writing
there in that familiar fifth chapter of the epistle to the
Ephesians, where he speaks of relationships. And at the end
he speaks of that most intimate of all human relationships, of
a man and his wife. And what does Paul say as he
brings those things to a conclusion? Ephesians 5.31, for this cause
he says, Shall a man leave his father and mother and shall be
joined unto his wife, and they too shall be one flesh." And
then he adds this, this is a great mystery, but I speak concerning
Christ and the Church. And so the marriage union, what
we have here in the way of a spousal, ultimately speaks of the relationship
that the Lord has with his people. In the Old Testament Israel was
Jehovah's wife. In the New Testament the church
is the bride of Christ. And so it is the idea of espousal
and marriage that is so clearly set forth here in the words of
the text this morning. 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 then in what follows, of
course, we see how that Israel was guilty of the most awful
of sins, whoredoms. And how the language is so pointed. Verse 15, But thou didst trust
in thine own beauty, and play as the harlot because of thy
renown, and pourest out thy fornications on every one that passed by. His it was. Oh, instead of looking to the
Lord God himself, they looked to the nations. They entered
into confederation with those heathen nations round about them.
They wanted to follow the ways and the practices of those wicked
nations who knew not God. Verse 28, Thou hast played the
whore also with the Assyrians, because thou wast insatiable. Yea, thou hast played the harlot
with them, and yet couldst not be satisfied. Thou hast moreover
multiplied thy fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea,
and yet thou wast not satisfied herewith. How weak is thine heart,
saith the Lord God! seeing thou doest all these things,
the work of an imperious, whorish woman." All their sins were great. The Lord had taken them to Himself.
He'd made them His people. He'd married Himself to them.
He'd done everything for them. The first great truth that we
see then with regard to the language of the text is that of the covenant,
and espousals, and love, and marriage. But there are other
things here. What did God do for them? Well,
we have the idea also here of them being reconciled to God.
Look at the words of the text. I spread my skirt over thee,
it says, and covered thy nakedness. It was what God did. He covered
their nakedness. And When we think of that, we
have the idea of their ruined states, and yet the way in which
God reconciles them to himself, we have the idea of their sin
and that salvation that God makes for them. Nakedness is spoken
of. The pollution of sin. Isn't this
the message that the Prophet is to take to the people and
Jerusalem is to come to a knowledge of. In verse 2, Son of Man calls
Jerusalem to know her abominations. That is the purpose of what is
being said in this particular chapter. They've got to know
something of their sinnership. And from whence does that knowledge
come out? Can any sinner come to any understanding
of what he is as a sinner before a holy God? Well, the knowledge
of sin comes from the knowledge of God Himself. Again, look at
what we have at the end of the chapter. God says at verse 62,
"...I will establish my covenant with thee, and thou shalt know
that I am the Lord's." 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." So how is this knowledge then obtained? It's
as God makes himself known. And they have to see something
of the character of God, something of the holy attributes of God. That he is that one who is a
just God, one who cannot wink at sin, one who can by no means
clear the guilty, they have to come to an awareness then of
their sad condition as those who are the transgressors, the
breakers of God's law. All that law of God, it is holy,
and the commandment is holy, it's just, it's good. But what
is the ministration of the law? Is it not to make the sinner
see and feel what he is? the language of Romans 3.19,
what thing soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under
the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world
become guilty before God. Every mouth is to be stopped.
Isn't that what we have there at the end of the chapter? Never
open thy mouth any more, it says, because of thy shame. or by the deeds of the law shall no
flesh be justified in thy sight. By the law, Paul says, is the
knowledge of sin. Here we have them then, they
are to be made to feel what they really are. They are to come
to that where they really see themselves and love themselves.
in their sins. And we see it in the following
chapters as the prophet is faithfully ministering the Word of God to
the children of Israel. It's a time, of course, of judgment
for them. He's ministering at the time
of the actual captivity. He's ministering to those who
are going to be taken far away into exile in Babylon. And what
does he say in Chapter 20 and verse 43, There shall ye remember
your ways, and all your doings wherein ye have been defiled,
and ye shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your
evils that ye have committed. And then we have it again, later
in Chapter 36 and verse 31, and the language is very similar,
to what we just read there in chapter 36, 31? Then shall ye
remember your own evil ways and your doings that were not good,
and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities
and for your abominations. Oh, they must see then the nakedness
of their sin, the pollutions that have come by their sins. But then, when God deals with
His people in that fashion under the Law and makes them to abhor
themselves, then He comes with the Gospel. Oh, the Law has no message of
salvation, no message of the forgiveness of sins. The Law
is administration of condemnation. that ministration of death, only
death. We sing those words sometimes,
Lord, and telleth do but harden all the while they work alone,
but a sense of blood would pardon. Soon dissolves the heart of stone. Oh, it's the gospel. It's the
language that we have there in Zechariah 12. They shall look
upon me whom they have peeled. and mourn for him as one mourneth
for an only son, and shall be in bitterness for him as one
that is in bitterness for his firstborn. Oh, this is the knowledge
of them. They must come to see what their
sin is in the light of the law, but then comes the gospel. That
in the sufferings of Christ, in all that Christ endured for
sinners, there is a sinner's only home. There alone is life
eternal, to know Thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom
Thou hast sent." Well, they have to understand then what their
nakedness is, what their sin is, how polluted they are. I spread my skirt over these
sins and covered Thy nakedness. But also, considering these words
in the middle of the verse the covering this covering the word
that is used also suggests the idea of them being reconciled
to God or the idea of atonement in the Old Testament we have
that word atonement of course many times and I'm sure you're
aware, it's one of those words that was coined by the great
Bible translator and martyr William Tyndale when he was working on
the translation of the Word of God. Principally he worked on
the New Testament, then came Coverdale and completed the work
in the Old Testament. And we have the authorized version, which
is probably 80-90% taken from Tindale's version. But he coins
that word, atonement. And that's the way in which he
really translates this word that we have here in the text, covered,
and covered by nakedness. We We see it quite clearly in
the 32nd Psalm. And there in the opening words
of that psalm, Blessed is he, it says, 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. Now there in the opening words,
the opening verse of that psalm, We have those parallel statements.
Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven. The forgiveness
of sins. Whose sin is covered. Or whose sin is atoned. To use Tyndale's word, whose
sin is atoned. the word is used again here at
the end of the book or the end of the chapter I should say in
verse 63 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 and there the word
pacified is used See, these words that we have in the Old Testament
Scriptures, in the Hebrew, they're so rich, so pregnant in meaning,
there's not really one English word that is a suitable translation,
so we find that different words are used by the translators.
But again, that word pacified is the word reconciled, and it
has the idea of the sin being covered. And because the sin
is covered, the sin is gone. The sin is no more. That's what the forgiveness of
sins is, isn't it? God removing the transgressions
of his people, it says, as far as the East is from the West.
Well, that's infinite. North and South, we know, are
fixed points on the compass. but there's no fixed point when
you travel in an easterly direction you just keep traveling always
in that same direction forever and forever and forever or if
you travel in a westerly direction it's a sign they're not fixed
points and so sin removed as far as the east is from the west
is something immeasurable it's gone the sin is gone it's buried
in the depths of the sea is another figure But it's interesting when
we think of the tabernacle and the worship of God and that worship
of course so much centers in the Holy of Holies where was
the mercy seat. There was the Ark containing
the two tables of the Law the Ark of the Covenant. The Covenant
expressed of course in the Ten Commandments and that chest,
that Ark which contained the two tables of the Law was covered
by the Mercy Seat. And you have the detail with
regards to the making. The Ark and the Mercy Seat were
to be made in Exodus chapter 25. And the Mercy Seat is really the
covering over the Ark. that covering that hides, as
it were, the Ten Commandments which are sitting there in the
Ark. And if you turn to Exodus 25 you'll see there in verses
10 and 17 that the measurement is exact. The mercy seat completely covers
the Ark of the Covenant. It's that idea of covering. The
The commandments are out of sight. Now are they gone? They're covered
by the mercies of God. Well, this is the imagery that
we have, you see. When God speaks of covering the
nakedness of His people, He's a God who has provided an atoning
sacrifice. Their sins are now hidden away. They're gone forever. I spread
my skirt over thee, it says, and covered thy nakedness." Oh, there's a spousal. It's a
time of love. It's entering now into that experience
of the covenant. There was an eternal union, but
there must be an experimental union. God will make that salvation
real to these people. and their sins will be taken
away, their sins will be covered, but then also there's that provision
of righteousness. And we see that in all that follows. What does God say? Verse 9 he
speaks of washing with water. truly washing away the blood,
anointing with oil. Verse 10, I clothed thee also
with broidered work, and shoved thee with badger skin. I girded
thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. So what does this speak of? Does
it not remind us that God has also provided clothing for His
people? This is the bride. There's been
a disposal, but now how is the bride to be clothed? Why the
Lord God Himself makes that provision? Remember Psalm 45. And Psalm
45 bears that title of Psalm of Loves. It's a Psalm of Loves. And what do we read? verse 13 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 her
companions that follow her shall be brought unto her oh it's the
bride you see and here is the bride's comeliness we have it
again here back in Ezekiel 63 speaks of her beauty thy renown
went forth among the heathen for thy beauty for it was perfect
how was it perfect through my comeliness which I had put upon
thee says the Lord God my comeliness which I had put upon thee oh
it's the marriage supper of the Lamb that we read of at the end
of Scripture in Revelation 19. And to her was granted that she
should be arrayed, it says in fine linen, clean and white. And that fine linen is the righteousness
of saints. There's not just the covering
of the sin as it were, but there's also the robe of righteousness.
Does she not In that marriage, now go under the name of him
who is her husband. And who is that one? Why, his
name shall be called the Lord our righteousness, we're told.
Jeremiah 23, 6. This is the name whereby he shall
be called the Lord our righteousness. And then, just 10 chapters later,
Jeremiah 33, 16, this is the name wherewith she shall be called,
the Lord our righteousness. His righteousness becomes her
righteousness. And this is that great work of
Christ, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make
reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness. Or 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. Oh, what a provision! There's
the marriage, Now there's the forgiveness of
sin, reconciliation, atonement, righteousness and there's also
protection. There's protection here. The
spreading of the skirts. Or what was it that Boaz was
doing? He was making himself responsible
for the well-being of Ruth. what does he say to that damsel
there in Ruth 2.12 the Lord recompense I work and a full reward be given
thee of the Lord God of Israel under whose wing thou art come
to trust under whose wing thou art come to trust and this is
how the Lord cares for his people again we see it in the song of
Moses two songs of Moses of course,
there's that in Exodus 15 but then again in Deuteronomy 32. And what does he say there in
that 32nd chapter? As an eagle stirreth up her nest,
fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them,
beareth them on her wings. So the Lord alone did lead him
and there was no strange God with him. Oh, he is reminding
the children of Israel of all that God had done for them when
first He began to manifest His great love to them by delivering
them out of the bondage which was Egypt. And it's the same
truth that we have here in that provision that God makes for
His people. There is protection. He will
watch over them. He will shouter them under the shadow of His
wing. God's covering is their safety. And that's what the text speaks
of. There's the fullness of the Gospel here in the text. Lord, that we might be those
who know what it is to enter in some measure into all that
is being said here in this passage this morning. And 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. For to come then to know that
this God is our God, and this is the one who will make every
provision, this is the one who will protect us at all times,
this is the one in whom we are to trust, we're to place our
trust, our confidence in under the shadow of his wing. Well the Lord be pleased to bless
the word to us. Let us now Conclude our worship
this morning as we sing our last hymn, which is number 109. Tune
is Jackson's 163. Awake my heart, arise my tongue, prepare a tuneful
voice in God's. The life of all my joys, aloud
will I rejoice, tis he adorned my naked soul. and made salvation
mine upon a poor polluted worm he makes his graces shine. The hymn 109, tune 163.