Let us turn again to God's Word
in the portion that we read in Ezekiel chapter 16. I want this
warning to direct your attention to the words that we find here
at verse 8. Ezekiel chapter 16 and verse
8. 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 covered thy nakedness, yea,
I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith
the Lord God, and thou becamest mine." Ezekiel chapter 16 and
verse 8. This covenant end that God was
pleased to enter into with his ancient people. Remarkable displays
of his goodness and of his grace, and as we said, of course, Israel
in the Old Testament is a typical people, a type of that spiritual
Israel, the true people of God, and in that sense applicable
surely even to every Christian believer. With regards to the
covenant here we can observe a number of things. There is
of course the time of the covenant as we have it here at the beginning
of the verse. Behold, thy time was the time
of love. God is absolutely sovereign with
regards to all things, all times. the time to be born, the time
to die. We read in Ecclesiastes all our
times are in God's hands and so too, of course, in a remarkable
way with regards to that eternal covenant. Are we not told concerning
Him who is the mediator of the covenant that when the fullness
of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman
made under the law. And so it was that at that very
moment that God had foreordained and decreed, Christ was manifest
in the flesh and accomplished that great salvation for those
that the Father had given to him in that eternal covenant. But here Do we not see something
of the gracious application of that salvation? Behold thy time
was the time of love. There is that time that is ordained
of God whereby all the election of grace individually come to
experience what God himself has purposed for them. We know that
there is that time for God to favour Zion. They shall arise
and have mercy upon. Zion says the psalm is for the
time to favour her, yea, the said time is come. Though we must examine ourselves
with regards to these things, have we known anything of that
said time? And not just a single time, but
those many times, those several times when God is pleased to
come to us. and to visit us and to have mercy
upon us. Behold thy time was the time
of love. But not just the time of the
covenant in this verse, we also surely see something of God's
promise in the covenant. And not only the great promise
of God, but our God has confirmed that promise by an oath Yea,
I swear unto thee, he says, here at the end of the verse. Yea,
I swear unto thee, and entered into a covenant with them. We're told concerning Abraham
in Hebrews chapter 6, that when God made promise to Abraham because
he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself. He confirmed his word of promise
by taking an oath upon himself, and thus, as the psalmist says,
he has magnified his worth above all his name. His name is the
declaration of himself, his name is the revelation of himself,
his name is his God, and he has exalted magnified his word above
all of that. If his word fails, then God himself
also fails. All God's promise in the covenant,
that promise confirmed by oath, that promise which is sealed
in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only the promise
here, but we also see in the context something of the power
of God, as he demonstrates it, in the outworking of His covenant. Verse 6, He 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. Oh, the authority with
which God speaks life into the souls of His people. We have it there, of course,
at the end of the chapter, verse 62, he says, I will establish
my covenant with thee, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. I will, he says, thou shalt. This is the language of God in
the eternal covenant. What power, what authority, they
shall be my people, he says, and I will be their God. I was struck this last week,
I was reading in William Mason's Spiritual Treasurer. I've been
using it this past year, you know those daily portions that
you have for each day of the year, and there, William Mason,
who was not a minister, he sat under the preaching of William
Romain, but there's some good matter in Mason's Spiritual treasury
and I was struck by what he had to say with regards to Elijah
and Elisha and that call that came to Elisha at the end of
the 19th chapter in the first book of Kings we have the detail
concerning how Elisha was called to the prophetic office we're
told how Elijah departed and found Elisha the son of Shaphat
who was ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen before him and he
with the twelfth and Elijah passed by him and cast his mantle upon
him and he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said let
me I pray thee kiss my father and my mother and then I will
follow them And he said unto him, Go back again, for what
have I done to them? And he returned back from him,
and took a yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh
with the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people, and
they did eat. Then he arose and went after Elijah, and ministered
unto him. And it was the significance of
the casting of his mantle upon him. Elijah passed by him and
cast his mantle upon him. It was an outward action, but
surely it was accompanied by the Lord's inward power in the
soul of Elisha. That was the observation that
was made by William Mason. The outward act, the casting
of the mantle over Elisha had an effect, because God worked
And God worked inwardly, it was a demonstration of the power
of God. And it's the same here of course,
in this text, this morning, I spread my skirt over them. I swear unto thee, and entered
into a covenant with them, and thou became as mine. There is that power of God then,
when he is pleased to put forth his hand, and when he is pleased
to touch the sinner and draw the sinner to himself. There's
the time of the covenant, there's the promise that we have in the
covenant, that promise that is confirmed by oath, there's God's
great power demonstrated, and then also, as we've intimated
there, is God's possession. At the end of the verse, Thou
becamest mine, he says. As I said, It's a picture of
God's dealings with his ancient people, the children of Israel.
And remember how he brought them out of the bondage, which was
Egypt, and took them into the wilderness of Sinai and entered
into a covenant with And there in the chapter previous to the
covenant, the covenant expressed of course in terms of those Ten
Commandments in Exodus chapter 20, in the previous 19th chapter,
God says to them there how he brought them to himself, I brought
you unto myself. how God, as it were, would make
them his people. God would, as it were, marry
himself to them. They became his. And that's true,
is it not, with regards to believers in the New Testament, in the
Covenant of Grace. Has not God purchased his people
for himself? Does he not therefore rightly
take possession of his people? The words of the apostle there, At the end of the 6th chapter
in 1st Corinthians, He asked, What? Know ye not that your body
is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have
of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price.
Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which
are God's. Ye are not your own. The believer
is the rightful possession of God. Thou becamest mine, he says. He takes possession of his people
then in this eternal covenant. And then we also have the covering
of the covenant. These high things, the time of
it, the promise that is made in it, the power of God demonstrated
there, and God comes to take possession of his people, and
then the covering, which is really what we have stated so plainly
in this 8th verse, Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee,
behold, thy time was the time of laugh, 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 I want us this morning to
consider somewhat more carefully the spiritual significance of
this covering. This is the subject matter that
I want to seek to address. The significance of this covering. Is it not a text that is really
full of gospel instruction? There are a number of things
that we can see in this covering. First of all, it sets forth before
us the idea of a spousal and marriage. This covering, this spreading
of the skirt. 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. that being reminded
of God's dealings with them at the beginning the time of
espousals that time when God, as it were, went after them it's
the same as he's spoken of then there at the beginning of Jeremiah's
second chapter Jeremiah The game is directed
by the word of God. Moreover, the word of the Lord
came to me saying, Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying,
Thus saith the Lord, I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth,
the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in
the wilderness, in a land that was not so. All the beginnings,
that generation, it was the generation of course that followed after,
those that came out of Egypt, they could not enter into the
Promised Land because of their unbelief. They fell in those
40 years of wilderness wanderings, but that following generation,
those were the ones whom God brought into the possession of
the Promised Land. And he speaks there in Jeremiah
of the time of a spousal, the time of love. The idea is that
of marriage. Back in Deuteronomy chapter 22
and verse 30 we have this statement, A man shall not take his father's
wife, nor discover his father's skirt. Strange statements in
our ears. What does it mean to discover
his father's skirt? Well those statements there in
Deuteronomy 22 are parallel statements. They are referring to one and
the same thing. A man shall not take his father's
wife, nor discover his father's skirt. His father's skirt is
equivalent to his wife. It is this idea, you see, of
the spreading of the skirt, the spreading of the garment, as
it were, over the woman. is there evidence in the case
of Ruth and the request that Ruth makes to Boaz, remember
she desires that he would spread his skirt over her she wants
him to come and to take on that responsibility of the kinsman-redeemer
to redeem, as it were, his his brother's inheritance in Israel. That was the law as we have it
in Leviticus chapter 25 and verse 25. And it's a remarkable account
that we have there in Ruth chapter 3 as she is there at his feet
and he discovers her and that's what she requests of him that
he would spread his skirt over her. She's desiring that he would
take her as his wife. and so do the part of the kinsman
redeemer and the remarkable thing is of
course that that word that's used, the near kinsman is taken
up in scripture in reference to the Lord Jesus Christ in that
great verse in the book of Job I know that my redeemer and he
shall stand at the last day upon the earth. The word redeemer
is the kinsman. The kinsman redeemer. This is
the relationship that the Lord Jesus Christ himself has with
his own church. We see it as Paul is giving instruction
and direction to husbands and wives there at the end of Ephesians
chapter 5. Christ is the bridegroom, the
church is his bride and Christ, as it were, spreads his skirt
over his church. This is the imagery that we have
here then in our text. It sets forth this lovely idea
of espousal, of marriage. How the Lord brings his people
to himself and what does he do? He enters into a covenant with
them. And at the end of the Old Testament,
in the book of Malachi is not marriage spoken of there in terms
of covenant. They were despising their wives,
the children of Israel. And now the prophet faithfully
rebukes them. Malachi 2.14, ye say wherefore?
because the Lord has been witness between thee and the wife of
thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously. Yet
is she thy companion and the wife of thy covenant." They were
taking heathen wives and despising their wives and the The Prophet
reminds us of that covenant of marriage. We have it today, of
course. In a marriage ceremony there is still that solemn exchanging
of vows and promises between the couple who come together
on that occasion. Well, God is pleased here to
enter into covenant with his people. It's a time of love. It's a time of espousals. And Israel is, as it were, married
to the Lord and the Church, as we know, is the bride of Christ. It sets forth then this lovely
idea of espousals. But more than that, it sets before
us also the idea of reconciliation, of reconciliation, of forgiveness. Then 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. Verse 6 again, 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! What we have here is sin
and salvation. We have ruin and we have reconciliation. There is here the dreadful nakedness
of sin. This was the charge, was it not,
that was given to the prophet. As he tells us in the opening
words of the chapter, again, the word of the Lord came unto
me saying, Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abomination. Jerusalem is to know something
of her sin, to feel something of what she is, the awfulness
of her pollutions as a sinner before God. She is to be exposed. Here in the text, you see, we
have this word, thy nakedness. They are to know themselves,
they are to know what they are. in the eyes of a God who is holy,
a God who has eyes too pure to behold iniquity. God's people
have to know something of themselves, but not only are they to know
themselves and to know their abominations, they must also
come to know the law. The guy there at the end, in
that 62nd verse, he says, Thou shalt know that I am the Lord. These are the two great truths that we have to come to
a knowledge of. We have to know ourselves, and
we have to know God. If I remember right, Calvin in
his great work on the Christian Institutes makes that very observation
at the beginning of his book. These are the two great branches
of knowledge that he's going to seek to deal with. The necessity
of us knowing ourselves and also knowing God. And as we come to
that knowledge, to know God or to know ourselves, do we not
see something of the brightness and the depth of our form. God made man in his own image. God created man in his own likeness. God made man upright. But they
have sought out many inventions. And so when we make that comparison,
when we know something of ourselves as we really are, and something
of who God is, and the glories that belong to him in all his
holiness and all his righteousness, Are we not then moved to loathe
ourselves? This was the ministry that the
Prophet was exercising, making Jerusalem to know her abominations. 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 the evils that
ye have committed. Then again, later, in the 30th
chapter, are these words repeated? They are to know just how evil
they are, just how wicked they are. God will have them to understand
something of their sinnership, the wickedness of their wives. And it's not in the Gospel that
God teaches his people that, simply in terms of the law. Oh, it's true, by the law is
the knowledge of sin. When there is that work wrought
in the soul when we are made to see and to feel how we have
transgressed, and not only transgressed, but also fallen short, not only
overstepped the mark, but we are those who never come up to
the standard. That's what sin is, is it not?
Falling short of the glory. of God, not giving God the honour
and glory that is due to his name, but it's not that the Christian
is simply made to see sin in the light of God's holy law,
that law which is holy and that commandment which is holy and
righteous and just and good, but also the believer is made
to see and feel his sin in the light of Christ's offering. they
shall look upon the earth, whom they have pierced, and shall
mourn for him as one mourners for his only son, and shall be
in bitterness for him as one is in bitterness for his firstborn,
says Zachariah, the mouth of God. Oh, that bitterness, that
mourning, law and terrors do but harden all the while they
work alone, but the sense of blood's good pardon soon dissolves
the heart of stone. when God makes his people to
see their utter nakedness and their complete and utter inability
to do anything to remedy their condition, their loss, their
undone, their sinners. This is the knowledge that we
have to come to, this knowledge of ourselves, our ruin. But where there is ruin there
is also reconciliation. Where there is sin there is salvation.
The Lord Jesus Christ himself makes it plain what was the purpose
of his coming into the world. He came not to call the righteous
but sinners, he says. He calls sinners to repentance.
And so in the text we read of the nakedness but also the covering
of that nakedness. I passed by them and looked upon
them Behold, thy time was the time of love, and I spread my
skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness." I covered thy
nakedness. Now, interestingly, in the Old
Testament Scriptures, the Hebrew word that is many times rendered
reconciliation, or sometimes it's rendered atonement, because
atonement is one of those words that we're familiar with in the
authorised version that was actually coined by William Tyndale. So much of the authorised version
is rooted and grounded in Tyndale's version and atonement is one
of those words that Tyndale actually coined. He made up the word. and we can break it down, it
literally means at one meant, reconciliation. The believer
was previously in a state of alienation, an enemy of God,
that's what his carnal mind is, it's not subject to the Lord
of God, we read in Romans chapter 8, neither indeed Candace. He's in that awful condition
then where he's far off from God and he has no thought of
God, no desire after God, He's the enemy of God. And yet in
the gospel there is reconciliation. And the sinner who was far off
is brought back and he's at one with God. Atonement. And I say that in the Old Testament
Scriptures the Hebrew words that is many times rendered as atonement
or reconciliation is in fact literally derived from that verb to cover,
to cover sin. We have it there at the beginning
of Psalm 32, Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose
sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit is no guile. Remember the parallelism that
is so evident throughout the book of Psalms, these parallel
statements that we find in the Hebrew, and we have it there
in that opening verse of Psalm 32. The blessed man is a man
whose transgression is forgiven. And then the parallel statement,
whose sin is covered. Forgiveness is like the covering
of his sin. His sin is no more, it's gone.
Altogether out of sight. And you know it's the same words
to cover that we have right at the end. of this 16th chapter. Thou that thou mayest remember
and be confounded and never open thy mouth any more because of
thy shame when I am pacified the margin gives forgiven or reconciliation but it's from
that verb to cover the sin is covered I am pacified toward
thee says God for all that thou hast done Remember how with regards to
the furnishings that were to be employed in the tabernacle
in the tabernacle worship back in Exodus when Moses is there
in the mount with God receiving direction with regards to all
the various parts of that furniture that was to be employed in the
worship of God in the tabernacle In the Holy of Holies, of course,
they were to house the Ark of the Covenant. You can read a bit in Exodus
chapter 25. They were to make this chest, and in this chest
they were to place the Ten Commandments, the tables of stone that Moses
had received. Those first tables of course
were broken but Moses makes other tables and goes again to the
mountain. God writes with his finger upon
those tables of stone and they were to be housed in the Ark
of the Covenant and taken into the Holy of Holies and the covering
upon that chest wherein they were to place those commandments
was the Mercy Seat. Now, if you look in Exodus 25
and verses 10 and 17, you'll see that the measurement, of
course, is exact. The Mercy Seat is an exact covering
for the Ark of the Covenant. God's Law is covered then by
the Mercy Seat. And all that the Mercy speaks,
it was the place, of course, in Leviticus 16, where on the
great day of atonement the high priest was to sprinkle the blood.
It's a wonderful type of the great work that Christ has accomplished. All the sinner, yes, is exposed
to God's wrath, exposed to the condemnation of the Holy Lord
of God. He's naked before the Lord, but
there is that blessed covering. in the work that the Lord Jesus
Christ has accomplished upon the cross. He has reconciled
this sinner who was in that state of enmity to God, alienated from
God. He has brought him back to God.
And we see this, you see, here in the text. Not only the idea
of God, as it were, taking these people to himself, marrying himself
to them, espousing himself to them, the time of love, but also
God reconciling this sinner to himself. But then thirdly here
is another great gospel truth that's set before us, that of
righteousness. The covering is a covering of
righteousness, is it not? It goes on, of course, in verse
10 to speak more specifically of this. I clothed thee also
with broided work, and shoved thee with badger skin, and I
girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk.
I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy
hands, and a chain on thy neck. O thou, she's made altogether
beautiful. Verse 13, Thou wast exceeding
beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom. And thy renown went forth among
the heathen for thy beauty, for it was perfect through my comeliness
which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God." Here is the beauty,
you see, of the believer. It is that righteousness of Christ
that is imputed to her. That great truth that stands
at the heart of the doctrine of justification. It's Christ's
righteousness, imputed. She's accounted righteous because
she's clothed in his righteousness. But not only is she justified
in Christ, she's sanctified in Christ. She's not only outwardly
beautiful as she's clothed upon with robes of righteousness,
but there's that gracious work of God in the soul. She's beautiful
within. We have it, of course, in the
psalm, in Psalm 45, and there we read of the beauty of the bride of Christ, Psalm 45 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
thee. This is Psalm 45. And remember
the title of this psalm, it's a song of love. And the titles
are inspired, the title is part of the inspired text of scripture.
It's a song of love. Just as our text is a song of
love. 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 covered thy nakedness. It's
the selfsame truth you see. that we have there in Psalm 45
as we find here in our text this morning. All the beauty that
belongs unto the believer, clothed upon with that righteousness
that is Christ. Verse 14, My communion which
I had put upon thee. And this was Paul's desire. to
be found in Christ. He says, not having my own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God, by faith. Righteousness. This is his name
whereby he shall be called, says Jeremiah, the Lord, our righteousness. In Jeremiah 23 verse 6 and then
just 10 chapters later, chapter 33 and verse 16, this is the
name wherewith she shall be called, the Lord our righteousness. His
name becomes her name, just as when the bride marries her loved
one, she takes his name. This is the name of the Church,
is it not? The Lord. Our righteousness. I spread my
skirt over thee and covered thy nakedness, he says. And then
fourthly here, does he not also set before us the idea of protection? The idea of protection. He protects
her. He takes her as it were under his care. What was it that Boaz said to
Ruth when he first meets her and he's told her who this maiden
is? There in Ruth chapter 2, the Lord recompense thy work
and the full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel
under whose wings thou art come to trust. She was a Moabiteish
damsel but she'd returned to Bethlehem with her mother-in-law
poor bereft name, as she cleaved to her, thy people shall be my
people, thy God shall be my God, he says. These things are made
known to Boaz. And he pronounces that blessing
upon her, a full reward be given of the Lord God of Israel under
whose wing thou art come to prosper. And the request that she made,
of course, in the next chapter, chapter 3, spread forth therefore
thy skirt over thine handmaid. And Boaz, the type of the Lord
Jesus Christ, in the line of Christ, of course. Christ is
descended from Boaz. He's a wonderful type of the
Lord Jesus Christ, is that man. And do we not therefore see here
this blessed truth that the Lord will watch over his people. He
will spread his wing over them. He'll take them into his care
and into his keeping. There's such a fullness of gospel
blessing to be found in the New Covenant. And yet in spite of
all these good things that God did to his ancient people, as
sad, as solemn it is to read what follows from verse 15. We
only read to verse 34, we could have read on, it's a long chapter,
but it's an awful catalogue of the sins that these people who
were so singularly fivered committed. Now often Does the believer alas
sin against God? How we have to blush with shame
when we look to our own heart when we think of the days gone,
the week that has passed. How many sins have we committed
during these past days. How we've fallen so very far
short of what we should be. We've not sought the face of
God. We've not been concerned for
the glory of God. Self-centered so often, so much
concerned about ourselves, our own comforts. No thought of God. We cannot point the finger at
the children of Israel. They are so much like us. They
are truly a typical people. How awful are those words at
verse 15, that thou didst trust in thine own beauty. Now we have
to look to the Lord, we have not to look to anything in ourselves,
even that work of grace that God does in us. That's not where
we put our trust. We put our trust in Him. There's
that blessed objectivity in the Gospel. We're to always look
to Him. But thou didst trust in thine
own beauty, and playest a harlot because of thy renown, and poorest
had thy fornications on every one that passed by thee. For
they were guilty of the most gross idolatry. That's what they
were guilty of. And yet when we come to those
concluding verses that we read, verse 16, nevertheless. You thank
God for the neverthelesss that we find in the word of God. Mark
them, underline them, take account of them. Nevertheless says God,
I will remember my covenant with you in the days of thy youth
and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant. God remembers how to remember.
Verse 63, that thou mayest remember. And what is the consequence when
we remember God's gracious dealings, His patience with us, His long-suffering
mercies, 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. O God grant then that we might
draw some comfort from the blessed truths that are couched even
in the words of our text this morning. Now when I passed by
them and looked upon them, behold, thy time was a time of wrath,
and I spread my skirt over them and covered thy nakedness, yea,
I swear unto them, and entered into a covenant with the Lord
God, and thou becamest mine. Amen.