My calmliness which I had put
upon thee, saith the Lord God. Now that's 14 verses of a real
long chapter that we don't have time to look at this evening.
Now the chapter is very long, as I said, and it paints for
us one of the clearest pictures in all of the Scripture. The mind's eye can see it as
we read it or as we hear it. We can follow along so easily
because the image is so clear. We can see in our mind the very
image that the Prophet is describing. It is like a picture being developed
right before our eyes as we read this chapter. Now in this chapter
the prophet is Ezekiel and He is to speak to the Jewish nation
or Jerusalem. And he likens in this chapter
the Jewish nation under the image of a little newborn girl, a girl
just first born. having a very low heritage, and
then at birth, this little baby girl is cast out into the open
field. She is not put where she will
be out of danger, but she is cast out in an open field, and
the image is she is left there to perish, and would perish,
except for the mercy of God. Nothing was done to her good
or benefit to preserve her fragile life that she might have strength
and grow. But by the goodness, the mercy
of a stranger, not only was she spared, not only was she preserved,
but actually grew up and became the wife of Jehovah and was taken
into covenant by the true and the living God. And in that they,
a people represented by the little infant girl, went from being
a deserted outcast in a field to perish and die, to becoming
the covenant people of God. She went from near death and
extinction to the people of God's name, and therein is His mercy. And in the middle part of the
chapter, well, beginning at verse 15 and continuing on, we learn
there how badly they repaid the kindness, the goodness, and the
mercy of God. For they were not true, they
were not faithful, they are likened unto an adulterous, whoring,
unfaithful wife, in the last part of this chapter. Now before
we wade in, let's be careful to set our overall or the larger
context in which this appears in Ezekiel. The prophet Ezekiel
is one who often was commanded by God to warn Israel of judgments
coming upon them because of their sin and rebellion against God. God would send judgment upon
the nation. In chapter 15, the chapter just
preceding the one from which we read, He likened them, that
is the nation of Israel, unto a useless and a fruitless tree
fit for nothing but cut down and put on the burn pile. It
was another of the many warnings of the prophet Ezekiel of the
judgment of God against the nation. For example, back in Exodus 15
verses 6 through 8. You can read it, we won't take
time to do so now. Matthew Henry wrote in his commentary
concerning this passage of Scripture, the prophet here is justifying
God, that is, he is telling them that God's judgments are righteous
because they are deserved on account of the sins of the people. that they were guilty of abominable
sin against their God. They were not innocent. The strokes
were not undeserved. They had no ground. They had
no cause to complain because of the judgment that the Lord
God was bringing upon them and would soon visit upon them. Now just so we understand ourselves,
at the time that Jeremiah wrote This many Jews were in captive
in Babylon. Many of them had been carried
away captive down to Babylon where they wept when they remembered
Zion by the rivers. But there were some who believed
that a remnant also remained in the city of Jerusalem. And Jeremiah's words seemed to
be directed toward them. Cause Jerusalem to know her sin. Now look at verse 1 and let's
go through our text. He claims inspiration for the
message saying unto them, again the word of the Lord came unto
me saying. Again, as so often before, as
Gil said, what the Lord's word said to him was made to him under
a spirit of prophecy. And He gave it to the people
in that vein. Look at the second verse. and their service unto God. But
I would say that the prophet here is given one of the most
unpleasant tasks of a servant of God, whether prophet or preacher. This is the least appreciated
work that the minister of God will ever perform among the people. Look at it in verse 2. Cause
Jerusalem to know her abomination. Oh, how much sweeter it is to
preach on the goodness of God, or the grace of God, the love
of God. But here the prophet is sent
out with this instruction. caused Jerusalem to know her
abomination. Lay open her sin. Open the wound,
the festering wound that is there. He was to charge their sins upon
them. He was to expose their abomination. He was to confront them in the
name of the Lord God concerning their great wickedness. He was
to lay bare and open before their eyes and ears their transgression. He was to bring up, if I may
say, the stench of their iniquity. By this we learn that people
are often either ignorant of the magnitude of their sin or
they are in denial because of pride and of arrogance, and must
be shown their sin from time to time. Now let's understand. The abominations intended are
set out in verse 15 through verse 34 of the chapter. They are of
such a nature as consistent in deserting the worship that God
had ordained for them and of going a-whoring after the idols
and the gods of the heathen round about them. This is spiritual
whoredom or adultery. So let's take a minute, if we
might, just to scan through verse 15 through 34, very quickly,
that we might catch the extent of their sin. See the charges
against them. And these things are very, very
impressive and very serious in their nature, spoken under the
image of a harlot. Look at verse 15, Thou hast played
the harlot because of your renown, poured out your fornications
on everyone that passed by. Verse 25, Thou hast opened Thy
feet to everyone that passed by and multiplied Thy whoredoms. Look at verse 26, Thou hast committed
whoredoms with the Egyptians. Verse 28, Thou hast played the
whore with the Assyrian. Verse 32, they were as an adulterous
wife that takes strangers instead of their husband. So the image
is that of a wife that has not been faithful but has prostituted
herself to any that come along including stranger who has a
whore's heart, but who is a wife and has vowed herself to a husband
only to use her beauty to embrace many lovers and become unfaithful. Now, there is no greater betrayal
than this can be imagined among human relation. But we notice
the way that the Lord would have the prophet drive home their
guilt and their conviction. Back in verse 2, cause Jerusalem
to know her abomination. And the highlight, the heinous
practices of that nation. The prophet, first of all, begins
by recalling two well-known facts from their past. There are two
things that he wants to bring up that will show their great
ingratitude. First of all, their origin. Look at that. A picture of depravity. What were they? Before Jehovah
God came and spread His skirt over them and covered their nakedness
and blessed them, made a covenant with them, and grew them into
a nation. That's the first thing. Now before
we delve into particulars, Let's see the image which the prophet
uses. It is that of a female beginning
with her birth in verse 3 and verse 4. Then we trace her out
to adolescence or to puberty. You'll see that in verse 7. Then
as a beautiful young maiden, ready and at the age for marriage. That's in verse 8. Then, as the
people or the wife, the bride of Jehovah. That's in verse 8,
the last part, all the way through verse 14. Now going back to their
birth and their parentage, were they a royal child? Could it
be said, here is a royal child born of royalty and of privilege? Were they the desire of their
parent? Did they receive the very best
of natal care? Were they well tended at their
birth so that they might be healthy and grow up so? No, not at all. For the prophet pictures them
as the offspring of cursed parents or cursed nation. Verse 3, thy
birth and thy nativity is in the land of Canaan. The Prophet
furthermore tells them, your father was an Amorite and your
mother was a Hittite. So instead of calling them the
children of Abraham or the children of Sarah, or in referring to
them under the covenant made with them through Abraham, that
even concerning Abraham, according to Joshua chapter 24, verse 2
and verse 3, we are reminded, are we not, that Abraham came from an idolatrous
family. Abraham's family were not God-worshipping
people. Abraham came from a family of
idolaters. It is clearly said there in Joshua,
they served other gods. And this is mentioned in Joshua
24 and verse 14 again. Consider Deuteronomy chapter
26 and verse 5, that when they were settled in the land of promise,
They were to perform certain things. Then look at verse 5,
to speak and say before the Lord thy God, a Syrian ready to perish
was my father. They should confess that. They
need to look back on that. God has set them in the promised
land. but their father was a Syrian
that was ready to perish. Consider Job 17 and 14 and what
Job said in answering one of his critics. Quote, I have said
to corruption, thou art my father. To the worm, you are my mother
and my sister. Unquote. Job saw his condition,
so covered with sores, and there oozing corruption as he sat there
scraping himself, so covered with sores, filled with a loathsome
disease, as if to say in the hearing of his friend that he
sustained a relation to corruption which he likened to a father
and a son. As for the image used by Ezekiel,
some of the patriarchs, such as Abraham, were of pagan origin. And the footnotes in the New
Geneva Study Bible, King James Version, if you'd like to check
it out, say that Jerusalem was originally a pagan city in the
beginning. But now look at verse 4 and 5
of our chapter. The prophet likens them to a
newborn baby girl. to a newborn, but cast out at
her birth into an open field, never even being bathed, never
even having the blood of birth washed away. The navel cord was
not cut and not tied, nor was she shaped and formed as babies
were in that day. She wasn't swaddled in clothes
to give her a shape, protect her, and keep her warm. And the
Prophet said this is because none eye pitied thee. No one had pity upon her. Now, none of the benefits, therefore,
of a newborn were performed unto her. What's more, not only were
they withheld, but she was cast out into the open field right
after being born, left to the elements, exposed to the heat
or the cold as it might be, a prey for the beasts of the field that
pass by that way, and sure to die and to perish. unless some
eye took pity and some hand extended mercy." Notice, from time to
time in our society, we hear of an abandoned newborn baby. Don't know who the mother is
or the father is. Sometimes left on the doorstep,
and their cry summons the homeowner. So prevalent is it in Texas that
there have actually been passed what is called the Baby Moses
Law in the state of Texas, in that a woman, if she has a baby
she doesn't want, or can't care for, can take it to a hospital,
or a fire station, or a police station, and drop it off, and
no charges will be filed against her at all. The baby Moses law. But the prophet Ezekiel shows
them. He reminds them of their sorry
beginning, and of the fate awaiting them had not God intervened. May I say this is a picture of
the natural man? Born in sin, shapen in iniquity,
nothing could be done for him that would prepare him for the
spiritual grace of God. Shapen in iniquity, a transgressor
from the womb, dead in trespass and in sin, certain to perish. If God were pleased to leave
us in our birth condition or natural condition, for that which
is born of the flesh is flesh and will never be anymore. It
will never rise any higher in its own strength than what it
is by nature, and for like that infant girl, We are without strength
to preserve our life. Original sin is our birthright. Spiritual death is our next of
kin. Who can pity us to do us any
good? None but the God of heaven. We must ever remember what we
were when grace came into our soul. Let us remember those days
with shame. Let us acknowledge our natural
heritage, that Adam is our father and Eve is our mother. that Cain
is our brother and Jezebel is our sister, as we are born into
the flesh. They have a great point, who
see their being like a newborn cast out into the field to the
oppression in Egypt. Yes, it is. Next, we notice in
verse 16 through 14, God likens Himself here to a wayfaring man
who passes by where the infant lay in her blood yonder in the
open field, like a good Samaritan passed by, who passes by where
she lay, but he does not pass her by. He goes by where she
is, but he does not go on by. And what did he see, looking
down upon that? He said, I saw you polluted in
your own blood, twice. In verse 6 he mentions them being
in their blood. Again, he thinks that Gil got
it right when he said that it refers to the wretched, miserable
estate and origin of the Jews in the land of Egypt. That the
Lord said to them while they were there under such oppression,
live. even as they squirmed about in
their blood of birth, when they seemed near ruin, when death
seemed inevitable, when Pharaoh gave orders to the Hebrew midwives
to kill all the little boy babies, that the Hebrew women delivered
when they were up on the stool. Take all the little boys and
kill them lest they fall out against the people. You'll find
that in Exodus chapter 1. great sovereign God, who gave
forth the great voice of power and authority, live. By such
God saved them from extinction. Unbeknownst even unto them, the
secret voice of God sustained them when He said unto them,
live. Calvin put it, this expression,
the secret virtue by which the people were preserved contrary
to their common feelings, unquote, and that they had not been sustained
except for the command and the power in the Word of God. Now coming to verse 7. having
said unto them, Lill. In verse 6, He did then cause
them to multiply like the buds of the field, and to waxen great,
and they were a large nation and many people. Which under
the image of this same female answers to the period of adolescence
or puberty. As in the last of verse 7, you
are come to excellent ornament. You're grown into a young maid. The NIV has it, you grew up and
developed and became the most beautiful of jewels, unquote. Your breasts are fashioned. Your hair is grown. Evidences
of becoming a woman. of entering into womanhood, one
to be desired as a wife. This corresponds to what was
said in the first part of verse 7, I caused you to multiply as
the bud of the field. And keeping with that image,
becoming a young woman, ready for marriage or at the age of
marriage. Now, the part that puzzles me
is that part in the last half of verse 7 about their being
still naked and bare. Whether it is a reference to
the state and the condition described back in verse 4 and in verse
5, when they were as a newborn, or whether it is tied to their
being of age, in verse 7, being in womanhood, yet not having
been clothed with the garments of glory and of beauty and of
wifehood as the people of Jehovah. This would better seem to fit
the text into context, as one said, indecent nakedness is not
the picture that is here, but it is in contrast with the fine
clothing and the beautiful ornaments that God dressed her up with. Gill quotes some old-timers who
understood this of being without the law, when they were yet without
the Ten Commandments. or of the natural state when
one is destitute of any righteousness or of any saving grace in the
sight of God. God bestows these on them when
he takes them into covenant with himself, and they become clothed
with righteousness and glory and of grace. And be that as
it may, if we can't solve it, look at verse 8. The Lord passes
by again. It would seem that this is a
second passing by of the Lord. In the first one He said, Live.
No longer were they an infant squirming in the field, or underage. But it was the time of love now,
and the young maid had arrived at a marriageable age in her
life, ready for love. Now, let's be careful here as
this is described. God is not a man that he is smitten
with a young maiden as men are, but he speaks as a man for the
sake of the people and their better understanding. Or as Calvin
put it, he personates a man here struck with the beauty of a girl,
and offering her marriage." But the spiritual picture is of God
pouring out His love upon them, in redeeming them from and out
of Egyptian bonded, then entering into covenant with them as a
particular and special people. As stated in the second half
of the eighth verse, if you look, I spread my skirt over you, I
hid your nakedness, I swear unto you, I entered into covenant
with you, and you became mine. By the bond of the covenant,
which answers to marriage in the image, the great God of heaven
did take this unworthy people or nation to be his peculiar
people, and to have and to hold and a guide from that day forward
to own them as his people. And this, quote, marriage, unquote,
if we may use the word as a figure, occurred in the giving of the
covenant of the law, and God was husband unto them. Jeremiah 31 He says, I was a
husband unto them. Now the words in the end of verse
8, look at them, how wonderful you became mine. Now again we might consider the
physical image of a young man and his bride. When their marriage
is solemnized and they pledge their faithfulness, and upon
that are pronounced to be husband and wife, and then she becomes
his. She becomes his wife, and vice
versa. And they become one flesh in
that union. They have forsaken all others. to cleave only unto each other. So these words, the peculiar
treasure unto Me above all people, Exodus 19 and verse 5, Deuteronomy
14 and verse 2, Psalm 135 and verse 4, the Lord has chosen
Jacob unto Himself and Israel for His particular treasure and
to faithfully be their covenant God. In Ezekiel 16, 9-14 is a
metaphoric description of the rich dowry that God showered
upon them when He washed away their sin and their pollution
and anointed them with oil in verse 9. Then in verse 10-13,
He adorned them with multiple jewels, fine wardrobe, fed them
the tastiest victuals, And the finest clothes were theirs, priceless
bracelets, earrings, a crown for their head, and such like. So that in verse 13, the last
part, you were exceedingly beautiful and did prosper into a kingdom. In the images of the young lady
that once lay as a baby in the field ready to perish. sustained
and kept and raised and now of marriageable age. But if you
say to me or to look at this and read this, this sounds a
little gaudy, doesn't it? If you say a woman so adorned
as here described would appear gaudy and appear ostentatious
and seem to transgress such passages as Isaiah 3.16-23 And Paul in 1 Timothy 2, 9 and
10, you would think a woman with all this on would hardly be able
to walk or to move. But we say that the prophet is
making a point. The prophet is emphasizing the
extent of the liberality and of the goodness and the bounty
of God's provision toward his people under the image of a new
wife. how beneficent He has been, how
richly blessed they were, what God bestowed upon them none other
had or ever could have. Once Moses said to Israel in
one of his speeches to them, you'll find it in Deuteronomy
chapter 4, I believe that the verses are verse 7 and verse
8, he asked them this question, quote, What nation is there so
great who has God so near unto them as the Lord our God is unto
us in all things when we call upon Him? And what nation is
there so great that has statutes and judgments so righteous as
all this law which I set before you this day? Then I'd like for
us to hear a testimony from David when he sat before the Lord.
He went and sat down before the Lord and meditated and prayed.
You'll find it in 2 Samuel chapter 7 verse 23 and verse 24. Quote, What one nation in the
earth. is like thy people Israel, whom
God went to redeem for a people to Himself, and to make Him a
name, and do great things before His people, whom He redeemed
from their nation and their gods. For you have confirmed to thyself
thy people Israel to be a people unto thee forever, and thou,
Lord, have become their God. There again is that union. Of all the nations, of all the
nations of the world, many of them mightier than little Israel,
he pitched upon the seed of Abraham. Of all the nations God might
have taken, not because they were many, not because they were
mighty, Not because they were of noble descent and not because
they were deserving, but because He would. Because it was His
good, sovereign pleasure to do so. And in Ezekiel 16 and 14,
we notice something else. Their reputation as the people
of Jehovah spread far and wide. Now, from a dying infant in a
field to the covenant people of God, that's what we have. How blessed, what mercy, what
goodness. Would to God we could say they
were forever faithful to the Lord who mercied them so, who
redeemed them from their idols and the bondage of Egypt. Would to God we could say that
they walked in the covenant, whom He redeemed and made the
people unto Himself. But such was not the case in
the last half of the chapter. The prophet only speaks of God's
mercy toward them in order to aggravate their horrible unfaithfulness
that he names from verse 15 on, to sharpen the error. He who
rescued them from death snatched them as a out of the burning,
only to have them play the harlot with many illicit lovers, to
worship other gods, to build pagan groves, go a-whoring after
false gods, pour out their fornications on all that pass by. Look at
verse 15 through 34 for that. Now in closing, As Calvin said, as we make application,
the case of Israel does not suit our situation in all things and
exactly unto a T, but there are some things that we can glean
from it. Consider, if you would, We were
dead in trespasses and in sin. No way to quicken ourself. No
way another could quicken us in spiritual death. Dead in trespasses
and in sin. And He quickened us. He quickened
us. He gave us faith. He cleansed
us. He sent His Spirit into our heart,
gave us the hope and assurance of eternal and everlasting life. And here's the question. Shall
then, after those mercies, our soul act the faithfulness spouse
of Jehovah? Shall we go and be unfaithful
to Him who mercied us so, who loved us so, and conferred so
many saving benefits upon our unworthy head. Blessed be God. When we were dead in sin, He
quickened us. When we were lost, He found us.
When we were condemned, He justified us. He provided every divine
remedy. for our spiritual situation.
Blessed be the name of God.