Lessons from Ezekiel 16

good morning everyone today we are examining Ezekiel chapter 16 now as we read last hour yesterday when it comes to chapter 16 there is a lot that is said in this chapter and there is a lot that is covered by God in speaking to Jerusalem in this chapter and so I would like to very briefly go over just some of the high points of this chapter and then make an application to us in our day and time at the end of our discussion today and so let's just briefly begin by looking at some of the high points of what is discussed as God speaks to Jerusalem he's going to use some very blunt and some very vivid language in the way that he examines what Jerusalem has done and the way that Jerusalem has acted in in the way that her people have lived when you begin this discussion of the city of Jerusalem and the people that inhabit it you have the principles of the fact that Jerusalem originally was in many ways ugly as God describes it and then you read in verse 9 he says then I washed you in water yes I thoroughly washed off your blood and I anointed you with oil i clothed you an embroidered cloth and gave you say knows a badger skin i clothed you with fine linen and covered you with silk and it continues on in that vein down in verse 13 he says thus you were adorned with gold and silver and your clothing was a fine linen silk and embroidered cloth you ate pastry a fine flour honey and oil you were exceedingly beautiful and succeeded to royalty and the idea here goes all the way back to the days of David because remember the children of Israel do not take the City of Jerusalem when they originally conquer the land of Palestine instead Jerusalem is going to be one of those hilltop fortresses fortress cities that the Jebusites are going to retain for many many years until the time of David David is then going to take Jerusalem and it is going to be made the capital of David's Kingdom and once it does then Jerusalem begins to flourish it begins to flourish in the eyes of the people of Israel it begins to flourish both in size and scope it's obviously going to be the place of worship to God David is going to bring the tabernacle there Solomon is going to build the temple there it is going to become the center of the what people think of when they think of the region of Palestine and when they think of this particular area it becomes the jewel of the Kingdom of Israel and so you have this particular mention of God being of God talking to them about how he has made Jerusalem what it is and the ways that he has watched out for her and kept her and and provided for her and yet you come down to verse 20 and one of the major the first major issues that God has is the way that Jerusalem has treated his children he says moreover you took your sons and your daughters whom you bore to me and these you sacrifice to them to be devoured were your acts of harlotry a small matter that you have slain my children and offered them up to them by causing them to pass through the fire here you have the message of God of his displeasure for the sacrificing of their children now specifically here you've got the principles of idol worship that take place with some gods of that day and of that region like Moloch and various others where they would offer human sacrifices specifically their own children on the altars to these particular idolatrous gods and that is specifically what God is talking about here he says you have you have taken my offspring you have taken my children and you have destroyed them you have killed them on this sacrifice on these altars to these idolatrous gods and this is the idea of of the harlotry or the prostitution of Jerusalem that is undergoing at this particular time and as you continue through this particular message he talks about in verse 30 how degenerate is their hearts they don't see anything wrong with what they've done they refuse to turn back from their actions if you go back into Jeremiah and you begin to read or even earlier on in Ezekiel and you have the messages of the things that are going on the the worship and the offerings to other gods that are going on in the city of Jerusalem and you see that there is no shame and there is no guilt amongst the people of Jerusalem for having turned aside to other gods as a matter of fact verse 31 he says you erected a shrine at the head of every road and built your high place in every street you were not like a harlot because you scorned payment you are an adulterous wife who takes strangers instead of her husband in other words he says you're not even like a prostitute because you won't accept payment from others for your services but instead you are simply an adulterous wife who does not care who she takes in as long as it's not her husband now here is the statement concerning Jerusalem and their relationship with God the people of Jerusalem were willing to worship any God and all gods that came along as long as they didn't have to worship the God of heaven and listen to what he said they wanted to be like everybody else and they wanted to be like everybody else to such a degree that they were will to reject God in the same way that all the other nations rejected God and that meant they were willing to worship all of the gods around them except for the true God of heaven and so you have these statements that are going to be made by God and yet God is going to mention in verse 40 he says they shall also bring up an assembly against you and they shall stone you with stones and thrust you through with their swords they shall burn your houses with fire and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women and I will make you cease playing the harlot and you shall no longer hire levers the principle here is the fact that the very nations that they are going to run to that they want to be like that they have given away everything in order to look like are the very ones that are going to come and are going to bring their demise they are the ones that are going to destroy them and they are the ones that are absolutely going to [Music] remove them from the map and so as you see all of these things I want you to notice maybe an application that is extremely important for us to make and I know there's a lot more that is said here in chapter 16 that we don't have time to get to this morning but I want you to notice an application and a key application that needs to be made here there is Jesus here God discusses Jerusalem from the standpoint of a husband and a wife and from the standpoint of the Covenant that was made between God and the people of Israel and that's really the principle is that they married to themselves to God through that covenant of the Old Testament well who is in a covenant relationship with God today it is the church it is the body of Christ it is talked about in the New Testament as the Bride of Christ and so we need to understand that we are in that same relationship with God today that as the body of Christ we agree that we are going to seek Him we agree that we are going to follow him we agree that we are going to accept the protector ship of him but in doing so that leaves us with obligations as well that means we have to be ones who worship Him we have to be ones who don't want to be like everybody else or who don't become intent upon being like everybody else we must also be ones who are faithful and true to the one that we are obligated to so the one that we have agreed to serve to the one that we have devoted our lives to and we cannot turn aside from that if we do we will find ourselves facing the exact same response from God you know there are those today that want it both ways they want to on the one hand serve God and on the other hand serve men they want to on the one hand say that they worship God and on the other side they want to be like everybody else it doesn't work that way it has never worked that way and it didn't work that way in the days of Israel and it won't be acceptable if we try to do it today these are some of the things that I've picked up out of chapter 16 they are some of the things that I want to make sure that we understand when we examine a zekiel chapter 16 and I hope that the things that have been found here are beneficial to you I know it's some very blunt and and distinctive language but sometimes you know God's got to be blunt in order to get his point fully across and so I hope that these things have helped next time when we come back we will begin examining ezekiel chapter 17 but until then I hope you have a great day

Channel: Adam's Bible Study Group

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Length: 11min 3sec (663 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 19 2019