Ezekiel 16-17

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel%2016-17&version=ESV

In Ezekiel 16, the Lord uses such strong language again.

I love the picture of verses 6 through 14,

"⁶"And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you in your blood, 'Live!' I said to you in your blood, 'Live!' ⁷ I made you flourish like a plant of the field. And you grew up and became tall and arrived at full adornment. Your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown; yet you were naked and bare. ⁸"When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord GOD, and you became mine. ⁹Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil. ¹⁰ I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk. ¹¹ And I adorned you with ornaments and put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck. ¹²And I put a ring on your nose and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. ¹³Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour and honey and oil. You grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. ¹⁴And your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord GOD."

The Lord saw Israel and said live!! The same is true for us today. When the Holy Spirit quickens us, he causes us to live a life as a new creation in Christ. This is the new birth, or regeneration as it is called theologically. (See John 3, Ephesians 2:1-10, and 2 Cor. 5:17)

But after Israel had been called by the Lord to live, and adorned with His love, the people turned from Him.

See verses 15-17,

"¹⁵ "But you trusted in your beauty and played the whore because of your renown and lavished your whorings on any passerby; your beauty became his. ¹⁶You took some of your garments and made for yourself colorful shrines, and on them played the whore. The like has never been, nor ever shall be. ¹⁷You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore."

The Lord uses extremely strong language for the people of Israel. He says they are whoring about, and He later says they are worse than whores because men pay for whores whereas they paid for their suitors to come to them.

In this context, the whoring about is not meant to be taken as sexual. The meaning of whoring about in this context is that the people of Israel had become so spiritually depraved that the Lord used the words of whoring about and whores as an analogy to bring home the point of how depraved they had become.

Look again closely at verses 6 to 14. In them you will see that the Lord calls out the people first, and then he adorns them.

So many people today think they need to be right with God by their actions first before they can come to faith to Him. This is so wrong!! You will be never be right with God until you place your trust in Him. Then He will supply you with strength by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to follow Him and be obedient to Him and to grow in our trust and love for Him.

In fact, even when you place your faith in Christ, your faith is a gift from God. Ephesians 2:8 says,

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God"

As Jonah 2:9 says,

"...Salvation belongs to the LORD!"

The only thing we contribute to our salvation is our sins. Our decision to believe, repent of our sins, faith, justification, sanctification, and future glorification, are all from the Lord.

When we place our faith in other things, places, or people, we have become like the people of Israel. We have become spiritual whores, whoring about for what will satisfy us.

Only Jesus satisfies. With a God, who comes after us first and then equips us with what we need, how can we continue to whore about after things that will never satisfy?

I am not intending to insult anyone by calling them a whore. I am using exactly the same imagery that the Lord used. It was applicable to the people of Israel and it is applicable to us today.

I thank God that He did the choosing, that He did the regeneration, that He did the saving, and that He is doing the sanctifying.

You may ask, "What role do I take in my salvation?" Well, even though the Lord is sovereign we are still responsible for the choices we make.

Those that do not go to heaven can not claim that God did not choose them. They will not be in Heaven because they chose not to place their faith in Christ.

Deuteronomy 29:29 is a great verse,

""The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law."

How the sovereignty of God and man's responsibility for his choices work is a mystery even to the keenest theological minds. For me, I take great confidence in the fact that the Lord chose me. And because of this, I want to live a life that will glorify and honor Him.

Ephesians 1:3-10 states this truth much more eloquently than I,

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴ even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, ⁸which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight ⁹ making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ ¹⁰as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth."

For those who are saved in Christ, praise be to God. For those who have not believed in Christ as their Lord and Savior, I would ask that you study the Scriptures. I would start with the Gospel of John. Read about Jesus, who He was, and what He did for us.

And then, after prayer I would hope that you would ask the question and do as the apostle Paul stated in Acts chapter 16.

^"30Then he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" ³¹And they said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." ³²And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. ³³And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. ³⁴Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God."

(Acts 16:30-34)

Soli Deo Gloria.

Today's post was submitted by Russ Shellhamer.