Ezekiel chapter 16 is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. It isn't a chapter most people talk about, or have even ever read, and I would venture only a handful of people have ever preached a sermon on it in the past fifty years or more. Aside from Gungor's song, "Ezekiel", I've never heard any minister speak on it. However this is one of the most visually evoking and powerful passages in the Bible, with a message so clear and touching I can't help but read in awe. I certainly recommend reading the whole chapter; the whole book of Ezekiel would be better of course, but for the time being read the following selection of verses:
"4 And as for your birth, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt or swaddled with bands at all.5 No eye pitied you to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you; but you were cast out in the open field, for your person was abhorrent and loathsome on the day that you were born.6 And when I passed by you and saw you rolling about in your blood, I said to you in your blood, Live! Yes, I said to you still in your natal blood, Live!7 I caused you [Israel] to multiply as the bud which grows in the field, and you increased and became tall and you came to full maidenhood and beauty; your breasts were formed and your hair had grown, yet you were naked and bare.8 Now I passed by you again and looked upon you; behold, you were maturing and at the time for love, and I spread My skirt over you and covered your nakedness. Yes, I plighted My troth to you and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord, and you became Mine.9 Then I washed you with water; yes, I thoroughly washed away your [clinging] blood from you and I anointed you with oil.10 I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with [fine seal] leather; and I girded you about with fine linen and covered you with silk.11 I decked you also with ornaments and I put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck.12 And I put a ring on your nostril and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown upon your head!13 Thus you were decked with gold and silver, and your raiment was of fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth; you ate fine flour and honey and oil. And you were exceedingly beautiful and you prospered into royal estate.14 And your renown went forth among the nations for your beauty, for it was perfect through My majesty and splendor which I had put upon you, says the Lord God."
How many times have you read or seen on the news the story of a baby abandoned by its mother found in a dumpster somewhere? All our heartstrings are tugged for the baby, along with the bewilderment, possibly anger, at wondering how a mother could do such a horrible thing. Yet every one of us was in that same place before Jesus came. Surrounded by filth, abandoned, forgotten, until Jesus reached in and pulled us out.
God by Ezekiel describes it in such a graphic way it almost makes us cringe to even think about it. A baby so freshly born the umbilical cord isn't even cut and the baby is wallowing in its natal blood. We don't know if the mother died in birth (as suggested by the uncut cord), or if the baby was abandoned.
What we know is that the baby was alone, only minutes old, can't even hold up its head, and along came Jesus strolling through the desert just like he strolled through the garden of Eden, and "stumbles" (though we know He does nothing by chance) upon this baby. I absolutely love His response.
He doesn't walk by the baby, he doesn't call 911, he doesn't look for someone to take the baby, he takes full responsibility. Look at this verse:
6" And when I passed by you and saw you rolling about in your blood, I said to you in your blood, Live! Yes, I said to you still in your natal blood, Live!"
Jesus declares life upon the baby, bestowing it upon her. After bellowing out life and filling her lungs with it, He picks her up and raises her as His own. He doesn't give her cheapo stuff he found in a dumpster, or anything second rate, he gives her the absolute best. Gold and silver, fine oil, honey, and so much more.
(By the way, for those of you confused by the idea of God having "skirts" to wrap around this baby, this is not a reference to skirts as we know them today, but skirts refers to the outer part of His robe or cloak.)
To top it all off, this baby is not only given the best of the best, but He is so proud of her that He decides to show her off to the world, and she becomes famous. Unfortunately that fame goes to her head and leads to her downfall, but that is all in the second part of the chapter, which I'm not going to elaborate on today.
We are the bride of Christ. But just as a prince cannot marry a commoner, God can't either. But Jesus, as prince's tend to do, fell in love with one anyway, even though it was against all the rules. His solution? Take that commoner and transform her into a princess little by little, until she became the queen His kingdom needed.
That is you and I! What an awesome image!
There are of course surely thousands of sermons and truths that could come out of this passage, but today I wanted to simply elaborate on the outer, more visible truths contained within.
Until next time! Many blessings!
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