Order in Worship and Service--Part 6

Jerusalem is personified under the figure of a woman in Ezekiel 16. Her history began as a newly born depraved child. She was neither cleansed nor wrapped in cloths, and she was thrown out into the field (world) to be abhorred. There are spiritual lessons in this chapter for Christ’s assembly, but it cannot be literally applied in all points to the New Testament assembly. Christians learn valuable lessons from the divisions of the chapter. The allegory goes from birth (vv. 3-5), to rebirth (vv. 6-14), to misconduct (vv. 15-34), to punishment (vv. 35-38), and to restoration (vv. 53-63). Israel’s restoration will not be fulfilled until the second advent of Jesus Christ (Rom. 11; Rev. 7).

Ezekiel opens with the covenant God saying to the prophet, “Son of man, make known (not “cause to know”—KJV) to Jerusalem her abominations, and say, Thus says the LORD God to Jerusalem, your origin and your birth are from the land of the Canaanite, your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite” (Ezek. 16:2, 3 NASB). Ezekiel could not give understanding because he did not have that power. However, he was responsible to give the message, which would be sufficient to bring it to their knowledge when the Holy Spirit applied it. God’s message falls on deaf ears if the Spirit of God has not opened them: “The hearing ear and the seeing eye, The LORD has made both of them” (Prov. 20:12 NASB). The ears and the eyes are the two senses by which spiritual things are conveyed to the mind.

Ezekiel was God’s prophet to give the message concerning Israel’s abomination. Jeremiah, a contemporary of Ezekiel, faced some abominations (Jer. 2:5-8). Jeremiah carried on a dangerous ministry. His people were besieged and enslaved. He received nothing from the people but threatening and persecution in return for his faithfulness. The prophet was like a gentle lamb before the slaughter (Jer. 11:18, 19). His own brethren opposed him (Jer. 12:6). Jerusalem conspired against him (Jer. 18:18). He was beaten and imprisoned (Jer. 20:1-11). False prophets opposed him (Jer. 23). An angry mob that thought he must die attacked him (Jer. 26:8). He was thrown into an empty, muddy cistern (Jer. 38:6). His countrymen carried him into Egypt where he was stoned and died in the pit where they put a stone on him (Jer. 43:1, 7; Lam. 3:53).

Jeremiah became frustrated. His frustration resulted from two causes—the sense of inability and the unresponsive circumstances in which he labored. Jeremiah appears to have conquered the first, but he had some difficulty with the latter: “An appalling and horrible thing Has happened in the land: The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule on their own authority; And My people love it so! But what will you do at the end of it?” (Jer. 5:30, 31 NASB). “Harvest is past, summer is ended, And we are not saved” (Jer. 8:20 NASB). The prophet looked to flee when he looked at his circumstances (Jer. 20:17, 18). When he looked to God, he was made to realize the sense of individual responsibility: “But if I say, I will not remember Him Or speak anymore in His name, Then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire Shut up in my bones; And I am weary of holding it in, And I cannot endure it” (Jer. 20:9 NASB). Discouragements of and supports for true ministers are portrayed in Jeremiah’s complaint and his looking to God.

Jeremiah’s inner feeling was strongly tempted to give up his office of prophet, but he did not speak this openly. The Holy Spirit enabled the prophet to overcome the carnal thoughts of his heart. Therefore, Jeremiah was unable to do what he thought he would. Christians cannot do the good they desire because of the flesh, and they cannot do the evil they may desire because of the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit: “For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please” (Gal. 5:17 NASB).

Both Jeremiah and Ezekiel sought to expose every abomination, but the abominations under which both men suffered differed. Jeremiah’s greatest problems are revealed in Jeremiah 2:7-9—“And I [God] brought you into the fruitful land, To eat its fruit and its good things. But you came and defiled My land, And My inheritance you made an abomination. The priests did not say, Where is the LORD? And those who handle the law did not know Me; The rulers also transgressed against Me, And the prophets prophesied by Baal And walked after things that did not profit. Therefore I will yet contend with you, declares the LORD, and with your sons’ sons I will contend” (NASB). On the other hand, Ezekiel had the responsibility of exposing the idolatries, fornications, and adulteries of the Israelites.

The history of Israel was a succession of startling paradoxes. Their worst disasters ushered in their proudest successes. They went through three great crises in their career, and they encountered three great empires—Egypt, Babylon, and Rome. Each time they were crushed, and each time a remnant was delivered. Compare her history with the age of the assembly of Christ. The early assembly suffered the removal of the candlestick, and the Reformation also suffered the removal of the candlestick. The glory of Christ’s return will consummate the last remnant to be delivered.

The following are three great truths in Ezekiel: (1) The sovereign God overrules (1-3). (2) The righteous intercession of God’s judgment is revealed (8-11). (3) God’s gracious restoration will be consummated (40-48).

Ezekiel’s ministry began with a vision of God, and it concluded with a vision of God among His people, the chosen Jews. His prophetic vision of the cherubim and the wheels was designed to correct his despondent mood and assure him that God was keeping watch over His own people in the dark hour of their history. The lives of the children of Israel had not passed out of God’s control. Divine providence rules in the world God created. He never brings anything into existence that He does not control. Therefore, Ezekiel’s vision displayed two outstanding features: (1) The living creatures (cherubim) portrayed the ministries of God’s grace in the world of spiritual agencies. (2) The accompanying wheels symbolized the operations of Divine providence, which are actively arising from God’s foresight.

The same Jerusalem that was personified under the figure of a woman in Ezekiel 16:3 is joined to God in a covenant relationship. Severely punished for her sins, she will again be restored to fellowship under the Surety afforded by God’s covenant of grace. Ezekiel 16 is unparalleled in its figurative language. Jerusalem is representative of the whole nation. Ezekiel saw Israel’s sin as unfaithfulness to the love of God. The allegory begins with an abandoned child subsequent to birth. The child goes through the development of womanhood, marriage, and unfaithfulness of a wife. The chapter concludes the restoration of Israel, which had been assured by the unilateral covenant of grace made by God. Therefore, the interpretation of this prophecy belongs to Jerusalem and the nation of Israel, but there is a lesson for the people of God in any age.

Israel’s birth and destitution are taught in Ezekiel 16:3-6. The Lord found Israel in a lost condition. He included certain ones of national Israel in His unilateral covenant of grace (Rom. 9:3-8). Not all who constituted national Israel were chosen to salvation in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ps. 65:4; John 10:16; Eph. 1:4; Jude 1). Apart from the will of God operating in grace there is no hope for the deliverance of any person. The reason is beyond question because every human being is conceived in sin, brought forth in iniquity, goes forth from the womb speaking lies, and is (not “in”) darkness.

Nothing was in the abandoned child to attract passers-by who saw the loathsomeness that the descendant of an Amorite (talker) and Hittite (descendant of Heth, whose name means “terror”) could become. The whole world of humanity is charged with depravity (Rom. 3:9-20). A court scene of the description of depravity is given: (1) The accused are all under sin. (2) The Judge is God. (3) The jury constitutes the deeds of the law. (4) The charge includes fourteen violations—twice the number of completeness (Rom. 3:11-18). (5) The prosecuting attorney is the law of God (Rom. 3:19). (6) The defense is, every mouth closed (Rom. 3:19). (7) The verdict is, guilty before God (Rom. 3:19).

Every sinner is like the infant exposed in the field (world). How can anyone with whom understanding is impossible (I Cor. 2:11-16) and whose heart is insensible (Ezek. 36:26) repent or believe? Nothing in the sinner delights God’s heart. How can spiritual life, which does not exist in the sinner, assist in giving spiritual life to itself? Since the new creation is the work of the sovereign God, it cannot assist in producing itself. Therefore, the sinner who is dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1) cannot do anything of a spiritual nature until he has been made alive in Christ (Gal. 2:20).

The personal pronoun “I” appears three times in Ezekiel 16:6—“When I passed by you and saw you squirming in your blood, I said to you while you were in your blood, Live! I said to you while you were in your blood, Live!” (NASB). The prophet passed from the introduction to the reality of what God did for Israel. God said to the chosen, “Live!” (Deut. 7:6-8). Nothing was said of “I will if you will,” and no mention was made of a proposal, an offer, or a condition. Scripture teaches none of these things in connection with regeneration. Man does not by his will open the door to let Christ in to unshackle him from the prison of sin. “When I passed by” is not by chance, as in Luke 10:31—“And by chance [sugkuria, by coincidence] a certain priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side” (NASB). God’s passing by was according to His eternal purpose. Who but God could dispense LIFE with a single syllable?

The chosen sinner is the object of regeneration, but he does not participate in making himself alive in Christ. Origination of spiritual life is impossible to anyone born of the flesh. Regeneration is the spiritual life-giving act of God. The nature of regeneration may be described as the beginning of a new life in Christ. This life is so revolutionary that the unregenerate cannot understand why the regenerate does not run with them to the same excess of dissipation (I Pet. 4:4). Because of his union in regeneration with Christ as Savior and the in-working of the Holy Spirit who seals the act, regeneration produces effects on the regenerated individual. He has a new relationship with the Godhead, a new nature, and a new direction of his will. The effects of regeneration are illumination of understanding, elevation of heart, emancipation of will, and rectification of conduct.

The truth that the regenerated person has a new nature does not mean he is no longer a tripartite person—body, soul, and spirit (I Thess. 5:23). As man did not lose any of his faculties in the fall, he does not gain any in regeneration. He remains tripartite as a new person in Christ. Regeneration is the rebirth of a person and not something in him. The old nature is never changed, but the person is changed. Although both the regenerate and the unregenerate are tripartite, the regenerate has the principle of spiritual life, but the unregenerate does not. As man was changed in Adam from what he was in creation, man must be changed in Christ from what he is in Adam.