A Sinner's Only Hope

Ezekiel 16 is a long narrative describing Israel's past from God's perspective. The terms are not flattering to this faltering nation. They began ignominiously, they failed continually, and by every estimation they did not deserve the grace God showed them again and again. 

Ezekiel 16:1–5 (ESV) Again the word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations, 3 and say, Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. 4 And as for your birth, on the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. 5 No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you, but you were cast out on the open field, for you were abhorred, on the day that you were born.

The first 5 verses include terms that we generally would not find in the Genesis account. Abram was called to leave Ur of the Chaldeans and followed the Lord's voice to Canaan. However, here, God is showing them that their own source was Himself. Otherwise, they, like many other nations and peoples before them, would have been tossed on the ash heap of history. 

Ezekiel 16:6–7 (ESV) “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.

God's intervention amid Israel's birth is through His speech, His word that they should LIVE. That is all it takes. God's Word produces life in our souls and rescues us from death. 

God did not just bring them to life, He chose to care for them throughout life. Verse 8 describes the ancient practice of a man taking a bride under his care:

Ezekiel 16:8 (ESV) “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.

The Lord covered their shame, the Lord promised them provision, and the Lord took them for Himself. 

Ezekiel continues on by describing God's lavish blessings bestowed upon them. The passage culminates in what can only be assumed to be a poetic description of the age of Solomon's first decade of leadership, where kings and queens and foreign lands came to hear and see God's grace upon the nation. 

Ezekiel 16:14 (ESV) And 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.

Yet in their beauty, the downfall of Israel began. 

Ezekiel 16:15 (ESV) “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.

God describes their idolatry and whoredom as a faithless bride who gave herself to any and all who would pay attention to her. The practice of which led to the ultimate degradation - the sacrifice of their young to the false gods of other nations. 

Ezekiel 16:20–22 (ESV) And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings so small a matter 21 that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them? 22 And in all your abominations and your whorings you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, wallowing in your blood.

Perhaps most damaging to the narrative from the Lord's perspective is the description of Israel as a prostitute who did not even seek payment for her services. They gladly paid their way into enslavement to the idols of their age. 

Ezekiel 16:30–31 (ESV) “How sick is your heart, declares the Lord GOD, because you did all these things, the deeds of a brazen prostitute, 31 building your vaulted chamber at the head of every street, and making your lofty place in every square. Yet you were not like a prostitute, because you scorned payment.

Thus, Ezekiel 16 is described in the first two acts of Israel's history. And what do we learn? We see God's heart for helpless people. He sees the dead and says to them, "Live!" Yet many often fail to remain steadfast to the One who saves and sustains them. Apart from His love, we cannot live.

We see in this nation what we see in the human heart: a wandering lust for that which cannot protect, care for, or guide. Our hearts wander away continually, even when we see the damage they do. The hope of Israel in her forsaken state is the hope of all—a Savior who reaches into the depths of our sickened hearts and speaks, "Live again." When He speaks, we come back to life. 

There's far more to learn from Ezekiel 16, but thus far, it must be acknowledged the depth of our despair in sin. Apart from true and deep heart change brought by the Holy Spirit, we cannot and will not be saved. Our salvation is His Work, not ours, by His power and not our own. Israel's history bears witness to the sinner's only hope—God's miraculous intervention upon the human heart.