In Ezekiel 16 God compares His relationship to His people as a marriage. God takes care of the woman in the analogy from the time she is an infant providing everything for her until she becomes His bride, yet she commits adultery then turns to prostitution. It applies to Judah and most specifically to Jerusalem and was fulfilled in Ezekiel’s time. It compares the infant in the analogy to the first century church and the falling away of the church today, ultimately leading to comparing the prostitute in the analogy to the false church of the last days.
Ezekiel 16:15-19
"'But you trusted in your beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute. You lavished your favors on anyone who passed by and your beauty became his. You took some of your garments to make gaudy high places, where you carried on your prostitution. Such things should not happen, nor should they ever occur. You also took the fine jewelry I gave you, the jewelry made of my gold and silver, and you made for yourself male idols and engaged in prostitution with them. And you took your embroidered clothes to put on them, and you offered my oil and incense before them. Also the food I provided for you-- the fine flour, olive oil and honey I gave you to eat-- you offered as fragrant incense before them. That is what happened, declares the Sovereign LORD.
"'But you trusted in your beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute. You lavished your favors on anyone who passed by and your beauty became his. You took some of your garments to make gaudy high places, where you carried on your prostitution. Such things should not happen, nor should they ever occur. You also took the fine jewelry I gave you, the jewelry made of my gold and silver, and you made for yourself male idols and engaged in prostitution with them. And you took your embroidered clothes to put on them, and you offered my oil and incense before them. Also the food I provided for you-- the fine flour, olive oil and honey I gave you to eat-- you offered as fragrant incense before them. That is what happened, declares the Sovereign LORD.
The woman has taken all the things that have been lovingly provided for her and turns them into something corrupt.
Ezekiel 16:20 "'And you took your sons and daughters whom you bore to me and sacrificed them as food to the idols. Was your prostitution not enough?
The question is answered in the following. No, her prostitution was not enough.
Ezekiel 16:33
Every prostitute receives a fee, but you give gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from everywhere for your illicit favors.
Every prostitute receives a fee, but you give gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from everywhere for your illicit favors.
She was worse than a prostitute receiving a fee. She was bribing her lovers to come to her. This prophetic analogy will be applied later to the apostate and false church actively working against the basic foundations of the Christian faith. Even today, many churches entice people to come luring them in with everything but the gospel. This begins the falling away that precedes the Day of the Lord and God's wrath.
However, as always, God gives us this promise.
Ezek 16:63Then, when I make atonement for you for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your humiliation, declares the Sovereign LORD.'" Praise God, He made atonement for us through Jesus!
But prior to that promise, God declares, "I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth..."
The covenant made "in the days of your youth" reminds us of the early church and the Followers of the Way. Oh, how far we have strayed from the ways of The Way!
The last verses today contain an admonition to repent, turn away from our offenses, and get a new heart and a new spirit. And maybe go back to the ways of The Way?
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