S5: Day 247: Ezekiel 16–18

0:00Hey, this is Shelby and CJ and we are walking you through Ezekiel. Today we're going to be in chapters 16 through 18. If you haven't yet, hit follow or subscribe wherever you're listening or watching. That just ensures that every day when we post an episode, it pops up in your feed. Okay, Ezekiel 16 through 18. Yep. In fact, right before we started recording this episode, we talked about how there's a heavy chapter in here. And we've had a lot of heavy chapters in Ezekiel, but we're sort of like even sinking a little more. There's a few that are very heavy in Ezekiel 16 is probably one of them. Yeah, definitely. So as we get into this, CJ, can you walk us through 16, 17, 18? What's going on here? Maybe a way to start with Ezekiel 16 is to imagine it as a metaphor for the history of Israel. And that might be a way to sort of create a bucket for us as we go through. A little biblical theology of Israel and the Old Testament.

1:02So Ezekiel in chapter 16 describes Jerusalem as an infant that's been thrown out by her parents, who the Lord takes in and raises with the intention of marrying her when she reaches the proper age. This is a standard practice in the ancient world. And it would have resonated and made total sense to ancient people. So then eventually, Jerusalem grows up to become a woman who can be married. And the Lord marries her, adorns her with fine gold and wealth and luxury and takes care of her as a husband should. But she spurns her husband and she prostitutes herself to other men. And of course, in the metaphor here, it's to other gods. This is supposed to represent Israel turning from the Lord and going after other gods. Adultery is a typical way to describe idolatry in the Old Testament, if we're not familiar with that. So as a result of committing spiritual adultery, the woman, Jerusalem, is thrown out of the Lord's house where her enemies then beat her up and take advantage of her and do horrible

2:06violent things to her. And this is supposed to represent Israel choosing to not fall under the Lord's protection, to spurn her protection and to go out on her own where, sadly, in the ancient world and even today, there are just evil people who want to do evil things to others. And the enemies of this woman represent Babylon in judgment and exile. So you can kind of see this metaphor being built out. And then in 16 verses 60 through 63, here's what we read. After all this negativity, we see some positivity, which is something we've come to expect. So I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth and I will establish a permanent covenant with you. Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your older and younger sisters. I will give them to you as daughters, but not because of your covenant. I will establish my covenant with you and you will know that I am the Lord so that when I make a tonement for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed and never open

3:07your mouth again because of your disgrace. So if we didn't know any better, I mean, this is essentially just anticipating the New Testament and the restoration of God's people. It talks about a tone and it talks about, again, God will remember his people and will restore them because of his goodness, not because of anything they've done. So as they say, I think that'll preach. I think those verses. Yeah. Yeah. That is absolutely something that will preach. So what do we take away from these chapters today and maybe even your last point kind of moves us in that direction? Yeah. Right after chapter 16 is chapter 17 naturally and it gives us a little bit of insight into what happened with Israel. And it talks about how the leadership of Israel relied on foreign kings and foreign powers to save them from God's coming judgment through Babylon. And then in Ezekiel 18, Ezekiel wants to make sure that Israel isn't saying, well, it's the leader's fault for our situation.

4:07It's the leader's fault for not relying on God and relying on other people. And that's why we're being judged. And in Ezekiel 18, Ezekiel narrows in on the idea of individual responsibility. It's up to you individuals to turn from your own sin and to turn towards God because that's where judgment comes from. And I think that this is a good reminder for us. It's really easy to like blame others for maybe something horrible that's happened to you, to blame your parents for not teaching you the proper things or for pastors and leaders for, you know, steering you in the wrong direction. But ultimately what matters according to Ezekiel 18 and according to the Bible as we move towards into the New Testament is your individual allegiance towards the Lord. It's not others fault. It's up to you. It's your responsibility to follow the Lord. And so again, I think Ezekiel actually just speaks to the modern Christian very clearly and very obviously. Yeah. I think I can't remember. I think the title of chapter 18 is even something like individual responsibility for

5:08sin. Right. And one of the first verses in there that really caught my eye said like each man will die for his own sin. And why that caught my eyes? One, what you're saying, we do have personal responsibility for our sin. Yet as I read that, I thought yet Jesus has died in my place. And so that was a beautiful moment of seeing God's wrath and knowing God's mercy and grace in Jesus. So. Thank you for walking us through heavy chapters, hard chapters, but chapters that certainly apply for our lives and are just edifying for us to learn from him as Christians today. So okay, that's going to wrap up 16 to 18 in tomorrow. Are we we're about half? No, we have a little more until we're halfway through this book. We're not quite half-talked. Yeah, we got a while to go. Okay, a few more chapters to go, but we're going to start in chapter 19 tomorrow. Great. Thanks, EJ.