Ezekiel 16:49

The Bible says in Ezekiel 16:49-52, “Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.[50] And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.[51] Neither hath Samaria committed half of thy sins; but thou hast multiplied thine abominations more than they, and hast justified thy sisters in all thine abominations which thou hast done.[52] Thou also, which hast judged thy sisters, bear thine own shame for thy sins that thou hast committed more abominable than they: they are more righteous than thou: yea, be thou confounded also, and bear thy shame, in that thou hast justified thy sisters.” God calls the wicked nations the sisters of Israel because Israel had become so much like them. But then God says that Israel had become worse than the heathen nations. How sad that a nation whose destiny was to be a godly nation ended up becoming worse than the ungodly ones. I wonder if the same thing is happening today? God said to Israel in verse 51, “thou hast multiplied thine abominations more than they.” And God said, “they are more righteous than thou.” One thing is for certain: everyone needs a Savior because everyone sins no matter what is their spiritual heritage.

The Bible says in Ezekiel 16:53-58, “When I shall bring again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then will I bring again the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them:[54] That thou mayest bear thine own shame, and mayest be confounded in all that thou hast done, in that thou art a comfort unto them.[55] When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate.[56] For thy sister Sodom was not mentioned by thy mouth in the day of thy pride,[57] Before thy wickedness was discovered, as at the time of thy reproach of the daughters of Syria, and all that are round about her, the daughters of the Philistines, which despise thee round about.[58] Thou hast borne thy lewdness and thine abominations, saith the LORD.” In verse 53 God talks about the captivity of these nations. In other words they all came to their natural end: someone else defeated and took their people captive. When you sin, and do not repent, and go away from God, there is only one possible consequence: sorrow and loss. It happened to Sodom, it happened to Samaria, it happened to the Philistines, and it happened to Israel. There was a lot of immorality involved, like there always is when people go away from God. But the spiritual problems lead to the morality problems. First they went away from God, and then they became immoral. Also, they had the sin of pride, mentioned in verse 56. “Pride goes before a fall,” it says in Proverbs. Someone who thinks they are something when they are nothing is a fool, and things will not end well with such a person.

But in spite of Israel’s failures and their many sins, God had a plan to provide salvation and deliverance. God’s plan involved a new covenant. Israel had broken the old covenant, so God decided to give them a new one. It says in Ezekiel 16:59-63, “For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, which hast despised the oath in breaking the covenant.[60] Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant.[61] Then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed, when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder and thy younger: and I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not by thy covenant.[62] And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD:[63] That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord GOD.” In verse 59 God said that the Israelites broke their word and broke the covenant. We are talking about the Old Covenant, also known as the Mosaic Covenant, and commonly called the Old Testament. So does that mean that now everything is ruined? Because human beings failed, it is all over? No, God does what man cannot do. Of course, God does not give up. Israel ruined the first covenant, the covenant of the law, and so God simply designed a new covenant: a covenant that is much better. The first thing that God said in this passage about the new covenant is that it will not end. It will not have the limitations of the old covenant. God said, “I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant.” The new covenant will never end. The old covenant ended when Jesus died on the cross. Jesus fulfilled the Old Covenant because Jesus was the only one to obey the old covenant. And Jesus also fulfilled the old covenant because He paid the penalty for everyone else’s failure, and the penalty was death.

What was the New Covenant? The word “covenant” means “testament.” The New Covenant was the New Testament. Jesus described the new covenant when He said in Matthew 26:26, “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” One of the characteristics of the new covenant is that we must repent of our sins when we turn to Jesus. God said in Ezekiel 16:61, “Then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed.” When people are awakened to shamefulness of their sins and seek forgiveness from Christ, then and only then do they enter into the magnificent benefits of the new covenant.

Looking to the future God said about the new covenant in Ezekiel 16:63, “And I will establish my covenant with thee.” God established the new covenant. The emphasis is on what God has done for us. That is what the new covenant is all about. Jesus died for us. Jesus forgives us. Jesus gives us eternal life freely. There was no sense giving people responsibilities as far as establishing the covenant. That was done with the old covenant, and people failed. There will be no such failure with the new covenant because Jesus does it all. That is why He said on the cross, “It is finished.” He fulfilled the law. He lived the righteous life. He died for our sins. That is grace.

The Bible says in Ezekiel 17:1-10, “And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,[2] Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable unto the house of Israel;[3] And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; A great eagle with great wings, longwinged, full of feathers, which had divers colours, came unto Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar:[4] He cropped off the top of his young twigs, and carried it into a land of traffick; he set it in a city of merchants.[5] He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful field; he placed it by great waters, and set it as a willow tree.[6] And it grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned toward him, and the roots thereof were under him: so it became a vine, and brought forth branches, and shot forth sprigs.[7] There was also another great eagle with great wings and many feathers: and, behold, this vine did bend her roots toward him, and shot forth her branches toward him, that he might water it by the furrows of her plantation.[8] It was planted in a good soil by great waters, that it might bring forth branches, and that it might bear fruit, that it might be a goodly vine.[9] Say thou, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Shall it prosper? shall he not pull up the roots thereof, and cut off the fruit thereof, that it wither? it shall wither in all the leaves of her spring, even without great power or many people to pluck it up by the roots thereof.[10] Yea, behold, being planted, shall it prosper? shall it not utterly wither, when the east wind toucheth it? it shall wither in the furrows where it grew.” This parable is to emphasize that there would be two nations, but one of them would not prosper. The nation had a good start. It could have prospered, but notice what God says how it will end up. God said in verse 10, “Yea, behold, being planted, shall it prosper? shall it not utterly wither, when the east wind toucheth it? it shall wither in the furrows where it grew.” That was Israel.

Who was the other nation that would come from the east? The next passage gives us the answer. All Bible students know that it was Babylon. Why did Babylon become a great nation? God raised them up to use them to punish Israel. The Bible says in Ezekiel 17:11-16, “Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,[12] Say now to the rebellious house, Know ye not what these things mean? tell them, Behold, the king of Babylon is come to Jerusalem, and hath taken the king thereof, and the princes thereof, and led them with him to Babylon;[13] And hath taken of the king's seed, and made a covenant with him, and hath taken an oath of him: he hath also taken the mighty of the land:[14] That the kingdom might be base, that it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping of his covenant it might stand.[15] But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and much people. Shall he prosper? shall he escape that doeth such things? or shall he break the covenant, and be delivered?[16] As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely in the place where the king dwelleth that made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he brake, even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die.” In verse 12 God calls Israel “the rebellious house.” Rebellion is a great sin. God is over all. Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. If you turn to Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, part of your attitude will be a surrender and a submission to Him. Rebellion against God will keep you from Jesus, rebellion against God will keep you out of heaven, and rebellion against God will doom your soul to hell forever and ever. Look what happened to Israel because they rebelled. There was a consequence.

You cannot rebel against God without there being a terrible consequence, and probably many terrible consequences. One of the consequences for Israel was described in verse 12 also: “Behold, the king of Babylon is come to Jerusalem, and hath taken the king thereof, and the princes thereof, and led them with him to Babylon.” The enemies of Israel were given the upper hand. To this day Israel is still in that circumstance. Jerusalem is trodden down of the Gentiles. Israel must rely upon Gentile nations to help ensure their survival. Eventually, it will get much worse for Israel. God knows how to get individuals and nations to turn to Him. During the Great Tribulation the antichrist will bring the worse persecution ever to the Jewish people in Israel. It will take the return of Christ to destroy the armies of the antichrist at the Battle of Armageddon, and then finally, the nation of Israel will turn from its rebellion against God and will turn to Jesus the Messiah.

Back in the time of Ezekiel, even though Babylon had conquered them, the king of Israel tried to make an agreement with the king of Babylon instead of turning to the Lord. But that agreement did not work because God decides what happens to all human beings and all nations, and that agreement was not God’s will. And so the Lord told them in verse 16, “As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely in the place where the king dwelleth that made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he brake, even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die.”

The Bible says in Ezekiel 17:17-19, “Neither shall Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company make for him in the war, by casting up mounts, and building forts, to cut off many persons:[18] Seeing he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, when, lo, he had given his hand, and hath done all these things, he shall not escape.[19] Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; As I live, surely mine oath that he hath despised, and my covenant that he hath broken, even it will I recompense upon his own head.” What God is saying in verse 17 is that an alliance with Egypt will not help them. God decides what is going to happen no matter what any person does. God has His own purposes that we do not know about. The problem is declared in verse 18: Israel broke the covenant: the covenant of the law. We are blessed in the age in which we live to be under the covenant of grace through faith in Jesus. The covenant of the law can only condemn because can keep the law. The Israelites could not keep it, and neither would you and I be able to. The law kills, but the Spirit makes alive. How wonderful that we are told in the New Testament, “Ye are not under law, but under grace.”

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