THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Ezekiel: Effective Ministry To The Spiritually Rebellious

Part XVII: God's Gracious, Humbling Restoration Of Jerusalem In The Kingdom

(Ezekiel 16:53-63)

I. Introduction

A. The sin of apostacy, or departing from the Lord, is often accompanied by the sin of great pride.

B. This was Jerusalem's problem, so in then punishing and restoring Jerusalem in fulfillment of His gracious promises to Her, God also planned to deal forever with her former false pride as Ezekiel 16:53-63 describes.

C. We thus view that passage for our insight, instruction and edification (as follows):

II. God's Gracious, Humbling Restoration Of Jerusalem In The Kingdom, Ezekiel 16:53-63.

A. Beginning at Ezekiel 16:53, God promised in grace to restore Sodom and her surrounding villages together with restoring Samaria and her surrounding villages while also restoring Jerusalem with these her "sister" cities in apostacy. This restoration will occur in the future Messianic Kingdom, for even the knowledge of Sodom's location has since been erased due to the great devastation she faced in God's judgment of fire and brimstone from the heavens, Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 1258; Genesis 19:24-25, 27-28.

B. When this restoration occurs, Jerusalem will be ashamed of all the wickedness she had committed against God in that her restoration had given Sodom and Samaria comfort that they of necessity must be restored since their apostacy had not attained to the level of Jerusalem's sin! (Ezekiel 16:54-55 with 16:52) The reasoning goes that if God would restore a far more wicked Jerusalem, then the less wicked cities of Sodom and Samaria had the comforting hope that God in His grace would restore them along with His restoration of Jerusalem!

C. The Lord noted that during Jerusalem's apostacy, she had been so proud that she did not even mention the name of Sodom since it was a city viewed by Jerusalem as so evil, it was not worth mentioning, Ezekiel 16:56.

D. However, Jerusalem herself became so wicked that she also became an object of reproach to even the neighboring pagan Arameans and Philistines, those all around Jerusalem who came to despise her like she had despised wicked Sodom, Ezekiel 16:57.

E. Accordingly, Jerusalem would bear the penalty of her spiritual lewdness and her abominations, having to live down her own evil record that had caused her in turn to be despised by neighboring pagans, Ezekiel 16:58-59.

F. Nevertheless, God in His great grace would remember His covenant with Jerusalem and would establish for her a better, everlasting covenant that she could not break by sin, Ezekiel 16:60.

G. At that time of the future Messianic Kingdom, Jerusalem will recall her past apostacy and be ashamed when she witnesses the restoration of Sodom and Samaria along with her, and God will given them to Jerusalem as daughters under her influence and leadership, but in grace and not on the basis of His former conditional Mosaic covenant in the dispensation of the Mosaic Law, Ezekiel 16:61; Ibid.

H. When God establishes Jerusalem under His new gracious covenant, she will know that He is the Lord, v. 62.

I. God will then make atonement for all the wickedness Jerusalem had committed, and she will recall her wicked past and be so ashamed of it that she will never again open her mouth to degrade anybody else due to her deep humiliation of her past sinful record, Ezekiel 16:63. Zechariah 12:10-13:1 predicts this repentance by Israel when every individual in the nation will mourn apart from others in realizing they had each rejected their Messiah Jesus, but how God will graciously open up a spiritual fountain of cleansing for them.

Lesson: Though Jerusalem in her apostacy was so arrogant regarding Sodom in particular that she did not bother to mention the name of Sodom due to its heinous spiritual history, in the Messianic Kingdom, God will of necessity restore Samaria and Sodom since they were less wicked than Jerusalem eventually became, and God had planned to restore Jerusalem in grace regardless if she herself had been despised by even pagan Arameans and Philistines. Accordingly, Jerusalem would be humiliated at the implications of her great past wickedness, and would forever be purified of her pride by God's immensely gracious restoration of her along with the restoration of other evil cities.

Application: (1) If we ever view ourselves as being innately "better" than another party, we need to repent of our pride that often signals other sins lest God expose our sinfulness to others to our humiliation, 2 Corinthians 10:12. (2) If God lets a trial arise that causes us to see our spiritual weakness or sinfulness in some realm, may we learn from the experience to avoid being proud, but see our great vulnerability to sinful weakness that we cleave to the Lord all the more for His righteousness! (3) May we realize that we stand before God as saints by God's grace alone, never based on any innate goodness within ourselves, and thus always be gracious toward everybody else.