The prophet Ezekiel paints a beautiful picture for us of the Bride of Jesus – His beautiful church–you and me if you are born again inside of Jesus. We who were once dead in trespasses and sins He has made alive having forgiven us all trespasses, having washed us with the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. Our loving near kinsman redeemer has sought us out and has had compassion on us while we were loathed by others especially Satan and his hosts. We were the object of their scorn and learned to loath ourselves taking his mind as our own.
But God who is rich in mercy to those who call upon Him!! BUT GOD!!!
Eze 16:1 Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Eze 16:2 “Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,
Eze 16:3 and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem: “Your birth and your nativity are from the land of Canaan; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.
Eze 16:4 As for your nativity, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water to cleanse you; you were not rubbed with salt nor wrapped in swaddling cloths.
Eze 16:5 No eye pitied you, to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you; but you were thrown out into the open field, when you yourself were loathed on the day you were born.
Eze 16:6 “And when I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ Yes, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’
Eze 16:7 I made you thrive like a plant in the field; and you grew, matured, and became very beautiful. Your breasts were formed, your hair grew, but you were naked and bare.
There is a time when the Lord will come to us, passing by us, looking upon us with mercy and compassion. It is a kairos time a set time….it is the time He comes to take us to Himself. There we are wandering about in our lost condition…we are living, but living in our own soul strength….which is what living in our own blood says to me. There is a living in His washing and a living in our own blood. I want to be living only inside of His Life, not my old life! Amen?
He saw us struggling in our blood. Or struggling in our soul. Our spiritual life had not really begun…we were struggling to live…such is the way of all people before they enter into Jesus and accept Him as their only life. The Apostolic Bible Polyglot- a Greek old testament has verse 6 this way:-
I beheld you being befouled in your blood.
We were struggling to live inside our own soul —At that time Jesus gave us Life –just enough to continue on….But still struggling, still a mixture or clay and water…still a lump or mud and clay. We struggled and strove in our own soul life to be something, a someone….Who am I? What am I? Where am I going? What is my purpose? Is God real? Does God care? Why? Why? Struggling to …just be. Two steps forward , three steps back….Struggling to be…WHO? We do not know….
For without UNION inside of Jesus we shall never know who we are or where we are.
He saw us at that stage of our development and He passed by us…knowing that we still needed to struggle some more UNTIL WE CAME TO THE PLACE OF LOVE. He knew that we would get sick and tired of struggling and desire His Rest more than anything. He knew that the questions of a separated heart, a divided heart…..would drive us to the place of nakedness before Him…and before all!!
HONESTY!!! I AM SICK OF PRETENDING!! I MUST BE REAL! I MUST KNOW JESUS CHRIST WHOM GOD HAS SENT OR NOTHING ELSE WILL EVER MATTER!! We get desperate!! We are lovesick for Him–the TRUTH–The REVEALER OF SECRETS….OF MYSTERIES….FOR SURELY WE ARE A HIDDEN MYSTERY…AND JUST AS SURELY HE-JESUS MUST KNOW ME? HE MUST BE THE ANSWER?! Though I have believed in Him for years I DO NOT KNOW HIM!! We come to this place of HONESTY with Jesus…and then we SHUT UP and await what He will say to us.
Eze 16:8 “When I passed by you again and looked upon you, indeed your time was the time of love; so I spread My wing over you and covered your nakedness. Yes, I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you, and you became Mine,” says the Lord GOD. nkjv
The Apostolic Bible Polyglot says in a most beautiful way
Eze 16:8a And I went by you, and beheld [to understand and know] you. And behold, it was your time,[kairos-set time, opportune time] and a time of resting up. ABP
Now we need to pause right here and look closely at what the Greek Septuagint brings out here….more than the Hebrew version.It is 12:20 am and I have to work in less than 7 hours but this is amazing me! The Time of LOVE in the NKJV of Ez16:8 is said to be the time resting up in the Greek version.
The Lord sees us struggling and comes to us. Then after allowing us to struggle until we cry out to Him as Paul did “O wretched man that I am-who shall deliver me from this body of death!!!????” He passes by us again and this time He sees and knows and understands that it is the opportune time–kairos time for us to come deeper.
The word translated as resting up in the Greek Old Testament is
G2647
καταλύω
kataluōThayer Definition:
1) to dissolve, disunite
1a) (what has been joined together), to destroy, demolish
1b) metaphorically to overthrow, i.e. render vain, deprive of success, bring to naught
1b1) to subvert, overthrow
1b1a) of institutions, forms of government, laws, etc., to deprive of force, annul, abrogate, discard
1c) of travellers, to halt on a journey, to put up, lodge (the figurative expression originating in the circumstance that, to put up for the night, the straps and packs of the beasts of burden are unbound and taken off; or, more correctly from the fact that the traveller’s garments, tied up when he is on the journey, are unloosed at it end)
Part of Speech: verb
What is it that Jesus wants to do for us to answer our desperate cry? He wants to set us free in our MIND and heart from the things that have been hindering us from knowing Him as He is. He wants to dissolve the lies from our thinking and the binding chords that attach our imagination to them. Jesus will disunite us from the mind of Satan…the separate self mind….the mind that thinks it is alone and responsible to serve God…responsible to be like Jesus by trying to be like Him…Jesus comes at this desperate time in our development to set us free.
He doesnt do it like we think He should though. Instead He does not help us with our efforts at self control. He does not help us “stop sinning”. He DEPRIVES US OF SUCCESS….He demolishes the imagined separate successful self we have tried and struggled so hard to be….He renders it useless….vain…..empty……depriving it of force….He brings the whole wagon train to a HALTING DISMAL STOP!!!
Heb_4:10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.
The garments of self–the identity we have made for ourself all our life—a self separate from God….so we think…a self that is not like God…but will sure as Hell try to be like Him …and by golly I will be a good person those GARMENTS which we try to cover our shame and nakedness with ARE REMOVED by Jesus. These traveling garments which we carefully hide behind so that no one sees our emptiness…are removed …..well they are shown up as the fake identity that they really are…and we are left silent before Him…..And yet for His part—He loves us AS WE ARE…..FALSE IDENTITY AND ALL! He just keeps loving us anyway.
Ez 16:8b AndG2532 I opened and spread outG1276.1 G3588 my wingsG4420 G1473 overG1909 you,G1473 andG2532 I coveredG2572 G3588 your indecency,G808 G1473 andG2532 I swore an oathG3660 to you,G1473 andG2532 enteredG1525 intoG1722 a covenantG1242 withG3326 you,G1473 saysG3004 AdonaiG* the LORD,G2962 andG2532 you becameG1096 mine.G1473 [ABP+]
It is at this point in our development that the full meaning of the Cross is revealed to our weary heart. He takes us under His wing….covers our shame and our nakedness and swears an oath to us. We DONT SWEAR AN OATH TO HIM….HE PROMISES to never leave us. He promises to be our LIFE and our righteousness and our love and our kindness and joy and peace and holiness an..and..and!!!! He promises and He is faithful who also will do it!! and He is.
And we also know that He covers us IN CONJUNCTION WITH OUR FAITH–WHICH is also HIS FAITH INSIDE US. We learn to speak the crazy things that He says about us in His marriage covenant with us. He says you are just like Me…so we dare to say the same thing OUT LOUD. He says You are the righteousness of God inside of Me so we say it back to Him–and that makes Him really happy!! He says that Father fills you full with Himself!!! We dare to declare the same!!
He says we have come PERMANENTLY into the Holy of Holies and dwell under the wings of the Cherubim INSIDE THE VERY HEART OF GOD —inside our heart….we fall over in giddy bouts of joy and exultant laughter—and then we say the same thing back to our Groom.
Eze 16:9 “Then I washed you in water; yes, I thoroughly washed off your blood, and I anointed you with oil.
Eze 16:10 I clothed you in embroidered clothand gave you sandals of badger skin; I clothed you with fine linen and covered you with silk.
Eze 16:11 I adorned youwith ornaments, put bracelets on your wrists, and a chain on your neck.
Eze 16:12 And I put a jewel in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head.
Eze 16:13 Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate pastry of fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly beautiful, and succeeded to royalty.
We are sharers in the DIVINE NATURE–partakers of Jesus Christ—flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone. We have entered into the marriage chamber and have been made ONE SPIRIT with our king. He clothes us with HIMSELF. He washes us with the water of the word that he might sanctify us –and He has sanctified us. He HAS crowned us with tender mercies and with loving kindness. We are covered fully in Him…we are as He is….Righteous Holy and True.
He has thoroughly washed our own blood–our own soulish efforts to be like Him away. He has done away and rendered inoperative the Old man —and we have put on the new man who is created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. We are His bride…and He has clothed us!! He has adorned us!!! We wear The Royal Garment Himself -WE WEAR JESUS CHRIST AS A GARMENT—OUR ONLY LIFE AND RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Be blessed!
Dennis Rhodes
