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Two Sister’s Terror

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Two Sister’s Terror

Ezekiel 23

Emmanuel Christian Church

10.6.24

INTRODUCTION: It is the ugliest chapter in the entire book of Ezekiel. Of of this ugliest chapter, these are two of some of the ugliest verses: “...they will deal with you in fury. They will cut off your noses and your ears, and those of you who are left will fall by the sword. They will take away your sons and daughters, and those of you who are left will be consumed by fire. They will also strip you of your clothes…” Ezekiel 23:25-26 Can you imagine if that were said about YOU? NOBODY would ever want to go through a trauma like that! NOBODY would choose to walk a path that would lead them to such unimaginable terror and suffering! I said that these were SOME of the ugliest verses in Ezekiel chapter 23. But now, I want to read for you the absolute ugliest verses in the chapter. “Ugliest” because they depict the moment two sisters first set their feet upon the path that led to their disastrous destiny:Ezekiel 23:1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, there were two women, daughters of the same mother. 3 They became prostitutes in Egypt, engaging in prostitution from their youth. In that land their breasts were fondled and their virgin bosoms caressed. 4 The older was named Oholah, and her sister was Oholibah. They were mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem. PROPOSITION: After much careful consideration, I have chosen NOT to read aloud the entirety of Ezekiel chapter 23. As God tells the story of the two sisters of Israel, He pulls no punches. It is a story filled with graphic allusions to lust, debauchery, lewdness, pornography and sexual violence. Anyone who would argue with that description has obviously never read the chapter! But why would God use such disturbing images and language? Several reasons: as a WARNING to the foolish, as a JUDGMENT against the wicked, and as DEMONSTRATION of His jealous nature. The verses before us are an “analogy” - that is to say, a fictional story of two sisters filled with real facts about the historical unfaithfulness of God’s chosen people Israel. Several things are worth noticing. First, two names are mentioned “Oholah” and “Oholibah”- that makes this story personal. You see, from God’s perspective all sin IS a personal affront to Him! Nations like Israel are made up of individuals like us; and when the individuals of a nation turn their back on Him- He takes it VERY personally! The prophet Jeremiah, contemporary of Ezekiel, records these words of God that reflect how our sin personally affects God: Jeremiah 15:6 You have rejected me,” declares the LORD. “You keep on backsliding. So I will lay hands on you and destroy you; I can no longer show compassion. APPLICATION: When we make the decision to sin, it’s not simply about “making our own choices”, or “doing our own thing”- it is nothing less than spitting in the face of God Himself! Who wouldn’t take that personally? So, the story of “Oholah” and “Oholibah” stands as…

  • So where did these two sisters go wrong? It happened back in the days of their youth, in the land of Egypt.
  • If you recall the nation’s history, Jacob (also known as Israel) and his twelve sons moved to Egypt to avoid a famine in the land of Canaan. - Under the care of their brother Joseph who had risen to the place of A WARNING TO THE FOOLISH second in command only to Pharaoh, Jacob and his sons enjoyed the best of the land and the favor of the Egyptian people. And for 400 years, it was the place they called “Home”.
  • But things changed. As Scripture says, “There arose a Pharaoh who knew not Joseph” and the descendants of Jacob, also known as “Israel” became enslaved and horribly mistreated.
  • But that was not the worst of it. During that 400 years in Egypt- the people of “Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” had taken on the nature of Egypt- worshipping idols of pagan gods such as “Apis” instead of the one true God of Abraham!
  • Even after their miraculous escape from their Egyptian slavery, it took just a matter of days before they forgot the God of their deliverance

and turned back to the idolatrous “Apis” “god” of their former slavemasters! APPLICATION: It’s true, children make foolish choices- that’s to be expected. But what can be said of about foolish adults who make childish choices? Of God’s people (represented by Oholah and Oholiba) our text says: “They became prostitutes in Egypt, engaging in prostitution from their youth. In that land their breasts were fondled and their virgin bosoms caressed.” So, why all the sexual references? If Israel’s sin was that of idolatry, why would God use these sexual terms? Simply because, the intimate nature of God’s relationship with His people can only be described by the relationship of marriage and the appropriate sexual intimacy of that union. All throughout Scripture, God uses the covenant relationship of marriage to describe the relationship He intends to have with us. Christ is the Groom. The Church is His Bride. The great Wedding Feast is the heavenly reunion of all God’s people. Jesus’ promise to “go and prepare a place” for us was the duty of a husband to his bride. Even His first miracle was the occasion of a wedding as He transformed water into the finest wine. God’s intention for human sexual expression is between one man and one woman within the protective confines of marriage. It is that special relationship where “the two become one” in heart, mind, soul and flesh. That relationship is an earthly figure of the intimacy He desires with us. That being said, any deviation from that Divine design is a perfect expression of warring, wicked foolish rebellion against God’s plan for our relationship with Him. That is why homosexuality, fornication, adultery and prostitution are not just simply sinful- they are blasphemously sacrilegious! The crime of Israel was that they had given themselves over to the childish spiritual sensuality of idolatry which ensnared them through their infatuation with the pagan gods of Egypt! The only way God could express the damage Israel caused with their idolatry was to compare it to the relational trauma created by deviant sexual conduct in the covenant relationship of marriage.

To put it simply- they had broken the first two commandments: “You shall have no other gods before me”, and “You shall make no idols.” Ezekiel chapter 23 is evidence of how seriously God takes those two directives! So, may the foolish be warned! This chapter its also,

  • Certainly, Israel’s early history with idolatry set the nation on the wrong foot right from the start, but what followed was a string of sinful choices that ultimately led to the entire nation’s judgment. A JUDGMENT AGAINST THE WICKED

  • Now remember, there are two sisters in our story: Oholah and Oholibah representing Samaria and Jerusalem.

  • The mention of the region of Samaria and the city of Jerusalem point to the moment in Israel’s history when it became a divided nation. Here’s what led to that division:

  • It began with King David’s choice to commit adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband to cover up his sin. Because of that, God promised that the sword would never depart from his family. (2 Samuel 12:10).

  • At King David’s death, there was a contentious battle for who would become King-finally resolved with the coronation of his son Solomon.

  • At Solomon’s death, another contest for the kingship took place between Solomon’s foolish son Rehoboam and another popular contender by the name of Jeroboam. Rehoboam threatened hardship upon the people of the nation and effectively caused a split with 10 of the tribes of Israel forming the Northern Kingdom under the leadership of Jeroboam, and the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin forming the Southern Kingdom under the leadership of Rehoboam.

  • The city of Jerusalem was situated in the Southern Kingdom and served as the only legitimate place for the Temple worship of God.

  • Jeroboam, fearing that citizens of his Northern Kingdom would migrate to the Southern Kingdom of Judah out of religious devotion- decided to erect two alternate sites of worship at the cities of Bethel and Dan in order to prevent that from happening.

  • Ultimately, this led the people of the Northern Kingdom of Israel to compromise their worship of God at the Temple in Jerusalem and opened the door for their renewed embrace of idolatry!

  • For the next 200 years, the Northern Kingdom Of Israel, also known as Samaria, continued its spiritual plunge into idolatry- going from bad to unspeakably horrible. Finally, in the year 722 BC, God lowers the hammer of His judgment on the nation through the brutal invasion of the Assyrian army. Oholah meets her final end for having put her feet on the path of idolatry.

  • 135 years later, for the same sin of idolatry, the Southern Kingdom of Judah meets its end at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian army. And so, Oholah’s sister Ohlibah is brought to ruin. APPLICATION: The real-life account of the nation of Israel’s division, decline and destruction as told in the story of Ohola and Oholiba gives us an important insight into the nature of God: He is ABSOLUTELY JUST. From the very beginning, God warned us that disobedience will be punished by DEATH. We should not be surprised, for God to take any other position, He would be UNJUST. This is why Scripture says: Hebrews 2:1 We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. 2 For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, 3 how shall we escape…? God’s justice is… A DEMONSTRATION OF HIS JEALOUSY

  • Again, we have to ask ourselves why did God frame Ezekiel chapter 23 and Israel’s sin of idolatry in the sexual terms of marital infidelity? The answer- because it evokes the powerful emotion of JEALOUSY!

  • Now, here’s where we need to be VERY CAREFUL. God’s jealousy is very different from our own. Almost without exception, human jealousy is not jealousy at all, but rather ENVY. Either someone has taken what we believe is exclusively ours, or we desire what is the possession of someone else. Scripture puts it this way: James 4:1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

  • The Apostle Paul draws the distinction between human jealousy and Godly jealousy as he writes to the Corinthian Christians: 2 Corinthians 11:2I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. (Notice another interesting use of sexual terms in regard to our relationship with God.)

  • So what’s the difference between human jealousy and God’s jealousy? - God’s jealousy is not that of a desire to possess us - by right of Creation He already does!

  • God’s jealousy is not that of selfish, self-interest- but rather the defense of our best interest according to His plan in our creation. CONCLUSION: Let me attempt to illustrate. Suppose a man came through the front door of his house only to find in the bedroom his wife and the next door neighbor engaged in the act of adultery- what would the reaction be? Painful betrayal, and a jealous rage! But change that scenario in only one detail: instead of adultery, it is a rape that is taking place. What then would be his reaction? I can guarantee it would be a violent jealousy in defense of his bride! The sin of idolatry is surely the mother of all sins! It is the simple act of putting anyone or anything in the heart’s first place position that is reserved for God alone. Doing so, makes one fit for the hell of eternal separation from God. Remember this, God takes pleasure in the death of no one. We were created by Him for intimate fellowship with Him. Sin has driven a wedge between us and Him- but in Christ’s redemptive work on the cross, we may be restored in our relationship to God.