Your fame went out among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through My splendor which I had bestowed on you," says the Lord GOD.—Ezekiel 16:14
The verse above brought to mind these beautiful words from a book I am reading by Jesse Penn-Louis:
The Whisper of the King
Behold, thou art fair, My friend; . . . thine eyes are as doves”—Song of Solomon 1:15
The Well-Beloved beholds the Holy Dove, the Eternal Spirit of the Father, through whom He offered Himself unto God and became obedient unto death, “yea, the death of the cross,” shining through the eye of the soul whose gaze is turned wholly toward Him in entire abandonment and trust.
Through the power of the same Spirit she has been enabled to yield herself wholly to her Lord, and she is becoming single-eyed in her choice of Christ and His cross at all costs. Therefore He exclaims, “Thou art fair, My friend; thou hast doves’ eyes.”
The Response of the Soul
Behold, Thou art fair, my Beloved. . . . Our couch is green. The beams of our house are cedars . . . our rafters are cypresses. I am . . . a lily of the valleys”7 (1:16–17, mg., and 2:1).
The soul in true self-effacement returns all the praise to her Beloved, for she knows that she is “fair” only through the indwelling presence of her Lord. By His grace alone has her heart been set to know Him and her will bent to choose to follow Him fully. His people are “willing in the day of [His] power” (Psalm 110:3, KJV). It is all of grace.—Jesse Penn-Louis from her book The Hidden Ones - The Life of a Believer as Illustrated in the Song of Solomon.
As I read Ezekiel 16:14 this morning I thought how much more excellent and worthy and profitable it is to think on spiritual beauty rather than the worldly, quickly fading kind. To place my focus on Him rather than on me…on my many flaws...imagined or otherwise in the unkind mirror of my fleshly mind. Today I will think on spiritual beauty...Christlikeness. I have been raised with Christ, I will set my mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. When the Lord makes me beautiful, I will be beautiful indeed...I will be beautiful FOREVER.
For the LORD takes pleasure in His people;
He will beautify the humble with salvation.—Psalm 149:4
rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.—1 Peter 3:4
that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.—Ephes 5:27
And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.—1 Cor 15:49
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.—2 Cor 3:18
to grant to those who mourn in Zion- to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.—Isaiah 61:3, ESV
For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus' sake. For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.—2 Corinthians 4:5-6
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death is working in us, but life in you.—2 Corinthians 4:7-12
Summary of Chapter 16 for perspective…
Ezekiel is very vivid! In the first 14 verses of chapter 16 he details God’s love and care for Jerusalem. It reads like a rags to riches story. Sadly, however, the story doesn’t end at verse 14. Verses 15-34 detail (in equally vivid terms) Jerusalem’s harlotry and adultery in turning from looking to God to looking and trusting in her own beauty. Verses 35-52 speak to God’s judgments on Jerusalem for the vileness of her sin. In verses 53-59 having spoken to the sin of Jerusalem and her subsequent judgment, Ezekiel by the Spirit of God, now speaks words of consolation to her. In judgment God always remembers mercy. Israel would certainly be judged but there would be restoration. God would not abandon his people…verse 8 of the same chapter tells us why.
"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.—Ezekiel 16:8
God will keep His promises both to Jerusalem and to us, as believers. He will complete the good work He began in us.
Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.—1 John 3:2
