And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head.
The Lord adorned Jerusalem as His covenant bride with gifts of affection to display her beauty as His own. Her surpassing loveliness and honor came wholly from Him, for He made her lovely with His own beauty, grace, righteousness and holiness. So also the pardoned sinner after repentance is honored and covered with Christ's perfect righteousness, his beauty coming from God's comeliness and not his own merit. The city portrayed as a woman stands for the professed church, and an immoral woman for a corrupt and apostate church, so Jerusalem espoused to the Lord and then turned harlot by seeking the friendship of the world, joining herself to the nations and their gods, and entering unlawful union with earthly powers. Her fall was a moral fall and rejection by God, as with the Babylon of Revelation 17, with her destruction deferred for a considerable time after she had fallen.
Setting and Marriage Imagery
Ezekiel 16:12 falls within the first twenty chapters of Ezekiel, given through Ezekiel among the captives in Babylonia by the river Chebar while Jeremiah was prophesying in Jerusalem. The chapter's marriage language portrays the Lord making a covenant with His people so that they became His, which they afterward broke by trusting in another. That covenant union does not describe the marriage of the Lamb at the end. Marriage then was accompanied by customs and ceremony such as betrothal, the bride's move from her father's house to her husband's, solemn covenants, feasts, and the presence of friends.
In the allegory Jerusalem is the wife and the people are her children. The jewel on the forehead, the earrings in the ears, and the beautiful crown upon the head are gifts and tokens of affection adorning Jerusalem. They display her beauty as the Lord's bride.
Beauty Bestowed by God
The jewel on the forehead, the earrings in the ears, and the beautiful crown upon the head are figures of the spiritual beauty that God Himself bestowed upon His church. That adorning signifies the grace and loveliness with which He clothes His people, making them surpassingly lovely with His own beauty. Their righteousness and holiness and life are derived from Him, and the beauty and honor they bear are gifts of His majesty.
The same adorning belongs also to the pardoned individual whom God honors and beautifies. After godly sorrow and repentance for guilt, He covers such a one with the robe of Christ's perfect righteousness. The beauty then seen is not of personal merit but comes from God's own comeliness put upon the forgiven sinner.
Harlot Church and Babylon
The combined figure of a city and a woman stands for a church, for the professed people of God, with a woman denoting the church and a lewd or immoral woman denoting a corrupt, apostate church. The jewel on the forehead with the earrings and beautiful crown belongs to that symbolic portrayal of unfaithfulness, in which the chosen people, the Jews, are shown by their city Jerusalem as a lewd woman playing the harlot with many lovers when they apostatized from God. This use of a woman for a church bears directly on the woman and harlot of Revelation 17, identifying her as an ecclesiastical body, a professedly religious and corrupted body rather than earthly civil power in the abstract.
The Jewish church, represented by Jerusalem, was espoused to the Lord and then became a harlot in the same manner as the Babylon of Revelation, by apostatizing from God and seeking the friendship of the world and entering unlawful union with the kings of the earth. That unfaithfulness meant joining herself to the surrounding nations and to Babylon itself, worshiping their gods, and rejecting God's precepts after forsaking God her husband. Because the church is lawfully married to God alone, unlawful union of His church with the world is fornication and adultery, and the covenant relationship set forth with its adornment makes union with the world spiritual adultery and unfaithfulness to God. Israel's backsliding, idolatry, and conformity to the world are so described as adultery, and Israel's history in this chapter serves as a prototype for the apostate church that rejects God's message and seeks the support of earthly powers instead of the Lord.
Her fall illustrates the fall of Babylon, for the Jewish church espoused to the Lord became unfaithful to Him and her fall was her moral fall and her rejection by God. That fall was not her immediate destruction, since her destruction was deferred for a considerable period after she had fallen and been rejected, with destruction coming later after rejection.
The Lord adorned Jerusalem as His covenant bride with gifts of affection to display her beauty as His own. Her surpassing loveliness and honor came wholly from Him, for He made her lovely with His own beauty, grace, righteousness and holiness. So also the pardoned sinner after repentance is honored and covered with Christ's perfect righteousness, his beauty coming from God's comeliness and not his own merit. The city portrayed as a woman stands for the professed church, and an immoral woman for a corrupt and apostate church, so Jerusalem espoused to the Lord and then turned harlot by seeking the friendship of the world, joining herself to the nations and their gods, and entering unlawful union with earthly powers. Her fall was a moral fall and rejection by God, as with the Babylon of Revelation 17, with her destruction deferred for a considerable time after she had fallen.
Setting and Marriage Imagery
Ezekiel 16:12 falls within the first twenty chapters of Ezekiel, given through Ezekiel among the captives in Babylonia by the river Chebar while Jeremiah was prophesying in Jerusalem. The chapter's marriage language portrays the Lord making a covenant with His people so that they became His, which they afterward broke by trusting in another. That covenant union does not describe the marriage of the Lamb at the end. Marriage then was accompanied by customs and ceremony such as betrothal, the bride's move from her father's house to her husband's, solemn covenants, feasts, and the presence of friends.
In the allegory Jerusalem is the wife and the people are her children. The jewel on the forehead, the earrings in the ears, and the beautiful crown upon the head are gifts and tokens of affection adorning Jerusalem. They display her beauty as the Lord's bride.
Beauty Bestowed by God
The jewel on the forehead, the earrings in the ears, and the beautiful crown upon the head are figures of the spiritual beauty that God Himself bestowed upon His church. That adorning signifies the grace and loveliness with which He clothes His people, making them surpassingly lovely with His own beauty. Their righteousness and holiness and life are derived from Him, and the beauty and honor they bear are gifts of His majesty.
The same adorning belongs also to the pardoned individual whom God honors and beautifies. After godly sorrow and repentance for guilt, He covers such a one with the robe of Christ's perfect righteousness. The beauty then seen is not of personal merit but comes from God's own comeliness put upon the forgiven sinner.
Harlot Church and Babylon
The combined figure of a city and a woman stands for a church, for the professed people of God, with a woman denoting the church and a lewd or immoral woman denoting a corrupt, apostate church. The jewel on the forehead with the earrings and beautiful crown belongs to that symbolic portrayal of unfaithfulness, in which the chosen people, the Jews, are shown by their city Jerusalem as a lewd woman playing the harlot with many lovers when they apostatized from God. This use of a woman for a church bears directly on the woman and harlot of Revelation 17, identifying her as an ecclesiastical body, a professedly religious and corrupted body rather than earthly civil power in the abstract.
The Jewish church, represented by Jerusalem, was espoused to the Lord and then became a harlot in the same manner as the Babylon of Revelation, by apostatizing from God and seeking the friendship of the world and entering unlawful union with the kings of the earth. That unfaithfulness meant joining herself to the surrounding nations and to Babylon itself, worshiping their gods, and rejecting God's precepts after forsaking God her husband. Because the church is lawfully married to God alone, unlawful union of His church with the world is fornication and adultery, and the covenant relationship set forth with its adornment makes union with the world spiritual adultery and unfaithfulness to God. Israel's backsliding, idolatry, and conformity to the world are so described as adultery, and Israel's history in this chapter serves as a prototype for the apostate church that rejects God's message and seeks the support of earthly powers instead of the Lord.
Her fall illustrates the fall of Babylon, for the Jewish church espoused to the Lord became unfaithful to Him and her fall was her moral fall and her rejection by God. That fall was not her immediate destruction, since her destruction was deferred for a considerable period after she had fallen and been rejected, with destruction coming later after rejection.