So now, bear your disgrace, because you have given your sisters reason to justify their behavior. Because the sins you have committed were more abominable than those of your sisters; they have become more righteous than you. So now, be ashamed and bear the disgrace of making your sisters appear righteous.
Ezekiel 16:52 NET
In the 16th chapter of Ezekiel, Judah was initially described as a newborn infant who had been abandoned. But God took pity on her and cleaned her up. Then, when she was old enough, he married her and showered her with clothes, jewelry, and other fine things.
But Judah was not content being the wife of God and chased off after other lovers, becoming a prostitute. And worse than a prostitute, she paid her lovers for their attention. She took all that God had given her and gave it to anyone who would satisfy her lustful desires.
What Ezekiel describes here was a spiritual form of prostitution. Judah, in chasing off after the idolatry of the nations around her, was spiritually prostituting herself with these false gods. And God judged and punished her for this spiritual prostitution.
In this passage, God identified Judah’s sister kingdom of Israel and the ancient city of Sodom as her sisters. He told Judah that she had become worse than they were. And those two “sisters” could look at Judah and justify their own activity. They were no worse than Judah and, in some respects, not as bad. They were more righteous than God’s people.
How true is this today? How often can the people of this world justify their actions by saying they are just as good as those who call themselves Christians? And when we are no different than the people of this world, why should we expect them to see any value in being a Christian?
I need to be very careful that my life does not give anyone an excuse for rejecting Christ as savior. Instead, my life should give witness to the transformative work of the indwelling Holy Spirit, drawing people to Jesus.
