Seal of Perfection, Full of Wisdom and Perfect in Beauty
These are the words of the Prophet Ezekiel, from the Lord to the king of Tyre in Ezekiel 28.
I opened up my Bible on the morning of 1 Aug 23 and stumbled upon this verse. The words 'You were the seal of perfection' catching my eyes.
I couldn't resist reading on, although I had planned on continuing my reading on Hosea.
I sat there astounded with what I read (although I am pretty sure that I've read Ezekiel before 😂)
Starting from Eze 25 through to Eze 32, oracles were given against 7 nations, in which Tyre was 1 of them. The lamentation in Eze 28:12-15 was taken up against the king of Tyre (or the principality behind this nation). So, we need to bear in mind that this is the backdrop.
Yet as I read these verses that day, I felt the Holy Spirit trying to show me a parallel that applies to me.
On the day I was created, these were the things that would describe me:
2. In Eden, the garden of God.
3. All the beautiful and good things prepared for me.
4. Anointed and established.
5. On the holy mountain of God, walking back and forth in the midst of fiery stones.
6. Perfect in my ways.
Until iniquity was found in me.
This was the note from my Study Bible for Eze 28:11-19.
God-incidentally, the day before that, I was reading from Hosea 9. As I fixed my eyes on the words 'till iniquity was found in you', this verse in Hosea 9:10 came to mind.
I found IsraelLike grapes in the wilderness;
I saw your fathers
As the firstfruits on the fig tree in its first season.
But they went to Baal Peor,
And separated themselves to that shame;
They became an abomination like the thing they loved.
You see, in a sense, on the day that Israel was created, he was to be grapes in the wilderness and firstfruits on the fig tree in its first season (the finest of its fruits, I dare say).
In both the above, prior to the fall of king of Tyre or the Israelites, all God's creation were, in the beginning, good.
It reminded me of this one truth - that God's original blueprint and design for us is what is in the creation, as found in Genesis. It was and still is.
And God saw that it was good. We repeatedly read this.
(Another) God-incidentally, on the night of 1 Aug 2023 was Greenhouse Chapel. And Ps David Storer taught on the 2 minds that we have - mind of flesh (carnal mind) and mind of the Spirit.
He went way back to the Garden of Eden and taught about how the thought voice from our carnal mind only started after Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings (Gen 3:7). They became afraid because they were naked and they hid themselves (Gen 3:10).
Were they naked before they ate the fruit? Obviously yes.
Were they naked after they ate the fruit? Of course! Nothing has changed outwardly before and after they ate of the fruit.
The one thing that had changed was the fact that they (suddenly) knew that they were naked. It was an internal change. A change brought about as a result of acquiring the knowledge of good and evil.
A knowledge we were not meant to have.
And why are we not to have this knowledge? Was it because God is selfish? Was it because God want to deprive us?
Absolutely NOT!
Was it because God was fearful of us acquiring that knowledge?
YES!
Well, fearful may not be the right adjective to use. But essentially, God was fearful for us (not for His sake). Because of His love for us, His creation. Because He knew what would happen if we were to have that knowledge. He didn't want Adam and Eve to have that knowledge because they (and in turn we) shall surely die (Gen 2:17) when that happened.
God's original blueprint and creation is good.
So everything that He designed, everything He made, everything He intended, everything He instructed are good and are for good. And that good and perfect original creation did not include us having the knowledge of good and evil.
I paused for a moment as this revelation sinked deep into my soul - I closed my eyes and imagined how it would be like if I were to live in Eden, the garden of God.
Not knowing that I was naked, having no thought or emotion of being ashamed nor scared, walking back and forth in the midst of fiery stones (Eze 28:14), perhaps eagerly running towards God every time I heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day (Gen 3:8).
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I imagined I would be free and complete - the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. (Eze 28:12)
But alas!
I was perfect in my ways from the day I was created, till iniquity was found in me (Eze 28:15), just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned. (Rom 5:12)
But take heart, be of good cheer, Jesus has overcome it all. And because of Jesus, we shall overcome it too.
Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. (Rom 5:18-19)
The only way back to the original, good and perfect creation of God is through Jesus.
It is as the apostle Paul said, 'O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!' (Rom 7:24-25)
Am I already perfect and complete? I doubt so.
Am I already exactly like the original blueprint that God has drawn me? Many, including myself, would argue otherwise (sadly).
Am I completely free (naked and unashamed)? Still quite a way to go.
But this I can testify - today I am not that same Irene who first called Jesus her Lord many years ago. I am also no longer the same Irene from 2 years ago, from 1 year ago.
In fact, I am not even the same Irene from a month ago.
Little progress every day - but progress nonetheless - being transformed into the same image (the glory of the Lord) from glory to glory (2 Cor 3:18).
I say this, not with pride, but with joy and thanksgiving.
Because brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, laying aside every weight and sin, and running with endurance this race set before me, I reach forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Phil 3:13-14 and Heb 12:1)
This is what I do. This is what we should all do.
Beloved in Christ, we are the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. (Yes, these words may have been spoken and taken up against the king of Tyre, the nation that God punished, but isn't it true that all of God's creation, in its original, truest, in the beginning form, is good and perfect?)
We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). Let us press forward and return to the original.
Funny how it is a 'return' and yet it is a 'ahead and upward' call of God in Christ.
