Ezekiel 14
1 “Then
came certain of the elders of
2 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,”As the result, probably,
of the previous utterances, certain elders of
came to consult Ezekiel, wishing to know what counsels or what
predictions he
had for them. In ch. 8:1 we have “the elders of
were two groups in the Population of the town, and that
these represented
exiles. The term appears again in ch.20:1. More probably,
however, the terms are
used interchangeably.
3 “Son of man, these men have set up their idols
in their heart, and put the
stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face:
should I be inquired of
at all by them?” These men, etc. The prophet, taught by the word of the Lord,
reads the hearts of those who came to him. The words do not
imply, rather
they exclude, the open practice of idolatry. The sin of the inquirers was
that they had set up idols
(gillulim,
Ezekiel’s favorite word; see note on (ch.6:4)
in their hearts. The
Septuagint. gives διανοήματα – dianoaemata - thoughts of
their hearts - as if to express
this. They
were hankering after the old false
worships in which
they had once, taken part. The stumbling block (see
ch.3:20) of their
iniquity was set up there. That divided heart,
the “double mind” of James 1:8, made true
inquiry, as it made true
prayer for guidance, IMPOSSIBLE!
Shall
I be inquired of at all, etc.? The
“at all” represents the emphatic iteration of the verb in the
Hebrew. The
Vulgate, Numquid interrogatus respondebo eis? gives a fair paraphrase.
Idols in the Heart (v. 3)
temples in a city, containing
innumerable idols — horrible monsters or
beautiful statues, works of
marble, ivory, or gold. Yet if the people do not
worship them no sin is
committed. We have many idols in our museums.
The idols in a missionary
society’s museum do no harm to its custodians.
On the other hand, though no
idol temple stands in our land, and the last
vestige of the old heathenism
has been swept away centuries ago, and the
very notion of worshipping
stocks and stones seems to us ridiculous, yet in
our hearts there may
be things which alienate us from God.
The essential
question is as to what is there
enthroned as in the citadel of the soul.
HEART IS AN IDOL. It is
not everything loved that we are to regard as
an idol. God does not claim the
only affection of our hearts. We may love
God through the love we bear to
those earthly friends who are dear to us.
But God claims the first place,
the throne within. Whatever stands
first in
our estimation is
our god. If some human affection,
pleasure, or sin takes
this pre-eminent position, and
refuses to yield, when required, to the
supreme will of God, that is our
god, our idol.
It is in reference to people who
cherish such idols that God asks, “Should I
be inquired of at
all by them?” it is not likely that
such people would be
disposed to seek counsel from
the true spiritual God. The idols would seem
to be sufficient. But if they
should think to add the worship of the supreme
God to that of their idols, they
would find that this is impossible. There are
men for whom all access to God is cut off. They who cherish evil things or
any rival affections, made evil
by rivalry with the true love of the soul for
God, find that
they cannot reach to God. “Ye
cannot serve God and
mammon” (Luke 16:13).
Observe, however, this only applies to idolatry
in the heart. Heathen people who follow the instincts of
natural religion
and feel after the unseen spiritual
God may find Him (Acts 17:27), though
they have scores of idols in
their houses, because such a genuine search for
God implies the expulsion of
idols from the heart.
GOD. We may disown God
and substitute our idols. But He will not,
cannot, give us up. (“If
we believe not, yet He abideth faithful: He
cannot deny
Himself” - II Timothy 2:13).
He is still our Lord, and
He must take note of the
rebellion of His people. But He is also still our
Father, and, though we may not
care for Him, He has not ceased to love
us. Therefore He will seek His
idolatrous children and plague them with
many a trouble, until He has
induced them to see their folly, cast their idols
out of their hearts, and welcome
back their Lord to His rightful throne.
4
“Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith
the Lord
GOD; Every man of the house of
his heart, and putteth
the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his
face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD
will answer him that
cometh according to the multitude of his
idols;” I will answer him
that
cometh, etc. The two last
words represent the K’ri, or marginal reading of the
Hebrew; the “therein” of the Revised Version, the Kh’-tib,
or written text.
Probably we should read, as in v. 7, “I will answer him by myself.”
5 “That I
may take the house of
are all estranged from me through their
idols.” The words are a threat
rather than a promise. The “double-hearted” shall be taken in the
snare which they have made for themselves.
Idolatry
(vs. 1-5)
It certainly seems strange that, at this period of their
national history, the
Israelites should be chargeable with the folly and sin of idolatry. The
admonitions against this offence had been so numerous,
and the
chastisements following its commission had been so
severe, that the reader
of Old Testament history is surprised to find that at so late a period the
temptation had not been outgrown.
·
THE MULTITUDE AND VARIETY OF THE IDOLATRIES OF
neighboring peoples — from the
Phoenicians upon the north, the Syrians
and Chaldeans
upon the east, and the Egyptians upon the south. Each of
these idolatries had its own
characteristics, and in some way
sprang from,
and ministered
to, the evil passions of human nature. It
would almost seem
as if the kings, the great men
of the land, and the common people
generally, chose such idols as
harmonized with their own tastes or suited
their own convenience. At all
events, the prophet speaks of idols, in the
plural, of the multitude of the
idols, and of every idolater’s own special and
peculiar divinities.
·
THE SEAT OF THESE IDOLATRIES. The people are said to have
set them up “in their heart.” Hills,
valleys, groves, high places, and altars
and temples, were indeed
consecrated, or rather
desecrated, by idol
worship. But all this was
external. There was something much worse;
the
idols were set up in the inner
nature of the worshippers, and there were
honored and
served. That is to say, the belief in
the government of a
righteous and holy God having
been abandoned, many of the Israelites
exalted the vices and crimes
which the deities of the heathen embodied,
sanctioned, and encouraged, and
came in their hearts to love the evils
against which, as a nation, they
were called to witness.
·
THE ESTRANGEMENT FROM GOD WHICH IDOLATRY
PRODUCED. In setting up
the idols in their hearts the people had been
patting “a stumbling block of iniquity”
before their face. The idols came
between them and their God. The house of
all estranged from
me through their idols.” There can be
no rivalry between
the false gods and the true. The
choice has ever to be made. To exalt an
idol, a passion, a taste, a habit,
an association, to a position above that
occupied by the supreme Lord of all, is to dethrone Him from His rightful
place, to forfeit
His regard, to ensure His displeasure.
·
THE INDIGNANT RESPONSE OF GOD TO THE DISHONOR
DONE TO HIM. It was
presumed that, with wicked inconsistency, some
of the Israelites who had been
seduced into idolatrous practices would
nevertheless in some time of
perplexity or affliction resort to the prophets
of Jehovah to seek counsel,
guidance, and comfort. In such circumstances,
how would their conduct be
regarded by the Lord? The word of the Lord
to the prophet should be
attentively considered, “Should I be inquired of at
all by them?...I
the Lord will answer him that cometh according to the
multitude of his
idols.” We are not to believe that any
sincere, lowly,
penitent, and believing
suppliant would be rejected. But those who in
their
hearts cherished the idolatry
which was their shame, and yet for some
selfish purposes had the
effrontery to approach the Lord for counsel and
for help, were assured that their
application should meet with no favorable
response. They were double-hearted
and insincere; and for such there is no
blessing, and indeed no
tolerance.
·
APPLICATION. It is the same today. If with all your hearts ye truly
seek
Him, the request shall not be
offered in vain. But it is useless to draw
near
to God
with the lips while the heart is
far from Him.
6
“Therefore say unto the house of
Repent, and turn yourselves from your
idols; and turn away your
faces from all your abominations.” Turn yourselves, etc.; literally, turn them.
But there is no
sufficient ground for the margin, “Turn others,”
the objective
suffix being the “faces” of
the following clause. In ch. 18:30, 32 the verb is
used by itself. The prophet’s call is to a direct personal repentance, not to
the work of preaching that repentance to others.
Repentance (v.6)
true that God has moved towards
us before we have thought of turning to
Him. It is His goodness that
leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4).
“While we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us”
(Ibid. ch.5:8). But all
this precedes our action. When
we begin to see salvation, the first step
must lead us to the wicket gate
of repentance, and until that has
been
passed through THERE IS NO HOPE FOR US!
John the
Baptist
prepares the way for Christ. “Repent:
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”
(Matthew 3:2). We may try
the short cut of pride, and think to begin the
happy Christian life without
owning our sins and turning from them.
IT IS IMPOSSIBLE! The result will only be a miserable hypocrisy.
“Repent, and turn
yourselves,” etc. It is an action, not
merely a feeling. It
cannot be without deep grief of soul,
yet it does not consist in the grief;
that is but an accompaniment,
though undoubtedly an inevitable
accompaniment. We cannot measure
our repentance by the number of tears
shed, but by the thoroughness of
our revolt against our past. Neither is
there any value in the amount of
time spent in abject contrition. We are not
in this way to consider whether
we have repented sufficiently. The sole
question is as to the reality
and thoroughness of the change by which we
turn from the old way and seek a
better way. (When I first came to
Church by Sydney Maddox on
repentance. He preached that “repentance
is a turning!” – CY – 2014)
THE EVIL ONCE LOVED. The
penitents are to turn from their “idols.”
Insincere repentance weeps for the sins it still clings to. The action of
repentance is inward. But its
consequences are seen in outward conduct.
Savonarola, when called to the dying bed of Lorenzo di Medici, refused to
offer any hope of pardon to the
great Florentine, because, though he
professed great concern for his
soul, and deep grief for his sins, he refused
to give back their liberties to
the citizens. He would not act according to
the profession of repentance,
and therefore the stern reformer justly judged
that the penitence could not be
true and thorough.
calls upon us to repent, hut He
des not require us to create new hearts in
ourselves. He expects a sincere
desire for a better way. We must show our
loathing for our old past by
doing all in our power to relinquish it. Then
God gives that redeeming grace
which is the new birth, and whence springs
the power for better living (“But
as many as received Him, to them gave
He power to become the sons of God, even to
them that believe on His
Name.”
- John 1:12). Still, after receiving
the grace, we need to
preserve the lowliness of the
penitent, although all tears are wiped away by
the pardon of God. For we are
always in danger of being dragged back into
out old selves. Illusion is
brief but repentance is long.
Repent!
(v. 6)
This was the admonition of every herald of God, whether
under the old
covenant or the new. It was the burden of Isaiah and
Ezekiel, and it was
also the burden of John the forerunner and of Jesus the
Messiah. From this
it may be inferred that human nature and life, on the one
hand, and the
character and government of God on the other hand, are such
that
repentance is an
indispensable condition of the establishment of right
relations between God and man.
·
THE NEED OF REPENTANCE.
If we are upon Divine authority
summoned to change, this must be
because there is something wrong and
reprehensible and
dangerous in man’s heart and condition;
if called upon
to turn, we must be going the
wrong way. The admonition of the text follows
upon a picture of
GOD! The form
of the sin may vary, but the principle of sin is ever the same.
Whether in ancient or in modern
times, in barbarous or in civilized states of
society, men are universally prone to sin
and guilty of sin. Where there is
no sin, repentance is needless. It is in the
departure of the heart’s affection
and the life’s loyalty from the
righteous God that man’s error lies.
idolatry symbolizes human
iniquity.
·
THE NATURE OF REPENTANCE. As more fully explained in New
Testament Scripture, this is a change of heart, of disposition, leading to a
change of
character and of life. Mere sorrow for
sin is not repentance,
inasmuch as emotion of every
kind is to some extent matter of
temperament, and sorrow does not
always lead to reformation. True
repentance goes much deeper, and
prepares the way for every spiritual
blessing. He who repents looks
at things otherwise than before, turus his
thoughts into another channel,
his steps into another path.
·
THE CALL TO REPENTANCE.
Ø It
is a gracious call.
The justly offended sovereign may leave the rebel to
the
consequences of his acts. It is not thus that God deals with us. It
is not
His wish that any should perish. He sends His messengers to the offending
race, with a
summons to submission, with proffers of mercy.
Ø It
is an authoritative call. He commandeth men everywhere to repent. It
is true that
our Creator and Judge does not interfere with our liberty. Yet
He publishes
His will as binding upon every moral agent. He has a right to
our repentance. It
is our place to obey His summons, to offer the
repentance
which He demands and requires at our hands.
·
THE DIFFICULTY OF REPENTANCE. This lies in the very
character itself of the change.
If verbal submission or outward conformity
only were required, this would
be comparatively easy. But God, who
searcheth the heart, will not be satisfied save with the heart’s
subjection
and conversion. Old habits of
unspirituality, worldliness, and selfishness
are not readily
abandoned. Especially in advanced life
a radical and inward
change is effected, for the most
part, only with effort and difficulty. (Therefore,
“Today is the day
of salvation. (I Corinthiaqns
6:2) Call upon Him while
He is near.” - (Isaiah 55:6) It needs a
supernatural motive and a
supernatural power
to cause old things to pass away and all things
to become new, to
exchange darkness for light, and the service of
Satan
for God. Such a
supernatural motive we have in the gospel; such a
supernatural power and agency in the Holy Spirit. “But
as many as
received Him, to them gave He power to
become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on His name.” (John 1:12)
·
THE FRUITS OF REPENTANCE.
1. These are exactly opposed in character to the fruits of
self-indulgence.
Other seed in other soil yields other
harvest.
2. Reconciliation with God replaces enmity towards God. The
conditions
of salvation, as laid down in the New
Testament, are “repentance towards
God, and faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ.” (Acts 20:21)
3. Repentance works a change in a man’s own character; the
principles and
motives and ends of life are all new.
4. Through the power of repentance a man’s relations to his
fellow men are
changed — justice takes the place of wrong, and love that of
hatred and
uncharitabieness.
7 “For every one of the house of
sojourneth in
up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his
iniquity before his face, and cometh to a
prophet to enquire of him
concerning me; I the LORD will answer him
by myself:”
The stranger that sojourneth among you. It is noticeable that
Ezekiel uses here and elsewhere (ch.47:22-23) the familiar
phrase
of the books which most influenced his teaching (Leviticus
chps.16-25.;
Numbers chps.9,15; Deuteronomy passim). It is
probable that some such
proselytes were found among the exiles of Tel Abib. I the Lord
will
answer him by
myself, etc. This, as has been seen,
was probably the right
reading in v. 4. What it means is that, instead of a spoken answer by the
mouth of the prophet, there should be an answer
in the discipline of life, in
the immediate utterance through the conscience, which was
the voice of
God. The inquirer who came with unconfessed
and unrepented hankerings
after the worship of other gods deserved and would receive
no other answer.
God’s Answer (v. 7)
“I the Lord will answer him by myself.” The people inquire of the false
prophets, but God Himself will answer them. The question
concerning the
coming danger will be settled by the event. That will be
God’s answer, and
it will put an end to all doubt on the one side, and to all
deception on the other.
grievously perplex us, and to
which, as yet, we can get no reply. Those that
are frivolous may never be
answered; e.g. Clement’s illustration,
“Whether
the number of the stars be odd
or even?” It can be of no use for us to know
the answer to such a question.
No doubt there are also greater problems
which still do not concern us
personally, and of these we may never have
the solution. There is no reason
to suppose that we shall ever become
omniscient. But, on the other hand,
there are deep, heart-searching
questions, which bear directly
upon our life. We crave an answer to such
questions, and God will not leave us forever in the dark concerning them.
We may have our patience tried
for a season, but at length the light will
dawn.
Himself. The foolish Jews inquired of false prophets. (Many people
today are getting their
information that they live by from false prophets,
such as college professors,
philosophers, movie directors, celebrities,
politicians, propagandists
guised as newsmen, etc. – CY -
2014). But not
even a true prophet such as
Ezekiel would be entrusted with the reply.
GOD HIMSELF is to answer them.
God does not act by proxy. He has
servants and agents. But He is in them, and He can dispense with them
altogether whenever He chooses. He has
direct dealings with souls. If the
answer comes from God, it must be true and
sufficient. In momentous
questions
concerning the soul and its ETERNAL LIFE we cannot be
satisfied with a reply from any
delegated authority, not from the greatest
prophet, apostle, or archangel. We want to hear THE VOICE
OF
GOD HIMSELF!
to be given by events. The
destruction of
answer to the disputing Jews. That
was as truly a Divine answer as a voice
from heaven would
have been, for the voice would have
been a shaping of
air waves, a work of God in
nature. This event was God’s working in
providence. God speaks to us
through His providence. History is a record
of God’s answers to man’s
questions. Such an answer has many merits.
Ø
It is perceptible to all. The fall of
Jewish world.
Ø
It is clear and unmistakable. God had threatened
judgment. Would His
threat prove true? Who
could doubt the meaning of the terrible response?
Ø
It is irreversible. An event which has once occurred can never be
undone. The lessons of history are eternal.
Ø
It may come unsought. The faithless Jews neglected their God, and
inquired for oracles from the
false prophets. Yet He of whom they
sought no word spoke by the
awful thunders of judgment.
Ø
It may come from an unexpected quarter. These unbelieving
Jews
were not expecting to hear
the voice of God. Therefore they were
made to hear it in
most terrible tones. It is better not
to wait for such
a startling reply. God has spoken in the great events of
and
8 “And I
will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign
and a proverb, and I will cut him off from
the midst of my people;
and ye shall know that I am the LORD.” To make him, add, with Revised
Version, an
astonishment; or better, I will make
him amazed, as in ch.32:10.
The words are
an echo of Deuteronomy 28:37. The man’s
punishment shall be
open and notorious, so as to strike terror into others.
9 “And if
the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the
LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will
stretch out my hand
upon him, and will destroy him from the
midst of my people
10 And
they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the
punishment of the prophet shall be even as
the punishment of him
that seeketh unto
him;” I the Lord have deceived that prophet, etc. The teaching
of modern thought is to soften language like this into “I have
permitted him to
be deceived.” The distinction was seldom, if ever, present
to the mind of
the Old Testament, or indeed of the New Testament, writers.
It is Jehovah
who sends the “lying spirit” in I Kings 22:20 -23.
It is He who in the
latter days shall send men “strong
delusions” that they shall believe a lie
(II Thessalonians 2:11). In both cases it is implied that
the delusion is a
righteous punishment, is indeed the natural, because the
divinely appointed,
punishment of the sin. Populus
vult decipi et decipiatur, but the very
deception is a means for undeceiving them. At last their
eyes shall be
opened. The punishment of the false prophet and of those
who trust him is
at once retributive, and a discipline, and, if the
discipline fails for them, at
least a warning for others.
The false prophets of
the fate of the people they fawned upon. A moment’s
reflection must make it
apparent that the favor of the world, and even the favor of
the Church, are no
guarantees for the favor of Heaven; for men may be deceived
or may judge by
low, unworthy standards. But appearances are so flattering
that people fall into
the snare, and take comfort from the thought that all is
going well with them
among men. The one vital
question is, “How do we stand before God?”
The
Prophet’s Punishment (v. 10)
The prophet is to be punished equally with the rest of the
people, because
his guilt is equal to theirs. The pleas and excuses which
he might suggest
are all swept away as so many refuges or lies.
·
ECCLESIASTICAL RANK.
There was a recognized professional
distinction between the prophets
and the people; the prophets belonged to
a separate order. But “orders”
have no saving efficacy. The status of the
Christian ministry affords
certain earthly privileges, while it confers
certain
spiritual obligations. But it is only economic, temporary, and for this
world’s service. Before God the
distraction between cleric and laic
vanishes, and each soul
stands in its simple human character. God
judges
an archbishop as a man, not as a
dignitary. His office appertains to his
powers and duties, the talents
for which he will have to account. But in this
respect it is like the office of
any other person — a measure for
his service,
not a shelter for his sinfulness. In the world beyond the grave each soul is
but a soul; rank and office are
left behind like castoff vestments. Therefore
the sinful ecclesiastic will be
treated as any other sinner.
·
DIVINE GIFTS. The
false prophets of Ezekiel’s day do not appear to
have had any peculiar Divine
gifts. They were mere pretenders. But even
those men who are especially
endowed are not to consider themselves as
thereby lifted above common
standards of judgment. The prophet of
was a true messenger from God,
yet a lion met him in the way and slew
him for his disobedience (1
Kings 13:26). The apostle may “have the
gift of prophecy,”
yet if he “have not charity” he is “nothing”
(1 Corinthians 13:2).
·
KNOWLEDGE. If the
prophets did not know the right way, they
should have made themselves
acquainted with it, for they were supposed to
hold the keys of revelation. But
as the signpost never reaches the city to
which it is constantly pointing,
the man who knows the way, and who is
capable of showing it to others,
may yet be never treading it himself. Then
his knowledge will not save him.
It is the same in respect to those who are
enlightened by Divine teaching,
though they are not called upon to teach
others. A clear conception of “the
plan of salvation” will not save a man. If
a prophet will be punished like
any other man, surely the merely orthodox
believer in the dogmas of the
Church will stand in a similar position of peril
if he does not add practice to
creed.
·
POPULARITY. Those
guilty prophets of
Their doom was to suffer the fate
of the people they fawned upon. A
moment’s reflection must make it
apparent that the favor of the world,
and even the favor of the Church, are no guarantees for the favor of
Heaven; for men may
be deceived or may judge by low, unworthy
standards. But appearances are
so flattering that people fall into the snare,
and take .comfort from the
thought that all is going well with them among
men. The one vital question is, “How do we stand
before God?”
The Misleader and the Misled (v. 10)
One of the features of Israelitish
life at this epoch of the Captivity was the
evident number and power
of false prophets. General excitement
and
change are, of course, favorable to imposture. Men sought
everywhere
for guidance, comfort, hope; but, instead of having
recourse to the
authorized prophets of the Lord, they went to the
pretentious and
deceptive religious guides who seem to have traded upon the
misfortunes
of their country. (Does not
the “Secular Press” today fit this mold?
– CY –
2014). These men
were in the habit of saying what was expected
and desired, of uttering smooth things, of buoying up the
people with the
hope that threatening calamities might be averted. Thus the effect of these
men’s counsels was to prevent the people from true repentance
and TO
HASTEN THE COUNTRY’S RUIN!
Ezekiel was directed to denounce
These misleaders of the nation, and to declare that they should participate
in the approaching calamities. “The punishment of the prophet shall be even
as the punishment of him that seeketh
unto him.”
essence was DEPARTURE FROM GOD! Those who should have repaired
to the Source of all wisdom and
authority turned aside, and “sought unto”
ignorant,
self-seeking impostors. In this they
sinned; and the sin was shared
by those to whom they had
recourse. These pretended prophets knowingly
misled the
people; for they saw no vision and
heard no voice, and their
utterances were dictated, not by
the law of Divine righteousness, but by
the
aims of human
policy. People
and prophets sinned together, and suffered
alike.
ERROR. The counsel which was thus given and accepted, and
consequently acted upon, led the
people astray. The only hope for
Jerusalem and for
the Jews was a general humiliation,
confession, and
repentance, A
TURNING UNTO THE LORD! From such a course
they
were deterred by the deception
which they practiced upon one another,
and the delusion which they
mutually encouraged. Hence the error into
which they were misled, the
error of continued idolatry, unbelief, and
rebellion. (Contrast the New Testament teaching:
Ø
“And even as they
did not like to retain God in their knowledge
God gave them over
to a reprobate mind, to do those things
which are not
convenient……..” - Romans 1:28-32;
Ø
“they received not
the love of the truth…..And for this cause
God shall send
them strong delusion, that they should believe
A lie” – II Thessalonians 2:10-11 – CY – 2014)
PUNISHMENT. It would
have been unjust to punish only those who were
led astray, for their false
guides and evil counselors were to blame for
misleading them. It would have been
unjust to punish only the false
prophets; for these men were
induced and encouraged to practice their
deceiving arts by the readiness
of their dupes to receive and to act upon
their advice. Hence COMMON
GUILT entailed COMMON PENALTY!
There was little distinction in
crime; there was little distinction in punishment.
Retribution is a fact in the
government of the Supreme, who can never look
upon iniquity. “Though
hand join in hand, the wicked shall not
go
unpunished.” (Proverbs 11:21) “but the seed of
the righteous shall
be
delivered!” (Ibid.)
11 “That
the house of
polluted any more with all their
transgressions; but that they may
be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord GOD.”
The words come as a gleam of light through the darkness. A
restored nation, walking in the truth, the true people of
God, — this lies
beyond the mystery of the evil which is allowed, or even
made, to work
itself out to the bitter end.
God owns the souls of His people. “That they may be
my people” is the
expression in regard to God’s design in the discipline of
regards His people as His “inheritance” (Psalm 28:9). He
values them, as
His jewels
(Malachi 3:17), as the “apple of his
eye” (Psalm 17:8).
God’s people have rights of access and privileges to God as
reconciled children.
It is indeed a great joy to be able to say, “My God.” (I
highly recommend
Deuteronomy ch. 32 v. 9 – God’s Inheritance by Arthur Pink –
this web site –
CY –
2014)
Disastrous
Answers to Prayer (vs. 1-11)
Ezekiel’s predictions had been so gloomy and adverse, that
the ciders of
nation’s ruin. Hopeful that some message more favorable
might come
from God, they sought (it may be on the sabbath
day) the prophet’s
presence. We must not place these elders in the same
category with those
in
Nevertheless, they were not right at heart. The
taint of idolatry was upon
these also. Good and evil may be mingled in men’s hearts in different
degrees.
·
OUTWARD TROUBLE OFTEN DRIVES MEN TO GOD. It is not
always so. It sometimes chafes
and exasperates men. In their pain they
sometimes curse God and
blaspheme Him yet the more. Perhaps affliction,
in itself, has no softening,
subduing influence. But the Spirit of God
frequently uses affliction as
His instrument, His pruning knife, in order to
make the soul fruitful. This
much is certain, that many have found a
season
of affliction a
season of salvation. Certain it is
that “whom
the Lord loveth
He correcteth;” and
not a few of the redeemed adopt David’s language as
their own, “Before I was afflicted, I went
astray; but now have I kept thy
Word.” (Psa.m 119:67)
·
YET THE RETURN IS SOMETIMES OUTWARD, NOT
COMPLETE. In human
nature there is a strong bias to be satisfied with
what is merely outward in
religion. To utter words of prayer, we imagine,
must be successful To come into
God’s house, no matter what may be our
motives or intentions, we think,
must please God. Do we not confer a
favor on Him? Has He not engaged
to do us good? Yet how often is the
heart away when the body is
present? How often do We bring our idols
with us into that sacred place? How often do we worship mammon, or
pleasure, or fashion, under
pretence of worshipping God? How often do
our words far exceed our desires? Hypocrisy and idolatry are as common in
sanctuaries now as in the days
of ancient
preoccupied with its own wishes
and plans and ambitions, while we are
using the words, “Lord,
what wilt thou have me to do?” We want
our own
ends, while we profess to yield
unto God.
·
GOD REPLIES, NOT TO OUR WORDS, BUT TO OUR TEMPER
OF MIND. “Ihe Lord will answer him that cometh according
to the
multitude of his
idols.” Men often think that they lay
a trap for God, but
God takes them in their own
snare. We try to use God for the attainment of
some worldly end, and we think
sometimes that we succeed, but we are
always outwitted. Men’s words are
often veils to hide the facts, and we
may deceive others; we cannot deceive God. To give to such men blessing
would be to do them harm. For
such the only real blessing is self-humiliation,
inward contrition. True faith in
God is the only measure of
success, and faith is loyal,
candid, self-submissive. Four sympathetic men
brought a paralytic to Jesus;
but Jesus first read the yearning desire of the
sufferer’s heart, and said, “Man,
thy sins are forgiven thee.” (Luke 520)
For God is a
Spirit, and deals with the human spirit.
Therefore in prayer
we should\ always imitate David,
“I
lift up my soul unto thee.”
·
GOD’S AIM IS LOFTIER THAN
THE AIM OF THE SUPPLIANT.
The aim of the suppliant is usually
temporary relief — deliverance from
some present evil. But God sees
that present trouble is the best blessing —
the rough husk that contains
nourishing meat. Our object is enjoyment;
God’s object is
soul profit. He yearns to see
repentance — the first cry of
the new life. “Thus
saith the Lord God; Repent.” God’s aim is
remote, but
right noble. His design is that “the
house of
His purpose is that “they may be my people, and I may be their God.” If we
will not allow God’s purpose to
prevail, He will not allow our low and vain
purposes to succeed. If we set
ourselves in hostility against God, only ruin
can result. If God sends us to
may expect to meet an
overwhelming storm. God’s will must become our
will; then only shall we have
rest.
·
GOD TURNS UNSUCCESSFUL SUPPLIANTS INTO BEACONS.
“I will set my
face against that man, and will make him a sign and a
proverb.” As battlefields, saturated with human gore, yield larger
crops of
grain, so out of all evil God
will bring ultimate good. Cain’s published sin
served as a restraint upon
others.
God and for righteousness. In
the long run, everything contributes to the
good of mankind. The
wrath of man shall bring praise to God. Man’s crime
at
serve as a dark background, the
better to set forth the brilliant hues of
Divine mercy. Yet how slow men
are to note the various warnings which
God sets up! Self-examination is
a rare virtue,
·
ANSWERED PRAYER MAY BE HEAVIEST DISASTER. The
Gadarenes prayed that Jesus would depart out of their coasts, and He
departed. The man who has
practiced deceit shall be himself deceived.
Pharaoh hardened his heart
against God until at length God joined in the
process: “The Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart.” He who will not accept any
answer from God except that
which chimes in with his own wishes shall
have his wish gratified, but it will prove his ruin. To Ephraim
God at last
said, “He is joined to his idols: let
him alone.” He who blasphemes against
the Holy Spirit is “in
danger of eternal fire.” And this is the heaviest
punishment a man can receive. “He
that is filthy, let him be filthy still.”
(Revelation 22:11) The most notable example of this principle in
God’s
government is seen in the case
of Ahab. He had set his heart upon war
against Ramoth-Gilead.
He would not be dissuaded. Yet he wished to
have the appearance of God’s
approval, in order to gain allies. At length
the Lord said, “Who
shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at
Ramoth-Gilead?” “And there came forth a spirit, and stood before
the
Lord, and said, I
will persuade him. And the Lord said, Wherewith? And
he said, I will go
forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his
prophets. And he
said, Thou shalt persuade him, and shalt prevail also.”
(I Kings 22:20-22) If foolish men prefer flattering delusions
to the naked
truth, God will at length
abandon them to this fatal influence.
He punishes
sin with sin.
·
THE LAW OF RIGHTEOUSNESS ALLOWS OF NO
EXEMPTION. Pauper
and prince are amenable to the same law in the
punishment of him
that seeketh unto him.” No office, however honorable,
will serve as a cloak for sin,
nor alleviate the weight of punishment.
Righteousness deals with man as
man, and takes no note of names or titles.
If a king drinks poison, it
produces the selfsame effect as if a ploughboy
drank it. It will avail us
nothing to say to the white-robed Judge, “Lord,
Lord, have we not
prophesied in thy name?” (Matthew 7:22) Office may
increase our responsibility; it
does not add to our purity; it gives no passport
to heaven. Not genius, nor power, commends men to God; only moral
goodness. “In this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject to you;
but rather rejoice
that your
names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:20)
Hypocritical
Inquirers of God (vs. 1-11)
“Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat
before me,” etc.
In the former chapter false prophets and prophetesses were
severely
rebuked by the Lord God through His true prophet. In this
one certain
elders who came to Ezekiel to inquire of the Lord through
him, while their
hearts were given up to idols, are reproved, exhorted, and
warned. The
paragraph before us presents the following connected topics
for
consideration, which we will notice in the order in which
they are
presented by the prophet.
·
MEN HYPOCRITICALLY INQUIRING OF THE LORD GOD. “Then
came certain of
the elders of
word of the Lord
came unto me, saying,” etc. (vs. 1-3).
These elders
who came to inquire of God
through His prophet were probably of the
number of his fellow exiles.
They came to consult the prophet of Jehovah,
yet they were idolaters at
heart. They had “set up their idols in their heart,”
etc. (v. 3). Their idolatry
involved practical atheism. Genuine belief in the
existence of the Lord Jehovah would have effectually precluded idolatry.
Men of such character could not
sincerely inquire of God. There can be no
real approach unto Him without
faith in the reality of His being. “He that
cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that He is a rewarder of
them that
diligently seek Him.” etc. (Hebrews
11:6). Their
seeking information or counsel
of the Lord was not true; they were not
whole-hearted in so doing, but
hypocritical. They are, says Hengstenherg,
the “representatives of those
who only outwardly fear God, but inwardly
serve the spirit of the world and the age.” How many meet in God’s house,
unite in His worship, and listen
to the ministry of His holy Word, as though
they were genuine inquirers of
His will, who yet have idols in their hearts!
Seeming to sincerely “inquire
in his temple,” yet they are devoted to the
pursuit of rank or riches, power
or pleasure, etc.
·
HYPOCRITICAL INQUIRERS OF GOD ANSWERED
ACCORDING TO THEIR OWN HEART. “Therefore speak unto them,
and say unto them,
Thus saith the Lord God; Every man of the house of
Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart,” etc. (vs 4, 5). Different
interpretations are given of
these two verses. Thus Hengstenberg: “The
question in v. 4” (he places a
note of interrogation at the end of that
verse; so also does Schroder) “is in the sense of a negative, ‘I will not
answer;’ and this negative has
its ground in v. 5. God leaves sinners
without answer or help, that
they may come to a knowledge of their sin.
‘To take in the heart’ (v. 5) is
to touch the conscience.” Another
interpretation is that He would
give them an answer as delusive as the idols
which they had taken into their
hearts. The case presents itself to us thus:
The spiritual state of these
elders prevented them from truly hearing the
word of the Lord. They were not sincere in their inquiries of Him. They
would not receive the truth
which His servants Jeremiah and Ezekiel
proclaimed. Nay, more, in their
then moral condition they could not receive
the truth of God. With their
hearts devoted to idols, how could they
apprehend and hold fast the pure
words of the Lord? So He would send
them a message answerable to
their own character. These “idolatrous
oracle seekers have to expect
what corresponds to their state.” Hence their
own hearts were their seducers. God deals with men according to their
character. “With the merciful thou wilt show
thyself merciful, .....and with
the froward, thou will show thyself froward.” (Psalm 18:25-26). “The sin
and shame, the pain and ruin, of
sinners are all from themselves, and their
own hearts are the snares in which
they are taken; they
seduce them, they
betray them; their
own consciences witness against them, condemn them,
and are a terror to
them. If God take them, if He discover them,
if He convict
them, if He bind them over to
His judgment, it is
all by ‘their own heart.’
‘O Israeli thou
hast destroyed thyself.’ (Hosea 13:9) The house of
is ruined by its own hands, ‘because they are all estranged
from
me
through their
idols’” (Matthew Henry).
·
HYPOCRITICAL INQUIRERS OF GOD EXHORTED TO
COMPLY WITH THE CONDITIONS OF ACCEPTABLE APPROACH
UNTO HIM. “Therefore
say unto the house of
God; Repent, and
turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your
faces from all
your abominations.” Here is a true
message from God for
them if they will accept it. Repentance towards God was their present and
imperative duty. From the Lord the
house of
departed, and their true repentance would be a returning to Him, and
renunciation of their abominable
idolatries. Repentance is not mere regret,
or self-reproach, or sorrow, or
tears. It
is that grief for sin which leads to
reformation of life.
“Repentance,” says Shakespeare, “is heart’s sorrow,
and a clear life ensuing.” Now,
this was necessary as a condition of
approaching God acceptably. “If I
regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will
not hear me” (Psalm 66:18). Men should “pray in every place, lifting up
holy hands,
without wrath and doubting” (1 Timothy
2:8). “Let us
draw near with a
true heart in fullness of faith,” etc.
(Hebrews 10:22).
When men inquire of God in this
spirit, He will grant unto them gracious
answers.
·
HYPOCRITICAL INQUIRERS OF GOD WARNED OF THE
CONSEQUENCES OF PERSISTENCE IN SIN. “For every one of the
house of
separateth himself from me, and setteth up
his idols in his heart, and
putteth the stumblingblock of his
iniquity before his face, and cometh
to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me;
I the LORD will answer
him by
myself: And I will set my face against
that man, and will make him
a sign and a
proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people;
and ye shall know
that I am the LORD. And if the prophet
be deceived
when he hath
spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet,
and I will stretch
out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the
midst of my people
iniquity: the
punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment
of him that seeketh unto him;
That the house of
astray from me,
neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions;
but that they may
be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord
GOD.” (vs.
7-11). Here they are solemnly warned that, if they would
not turn from sin unto God:
Ø They should encounter the Divine displeasure. “I will set my face
against
that man,” etc. (v.
8). God cannot look upon sin with
indifference.
He hates it. And if sinners persist in it, He will set His face
against them,
and visit them because of their transgressions.
He did this in
the case of the
inhabitants of
o
Siege,
o
famine,
o
pestilence,
o
slaughter, and
o
captivity
were the consequences of their aggravated
and long continued
sins and crimes.
Ø They should become the victims of their chosen
delusions. “If the
prophet
be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the Lord have
deceived
that prophet,” etc.
(vs. 9, 10). They had chosen idols for their
gods; they
believed the false prophets rather than the true ones; and if they
persisted in
their choice they must take the consequences thereof. This was
God’s answer to their inquiries. He had shown them that by true
repentance they
would put themselves into right relations with Him. But if
they would not
repent, He would no more speak
to them by His prophets,
but
by His judgments in the just consequences of their sins. Their chosen
prophets would
be deceived, and would deceive those who inquired of
them, and both
the prophets and the inquirers should “bear the punishment
of
their iniquity.” But
in what sense can the Lord be said to deceive the
false prophet,
and then to punish him? It is certain that He cannot sin, and
that He is not
the author of sin. “The deception proceeds originally from
indwelling sin
(James 1:14), otherwise it could not be the object of
punishment.”
But it was both permitted and regulated by God. He controls
both sin and
the consequences thereof for the accomplishment of his own
glorious
purposes (compare Psalm 76:10). When Nebuchadnezzar
besieged
of the Lord
Jehovah, yet unconsciously he was doing that will; and
frequently the
Lord says that he would do those things which the army of
the Chaldean monarch did (compare ch.
4:16; 5:8-17). God employed
the Chaldeans, and regulated and controlled their movements,
for the
working out of
His own plans; yet they were free in those movements, and
had no idea
that in them they were the agents of the Lord God of
these false
prophets were used by Him in the way of judgment, and were
controlled by
Him; but they acted voluntarily in the course which they
pursued, and
they who consulted them did so of their own will; and both of
them should
become the victims of their cherished delusions, and “bear the
punishment of their iniquity.”
Ø
They
should become the means, under
God, of leading his people to
fidelity
unto him. “That the house
of
me,” etc. (ver. 11). This was the Divine design in the punishment of
the
sinful people.
“‘God punishes sins by means of sins,’ but the end is the
reestablishment
of
righteousness. His people, purified by trials, will cleave to
him whom they
have forsaken, and become a converted, sanctified people,
joined unto
their God by a covenant which they will not break” (‘Speaker’s
Commentary’).
The judgments of God aim at the promotion of the well
being of man.
·
CONCLUSION.
1. Here is solemn
warning against insincere approach unto God.
2. Here is
encouragement to approach God sincerely and humbly. (Vers.
6, 11.) — W.J.
Religious Reciprocity (v. 11)
The relations of
the soul with God are reciprocal. There is first of all a
mutual approach, and there will be a communion so long as
the religion is a
living fact. The mutual relationship may be looked at from
either of its
centers. But first its common character must be considered.
·
RELIGION CONSISTS IN SPIRITUAL OWNERSHIP. There is an
appropriation on both sides.
This involves certain important facts.
Ø
Close connection. We hold what we own. It is true a man in
may be the proprietor of an
estate in
connected with it by immediate
agency. Religion implies a close relation
between the soul and God.
Ø
Powers of use. We have rights over what we own. The inheritance
which is so tied up that the
heir cannot touch it or do anything with it, is
scarcely to be called property;
the rights of ownership are shadowy indeed
in such a case. Real ownership
confers rights and powers. So it is in
religion. The mutual ownership
here confers mutual rights and powers.
Ø
Value. A man may own what is worthless — leagues of
of desert sand. Still, as a
rule, he makes the most of his property, and if
he is proud of owning anything,
we may be sure that he values it. Now,
the mutual religious ownership of God and the soul is referred to in a
way to show that it is prized.
·
THE SPIRITUAL OWNERSHIP OF THE BIBLE IS RECIPROCAL.
Ø
God owns the souls of His people. “That
they may be my people” is the
expression in regard to God’s
design in the discipline of
regards His people as His “inheritance”
(Psalm 28:9). See v. 11 in
exposition above - CY - 2021)
o
He has close relations with them. Truly connected with all
His
children, He
draws more near to His own people, and
communicates
Himself especially to them.
o
He exercises special powers over them. God has a double
right to command
His confessed servants.
o
He values them, as His jewels (Malachi 3:17), as the “apple
of His eye” (Psalm 17:8).
Ø
God’s people own God. They do not only confess His Name.
o
They realize a close fellowship with Him.
o
They have rights of
access and privileges of reconciled
children in the home which do not as yet belong
to the poor,
wandering prodigals.
o
They value these privileges, or, if they do not, they are like
the elder son of the parable,
and do not truly realize their
ownership in God. It is indeed a
great joy to be able to say,
“My God.”
·
THE ESTABLISHING AND CONFIRMING OF THIS
RECIPROCAL RELATIONSHIP IS THE GREAT END OF THE
DISCIPLINE OF
LIFE. It is the re-establishing of an old
broken
connection.
she had lost it by
sin. We are all God’s children by
birth; but by sin we
too have lost the privileges of sonship. The great hindrance lies in our
rebellion against God.
Abraham, nor of her covenant relationship with God, for the covenant
was broken by sin, and the family claim disowned. The only way to secure
this happy condition again is to give up the newer connection with sin.
Now, God sends severe discipline to lead to that result (v. 10). He uses His
rod to drive the wanderer home.
The Purposes of Punishment (v. 11)
No thoughtful person can believe that the supreme Lord of
all inflicts
punishments upon men because He delights in the sufferings
of His
creatures, or is indifferent to those sufferings. This
passage of Scripture,
like other passages, teaches us that, when God punishes, it
is with a view
to the good of those who are punished, or of others, or
of both.
It is a question how far
punishment should aim at the correction of the
individual offender, how far at
the production of A WHOLESOME
IMPRESSION UPON
SOCIETY! Whether the false
prophets and those
who resorted to them were spared
to profit by the chastisement which
befell them, we have not the
means of judging. But in any case the
punitive afflictions were intended for the general good of the house of
Ø
Radical error is
corrected. “That the
house of
astray from me.”
Ø
The habits of
transgressors are reformed. “Neither
defile themselves
any more with all their transgressions.”
The remedy for disease must
first be applied, then health will follow. So it
is in spiritual things. Forgiveness is a means to sanctification.
Salvation is
both from sin and unto obedience and holiness. Accordingly,
the prophet
represents the re-establishment,
the fresh ratification, of the covenant
between God and
The two sides of this covenant
are presented as in their harmony and
completeness justifying the
discipline appointed by Divine wisdom and
beneficence.
Ø
“That they may be
my people.” That is, not only in name,
but in
reality; not only de jure, but de facto.
Ø
“That I maybe
their God.” That is, theirs to
acknowledge with
sincere reverence, to love with
devotion and fervor, and to serve
with diligence
and fidelity.
12 “The
word of the LORD came again to me, saying,
13 Son of man, when
the land sinneth
against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out
mine hand upon it, and will break the staff
of the bread thereof, and will send
famine upon it, and will cut off man and
beast from it: 14
Though these three
men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it,
they should deliver but their own souls
by their righteousness, saith
the Lord GOD.” A new section begins, implying as
before an interval of silence. What follows presents a
striking parallelism to Jeremiah
15:l-2. There also we
have the “four sore judgments,” the declaration that not
even the presence of Moses and Samuel would avail to save
the people.
They were obviously selected by Jeremiah as examples of the
power of
intercession (Exodus 32:11-14; I Samuel 7:9; 12:23).
Ezekiel’s
selection of names proceeds on a different footing. He
chooses exceptional
instances of saintliness that had been powerless to save
the generation in
which they lived; perhaps, also, such as were well known,
not only in the
records of
race before the Flood; Job had not saved his sons (Job
1:18); Daniel,
though high in the king’s favor, had not been able to
influence
Nebuchadnezzar to spare the people of
of this last name is significant, as showing the reputation
which even then
Daniel had acquired. In v. 13, for the land, read “a land.” For staff of bread,
see ch.4:16. The phrase comes from Leviticus 26:26.
Noah, Daniel, and Job (v. 14)
These three men are selected
from ages far apart, and from the greatest
diversity of circumstances. In
temperament and external history there is
little resemblance between them.
Noah the patriarch, looms on the horizon
of history in epic grandeur;
Daniel is the brave hero in a tyrant’s court, and
the man of skill and science in
a civilized society; Job belongs to the region
of pastoral life, and his tragic
story carries us out among the Bedouin. So
wide is the range of excellence!
Good men are not confined to one age, nor
to one set of
circumstances, nor to one school of thought, nor to one style
of life. They are not found exclusively in antiquity, in modern
times, in
town, in the country, among the
great, among the simple. There is a
breadth and a
variety in the possibilities of saintliness. We need not all copy
one type. He who cannot emulate
the knowledge of Daniel may follow the
patience of Job. Nevertheless,
in spite of these diversities, there are certain
great common features that
belong to the three Old Testament saints, and
account for the present
association of their names.
Ø
All three were holy men, true to God and upright in life. His goodness
is the greatest fact in a
good man’s character, and it constitutes a bond
of union between all the
true people of God.
Ø
All three were faithful in circumstances of isolation. They all had to
break from prevalent habits, and
dare to stand alone:
o
Noah against the
world’s sin and impenitence,
o
Daniel against
heathenism,
o
Job against a false
orthodoxy.
Ø
All three were sorely tried. The faith of each was assailed in a severe
and most exceptional
manner.
Ø
All three were victorious
by means of firm fidelity. They conquered,
and they conquered in quiet
ways — by obedience, patience, faith,
and steadfastness.
THREE GREAT SAINTS IN THIS SITUATION. Though Noah,
Daniel, and Job united to plead
for
all in vain.
Ø
This was contrary to expectation. There is
power in intercession; there is
a special power in the
intercession of a “righteous man” (James
5:16);
there is a still greater power
in united prayer (Matthew 18:20).
Yet here the union
of three of the very best men, selected from all ages,
could not secure the
safety of
Ø The cause of the predicted failure of such an intercession
was hardened
impenitence. God is not inexorable. He is ready to listen to prayer;
nay,
He is more anxious to save than
we are to plead for salvation. (“The
Lord ……is
longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should
Perish, but that
all should come to repentance.” - II Peter 3:9).
He
sent His Son to save the world,
an infinitely greater act than the most
impassioned pleading of the best
men. Therefore the failure cannot
be attributed to His hardness.
But it would be unjust and injurious to
spare the impenitent on any plea.
Ø
The intercession of Christ succeeds where that of the
best of men fail.
His prayers are worth those
of ten thousand Noahs and Daniels and
Jobs. “He ever liveth to make
intercession for us” (Hebrews 7:25),
and HE ALONE, bearing the
weight of the whole world’s guilt,
MAKES ATONEMENT
FOR THE SINS OF ALL MEN with
ample
sufficiency. We could not trust to the
intercession of the
saints, even if we were sure
of obtaining it; and the words of
Ezekiel are only hypothetical,
merely by way of illustration.
CHRIST IS OUR ONE
ADVOCATE WITH THE FATHER!
(I John 2:1) Nevertheless, for the impenitent even His mighty
intercession, which shakes
the very gates of hell, is ineffectual.
Christ shed tears over
Illustrious Piety (v. 14)
Ezekiel was especially commissioned to set forth and to
impress upon the
people the individual, the personal, aspect of religion. In many places, as
here, he lays stress upon the accountability of each
several man to God.
One cannot deliver another from deserved punishment. Each must answer
for himself, must
reap the reward of his deeds, whether good or evil. A
man’s piety cannot save his ungodly neighbor when the time
of reckoning
and judgment arrives. No matter how good our friends may
be, their
goodness does not excuse our irreligion. If the city has
sinned, the city
must suffer. Even if the wisest and the best of men are in
it and plead for it,
the city cannot be justified or spared for their sake. Men
so conspicuous
for virtue and piety as Noah, Daniel, and Job have not
power to save the
land from famine, from the sword, from noisome beasts, from
the
pestilence, when these are sent as chastisements from the
Lord of all.
CELEBRATED. Why
these, rather than other illustrious instances of
human goodness, were selected is
a question which cannot be answered
with certainty. But the context
disposes the student of this passage of
prophecy to consider these men as instances
of remarkable piety in the
midst of
surrounding ungodliness.
Ø
Thus Noah stands in
contrast with the self-indulgent and irreligious
population of the world
immediately before the Flood; as a preacher
of righteousness, he
protested against the sins and the secularism
and unbelief of
his time.
Ø
Daniel also was
“faithful among the faithless;” he and a selected few
were called upon to witness
against the idolatry of their heathen rulers
and masters, and against
much unfaithfulness on the part of their
companions in captivity.
Ø
Job was a true servant
of Jehovah, who was encompassed by idolatries
to which he did not yield,
and who alone of his own kindred was
faithful to his God in all
his ways.
These three men all
saw disasters come upon those with whom
they were
associated. If they could not deliver
their neighbors in the day
of judgment, if their virtues
and piety availed only for themselves, was it
credible that their presence in
from destruction? It is
observable that the “righteousness” of these three
men is admitted, and with
commendation, by the Lord God Himself.
There
may be danger in praising and
flattering the good because of their
goodness. But there are
occasions when it is just and right to acknowledge
the moral excellence, the human
merit, of men, always with a clear
understanding that all goodness is from God, that in His view all human
character is imperfect, and that
nothing can be claimed from Him as a just
reward even by the purest and
the most useful among mankind.
REGARDED. It was an
honor to be selected by a good man and a
prophet like Ezekiel for special
approval and commendation. But it was a
higher honor to be mentioned
thus by the direction of THE LORD
GOD HIMSELF! It
is not erroneous to attribute to the Eternal a personal
interest in the sons of time, a
regard of that nature with which one who
judges with justice and
appreciation esteems the excellent among his fellow
beings. On the contrary,
Scripture justifies us in taking such a view of our
Father God, who is never
represented as indifferent and heartless, but rather
as looking
with satisfaction and favor upon those who delight in His Law
and do His will. There have been occasions upon which the intercessory
prayers offered by such
have been received with favor, and have been
graciously answered, to
the relief and comfort of those for whom they
have been presented.
BELOVED SERVANTS OF
GOD TO DELIVER THE REBELLIOUS
FROM PUNISHMENT. It is evidently intended to convey the impression
that God was willing to do great
things at the intercession of men so good
and so favored as those named;
but that He would not for their sake
contradict His own declarations,
reverse His own laws, and abandon His
own moral government. Hence the
lesson may be learned that “every man
shall bear his own
burden” (Galatians 6:5), that in the day of account no
man shall deliver his brother. No hope can be vainer than that of those who
rely for their
salvation upon the merits and influence of
their family, their
friends, their
Church, however dear to God. It is
plain that, as religion is a
personal matter,
as its claims come home to the
individual, every hearer of
God’s Word is bound to use for himself those means by which he
may,
BY GOD’S GRACE, be delivered from the chain of sin and THE DOOM
OF DEATH!
15 “If I
cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it,
so that it be desolate, that no man may
pass through because of the
beasts:”
Noisome beasts (see note on
ch.5:17).
16 “Though
these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord
GOD,
they shall deliver neither sons nor
daughters; they only shall be
delivered, but the land shall be
desolate. 17
Or if I bring a sword upon
that land, and say, Sword, go through the
land; so that I cut off man and
beast from it: 18 Though
these three men were in it, as I live, saith the
Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons
nor daughters, but they only
shall be delivered themselves.”
19 “Or if
I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon
it in blood, to cut off from it man and
beast:” Pestilence is joined with blood,
as in ch.5:17; 38:22, as indicating its death-bearing
character.
20 “Though
Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, saith
the Lord
GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor
daughter; they shall but
deliver their own souls by their
righteousness. 21
For thus saith the
Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four
sore judgments
upon
and the pestilence, to cut off from it man
and beast?”
The Privilege and Power of the Godly,
Their Nature and Limitation (v. 20)
“Though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God,”
etc. Three very distinguished men are here mentioned, two
of whom had
long passed away from this world and all its scenes, the
other was yet
amongst men upon earth. Yet Noah
and Job are spoken of as still in being.
Absent from this world, they were yet living and
present in the great
universe of God. These undesigned testimonies to man’s immortality, to be
met with frequently in the Scriptures, afford the basis for
a strong
argument in support of that fact.
“The dead
are like the stars by day,
Withdrawn
from mortal eye;
But not
extinct, they hold their way
In glory
through the sky.
Spirits
from bondage thus set free
Vanish
amidst immensity,
Where
human thought, like human sight,
Fails to
pursue their trackless flight.”
Daniel at this time, like Ezekiel, was an exile in
both for his piety and his position. Noah, Daniel, and Job
were all good
men and great men; they are enrolled amongst the most
illustrious of our
race. The prophet in this paragraph predicts “four sore judgments upon
Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome
beast, and the
pestilence,” by
reason of their idolatry and other sins. And in the text he
declares that, when the hour of judgment arrives, even the
presence of such
men as Noah, Daniel, and Job in the doomed city would not
avail to save
any but their own souls.
good men even in the extremest dangers and the most irresistible
judgments. “They shall… deliver their own souls by their
righteousness.”
History affords remarkable
examples of the deliverance of the good in
times of sore peril (compare
Noah -Genesis 7:23;
But it is not often that the
godly are exempted from the calamities and
judgments which befall the
wicked. Thus Daniel, Ezekiel, and other holy
men were carried into
punishment of idolatry, and were now suffering
that exile with them.
But invariably “they deliver their
own souls by their righteousness.”
If their bodies be not
delivered, yet their souls are. Amid the overthrow
of cities, the ruin of countries,
or even the
wreck of the world, their
spiritual interests
are secure. Moreover, though they are
not exempt
from general
calamities, yet to them the calamities wear a different
aspect from that which they present to the wicked. They are sustained
under them, and enabled to bear
them with heroic
patience. The suffering
which comes to the wicked as the
judgment of
a stern Ruler comes to
the righteous as the
chastisement of a loving Father. And, by His grace,
out of the scars of suffering, God will bring the beauties of
holiness.
The darkness and
anguish which embitter and harden the heart
of the
wicked (for example, Revelation 16:9), will increase the trust
and
tenderness and
refine the graces of the righteous. “Say
ye to the
righteous, that it shall be well with him:
for they shall eat the fruit
of
their doings. Woe unto the wicked! it
shall be ill with him:
for the reward of his hands shall be given
him.” (Isaiah 3:10-11)
and Job had power to do much for
their fellow men; that they could do
much in averting destruction and
saving man. The warning that these three
saints would not be able to
screen them from this judgment implies the
belief on the part of the people
of
them, by their lives and
prayers, would turn aside the threatening storm. If
any can turn away the judgments
of Heaven from a nation of evil doers,
good men can do it. God may
spare the wicked because of the righteous.
The power of good men to avert
Divine wrath from a people has at least
two branches.
Ø
The power of moral influence with men. They are “the salt of
the earth” (Matthew
5:13). Were
it not for their influence society
would become
hopelessly corrupt, and the
storm of God’s judgment
would sweep the guilty race from the earth.
Ø
The power of intercession with God. We have
illustrious examples of
this (compare Genesis
18:23-32; Exodus 32:11-14, 30-34; Numbers
11:1-3; 14:13-20; 16:44-50). Who
can estimate the power of the
intercession of good men?
Noah, Daniel, and Job
were in it as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall
deliver neither
son nor daughter.” When the sin of a
people has come to
its height, and the decree has gone forth for their ruin, the
piety and prayers
of the best men shall not prevail to finish the controversy.
This is here
asserted again and again, that, though these three men were
in
this time, yet they should deliver neither son nor daughter,
not so much as
the little ones should be spared for their sakes. This shows how
DARK AND
TERRIBLE the guilt of the inhabitants of
(compare Jeremiah 7:16; 11:14;
15:1). When the forbearance of God is
exhausted, any number of the
holiest of men cannot ward off the stroke of
doom. Character may become so utterly depraved that REFORMATION
IS IMPOSSIBLE (This
is why God meant for men to train up their
children in the fear and admonition of the Lord and WHY IT IS SUCH
A MISTAKE THAT
HERSELF FROM CHURCH AND
STATE, IN ESSENSE
SEPARATING HERSELF
FROM GOD ALMIGHTY! - CY – 2014)
and then NOTHING BUT JUDGMENT REMAINS!
Moral disease may
become so deeply
rooted and strong that no influence can overcome it, no
power eradicate it, and THEN DESTRUCTION IS INEVITABLE!
When the Divine means of
reformation have all been tried, and all have
failed, what remains is UTTER
RUIN! Abused patience
will turn at last
into INEXORABLE WRATH!
Ø Our subject
speaks earnestly to parents concerning the salvation of
their children.
If you would have your children saved you
must begin
to work early
and wisely (Deuteronomy 6:4-12;
Ephesians 6:4).
While the chains of evil habits
are unforged, and the heart
is susceptible of sacred impressions,
and the conscience sensitive,
and the sympathies tender, we must seek the salvation of our children
if we would secure it. (Remember that “The chains of habit are
too light to be felt until they are too
strong to be broken!! Also,
“It is easier to take your children in to
Out!” – CY - 2014).
Oh, the time may come when the holiest of
men “shall deliver neither son nor
daughter” from the storms of
God’s judgment!
Ø
Our text reminds us all that salvation is a personal
concern. Our
continuance in sin may lead,
nay, must lead, to a moral condition in
which the prayers of the most
loving and sainted parents may avail
nothing for their own son or
daughter. You must believe on
Jesus Christ for yourself,
repent of your sins yourself. You must
“work out your own
salvation with fear and trembling.”
(Philippians 2:12). There is no working by proxy here. “Each one
of us shall give
account of himself to God.” (Romans
14:12).
Therefore “strive to enter in by the narrow gate,” (Matthew 7:13).
“Give the more
diligence to make your calling and election sure.”
(II Peter 1:10)
22 “Yet,
behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought
forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they
shall come forth unto
you, and ye shall see their way and their
doings: and ye shall be
comforted concerning the evil that I have
brought upon
even concerning all that I have brought
upon it. 23 And they shall comfort
you, when ye see their ways and their
doings: and ye shall know that I have
not done without cause all that I have done
in it, saith the Lord GOD.”
The words end with a gleam of hope shining through the
judgments. For Ezekiel,
as for Isaiah, there is the thought of a “remnant that
shall return” (Isaiah 10:20-22).
It has been questioned whether “the
ways and the doings” which are to
bring
comfort to men’s minds are those of the evil past or of the
subsequent repentance.
I incline to the view that they include both. Men should
see at once the severity
and the goodness of Jehovah (Romans 11:22). His punishments
had not been
arbitrary nor excessive. They had also been as a discipline
leading men to repentance.
In each of those facts there was a ground of comfort for
men who asked the
question, which Abraham asked of old, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth
do right?” (Genesis 18:25). In either aspect men will recognize that
God has not done without cause all that He has done. In
this way the
prophet seeks, as others have done since, to justify the
ways of God to
man. Ezekiel’s word for “remnant” is, it may be
noted, not the same as
Isaiah’s, its primary significance being “these that escape.” Ezekiel does
not quote the earlier prophet, though his thoughts are in
harmony with him.
Human Atonement Valueless (vs. 12-23)
The hopeful among the Jews probably remembered that in
times of former
correction God had yielded, in some measure, to the
intercessions of the
saints. If they had not gained all that they asked, they had
gained some
advantage. Why might that not occur again? Might not God
concede some
of His demand? This was impossible, for the first necessity
was that
righteous government be maintained. No good can ever come to men by
TAMPERING WITH RIGHTEOUSNESS!
thing for men to affect surprise
at the severity of God’s chastisement.
(How can a Just God allow such
thing to happen? I heard this often
in secular circles in comments
on various things that happen in our society!
CY – 2014). Yet this
is only an outcome of their ignorance.
They have no
conception of THE TREMENDOUS EVIL OF SIN! Its
magnitude defies
all human measurement. We cannot
follow it into all its ramifications of
mischief. We see the beginning of the
vicious stream; the ending is beyond
our sight. It is an injury to the
moral universe, and we cannot estimate it.
Had Eve foreseen
all the painful results of taking the forbidden fruit,
surely she would
have resisted the tempter. (Had
Abraham known
of the modern jealousies between the Jews and the Arabs,
no doubt
he would have thought twice before going into Hagar! – CY
– 2014)
not always possible for men to
discriminate between great sins and small;
yet even men can discover when sin becomes rapidly contagious, and when
it is largely
influential for evil! When a man, by a plausible embellishment of
vice, entraps ten thousand
others into the snare, and makes his vice
fashionable,
popular, universal, — his sin is heinous. (Like “Jeroboam,
who made
As for a disease that has become
epidemic the severest remedies are employed,
so when a sin becomes national, terrible
chastisement is demanded. To
vindicate His righteous
law, God sometimes employs the scourge of pestilence;
sometimes famine; sometimes war;
sometimes a plague of locusts. But
when iniquity breaks out with
virulence, or becomes aggravated and
stubborn, He will combine all his methods
of chastisement, in order to
cleanse the land. Always His punishments are well apportioned, never
excessive. The balance is in the hand of Infinite Wisdom.
RIGHTEOUSNESS. The
messenger of Jehovah singles out for mention
three men who were eminent for
piety and faith. His language implies that
if any men could prevail with
God to abate His penalties, these were the
men. It was useless for him to make
mention of men of inferior piety. Any
righteous man would not suffice.
To have any hope of success, he must be
a man of transcendent purity.
This conviction was universal in the minds of
the people. It was founded on
reason, on experience, on the records of past
history.
Ø
Had not Moses gained a
respite for the nation by his righteous
intercession?
Ø
Had not Samuel averted
the stroke of Divine anger from
Ø
Had not Noah’s
righteousness secured the safety of seven persons
beside himself? Why should
it not be so again?
Ø
Daniel was living
among them — a man eminent for loyalty to Jehovah.
Ø
Were not Jeremiah and
Ezekiel interceding for the people?
If anything could save the
nation from utter destruction, surely it was the
righteous zeal of these godly
men!
A SINGLE PENALTY FROM OTHERS. A man’s personal righteousness
will always serve as a screen
for himself, never as a shield for others. Far
be it from God to
destroy the righteous with the wicked! (Genesis 18:25).
This would be to obliterate
eternal distinctions. This would be for God
to act against Himself. The
righteous are safe when dangers are thickest.
They have an invulnerable
panoply. And the prayers of the
righteous have
often gained temporary
advantages for the unrighteous. Such intercession
has obtained a brief respite for
repentance — has obtained a postponement
of the catastrophe. Yet as a
righteous man, however zealous, has no power
to transform the moral nature of
another man, he cannot deliver him WHEN
GOD APPEARETH FOR
JUDGMENT! ETERNAL JUSTICE IS
THE MAIN PILLAR
OF THE UNIVERSE, and, if
justice fails, the
universe wilt be shivered.
MEN ALL DIVINE PENALTIES. This is an argument ad hominem.
If the
righteousness of the best men
that ever lived cannot quench one fiery dart
of God’s vengeance, much less
can it quench all the darts in God’s quiver.
There was a propriety in every
particular form of chastisement which God
employed; it would therefore be
unbecoming every attribute of His nature
to suspend that chastisement,
while the causal sin yet remained. Men little
surmise the terrible
necessity there is for retribution,
because THEY DO
NOT PERCEIVE THE MAGNITUDE OF SIN! It is a fearful
thing
to provoke the anger
of the living God. (“For
our God is a consuming
fire! - Hebrews 12:29)
RIGHTEOUSNESS CLEAR TO MEN. It is possible that the elders of
course. They did not know the
full extent of
the root of discord. But God
would spare a few — most probably the best
— of the inhabitants of
to Tel-Abib,
and join the older members of the Captivity. But so base and
intolerable will the characters
of this remnant appear, that the elders
themselves will confess that God’s
judgments were not a whit too severe
— that a less chastisement would
be inadequate. This act of God exhibits
the graciousness of His
character. He deigns to explain and to justify His
ways unto His trustful children.
“The secret of the Lord is with them that
fear Him, and He
will show them His covenant” (Psalm 25:14). He
takes them into
his fullest confidence.
Purpose in
·
GOD MAY APPEAR TO ACT WITHOUT CAUSE. We cannot
discover design in all the
movements of nature so easily as we may detect
this in its structure. Though we
may be startled at times by the aptness of
the providential overruling of
history, too often we are perplexed,
dismayed, confounded. The wicked
man flourishes like a
and the good man is persecuted
or perishes in a vain conflict with adverse
circumstances. Psalmists of old
noticed this familiar fact, and grieved over
it (e.g. Psalm
17:10). of his power who can understand?”
There is mystery
in God’s providence in nature and in the world. There are difficulties which
puzzle and perplex
us when we are suddenly confronted with situations in life!
Job said, “Lo, these are but the outskirts of His ways: and how small a
whisper do we hear
of Him! But the thunder of His power who can
understand?” (Job
26:14). We know that God has
mind, and that
He
exercises what with us would be called forethought. The righteousness
and love of God make it certain that
he does not act without a cause..
·
GOD DOES NOT ACT WITHOUT CAUSE.
Ø
The failure to discover a cause is no proof that it does
not exist. We
cannot limit the range of
existence to the scope of our knowledge. There
are hidden physical causes which
the most searching scientific analysis
has failed to trace: why may there not be also hidden final causes, deep
purposes of God,
which no mind of man can reach?
Ø The proved
purpose of God in known regions suggests the existence of
a like purpose in unknown regions. We can trace more
purpose in
creation than in providence; but
since the same God rules over both,
it is to be
presumed that the spirit of design which pervades the one
runs through the
other. We know that God has mind, and
that He
exercises what with us would be called
forethought. Moreover, it is
impossible to suppose that His principal
dealings with His own
children will be aimless when
His less momentous
works are instinct
with purpose.
Ø The
righteousness and love of God make it certain that he does not act
without a cause. Reckless action is morally defective. Ethics bears
directly on motive and purpose.
A just God must have a righteous
object with which to act. The love of God
emphasizes the assurance
of purpose in providence, for no one would treat those dear to him
with heedless indifference. This
is especially applicable to the infliction
of chastisement. A just and
merciful God cannot send chastisement
without adequate cause.
DECLARED. It is impossible
for us to see it yet, for we cannot look
beyond the grave, nor can we
scale the heights of Divine thought in the
infancy of our spiritual
experience. The schoolboy cannot see the
utility of
all his lessons. But if he has
been well taught in boyhood, when he is a man
he will look back on the hard
training with appreciative satisfaction, and
will therefore
order a similar process for his children. It would not be well
for us to see the end yet, for
we must be trained by faith. But earthly
experience often throws back
light on dark passages of life, and they
then
flash into a new meaning which calls forth gratitude as well as wonder.
Beyond this world the fuller
explanation will come. (I personally believe
that it will take eternity to
understand it all! - CY – 2014) “For our
light affliction,
which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more
exceeding and ETERNAL WEIGHT OF GLORY!” (II Corinthians
4:17).
The Reasonableness of
God’s Action (vs. 22-23)
There is that in human nature to which religion appeals,
and by which
religion asks to be judged. Religion does indeed speak with
authority, but
the authority is
that of wisdom and righteousness. Man’s
judgment and
conscience approve the order of Divine providence, and the
tenor of Divine
revelation. More particularly, upon the suggestion of this
passage, it should
be remarked that:
·
THE DEALINGS OF GOD INCLUDE BOTH JUDGMENT AND
SPARING MERCY. The
prophet speaks both of “the sore judgments upon
and daughters.” GOD IS EVER A GOD OF JUSTICE AND A GOD OF
MERCY!
·
GOD’S DEALINGS OFTEN PERPLEX OBSERVERS. “His ways are
in the great
waters.” “Who can by searching find out God?” (Job 11:7)
The firmest believer in Divine
providence has frequent occasion to confess his
utter inability to explain the
events which happen around him. Why are some
men prosperous, whilst others
pass through affliction and calamity? Why
do some escape in seasons of
disaster, whilst others are overwhelmed?
Why are God’s ways often to all
appearance inconsistent with a regard to
the equitable treatment of the
wicked and the good? Such questions ever
recur. They may, indeed, in the
case of some observers, never be put; but
when put they cannot be
answered.
·
YET TO REFLECTING MINDS GOD’S DEALINGS DO, ON THE
WHOLE, APPEAR CONSISTENT WITH REASON AND
RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Individual facts may be difficult to reconcile with our
religious beliefs, but general
principles and laws, when we rise to them, are
recognized as just and good. And
the higher the view we take of human
nature and human life, the more
do anomalies disappear. If we clearly
perceive that man is made for
goodness, and not for enjoyment, that the
earthly life is a discipline and
a preparation, that the great end of all is that
man may share the Divine nature and the Divine life, — such convictions
will help us to see and feel the
wisdom and the goodness that distinguish
God’s government of men. There is in
God’s ways no error and no caprice.
·
GOD’S DEALINGS WITH NATIONS, AS WITH INDIVIDUALS,
ARE INTENDED TO PROMOTE MORAL IMPROVEMENT. The
expression used is very
remarkable. The Lord assures those who observe
His treatment of
concerning the evil brought upon
true benevolence, of the Divine ways shall in due time be
made apparent.
The cause for which what has
been done has been ordered by providence
shall be recognized and shall be
approved as justifying the great Ruler and
His government. Thus shall His
Name be glorified.
The Righteousness of God Doubted and Vindicated
(vs.
22-23)
“Yet, behold, therein shall be
left a remnant that shall be brought forth,”
etc. Our text, as Fairbairn
points out, “is addressed to the people already in
exile, who are regarded as viewing the destruction about to
be executed on
prophet tells such there would certainly be a remnant —
not, however, in
the proper sense, as if they were themselves deserving
persons, or spared
for blessing for the sake of the pious among them — but a
remnant still so
wedded to sin, and so manifestly deserving of severe
chastisement, that
every one would recognize the justice of God’s dealings
toward them. ‘Ye
shall see,’ to use the language of Calvin, ‘the men to be so wicked,
that ye
shall be forced to confess the city was deserving of
destruction, and the
men themselves worthy of death. And instead of murmuring
and fretting
against God, ye shall be satisfied it could not have been
otherwise ordered,
their wickedness was of so desperate a nature; so that with soothed and
tranquil minds, ye shall henceforth proclaim my
righteousness, and cease
any more to utter the complaints which now disturb your
minds!’” Let us
consider:
·
THE CONCERN OF THE GOOD FOR THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF
GOD IN HIS JUDGMENTS.
Ezekiel foresaw that his fellow exiles would
be amazed at the sternness of
the judgments of God upon
judgments would be of great
severity. And amongst the exiles there were
some pious persons who would be
troubled with doubts as to whether the
Lord had sufficient cause for
what He had done there. They would be
distressed with the suspicion
that perhaps the visitation of God had been
disproportionate in its severity
— that the sins of the people had not
merited such punishment. And
they would be distressed with misgivings as
to the righteousness of God in
the matter. “So long as we do not
understand that God on just
grounds acts sternly, so long are our souls
distressed and tormented.”
Somewhat thus Abraham felt respecting the
doom pronounced on
after this manner,
to slay the righteous with the wicked, that so the
righteous should
be as the wicked; that be far from thee: shall not the
Judge of all the
earth do right?” We have here, as
Robertson, in
fragmentary but striking and
suggestive notes, remarks, “a suspicion of the
Divine justice: the most
horrible with which the mind of man can be
tempted. Dreadful to doubt one’s
own salvation, and feel suspended over
the gulf! But a more terrible
gulf when we doubt whether all is right here.
‘Oh, to see the misery of this
bleeding world!’ Consider for a moment the
misconception of these words,
‘Shall not the Judge of all the earth do
right?’ They have been used to
prove the sovereignty of God. God is
Judge, therefore what He does is
right. He has a right, and therefore it is
right. But Abraham does not say that.
So far from acquiescing in the
predestinarian feeling — it is to be, and therefore it is right; God is a
sovereign, and may do what He pleases — (“....our God is in the heavens:
He hath done
whatsoever He hath pleased.” Psalm 115:3) He is
precisely
doubting this, whether, though
God be Judge, His deeds are right, taking the
moral sense of Abraham as a
text, and considering it horrible if God’s acts
do not agree with it. It is a perilous way of speaking, ‘God has a right to decree
what He will; my salvation, your
damnation.’ It is not so the Bible speaks. It
appeals to the sense of justice,
‘Are
not my ways equal?’ (ch. 18:25) God
never says, ‘I create a thing
right, therefore I do it.’ God’s will does not make
a thing right. It is God’s
character which determines His will. For else, if the
devil had created this world,
wrong would be right, because his will, and we
should have the terrible
doctrine — might makes right” (‘Life and Letters,’
Appendix 3.) This is as
applicable to the doubts and fears of the exiles as to
the righteousness of God in His
judgments upon
of Abraham as to the doom of the
cities of the plain. This concern of godly
men for the righteousness of
God’s dealings implies:
1. An inward sense of righteousness. It is a testimony
to the existence and
exercise and majesty of the
moral sense in man. It is an outcome of the
working of conscience.
2. Deep solicitude for the honor of God. Any doubt of His
holiness, or of
the rectitude of His doings, causes sore
pain to His people, and it does so
because the glory of His character is unspeakably
dear to them!
·
THE CONVICTION OF THE GOOD OF THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF
GOD IN HIS
JUDGMENTS.
The Lord, by the prophet, assures the troubled
exiles that they should know
that He had not done without cause all
that He
had done in
Ø
This conviction
would be wrought by the manifestation of the
wickedness of
the people. “Therein shall be left a remnant that shall be
carried
forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth unto
you,
and ye shall see their way and their doings,”
etc. The remnant that
should be carried
into captivity would make it clear, from their degradation
and sin, that the
judgments inflicted upon
guilty
inhabitants thereof.
The exhibition of their wickedness would
manifest the
justice of God in their punishment. The pious exiles in
would perceive
“that such corruption had
deserved such destruction.”
God’s
righteousness is
clearly manifest in those
that perish, as well
as by
means of those that escape.”
Ø This conviction would bring peace to the good. “Ye shall be comforted
concerning the evil that I have brought
upon
lies in the
justification of the ways of God. Their painful doubts as to His
righteousness
would be destroyed. Their faith in Him would be established.
And faith brings PEACE and REST to the soul.
Ø The production of this conviction was ordered by God. He did not chide
or condemn them
for their painful doubts; but promised them evidence for
the invigoration
and confirmation of their faith. And He so controlled
events as to
bring about this result. It appears from this that He is
concerned:
o
for the
vindication of His own righteousness, and
o
for the peace of His people.
Wherefore in His own time He
will remove every cloud that veils the
rectitude of His works and ways,
and make it apparent to the whole
intelligent universe that all
His purposes and operations are just and true.
Jesus said, “For there is nothing covered, that shall
not be revealed;
neither hid, that shall not be known. (Luke 12:2)
·
CONCLUSION.
1. Let us cherish a strong
assurance of the righteousness of God in all His
designs and deeds.
2. If in anything His righteousness seems
hidden from us, let us wait
patiently for His
own vindication thereof.
.
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