Gibson (E. C. S.), The Old Testament and its Messages, 194.
Kennedy (J.), in Modem Scottish Pulpit, i. 231.
Kirk (J.), Sermons, 185.
Kuegele (F.), Country Sermons, New Ser., i. 136.
Lewis (H. E.), By the River Chebar, 62.
Oosterzee (J. J. van), The Year of Salvation, ii. 487.
Spencer (I. S.), Sermons, ii. 285.
Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, xxx. (1884), No. 1795.
Christian World Pulpit, xxxiii. 17 (H. S. Holland).
Homiletic Review, xvii. 341 (J. D. Freeman).
National Preacher, xiii. 17 (J. Fuller); xvi. 145 (E. Pond).
Plain Sermons by Contributors to " Tracts for the Times," ii. 233.
196
God and the Sinner.
As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked ; but that the wicked turn from his way and live : turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways ; for why will ye die, O house of Israel ? — Ezek. xxxiii. IS.
1. Ouk text must be viewed in the light of the preceding fact that the prophet, by Divine commandment, had pronounced a judgment on Israel. That judgment had declared that their transgressions were on them, and that they would die in their sins. To this denunciation in the verse preceding the text they reply : " If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live ? " The answer of the people is an expression of despair and helplessness. But it is more. It charges God with the helplessness and despair of their situation, and seeks to justify themselves. It is as if they had said : " How can you blame us for not living ? Who has resisted God's will ? We are powerless to help ourselves ! Our death is by God's imperious, irresistible decree. It is His pleasure that we should die, and we cannot help ourselves." To this charge, making God responsible for their death, the text replies ; " Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked ; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways ; for why will ye die, 0 house of Israel ? "
2. The people to whom Ezekiel's message was addressed were not familiar with the idea of the Divine righteousness, and they could not at once perceive that anger against sin was consistent in God with pity for the sinner and mercy towards the contrite- The task of the prophet was to transform their attitude of sullen impenitence into one of submission and hope, by teaching them the meaning of judgment, the efficacy of repentance, the possibility and the conditions of forgiveness. And this could be taught to
198 GOD AND THE SINNER
them only through a revelation of the free and infinite grace of God.
It is thus that God meets Israel's hard thoughts concerning Him. Instead of being provoked to anger by their rebelliousness He answers their suspicious unbelief by a reiteration of His words of grace. How patient, how long-suffering, how condescending ! Instead of executing vengeance, He renews the assurances of His unfeigned, loving interest in their welfare. Unmoved by their taunts and charges of insincerity, He approaches them in the posture of a friend ; He repeats the declaration of His gracious mind ; He adds new, and larger, and fuller asseverations of His unwearied and inexhaustible compassion. God thus, in the most solemn way, declares to us His loving intentions. He has laid bare the inmost thoughts of His heart. He tells us that these thoughts are the very opposite of ours ; that His desire is not to destroy, but to save.
I.
A Divine Declaration.
"As I live, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked."
It would seem as if the despair of man won from God His profoundest secret, His most healing revelation. The solemn affirmation with which the text opens means that before we can disprove the benevolent attitude of the Divine mind toward the sinner we must disprove the being of God. " As I live, saith the Lord " ; just as certain as I exist, just as certain as I have self- existence, just as certain as that existence is eternal, just as certain is it that God has no pleasure in men's everlasting death.
■fl Is it not wonderful that God should stoop so low as to confirm His promise by an oath ? When men do this they always swear by one greater than themselves. God has none greater than Himself, so He swears by His own eternal being, saying, " As surely as I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that he should turn unto me and live." I remember how astonished and touched I was when I first saw this truth. I wept with emotion at the thought of God's love and His eager desire that I should be saved ; and I " fled for
EZEKIEL xxxiii. n 199
refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before me." I saw that His promise and His oath were quite sufficient for me to cling to, and that they could never, never fail.1
1. Among the most subtle devices of sin to keep the soul under its power, and prevent the man's turning to God, is the slandering of the Most High by misrepresenting His character. As dust blinds the eye, so does sin prevent the sinner from seeing God aright. " Blessed are the pure in heart ; for they shall see God " ; but the wicked see only what they think to be God, and that, alas, is an image as unlike to God as possible ! They say, for instance, that God is unmerciful, whereas He delighteth in mercy. The unfaithful servant in the parable was quite sure about it, and said most positively, " I knew that thou art an austere man " ; whereas the nature of God is as opposite to over- bearing and exaction as light is to darkness. When men once get this false idea of God into their minds they become hardened in heart ; believing that it is useless to turn to God, they go on in their sins with greater determination. They conceive that God is either implacable, or that He is indifferent to human prayers, or that, if He should hear them, yet He is not in the least likely to grant a favourable answer.