SERMON XIY.
THE SIN AND JUDGMENT OF SPIRITUAL BARRENNESS.
" But the miry places thereof, and the marshes thereof shall not he healed ; they shall be given to salt." — Ezek. xlvii. 11.
This prophecy contains a vision of the glorious, holy, gospel state of the church, under the representation of a most glorious temple, incomparably excelling that built of old by Solomon ; an exposition whereof we have, 2 Cor. iii. 6-8, etc.
The beginning of this chapter sets out the way and means of the calling and gathering of gospel churches, whose worship is to be so glorious; and this is under a vision of " waters issuing out of the sanctuary," to heal and quicken all places to which they come.
By the waters here mentioned is the preaching of the gospel in- tended. And we may observe of them, first, Their rise, which was from the sanctuary ; secondly, Their progress, — they increased until they became a river that none could pass over ; thirdly, Their effects or efficacy, — they healed all waters where they came, and quickened, or caused to live, the fishes that were in them.
I SO THE SIN AND JUDGMENT OF
I must not long insist on these particulars.
First. The house, or temple, from whence these waters issue, may be taken two ways : —
1. Mystically, to denote only the presence of God. God dwelt in his temple ; thence come these waters — from his presence. He sends out the word of the gospel for the conversion and healing of the na- tions, Ps. ex. 2. Or, —
2. Figuratively ; and that either for the place where the temple of old stood (that is, Jerusalem), as the preaching of the gospel was to go forth from Jerusalem, and the sound of it from thence to proceed unto all the world, as Isa. xli. 27, hi. 7; Acts i. 4, 8; or for the church of Christ and his apostles, the first glorious, spiritual temple unto God, whence these waters issued.
Secondly. Their progress ; which is described by degrees, it being at first small, — few men preaching it, and to a few, — but afterward in- creasing until it filled the whole earth.
Thirdly. The effects mentioned or ascribed unto these waters are two, — quickening and healing; which I shall not in general speak farther unto, because I shall do it in the opening of my text.
In the words of the text you have the state and condition of those places whither the waters of the sanctuary do come, and the effects before ascribed unto them are not produced ; for so the words are to be read, — they " shall not be healed."
We have here a description of some lands or places whereunto the holy waters do come. First, They are " miry and marshy places;" secondly, The event of the waters coming to them, — they are " not healed;" thirdly, The consequent of that event, — they are " given unto salt."
I shall in a few words lay open the allegory, or parable, unto you.
First. By the waters of the sanctuary, I told you, is meant the preaching of the gospel, — that quickening and healing word which the Lord sends out to gather his church unto himself all the world over, to call his saints to that glorious, gospel, spiritual worship, which is here described in this vision of a temple.
Secondly. The " miry and marshy places" where these waters come, are such where persons cleave inseparably and incurably to their lusts and sins, so that they are not healed by the word. The healing word of the gospel comes, but they receive it not ; the water flows over them, they drink it not in, — are not quickened nor healed by it.
Thirdly. To be " given unto salt," is to be left unto barrenness, Deut. xxix. 23 ; Judges ix. 45 ; Jer. xvii. 6.
The figurative sense of the passage thus explained will afford us the following observations: —
Observation I. God is pleased oftentimes to send the waters of the
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sanctuary to " miry and marshy places/' that " shall never be healed" by them, nor made fruitful ; — or, God, in his infinite wisdom, is pleased to send the preaching of the word unto some places wherein it shall not put forth its quickening and sanctifying power and virtue upon the souls of them that hear it.
II. All places in the world are barren, unsound, and unhealthy, before the coming of the waters of the sanctuary upon them; — or, the souls of all men are spiritually dead and full of woful distempers, until they are quickened and healed by the dispensation of the gos- pel. The word must come and heal them.
III. The waters of the sanctuary are healing waters; — or, the word of the gospel is in its own nature a quickening, healing, sanctifying, saving word, to them who receive it.
IV. Where the waters of the sanctuary come, and the land is not healed, that land is given up of the Lord to salt or barrenness for ever; — or, where the word of the gospel is, by the infinitely wise dis- posal of God, preached unto a place or persons, and they receive it not so as to have their sinful distempers healed by it, they are usually, after a season, given up, by the righteous judgment of God, unto bar- renness and everlasting ruin.