The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 1 — Section 238

Of unsucceeeful or successful we.r, Might never reach me more I " II. THERl!l ABE FALSE PROMISES OF PEA.OE. Ezekiel's contemporary prophets pro-- miscd peace, though Jerusalem was threatened with destruction by the true prophets of God. 1. The peace of unbelief. The threatenings of judgment are discredited. Future punishment is regarded as an invention of the priests to keep their dupes in subjection. 2. The peace ef self-satisfaction. The true prophets denounced sin; but the false prophets flattered with smooth words. There is a teaching which minimizes sin and guilt, an<l so lulls the alarmed conscience to sleep. 3, The peace of presump- tion. The false teachers taught their hearers to presume on the favour of God, and to assume that God would never suffer Jerusalem to be destroyed. So men now abuse the revelation of God's love by assuming that he will never smite in anger. III. WonDS OF PEACE WILL NOT CREATE PEACE. The prophets might say "peace j " but there would be no more peace for all their reiteration of the pleasant message. Smooth doctrines do not make smooth facts. We may enjoy a rosy theology with no shadows in its ideas; but if there are shadows in life, they will not be softened thereby. The future is not shaped by our notions of what it should be; neither is real peace given in the present by mere words of peace. The need is deeper than that which any assuring language can satisfy.. The unrest of the soul calls for an active, powerful pacifying. Till that is experienced the soul will be restless still. IV. CHRIST ALONE Bnmos TRUE PEACE. There is a peace of God, but it is not to be got through flattering words and pleasant assurances. Perhaps storms and trouble will precede it. At least there must be the break-up of the false peace in the revolu- tion of complete repentance. Then Christ will not only speak peace; he comes to make peace JEph. ii. 15). His peace is brought about by his victory over sin, which is the one fundamental cause of war between the soul and God, and of unrest in the soul itself. Christ reconciles us to God by his cross, and brings our souls into harmony with the will of God. This is the only sure and solid peace, Vera. 11-16.-" Untempered mortar." The teaching of the false prophets of peace is here compared to a wall built of untempered mortar, which jg overthrown in o. tempest. I. A FALSE IlOPE IS LIKE A WALL BUILT WITH UNTEMPERED MORTAR. 1. It offers protection. The wall is built, and it endures long enough to invite the threatened people to take shelter behind it. It stands between them and the enemy. So a. false hope is planted between men and their danger, like a city wall, and it encourages them to despise the danger. 2. Je presents a fair appearance. The wo.11 may be well designed with towers, and bastions, and battlements, and all the latest improvements in plans of fortifications. It has a certain mortar holding the stones together, which may appear to be of the very best quality. So false hopes charm with an appearance of solidity. 3. It contains solid materials. It is not a mere mound of earth. There are goocl hewn stones in the structure. Hence its deceptive appearance. A lie that is half a truth is the most deadly lie. \Ve may have certain solid truths of the Christian religion. Yet if these nre not united by personal faith they hang loosely together, and will not save us. 4. It lacks an essential element. The mortar is rotten. Then all the rest goes for nothing. " One thing thou lackest" (Mark x. 21). Yet that one thing may be so vital that the absence of it may lead to utter failure. Our system of religion, like the teaching of the false prophets, may have every commendable element, beauty, symmetr_y, fulness, etc., except one-truth. Then, alas I there jg nothing to hold it together, and the whole is no better than a heap of rubbish. II. T1rn TEMPEST OF TRIAL WILL SHATTER A FALSE HOPE. \Vhen we see people who are comfortably ensconced in a neat little system of religious conceptions, though we know that that system is only held together by the friable mortar of fancy, not by the Portland cement of truth, at first it might seem cruel to unsettle them. But it should be remembered that they are certain to be unsettled at length, and the only questions are as to when and how this will take place. If the rotten wall is not pulled down, some day it will be thrown down. 1. The tempest of trial will come. God sends his hailstorm, his hurricane, It cama to JeruS11lem in Nebuchadnezzar's invasiuo, It 234 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [err. xm.1-2~.