The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 1 — Section 262

VI. ANSWERED PRAYER MAY BE HEAVIEST DISASTER. The Ga.darenes prayed that Jesus would depart out of their coasts, and he departed. The man who has practised deneit shall be himself deceived. Pharaoh hardened his heart against God until at length God joined in the process : "'l'he 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 hie 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 sin." And this is the heaviest punishment a man can receive. "He that is filthy, let him be filthy still." 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-Gi:ead. 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 .A.hab, that he ma_v 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 pre- vail also." 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. VII. THE LAW OF RIGHTEOUSNESS ALLOWS OF NO llXEMPTION. Pauper and prince are amenable to the same law in the kingdom of God. " The punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh nnto him." No office, however honourable, 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 crank it. It will avail us nothing to say to the white-robed Judge, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?" Office may increase onr responsibility ; it does not add to onr 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 a.re written in heaven."-D. Vers. 12-23.-Human atonement valueless. The hopeful among the Jews probably remembered that in times of former correction God had yielded, in some measnre, to the intercessions of the saints. If they had not gained all that they asked, they had gained some a.dvanta!(e. 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. I. SIN AGAINST Gon 18 AN IMMEABURABI,E EVIL. It is a common thing for men to affect surprise at the severity of God's chastisement. Yet this is only au 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 mis- chief. 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. II. FLAGRANT SIN DEMANDS EVERY BOBT OF PENALTY. It is 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. 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 pes\ilence; 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 cbastisement, in order to cleanse the land. Always his punishments are well-apportioned, never excessive. 'rhe balance is in the hand of Infinite Wisdom. Ill. MEN ARE INFLUENTIAL FOR GOOD ACCORDING TO THEIR RIGIITEOUSNESS. Thei messenger of Jehovah singles out for mention three men who were eminent for piety and faith, His language implies that if any men could prevl\il with God to abate his  280 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [err. xrv. 1-23,