The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 1 — Section 359

cleave to tlrnm the election will be rendered null and void. 'l'he great mercy of God in choosing souls before the souls have turned to him should be eufficient ground to induce all who accept the privileges of the gospel to live up to the standard it sets forth. After God has chosen us to be his people the least we can do is to choose him to be our Portion (Ps. lxxiii. 26). Ver. 11.-Law a.nd lifo. I. THE LAW WAS GIVEN AS A MINISl'ER OF LIFE. God vouchsafed bis statutes in order that tbe Jews might live by means of them. Without those ordinances they were in danger of death, for they were sinners, and the fruit of sin is death. Thus we see that the Law was given in mercy. It came as a. blessing. lt was in its aim a gospel. Nothing can be further from the truth than the notion that it was a rod of chastisement, or even, as some have regarded it, an evil thing, a sort of curse upon sinners. It was not so regarded by the Old Testament saints, who sang hymns in praise of it, and hailed it with language of affection and rapture (e.g. Pa. xl. and cxix). 1. Truth leads to life. The Law was a revelation of God's eternal verities, with nut which the soul would perish in the night of it.q own ignorance. 2. Righteousness would make for life. The Law declared the nature of righteousness, and 1iointed out the path on which it could be pursued. Thus it was an aid to conscience. Further, by its sanctions of menace and promise it urged the careless to walk in that path. 3. Grace 'leads to life. The Law did not exclude all grace. On the contrary, it was given in mercy, and it contained saving provisions iu various forms of condescension to human weakness and in the great institution of sacrifices for sin. II. THE LAW PROVED TO BE A MESSENGER OF DEATH. (Seever. 25). We have come to regard the Law with aversion under the influence of the arguments of St. Paul. Yet he distinctly teaches that the Law was good, but that the perversion of it led to ruin (Rom. Yii. 12). 1. The Law condemns sin. Before we have sinned it is a friend to warn us against doing wrong, but by sinning we have turned it into an enemy. The warning beacon has thus become an ominous meteor, the sign-post a gallows-tree. That which by its guidance protects the innocent from death, by its judgments con- demns the guilty to death (Rom. vii. 10). 2. The Law is powerless to save from sin. (1) Its commandments cannot save. 'l'hey are standards of measurement, not direct powers. Though they urge through conscience, fear, and hope, they only appeal to our nature in its present state. They do not create a new heart. They may drive us to flee from the wrath to come ; but they do not provide any refuge. (2) Its sacrifices cannot save. Ceremonial sacrifices could only save from ceremonial sins. In regard to moral guilt these sacrifices could only typify cleansing, not really accomplish it (Ps. li. 16; Heb. x. 4). III. THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST IB THE ONLY F.FFECTUAL WAY OF LIFE. The Law was "weak," though not on account of its own imperfection, but "through the flesh," i.e. on account of man's human degradation, so that man did not respond to it. Therefore God sent his Son to bring the salvation which the Law was powerless to produce (~om. viii 3). 1. Jn Christ we have the gift of life. (1 John v. 12). Nothing less than aeath is due under the Law; nothing less than life is given by Christ. This we receive by active regenerating grace, not by the erection of a new standard of morals-the Sermon on the Mount substituted for the Ten Commandments-but by the presence and work of a living Saviour. 2. This life in Christ does not destroy the glory of the Law. (1) Christ satisfies the Law in his own Person. (2) He destroys in us the sin which makes the Law our enemy and earns the death-penalty. (3) He gives us his new law of love, his eternal statutes, "which, if a man do, he shall even live in them" (Malt. vii. 24-27; John xv. 10). Ver. 20.-The sanctity of the sabbath. The sabbath was given to Israel as a day of rest for man and beast (Exod. xx. 8-11). But it also had a deeper mystical sign~fi- cance which gave it a peculiar sanctity. It was the sign of Israel, the note by which the chosen people mi"ht be marked, the seal of the covenant of Sinai, as circumcision was the seal of the e:rlicr covenant with Abraham. In this particular, of course, the sabbatli belonged only to the Jews und~r the Law, and our neglect of the seventh day and observance of the "Lord'~ day" are signs that we have pa.Beed under a new covenant with a new ~anclion, sc.'0.l, and token, viz. that of the communion (Luke x.x.ii. 20), (JIJ, XX, 1-49.] TITE BOOK OF nrn PROPHET EZEKrnL. 261