II. Goo's WILLINGNESS TO nEPLY FULLY AND GRACIOUSLY TO THE APPLICATHl:sr OF EARNEST INQUIRERS. If there is one lesson more than another inculcated with lreq nency and coustancy in the pages of Scripture, it is this-that the eternal Father is accessible to his children, that there is no need which they can bring unto him which he is not ready to supply from his infinite fulness and according to his infinite compassion. Hevelation itself is a proof of this. The commission given to prophets and apostles was with a. view to a suitable and surncient response to the inquiries of men. The supreme Gift of God, his own Son, is just a provision intended to meet the want~, the deep spiritual cravings, of the human heart; he is "God with us." To question God's willingness to receive those who inquire of him is to cast a doubt upon the genuine- ness of the economies alike of the Law and of the gospel. Ill. THE MORAL CONDITIONS INDISPENSABLY NECESSARY IN ORDER TO RECEIVIXG A BEBPONBE FROM THE onA0LE OF Goo. Two such conditions may especially be mentioned. 1. Teachableness and humility; the disposition of the little child, without which none can enter the kingdom of heaven; the new birth, which is the entrance upon the new life. 2. Repentance. Whilst living in sin and loving sin men cannot receive the righteousness, the blessing, which the heavenly Father waits to bestow. "Your iniquities have separated between you and your God." Sin is as a cloud which hides the sunlight from shining upon the soul ; it is like certain conditions of atmosphere, it hinders the sound of God's voice from reaching the spiritual ear. This is the action, not of arbitrary will, but of moral law. IV. THE PRACTICAL LESSONS TO BE LEARNT BY APPLICANTS. 1. Here, many, in the same position as that occupied by the elders of Israel who came to Ezekiel, may learn the reason of their rejection. "As I live, saith the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you!" 2. Here all suppliants may learn a lesson of encouragen:.ent. It is not in God's ill will that the obstacle to our reception is to be sought; for there is no ill will in him. "Wash you, make you clean!" Draw near with a sense of need, with confessions of unworthiness, with requests based upon the revealed loving- kindness of the heavenly Father; draw near in the name of him who has himself shown the vastness of the obstacle of sin, and who has himself removed that obstacle; and be assured of & gracious reception and a free a.ad sufficient response. In Christ, the Eternal addresses the sons of men, saying, "Seek ye my face! " and in Christ the lowly and penitent may approach the throne of grace with the exclamation, "Thy face, Lord, will I seek I "-'1'. Vers. 5-9.-The memory of the great deliverance. The continuity of the national life seems to have been as constantly present to the mind of Ezekiel as was the fact of individual responsibility. He distinguished between national and personal character; but both were in his apprehension real. It is certainly remarkable that, in answering as he was directed to do, the application of the elders, he should proceed to epitomize the history of the nation. His aim seems to have been to show that the irreligion and rebellion of which he complained in the epoch of the Captivity had existed throughout the several periods of lsraelitish history. In a. few brief paragraphs the prophet, in & most graphic way, exhibits the conduct of the chosen people in several successive eras. As was customary and natural, the first period dealt with was that of the momentous deliverance from the bondage of Egypt. I. REVELATION. God made himself known unto Israel in the land of Egypt. In this revelation were included: 1. Choice. 2. Covenant, confirmed by oath. 3. Promise of deliverance from bondage; further promise of a land flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands. II. COMMAND, One great duty Jehovah laid upon his chosen and covenant people- the duty of abandoning the idolatry, whose evil effects they had witnessed among the Eayptia.ns. 'l.'hey could not consistently receive the Divine revelation, and at the same ti~e be guilty of idolatry, which in a.II its forms was a contradiction of the worship aml service of the one living and true God. Idolatry was not only dishonouring to Jehovah; it was a defilement of all who took part in its practices. HI. REBELLION. Notwithstanding the grace displayed in the revelation, notwith- etandioa the authority accompanying the command, the chosen and favoured natiun rebelled~ '!'ho circumstances of the case, wheu considered, render this all the lllore 868 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [en. xx.1-49.
manrelloug, Althongh the superior power of the God of their father~ hl\d boon so con- spicuously displ:tyed, " they did not forsake the idols of Egypt." Such conduct WI\S both treason and rebelli0n in one. IV. THREATENING. The truly human manner in which the prophet, in this and similar places, speaks of the Eternal lel\ds some readers to chl\rge him with anthro- pomorphism. The language used of a man might imply vindictiveness; and, taken in connection with what follows, might even imply mutability and fickleness. 'l.'he Divine "fury" and "anger" may not be free from emotion, but such language is mainly intended to convey the impression that the law of righteousness exists, and that it cannot be violated and defied with impunity, either by nations or by individuals. V. RELENTING A1'""D SALVATION. 'l'he ground upon which Jehovah bore with bis sinful people is remarkable; it was "for his own Name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen." For this reason he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt. Their emancipation was owing, not to any daring of their own, not to any heroism of their leaclers, not t.o any fortunate conjunction of circumstances, but to the interposition of Almighty power.-T.