The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 243

HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vere. S--t2--Promise of revival, Ezekiel is inspired to foretell the-·confusion of the enemies of Israel who have brought about her calamities, and who delight in her humiliation, and in their contempt deride her sorrows. But this in itself is small con- solation. And he adds predictions of the restoration, recovery, and revival of Israel after "her warfare is accomplished, and her iniquity is pardoned." The land and its inhabitants are naturally, as well as poetically, associated in his mind. The restored and rc>joicing sons of Jacob till the soil which has been long neglected, anJ the soil rewards their labours with abundant fruitfulness. It is obvious that these prophetic descriptions have an application to the spiritual renovation of a repenting nation, to the Church of Christ under the genial influences of the Holy Spirit, and to the ransomed race of men in millennial prosperity. I. TRE AUTHOR OF THIS REVIVAL. "I," says the Lord, "am· for you, and I will turn unto you." The Creator is the Source and Giver of all life, both in the natural and in the spiritual realm. If the wilderness is to be as the garden of God, it must be through the fall of showers from heaven, through dews of grace, through the Divine breath awakening the dead to life, through the sunshine from God's own countenance calling forth the vitality and the fragrance of the spiritual spring. II. THE SCENE OF THIS REVIVAL, The land which has betin so long desolate by reason of its occupation by hostiie armies, and by reason of the deportation of its inhabitants, is visited by reviving mP.rcy. The waste places, the dismantled and forsaken cities, a.re regarded in compassion and visited in mercy. IlL THE SUBJECTS OF THIS REVIVAL, These are Jiving men, moral natures, capable of true life. "I will multiply men upon you;" "I will cause men to walk upon you." It is the men who make the land what it is, who till the soil, occupy the cities, garrison the fortresses, fill the temples, raise to heaven the free song of trust and praise. 'l'be return of the Hebrew captives to their inheritance, the land given to their fathers, was a joyful occasion, and was the earnest of good things to come. When God gives blessing, it is to living, spiritual, illlmortal natures that he gives it. He blesses hie Church by raising up and consecrating to hie service holy men and women, who in every position and vocation of life fulfil duty under a sacred impulse and with a noble aim. IV. THE TOKENS OF TIIIB REVIVAL. Fruitfulness, increase, abundance,-these are the signs that God is working, that the winter is over and past, that the blossoms of  ce. xxxVI. 1-38.J THE BOOK OF THE PROPIIET EZEKIEL. 251