The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 273

"That they all may be one, that the world may believe that thou didst send me." It is little short of a miracle that the kingdom of our Lord should be maintained, much less grow, when so much division exists. That man contracts no light sin who uses his influence in keeping Christians apart. Ilea\ schism is a monstrous sin. And when the purity, the piety, the practical love, of the Church become eminent, these will produce a stupendous impression upon the world without. Holiness which is not austere, holiness expressed in its native form of sterling goodness, has an omnipotent charm which, once seen by men, fascinates all hearts. The love of money and of pleasure will fade and vanish when men discover the superior worth of true righteous- ness. God's manifest residence in the Church will win the homage of all the nations. "Then shall the heathen know," etc.-D. Vere. 1-12.-From death to life. The primary reference of this prophecy is placed beyond all doubt by the passage itself (see ver. 12). 1. Israel was in a forlorn and hopeless condition in her dispersion and captivity; she seemed to be irrecoverably lost; as a nation she was as one dead, if not buried. 2. But God had a gracious purpose concerning her. He intended to exercise his Divine power on her behalf; the dead should be revived; the lost should be found; the scattered should be restored and united. 3. That which seemed so hopeless is seen to be accomplished; instead of " a valley full of bones" (ver. 1) is" an exceeding great army" (ver. 10); instead of a" lost hope n (ver. 4) is a revived and recovered nation (ver. 12). The true analogue to this vision of the prophet is the revive.I of the lost and dead human soul under the renewing and inspiring power of the Spirit of God. What is suggested here on this vital theme is- I. TBE FATAL AND HOPELESS CONDITION TO WHICH BIN BEDUCEB UB. Could we see our sin-stricken humanity e.e it appears in the sight of God, then where now we look upon fair scenes and shows of beauty or activity, we should see a "valley full of dry bones "-a valley of death. Let " the dead bury their dead," said the Master. " She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth," said his apostle. To be separated from God in thought and sympathy; to be living in selfishness, in vanity, in sin; to be forfeiting our fair heritage of righteousness and holy service, and to lose our life in human gratifications or earthly acquisitions ;-this is to be lost to God and wisdom; it is to have entered at least the outer shadows of the valley of death ; and wheu sin has done its worst, when it hns le~ the man or the community down to its nethermost abyss, then is he (or it) in such a state of spiritual deathfulness and hopelessness that all recovery seems impossible, as impossible as for a great mass of dry and disparted bones scattered on some broad valley to be readjusted and to be reanimated with life. "Can these bones live?" "No," human intelligence replies, "they are dead beyond all recovery." Yet is it well to remember that "the thiags which are impossible to man are possible with God;" and it is well to make reply, as in the text," 0 Lord God, thou knowest." For God's reply is not in the negative. He summons to activity; and we have- 11. 'l'HE THREEFOLD AGENCY CALLED INTO EXERCISE. 1. The human teacher. "H, said unto me, Prophesy," etc. (ver. 4). "So I prophesied as I was commanded" (ver. 7). It is the bounden duty, the sacred privilege, of the hnman teacher-in the house, in the sanctuary, in the school, in the street, anywhere and everywhere that men will listen-to summon the lost ones to return, the fallen to rise, the slumbering to awake and to retum unto the Lord their God. 2. The sinful souls themselves. "As I prophesied there was a noise, and behold a shaking," etc. (ver. 7). Men may seem as dead, and in a sadly serious sense they may be "dead in sin; " yet they are not so absolutely lifeless that there is no possible response in them when the word of Divine truth is spoken. On the contrary, they will respond ; there is the spiritual movement which begins in being aroused, and which ends in the actual return of the heart unto its Divine Father, and its entrance into eternal life. 3. 7'/,e Divine Spirit. "Pro1,hcsy unto the wind . . . breathe upon these slain, that they may live" (ver. 9). What the breathing wind in the prophet's image wrought, that now works the Holy Spirit of God. Vain the words of the teacher, the movement of the fallen and lost spirit, without the renewing and reviving energy that comes from God. But that does come. God waits to work with us and for us; and when there is honest effort accompanied with ea.rue~t prayer, the breath of the Divine Spirit is not \\'an ting; then comes- 282 THE BOOK. OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [cu. xxxvu. 1-28.