The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 447

allegory that the prophet should speak only of fish as the kind of life generated by this stream. Yet as the result of this human life was sustained. Population increased, for men found useful occupation. The whole circun1ference of the Dead Sea. became a scene of activity-the home of industry and plenty. Ago.in we have a graphic sketch of tbe life-giving grace of our God. Wherever it has penetrated it has been life from the dead. Bodily life has been valued and prolonged. The curative art has developed. Domestic life has been enriched. All forms of intellectual life have unfolded. National life has been purified and organized. Population has grown. Best of all, the spiritual life in man has been awakened, and practical love to the human rnce has flourished. A moral revolution among mankind is in progress. The regeneration of society is pro- ceeding. 5. Ex~ptwnal barrenness is incurable. " But the miry places thereof, and the marshes thereof, shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt." There is a certain physical condition of barren land which no abundance of water will fertilize. So in the kingdom of grace resistance of Divine influence is possible. Among the chosen twelve there was a Judas. In the first Church avarice and hypocrisy wrought havoc of death. Some always" resist the Holy Ghost." Some "count themselves unworthy of everla.~ting life." To some in his day Jesus spake with pathetic sorrow, "Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life."-D. Vers. 13, 14, 22, 23.-0anaan a type of heaven. 'l'o the Jews exiled in Chaldea restoration to Palestine seemed a lesser heaven. To regain their land, their ancestral estates, their temple, their priesthood, was the goal of present ambition, was a stepping- stone to yet higher good. The prophetic pictures of Ezekiel were designed to tempt their thoughts to loftier soarings. A better thing than Canaan was in store for them, but as yet they could not appreciate it, therefore could not perceive it. So, by slow and patient steps, God leads us upward. We know but little as yet, realize little as yet, of our great inheritance. The soul is under bondage to the flesh. '1.'he eye is veiled with material things. I. HEAVEN IS ASSIGNED AB THE INHERITANCE OF THE TRUE ISRAEL. It is an undoubted fact that the natural Israel is the type of the faithful in every land. It is a fa.et that the earthly Canaan is described. in the New Testament as the type of the heavenly. "If we are Christ's, then are we Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." "We are come," says St. Paul, "to the heavenly Jerusalem." To the eye of the exiled John the architecture of the heavenly city was formed of materials borrowed from the earthly Jerusalem. Hence we still "seek a country, that is, a heavenly." It is provided for us by God; it is in course of preparation for our use. His house must be furnished with guests, and the guests are being prepared for the place. " The redeemed shall dwell there." " The tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell among them." "He is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has provided for them a city." IL 'l.'HIB INHERITANCE GoD HAB BEOURED BY OATH UNTO ALL THE HEIBS. The title-deed is signed and sealed. It is writ in lines of blood-the blood of Christ. "Signed when our Redeemer diecl, Sealed when he we.a glorified." To all other guarantees God has added this, viz. his solemn oath. "Concern.i,ng the which I lifted up mine hand to give it." As men will accept transference of property and testimony in general, done under the sanction of an oath, when they would not accept it as :final and unalterable without the oath, so God has condescended to our infirmities- condescends to act according to human customs. A single promise from him suffices ; a Eingle word is enough. When he created, a word was ample: "He spake, and it was done." He said, "Let light be! and light was I" So, in securing to us the-inheritance of heaven, a word from him is full security. His promise is as good as his performance. Yet he stoops to employ human methods and human expedients in order to quell our doubts and satisfy our faith. Not a loophole for doubt is left. As firmly established as Jehovah's throne is the gift: "Ye shall inherit it, one a.swell as another." 'Tia not a matter of purchase; it is his spontaneous gift. " I am Jehovah; therefore I change not." Ill. Tws Il!IBERITAN0E 0OMPRISES DISTINCT REWARDS fOB, F~THFO'L SERVICE. on. XLVII. 1-23.J THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. 463