The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 472

of a king. To have the presence of a monarch in their midst, to enjoy ever and anon his smile, is a privilege which all citizens prize. But how superior the renown of a city in which the King of heaven specially dwells I That he should stoop to sojourn among feeble mortals is an act of condescension peculiarly God-like. Compassion to the fallen is his delight, and he is satisfied if he can bestir in us holy ambitions. But what an honour I It is a difficult task to make it real to ourselves. His presence is the essential charm of heaven. He is its Light and its Life. Yet he deigns to dwell in an earthly empire! Will he not be equally the Life and Glory of the place? Will not this city acquire an eminence that shall cast into the shade all other renown? What other honour can we desire than this? Can ambition any higher climb? Is not this a climax of honour-" God with us" ? Such a city becomes the metropolis of the world. III. INTERNAL ORDER. If our King dwell in our midst, and if he be endowed with qualities of supreme wisdom and supreme righteousness, then the order of the city will be complete. Oppression of every sort and kind will be unknown. Upon every act of violence he will frown, and his frown will suffice. The inhabitants will instinctively study his comfort. The least danger of losing his presence will make them loyal. They will feel intolerable shame at any act that would distress his mind. His laws and regulations they know to be righteous through and through. His administration of rule is kindly and gentle. It is a joy to please him. Resistance can find no corner wherein to lurk, for "his eyes are in every place." To meet his gracious commands is not enough; they anticipate his every wish. For such a one service is a very banquet. At his feet they place heart and will. IV. PROSPERITY. The presence of God among us brings real prosperity. From him, the eternal Fount of good, all substantial blessing flows. A hollow, transient pros- perity may now and again be possessed without him; but it soon collapses,-it is only penalty disguised. The foes of God have at times had a flash of apparent success. But again men looked; it had vanished; the possessors were hurled into destruction; into smoke had they faded away. As the rising of the sun brings to us radiant day, so the smile of God alone gives success to agriculture, to commerce, to art, to legislation, and to literature. If God dwell among us, every interest in human life prospers. Industry reaps a full reward. Contentment reigns in every home. The very deserts bud and blossom like the rose. V. HIGH OOJOIUNION ALSO IB ENJOYED. Our King does not clothe himself in silent, proud reserve. The very opposite; he is free of speech, affable, familiar. All the stores of knowledge he hl\S he is ready to communicate. It is his purpose to make us wise, righteous, beneficent, pure. He dwells among us that we may commune with him and learn of him. We have known and felt the rich gains to cbaracter and to spiritual progress we have made by an hour or two of converse with the great and good among men. We were liftt:d up to a higher plane of life. But what language can express the go.in of purity and spiritual excellence we obtain from converse with God? It is at times a glad experience; but earth is too poor in speech to tabulate the gain. And it is a gain that abides. A stupendollS change passed over the eleven llpostles through their familiar intercourse with Jesus, and we have often envied them the high advantage. Yet we are not excluded. We are invited to closer friendship, to more intimate converse with God. Fools we are that we do not use the privilege. By com- munion with God we become like God. VI. EXQUISITE JOY, As superior joy pervades like a sunny atmosphere the scenes of heaven, so an instalment of the same joy fills the city on earth where God dwells. Joy springs out of the harmony between our souls and our surroundings. The highest joy is reached when our souls have perfect friendship with our Maker. Out of this intimate relationship with God comes friendly relationship with all holy beings. Now "all things work together for our good." Sorrow is but a preparative for o. higher joy. The darkest cloud breaks into showers of blesal.ng. Sorrow is ephemeral; joy is perma- nent. There are qualities in joy as well as varying measures. 'l'his joy is supcrlati ve -the cream of all joy. 'Tie the selfsame joy that dwells in Jehovah's heart. "My peace," said Jesus, "I give unto you." All other forms of gladness fodo into nothing• ness in the presence of such joy as thi~. It is o. well-spring of bliss which can never be exhausted, because God can never be exhausted. " In thy presence is fulness of joy." "Then shall I be satisfied when I awake in thy likeness,"  488 THE nooK OF' THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [cH. XLVIn.1---85. ---·--·----------------------------- .. 0 bleat the city, bleat the land, That yield them to this King's command I 0 blest the heart eet free from sin, To which he deigns to enter in I" D. Vers. l-20.-07uiracteri6tics of the kingdom. The kingdom of God, here symbo- lized "with such imperfect materials of thought and utterance as then lay within the prophet's reach," was to be one that has not yet been realized; but with the overthrow of many superstitions, the breaking down of much corruption, and the birth and !ITOwth (or the revival) of much Christian zeal, it may be said that this fair vision is°being fulfilled-that the kingdom of Christ is coming, though it is far from having come. Among its characteristics, as it shall one day be, are-- I. GLORIOUS MAGNITUDE OF DIMENSION. (Ver. 10. See homily on eh. xlii.15-20.) II. ITS ADMIXTURE OF GRACE AND OF REWARD. The distribution of the land seems to have been without much (if any) regard to the meritoriousness of the tribes. Dan which for its admission of idolatrous elements might have been last placed, comes first of all (ver. 1); on the other hand, marked preference is shown to "the priests ... of the sons of Zadok, which have kept my charge, which went not astray," etc. (ver. 11). In the kingdom of Christ there is this same righteous and beneficent admixture. 1. It is of God's grace that all sinful souls are taken back into his favour, and are partakers of eternal life (Eph. ii. 5; Rom. vi. 23). 2. A large reward is offered to steadfastness and fidelity (Luke xxii. 28; Matt. xxv. 21 ; Rom. ii. 7; Rev. ii. 10). III. CoMMUNION AND co-oPEBATION. 1. The several tribes were so placed that they were as near to one another as could be; they were to be located side by side. And there was to be no barrier of sea or mountain wall, or even deep river between them; there was to be no hindrance to full communion (see vers. 1-8). 2. They were to unite in a common service. ..<4.ll the tribes were to take part in the service required for the city (ver. 19). When in the future the kingdom of God shall be what its Lord would have it, there shall be no separating walls keeping Churches and communities apart; there will be nothitg standing in the way of fullest and happiest communion ; differences of opinion or of organization will not be sources of division and separation; and while fellowship will be nninterrupted, co-operation for common ends will be common and complete,-all will serve together. IV. BEAUTY. 'l'he aspect presented by this vision is one of symmetry; the sanctuary of the Lord in the midst of it (ver. 10); the sacred city around the sanctuary; and the twelve tribes around the city. Here is the beauty of a symmetrical arrangement. The beauty of the Church will not, indeed, be of this visible, material order. That is quite out of the question. It must necessarily be moral, spiritual, if at o.ll. And that it will be. 1. It will be fair with devotion-constant, systematic, and (withal) spon- taneous devotion (see next homily). 2. It will be adorned with an admirable consistency of behaviour, shunning the evil and pursuing the good which its Divine Master has either condemned or commended. 3, It will be beautiful with the spirit of a true catholicity, its members having a cordial regard and affection for one another, however they may differ in views and tastes. 4. It will be arrayed in the" beautiful garments" of sympathy and helpftilness.-C. Vers. 31-34.-God the Accessible One. Admitting to the sacred city, in the midst of which was "the sanctuary of the Lord" (ver. 10), were twelve gates, three on each side of it, and bearing the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. Surely the significance of this arrangement was that the Divine Sovereign was always accessible to all his people; that he desired to be approached by them all in order that they might have fellowship with him, and that he might confer blessing upon them. In that kingdom, of which the vision is prophetic, the Divine Lordi, accessible to all; and it is not only true that he may be approached by all who will seek him, but that it is his express, his strong deRire that all his children shoul,d freely draw near to him and hold converse with him. God, as revealed and related to us in Jesus Christ, is accossible- I. AT ALL TIMES. The gates into the kingdom, or into the near presence of God, :shall "in no wise be shut," either day or night, There may be days and hours when on. nvm. 1-35.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. 189