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Ezekiel Chapter
Twenty-four
Ezekiel 24
Chapter Contents
The fate of Jerusalem. (1-14) The extent of the
sufferings of the Jews. (15-27)
Commentary on Ezekiel 24:1-14
(Read Ezekiel 24:1-14)
The pot on the fire represented Jerusalem besieged by the
Chaldeans: all orders and ranks were within the walls, prepared as a prey for
the enemy. They ought to have put away their transgressions, as the scum, which
rises by the heat of the fire, is taken from the top of the pot. But they grew
worse, and their miseries increased. Jerusalem was to be levelled with the
ground. The time appointed for the punishment of wicked men may seem to come
slowly, but it will come surely. It is sad to think how many there are, on whom
ordinances and providences are all lost.
Commentary on Ezekiel 24:15-27
(Read Ezekiel 24:15-27)
Though mourning for the dead is a duty, yet it must be
kept under by religion and right reason: we must not sorrow as men that have no
hope. Believers must not copy the language and expressions of those who know
not God. The people asked the meaning of the sign. God takes from them all that
was dearest to them. And as Ezekiel wept not for his affliction, so neither
should they weep for theirs. Blessed be God, we need not pine away under our
afflictions; for should all comforts fail, and all sorrows be united, yet the
broken heart and the mourner's prayer are always acceptable before God.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Ezekiel》
Ezekiel 24
Verse 1
[1] Again in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the
tenth day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
In the ninth year — Of Zedekiah's reign.
Came unto me — The prophet was now in Babylon.
Verse 2
[2] Son of man, write thee the name of the day, even of this
same day: the king of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem this same day.
Set himself — Sat down to besiege.
Verse 4
[4] Gather the pieces thereof into it, even every good
piece, the thigh, and the shoulder; fill it with the choice bones.
Every good piece — All the chief of the
inhabitants of the land, the wealthiest, who will fly from their country-houses
to live in safety in Jerusalem: the most war-like, who will betake themselves
to Jerusalem for its defence.
Fill it — With those pieces that are biggest, fullest of marrow,
and which are divided according to the bones; these are the principal members
of the state, the king, princes, priests, magistrates, and the most wealthy
citizens.
Verse 5
[5] Take the choice of the flock, and burn also the bones
under it, and make it boil well, and let them seethe the bones of it therein.
The bones — Not of the pieces to be boiled,
but of the many innocents murdered in Jerusalem; for their blood crieth for
vengeance, and their bones scattered on the face of the earth, will both make
and maintain this fire.
Verse 6
[6] Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the bloody
city, to the pot whose scum is therein, and whose scum is not gone out of it!
bring it out piece by piece; let no lot fall upon it.
The bloody city — Jerusalem.
Whose scum — Her wickedness is still within
her.
Piece by piece — One piece after another 'till all
be consumed.
No lot — Lots are for saving some, but here shall be no sparing
any.
Verse 7
[7] For her blood is in the midst of her; she set it upon
the top of a rock; she poured it not upon the ground, to cover it with dust;
The blood — Innocent blood which she hath
shed.
The top of a rock — Where it might be
long seen.
To cover it — These butchers of innocent ones
leave their blood uncovered.
Verse 8
[8] That it might cause fury to come up to take vengeance; I
have set her blood upon the top of a rock, that it should not be covered.
I have set — I will openly punish, and in such
a manner as shall not be soon forgotten.
Verse 10
[10] Heap on wood, kindle the fire, consume the flesh, and
spice it well, and let the bones be burned.
And spice it well — To express this
justice, that is acceptable to God and men.
The bones — The greatest, strongest, and
firmest of the Jews shall perish in this fiery indignation.
Verse 11
[11] Then set it empty upon the coals thereof, that the brass
of it may be hot, and may burn, and that the filthiness of it may be molten in
it, that the scum of it may be consumed.
The filthiness — A type of the unreformed
sinfulness of the city.
Molten — That their wickedness may be taken away with their
persons, and city.
Verse 12
[12] She hath wearied herself with lies, and her great scum
went not forth out of her: her scum shall be in the fire.
She — Jerusalem.
With lies — Her allies, their promises, their
forces, and their idols, all prove a lie to the house of Judah.
Her scum — Her unrepented sins shall be punished in the fire that
burns their city.
Verse 13
[13] In thy filthiness is lewdness: because I have purged
thee, and thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness
any more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee.
Lewdness — Or obstinacy and boldness.
Purged thee — Used all means to purge thee.
Verse 16
[16] Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of
thine eyes with a stroke: yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shall
thy tears run down.
With a stroke — A sudden stroke, by my own
immediate hand. We know not how soon the desire of our eyes may be removed from
us. Death is a stroke, which the most pious, the most useful, the most amiable
are not exempted from.
Verse 17
[17] Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead, bind the
tire of thine head upon thee, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet, and cover not
thy lips, and eat not the bread of men.
Bind the tire — Adorn thy head, as thou wast used
to do; go not bare-headed as a mourner.
Thy shoes — ln great mournings the Jews went
bare-footed.
Cover not thy lips — It was a custom among
them to cover the upper lip.
Eat not — Of thy neighbours and friends, who were wont to visit
their mourning friends, and send in choice provision to their houses.
Verse 18
[18] So I spake unto the people in the morning: and at even
my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded.
I spake — Told them what I expected would be.
Verse 21
[21] Speak unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD;
Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the excellency of your strength, the
desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pitieth; and your sons and your
daughters whom ye have left shall fall by the sword.
Profane — Cast off, and put into the hands of Heathens.
The excellency of your strength — So it was while God's
presence was there.
The desire — As much your desire, as my wife
was mine; most dear to you.
Verse 22
[22] And ye shall do as I have done: ye shall not cover your
lips, nor eat the bread of men.
Ye shall do — When you are in captivity, where
you may not use your own customs.
Verse 23
[23] And your tires shall be upon your heads, and your shoes
upon your feet: ye shall not mourn nor weep; but ye shall pine away for your
iniquities, and mourn one toward another.
Pine away — You shall languish with secret
sorrow, when you shall not dare to shew it openly.
Verse 25
[25] Also, thou son of man, shall it not be in the day when I
take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their
eyes, and that whereupon they set their minds, their sons and their daughters,
Their strength — Their walls and fortifications.
The joy — All their public and private joys and hopes shall be
destroyed in the destruction of the kingdom, and their children.
Verse 26
[26] That he that escapeth in that day shall come unto thee,
to cause thee to hear it with thine ears?
To hear it — To give thee a narrative of all he
had seen.
Verse 27
[27] In that day shall thy mouth be opened to him which is
escaped, and thou shalt speak, and be no more dumb: and thou shalt be a sign
unto them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
No more dumb — From this prophecy for eighteen months
during the siege, he does not prophesy of Israel, but of other nations.
Thou shalt be a sign — Until the event shall
convince the Jews, thou shalt by sign, signify to them, what is coming.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Ezekiel》
24 Chapter 24
Verses 1-27
Verses 1-14
Set on a pot.
The boiling cauldron: the doings and doom of a wicked city
I. The sins of any
city are an offence to God.
1. Seen by Him. The whole city in its greed for gain, its
intemperance, its hollowness, its lust.
2. Seen by Him with anger. He is a Moral Governor, and has the moral
nature that breaks into the sunlight of a smile on goodness, and gathers into
the thunder cloud of a frown upon wickedness.
II. The sins of any
city will ensure its doom.
1. History illustrates this. The cities of the plain, the dynasties
of the old world.
2. Prophecy predicts this.
3. The law of causation involves this. The disease of sin naturally
works the death of destruction.
III. The sins of any
city concern every individual inhabitant.
1. They bring sorrow on all.
2. They give a mission to all. Hence learn--
The boiling cauldron
1. Those who profess a true religion and possess a bad character
defile their creed by their character. The youth who belongs to an honourable
family and lives a vicious life brings the very name of his family into
ill-repute. The man who calls himself a Christian, and lives an un-Christlike
life, defiles the name he bears.
2. The possession of a correct creed will not preserve a nation or an
individual from moral degeneration unless it has its outcome in a life in
accordance with it. The child who has a Bible given to it by his father may
treasure the book carefully and boast of his possession. But the mere holding
of the book will not save him from going down in the scale of morality. To do
this he must translate the law of God into life, and thus create a new thing in
the earth--a holy character which is all his own, and which he would not
inherit from his parent.
3. There are higher claims than those springing from human
relationships. The man who descends into the depths of a coal mine to rescue
another who is perishing, while his wife stands at the pit’s mouth, beseeching
him not to venture his life, recognises this law. So does the citizen soldier
who leaves his home and family to fight for the oppressed, and the doctor who
from choice follows the army on campaign to relieve the sufferings of the
wounded. (A London Minister.)
Verse 13
Thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness.
Obstinacy in sin
1. Obstinacy in sin provokes God to the destruction of sinners. “Her
scum shall be in the fire.” Jerusalem shall be burnt, and why? “In thy
filthiness is lewdness”; thou art obstinate, hardened in thy wickedness. All
sin offends, some sins provoke to judgments, obstinacy provokes to destruction
(Jeremiah 44:15).
2. In Scripture language, that is said to be done which God or men
endeavour to do, though it be not done. “I have purged thee.” God using means,
and endeavouring, by His prophets, mercies, threats, and judgments, to purge
Jerusalem from her sin, is called purging, though Jerusalem were not purged.
3. A people may have the means, and not improve the same for their
good.
4. People may so slip the time of repenting, and turning to God, as
that it may be too late for them to go about the same; they may sin away the
time of mercy. Time present is the acceptable time (2 Corinthians 6:2).
5. Those who have had means, and not profited thereby, God will deal
most severely with--there is no mercy, but altogether judgment for them. The
fig tree in the vineyard had stood there three years, and was not better at
last than at first; the influences of heaven, and fatness of the earth, had
done it no good; and behold the severity of the owner: “Cut it down; why
cumbereth it the ground?” (Luke 13:7). (W. Greenhill, M. A.)
Verses 15-27
So I spake unto the people in the morning: and at even my wife
died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded.
Sin the worst sorrow
I. Other sorrows
may have no evil, but even good in them; this is essentially and eternally
evil. In a bereavement, in a national calamity, as also in bodily sufferings
and many social griefs, it is manifest there may be no moral wrong. There may,
indeed, be the highest moral good. But sin is, in its essence, in its
indulgence, in its outcome, utterly evil, an object of nothing else than
commiseration, loathing, and hatred.
II. Other sorrows
are remediable; this leads to destruction.
III. Other sorrows
may come direct from God; this is ever in direct antagonism to Him.
IV. Other sorrows
have to do with men in their relation to others; this with his own inner being
and his relation to God. Conclusion--
1. Rightly weigh your own sorrows.
2. Rightly deal with the world’s sorrows. Pity their poverty, heal
their sickness, but most of all grieve for and contend with their sin.
3. Rightly value the Saviour’s mission. (Urijah R. Thomas.)
Unwept bereavement: or, a great soul in a great sorrow
Individual characteristics are as marked and distinctive in the
new life of the soul as they are in the old life of sin. While the graft draws
its sap from the parent stock, it yields its own kind of fruit. Thus in the
Christian life--it is the same spirit working variously in and through the
mental trend, temperament, and educational attainments of the agent. Ezekiel is
manifestly the spiritual dramatist of the prophetic order. He speaks in action,
and voices by signs the stern purposes of his God. He is a seer in symbols, The
touching incidents recorded in the chapter before us is marked by dramatic
representation of Divine truth. First the “pot,” from which parable he utters
the terrible “Woe to the bloody city.” Here, in his suppressed and even crushed
grief over his deceased wife, “the desire of his eyes” taken away from him
“with a stroke,” is the picture in miniature of the unwept desolation of
Jerusalem. In the painful experience of the prophet we have a great soul under
a great trial.
I. The woman--the
wife. “At eve my wife died.” To the pure and noble and thoughtful, no sorrow
can be greater. Where the wife is what God intended she should be, the helpmeet
of man, the loss here stated is without a parallel. “At eve my wife died”: not
my crops were blasted, or my cattle killed or taken away, but my wife, the best
part of myself, the light of life’s darkest hour; the one that buoys up the man
when all others throw on heavier burdens to press him down. My wife! What
dreadful significance! What fulness of meaning! Many a man has been lifted to
the highest places, and has been transported into fullest conditions, by the
wisdom, piety, and thoughtfulness of a good wife. Young men sinking into debt,
danger, and degradation have lifted up their heads above every flood when they
have taken the float of a good wife--thus proving that “scanty fare for one
will often make a royal feast for two.” There are thousands in the Church
today, or in heaven, who would certainly have made shipwreck of faith but for
the firmer trust and steadier piety of a devoted wife--when the strong man has
been weakened by the hard struggle of life, the weak woman, strong by devotion
and radiant hope, has held him up in her heaven-derived might, till the man has
regained his strength. The prophet is here called to pass through a most painful
experience, and the terms used are touching. His wife is spoken of as the
“desire of his eyes,” and the “taking away” is to be done with a stroke. Not a
gradual fading away of the life and love, with all the touching farewells and
hopes of future meeting which characterise a death bed, but by one fell stroke
the desire of the eye, the joy of the heart, the flower of the garden, the sun
of the home, the star of earth’s hope, shall be taken from him. The Lord
frequently brings judgment near the heart, that He may plant His mercy in the
heart. He kills for the purpose of making alive. The desire of the heart is
often taken, that the heart may desire a Diviner portion. Note the time. At
“eve,” not in the morning ere work began, nor at night when the weaknesses of
old age had rendered life a burden and death a release. But at “eve,” after the
toil but before the rest. Work accomplished, but not enjoyed. How like this
now. Many a good wife who has toiled and struggled and denied her own needy
appetite for the sake of husband and family, has lived just long enough to drag
the household to the top of the hill; and when an easy plain way appeared in
view, and a season of rest gilded the sky, she has fallen dead--not with the
weight of years, so much as with the burden of hard work and heavy care.
II. The man--the
husband. The sublime self-possession, the equanimity of the prophet, the
forgetfulness of a loss so great and a sorrow so deep, seem altogether beyond
the range of common men, and can only be viewed in the light of a purpose as
mysterious as it is beneficent. The Lord apprised him of his loss, but forbade
the assumption of those signs of grief which characterise the obsequies of
oriental countries. “Forbear to cry.” Revised Version renders it--“Sigh, but
not loud.” The margin reads--“Be silent.” Grief in the heart cannot be wholly
quenched; it would be against nature to expect such a thing; but those
extravagant signs of it were what the Lord corn, rounds the prophet against.
This wonderful state of soul under an affliction so bitter may seem to some
both unnatural and sinful. It win be a sufficient reply, perhaps, to say that
exceptional circumstances defy ordinary modes of interpretation. We act wisely
as we suspend judgment upon individual actions in the abstract, and consider
them in the fight of surrounding circumstances and Divine purposes. We are now
in the presence of a great soul whose vast proportions defy all the narrow
measurements of popular conventionalism, and is a standing reproof to those
mere appearances of grief and simulations of sorrow, and those extravagant
habiliments of mourning, which are too often deeper than the grief they are
supposed to represent. The full beauty and the whole worth of the Ezekiel
conduct expresses itself in one word, “Obedience.” To blame the prophet for
what he did is to blame the Almighty who commanded it. It was at the bidding of
the great God that he bare with such magnanimity so tremendous a loss. “He that
ruleth his own spirit is better than he that taketh a city” (Proverbs 16:32). The man who can hold in
check, and keep in obedience to the high behests of heaven, all the powers,
passions, and tender susceptibilities of the soul, has reached an altitude far
beyond the level of common mortals. Look at this grand old prophet whose wild
eye flings off the tear, and decks itself with the full blaze of the day of
God. There he stands in the attitude of strength, dressed for action, and not
muffled for lamentation. If, then, you can attribute the prophet’s spirit and
conduct to weakness or inhumanity, it must be because we view the same things
from different standpoints. I confess that, personally, I am awed into
littleness in presence of a soul so great. To my mind, the whole thing is
explained, and, the mystery cleared up, in the doctrine of a future life. Deny
this, and death is an unmitigated sorrow and an irretrievable loss, without a
ray to relieve the darkness or a prospect to cheer the soul. (M.
Brokenshire.)
Ezekiel’s wife not merely symbolic
Reuss is hardly right in regarding Ezekiel’s wife and her death as
fictions: the language used implies that she was a real person, and that her
death occurred as stated, though, as usual, the prophet employed the incident
for didactic purposes, and some of the details may be creations of idealism;
for it is characteristic of him that real events float before his eve in a
moral atmosphere which magnifies them and gives them an outline which is ideal
only. (A. B. Davidson, D. D.)
Loneliness through bereavement relieved by service
John Bright sat mourning in his sitting room; life was cold and
drear to him, the body of his young wife lay dead in the room above. Richard
Cobden, clear-sighted, enthusiastic, and withal practical, came to his friend,
and said: “You have your sorrow; there are more sorrows in the world than
yours; your opportunity has come; people are hungering in this England of ours.
Come with me, and we will never rest until the Corn Laws are repealed.” I am
not making a political application of that utterance, but we do know that
England was wretched and hungry, and that the lot of the poor was sadder than
it is even today. That lion-hearted pair went out and fought in the midst of
obloquy, misunderstanding, contempt, and persecution, until victory crowned
their efforts, and in 1846 the tribune of the people and his friend rejoiced
over their victory. (R. J. Campbell, M. A.)
The prophet’s discipline of sorrow
Sorrow is here set before us not as personal chastisement, but as
part of the prophet’s training for his work. Duty is often incompatible with
the indulgence of personal sorrow. Business arrangements, public obligations,
engagements that must be fulfilled, often summon men from the house of death;
sorrow must give way to necessity.
1. The prophet’s insight necessitates a discipline of peculiar
sorrow. In some states of the body men’s sensitiveness is acute even to
suffering. They see too much, their hearing and sense of smell are too keen. In
other states of the body the perception is too intense; the feeling of time and
space and weight is enlarged till minutes prolong themselves, and vast abysses
open out, and there is a sense of overwhelming pressure. Poets, philosophers,
who see in all around them the moving of an eternal life, are not,
light-hearted men. To the prophet, who sees not only life everywhere, but God;
who recognises not order only, but moral purpose; who sees the infinite
holiness and the unerring judgment: there is oppressiveness even in his joy.
But he must see the largeness of God’s designs and the certainty of His
operation before he can proclaim them; the word of the Lord is to him a burden
before it is a word. The prophet sees, moreover, not only God, but man; he has
insight into the human heart, its self-will and wickedness.
2. The prophet’s relation to men involves a peculiar discipline of
sorrow. He utters his message, and it is disregarded. He is treated as a vain
dreamer, a raver; then as an actor, whose skill brings together affecting
images which may relieve the tedium of an idle hour. There is no distress so
great as to have earnestness thus trifled with; to feel for men an apprehension
which they will not share. Moreover, it exposes the prophet to severe strokes
from God. God will arouse men; if the prophet’s words cannot make them
thoughtful, He seeks to touch them by the prophet’s sufferings. The common
saying that a man’s life is more efficacious than his teaching, is of wide
application.
3. His discipline of sorrow fits the prophet for speaking to men in
another way: God had a remnant in Israel, a remnant who should be won. If you
are to comfort mourners, you must have seen affliction; you must know the smart
of the wounds you seek to heal You desire to strengthen the faith of the
doubting; one way of doing this is to fight your own doubts and gather
strength. You would appeal to the tempted; you must know what temptation means,
must vanquish the lying spirit, the worldly spirit, the spirit of
unrighteousness; in manic a battle, hard “pressed and sorely won, must come the
skill you seek. (A. Mackennal, D. D.)
The departure of friends
I. The departure
of dear friends by death is under the direction of the great God. Death is not
the result of accident, necessity, or any chemical or mechanical force, but of
the will of God. This doctrine teaches three practical lessons.
1. The grand aim of life should be to please God.
2. The grand aim in bereavement should be to acquiesce in the will of
God.
3. Our grand impression at every deathbed should be that the Lord is
at hand.
II. The departure
of dear friends by death is the source of great sorrow. Sorrow for the dead
indicates--
1. Something good in human nature. It always springs out of love, and
love is Divine.
2. Something wrong in human nature. “As by one man sin entered into
the world,” etc. Man loves because he is human; man’s love turns into agony
because he is sinful.
3. Something wanted for human nature.
III. The departure
of dear friends by death should not interfere with moral duty.
1. Because indulgence in sorrow confers no benefit on others; the
fulfilment of duty does.
2. Because indulgence in sorrow injures self, and the fulfilment of
duty does good to self.
3. Because indulgence in sorrow does not suspend the claims of duty.
(Homilist.)
Death of a wife
The union of two hearts in wedded love is close, beautiful, and
strong. But the tie, however strong, sooner or later is broken by a stroke, and
death parts whom God had joined together.
I. The primary
cause of death is God. The secondary causes may be any of the thousand ills
that flesh is heir to, but God says, “I take away the desire of thine eyes with
a stroke.” “The Lord is at hand” in every death scene.
II. The death of a
wife is the cause of great sorrow. This world is called a “vale of tears,” and
rightly so; and if there is one place where tears flow faster than any other,
it is where a loving wife and precious mother lies cold in death. Where there
is most love there is keenest sorrow.
III. The death of a
wife should not interfere with the husband’s duty. Though we may feel our
hearts breaking, though all sunshine seems shut out, and the world can never be
the same to us again, yet the full discharge of life’s duties should be the
most pressing thought. A sorrow that unmans us is evil. Duty-doing is
grief-assuaging and God-honouring. (Homiletic Review.)
The desire of the eyes taken away
I. What is the
desire of thine eyes?
1. Some loved object of human relationship whom with “the body you
worship.”
2. Some dazzling dream of ambition that with the mind you grasp at;
or,
3. Some ideal condition of spirituality that with the soul you aspire
after.
II. Why is the
desire of thine eyes thus taken away at a stroke by a wise and just God?
1. To wean you from setting your affections too much upon perishable,
disappointing earthly objects.
2. To develop in you the passive virtues of patience, fortitude,
etc., which men are so prone to sacrifice to the active virtues, such as
courage, etc., which they are compelled to display in the battle of life.
3. To make you look to eternal love, to eternal grandeur, and to
eternal happiness to be realised hereafter in the presence of God, as alone
calculated to satisfy the aspirations of your own immortal spirits.
III. In what spirit
should you bear the loss when thus the desire of the eyes is taken away?
1. Not in a spirit of passionate anger against the Creator for taking
away what was His own to give or take away.
2. Not in a spirit of repining, tearful melancholy, weeping
fruitlessly for “the things that might have been.”
3. Not in a spirit of sullen and voiceless despair, sorrowing “as one
without hope.”
4. Not in a spirit of affected stoical indifference, gnawed as to the
inward heart by the bitterest disappointment, and careful only to hide from the
eyes of men all outward signs of sorrow or chagrin.
5. But in a spirit of gentle resignation to, and of full trust in,
the providence of God, exclaiming with the patriarch of old, “The Lord,” etc. (R.
Young, M. A.)
The stroke of death
I. The force of
the words.
1. The conjugal relation is a very tender and sensible one. It is
natural, it is right, it is commendable in a gracious husband to consider and
regard his wife as the “desire of his eyes”; as the most valuable of earthly
objects.
2. The stroke of death will assuredly part them. Whatever situation
we are placed in, however prosperous our circumstances, however successful our
pursuits, however harmonious and agreeable our tempers and dispositions,
however weighty and numerous our cares, however advantageous our mutual
counsels and assistances, and however reluctant we may be to a separation, the
stroke will come, and will break in pieces this tenderest of all connections
known on earth.
3. Such a stroke is peculiarly painful and calamitous to the
surviving husband. It closes forever those dear eyes which have always been
observant of what might contribute to his welfare; it gives a fatal dash to
those capacities which have been united and exerted in a manner and to a degree
scarcely possible in any other, to alleviate her partner’s distresses, and
advance his joys, as if those joys and distresses of her husband had been her
own; it disconcerts their most pleasing schemes, though formed with the most
perfect harmony of which mortals are capable, and though pursued with the most
glowing ardour. It ought to silence all our murmurings, and excite a holy,
humble resignation, to hear our merciful God and Father say, “The stroke is
from Me.” “Is it not lawful for Him to do what He will with His own?” What He
does, and why He does it, we are frequently ignorant now; but, so far as it
will contribute to our happiness, or be necessary to justify His proceedings,
“we shall know hereafter.” It will probably constitute one part of the
happiness of saints in heaven to review and admire the dispensations of a wise
and gracious God towards them while upon earth.
II. A few
observations on the stroke of death, as it respects mankind in general and
believers in particular.
1. Respecting mankind in general.
2. Let us consider this stroke as it respects the true believer in
particular.
III. What practical
instructions are deducible?
1. Hence we learn what is the one thing needful, and the folly and
danger of neglecting it. Nothing will answer every purpose in life, death, and
eternity but the knowledge and enjoyment of Jesus Christ, and salvation by Him.
2. Let me assist your inquiries respecting the way to enjoy this
great blessing, and so to be prepared for the stroke of death.
3. From this view of death I call you to praise a merciful God, who
has given His dear Son to deliver us from the fear of it, and recommend the
blessed Jesus to you all, as your only, all-sufficient support and deliverer in
your last trying moments.
4. The pitiable state of those who are practically preferring
anything else to an immediate preparation for death.
5. Let all true believers, from hence, lift up an eye of faith, and
take a pleasing view of that blessed world where the stroke of death shall be
known no more.
6. Be diligent in improving the present moments for God. Employ all
the members of your bodies, exert all the capacities of your mind, and all the
superfluities of your earthly possessions, to support and advance your
Redeemer’s interest. Adorn it by a holy conversation; and recommend it to
others by every prudent method.”
7. Act as in continual expectation of death.
8. Is anything of equal consequence with dying safe? (D.
Taylor.)
The stroke of death under the direction of God
I. Social
connections are desirable enjoyments.
1. They are various; being derived from different sources.
2. They are justly desirable. They are so, because our present state
is a state of--
II. These
enjoyments are subject to the stroke of death.
1. The stroke of death should be expected by us all. However useful
to society, beloved by mankind, dear to God--all must die (2 Samuel 14:14; Ecclesiastes 3:21; Hebrews 9:27).
2. We should seriously prepare for the stroke of death; because death
is awfully important in its effects.
3. Our preparation for this stroke should be habitual. We should immediately
seek this preparation, and very carefully retain it, because the time when this
stroke will be laid on us is to us unknown (Matthew 24:44).
4. The saint’s recovery from this stroke should be anticipated, by
faith in God’s promises (Hosea 13:14; Philippians 3:21), and hope of renewed
communion with saints in heavenly glory (1 Thessalonians 5:8-10; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; Revelation 1:18). This reminds us--
III. The stroke of
death is under the direction of God.
1. The death of our pious friends is only a removal; it is not
annihilation--they still live with God (1 Thessalonians 5:10), and to Him (Luke 20:38). They are taken away from
toil, sorrow, and danger (Revelation 7:16), to complete rest,
happiness, and security (Revelation 14:13).
2. They are taken away by God; by God heir proprietor, who had a
right to dispose of them (Matthew 20:15); by God their rewarder,
who has taken them to crown them (2 Timothy 4:7-8); by God our
benefactor, who kindly indulged us with their society (1 Timothy 6:7) Hence His hand in
their removal should be piously acknowledged, both with resignation and
gratitude (Job 1:21). (Sketches of Four Hundred
Sermons.)
Funeral sermon
I. Our near
relatives, when they are what they ought to be, are deservedly the desire of
our eyes. The ties of nature are strong and tender. Those who are related by
blood are led by instinct to love one another fervently. But of all relations
the conjugal is the nearest, and is the foundation of the strongest affection
and delight. Where that relation is properly formed, and the parties unite on
proper principles, the bond is the firmest, and the reciprocal affection the
strongest; insomuch that it is mentioned as the emblem of the relation between
Christ and His Church.
II. A dissolution
must take place, and we are to expect even the nearest and dearest friends soon
to be taken from us. All the mutual offices of love and friendship must cease.
All the pleasures and benefits arising from their society must be suspended. No
longer can we take sweet counsel together, and go to the house of God in
company; no longer unite in our prayers and praises at the family altar.
III. The stroke
which separates between friends and kindred is sometimes sudden and unexpected.
Not a few even in early life, and to all appearance in the full possession of
health and vigour, are in a moment struck by the arrows of death, though they
themselves and their friends had presumed that they had years to come. It would
be our wisdom and happiness often to think of this, not only to quicken us in
preparing for our own dissolution, but to prepare us for the loss of our
friends and kindred, and engage us to improve the opportunities we have for our
mutual benefit while they are continued; and to prevent that immoderate
attachment to them which would be the source of excessive grief and surprise on
their sudden removal.
IV. It is God who
takes them away. “Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine
eyes with a stroke.” In which words the Lord calls his attent on not only to
the event, but to Himself as the agent. And He is equally the agent in the
events which befall us and our friends, whatever be the instruments or second
causes. That it is God who takes away our comforts as well as gives them is
what none can doubt who have any just acquaintance with His holy word and
believe what it teaches. We are there told, in general, that all things are of
God, that a sparrow does not fall to the ground, and much less any human being,
without our heavenly Father. “Behold,” says Job, “He takes away, and none can
hinder Him.” Such a stroke ought to be felt, and it may be lamented as a heavy
affliction. But when you consider the hand from whence it comes, you will see
reason not only to submit, but to adore; and duty to Him requires that you
should.
V. Guard against
immoderate grief. Were it not for the hope of the Gospel--the hope of a blessed
immortality beyond the grave--death would indeed be a most formidable object.
When our friends leave the world, if we believed that there was an utter end of
them, and they sunk into an eternal sleep, the thought of parting with them
would be terrible. But if, when our dear friends die, we are fully persuaded
that they live to God--if, when they are taken from us, we are well assured
that they are gone to be with Christ, which is far better--we can have no just
cause to mourn on their account; and if we have a Gospel foundation of hope
that we are following them to glory, and shall ere long meet them there,
whatever reason we have to mourn our own present loss, our sorrows ought to be
mingled with joy.
Conclusion--
1. Let us bless God for those dear friends and relatives who are
deservedly the desire of our eyes.
2. Let us remember how precarious the continuance of them is, as well
as of all earthly enjoyments, and be prepared for the loss of them.
3. Nor let us forget that this change is as likely to be effected by
our removal as by that of our friends.
4. Under all the afflictions of this mortal life, and especially
amidst our sorrows for our departed friends, let us bless God for the comforts
of the Gospel; and let us never cast them from us, but by faith make
application of them to ourselves. (S. Palmer.)
Verse 19
Wilt thou not tell us what these things are to us, that thou doest
so?
An ancient question modernised
Just as Ezekiel, at his Lord’s command, did many strange things
entirely with a view to other people, we must remember that many things that we
do have some relation to others. As long as we are here we can never so isolate
ourselves as to become absolutely independent of our surroundings; and it is
often well, when we note the behaviour of other people, to say to somebody, if
not to them, as the people did to Ezekiel, “Wilt thou not tell us what these
things are to us?”
I. This should be
your question to the Lord Jesus. Very reverently, though, let us approach our
Divine Master, and looking at Him in His wondrous passion, let us earnestly ask
Him, “Wilt Thou not tell us what these things are to us, that Thou doest so?”
His answer is, “Sin is an exceedingly bitter thing; and to remove it costs Me
the agony of My soul.” But do you see through the trees the lanterns twinkling?
Men are coming, evil men, with rough voices, with torches, and lanterns, and
staves, to take the blessed pleading One. Dear Master, while the traitor’s kiss
is still wet upon Thee, and Thou art being led away bound to Caiaphas, tell me,
I pray Thee, what meanest Thou by all this? What has this to do with us? He
answers, “I go willingly; I must be bound, for sin has bound you; sin has bound
your hands, sin has hampered and crippled you, and made you prisoners. You are
the bond slaves of Satan, and I must be bound to set you free.” But now they
have taken Him before His judges. He stands before Annas, and Caiaphas, and
Pilate. Blessed Sufferer, like a lamb in the midst of wolves, tell us, if Thou
wilt speak a word, why this silence? And He whispers into the hearts of His
beloved, “I was silent, for there was nothing to say; willing to be your
Advocate, what could I say? You had sinned, though I had not. I might have
pleaded for Myself; but I stood there for you, in your room, and place, and
stead; and what could I say, what excuse, what apology, what extenuation could
I urge?” But now they are scourging Him, they are crowning Him with thorns,
they are mocking Him, blindfolding Him, and then smiting Him with the palms of
their hands. What scorn, what shame they poured on Him: Blessed One, blessed
One, wilt Thou not tell us what these things are to us? But now, you see, they
take Him out through the streets of Jerusalem; along the Via Dolorosa He
pursues His weary walk, blood drops falling on the pavement, Himself staggering
beneath the load of the Cross. Tell me, Jesus, why goest Thou out there, to the
place of public execution, the Old Bailey, the Tyburn of Jerusalem? And He
answers, “I suffer without the gate because God will not tolerate sin in His
city. Sin is an unclean thing; and I, though not Myself unclean, yet standing
in the stead of the unclean, must die outside the city gates.” And He answers,
“That I may draw all men unto Me. Earth refuses Me, and heaven denies Me
shelter. I hang here, the Just for the unjust, that I may bring men to God.”
They take Him down from the Cross, for He is dead; but before they take Him
down they pierce His heart, and even after death that heart for us its tribute
pours. But they have buried Him, and He lies in His cell alone through the
long, dark night of death; but the third morning sees Him rise. Or ever the sun
is up, the Sun of Righteousness has arisen, with healing in His wings. Jesus
has quitted the tomb, and I invite all sinners to say to the risen Redeemer,
“Wilt Thou not fell us what these things are to us, that Thou doest so?” This
is what I understand that His Resurrection means to us, He is able to save to
the uttermost them that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make
intercession for them. He not only rises from the dead; but He ascends to His
Father. Ask Him what He means by that, and He will tell you that He has led
captivity captive, and “received gifts for men, yea, for the rebellious also.”
II. This may be
your question to the church. We are coming here, to keep Christ’s death in
remembrance. Every first day of the week, if you can, come to the table as a
part of your Sabbath worship. This service is intended to be a memorial of
Christ’s death. The best memorial of any event is to associate with it the
observance of some rite, or some ceremony frequently repeated; this will cause
it to be a perpetual memorial. Now, as long as half a dozen Christians meet
together for the breaking of bread, Christ’s death can never be forgotten. We
are not, however, coming to the table merely to look at the bread and the wine.
We are coming there to eat and to drink, to show our personal benefit by Jesus
Christ’s death. We wish all who see us to know that we enjoy the result of
Christ’s death. We have a life that feeds upon His sacrifice; we have a hope
that makes Christ to be its very meat and drink. But we not only come to the
table to eat and to drink, but there is this point about the communion, that we
come together to declare our unity in Jesus Christ. If I went home, and broke
bread, and drank of the juice of the vine by myself alone, it would not be the
observance of the Lord’s Supper. It is a united participation. It is a
festival. It is a token and display of brotherhood. Once more, when this
communion is over, if we live, we shall meet again next Lord’s day, and when
that is over, if we are spared, we shall meet again the following Lord’s day.
We meet continually, to show our belief in Jesus Christ’s coming again. Perhaps
you still inquire, “Wilt thou not tell us what these things are to us, that
thou doest so?” Well, they are this to you, that, whether you remember Jesus
Christ’s coming or not, He is coming; He is coming quickly. Let Him come when
He may, His coming will be full of love and joy to all who have trusted Him.
III. This is our
question to you, “Wilt thou not tell us what these things are to us, that thou
doest so?” First, there are some of you who are here who do not often go to a
place of worship; I know you. By seldom coming to the Lord’s house you teach us
your utter indifference. Your carelessness seems to say to me, “God is nobody,
put Him in a corner. Get on in business; mind the main chance. Gospel?
Salvation? Oh, they are trifles, not worth anybody’s consideration!” There are
others of you who are not indifferent; you come to the services, and you are
attentive listeners; but just observe what you are going to do. The Lord’s
table is spread, Christ is to be remembered, fellowship is to be had with Him,
and you are going home! I hear another say, “I am not going home; I shall
remain at the ordinance as a spectator.” I always like to see you look on. You
are getting into a place of happy danger. Get where the shots fly, and one of
them may make a target of you. Oh, that it might be so! But tonight you are
going to be only a spectator. Will you tell me what that means--only a
spectator? In Paris, during the siege, when it was straitly shut up, there were
meals given at certain times in appointed places; but what would you have
thought if you had been there, and had been allowed to come to the window and
see the feeding, and yourself remain only a spectator? Do not be merely
spectators; but if you mean to be so, then I say this to you, there will be no
spectators in heaven. They will all partake of the feast above, or they will
not be there. And, I grieve to add, there will be no spectators in hell. You
will have to participate in the award of vengeance, or else in the gift of
mercy. Therefore have done with being spectators. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》