Holy Bible

Whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet. Ezekiel 33:4-5 The trumpet call Homilist. I. THE ANALOGY BETWEEN THE WATCHMAN ON THE WALLS OF ZION AND THE PREACHER OF THE GOSPEL OF THE GRACE OF GOD. 1. The qualifications needed in a watchman: vigour, courage, intelligence, loyalty, fidelity. 2. The duties: vigilance, to watch; obedience, to warn. 3. The responsibilities: account of the service must be rendered to those who appointed him; safety of the city depended largely upon the faithful discharge of the watchman's duties. II. THE ANALOGY BETWEEN THE SOUND OF THE WATCHMAN'S TRUMPET AND THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPEL PREACHER. Here we are reminded of the trumpet call of alarm on the approach of danger in time of peril. The call was to be definite, distinct, emphatic, rousing. "Warning every man." The Gospel trumpet is to arrest the attention of men, call them to repent, to surrender, lay down their weapons of rebellion; and then, armed with the whole armour of God, go forth manfully to fight His battles. The Gospel message is a trumpet call to advance, and "no surrender"; it is never the call to retreat, or the proclaimer of defeat. There must be "no uncertain sound," for all truth is dogmatic, and ought to be definitely proclaimed. III. THE ANALOGY BETWEEN THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THOSE WHO HEARD THE WATCHMAN'S TRUMPET AND THOSE WHO HEAR THE SOUND OF THE GOSPEL. The watchman on the walls of Zion simply sounded the alarm; it was for the people to believe and obey. So the Gospel hearers of today are responsible for the effects produced upon their hearts and minds by the Gospel message. ( Homilist. ) He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. The warning neglected In all worldly things men are always enough awake to understand their own interests There is scarce a merchant who reads the paper who does not read it some way or other with a view to his own personal concerns. In politics, in everything, in fact, that concerns temporal affairs, personal interest usually leads the van. Men will always be looking out for themselves and personal home interests will generally engross the major part of their thoughts. But in religion it is otherwise. In religion men love far rather to believe abstract doctrines, and to talk of general truths, than the searching inquiries which examine their own personal interest in it. I. THE WARNING WAS ALL THAT COULD BE DESIRED. When in time of war an army is attacked in the night, and cut off and destroyed whilst asleep, if it were possible for them to be aware of the attack, and if they had used all diligence in placing their sentinels, but nevertheless the foe were so wary as to destroy them, we should weep; we should attach no blame to anyone, but should deeply regret, and should give to that host our fullest pity. But if, on the other hand, they had posted their sentinels, and the sentinels were wide awake, and gave to the sleepy soldiers every warning that could be desired, but nevertheless the army were cut off, although we might from common humanity regret the loss thereof, yet at the same time we should be obliged to say, if they were foolish enough to sleep when the sentinels had warned them; if they folded their arms in presumptuous sloth, after they had had sufficient and timely notice of the progress of their bloodthirsty enemy, then in their dying we cannot pity them: their blood must rest upon their own heads. So it is with you. 1. The warnings of the ministry have been to most of you warnings that have been heard — "He heard the sound of the trumpet." In far off lands the trumpet sound of warning is not heard. 2. The trumpet was not only heard, but more than that, its warning was understood. If ye be damned, I am innocent of your damnation; for I have told you plainly, that except ye repent ye must perish, and that except ye put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ there is for you no hope of salvation. 3. Again, this sound was startling. Then, sirs, if ye have heard the cry of fire, if ye are burned in your beds, your charred ashes shall not accuse me. 4. In many of your eases the warning has been very frequent. A hundred times every year you have gone up to the house of God, and far oftener than that, and you have just added a hundred billets to the eternal pile. 5. This warning that you have had so often has come to you in time. You are not warned on a sick bed at the eleventh hour, when there is but a bare possibility of salvation, but you are warned in time, you are warned today, you have been warned for these many years that are now past. II. MEN MAKE EXCUSES WHY THEY DO NOT ATTEND TO THE GOSPEL WARNING, BUT THESE EXCUSES ARE ALL FRIVOLOUS AND WICKED. 1. Some say, "Well, I did not attend to the warning, because I did not believe there was any necessity for it." There was enough in reason to have taught you that there was an hereafter; the Book of God's revelation was plain enough to have taught it to you, and if you have rejected God's Book, and rejected the voice of reason and of conscience, your blood is on your own head. 2. "But," cries another, "I did not like the trumpet. I did not like the Gospel that was preached." Well, but God made the trumpet, God made the Gospel; and inasmuch as ye did not like what God made, it is an idle excuse. What was that to you what the trumpet was, so long as it warned you? 3. But another says, "I did not like the man himself; I did not like the minister; I did not like the man that blew the trumpet; I could hear him preach very well, but I had a personal dislike to him, and so I did not take any notice of what the trumpet said." Verily, God will say to thee at last, "Thou fool, what hadst thou to do with that man? to his own master he stands or falls; thy business was with thyself." 4. There are many other people who say, "Ah, well, I did none of those things, but I had a notion that the trumpet sound ought to be blown to everybody else, but not to me." Ah! that is a very common notion. "All men think all men mortal but themselves," said a "good poet; and all men think all men need the Gospel, but not themselves. 5. Well, says another, "But I was so busy; I had so much to do that I could not possibly attend to my soul's concerns." What will you say of the man who had so much to do that he could not get out of the burning house, but was burnt to ashes. 6. "Well," says another, "but I thought I had time enough; you do not want me, sir, to be religious in my youth, do you? I am a lad; and may I not have a little frolic, and sow my wild oats as well as anybody else?" Well — yes, yes; but at the same time the best place for frolic that I know of is where a Christian lives; the finest happiness in all the world is the happiness of a child of God. III. Then the last thought is, "HIS BLOOD SHALL BE ON HIS OWN HEAD." Briefly thus — he shall perish; he shall perish certainly; he shall perish inexcusably. 1. He shall perish. And what does that mean? There is no human mind. however capacious, that can ever guess the thought of a soul eternally cast away from God. 2. But again, he that turneth not at the rebuke of the minister shall die, and he shall die certainly. This is not a matter of perhaps or chance. 3. Now, the last thing is, the sinner will perish — he will perish certainly, but last of all, he will perish without excuse, — his blood shall be on his own head. When a man is bankrupt, if he can say, "It is not through reckless trading — it has been entirely through the dishonesty of one I trusted that I am what I am;" he takes some consolation, and he says, "I cannot help it." But oh, if you make bankrupts of your own souls, after you have been warned, then your own eternal bankruptcy shall lie at your own door. ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) I have set thee a watchman. Ezekiel 33:7-9 The true watchman Urijah R. Thomas. I. THE TRUE WATCHMAN'S VISION OF HIS OWN WORK. He sees — 1. It entails great responsibility on himself. Failure of duty here is nothing less than "blood guiltiness." 2. It involves the greatest results to his hearers. 3. It utters the emotions of God. 4. It proclaims both the hope and the method of men's improvement. The hope is in God; the method is from God. The hope is in His call and promise of love; the method is in penitence, "pine" for sins; return; pardon, "none of his sins shall be mentioned"; rectitude, "doing righteousness." II. THE TRUE WATCHMAN'S VISION OF THE CONDUCT OF OTHERS. He is emphatically the seer. For he not only has to gaze steadily, reverently, intelligently at the truth of God he has to reveal to men, he has to look bravely, fixedly, tenderly at the condition and character of men. The old English watchman, to whom the care of our streets by night was formerly entrusted, often uttered in his hourly cry of "All right" what was indeed a sorrowful satire. For under the pall of night what concealed felons, what secret assassins, were plotting their cruelty and wrong! No such misleading watchman must be ours. In his vision of the conduct of others the true watchman sees — 1. The gross sins of many of them. 2. The hypocrisy of many more. The cloak of the hypocrite's profession, the words of flattery that trifle with himself, fail to mislead the true preacher. ( Urijah R. Thomas. ) Sermon to ministers Evangelical Preacher. We are called to be messengers, watchmen, stewards of the Lord. I. THE DIVINE APPOINTMENT. A faithful minister is a watchman appointed of God Himself. The vows of the Lord are upon us. How have we fulfilled them? What efforts have we made, with a single eye, to serve God for the promoting of His glory and the edifying of His people? II. THE SOLEMN DUTIES. 1. The first part of a watchman's duty is to watch for himself and over himself. The sentinel at his post is ever exposed to the watchful eye of the enemy; and so the Lord's watchman is, more than others, always exposed to the ever-watchful eye of Satan. He stands forth as a mark against which the fiery darts of the wicked one are ever being hurled. 2. The watchman has to watch over and for the souls committed to his charge. We are assailed with the changeable winds of doctrine in all their force; we have the same blight of formality resting on the outward church; the same seeds of error and discord sown now as in the days of old. Against all these we must watch as we love the souls of our flock; yea, we must lift up our voice, and spare not, warning them against all the evils of sin, Satan, and the world.I shall conclude with a word of exhortation and a word of warning. 1. As to the warning; that we be not unfaithful. 2. But if the warning voice of Scripture speaks loudly to the unfaithful watchman, not less loudly and powerfully do the promises of the Scriptures speak, to exhort and encourage the faithful. True, our responsibility is very deep, our difficulties very great; but let us remember, we stand not alone; if truly called of God and man, we may take to ourselves the promise, "Lo, I am with you." ( Evangelical Preacher. ) God's ministers the watchmen of Israel J. Benson. I. THE REASON AND PROPRIETY OF THIS REPRESENTATION. The Christian Church may be considered as a large and extensive country, bordering upon the world, a country yet more large and extensive. The spiritual watchman is to view what passes in both, and to give his own countrymen, the true Israelites, information and warning ( Isaiah 21:5-8 ; Habakkuk 2:1 ). Or, the Church of Christ is a city ( Psalm 87:1 ; Isaiah 60:1 ; Isaiah 62 ; Hebrews 12:22 ; Philippians 3:20 — Gr.) under one Chief Magistrate, Christ; who has appointed the laws, customs, and language thereof. This city should be at unity with itself within, and surrounded, as by walls and bulwarks, with salvation by the Lord, and by the faith, prayers, and watchfulness of the citizens. And on these walls, elevated by their knowledge, God having shined into their hearts ( 2 Corinthians 4:6 ), and by their Divine appointment, and secured by the Divine protection ( Revelation 2:1 ), the ministers of the Gospel are placed as "watchmen." This country of Christianity is liable to be invaded from without, and this city of the Church of God to be attacked by the world and its prince. It may be invaded and attacked in its doctrines, by error; in its duties, by sin; in its privileges, by unbelief, despondency, formality, lukewarmness, and sloth. The watchman gives notice and warning. This country or city is liable also to commotions and disorders from within. As to individuals, from the flesh and its lusts. They may become luxurious, wanton, covetous, ambitious, proud, self-willed, discontented, impatient, etc. Or, as to the whole community, by surmises, jealousies, envyings, enmities, evil-speakings, which things would destroy the peace and unity of its members, and produce strife, contention, parties, divisions. The "watchman" must warn and reprove the citizens, and lay their conduct before their Prince. II. WHAT IS ESPECIALLY THE OFFICE AND DUTY OF MINISTERS UNDER THIS CHARACTER. They must regard no toil, labour, or suffering. They must be faithful to the Lord and the people ( Luke 12:42 ). They must distrust themselves, and apply to and depend on the Lord for supernatural aid. The Chief Shepherd only can keep, feed, and rule the flock, and, in another view, that "unless the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain" ( Isaiah 62:6, 7 ). But, more particularly, their duty is set forth ( Habakkuk 2:1, 2 ). We are not at liberty to imagine or conjecture or suppose this or that as necessary or expedient to the people over whom we watch, or retail our own opinions or fancies to them, but must come to our hearers with "Thus saith the Lord," and that, with respect to doctrines to be believed, privileges to be enjoyed, precepts to be obeyed, promises to be expected, and threatenings to be revered. We must observe, all mankind are naturally wicked, all need repentance, all have encouragement to repent (vers. 11, 14); that repentance implies not merely confession of sin, and a partial reformation, but a turning of the heart from sin to righteousness, followed by its proper fruits, and that without this there is no salvation ( Luke 13:1 ). Nor is repentance sufficient without faith ( John 3:18 ; Mark 16:16 ). Nor is faith sufficient without love; an ardent, admiring, grateful, complacent love to God, especially in consideration of His goodness to us, and an affectionate, disinterested, active love to all men, in imitation of God's love to them ( Hebrews 12:14 ). And we must persevere ( Ezekiel 33:12, 13, 18 ; John 15:4, 6 ; Romans 11:17-22 ; Hebrews 10:38 ). III. THE CONSEQUENCE OF NEGLECTING, OR FULFILLING, THEIR DUTY. 1. "If thou do not warn the wicked" — sincerely, earnestly, frequently, with repeated admonitions, as the word signifies, giving them light by thy instructions, and making the matter clear and evident to them. Thus the apostle warned all ( Acts 20:31 ) — He "shall die in his iniquity." But is not this a hard case? No. For, though not particularly warned by any messenger of God, he had the Word of God in his hands, or, at least, he had the fight of nature, and knew more or less of what was required of him. 2. If the watchman fulfil his duty, he at least derivers his own soul (ver. 9). The faithful watchman glorifies God. For it is much for the glory of all his attributes that sinners should be warned, whether they take the warning or not; e.g. , His holiness, justice, mercy, love. He receives a reward in proportion to his labours ( Isaiah 49:4, 5 ; 1 Corinthians 3:8 ). The Lord always gives him some success ( Matthew 7:16-20 ; John 10:2-5 ; 1 Timothy 4:15, 16 ). ( J. Benson. ) Faithful dealing with men's souls Christian Age. The following incident occurred on his first visit to Waterbeach when Charles Spurgeon was a lad of seventeen. "He was put up for the night at the house of Mr. Smith, and shared a bed with Mr. Smith's son, then a young boy. Charles Spurgeon, before retiring, went upon his knees, but his companion tumbled into bed without prayer, and lay down. No sooner had young Spurgeon finished his devotions than he inquired of his bedfellow if he were not afraid to go to bed without asking God for protection during the night: 'What a fearful thing would it be,' he said, 'if you went to your last sleep without a prayer and a Saviour.' For an hour or more the young preacher talked to the boy, and his earnestness was so evident that the boy was moved. Charles Spurgeon had him out of bed, and prayed with him, and that night the lad was converted. He is now an honoured deacon at Waterbeach." ( Christian Age. ) Warning the impenitent R. Winter. If at an assize town at the time of any celebrated trial, and the prisoner had been found guilty, and sentenced to death, Whitefield would, at the close of his sermon, his eyes full of tears, pause for a moment, and then, after a tenable denunciation upon those who neglect so great salvation, exclaim, "I am now going to put on my condemning cap; sinner, I must do it. I must pronounce sentence against you." And then he would repeat the awful words of our Lord: Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." ( R. Winter. ) Pastoral vigilance Latimer told the clergy in his time that, if they would not learn diligence and vigilance of the prophets and apostles, they should learn it of the devil, who goes up and down his diocese, and acts by an untired power, seeking whom he may destroy. When the wolves are abroad, the shepherd should not sleep, but watch, remembering that he were better have all the blood of all the men in the world upon him, than the blood of one soul upon him, by his negligence or otherwise. ( T. Brooks . ) O wicked man, thou shalt surely die Office and responsibility of ministers Skeletons of Sermons. I. WHAT GOD SAITH TO THE WICKED. 1. The people addressed are all who do not unfeignedly turn from sin to God. 2. Death is here denounced as the judgment to be inflicted on all who turn not to their God; and to the same effect the inspired writers uniformly speak ( Isaiah 3:11 ; Romans 6:23 ; James 1:14, 15 ). 3. There is an implied assurance that the wicked, if they will repent, shall not die. And this is expressly stated in the following context: ver. 14-16, so that, awful as this passage is, it is no less encouraging than it is awful; because it assures the contrite and believing sinner that he shall never perish. II. THE NECESSITY IMPOSED ON MINISTERS TO PROCLAIM IT. The consequences of neglect in any minister are declared in two respects: 1. The person whom he neglects to warn will perish. If, through the sloth or treachery of the sentinels, a, camp be surprised at midnight, nothing but confusion and ruin can ensue. Thus if a person appointed to warn the wicked neglect to do so, the wicked will continue regardless of their impending doom, till it is too late to avert it. And it will be to no purpose to say, "I was not aware of my danger; my minister has betrayed me." No; the wicked have means of information within their oval reach, independent of their ministers; and they have secret intimations in their own consciences that they ought to repent: and therefore they must take the consequences of their own wickedness: "they must die in their iniquity." 2. He himself also will be dealt with as the author of that sinner's destruction. As a sentinel who, by neglecting to give notice of the enemy's approach, occasioned the overthrow of the army to which he belonged, would be chargeable with all the consequences of his neglect, so will the blood of all that perish through the minister's neglect "be required at his hand." ( Skeletons of Sermons. ) The important message Anon. I. THE END IN WHICH THE EVIL WAYS OF THE CHILDREN OF MEN TERMINATE IS AN AWFUL END. It is a way that terminates in death, and that not temporal death alone, but eternal death. Many are the terrific views which are given of the world of woe; but what view can be more terrific than that of dying forever, and yet to be never dead after all? It will be awful in its nature, and still more so in its duration. The misery will be inconceivable, and the misery will be interminable. Banishment from all blessedness forever! Blackness and darkness, weeping and wailing, forever! II. THE REALISATION OF THIS AWFUL END IS AN OBJECT WHICH THE BLESSED GOD, FAR FROM DESIRING, DEPRECATES AND DEPLORES. It is not your death that He desires, but your life. 1. By way of confirming this encouraging truth, we would remind you, in the first place, of what God is in Himself. His nature is love — that is the endearing name by which He is revealed; and as His name is, so is He. Benevolence of the highest, noblest, purest kind constitutes the very essence of His all-perfect character. 2. In connection with what God is in His nature, we would advert to what He has done for our salvation. He has "so loved the world that He gave," etc. 3. His dealings with the children of men in all ages. How has He borne with them in the face of their innumerable provocations? III. IT IS THE CONSEQUENT DUTY OF SINNERS TO FORSAKE THEIR EVIL WAYS, THE TERMINATION OF WHICH, IF PERSISTED IN, WILL BE SO DISASTROUS, AND TO TURN AT ONCE TO HIM WHO WAITETH TO BE GRACIOUS. "Turn ye, turn ye, from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?" Many strange things have been done or endured before now, which appeared unaccountable; and yet there have been substantial reasons to justify them. To see an individual in an unresisting posture, patient and resigned, while persons with their saws and knives were severing one of his limbs from his body, seems a strange sight; and yet there may be no difficulty in proving that such an operation was necessary and desirable, since the sacrifice of a man's limb has often been the means of saving a man's life. For multitudes to give their bodies to be burnt; to welcome cruel mockings and scourgings; to abandon their homes, and wander in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth: all this appears to be unaccountable. But there may be the strongest reasons adduced in justification of such severe sacrifices. Hence it is declared of the ancient: worthies, that they were tortured, not accepting deliverance; and why? That they might obtain a better resurrection. But for your course, poor sinner, no reason can be given. ( Anon. ) The certainty of death to the wicked President Davies. I. WHO ARE THE WICKED? Profane and gross sinners, who indulge themselves in notorious immoralities ( 1 Corinthians 6:9, 10 ; Galatians 5:19-21 ; Colossians 3:5, 6 ; Revelation 21:8 ). In this black list you not only find such gross vices as are scandalous in the common estimate of mankind, but also such as are secret, seated in the heart, and generally esteemed but lesser evils. 2. All who knowingly and wilfully indulge themselves habitually in any one sin, whether it be the omission of a commanded duty or the practice of something forbidden ( 1 John 2:4 ; 1 John 3:8, 10 ; John 14:23, 24 ). I grant that good men sin, and that they are far from perfection of holiness in this life. I grant also that some of them have fallen, perhaps once in their life, into some gross sin. But after all, I must insist that they do not indulge themselves in the wilful habitual practice of any known sin, or the wilful habitual neglect of any known duty. St. John expressly tells us ( 1 John 3:9 ), he cannot sin habitually; again, he cannot sin wilfully — that is, with full bent of soul. 3. All who are destitute of those graces and virtues which constitute the character of positive goodness. Wickedness is a moral privation, or the want of real goodness. The want of faith, the want of love, repentance, benevolence, and charity does as really constitute a wicked man, as drunkenness, blasphemy, or any notorious immorality. 4. All who still continue in their natural state; who have never been regenerated, or experienced a thorough change of their views and dispositions, towards God and divine things ( John 3:6 ; Romans 8:8 ; Ephesians 2:3 ). II. WHAT KIND OF DEATH SHALL THE WICKED MAN DIE? It is true, natural death is the universal doom of all the sons of men ( Ecclesiastes 2:16 ). The highest attainments in piety cannot secure an earthly immortality. But though there be no difference in this respect, there is a wide difference in another, and that is, the death of the wicked is quite another thing, or comes under quite a different notion, from the death of the righteous. The death of the wicked, like an officer from their offended sovereign, strikes off the fetters of flesh, that they may be carried away to a place of execution. Then, farewell, a long, and everlasting farewell, to the comforts of this life, and all its agreeable prospects: farewell to friends; farewell to hope and peace; farewell to all the means of grace; farewell, God, and Christ, and angels, and all the blessedness of heaven. Now nothing awaits them but wrath and fiery indignation. But even this, dreadful as it is. is not all — there is besides this, that dreadful something called the second death ( Revelation 21:8 ; Revelation 2:11 ; Revelation 20:6, 14 ) — which thou, O wicked man, must die. The soul will be forever dead to God and holiness — dead to all the means of grace, and all the enjoyments of this life; dead to all happiness and all hope; dead to all the comfortable purposes of existence; dead to everything that deserves the name of life — in short, dead to everything but the torturing sensations of pain; to these the soul will be tremblingly alive all over, to eternity; but, alas! to be alive, in this sense, alive only to suffer pain, is worse than death, worse than annihilation. III. WHAT YOU MUST DO TO BE SAVED. 1. Betake yourselves immediately to serious thoughtfulness. 2. Break off from those things that hinder your conversion. 3. Diligently use all means that may instruct you in the nature of true religion. 4. Earnestly pray to God. 5. Endeavour to receive and submit to the Lord Jesus as your only Saviour. 6. Do not delay to follow these directions. ( President Davies. ) As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Ezekiel 33:11 The sincerity of Divine expostulations H. Bonar, D. D. 1. What a contrast are God's thoughts of man to man's thoughts of God! 2. How opposite are God's feelings towards man to man's feelings respecting God! 3. How different God's estimate of man from man's estimate of God! 4. How unlike God's purposes to man's! God says to man, "Live"; man says to God, Let Him die the death; crucify Him; this is the heir; come, let us kill Him. 5. How far asunder are God's ways from man's! I. THE STATE OF MAN'S HEART IN REFERENCE TO GOD. 1. He murmurs against God for not giving him life. God proclaims His willingness to give it. I have no life. Is He not mocking me? Christ promises rest. I have none. Can He be sincere? 2. Nay, more, he casts the whole blame of his death on God. He says, I see that I must just die; there is no help for it; the blame is not mine, but God's. My fallen nature, my education, my circumstances, my temptations, these are my excuses. II. THE STATE OF GOD'S HEART IN REFERENCE TO MAN. 1. He has no pleasure in their death. He did not kindle hell in order to gratify His revenge. He does not cast sinners headlong into its endless flames in order to get vent to His blind fury. He will finally condemn the unbelieving, but not because He delights to do so, but because He is the righteous Lord that loveth righteousness. 2. His desire is, that the wicked shall turn and live. It is to life — life everlasting — that He points your eye, sinner. It is of life that He desires to make you partaker. And surely it is life that you need. For what one word more fully or more terribly describes your present state than death? Dead, not like the withered leaf or the uprooted tree; that would at least be unconsciousness of loss, and ignorance of what might have been won. But you are dead to all that is worth living for, and yet alive to all that makes life a burden and a woe. Do you say, If God wants me to live, why does He not at once give me life? In other words, why does He not force life upon my acceptance, and burst through every barrier? I ask in return, Is God bound to take your way in giving life? I ask again, Do you really suppose that a person is not sincere in his kindness because he does not carry out that kindness by every means, lawful or unlawful? Is it not possible that there may be a limit to that kindness compatible with the most perfect sincerity? III. THE EXPOSTULATION, with which all this closes, is one of the most urgent importunity on the part of God, proving yet more Fully His real desire to bless. It is like one vehemently enforcing an invitation upon an unwilling listener, — making a last effort to save the heedless or resisting sinner. Is it within the remotest bounds of possibility or conceivability that He is insincere; that He does not really mean what He says? The ways from which He calls on them to turn are named by Him "evil ways"; and what He calls evil must be truly so, — hateful in His eyes, as well as ruinous to the soul. The end of these ways He pronounces to be death; so that sinners must either turn or die. ( H. Bonar, D. D. ) Pleading and encouragement (with Ezekiel 18:23, 32 ): — Notice, that in each of my texts the Lord declares that He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but in each following passage the statement is stronger. The Lord puts it first ( Ezekiel 18:23 ) as a matter of question. As if surprised that such a thing should be laid to His door, He appeals to man's own reason, and asks, "Have I any pleasure at all," etc. In our second text ( Ezekiel 18:32 ), God makes a positive assertion. Knowing the human heart, He foresaw that a question would not be enough to end this matter, for man would say, "He only asked the question, but He did not give a plain and positive statement to the contrary." He gives us that clear assurance in our second text: "I have no pleasure," etc. But still, as if to end forever the strange and ghastly supposition that God takes delight in human destruction, my third text seals the truth with the solemn oath of the Eternal. I. Notice, first, the assertion that GOD FINDS NO PLEASURE IN A SINNER'S DEATH. Really I feel ashamed to have to answer the cruel libel which is here suggested; yet it is the English of many a man's doubts. I will only bring forward certain evidence by which you who are still under the deadly influence of the falsehood may be delivered 1. Consider the great paucity of God's judgments among the sons of men. There are such things, but they are wonderfully rare in this life, considering the way in which the Lord is daily provoked by presumption and blasphemy. Does not the Lord Himself say that judgment is His strange work"? 2. The length of God's long-suffering before the Day of Judgment itself comes proves how He wills not the death of men. 3. Furthermore, remember the perfection of the character of God as the moral Ruler of the universe. Aversion to punishment is necessary to justice in a judge. 4. If any further thoughts were necessary to correct your misbelief, I would mention the graciousness of His work in saving those who turn from their evil ways. As if God were indignant that such a charge should be laid against Him that He delighteth in the death of any, He preferred to die Himself upon the tree rather than let a world of sinners sink to hell. II. GOD FINDS NO ALTERNATIVE BUT THAT MEN MUST TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS, OR DIE. It is one or the other: turn or burn. God, with all His love to men, cannot discover any third course; men cannot keep their sins and yet be saved. 1. Be it known to you, first, that when God proclaims mercy to men upon this condition, that they turn from their ways, this proclamation is issued out of pure grace. God saves you, not because of any merit in your turning, but because He will have mercy on whom He will have mercy, and He has decreed to save all who turn from the paths of evil. 2. If there be no repentance, men must be punished, for on any other theory there is an end of moral government. The worst thing that could happen to a world of men would be for God to say "I retract My law; I will neither reward virtue, nor punish iniquity; do as you like." Then the earth would be a hell indeed. 3. Sin must be punished; you must turn from it or die, because sin is its own punishment. Even the omnipotence of God cannot make an impenitent sinner happy. You cannot be married to Christ and heav

Benson Commentary Ezekiel 33:1 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Ezekiel 33:1-6 . Again the word of the Lord came unto me — “It is plain that Ezekiel uttered what is contained in this chapter to Ezekiel 33:20 , before Jerusalem was taken by the Babylonians; but how long before is uncertain.” — Bishop Newcome. Song of Solomon of man, speak to the children of thy people — To the Jews, to whom he had not spoken since he declared what is contained in chap. 24. The reader will find in chap. 3., from Ezekiel 33:17-22 , the substance of what is repeated in the first ten verses of this chapter. The instruction is the same in both passages; but the subject is here more fully and explicitly illustrated. “When the prophet had confirmed his predictions of evil, both to the Jews and heathen, by exemplifications of the like predictions already fulfilled among the latter, he proceeds to apply home the conclusion arising hence by an expostulation and pathetic address to the hearts and consciences of the Jews. But to what Jews is this addressed? To the Jews who were already in captivity. In order, then, that this address might make the stronger impression on them, and produce its wished-for effect, he immediately subjoins an information, which he here presents, as having been just then received, of the actual capture and destruction of the city of Jerusalem, agreeably to his foregoing prophecies against it: the accomplishment of which prediction against the Jews themselves, joined to his historic narrations before, of the accomplishment of many others against the heathen, both completes his arguments in favour of the credit and veracity of his predictions against Egypt, or other nations, and also proves, by a conspicuous example, the truth of that maxim with which he had concluded his late address to the captive Jews, That God will judge every one after his ways, both Jews and heathen.” — Obs. on Books, 2: 196. When I bring the sword upon a land — When an enemy approaches to any land, which never happens without my appointment or permission; if the people of the land take a man of their coast — Or, from among them, to which sense the word ???? , here used, is translated, Genesis 47:2 ; and set him for their watchman — Such watchmen were placed upon the turrets of their city-walls, or upon high mountains near, to give notice of the enemy’s approach: see the margin. If when he seeth the sword come upon the land — If, when he spies the enemy marching against it, he blow the trumpet, sound the alarm; and warn the people — The sound of the trumpet is a warning, yet it is sometimes necessary to add a warning by word of mouth, and tell the people brought together by the trumpet what he sees. Whosoever heareth, &c., and taketh not warning — Considers not, minds not what he hears, nor will be made sensible of the danger, so as to provide for resisting or fleeing from the sword; if the sword come and take him away — Destroy him; his blood shall be upon his own head — His destruction is owing to himself. He heard the sound of the trumpet — He heard as well as others who escaped, and he might have delivered himself as they did who took warning. His blood shall be upon him — The guilt and blame of his death cannot be charged on any but himself. But he that taketh warning shall save his soul — Shall save his life from the danger that threatens it. In like manner, he that takes warning by the prophet’s admonition shall preserve himself from the judgments threatened against sinners. But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet — If he neglect his charge, which is to give the alarm; and the people be not warned — But are surprised by the enemy; if the sword take any person from among them — Cut any one off unexpectedly; he is taken away in his iniquity — Punished and cut off by the Lord for his sins formerly committed, and in consequence of the present fault of not watching, a great fault in every one that is guilty of it in time of war. But his blood will I require at the watchman’s hands — The guilt of that blood will I charge upon the watchman, and punish him for it, for he sinned in not giving the necessary warning. Ezekiel 33:2 Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman: Ezekiel 33:3 If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; Ezekiel 33:4 Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. Ezekiel 33:5 He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. Ezekiel 33:6 But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand. Ezekiel 33:7 So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me. Ezekiel 33:7-9 . So thou, O son of man — The Lord here applies the preceding account of the watchman’s office to the prophet, and shows that his duty is illustrated thereby. As if he had said, If a watchman, appointed by his fellow-citizens, is so highly guilty, if he do not give warning to the city, and shall receive such punishment from my hands; what must not thou expect, who art appointed by me to give warning to thy countrymen of the terrible evils which their sins will bring upon them, if thou neglect to do it? God has never left his people without sufficient means of instruction, but has vouch-safed it to them more or less in every age, from the beginning of the world to this day. He has, from time to time, and at all times, set watchmen over them, raised up good and holy men to instruct, admonish, warn, and reprove. “I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets daily, rising up early and sending them, but you have not hearkened unto me, nor inclined your ear,” Jeremiah 7:25 . When I say unto the wicked, &c. — See notes on Ezekiel 3:18-19 . Ezekiel 33:8 When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man , thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Ezekiel 33:9 Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. Ezekiel 33:10 Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel; Thus ye speak, saying, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live? Ezekiel 33:10-11 . If our transgressions be upon us, &c. — If the unpardoned guilt of our sins lie upon us, and we be punished for them in the wasting of our country, the burning of our city, the abolishing the public worship of God, &c. and we pine away in them — Experience their bitter consequences in famine and disease, and in a variety of other calamities; how shall we live? — How then can the promises of life belong to us? How can such assurances be true as were given us Ezekiel 18:17-32 ? What ground can we have to hope for a recovery of our former condition? Or, how canst thou promise the continuance or restoration of any mercy to us? How can it be better with us than it is? If thy threatenings be true, it will be worse with us, and not better; and if they be not true, how can we trust thy promises of recovery? These are supposed to be the words of impious persons, who, pretending to despair of God’s mercies, take encouragement from thence to continue in their sins. Say, As I live, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked — For an elucidation of this and the following verses to the 20th, compare chap. 18.; and see the notes there. Ezekiel 33:11 Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? Ezekiel 33:12 Therefore, thou son of man, say unto the children of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression: as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness; neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sinneth. Ezekiel 33:13 When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it. Ezekiel 33:13 . When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live — When I make him a promise of life, peace, and every blessing which he stands in need of; if he trust to his own righteousness — Formerly performed, but now abandoned; or, if he rely upon the good works he hath done, and think the worth of them will overbalance the guilt of his evil deeds; which seems to have been the opinion of the later Jews, who lay it down for a rule in their Mishna, That all Israel shall have a share in the world to come. All his righteousness shall not be remembered, &c. — He shall come again under the guilt of all his past sins, and shall be exposed to condemnation and wrath: see notes on Ezekiel 18:24-29 . It is evidently signified here, that to trust in our own righteousness, whether internal or external, whether graces or virtues, past or present, or to entertain high thoughts of our own attainments in religion, and to put confidence therein, is one step toward a fall, and generally issues in apostacy. Ezekiel 33:14 Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right; Ezekiel 33:15 If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die. Ezekiel 33:15 . If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed — It is a necessary condition of obtaining pardon, that men make restitution of what they have unjustly gotten from others. The law is express to this purpose, Leviticus 6:5 , where the offender is required to add a fifth part to the principal, and give it to him to whom it appertaineth; see the note there. To the same purpose is that received rule among the Christian casuists, taken from St. Augustin, Epistle 54., Non dimittitur peccatum, nisi restituatur ablatum. The sin is not forgiven, unless what is taken away be restored. Lord Clarendon’s observations on this subject are peculiarly excellent: “Robbery and violence would be too gainful a trade, if a man might quit all scores by repentance, and detain all he hath gotten; or if the father’s repentance might serve the turn, and the benefit of the transgression be transmitted as an inheritance to the son. If the pledge remained it must be restored; the retaining it is committing a new iniquity, and forfeits any benefit of the promise. If he hath it not, nor is able to procure it, his hearty repentance is enough without reparation: but to enjoy the spoil, and yet to profess repentance, is an affront to God Almighty, and a greater sin than the first act of violence, when he did not pretend to think of God, and so did not think of displeasing him. Whereas now he pretends to reconcile himself to God, and mocks him with repentance, while he retains the fruit of his wickedness. He who is truly penitent restores what he hath left to the person who was deprived of it, and pays the rest in devout sorrow for his trespass.” Ezekiel 33:16 None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him: he hath done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live. Ezekiel 33:17 Yet the children of thy people say, The way of the Lord is not equal: but as for them, their way is not equal. Ezekiel 33:18 When the righteous turneth from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, he shall even die thereby. Ezekiel 33:19 But if the wicked turn from his wickedness, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby. Ezekiel 33:20 Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. O ye house of Israel, I will judge you every one after his ways. Ezekiel 33:21 And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month , in the fifth day of the month, that one that had escaped out of Jerusalem came unto me, saying, The city is smitten. Ezekiel 33:21 . In the twelfth year of our captivity, &c. — According to this reading, the news of the taking and burning of Jerusalem was brought to that part of the Babylonish dominions where the Jewish captives were placed in a year, five months, and twenty-six days after the calamity happened: see Jeremiah 52:12 . But eight MSS. having ????? instead of ???? , Bishop Newcome, and some others, think the preferable reading is, the eleventh year. If this be adopted, only about six months passed between the taking of Jerusalem and the communication of that event to Ezekiel. One that had escaped out of Jerusalem came unto me — According to what God had foretold to him should be the case, as is mentioned Ezekiel 24:26 , and which was to be as a new commission unto him to speak unto the people; from doing which, by the command of God, he had ceased for near three years before; the prophetic influence, or impulse, not coming upon him during that time. Ezekiel 33:22 Now the hand of the LORD was upon me in the evening, afore he that was escaped came; and had opened my mouth, until he came to me in the morning; and my mouth was opened, and I was no more dumb. Ezekiel 33:22 . Now the hand of the Lord was upon me in the evening — I felt a sensible impulse of the prophetic spirit: see Ezekiel 1:3 . And had opened my mouth, until he came to me in the morning — Had so influenced my mind, that I found myself disposed and prepared to speak freely and with authority. Not that he had been utterly dumb before: for he had probably “been able to converse with the Jews concerning the predictions formerly delivered to them, and perhaps spake, or delivered in writing to them, the prophecies which he uttered concerning other nations; but he had received no further revelation from God respecting their affairs: in this sense he had been dumb.” — Scott. But now the Spirit moved him to speak, and continued so to do till the messenger came, whose information concerning the taking and burning of Jerusalem, which had been repeatedly and clearly foretold by the prophet, would give an indisputable authority and credit to all his predictions, and prepare the people’s minds to receive, with faith and a due regard, every future message which he was commissioned to deliver to them. Ezekiel 33:23 Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Ezekiel 33:24 Son of man, they that inhabit those wastes of the land of Israel speak, saying, Abraham was one, and he inherited the land: but we are many; the land is given us for inheritance. Ezekiel 33:24 . They that inhabit those wastes of the land of Israel — They that are left behind in the land, that is now wasted with fire and sword: see the margin. Speak, saying, Abraham was one, and inherited the land — Had the privilege of dwelling and feeding his flocks in it; as if he had said, ‘If Abraham, being only a single person, had the whole country of Judea given him, there is much greater reason to conclude, that God will preserve the possession of it to us, who are a numerous part of Abraham’s posterity. These men speak after the vain manner of the Jews, who fondly presume that they have a right to all the promises made to Abraham, without considering the vast difference between them and Abraham, both in faith and practice. The appellation of one is given to Abraham in other parts of Scripture, because he was singled out from the rest of his family, to be the original, or head, of the Jewish nation.” — Lowth. Ezekiel 33:25 Wherefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Ye eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes toward your idols, and shed blood: and shall ye possess the land? Ezekiel 33:25-26 . Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord — Remove from them this destructive carnal confidence, and show them what they do, and how far they are from being Abraham’s genuine seed. Ye eat with the blood — Which was expressly forbidden in the Jewish law, as appears from Leviticus 7:26 , as well as that more ancient law ordained to all mankind, Genesis 9:4 ; and lift up your eyes toward your idols — Offer up your prayers unto your fictitious gods; and shed blood — That is, commit murders; and shall ye possess the land? — When you do not perform the conditions on which the land was given, namely, that of being a holy people, can you think that you shall continue to enjoy it? Ye stand upon your sword — You make your strength the law of justice, and, confiding in that, you do whatsoever your inclinations lead you to, whether right or wrong; according to the character given of ungodly men, Wis 2:11 , who say, “Let our strength be the law of justice, for that which is feeble is found to be nothing worthy” &c. Houbigant translates the clause, You stand in your high way, or the corners of your streets, and commit your abominations, considering the words as referring to their public and open profession of idolatry. Dr. Spencer ( De Legib. Hebrew, lib. 2. cap. 11) thinks that the expression alludes to a custom of the heathen, “who put the blood of their sacrifices into a vessel, or pit, in order to call up and consult evil spirits, and then stood with their swords drawn, to keep the demons off from doing them any harm.” Ye defile every one his neighbour’s wife — Ye universally commit adultery; and shall ye possess the land? — The question implies a peremptory denial. Thus the prophet shows how vain and ill-grounded their expectations were of being continued in the possession of Judea, since they did those things which were contrary to the divine law, and which consequently excluded them from any right to the land. Ezekiel 33:26 Ye stand upon your sword, ye work abomination, and ye defile every one his neighbour's wife: and shall ye possess the land? Ezekiel 33:27 Say thou thus unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; As I live, surely they that are in the wastes shall fall by the sword, and him that is in the open field will I give to the beasts to be devoured, and they that be in the forts and in the caves shall die of the pestilence. Ezekiel 33:27 . Surely they that are in the wastes — They who continue to dwell among the desolations of Jerusalem and Judea; shall fall by the sword — This they accordingly did, both through the civil dissensions among them, in the conspiracy formed against Gedaliah, and likewise by the Chaldeans revenging his death. And him that is in the open field will I give to the beasts — He shall be a prey to lions and other ravenous beasts, that will multiply in the ruined country. And they that be in the forts and caves — Out of the reach of men and beasts; shall die of the pestilence — My hand shall reach them, and send among them those destructive disorders which shall sweep them away. These three judgments here mentioned, the sword, destructive beasts, and the pestilence, together with famine, are often threatened as the last and finishing strokes of divine vengeance upon the Jewish nation: see Ezekiel 5:12 ; Ezekiel 5:17 ; Ezekiel 6:12 ; Ezekiel 14:21 ; Jeremiah 15:3 . By the forts and caves here spoken of, are meant the strong holds formed by nature in the rocks, or cut out in the sides of the mountains. Many of them were so large that men might secure themselves, their families, and their goods in them. So David is said, 1 Samuel 23:14 , to abide in strong holds, and remain in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph. Such was the cave of Adullam, where David had his residence for some time, and was there resorted to by his relations, ( 1 Samuel 22:1 ,) and at another time by his principal officers, 2 Samuel 23:15 . Ezekiel 33:28 For I will lay the land most desolate, and the pomp of her strength shall cease; and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, that none shall pass through. Ezekiel 33:28-29 . For I will lay the land most desolate — I will make the land destitute of inhabitants, by the destruction which shall be made of them by the sword, by wild beasts, and the pestilence, and by their being carried into captivity. And the pomp of her strength shall cease — All that wealth and magnificence wherein they pleased themselves, as that which gave them strength and reputation in the eyes of the world, are taken away: see Ezekiel 7:24 . Or the phrase may denote the beauty and glory of the temple, which they looked upon as their chief strength and protection; none shall pass through — None shall choose even so much as to pass through the country, on account of its being infested with wild beasts through its desolateness, and because the air of it shall be rendered unwholesome, by means of the effluvia arising from dead and dying bodies, and the pestilential diseases which rage in the country, and sweep away its inhabitants. Then shall they know that I am the Lord — That I am their Lord, their righteous governor, and just judge. When I have laid the land most desolate, &c. — When I have brought these destructive calamities upon it, because of the sins and abominations of its inhabitants. Observe, reader, those are untractable and unteachable indeed, that are not made to know their dependence upon God when all their creature comforts fail them, and they are made desolate. Ezekiel 33:29 Then shall they know that I am the LORD, when I have laid the land most desolate because of all their abominations which they have committed. Ezekiel 33:30 Also, thou son of man, the children of thy people still are talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the LORD. Ezekiel 33:30-32 . The children of thy people — Those of the captivity; still are talking against thee — Or rather, of thee, as the LXX. rightly render it; for with their mouths they showed much love, as it follows in the next verse. By the walls and in the doors of their houses — Both in their public places of concourse, and in their private meetings. And speak one to another, saying, Come, &c. — These were such as drew nigh to God with their mouths, but their hearts were far from him, as Isaiah describes their hypocrisy, Isaiah 29:13 ; and they come unto thee as the people cometh — Or, as disciples flock to their teachers: so the Chaldee paraphrase explains it. They make a profession of great regard to piety and virtue, and express a great esteem for thee, but at the same time they indulge themselves in sin and wickedness. And lo! thou art unto them as a very lovely song, &c. — They come to hear thee for their entertainment, not for their edification, in the spirit in which many go to hear noted and eloquent preachers. St. Austin tells us, that he himself was such an auditor of St. Ambrose before he was converted, Confess., 50. 5. c. 12; “I heard him diligently when he discoursed in the congregation, but not with that application of mind which I ought to have done; but I came rather out of curiosity, to know whether his eloquence was answerable to the opinion which the world had of him. I was very attentive to his style, and charmed with the sweetness of his delivery, but had little value or concern for the subjects he treated of.” Ezekiel 33:31 And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. Ezekiel 33:32 And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not. Ezekiel 33:33 And when this cometh to pass, (lo, it will come,) then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them. Ezekiel 33:33 . And when this cometh to pass, ( lo, it will come ) — Or, rather, lo, it is come; for so the same phrase is translated Ezekiel 6:2 ; Ezekiel 6:6 ; Ezekiel 6:10 , the verb being in the present tense; when they shall see thy prophecies concerning the destruction of Jerusalem actually fulfilled, and all the events predicted by thee exactly brought to pass; then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them — Then shall they be convinced of the truth of thy mission, and of their own inexcusable crime in despising thy prophecies. The words of this verse are evidently spoken by the Lord to his prophet. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Ezekiel 33:1 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, THE PROPHET A WATCHMAN Ezekiel 33:1-33 ONE day in January of the year 586 the tidings circulated through the Jewish colony at Tel-abib that "the city was smitten." The rapidity with which in the East intelligence is transmitted through secret channels has often excited the surprise of European observers. In this case there is no extraordinary rapidity to note, for the fate of Jerusalem had been decided nearly six months before it was known in Babylon. But it is remarkable that the first intimation of the issue of the siege was brought to the exiles by one of their own countrymen, who had escaped at the capture of the city. It is probable that the messenger did not set out at once, but waited until he could bring some information as to how matters were settling down after the war. Or he may have been a captive who had trudged the weary road to Babylon in chains under the escort of Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, { Jeremiah 39:9 } and afterwards succeeded in making his escape to the older settlement where Ezekiel lived. All we know is that his message was not delivered with the despatch which would have been possible if his journey had been unimpeded, and that in the meantime the official intelligence which must have already reached Babylon had not transpired among the exiles who were waiting so anxiously for tidings of the fate of Jerusalem. The immediate effect of the announcement on the mind of the exiles is not recorded. It was doubtless received with all the signs of public mourning which Ezekiel had anticipated and foretold. { Ezekiel 24:21-24 } They would require some time to adjust themselves to a situation for which, in spite of all the warnings that had been sent them, they were utterly unprepared; and it must have been uncertain at first what direction their thoughts would take. Would they carry out their half-formed intention of abandoning their national faith and assimilating themselves to the surrounding heathenism? Would they sink into the lethargy of despair, and pine away under a confused consciousness of guilt? Or would they repent of their unbelief, and turn to embrace the hope which God’s mercy held out to them in the teaching of the prophet whom they had despised? All this was for the moment uncertain; but one thing was certain-they could no more return to the attitude of complacent indifference and incredulity in which they had hitherto resisted the word of Jehovah. The day on which the tidings of the city’s destruction fell like a thunderbolt in the community of Tel-abib was the turning-point of Ezekiel’s ministry. In the arrival of the "fugitive" he recognises the sign which was to break the spell of silence which had lain so long upon him, and set him free for the ministry of consolation and upbuilding which was henceforth to be his chief vocation. A presentiment of what was coming had visited him the evening before his interview with the messenger, and from that time "his mouth was opened, and he was no more dumb" ( Ezekiel 33:22 ). Hitherto he had preached to deaf ears, and the echo of his ineffectual appeals had come back in a deadening sense of failure which had paralysed his activity. But now in one moment the veil of prejudice and vain self-confidence is torn from the heart of his hearers, and gradually but surely the whole burden of his message must disclose itself to their intelligence. The time has come to work for the formation of a new Israel, and a new spirit of hopefulness stimulates the prophet to throw himself eagerly into the career which is thus opened up before him. It may be well at this point to try to realise the state of mind which emerged amongst Ezekiel’s hearers after the first shock of consternation had passed away. The seven chapters (33-39) with which we are to be occupied in this section all belong to the second period of the prophet’s work, and in all probability to the earlier part of that period. It is obvious, however, that they were not written under the first impulse of the tidings of the fall of Jerusalem. They contain allusions to certain changes which must have occupied some time; and simultaneously a change took place in the temper of the people resulting ultimately in a definite spiritual situation to which the prophet had to address himself. It is this situation which we have to try to understand. It supplies the external conditions of Ezekiel’s ministry, and unless we can in some measure interpret it we shall lose the full meaning of his teaching in this important period of his ministry. At the outset we may glance at the state of those who were left in the land of Israel, who in a sense formed part of Ezekiel’s audience. The very first oracle uttered by him after he had received his emancipation was a threat of judgment against these survivors of the nation’s calamity ( Ezekiel 33:23-29 ). The fact that this is recorded in connection with the interview with the "fugitive" may mean that the information on which it is based was obtained from that somewhat shadowy personage. Whether in this way or through some later channel, Ezekiel had apparently some knowledge of the disastrous feuds which had followed the destruction of Jerusalem. These events are minutely described in the end of the book of Jeremiah (chapters 40-44). With a clemency which in the circumstances is surprising the king of Babylon had allowed a small remnant of the people to settle in the land, and had appointed over them a native governor, Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, who fixed his residence at Mizpah. The prophet Jeremiah elected to throw in his lot with this remnant, and for a time it seemed as if through peaceful submission to the Chaldaean supremacy all might go well with the survivors. The chiefs who had conducted the guerilla warfare in the open against the Babylonian army came in and placed themselves under the protection of Gedaliah, and there was every prospect that by refraining from projects of rebellion they might be left to enjoy the fruits of the land without disturbance. But this was not to be. Certain turbulent spirits under Ishmael, a member of the royal family, entered into a conspiracy with the king of Ammon to destroy this last refuge of peace-loving Israelites. Gedaliah was treacherously murdered; and although the murder was partially avenged, Ishmael succeeded in making his escape to the Ammonites, while the remains of the party of order, dreading the vengeance of Nebuchadnezzar, took their departure for Egypt and carried Jeremiah forcibly with them. What happened after this we do not know; but it is not improbable that Ishmael and his followers may have held possession of the land by force for some years. We read of a fresh deportation of Judaean captives to Babylon five years after the capture of Jerusalem; { Jeremiah 52:30 } and this may have been the result of an expedition to suppress the depredations of the robber band that Ishmael had gathered round him. How much of this story had reached the ears of Ezekiel we do not know; but there is one allusion in his oracle which makes it probable that he had at least heard of the assassination of Gedaliah. Those he addresses are men who "stand upon their sword"-that is to say, they hold that might is right, and glory in deeds of blood and violence that gratify their passionate desire for revenge. Such language could hardly be used of any section of the remaining, population of Judaea except the lawless banditti that enrolled themselves under the banner of Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah. What Ezekiel is mainly concerned with, however, is the moral and religious condition of those to whom he speaks. Strange to say, they were animated by a species of religious fanaticism, which led them to regard themselves as the legitimate heirs to whom the reversion of the land of Israel belonged. "Abraham was one," so reasoned these desperadoes, "and yet he inherited the land: but we are many; to us the land is given for a possession" ( Ezekiel 33:24 ). Their meaning is that the smallness of their number is no argument against the validity of their claim to the heritage of the land. They are still many in comparison with the solitary patriarch to whom it was first promised; and if he was multiplied so as to take possession of it, why should they hesitate to claim the mastery of it? This thought of the wonderful multiplication of Abraham’s seed after he had received the promise seems to have laid fast hold of the men of that generation. It is applied by the great teacher who stands next to Ezekiel in the prophetic succession to comfort the little flock who followed after righteousness and could hardly believe that it was God’s good pleasure to give them the kingdom. "Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him." { Isaiah 51:2 } The words of the infatuated men who exulted in the havoc they were making on the mountains of Judaea may sound to us like a blasphemous travesty of this argument; but they were no doubt seriously meant. They afford one more instance of the boundless capacity of the Jewish race for religious self-delusion, and their no less remarkable insensibility to that in which the essence of religion lay. The men who uttered this proud boast were the precursors of those who in the days of the Baptist thought to say within themselves, "We have Abraham to our father," not understanding that God was able "of these stones to raise up children to Abraham." { Matthew 3:9 } All the while they were perpetuating the evils for which the judgment of God had descended on the city and the Hebrew state. Idolatry, ceremonial impurity, bloodshed, and adultery were rife amongst them ( Ezekiel 33:25-26 ); and no misgiving seems to have entered their minds that because of these things the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience. And therefore the prophet repudiates their pretensions with indignation. "Shall ye possess the land?" Their conduct simply showed that judgment had not had its perfect work, and that Jehovah’s purpose would not be accomplished until "the land was laid waste and desolate, and the pomp of her strength should cease, and the mountains of Israel be desolate, so that none passed through" ( Ezekiel 33:28 ). We have seen that in all likelihood this prediction was fulfilled by a punitive expedition from Babylonia in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar. But we knew before that Ezekiel expected no good thing to come of the survivors of the judgment in Judaea. His hope was in those who had passed through the fires of banishment, the men amongst whom his own work lay, and amongst whom he looked for the first signs of the outpouring of the divine Spirit. We must now return to the inner circle of Ezekiel’s immediate hearers, and consider the change which the calamity had produced on them. The chapter now before us yields two glimpses into the inner life of the people which help us to realise the kind of men with whom the prophet had to do. In the first place it is interesting to learn that in his more frequent public appearances the prophet rapidly acquired a considerable reputation as a popular preacher ( Ezekiel 33:30-33 ). It is true that the interest which he excited was not of the most wholesome kind. It became a favourite amusement of the people hanging about the walls and doors to come and listen to the fervid oratory of their one remaining prophet as he declared to them "the word that came forth from Jehovah." It is to be feared that the substance of his message counted for little in their appreciative and critical listening. He was to them "as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument": "they heard his words, but did them not." It was pleasant to subject oneself now and then to the influence of this powerful and heart-searching preacher; but somehow the heart was never searched, the conscience was never stirred, and the hearing never ripened into serious conviction and settled purpose of amendment. Tile people were thoroughly respectful in their demeanour and apparently devout, coming in crowds and sitting before him as God’s people should. But they were preoccupied: "their heart went after their gain" ( Ezekiel 33:31 ) or their advantage. Self-interest prevented them from receiving the word of God in honest and good hearts; and no change was visible in their conduct. Hence the prophet is not disposed to regard the evidences of his newly acquired popularity with much satisfaction. It presents itself to his mind as a danger against which he has to be on his guard. He has been tried by opposition and apparent failure; now he is exposed to the more insidious temptation of a flattering reception and superficial success. It is a tribute to his power, and an opportunity such as he had never before enjoyed. Whatever may have been the case heretofore, he is now sure of an audience, and his position has suddenly become one of great influence in the community. But the same resolute confidence in the truth of his message which sustained Ezekiel amidst the discouragements of his earlier career saves him now from the fatal attractions of popularity to which many men in similar circumstances have yielded. He is not deceived by the favourable disposition of the people towards himself, nor is he tempted to cultivate his oratorical gifts with a view to sustaining their admiration. His one concern is to utter the word that shall come to pass, and so to declare the counsel of God that men shall be compelled in the end to acknowledge that he has been "a prophet among them" ( Ezekiel 33:33 ). We may be thankful to the prophet for this little glimpse from a vanished past-one of those touches of nature that make the whole world kin. But we ought not to miss its obvious moral. Ezekiel is the prototype of all popular preachers, and he knew their peculiar trials. He was perhaps the first man who ministered regularly to an attached congregation, who came to hear him because they liked it and because they had nothing better to do. If he passed unscathed through the dangers of the position, it was through his overpowering sense of the reality of divine things and the importance of men’s spiritual destiny; and also we may add through his fidelity in a department of ministerial duty which popular preachers are sometimes apt to neglect-the duty of close personal dealing with individual men about their sins and their state before God. To this subject we shall revert by-and-by. This passage reveals to us the people in their lighter moods, when they are able to cast off the awful burden of life and destiny and take advantage of such sources of enjoyment as their circumstances afforded. Mental dejection in a community, from whatever cause it originates, is rarely continuous. The natural elasticity of the mind asserts itself in the most depressing circumstances; and the tension of almost unendurable sorrow is relieved by outbursts of unnatural gaiety. Hence we need not be surprised to find that beneath the surface levity of these exiles there lurked the feeling of despair expressed in the words of Ezekiel 33:10 and more fully in those Ezekiel 37:11 : "Our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we waste away in them: how should we then live? Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off." These accents of despondency reflect the new mood into which the more serious-minded portion of the community had been plunged by the calamities that had befallen them. The bitterness of unavailing remorse, the consciousness of national death, had laid fast hold of their spirits and deprived them of the power of hope. In sober truth the nation was dead beyond apparent hope of revival; and to an Israelite, whose spiritual interests were all identified with those of his nation, religion had no power of consolation apart from a national future. The people therefore abandoned themselves to despair, and hardened themselves against the appeals which the prophet addressed to them in the name of Jehovah. They looked on themselves as the victims of an inexorable fate, and were disposed perhaps to resent the call to repentance as a trifling with the misery of the unfortunate. And yet, although this state of mind was as far removed as possible from the godly sorrow that worketh repentance, it was a step towards the accomplishment of the promise of redemption. For the present, indeed, it rendered the people more impenetrable than ever to the word of God. But it meant that they had accepted in principle the prophetic interpretation of their history. It was no longer possible to deny that Jehovah the God of Israel had revealed His secret to His servants the prophets. He was not such a Being as the popular imagination had figured. Israel had not known Him; only the prophets had spoken of Him the thing that was right. Thus for the first time a general conviction of sin, a sense of being in the wrong, was produced in Israel. That this conviction should at first lead to the verge of despair was perhaps inevitable. The people were not familiar with the idea of the divine righteousness, and could not at once perceive that anger against sin was consistent in God with pity for the sinner and mercy towards the contrite. The chief task that now lay before the prophet was to transform their attitude of sullen impenitence into one of submission and hope by teaching them the efficacy of repentance. They have learned the meaning of judgment; they have now to learn the possibility and the conditions of forgiveness. And this can only be taught to them through a revelation of the free and infinite grace of God. who has "no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked should turn from his way and live" ( Ezekiel 33:11 ). Only thus can the hard and stony heart be taken away from their flesh and a heart of flesh given to them. We can now understand the significance of the striking passage which stands as the introduction to this whole section of the book. { Ezekiel 33:1-20 } At this juncture of his ministry Ezekiel’s thoughts went back on an aspect of his prophetic vocation which had hitherto been in abeyance. From the first he had been conscious of a certain responsibility for the fate of each individual within reach of his words. { Ezekiel 3:16-21 } This truth had been one of the keynotes of his ministry; but the practical developments which it suggested had been hindered by the solidarity of the opposition which he had encountered. As long as Jerusalem stood the exiles had been swayed by one common current of feeling-their thoughts were wholly occupied by the expectation of an issue that would annul the gloomy predictions of Ezekiel; and no man dared to break away from the general sentiment and range himself on the side of God’s prophet. In these circumstances anything of the nature of pastoral activity was obviously out of the question. But now that this great obstacle to faith was removed there was a prospect that the solidity of popular opinion would be broken up, so that the word of God might find an entrance here and there into susceptible hearts. The time was come to call for personal decisions, to appeal to each man to embrace for himself the offer of pardon and salvation. Its watchword might have been found in words uttered in another great crisis of religious destiny: "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." Out of such "violent men," who act for themselves and have the courage of their convictions, the new people of God must be formed; and the mission of the prophet is to gather round him all those who are warned by his words to "flee from the wrath to come." Let us look a little more closely at the teaching of these verses. We find that Ezekiel restates in the most emphatic manner the theological principles which underlie this new development of his prophetic duties ( Ezekiel 33:10-20 ). These principles have been considered already in the exposition of chapter 18; and it is not necessary to do more than refer to them here. They are such as these: the exact and absolute righteousness of God in His dealings with individuals; His unwillingness that any should perish, and His desire that all should be saved and live; the necessity of personal repentance; the freedom and independence of the individual soul through its immediate relation to God. On this closely connected body of evangelical doctrine Ezekiel bases the appeal which he now makes to his hearers. What we are specially concerned with here, however, is the direction which they imparted to his activity. We may study in the light of Ezekiel’s example the manner in which these fundamental truths of personal religion are to be made effective in the ministry of the gospel for the building up of the Church of Christ. The general conception is clearly set forth in the figure of the watchman, with which the chapter opens ( Ezekiel 33:1-9 ). The duties of the watchman are simple, but responsible. He is set apart in a time of public danger to warn the city of the approach of an enemy. The citizens trust him and go about their ordinary occupations in security so long as the trumpet is not sounded. Should he sleep at his post or neglect to give the signal, men are caught unprepared and lives are lost through his fault. Their blood is required at the watchman’s hand. If, on the other hand, he gives the alarm as soon as he sees the sword coming, and any man disregards the warning and is cut down in his iniquity, his blood is upon his own head. Nothing could be clearer than this. Office always involves responsibility, and no responsibility could be greater than that of a watchman in time of invasion. Those who suffer are in either case the citizens whom the sword cuts off; but it makes all the difference in the world whether the blame of their death rests on themselves for their foolhardiness or on the watchman for his unfaithfulness. Such, then, as Ezekiel goes on to explain, is his own position as a prophet. The prophet is one who sees further into the spiritual issues of things than other men, and discovers the coming calamity which is to them invisible. We must notice that a background of danger is presupposed. In what form it was to come is not indicated; but Ezekiel knows that judgment follows hard at the heels of sin, and seeing sin in his fellow-men he knows that their state is one of spiritual peril. The prophet’s course therefore is clear. His business is to announce as in trumpet tones the doom that hangs over every man who persists in his wickedness, to re-echo the divine sentence which he alone may have heard, "O wicked man, thou shalt surely die." And again the main question is one of responsibility. The watchman cannot ensure the safety of every citizen, because any man may refuse to take the warning he gives. No more can the prophet ensure the salvation of all his hearers, for each one is free to accept or despise the message. But whether men hear or whether they forbear, it is of the utmost moment for himself that that warning be faithfully proclaimed and that he should thus "deliver his soul." Ezekiel seems to feel’ that it is only by frankly accepting the responsibility which thus devolves on himself that he can hope to impress on his hearers the responsibility that rests on them for the use they make of his message. These thoughts appear to have occupied the mind of Ezekiel on the eve of his emancipation, and must have influenced his subsequent action to an extent which we can but vaguely estimate. It is generally considered that this description of the prophet’s functions covers a whole department of work of which no express account is given. Ezekiel writers no "Pastor’s Sketches," and records no instances of individual conversion through his ministry. The unwritten history of the Babylonian captivity must have been rich in such instances of spiritual experience, and nothing could have been more instructive to us than the study of a few typical cases had it been possible. One of the most interesting features of the early history of Mohammedanism is found in the narratives of personal adhesion to the new religion; and the formation of the new Israel in the age of the Exile is a process of infinitely greater importance for humanity at large than the genesis of Islam. But neither in this book nor elsewhere are we permitted to follow that process in its details. Ezekiel may have witnessed the beginnings of it, but he was not called upon to be its historian. Still, the inference is probably correct that a conception of the prophet’s office which holds him accountable to God for the fate of individuals led to something more than mere general exhortations to repentance. The preacher must have taken a personal interest in his hearers; he must have watched for the first signs of a response to his message, and been ready to advise and encourage those who turned to him for guidance in their perplexities. And since the sphere of his influence and responsibility included the whole Hebrew community in which he lived, he must have been eager to seize every opportunity to warn individual sinners of the error of their ways, lest their blood should be required at his hand. To this extent we may say that Ezekiel held a position amongst the exiles somewhat analogous to that of a spiritual director in the Catholic Church or the pastor of a Protestant congregation. But the analogy must not be pressed too far. The nurture of the spiritual life of individuals could not have presented itself to him as the chief end of his ministrations. His business was first to lay down the conditions of entrance into the new kingdom of God, and then out of the ruins of the old Israel to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Perhaps the nearest parallel to this department of his work which history affords is the mission of the Baptist. The keynote of Ezekiel’s preaching was the same as that of John: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Both prophets were alike animated by a sense of crisis and urgency, based on the conviction that the impending Messianic age would be ushered in by a searching judgment in which the chaff would be separated from the wheat. Both laboured for the same end-the formation of a new circle of religious fellowship, in anticipation of the advent of the Messianic kingdom. And as John, by an inevitable spiritual selection, gathered round him a band of disciples, amongst whom our Lord found some of His most devoted followers, so we may believe that Ezekiel, by a similar process, became the acknowledged leader of those whom he taught to wait for the hope of Israel’s restoration. There is nothing in Ezekiel’s ministry that appeals more directly to the Christian conscience than the serious and profound sense of pastoral responsibility to which this passage bears witness. It is a feeling which would seem to be inseparable from the right discharge of the ministerial office. In this, as in many other respects, Ezekiel’s experience is repeated, on a higher level, in that of the apostle of the Gentiles, who could take his hearers to record that he was "pure from the blood of all men," inasmuch as he had "taught them publicly and from house to house," and "ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears". { Acts 20:17-35 } That does not mean, of course, that a preacher is to occupy himself with nothing else than the personal salvation of his hearers. St. Paul would have been the last to agree to such a limitation of the range of his teaching. But it does mean that the salvation of men and women is the supreme end which the minister of Christ is to set before him, and that to which all other instruction is subordinated. And unless a man realises that the truth he utters is of tremendous importance on the destiny of those to whom he speaks, he can hardly hope to approve himself as an ambassador for Christ. There are doubtless temptations, not in themselves ignoble, to use the pulpit for other purposes than this. The desire for public influence may be one of them, or the desire to utter one’s mind on burning questions of the day. To say that these are temptations is not to say that matters of public interest are to be rigorously excluded from treatment in the pulpit. There are many questions of this kind on which the will of God is as clear and imperative as it can possibly be on any point of private conduct; and even in matters as to which there is legitimate difference of opinion amongst Christian men there are underlying principles of righteousness which may need to be fearlessly enunciated at the risk of obloquy and misunderstanding. Nevertheless it remains true that the great end of the gospel ministry is to reconcile men to God and to cultivate in individual lives the fruits of the Spirit, so as at the last to present every man perfect in Christ. And the preacher who may be most safely entrusted with the handling of all other questions is he who is most intent on the formation of Christian character and most deeply conscious of his responsibility for the effect of his teaching on the eternal destiny of those to whom he ministers. What is called preaching to the age may certainly become a very poor and empty thing if it is forgotten that the age is made up of individuals each of whom has a soul to save or lose. What shall it profit a man if the preacher teaches him how to win the whole world and lose his own life? It is fashionable to hold up the prophets of Israel as models of all that a Christian minister ought to be. If that is true, prophecy must at least be allowed to speak its whole lesson; and amongst other elements Ezekiel’s consciousness of responsibility for the individual life must receive due recognition. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.