Ezekiel 36:33-37 Thus said the Lord GOD; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities… The promised restoration and prosperity of Israel very fitly portrays the condition of spiritual well-being in the Church of Christ. It is marked by four things. I. SPIRITUAL STABILITY. "I will cause you to dwell in the cities (ver. 33). They were not to be as travelers who are always moving, sleeping beneath the trees or the stars, or as men, that pitch their tents for a few days and pass on; they should dwell in the cities. It is one sign of a healthy moral condition when we reach some permanency of principle and of feeling; when we are not "driven with the wind and tossed," but abide where we are, dwelling in the strong cities of assured conviction, of peace, of sacred joy, of blessed hope. It is the man who has learnt much of God and has attained to no small measure of heavenly wisdom whom we know where to find, on whose constancy we may depend, who is "steadfast and immovable." II. FRUITFUL ENERGY. The wastes shall be builded, and the desolate land shall be tilled" (vers. 33, 34). Before the Churches of Christ there lie sad and desolate wastes - souls that are in ruins and urgently need to be restored; large stretches of manhood that are now uncultivated, but that would yield a very precious harvest if only the seed of heavenly truth were sown. The great work to which these Churches should have addressed themselves with utmost earnestness and zeal is the work of human restoration, of sacred culture. The fields lie fallow and are barren; the land is desolate; mankind is not yielding its fruit, though there are boundless capacities slumbering in the soil. But when the breath of Divine inspiration is felt by the Church, and the pulse of a Divine life is beating within it, then does it go forward in the fullness of its faithfulness and its pity, and the wastes are builded and the land is tilled. III. IMPRESSIVENESS AND INFLUENCE. (Vers. 35, 36.) A Christian Church may not be composed of those whose outward behavior contrasts greatly with what it once was; for its members may be those who have "been with Christ from the beginning." Nevertheless, it ought to be a distinctively and unmistakably holy community; a society of men and women who are recognized by "all that pass by" as those that love righteousness and hate iniquity; as those that are seriously and earnestly endeavoring to translate the will of Christ into their daily and their public life; as those whose whole conduct is governed by Christian principle; as those who are intent upon the elevation of their country and of their race, whatever sacrifice of time, or money, or strength it may require to accomplish it. Then would the great Name of Jesus Christ be magnified, and men would know that he was the Lord, the Lord of all power and grace. IV. PRAYERFULNESS. (Ver. 37.) God will have his children near to him in reverential and grateful thought, and he desires that they ask him for the help and the blessings they need at his hand. He will "be inquired of." As soon as we reach a point where we begin to think of independence, we are in spiritual danger. The wise, safe, prosperous condition, both of the individual and of the Church, is that of constant nearness to God and a deep sense of dependence upon him. The upward look and the earnest prayer become us well; and they not only become us, but they secure for us the responsive bounty and blessing of God. - C. Parallel Verses KJV: Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded. |
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