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Eze_36:16-20. Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings: their way was before me as the uncleanness of a removed woman. Wherefore I poured my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it: And I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way and according to their doings I judged them. And when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the LORD, and are gone forth out of his land.
All through Scripture we are told that God has great regard to the honour of his holy name. “The Lord thy God is a jealous God.” And this is no small blessing to us, for it has so happened that, when there has been no other reason for mercy, God’s regard to his own name has found him a reason for dealing mercifully with his unbelieving, undeserving people. See how he had scattered his chosen people; he had sent them away into captivity, justly, on account of their sins. But it came to pass that wherever they went, whether it was into Persia or Babylonia, the people said, “These are Jehovah’s people; these are Jehovah’s people; and they are gone forth out of his land.” What was the consequence of this?
Eze_36:21. But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went.
He had pity for his own name. He had a reverence and esteem for his own renown and standing, even among these heathen nations.
Eze_36:22-23. Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the LORD GOD; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name’s sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen whither ye went. And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, saith the LORD GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.
Brethren, what must God think of a nation like to ours which has come to be called by his name, albeit it so little deserves that great honour? What, I say, must he think of the fact that if there are any vices yet unknown, white men will teach them to the heathen, and when the heathen have heard the Gospel, the great sources of doubt are the white men — Englishmen. Full often the greatest oppressors will spring of our own nation. Certainly we hold the belt for drunkenness, and where our fellow countrymen go the name of Christianity is rendered base among the heathen. The Mohammedan says of such a man, “He has been drunk and turned a Christian.” I will grant that much that is said is said unwisely, and untruthfully, and slanderously in exaggeration, for these men are no Christians. They know not the Lord. It is not a Christian country: it is a heathen country, as some of us know, not only by what we read, but by what we see and hear. Can you walk the streets without hearing blasphemies more black than might be heard in any streets under heaven? This is a heathen country, but yet it has somehow come to be thought to be a Christian country; and therefore its conduct is bringing dishonour upon the name of the Most High. Oh! that he would have pity upon that name, and interpose, and once more establish the truth and set up a throne of righteousness, and turn the hearts of the people to himself in this country! Oh! that it were so, for his great name’s sake! He cannot bless us for our own sakes, for we deserve nothing but his wrath; but, oh! that he would once again have pity upon his holy name that is profaned, and bless this our land. The Lord goes on to say concerning his people: —
Eze_36:24. For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.
Now, this stands true of Israel after the flesh. It will assuredly be fulfilled in the latter days. But it stands even more certain concerning Israel, the true Israel, of whom the natural Israel is but the type. Now, we read one form of that new covenant made with God concerning his elect, comprehending all that have believed in Christ, or ever shall believe in him. This is the covenant that he makes with us in these days: —
Eze_36:25-26. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
Here is, first of all, full justification. “From all your filthiness will I cleanse you.” And here is next regeneration: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you.” These are unconditional promises of that covenant which he hath made with his redeemed in the person of Christ Jesus, their covenant-head. See how majestically it is worded: “I will” and “You shall.” There is not an “if” or a “but” all through it.
Eze_36:27. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
Here is sanctification: here is final perseverance. Blessed promises of the covenant of grace.
Eze_36:28. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
That is the greatest promise of all. If a man were to preach a series of sermons upon this text during everyday in the year, he would never exhaust the fullness of its meaning. “Ye shall be my people, and will be your God.”
Eze_36:29. I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you.
And, spiritually, how true this is — that whenever God saves us from sin he also saves us from every form of famine. No heart was ever left to hunger and thirst in vain when it was cleansed from its sin. Our wants come out of our sins; but when we walk with God, he lays no famine upon us in spiritual things.
Eze_36:30. And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen.
“Then,” when I have blessed you thus — when I have fully saved you, when I have brought you up from all the places where I have scattered you, when I have enriched you and indulged you with my love: —
Eze_36:31. Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.
Repentance is not the root of grace, but the lily-like flower of it. It is not a thing for the early morning of Christian life alone. Repentance will go side by side with faith all through the ways of righteousness, till we get to Heaven Gate. It is when we have most of mercy that we have most loathing for sin.
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But a sense of blood-bought pardon Soon dissolves a heart of stone.”
There is no man saved for his own sake: there is no man redeemed for his own sake. It is for God’s own glory’s sake. There is no motive so high, there is none so worthy of God, as the making known to all generations and all realms the majesty of his love, and the faithfulness of his covenant.
Eze_36:33-36. 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. And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by. And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited. Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the LORD build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate; I the LORD have spoken it, and I will do it.
Now, as he will do this, I doubt not, in Palestine, in due season, so does he always make the most desolate places to be built when his people live near to him. Let us have courage, brethren, about London, about England, about the world. It is very wicked; but if we will keep close to God, we are able to overcome this wickedness in Christ’s name. Let us have comfort about these evil days in which the most of men seem to be departing from the Gospel. We can “hold the fort” till Christ shall come; let us but have courage. God will give us yet to see better and brighter days. He was thought to be a good citizen who never despaired of his country, and he is a good Christian who never indulges a dreary thought about the ultimate triumph of Christ and the coming of his kingdom: “for thine is the kingdom,” even now, “and the power and the glory,” and so shall it be, for ever and ever.
Eze_36:37. Thus saith the LORD GOD; I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock.
There must be the spirit of prayer and supplication poured out first. We shall see Israel restored to her land when Israel is restored to the mercy-seat; and we shall see great prosperity as a church, and the blessing of God will rest upon our nation, when once God’s people go up to the top of Carmel with their faces between their knees, and cry, and cry, and cry again, expecting that yet the heavenly shower shall end this long drought of the curse, and the blessing shall come. “I will yet be enquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them.”
Eze_36:38. As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts; so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
And that is the great end of it all — to make men know that the I AM is — that the true and real God is still potent among the sons of men and doeth his will both here and among the armies of heaven. Unto his name be glory for ever and ever.
Eze_36:16-19. Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings: their way was before me as the uncleanness of a removed woman, Wherefore I poured my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it: And I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way and according to their doings I judged them.
When God comes forth to deal with men according to their deserts, there will always be times of dire distress. The land of Israel was made into a wilderness; the habitations of men were burnt by fire, the inhabitants fell by the sword, or they were carried away captive, and untold miseries became the lot of God’s revolting people.
Eze_36:20. And when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the LORD, and are gone forth out of his land.
For the heathen did not remember the sin of Israel; they only saw that they had been cast out of their land by their God, so they blamed Jehovah, and not his guilty people. Thus, God’s holy name was doubly profaned.
Eze_36:21. But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went.
If the Lord could see no ground of mercy in them, yet, so full of mercy is he, that he would find a reason for exercising pity for his own name’s sake. If lovingkindness cannot come to them by any other means, then it shall come for God’s name’s sake.
Eze_36:22-24. Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name’s sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went. And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.
He says that he will do this for his holy name’s sake. If the heathen profaned that name because they saw Israel scattered, they should be made to eat their own words when God gathered Israel again to their own land.
Eze_36:25-26. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
What grand language this is! How different it is from the stern commands of the law! The law says, “Make your hearts clean; put away the evil of your doings;” but the gospel covenant of grace says, “A new heart also will I give you, and I will cleanse you from all your iniquities.”
Eze_36:27-30. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen.
What splendor of love is this to a people who, mind you, had done nothing whatever to deserve it,—who were just as undeserving as in the day when the Lord smote them, and scattered them among the heathen! For no reason whatever but his own free grace, and for the glory of his holy name would God do these extraordinary deeds of love. What a wondrous God he is! Rightly do we sing,—
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Or who has grace so rich and free?”
There was nothing for them to boast of in all the mercies they received. No merit of their own had brought them back the corn and oil; it was all of God’s infinite sovereign grace because he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and he will have compassion on whom he will have compassion. How royally he talks—like such a King as he is—the Sovereign Lord of all!
Eze_36:33-35. Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities if will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded. And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by. And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited.
As much as they noticed before the chastising hand of God, so much shall even the heathen be compelled to perceive the great goodness of God in restoring the land to all its former glory.
Eze_36:36-37. Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the LORD build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it. Thus saith the Lord God; I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them;—
The blessing shall come, but not without prayer for it,—not without a hopeful expectancy of it,—not without a faithful belief in it: “I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them;”—
Eze_36:37-38. I will increase them with men like a flock. As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts;
Like the multitudes of lambs that were brought up to Jerusalem at the time of the passover, such should be the number of the chosen people once again.
Eze_36:38. So shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
The result of all this wondrous mercy was to be, that they were to be ashamed of their former sins, and loathe their past iniquities, and so know the Lord as to turn from their evil ways, and live unto him.