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Ezekiel Chapter
Forty-three
Ezekiel 43
Chapter Summary
After Ezekiel had surveyed the temple of God
he had a vision of the glory of God. When Christ crucified
and the things
freely given to us of God
through Him
are shown to us by the Holy Ghost
they
make us ashamed for our sins. This frame of mind prepares us for fuller
discoveries of the mysteries of redeeming love; and the whole of the Scriptures
should be opened and applied
that men may see their sins
and repent of them.
We are not now to offer any atoning sacrifices
for by one offering Christ has
perfected for ever those that are sanctified
Hebrews 10:14; but the sprinkling of his blood
is needful in all our approaches to God the Father. Our best services can be
accepted only as sprinkled with the blood which cleanses from all sin.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Ezekiel》
Ezekiel 43
Verse 2
[2] And
behold
the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his
voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory.
Came —
When the glory departed
it went eastward
and now it returns
it comes from
the east.
And his voice —
Though by the voice of God
thunder is sometimes meant
yet here it was an
articulate voice.
Verse 3
[3] And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw
even
according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city: and the
visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell upon my
face.
And it —
This glory of the God of Israel.
To destroy — To
declare
that their sins would ruin their city
chap. 9:3
4.
I fell —
Overwhelmed
and as it were swallowed up.
Verse 4
[4] And
the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect
is toward the east.
Came —
The sins of Israel caused the glory of the Lord to go out of his house
now the
repentance of Israel is blest with the return of this glory.
Verse 6
[6] And
I heard him speaking unto me out of the house; and the man stood by me.
The man —
Christ.
Stood — To
encourage
and strengthen him.
Verse 7
[7] And he said unto me
Son of man
the place of my throne
and the place of
the soles of my feet
where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel
for ever
and my holy name
shall the house of Israel no more defile
neither
they
nor their kings
by their whoredom
nor by the carcases of their kings in
their high places.
He — The glorious God of
Israel.
My throne —
The throne of his grace is in his temple; in the dispensations of grace
God
manifests himself a king.
My feet —
Speaking after the manner of men
and expressing his abode and rest
in his
temple
as the type
in his church
as the antitype.
In their high places — Perhaps some kings were buried in the temples of their idols
near the
idols they worshipped.
Verse 8
[8] In
their setting of their threshold by my thresholds
and their post by my posts
and the wall between me and them
they have even defiled my holy name by their
abominations that they have committed: wherefore I have consumed them in mine
anger.
Their threshold —
The kings of Judah and Israel
built temples and altars for their idols
and
these are called their thresholds. They erected these in the courts
or near
the courts of the temple.
Abominations —
Idolatries
and wickednesses not to be named.
Verse 9
[9] Now
let them put away their whoredom
and the carcases of their kings
far from me
and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever.
Far from me —
From my temple.
Verse 10
[10] Thou
son of man
shew the house to the house of Israel
that they may be ashamed of
their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern.
Son of man —
Ezekiel
who is called thus above eighty times in this book.
Shew —
Describe it to them in all the parts.
To the house — To
the rulers
prophets
and priests especially
not excluding others.
Their iniquities —
When they shall blush to see what glory their iniquities had ruined.
Verse 12
[12] This
is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof
round about shall be most holy. Behold
this is the law of the house.
The law —
This is the first comprehensive rule: holiness becomes God's house; and this
relative holiness referred to personal and real holiness.
The top —
The whole circuit of this mountain shall be holy
but the top of it on which
the temple stands
shall be most holy.
Verse 13
[13] And
these are the measures of the altar after the cubits: The cubit is a cubit and
an hand breadth; even the bottom shall be a cubit
and the breadth a cubit
and
the border thereof by the edge thereof round about shall be a span: and this
shall be the higher place of the altar.
The altar — Of
burnt-offerings.
And an hand-breath —
The sacred cubit
three inches longer than the common cubit.
The bottom —
The ledge or settle
fastened to the altar on all sides at the bottom
shall be
a cubit in height.
The breadth —
From the edge of this bench on the outside to the edge where it joined the body
of the altar
a cubit
and this the breadth
twenty one inches
broad enough
for the priests to walk on.
Border — A
ledge going round on all the squares.
The edge — On
the outer edge of this settle a span high.
The back — As
the back bears burdens
so this was to bear the weight of the whole altar.
Verse 14
[14] And
from the bottom upon the ground even to the lower settle shall be two cubits
and the breadth one cubit; and from the lesser settle even to the greater
settle shall be four cubits
and the breadth one cubit.
From the bottom —
From the first ledge
which was a cubit broad
and a cubit high from the
ground.
To the lower — To
the top of that square settle
which is called lower
because another settle is
raised upon it.
Two cubits — In
height.
The lesser —
From the highest edge of the uppermost settle
down to the cubit broad ledge
about the lower settle.
The greater — So
called
because it exceeded the upper settle a cubit in breadth.
Four cubits — ln
height.
Verse 15
[15] So
the altar shall be four cubits; and from the altar and upward shall be four
horns.
Four cubits — In
height.
From the altar —
From the top of the altar.
Verse 17
[17] And
the settle shall be fourteen cubits long and fourteen broad in the four squares
thereof; and the border about it shall be half a cubit; and the bottom thereof
shall be a cubit about; and his stairs shall look toward the east.
Stairs — Or
steps
for such they needed
(probably each stair about one fourth of a cubit
)
to carry them
up to the first and second settles.
Verse 19
[19] And
thou shalt give to the priests the Levites that be of the seed of Zadok
which
approach unto me
to minister unto me
saith the Lord GOD
a young bullock for
a sin offering.
Give —
Direct
or command that it be given.
Verse 20
[20] And
thou shalt take of the blood thereof
and put it on the four horns of it
and on
the four corners of the settle
and upon the border round about: thus shalt
thou cleanse and purge it.
Shalt take —
Appoint it to be taken.
Verse 21
[21] Thou
shalt take the bullock also of the sin offering
and he shall burn it in the
appointed place of the house
without the sanctuary.
He — The priest.
In the appointed place — That is
in the court of the house
and on the altar appointed; this is
the first day's sacrifice.
Verse 22
[22] And
on the second day thou shalt offer a kid of the goats without blemish for a sin
offering; and they shall cleanse the altar
as they did cleanse it with the
bullock.
They —
The priests in attendance.
Verse 23
[23] When
thou hast made an end of cleansing it
thou shalt offer a young bullock without
blemish
and a ram out of the flock without blemish.
Shalt offer — On
the third day
and so on
through seven days.
Verse 24
[24] And
thou shalt offer them before the LORD
and the priests shall cast salt upon
them
and they shall offer them up for a burnt offering unto the LORD.
Shalt offer —
Direct them to offer.
Salt — It
may allude to the perpetuity of the covenant thus made by sacrifice.
Verse 26
[26]
Seven days shall they purge the altar and purify it; and they shall consecrate
themselves.
They —
The priests in course.
Verse 27
[27] And
when these days are expired
it shall be
that upon the eighth day
and so
forward
the priests shall make your burnt offerings upon the altar
and your
peace offerings; and I will accept you
saith the Lord GOD.
I will accept you —
Those that give themselves to God
shall be accepted of God
their persons
first
and then their performances
through the mediator.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Ezekiel》
43 Chapter 43
Verses 1-27
Let them measure the pattern.
Measuring the pattern
A correct exhibition of God’s spiritual building was to be the
means of awakening the Israelites to a sense of their own deficiencies. The
prophet was to hold up the pattern showed in the mount
the temple as it
existed in the excellence of its majesty
in order that measuring the present
by the past
the national mind might be enlightened as to its true condition.
I. The principle
here laid down
in its application to us as members of a national Church. Now
there are two errors to which the human mind is prone in estimating moral
progress
the one is that of overrating the present
the other that of clothing
the past in unreal excellence. It is hard to say which of these forms of error
is most injurious to healthy exertion. The man who casts unmixed scorn upon the
attainments and practices of his forefathers; who will see nothing admirable in
their habits of thought and feeling
is almost certain to end in being
intolerant in his judgment
shallow and narrow minded in his counsels. And
again
the man who is always taking the lowest view of the present
is almost
equally sure to grow apathetic and idle. Now let us apply these thoughts to the
state of our own part of Christ’s Catholic Church. Who has not himself come in
contact with both the illusions of which we have spoken--the illusion of
overrating and underrating the present? What is that will worship with which we
have to struggle in reference to points of faith
but the offspring of the
feeling that this generation is so wise and enlightened that it may safely cut
asunder all the moorings which bind it to the past
and launch forth upon the
dim waters of the future
with its own shrewdness and intellect as its sole
pilot and guide? And contrariwise; we have in ourselves and in those who are
actually sensible of the evils of the present
to guard against the imagination
that the Church is now in a state of hopeless decay; that it is vain to bestir
ourselves for a falling fabric; that the most which we can do is to assist in
saving individual souls; but that the national disease is beyond the reach of
the national Christianity. This latter error is
after all
perhaps the most
injurious
because it is that to which the purest and most faithful souls are
liable; and is
therefore
if allowed to have place
the greatest obstacle to
improvement. And now what is the remedy for this two-fold temptation which we
have described? Indeed the remedy is set forth in the text. That which has
grown so important a duty for all
clergy and laity
is the duty of calmly
soberly
dispassionately reviewing our position
our advantages and
disadvantages
our weaknesses and our strength. What the Church of Christ is
in its original ideal
as designed in the counsels of the Eternal mind; what
the Church has been
at every stage of its long sojourn upon earth--the Church
of revelation and the Church of history; how much it has ever been corrupted
with worldly influences; how far it must concede to
at what point it must
resist
the spirit of the age; to what degree it has been really successful in
coercing human lusts; these are points most essential for us to form a definite
conception of
if we would go forth to our labour with a good heart. Every
century has its set task
every lifetime its own office in the majestic march
of God’s designs. What if it be the very work of our generation
to certify
them that come after; by our failures and discomfitures to acquire and deliver
down a clearer knowledge of our standing before God than we received
and so to
prepare the way for a revival of faith and obedience which others shall
perfect. What if to us
especially in the very difficulties which beset us
in
the very perplexities which we encounter
it be given to sweep clear the scene
for nobler achievements
so that we may hear our peculiar vocation sketched out
in the solemn charge: “Thou son of man
shew the house
” etc.
II. A striking
declaration of our proper duties as priests of God. The charge is a charge to
exhibit to the people the sacred edifice
to place before them the Church; and
it is implied that the sight of the mystic structure will itself go far to make
them ashamed of their own backslidings. Now we learn hence that it is one of
our functions
each in his own parish
to exhibit the Church in all the
integrity of its provisions for overcoming the world
with the belief that this
showing it to the people will have a vast moral effect upon them. The carrying
out of the Church system does not depend for its results upon the number of
those who use the privileges offered; the simple exhibition of the Church in a
parish is calculated to produce immense moral effect. The Church is a Divine
instrument for regenerating the people. And the Church is known to the masses
not by definitions of theology
but by its perpetual worship
services
and
sacraments
its fast days and festivals
its Lent and its Easter. And there is
we contend
in this Divine instrument fairly exhibited
a power over men’s
hearts which we are apt to forget. It was the loveliness of the Church catholic
which bowed the hearts of the nations in her infancy. Amidst jarring
idolatries
the Christian Church stood forth the fairest among ten thousand. It
was not more by active preaching
than by the passive exhibition
so to speak
of Christianity as practised by themselves
that the old saints attracted to
the Cross the barbarian tribes of ancient Europe. The melody of perpetual
prayer and praise rung out through the aisles of primeval forests by night and
day
in sweet accord with ascetic lives and heroic exertions
and the
institution of practices which preternaturally harmonised with human need; and
rough spirits yielded to the constraining Deity. And now
we are persuaded that
there is no form of religion which so commends itself to men’s hearts
which so
enlists the affections
as the Church when thoroughly exhibited. Only in the
Church will you find all things at once; the unwearied Litany
the high-wrought
exhortation
the didactic catechising
the frequent commemoration of Christ’s
death. “Shew the house to the house of Israel.” O! it is a noble burden here
laid upon us. To be
each in his own parish
like Solomon the king. In
quietness and stillness
in peace and gentleness
no sound of axe or hammer
being heard
to make to rise up before our people
in all its unearthly beauty
the house of the Lord; to lead hungry souls through the mystic arcade of the
seven pillars
and show them the feast of good things which wisdom has
prepared; to point out the victories of faith which overcomes the world; the
might of prayer which vanquishes God; the omnipotence of love which endureth
all things; to cause that upon every cottage home shall rest the shadow of a
holier building;--this is our office as doorkeepers of the house of the Lord.
Suffer yet one word more. We may not forget that
in measuring the pattern of
the Church
men will measure ourselves; how far
as individuals
we fall short
of the mark. The people cannot see the house without seeing us who have the
charge of it. Let us try
then
to inflame our own souls with the love of the
house which we have to show. Whatever we have done
surely we may do more. (Bishop
Woodford.)
If they be ashamed of all that they have done.
True penitence
I. The character of
true penitents. “If they be ashamed of all that they have done.” Every
principle of corrupted nature lies in direct opposition to penitential shame.
Ignorance
pride
deceit
hostility against God
and self-righteousness
combine their influence in hardening the heart against the humiliation of
sincere repentance.
1. The shame here spoken of is the effect of a mighty
Divine
influence
which entirely changes the views and dispositions of the soul.
2. The radical effect of God’s renewing grace
in this respect
consists in an abiding
gracious disposition of the heart towards penitential
exercises. It discovers itself in a peculiar anguish under that darkness and
hardness
--a high esteem of repentance for its own intrinsic beauty
--an
ingenuity
diligence
and earnestness
in laying open the conscience to Divine
light
and in imploring those breathings of the Almighty Spirit
which are
effectual to thaw and dissolve the frozen heart.
3. This gracious disposition obtains its aim
and comes forth to its
desired exercises
through supernatural discoveries of Divine truth
attended
with a heart-melting and heart-turning power.
4. We are led by the text to fix our attention on one particular
ingredient of these penitential sensations
namely
shame. This shame is a
generous recoiling of the soul from itself
as having once embraced and
perpetrated what it now perceives to be unspeakably vile in the sight of God
and His holy creatures. It implies in it a sense of the detestable deformity of
sin
in its own nature; a recollection of our former love and practice of it; a
consideration of our remaining depravity
and want of the perfect beauty of our
nature.
5. The text teaches us particularly to take notice of the universal
extent of this gracious shame: “If they be ashamed of all
” etc. Impenitent
sinners are disposed to palliate and defend the vilest enormities of their
conduct. But whatever may be said of occasional slips
they suppose the general
tenor of their lives to be at least harmless. It is far otherwise
when the
Spirit effectually breaks in upon the conscience. The true penitent is ashamed
more or less
of his whole life
of all that he hath formerly been
thought
and done. He sees himself to have been opposite to the law of God
in every
motion of his heart
in every article of his conduct.
6. This deep-felt shame renders the heart more and more soft
tender
submissive to the authority of God
and ready to receive the impression of
every part of His revealed will.
II. What is
comprehended in the instruction here described
by such an accumulation of
expressions. “Shew them the form of the house
” etc.
1. This gracious instruction includes peculiar discoveries of the
ultimate end
designed by the Author of these ordinances
and to be pursued
after in the observance of them. This is the end
for which such a frame of
ordinances is divinely created
and for which men are collected into a society
for the observance of them; that therein Jehovah may display His own glory
communicate His love
and exalt men to a heavenly communion with Himself and
with each other. The glory
importance
and certainty of this sublime end are
to true penitents
manifested in a peculiar manner. Hence they are strongly
attached to Divine ordinances
and to the instituted order of God’s house. And
hence their attachment to these things differs widely from the random
rhapsodies of enthusiasm
superstition
or bigotry.
2. This instruction relates to the authorised methods of acquiring
cherishing
and increasing that holy inward frame of spirit which is necessary
in the worshippers of God. This is a capital part of what is here spiritually
signified by the goings out
and comings in
and laws of the house. The
instructions and counsels of the inspired prophets and apostles
and of Jesus
Christ
whose name is called Wonderful
Counsellor
will
through the grace of
the Spirit
be effectual for these purposes.
3. The instruction described in the text hath a direct reference to
the institutions of God
respecting the external ordinances
order
and
government of His Church. (John Love
D. D.)
This is the law of the house.
The law of the house
A Church to be rightly constituted must be scriptural. It must be
formed and fashioned after the pattern of the true temple--founded not on the
authority of man--not on the traditions of the elders--not on the opinions of
the fathers--not on the decrees of princes or of popes--not on the acts and
statutes of the realm
but on prophets and apostles
Jesus Christ Himself being
the chief cornerstone. It follows from the very nature
institute
and objects
of a Christian Church. Its nature--that is spiritual. Its institute--that is
Divine. Its ends--glory to God in the advancement of the immortal interests of
man. It must be the Bible--the Bible only--the Bible wholly
which must form
the basis of our Church and of our creed. Laying our hand upon this volume
and
recognising in it a revelation of the mind of God
we must say
“This is the
law of the house. Behold
this is the law of the house.” That point proved
we
press the obvious inference
that in Scripture we must find the warrant
and
from Scripture we must plead the rule. The rites and institutes of men
however
wise
expedient
or politic
will not suffice. In vain shall we teach for
doctrines the commandments of men--in vain appeal to the traditions of the
elders
if we cannot appeal to the “law and to the prophets.” In vain shall we
assert the authority of the fathers
if we cannot allege the “oracles of God.”
I. The outer order
of the sanctuary. The solemnity
reverence
decorum
requisite in everything
connected with the service of the temple. Our comings to
attendance on
and
goings from the house of God--even these may not be overlooked. Among the
lesser sanctities
if I may use the term
they have their place and their
importance
assisting
as they do
to solemnise the mind
and give to our
assemblies the air and the behaviour of “meetings of the saints.” The Church on
earth should be as though it were the miniature of that which is in heaven; and
men
on coming in and looking round
struck with the sacred aspect of the
scene
should be constrained to say
“Surely God is in this place. This is none
other than the house of God. It is the gate of heaven.”
II. The ordinances
of the house. By these
you will understand the appointments of the Lord the
King
relative to the rites and ceremonies of our religious worship. They are
of two kinds
viewed in reference to the common or the Christian world. Common
they are in reference to the first; sealing they are in reference to the
second. Under the former
we enumerate praise
prayer
the reading of the Word
the preaching of the Word; under the latter
we enumerate the sacraments of
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Looking to the record
it is enacted and
ordained
that “the people praise Him--that all the people praise Him--kings of
the earth
and all people--princes of the earth
and all judges--young men and maidens
old men and children--that they praise the Lord.” And
finding it thus written
in the law
we must enter His gates with “praise
” His temple with
thanksgiving
and mingle all grateful and all earthly honours with the nobler
strains which swell the sanctuary above. Again
looking to the record
we find
it written
“Ask
and ye shall receive
seek
and ye shall find.” “I will that
men pray everywhere.” “O Thou that hearest prayer
unto Thee shall all flesh
come” And acting on the letter of the law
we must around the altar of the
sanctuary bow the knee of our hearts unto the God and Father of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ
and
from this our house of prayer
send up in concert
with the saints
each Sabbath day
the voice of supplication in sweet memorial
before the throne of God. And thus
on reading in the law
I find it written to
the same effect of all the other ordinances. Of one and all of them
it may be
said that they are enacted and ordained
and ought in consequence to be
acknowledged
honoured
and obeyed.
III. The laws of
Christ’s house. These are His statutes and decrees in reference to the rule and
government thereof. They may be considered either in regard to Christ
His
royalties and rights as King
or to ourselves
our powers and privilege as
freemen of the Lord. And first of all
it is enacted and ordained
that Christ
shall be the King and Head of His own house. I look into the law and find it
written
“The government shall be upon His shoulders.” It is His
and His
alone
to order
institute
ordain--to give the law
in short
respecting
everything connected with the doctrine
discipline
worship
government of His
own Church. Again
it is enacted and ordained in reference to ourselves
that
every man is answerable to Christ for his religious belief. I look into the
record
and I find it ruled
“Call no one master upon earth. One is your
Master
even Christ.” I look again
and find it written
“Prove all things.
Hold fast that which is good.” “Let every man be fully persuaded in his own
mind.” I look again
“So
then
everyone shall give account of himself to God.”
On the force of these authorities
I am clear to say
this is a law of the
house
that every man think for himself
judge for himself
decide for himself
in matters of religious belief. Let there be perfect liberty
fullest freedom
influence
or interference--none beyond the influence of reason
righteousness
and truth. (H. M. Brown.)
Most holy.--
Holiness
Separation is the root idea of holiness in the Old Testament
and Ezekiel
insists that the separation between the holy and the profane shall be more
sharp and emphatic. All the profane things are to be put farther away. Indeed
the object of the whole system of ritual that is brought forward in the
concluding chapters of this book--the aim was to put all profane things outside
the sphere of Jehovah’s worship. As you know
this was ceremonial
ritualistic.
But the deep significance of the arrangement cannot escape you--you know that
all this has been fulfilled in its largest signification in Christ and in His
Gospel. Christ has come
the Lord of righteousness
to bring many sons unto
glory
and He will never rest until He has brought multitudes to the splendid
perfection of His own spirit and example.
1. In the first place
Christianity insists upon holiness of
character--most holy--the man is to be that. Christianity commences with the
spirit of the man
the will
the mind
the conscience
the disposition
with
the very essence of the personality. Jesus Christ begins with “Marvel not that
I said unto you
Ye must be born again.” The first conception of holiness in
character is that a man gets a clean heart
and that there is renewed within
him a right spirit. Christ said
being clean within
profoundly spiritual
and
righteous in mind
you go outside and work that out in all the complex
relationships and multiplied responsibilities of practical and daily life. That
is another splendid phase of Christian ethics. It gives us executive force and
skill to carry out splendid ideas and noble patterns. I was reading the other
day of a critic who had just returned from the Continent criticising one of the
Spanish cathedrals. He said it was the embodiment of splendid ideas
but the
ideas were everywhere poorly carried out. There was blundering in the fine
lines
and the rich ornamentation was tawdry and vulgar. When I read that
it
struck me that the race had failed in morals in a similar fashion. The ancients
had splendid conceptions and ideas. When Jesus Christ came into the world there
was the majestic morality of Sinai. When He came into the world there was the
exact and masterly jurisprudence of the Roman
but everywhere great ideas were
carried out poorly
fine lines were blunderingly touched
and noble maxims were
reduced to triviality and vulgarity in practical life. What did Jesus Christ
do? He gave the race eternal and invincible energy
by which
in practice
they
could bring to pass the purest and loftiest ideals. “What the law could not
do”--the law of the Jew
the law of the Roman--“what the law could not do
in
that it was weak through the flesh
God
sending His own Son in the likeness of
sinful flesh
and for sin
condemned sin in the flesh
that the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh
but after the
Spirit.” And so we in Christ are first cleansed
exalted
made to catch the
loveliness of our Lord
and then He sends us forth with a strange
indwelling
Spirit
by which we accomplish the virtues that we see lamentably impossible to
the natural man. And
mind
you are all to be holy
most holy. The conception
of Ezekiel is that this is not for a few
but for all. “This is the law of the
house
that the whole limit thereof shall be most holy.”
2. And then we come to the other point
“the extended range
the
whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy.” There had been
as Ezekiel
says
only a wall in Solomon’s temple between God and profane things
but in
the new temple there was to be a larger area. Profane things were to be pushed
farther back and farther back still
until they went over the brink of the
world. From every quarter of the universe they should be driven. There is no
fulfilment of this conception except for the whole planet
everyone in it
and
of every law and every nature. “The whole limit thereof round about shall be
most holy.” What does the religion of Jesus Christ say? Make everything in
God’s great world to be true
just
beautiful--commerce
art
science
government
fashion
amusements
gold
friendships. Let the natural world
stand
lout bring into it great ideas
and take care that you make these ideas
prevail
until science
commerce
literature
and entertainments
wealth
and
government
all become as fine gold
like unto transparent glass. Don’t narrow us.
Let the horizon of sanctity be as wide as the horizon of nature. Let ethics
grow
and civilisation grow. That is the great conception of this work. You
know that a good many men object to morality; they say it is so dull
that
there is no growth in morality. If you get natural science
there is growth and
development; but if you come to the Ten Commandments
the only thing is going
on repeating them from one generation to another; you never get any further.
You might just as well object to the multiplication table. I tell you in some
ways there is no advance in morality; it is quite correct. It is not by an
enlarged decalogue that there is to be an expansion of ethics. I tell you
another thing. There is going to be no discovery of any new principle of ethics.
Addington Symonds says the future of the world depends on the method of morals.
He goes on to say
this world would be put on centuries if we could discover in
the field of morals some new principle like the law of gravitation discovered
by Newton
and so
if there should be any ethical Newton
to discover a new
principle
it would put the world on by generations. Brethren
the life of God
in Jesus Christ is the constraining law in morals
as the law of gravitation is
the master law in the field of nature
and there is nothing more in our opinion
to be discovered. So in the principle “the love of Christ constraineth us
” and
after that there is no new law to be discovered in the range of ethics. Where
is the improvement to take place in the limit round about us? Where is it? In
making the extraordinary sanctity of the few the sanctity of the mass
in
bringing noble ideals to bear on the lowliest things
in making personal
morality to be public morality. The time is coming when a man will put his soul
into a convict’s sackcloth because he cherished a sullied imagination. The time
is coming when there will be no more wife beating
when a man will put himself
upon the treadmill for a month for having given her an ugly look. The time is
coming when a capitalist
a lady
would rather put on the cast-off garments of
a leper than put on a purple that was stained by a workman’s tear or blood. The
time is coming when a man would rather pick his master’s pocket than waste his
time. There shall be such a spirit of magnanimity and charity
that a man will
stand in the church porch and do penance for having in a moment of meanness
given a three penny bit at the collection. “Oh
” you may say
“that is a touch
of the grotesque.” I give you that
that you may remember it. Just as during
the last fifty years the best thing of all is that the conscience of the race
has grown
in the next fifty years the conscience of the race will continue to
grow
and there shall be a code of morals
character
and etiquette more superb
and delicate than any that we know today. Now
I say that is exactly the
direction in which you have to work. Take your Christian conscience and perfect
it by fellowship with the Great Ideal
and when you have done that take it into
the world with you. Don’t let any of the bad things continue. They must all go;
all the bad things
however cunningly disguised
you must detest them. Precious
in many ways as they seem to be to society
you must damn them. There must be
no pleading for anything that is base and vile. It must go though appreciated
by every age. Drop it into Gehenna. Mean that all common things shall be lifted
up
that common things shall be transfigured. In visiting an art gallery the
other day
I noticed that some of the greatest pictures had not a splendid
thing in them. The ordinary artist
when he wants to be effective
paints a
breadth of golden harvest
or he gets a kingfisher in
or he imagines some
iridescent bird or other
some bird of paradise
or he paints a tree in
blossom
or the captivating rainbow. But if you notice
some of the greatest
painters that ever lived never touched these things. I noticed one of the
pictures there. It was a railway object into it but the black earth
the
cutting
a ploughed field. They got no brown earth
the red earth
but they
touched it with that supreme touch that you can see the blossom in the dust
and the rainbow shine out of the cloud
and the picture without a brilliant
thing in it was altogether bathed in imagination
poetry
and beauty you want
to give everything in your life the transfiguring touch of righteousness. Then
you don’t want a few great things to make it admirable and spectacular. (W.
L. Watkinson.)
Holiness
the law of God’s house
I. Let us expound
the law of the house. Note the text carefully. It begins and ends with the same
words: “This is the law of the house: upon the top of the mountain the whole
limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold
this is the law of the
house.” These words make a frame for the statute; or a sort of hand on each
side pointing to it. And what is this law of the house? Why
that everything
about it is holy. All things in the church must be pure
clean
right
gracious
commendable
God-like. Observe that this law of the house is not only
intense
reaching to the superlative degree of holiness
but it is most
sweeping and encompassing: for we read
“Upon the top of the mountain the whole
limit thereof round about shall be most holy.” Holiness should be far-reaching
and cover the whole ground of a Christian’s life. He should be sanctified
“spirit
soul
and body
” and in all things he should bear evidence of having
been set apart unto the Lord. We notice
once again
that this holiness was to
be conspicuous. The church is not as a house sequestered in a valley
or hidden
away in a wood
but it is as the temple
which was set upon the top of a
mountain
where it could be seen from afar. The whole of that mountain was
holy. We should be a peculiar people
distinguished by this as a race dwelling
alone
that cannot be numbered among the nations. We might instructively divide
holiness into four things
and the first would be its negative side
separation
from the world. There may be morality
but there can be no holiness in a
worldling. Holiness next consists very largely in consecration. The holy things
of the sanctuary were holy because they were dedicated to God. You tell me of
your generosity
your goodness
and your pious intentions--what of these? Are
you consecrated
for if you are not consecrated to God you know nothing of
holiness. But this does not complete the idea of holiness unless you add to it
conformity
to the will and character of God. If we are God’s servants we must
follow God’s commands: we must be ready to do as our Master bids us
because He
is the Lord
and must be obeyed. I must add
however
to make up the idea of
holiness
that there must be a close communion between the soul and God; for if
a man could be
which is not possible
conformed to the likeness of God
and
consecrated to God
yet ii he never had any communication with God
the idea of
holiness would not be complete.
II. Let us examine
ourselves by this law. Ask yourself questions
founded on what I have already
said. Do I so live as to be separated? Is there in my business a difference
between me and those with whom I trade? Are my thoughts different? Next
let
each one ask
Am I consecrated? Am I living to God with my body
with my soul
with my spirit? Am I using my substance
my talents
my time
my voice
my
thoughts for God’s glory? Next
ask the question
Am I living in conformity to
the mind of the holy God? Am I living as Christ would have lived in my place?
Then
again
do I live in communion with God? I cannot be holy and yet have a
wall of division between me and God.
III. What are the
bearings of this law of the house? Those bearings of the law to which I now
refer are these:--If the Church of God shall be most holy
it will have as the
result of it the greatest possible degree of the smile and favour of God. A
holy Church has God in the midst of her. Where there is holiness God comes
and
there is sure to be love
for love is of the very essence of holiness. The
fruit of the Spirit is love
both to God and man. That love begets union of
heart
brotherly kindness
sympathy
and affection
and these bring peace and
happiness. This
of course
leads to success in all the church’s efforts
and a
consequent increase. Her prayers are intense.
and they bring down a blessing
for they are holy and acceptable unto God by Jesus Christ: her labours are
abundant
and they secure an abundant harvest
for God will not forget her
labour of love.
IV. Let us take
order to secure obedience to the law of the house. I believe that Jesus is
always working in His own way for the purity of every true Church. His fan is
in His hand
”--see it moving continually
--“and He will thoroughly purge His
floor.” God’s melting fire is not in the world
where the dross contains no
gold
but “His fire is in Zion
and His furnace in Jerusalem.” “The Lord will
judge His people.” Church members are under peculiar discipline
as it is
written
“You only have I known of all the nations of the earth
therefore I
will punish you for your iniquities.” If churches are not holy they cannot be
prosperous
for God afflicts those who break the law of His house. Now
cannot
we give earnest heed that this law is regarded among us? Let us set to this
work at once. Here is the first exercise for us: let us repent of past failures
in holiness. We shall never overcome sin till we are conscious of it and
ashamed of it. Having owned our error
let us next make the law of God’s house
our earnest study
that we may avoid offences in the future. Let the inspired
page be your standard. Never mind what your minister tells you
observe what
the spirit of God tells you. When you have studied the law of the house
then
next be intensely real in your endeavour to observe it. Then let us cry for a
sincere and growing faith in God concerning this matter of holiness. And then
lastly
let us pray to be set on fire with an intense zeal for God. I do not
believe that there is such a thing as cold holiness in the world. Get rid of
zeal from the church
and you have removed one of the most purifying elements
for God intends to purge Jerusalem by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit
of burning. Oh
to be baptised into the Holy Ghost and into fire. (C.
H. Spurgeon.)
These are the measures of the altar after the cubits.
The altar measurable and immeasurable
There is nothing held to be insignificant in the Book of God that
pertains to the Divine altar or the holy house. Everything is of consequence;
perhaps it would be more than paradoxical to say that everything is of supreme
consequence. “These are the measures of the altar after the cubits.” That is to
say
if you look upon the thing geometrically
here it is
so long
so broad
so high
thus
and thus
and no other way. Such is the Divine specification;
the altar is measurable
it is a question of cubits; make the cubits right
and
you make the geometric altar right. Beyond that
the measuring man can do
nothing. But when you have given the cubits you have given nothing. The altar
as a mechanical structure
is measurable; as a spiritual symbol
it is without
measure. There are persons who imagine that if they have read the book called
the Bible through
they have read God’s revelation completely. It is the same
sophism. There are men who think if they have told you how far it is from Dan
to Beersheba they have been preaching. They have not begun to preach in the
name and spirit of Christ. All this is mere secular instruction. There are what
are called ecclesiastical antiquarians. They occupy a respectable position in
society. They are often pensive-looking men; they are men of most studious
habits. If you wanted to know the meaning of any ecclesiastical term
they
would find it for you; they can go back century after century
and tell you the
measure of every part
and the colour of every robe
and the significance of
every line; and they can press matters down to the centuries of corruption
when all these original meanings were lost or perverted; then they can proceed
to the centuries of restoration
and tell you all concerning the reconstruction
of matters that had been overthrown
perverted
or neglected. All this they can
do without ever praying. A man may build a cathedral and never pray. Remember
in dealing with the altar we are not dealing with a merely geometrical figure.
The altar has its finite side
yet it has also its infinite aspect. What does
the altar do? The altar looks towards the Unknown. If we might personify the
altar
we should think of it as having eyes that wander through eternity. The
altar would be saying in its silence
There is another home; this is but a
stepping stone to something higher
this is but the dawn of the coming day
this is but the seed time--the golden harvest is not yet: I look beyond all
these white sapphires that make the midnight rich with their jewellery
and I
see beyond
and still beyond
God’s measured sanctuary. It ought to be a grand
thing to have amongst us an altar that talks thus. We want some sublimating
influences. The tabernacle of God is with men upon the earth. Our houses are
sanctified by the presence of the holy place. The walls of the sanctuary give
security to the city; not its banks and festive chambers
but its sanctuaries
are the glory of the town. We do not know what the sanctuary is doing in any
city. It may be the humblest place viewed architecturally and geometrically
but seen in its spiritual significance and relationship it may be the poor
little despised church or conventicle that is keeping the city out of hell. Do
not
therefore
despise anything that has spiritual significance in it. We
cannot tell how far its influence reaches. Little noise it makes; the kingdom
of heaven cometh not with observation: when the morning dawns there is no crash
of wheels upon the hills; the dawn is glorified silence. What is true of the
public sanctuary is true of the home sanctuary: it is your family altar which
keeps your house together. It may not be a formal altar
but the spirit of
prayer that is in your house makes your bread sweet
and keeps all the windows
towards the south
though geometrically they may stand square north. It is the
Spirit of God
the altar
the Divine genius that makes the house warm in
January and glorious in June. See what other words occur in connection with the
term altar. You never find that word alone. Some men could not read this
description of the altar. They are too sensitive; there are men so
super-refined that they could not read this description of God’s altar. Thou
shalt “sprinkle blood thereon
” etc. Beware of that insensate sensitiveness
which cannot pronounce the word “blood” in its religious and spiritual
signification. Do not imagine yourselves refined and sensitive because you can
talk about the example of Christ but not about the blood of Christ. You can debase
any word; you can pronounce the word “music” so as to take all melody and all
harmony and rhythm out of it; you can pronounce the word “gospel” so that it
shall be but a common word of two syllables; you can shrink from anything: but
you can so pronounce music and blood and Cross and Christ as to give those who
hear you to feel that you have caught some inner and upper meaning which had
hitherto escaped your own attention. Then how do we stand in this matter? You
are Bible readers
are you students of revelation? You can quote all the
dimensions of the altar
have you ever entered into its spirit? We are called
to spirituality
not to carnality; to profoundest wisdom
not mere literal
information; to an altar not made with hands
and not merely and exclusively to
the altar built even upon the terms of a Divine specification. Holy Spirit
baptise us as with fire! Spirit of the altar
teach us how to suffer
how to
pray! (J. Parker
D. D.)
Proportions of altar unintelligible
“And these are the measures of the altar.” That was the point at
which I became excited. Whilst he was measuring gates and posts and porches I
cared little
but when he began to measure the altar
who could but pause? And
then came this disappointment
“after the cubits.” I thought he was going to
measure the altar. And what is a cubit? said
I. And he mocked
me with this reply: “A cubit is a cubit
and a hand breadth.” Ah! that
undefined hand breadth; that plus quantity that is in everything. “And from the
bottom upon the ground even to the lower settle shall be two cubits
and the
breadth one cubit
and from the lesser settle even to the greater settle shall
be four cubits and the breadth one cubit. So the altar shall be four cubits;
and from the altar and upward shall be four horns. And the altar shall be
twelve cubits long
twelve broad
square in the four squares thereof.” Do you
understand that? No man ever understood the altar. Remember that and be calm.
The altar is not to be understood. There are some places at which we can only pray
and wonder
and weep
and wait. It is the man with the foot rule in the church
that I dread! He tells me
forsooth
how long I preached. Can any man preach
with that person in the audience? The use of the measureable is to point to the
immeasurable. The measureable is algebraic
symbolic
indicative. The foot rule
means the sky
the sky
God. At first we are greatly taken by bulk
by
magnitude
and we talk of the great mountains and the great seas. It fits our
age well
we shall outgrow it. Great mountains! Why
a child
give him time
can climb to the top of any one of them
and wave a banner there. No height at
least can keep a child back; there may be ruggedness of way
but of that we are
not speaking
but of mere height
mere greatness. How great you used to think
those houses down in your village--you did! I did! We passed the great house
ivy-covered
with a kind of suppressed but not wholly unconscious awe. Then you
came to Birmingham
Manchester
Liverpool
London
and went back
and you said
“Where is that great house?” Ay
where? “That is it!” “No.” “It is!” “No
no!”
“Certainly that is the house!” “I thought
it was so large and had so many
windows in it
and that it reared itself among all the other houses
very
important and almost majestic.” That is it--come down. Why? Because of the
greater sights you have seen
the greater houses that have passed before your
vision. And thus all life goes down in that sense and yet up in another. The
man who has communed with God fears no opponent. Goliath looked so huge when I
saw him from the human standpoint
but after five minutes with God I sought him
and he could not be found. So you tabernacle with God
live and move and have
your being in God
walk in the heavenlies
then when you come down to earth
with
its battle and stress and cross and pain and need
you will understand what the
Apostle meant when he said
“If you look at affliction from one point it seems
intolerable
often beyond words and imagination
but if you look at it from
another point you will say
‘Our light affliction is but for a moment.’” How
so? Why
we look not at the things that are seen; not at the cubits
but at the
altar; not at time
but at eternity; not at the present
but at the future. It
is heaven that must one day explain the earth. (J. Parker
D. D.)
The cross is beyond measurement
We see the cross no more after its cubit measures. The cross was
measurable
the Roman foot rule was laid upon it--so much vertical
so much
horizontal
so much in weight--was that the cross? No! That was the Roman
gallows
that was not the cross. Oh! why do we not preach the cross
the
eternal cross
whose shadow lies even over the light of summer? Men need the
cross so interpreted. But have we not made a gallows of the cross
the model of
the Atonement? Who can measure the word “atone”? There are those who are the
victims of definition idolatry. They want to know what you mean by this term
and that. There are indefinable terms
there are terms that have no equivalent
in other symbols. “Atonement” may be one of those terms. I have seen it once. A
man may only see the cross in its truest sense once
but that once spreads
itself through all the days. A man may only take
mayhap
the ordinance of the
Lord’s Supper once. Have you taken it so? For convenience
for expedience
for
merely ecclesiastical purposes
end for occasional spiritual helps
it may be
necessary to have it every Lord’s day
or every month
or every year
at
certain periodic intervals. No doubt
but the soul cannot drink that Blood more
than once! Do you suppose that the cross can be measured in cubits? Where was
the atonement rendered? In eternity! Do you suppose that Christ was born in
Bethlehem in any other than a merely visible and temporal and earthly sense? He
was never born in Bethlehem! When did He die? He is the Lamb slain from before
the foundation of the world. Before the sin was done the atonement was made!
You cannot anticipate God. You cannot surprise the Eternal. He does not
conceive of the cross as an after device; He does not attempt to make a Roman
model into a living atonement. (J. Parker
D. D.)
The greatest things measurable
Let us look at this law of altar cubits a little while
for it
admits of divers and useful illustrations. Take the alphabet
your English
alphabet. There are some six-and-twenty letters in it. That is the measure of
the alphabet after the cubits. Now pronounce the alphabet. You cannot! You have
got all the letters in one huge mouthful
and cannot pronounce them. And most
of the letters are themselves dumb
waiting for the vowels to touch them to
music and into life. But suppose a man should say that was the English
language--there you have the English literature
there you have the Paradise
Lost and the Principia and Hamlet and all the poetry that has
ever been written
and all the philosophy that has ever been reamed or
published
you have it all in so far as the whole is expressed in the English
language. In a sense
yes; in another sense
no. And yet without the alphabet
where should we be? Who could move? Who could express themselves in the English
tongue? Are you content with the alphabet? Yes; when it comes to the higher
things you are. You smile at the notion of being contented with the alphabet
when I refer to letters
to literature
to poetry
and to philosophy
but how
many are there who have been in the Church forty years and are in the cradle
still--in the alphabet still--and who
when they go to church
want to hear the
alphabet pronounced. I wait! But unless you say A
B
and right down to Y
Z
there are some measurers
not sent from heaven
who say you have not preached
the Gospel. The Gospel is a sky
a wind
a pathos
a spirit
as well as an
alphabet. It has its writings
it can hand them to you
but ask for its
inspiration
it breathes through all the centuries and makes a man live
according to its kind. (J. Parker
D. D.)
The measurement of the altar
Manton says: “The satisfaction must carry proportion with the
merit of the offence. A debt of a thousand pounds is not discharged by two or
three brass farthings. Creatures are finite
their acts of obedience are
already due to God
and their sufferings for one another
if they had been
allowed
would have been of limited influence.” Jesus alone
as the Son of God
could present a substitution sufficient to meet the case of men condemned for
their iniquities. The majesty of His nature
His freedom from personal
obligation to the law
and the intensity of His griefs
all give to His
atonement a virtue which elsewhere can never be discovered. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Measuring by orbits
God is a great measurer. God has a reed
a line
a pole. God makes
His cities four-square
and He will not see the law of the square violated. It
is His method! God is a great geometer. All your little Euclids are cut out of
the Deity! It is said that He stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain
and that
He spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in. It is reported of Him that He
meteth out the heavens with a span. He weighs the mountains in scales
and the
hills in a balance. And no man can steal one atom of dust
and no little pebble
can flee away! It is all measured! The bounds of our habitation are fixed!
There are bounds that cannot be measured. What is your house? Tell me about it;
I like to hear about houses. Well? “It is large.” How large? “Three rooms on
the ground floor.” There may be certain minds who have no peace with less than
four rooms on the ground floor. One is enough for me--but I am not everybody.
Well
then
upstairs? “Rooms so many.” Lofty? “Very.” What are your
proportions? “Thirty feet by twenty-five feet.” And the garden? “Two hundred
feet by one hundred and thirty-two feet.” Is that all? I do not want to hear
these things! I do not want an auctioneer to speak to me in my higher moods! He
has his place
but there are levels to which I go where he in his professional
capacity is nobody
and where he cannot speak in my native language. You can
lay a line upon the house. Now lay me a line upon the home! No man can do that!
But is not the house the same as the home? Ah
there you ask a question which
is infinitely ridiculous
so destitute of sentiment
of poetry
of high
spiritual sensitiveness and ideality! The house is one thing. The home is
another! You may have a house and not a home! You may be in the Church
but not
in the Sanctuary! You may have a book
and not a revelation! Why do we not
distinguish between things that differ
and get the right values and
proportions of them? Coleridge says: “I for one am not content to call the soil
under my feet my country.” Certainly not! The country is not an affair of soil.
He says: “The religion
the language
the home life
these constitute all that
is best in your country.” That is what I am labouring to say. We want
soil--something to stand upon; but it is nothing until we have crowned it with
those happy associations to watch I have just referred. The life that has no
home in it
no interior sanctuary
no altar
no cross
no hope--we cannot call
it life. Call it the second death! What I want to show you
therefore
needs a
little repetition in order to deepen and settle the best impressions. You see
there is a measurable quantity
and you see there is an immeasurable quantity;
and the measurable is of no use to me except it signify and indicate the immeasurable.
The measurable is only a kind of ladder by which I climb to see the
immeasurable. This is the spirit in which we have to do our work. This is the
spirit
the influence
the spiritual immeasurable inwardness of what we are
doing! A certain kind of man--I wonder who made him?--once wrote in the
newspapers something about our missionaries
and he thought he had made them
quite ridiculous. Many men have thought that; but “The horse and his rider wilt
the Lord throw into the sea.” He said the income of the Society--perhaps it was
your Society or the London Missionary Society--I do not know which--the income
of the Society was so many thousands; the number of conversions reported
so
many hundreds; dividing the thousands by the hundreds we find that each conversion
cost the Society
say
a thousand pounds. What a man that would have been for
measuring altars! How very ingenious this application of a foot rule! He
thought he made us all look ridiculous because he showed us
by arithmetic and
statistical processes
that each conversion cost an almost fabulous amount.
That is the measure of the altar by cubits! Now
the measure of the soul! the
measure of the character! the measure of the influence! There is a foot rule.
Lay it on light
on gravitation. on the fragrance
on the influence
on the
effluence! The poor man has come to the end of his tether. If one conversion
cost the total income of your Society
it was worth it! That is the right way
of looking at it!
“Knowest
thou the importance of a soul immortal
Behold
the midnight glory
world on world
Amazing
pomp: redouble this amaze.
Ten
thousand add and twice ten thousand more.
One
soul outweighs them all
and calls
The
astonishing magnificence of unintelligent creation poor!”
Unless
we work in that spirit we shall give up all our efforts and confuse all our
enterprises. I have given up seeking after the results of my ministry. I have
asked God in many a high hour of converse to enable me to do my work as
lovingly
earnestly
and capably as I can
and I have asked Him to look after
the results
and He promised me He would do so. (J. Parker
D. D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》