Ezekiel 14:22, 23 Yet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth to you… Yet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth, etc. Our text, as Fairbairn points out, "is addressed to the people already in exile, who are regarded as viewing the destruction about to be executed on Jerusalem with astonishment and some degree of dissatisfaction. The prophet tells such there would certainly be a remnant - not, however, in the proper sense, as if they were themselves deserving persons, or spared for blessing for the sake of the pious among them - but a remnant still so wedded to sin, and so manifestly deserving of severe chastisement, that every one would recognize the justice of God's dealings toward them. 'Ye shall see,' to use the language of Calvin, 'the men to be so wicked, that ye shall be forced to confess the city was deserving of destruction, and the men themselves worthy of death. And instead of murmuring and fretting against God, ye shall be satisfied it could not have been otherwise ordered, their wickedness was of so desperate a nature; so that with soothed and tranquil minds, ye shall henceforth proclaim my righteousness, and cease any more to utter the complaints which now disturb your minds!'" Let us consider - I. THE CONCERN OF THE GOOD FOR THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN HIS JUDGMENTS. Ezekiel foresaw that his fellow exiles would be amazed at the sternness of the judgments of God upon Jerusalem. Those judgments would be of great severity. And amongst the exiles there were some pious persons who would be troubled with doubts as to whether the Lord had sufficient cause for what he had done there. They would be distressed with the suspicion that perhaps the visitation of God had been disproportionate in its severity - that the sins of the people had not merited such punishment. And they would be distressed with misgivings as to the righteousness of God in the matter. "So long as we do not understand that God on just grounds acts sternly, so long are our souls distressed and tormented." Somewhat thus Abraham felt respecting the doom pronounced on Sodom and Gomorrah. "That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked, that so the righteous should be as the wicked; that be far from thee: shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" We have here, as Robertson, in fragmentary but striking and suggestive notes, remarks, "a suspicion of the Divine justice: the most horrible with which the mind of man can be tempted. Dreadful to doubt one's own salvation, and feel suspended over the gulf! But a more terrible gulf when we doubt whether all is right here. 'Oh, to sue the misery of this bleeding world!' Consider for a moment the misconception of these words, 'Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?' They have been used to prove the sovereignty of God. God is Judge, therefore what he does is right. He has a right, and therefore it is right. But Abraham does not say that. So far from acquiescing in the predestinarian feeling - it is to be, and therefore it is right; God is a sovereign, and may do what he pleases - he is precisely doubting this, whether, though God be Judge, his deeds are right, taking the moral sense of Abraham as a text, and considering it horrible if God's acts do not agree with it. It is a perilous way of speaking, 'God has a right to decree what he will; my salvation, your damnation.' It is not so the Bible speaks. It appeals to the sense of justice, 'Are not my ways equal?' etc. God never says, 'I create a thing right, therefore I do it.' God's will does not make a thing right. It is God's character which determines his will. For else, if the devil had created this world, wrong would be right, because his will, and we should have the terrible doctrine - might makes right" ('Life and Letters,' Appendix 3.) This is as applicable to the doubts and fears of the exiles as to the righteousness of God in his judgments upon Jerusalem, as to the doubts of Abraham as to the doom of the cities of the plain. This concern of godly men for the righteousness of God's dealings implies: 1. An inward sense of righteousness. It is a testimony to the existence and exercise and majesty of the moral sense in man. It is an outcome of the working of conscience. 2. Deep solicitude for the honour of God. Any doubt of his holiness, or of the rectitude of his doings, causes sore pain to his people, and it does so because the glory of his character is unspeakably dear to them. II. THE CONVICTION OF THE GOOD OF THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN HIS JUDGMENTS. The Lord, by the prophet, assures the troubled exiles that they should know treat he had not done without cause all that he had done in Jerusalem. 1. This conviction would be wrought by the manifestation of the wickedness of the people. "Therein shall be left a remnant that shall be carried forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see their way and their doings," etc. The remnant that should be carried into captivity would make it clear, from their degradation and sin, that the judgments inflicted upon Jerusalem were deserved by the guilty inhabitants thereof. The exhibition of their wickedness would manifest the justice of God in their punishment. The pious exiles in Chaldea would perceive "that such corruption had deserved such destruction." "God's righteousness is clearly manifest in those that perish, as well as by means of those that escape." 2. This conviction would bring peace to the good. "Ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem," etc. "The comfort lies in the justification of the ways of God." Their painful doubts as to his righteousness would be destroyed. Their faith in him would be established. And faith brings peace and rest to the soul. 3. The production of this conviction was ordered by God. He did not chide or condemn them for their painful doubts; but promised them evidence for the invigoration and confirmation of their faith. And he so controlled events as to bring about this result. It appears from this that he is concerned (1) for the vindication of his own righteousness, and (2) for the peace of his people. Wherefore in his own time he will remove every cloud that veils the rectitude of his works and ways, and make it apparent to the whole intelligent universe that all his purposes and operations are just and true. CONCLUSION. 1. Let us cherish a strong assurance of the righteousness of God in all his designs and deeds. 2. If in anything his righteousness seems hidden from us, let us wait patiently for his own vindication thereof. - W.J. Parallel Verses KJV: Yet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see their way and their doings: and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it. |
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