Ezekiel 21:27 I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him. I. WAR. 1. War has its own work to accomplish. It is not a chance. It is of God (1 Chronicles 5:22). War, like pestilence or famine, is under His command, and warriors are the executioners of His will, though they know Him not. Jehovah hath a work to do, which war is the fittest instrument to accomplish. He saves by the Gospel; He "overturns" by the sword. 2. The foundation of all true religion lies in obedience to the first commandment of the law (Exodus 20:2, 3). But the heathen nations "have gods many, and lords many" (1 Corinthians 8:5). Idolatry has been more prevalent than the worship of the true God in all ages and nations, since the time of the patriarchs. And idolaters outnumber the worshippers of the living God in the present day. This wide defection from truth is not to be attributed to ignorance, but to depravity (Romans 1:21, 28). Ignorance is not the chief evil in our race, but sin, — "all have sinned" (Romans 3:23, — so that "every mouth must be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God" (Romans 3:19). 3. Now it is necessary that this matter be thoroughly understood, in order that we may vindicate the righteousness of God in permitting the nations of the earth to remain so long unsaved. while He has visited them so often with His sore judgments, of which the sword has not been the least. Heart depravity gave birth to idolatry, and idolatry ministers to that depravity. When "the light becomes darkness, how great is that darkness!" (Matthew 6:23). When God is rejected, the devil reigns. Crime is everywhere the religion of Paganism, and its universal fruits are envy, lust, rapine, misery, murder, death, hell. It is nothing that the Gospel of Jesus has; it hath everything the Gospel has not. It is directly antagonistic to Christ. And if the power of heathenism were not brought down by the sword, the whole of its institutions, laws, priesthood, and systems of government, combined with the sinfulness of the human heart, would present an impenetrable barrier to the admission of the truth. War must throw that barrier down. Christian churches are not to furnish the warriors; Christian missionaries are not to lead on a band of holy crusaders; but God will find the instruments, and by them He will do the work. "I will overturn, overturn, overturn." 4. Here let us pause, and survey the events of the present and preceding century in heathen lands, that "we may declare the work of God, and wisely consider of His doing" (Psalm 64:9). II. ITS ISSUE. 1. We know not what events may lie before us, nor how God may work by divers instrumentalities, both good and evil; but the ultimate result of the unsheathed sword, and of His overturning, He hath plainly declared. "I will overturn, overturn, overturn it; and it shall be no more, 'until He come whose right it is.'" 2. This design of God cannot be frustrated; His purposes shall assuredly stand. Every war has been hitherto made subservient to the kingdom of His Son. 3. But in what way, some might inquire, can the war in which we are now unhappily engaged conduce to the coming of His kingdom, whose right it is to reign? It may not be easy to answer that question. How God will work we know not, nor do we wish to know; it is sufficient that our faith at present should rest upon His Word. Still, however, without venturing beyond our line in the way of predictions, we may argue on probabilities that present themselves to a reflecting mind. 4. It only remains that we notice, with commendation, those peculiar features of this war which demand our grateful acknowledgments to Almighty God. The first is, the extreme reluctance with which we entered upon it. Every method diplomacy could prevent to avoid conflict was exhausted. It was not always thus with nations. It was not always thus with England. We hail the change, even while we hear a proclamation of war, as indicating the approach of that blessed period when war shall be no more. Secondly, the humane manner of conducting the war is worthy of the highest praise. (W. J. Shrewsbury.) Parallel Verses KJV: I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him. |
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