Ezekiel 34:26 And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season… By general consent this promise is referred to the time of the new covenant, to the coming of Christ for man's salvation, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Church. I. FERTILIZING SHOWERS OF BLESSING. As the rain waters the earth, and turns barrenness into fruitfulness, so the provision of Divine grace transforms this humanity from a wilderness of sin into a Paradise of God. 1. The need of such blessing is apparent from the spiritual barrenness which prevails where it is not bestowed. 2. The source of such blessing is implied in this language; for as the showers come from the clouds of the sky, so the Spirit descends from the presence, the heaven of God. 3. The time of such blessing is indicated as appointed by supreme wisdom; the shower comes "in its season," and the promise of the Father was given in the Father's good time. 4. The abundance of such blessing. God's spiritual favors come to his people, not in drops, but in showers, such as are fitted to refresh the parched and thirsty land. 5. The effects of such blessing are life and fertility. The wilderness and the solitary place are made glad, and the desert rejoices and blossoms as the rose. Spiritual growth and fruit are the blessed result of showers of Divine mercy. II. ABIDING SCENES OF BENEDICTION. By the "hill" of God must be understood the Church of God, which he ever visits, refreshes, and vivifies by the dews and showers of his pity and loving-kindness. The Church, because the object of Divine favor and the depository of Divine truth and power, becomes and remains the agent of untold benefits to the world around. It receives blessing from heaven; it communicates blessing to earth. The heaven above is never as brass intercepting and restraining blessing; it is as the clouds distilling and diffusing blessing. And the rills are never dry which convey the blessing of God from the Church to fertilize a thirsty and barren world. - T. Parallel Verses KJV: And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. |
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