So much of this book of prophecy is occupied with denunciation and with pictures of destruction and desolation, that a passage like this is grateful and welcome, as a relief and contrast to much of what has gore before. The-prophet was evidently inspired to look into the far future, and to see visions of happiness and of glory which exalted and delighted his spirit. He was taught that the God of infinite compassion has counsels of salvation for sinful men, and plans of felicity for the ransomed Church. Some of the elements of blessedness, assured by God's faithfulness and mercy to his people, are pictured in these beautiful and encouraging verses.

I. PROSPERITY, SECURED BY THE VISITATION OF GOD'S MERCY AND LOVING-KINDNESS. This is figuratively represented by the promise, "The tree of the field shall yield its fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase." The Church is a garden, a vineyard, a forest; when it flourishes, it puts forth signs of vigorous life, and it is fruitful abundantly. The vitality of the Church expresses itself in its praises, thankgivings, and prayers, in its unity and brotherly love, in its deeds of justice and purity, in its benevolent and self-denying efforts for the good of the world.

II. DELIVERANCE AND LIBERTY, SECURED BY THE INTERPOSITION OF GOD'S MIGHT. The Lord "broke the bars of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hands of those who made bondmen of them." "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." It is his office to set God's people free from thraldom to error and to sin, and to make them God's freedmen, to introduce them into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. The promise must have had a special significance and sweetness for those who, like Ezekiel and his companions, were captives and exiles in a foreign land, and subject to the authority of strangers. Its spiritual meaning is comprehended and appreciated by all Christ's ransomed ones who are set free, his banished ones for whose return he has devised effectual means.

III. SECURITY THROUGH GOD'S PROTECTION. In a less settled state of society than our own, the literal meaning of the promise must have been peculiarly welcome: "They shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beasts of the field devour them; but they shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid." The Church of Christ is secure as the fold of God's flock, the fortress of God's warriors, the home of God's children. The powers of earth and of hell are strong, but the power of Heaven is mightier, and this power is pledged for the guardianship and safety of the people of Christ. The power of Divine providence controls all outward events. The power of the Divine Spirit within checks every rising fear. "Fear not," says the Almighty Guardian and Helper, "fear not: I am with you!" - T.

But do not all men know that God is the Lord? They should know it, for He is clearly to be seen in the works of nature. But man by wisdom knows not God. But do not all know God in this land — this land where there is so much Gospel teaching? Alas! no. You know the report of God which you have heard with the hearing of the ear; but that is a small matter unless it leads to something higher. Those who know the Lord know that He is still the I am that I am, unchangeable in all respects; and we know that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, is the same God who revealed himself at Paran, and came with sound of thunder at Sinai. It appears from the text that there is a process by which God's own people are brought to know the Lord. This process takes place when He breaks the bands of their yoke. Then they know that the Lord is God. It is clear, therefore, that He must, first of all permit His own chosen, for a wise purpose, to come into bondage. I do not commend the bondage; it is a thing to be deplored; but, as once cried out, "Beata culpa!" "Happy fault!" when he saw how sin had made space for the wonderful display of Divine grace, so I venture to say, "Blessed bondage, which gives an opportunity for our God to come in and set His children free, and by thus breaking the bands of their yoke to teach them that He Himself is the Lord."

I. It is not difficult to show that THE LORD BREAKS THE BANDS OF THE YOKE OF HIS PEOPLE, for the yokes which they wear at different times are many, and, in the breaking of each one of these, they learn that He is the Lord.

1. You cannot forget the first yoke of which you were conscious. It was a yoke of iron; but you had worn it for many years without feeling it. A spark of Divine life dropped into your bosom, and then you began to perceive that a yoke of sin, of guilt, of condemnation under the law, was firmly fixed upon your neck. Happy is the hour when the Lord breaks that yoke. He alone can remove it, but He does it most effectually, and then we know that He is Jehovah our God that brought us out of the house of bondage. To emancipate a soul from the thraldom of sin is a labour worthy of a God, and to His liberating hand be glory forever and ever.

2. Then the awakened soul begins to be conscious of a second yoke. More or less, according to temperament and circumstances, and so on, but still in each case somewhat, we feel the yoke of natural corruption and inbred sin. The moment we become Christians an inward battle begins. You may presume that sin is completely dead in you, but it laughs while you are boasting, and before long it will make you weep to think that you were so readily deceived. The Lord can break this yoke also, and tear away each one of its bands. Very joyful is the deliverance, and when it comes the text is abundantly fulfilled.

3. Another yoke which the Lord's people have too often borne is that of a perpetual tendency to unbelief. Many about whose interest in Christ nobody who knows them can have any doubt at all, whose Christian consistency is beyond all question, whose prayerfulness, whose love of the Word of God, whose simple, child-like trust in Jesus Christ is manifested to everybody except themselves, are nevertheless in heaviness through anxiety as to their state. May the Lord bring up such brothers and sisters out of their prison, and then shall they know that He is the Lord when He has broken the bands of their yoke.

4. Some Christians are also loaded with a yoke through great trouble. If we knew what they have to suffer in business, suffer in body, suffer in the domestic circle — if we knew the weight they have to carry, we should very often communicate to them words of comfort, whereas now, through our not knowing, they are left unheeded, and there is little or no Christian sympathy manifested. Ah, dear brother, it may be that you have been made to carry a very heavy yoke for years, but when the Lord shall break the bands of your yoke then shall you know that He is the Lord.

5. many yokes which God's people bear they cannot break themselves. The Lord often puts His people on purpose into positions where there is an end of the creature, where all carnal hope fails, where you look all around and not a single ray of light gladdens your weary eye till the star of Bethlehem breaks forth, and heralds the morning. But let us recollect that though yokes be very many, and some of them are such that we cannot possibly break them off, yet there is no yoke but what the Lord can readily enough take from His people. One of His saints of old recorded his experience in these words, "Out of the depths have I cried unto Thee, O God, and Thou heardest me." His experience is that of all the captives who trust in the Lord.

6. We may expect the Lord to break the bands of our yoke. Christian, He is bringing you low, He is stripping, you, He is casting you into. the mire, He is beating you small as the. dust of the streets, and all because by this means He will make you see your nothingness, and will cause you more fully to appreciate the splendour of His grace, and the all-sufficiency of His power. Knowing this, faith may help us to rejoice in tribulation at the moment it arrives, saying, "Here is my Father's black horse come to my door to bring me a new token of love from Him."

II. WHEN HE DOES THIS THEN THEY KNOW HIM TO BE THE LORD. Here we come to personal experience. Beloved, when we have great deliverances from bondage then we begin to see the Divine attributes displayed.

1. You all believe God to be very powerful, for you have heard His voice in the thunder, and seen His might in the tempest; but when you have been brought into very deep distress, and God has brought you out of it with a high hand and an outstretched arm, then you have said, "Now I see His power. No hand but His could have moved that burden, and He has done it."

2. You must also have seen with wonderful vividness the attribute of wisdom. You have been all in a snarl. You have done your best, and you have made things worse. You have gone for advice, and the advice has perplexed you. You have looked in all directions, and the more you have looked the less hope you have seen; and then, on a sudden, God's finger has seemed to be put out, and all the knots have been untied, and His Word has been fulfilled, — "I will make the crooked places straight and the rough places plain."

3. The Lord's love also is clearly revealed in our deliverances.

4. When the bands of our yoke have been broken it is often in answer to prayer, and because that liberty has come in answer to prayer, we have exclaimed, "Now I know the Lord."

5. So, again, we know Him from another reason: the special hand of God is often seen in the breaking of the yoke of His people — the special hand. There was a very large sum of money to be paid for the building of the Orphanage, and I was up with certain friends at Regent's Park — dining at the house of one of our brethren. I there mentioned that I was short of some £2000 to meet an account which would very soon be due, but that I was sure that God would graciously give it, for it was His work and He would supply its needs in answer to prayer. We were discussing as to whether it was not rather bold to speak too positively about answers to a prayer of such a kind, and while we were still discoursing there came a telegram from the Tabernacle to me, saying, "A person unknown has called and left £2000 in banknotes for the Orphanage." I read the telegram to the friends assembled, and their gratitude and astonishment abounded. My dear old friend, Dr. Brock, who is now with God, said, "Put down your knives and forks, and let us bless the name of the Lord"; and he stood up and poured out his heart in a most wonderful manner in devout thankfulness to the Answerer of prayer. We all heartily joined in that act of devotion. The Lord was there; we felt His presence as much as if it had been a sacramental supper, for the Lord had drawn so near to us. If someone had said to us just then, "Well, you know, this is a coincidence, a mere coincidence," we should have laughed, and I for one should have said, "It is a very blessed coincidence, and I hope it will go on coinciding; for truly it coincides with the promise and with my faith in God." The devil does not give his followers such coincidences.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)