Premature triumph.
The enemies of Israel were triumphing over the fallen nation, but prematurely; for they did not reckon on a possibility of a restoration. This is like the triumph of evil over the ruined world.
I. THERE IS A TRIUMPH OF EVIL.
1. In the fall of man. When Adam fell it seemed as though the greatest work of God had been hopelessly ruined almost as soon as it appeared. No sooner was man made in the image of God than he groveled in the dust, and marred the heavenly likeness with ugly stains of sins.
2. In the history of primitive man. So evil is man that the whole race, with the exception of a single family, is swept off the face of the earth. Once more the world is reduced to a desolate condition, once more evil seems to have conquered.
3. In the troubles of the Hebrews. The people of God become oppressed slaves in Egypt. "Where is the promise delivered to the fathers?'
4. In the failure to enter Palestine. The Israelites reach the borders of the land, and are then driven back defeated, and compelled to wander in the wilderness for forty years.
5. In the miserable days of the judges. When the land was at length possessed, it was not found to be all milk and honey. War and wickedness, sorrow and shame, make the first ages of the possession of Canaan almost the darkest period in Jewish history.
6. The wickedness of later days. The story of Israel is a story of repeated rebellions against God, and repeated Divine chastisements.
7. In the Captivity. When the two nations were driven into captivity, and their territory devastated by the heathen, the triumph of the enemies of the people of God seemed to be complete.
8. In the cruelty of later days. Eastern empires, the Seleucidae, and the Romans successively triumphed over and oppressed the once favored people.
9. In the cross of Christ. Here, indeed, the enemies of righteousness reach their crowning triumph. Satan now exults over the sorrow and death of the Son of man.
10. In the history of Christendom. This has not been a history of continuous growth and victory over evil. First there were the great persecutions. Then followed the great apostasy. The dark ages marked the triumph of ignorance and cruelty. Today the powers of evil are mighty and exultant.
II. THIS TRIUMPH WILL BE REVERSED. It is premature. We have not yet reached the end of the story. The battle is still raging; it is too early for the foe to sing his paeans of victory. All along the dark recital of victories of evil there has been the alternative picture of Divine deliverance. We make a mistake when we dwell only on the gloomy side of history. God has been revealing himself in history. Not only did he save the eight in the ark. He delivered all Israel from Egypt. He gave Canaan, and he gave restoration from the Captivity. He sent his Son to save the world. In the darkest hour when Christ hung dying on the cross while evil seemed to be most triumphant, victory was really being won by that very death of the world's Savior. We have not seen the end yet. Perhaps we are on the fringe of a great contest between the servants of Christ and his foes. But never was the work of Christ more manifest than it is today in Christian activity at home and in the harvest of the mission-field abroad. While the unbeliever exults in what he thinks is the demonstration of the falsehood of Christianity and the sure prospect of its speedy downfall, there are more earnest active Christians at work than ever there were. By the grace of God we may trust that, though the battle is still fierce, we are moving on to victory under the Captain of our salvation.
Returning prosperity.
I. RESTORATION OF CHARACTER BRINGS A RETURN OF PROSPERITY. During the absence of the captives in Babylon their land fell into decay. The mountains which had been carefully terraced for vines were neglected, just as they are today on the hills about Jerusalem, where rows of stones mark the site of the ancient terraces. Sin ultimately ruins the outer as well as the inner man, for the prosperity of the wicked is but temporary, and though it may extend through an individual lifetime, it must break down during the course of the longer life of a nation. But on the other hand, restoration to God undoes the ruin of the outer life. This too may be a slow process. The individual man who has beggared himself with sinful extravagance may never become rich; but the nation that has returned to better ways of living will in time reap the good results of its renovation of character even on earth. When we think not only of external prosperity, but of inward blessedness, the result is seen sooner, and it is found in every individual soul that is pardoned and renewed. No one need despair of his present desolation. Repentance renews the face of the penitent's whole life.
II. This RETURN OF PROSPERITY IS CAUSED BY A RETURN OF GOD. "For behold I am with you, and I will turn unto you." God had abandoned the guilty land. Therefore a blight had fallen upon it. If God deserts a man, nothing can really prosper with him. He may still coin gold in his business, but it will be a curse to him. When God smiles upon a man's life he brings, not necessarily wealth, but certainly welfare. It would be well for everybody to ask himself—Is my business such that I dare ask God into it? Can I regard my workshop as a temple, or my work as a sacrifice? For these are the conditions on which true prosperity depends, because they are the conditions of God's gracious help.
III. THE RETURN OF GOD IS ACCOMPANIED BY A REVIVAL OF HUMAN ACTIVITY. "And ye shall be tilled and sown." That work will not be done directly by God, nor will it be accomplished by the unseen hands of angel-husbandmen. Men must till and sow. God's blessing does not dispense with man's labor. Assuredly it is not an excuse for human idleness. On the contrary, it is the inspiration of the highest activity. God blesses by stirring men up to wise and earnest work. St. Paul teaches us that God gives the increase after man's sowing and watering (1 Corinthians 3:6). But Ezekiel shows that God's great work does not only follow man's smaller toil; it precedes that toil, and is the spring from which the energy for it proceeds. We are first told that God will turn unto his people, and not till after this is it said, "And ye shall be tilled and sown." This is the happiest way of giving prosperity. If all the glory is God's, still the joy of service is man's. The same is true of spiritual prosperity. If we would reap a harvest in Christian work, we must not only bring it to God and ask his blessing upon it; we must first of all seek his presence m it, that it may be his work from the first. Then he will be the Inspiration of his servants' activity. We shall be able to till and sow just because God is with us. The glorious prosperity will come from God as a fruit of his gracious benediction, and it will come through us as the human instruments who are called by God like laborers to work in his vineyard.