Ezekiel 11:16 Therefore say, Thus said the Lord GOD; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen… Yet will I be to them as a little Sanctuary in the countries where they shall come. Instead of "as a little Sanctuary," it is better to translate, "a Sanctuary for a little." The assurance given in the text seems strange at first. The Lord Jehovah will be a Sanctuary to his people. He is the grand Object of worship: how, then, can he be the place of worship? The exiles in Babylon were far removed from all the joyous privileges of public worship; from their temple, with all its precious and sacred associations, they had been ruthlessly sundered. They had long forsaken God, and at length they became a prey to their enemies. And in this idolatrous country, while the inhabitants of Jerusalem were dividing them, and boasting their own security, Jehovah promises the captives that he himself will be to them a Sanctuary, and in himself he would compensate them for the loss of their religious privileges. All those blessings which they had been accustomed to associate with the sanctuary he would bestow upon them. I. THE SANCTUARY WAS A PLACE OF REFUGE AND SAFETY. Through centuries men had been accustomed to take refuge in sanctuaries from the enemies or persecutors by whom they were pursued, and there every life was held to he inviolably secure. The most implacable foe was compelled to recognize the security afforded by the holy place (cf. 1 Kings 1:50-53). So Jehovah promises to Israel to be to them a sacred and inviolate asylum from all dangers in the land of their captivity (cf. Isaiah 8:14; Isaiah 32:2; Psalm 9:9; Psalm 46:1, 7, 11). The Lord was a Sanctuary for his scattered people - a Sanctuary from the storm of persecution, from the oppressions of their conquerors, and from the rage of their enemies. He still sustains this relation to his people. He is still "a Refuge for us." How blessed that in a life so stormy as man's often is, God is a Sanctuary unto him! Let us hide ourselves in him. II. THE SANCTUARY WAS A PLACE OF COMMUNION WITH GOD. There God manifested himself to his people, and made communications of his will to them (cf. Exodus 25:22; Numbers 7:89). So that the promise to be a Sanctuary unto his people was a promise of communion with himself; that, though they were driven from the temple of their fatherland, yet in their exile God would still commune with them. This assurance involves more than we sometimes recognize. If we commune with God we mast receive his thoughts. "How precious are thy thoughts unto me, O God!" etc. Communion with God involves the realization of his gracious presence. In fellowship there is always friendliness. "Henceforth I call you not servants," etc. (John 15:15). How inspiring and blessed it is to feel the friendly presence of God with us! We may always have this sanctuary of communion with the Highest. In all the rush and roar and turmoil of a busy and troubled life we may realize the safety and comfort of the sanctuary of the Divine presence. We may have a Gerizim or a Zion which none can behold but God and the angels. We may have a holy of holies in our poor hearts, which we may carry with us into the Babylon of the world's business and strife. III. Let us take hold of the principle involved in the text, which we take to be THAT THE LOSS OF EVEN THE MOST PRECIOUS POSSESSIONS IS MADE UP TO US BY GOD OUT OF THE FULNESS WHICH DWELLETH IN HIM, IF HE IS OUR PORTION. The promise of the text involved as much to the exiles in Babylon. If the Lord is our Portion, he will afford us blessed compensations for any privations we may be called to sustain. Let us take illustrations of this. There are times when some of the people of God are subjected to loss of property; their natural comforts are much diminished; many of the enjoyments of life, which they had regarded as essential to their happiness and almost to their life, are taken away; and they have painful misgivings as to how they shall bear these privations in the future. We dread to meet the shock of reduced position and straitened circumstances. But when the shock comes, we find fall compensation in God. His grace sustains us. His peace grows within us. His comforts delight our soul. lie is "the Strength of our heart, and. our Portion forever." We are enabled to say, with St. Paul, "I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content," etc. (Philippians 4:11-13). The Divine comp nations are also given in painful bereavements. In your home there was a beautiful and beloved child; yon held that child as a most precious gift of God; your very worship of God became more impassioned and devout as you thought of that living and dear revelation of his goodness to you. Your child was to you "a little sanctuary;" through his beloved life you drew nearer to God. Yet God took your child away from you; and oh, the anguish of your desolate heart! Perhaps you were in danger of thinking more of the child than of God, of loving the gift more than the Giver, of prizing the sanctuary more than the God of the sanctuary. And so God took away the child whom you almost idolized. At first you were sorely afflicted, but God said, "I will be to thee a Sanctuary," and gradually the troubled heart became still, and was calmed and comforted. And now by his own love God makes up to you for your great loss. And in coming years, when you imagine you will lack the tender filial ministries you had anticipated from your child, he will more than supply the deficiencies by the arrangements of his own infinite tenderness and care. God also compensates his people for the loss of religious privileges. In his providence he sometimes removes us by sickness from the services of the sanctuary, and we have a season of weary waiting for his restoring hand. We anticipate with sadness the Lord's day, when his people will be worshipping in the courts of his house, and we suffering through the lonely hours at home. But the day arrives, and with it a joyous disappointment. God himself becomes to us a Sanctuary. He compensates us for the loss of psalmody by inspiring diviner music in our heart, for the loss of "common worship" by giving us deeper spiritual communion with himself and with all holy souls, and for the loss of sacred ministrations by the immediate and blessed ministry of his Holy Spirit to our spirit. And so the day we dreaded was rich in present blessing, and bright with gleams of the glory that awaits us in the future. Or in his providence God removes us to a district where we are separated from the influence of a generous and godly friend, or from the ministry of a valued teacher or pastor. Our regret is very keen, our misgivings as to our future progress are serious, and perhaps our dissatisfaction with providential arrangements is in danger of becoming great. But in this also the Lord becomes to us a Sanctuary. To our increased need he gives more of his infinite fulness. And we find that by blessing us with another teacher or pastor, or by means of the devout and earnest study of his holy Word, or by the ministry of good literature, or by the immediate action of his Holy Spirit upon our spirit, he compensates us for all our losses. Herein is one of the great blessednesses of the portion of the godly. As our need grows, God reveals unto us his own infinite sufficiency more and more fully, and out of that sufficiency he giveth more grace. The more loud and fierce the storm, the more closely does he enfold us in his inviolate protection. The more numerous and urgent our requirements, the more abundant and prompt are his supplies. Make him your Portion, and infinite resources are yours (cf. Psalm 84:11; Lamentations 3:24; Matthew 6:33; 1 Timothy 4:8). - W.J. Parallel Verses KJV: Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come. |
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