You eat the fat, wear the wool, and butcher the fattened sheep, but you do not feed the flock. Sermons
I. THEIR CONDUCT. This is very graphically and (after Ezekiel's manner) with outspoken plainness described in these verses. 1. The shepherds' neglect of the flock. They neither feed them upon suitable pastures, nor strengthen the weak, nor heal the sickly, nor recover the lost, nor deliver the defenseless sheep from the wild beasts of the field. On the contrary, they treat them with violence and with rigor. 2. The shepherds' care for themselves. They use the flock merely for their own pleasure and advantage, eating of the flesh of the sheep, and clothing themselves with their wool. 3. The consequent condition of the flock. Neglected by their custodians, they are scattered, they wander upon every high hill, they fall a prey to the beasts of the field. In all these respects there is a parallel between the conduct of careless, hireling shepherds and the conduct of those in Israel who claimed to be the spiritual pastors of the people. These, whether priests or prophets by profession, simply used their position as a means towards their personal wealth, ease, pleasure, and aggrandizement. And no wonder that the sons of Israel, so neglected by those who should have made their highest welfare their care, were abandoned to every enemy, and sank into a state of degeneration, debasement, and hopelessness. II. THEIR CONDEMNATION. That such flagrant neglect, of duty could not pass unnoticed and unpunished may be presumed by the least thoughtful. Under the rule of a Governor of infinite justice, those placed in a position of eminence and of influence, if they neglect to fulfill the duties of their position, must surely be called to an exact account of their trust. The prophet tells us concerning the unfaithful shepherds that: 1. God is against them. He, whose help and countenance would have been vouchsafed had they honestly and earnestly set themselves to do the work which they professed to undertake, now sets himself against the unfaithful. 2. They are held responsible for the flock. "I will require," says God, "my sheep at their hand." 3. The custody of the flock is taken away from them. And at the same time, they are prevented from any more feeding themselves. It cannot be that the flock should be punished for wandering, and that the careless shepherds, through whose neglect they wandered, should be suffered to go free. - T.
I will raise up for them a Plant of renown. The symbolism of the Bible forms one of its most interesting and conspicuous features. As children are oft-times taught the alphabet by the assistance of pictures, so ancient Israel, living amid the dim shadows of patriarchal and mosaic times, were instructed in the A B C and rudimental principles of religious worship and godly knowledge and obedience by the help of types, prefigurements, symbols. Ezekiel every now and then swells out in organ strains of grand poetic utterance, calling into use the wealth of nature's imagery to embody and symbol forth the wonderful creations of his inspired and sanctified genius. And strange, yet glorious to say, all this wealth of biblical imagery, either directly or indirectly, points to and finds its higher actualisation in "the Christ," who is the "Alpha and Omega" of Scripture. We speak not here of Jesus the "Rose" or Jesus the "Lily"; of Jesus the "Star" or Jesus the "Sun"; of Jesus the "King" or Jesus the "Servant"; of Jesus the "Foundation" or of Jesus the "Stone of Stumbling"; of Jesus the "Branch" or of Jesus the "Tree of Life"; but of Jesus the "Plant" — the Eternal "Plant," the "Plant of Renown" — of renown among men, angels, seraphs, God! In thought, memory, and love, let us gather around this "Plant" to meditate, admire, adore.I. JESUS IS AN AROMATIC "PLANT." He outbreathes an aroma which fills heaven with ecstasy, and saves earth with its teeming population from moral putrefaction and death. Christ is an eternal perfume. Angels and archangelic ones drink it in as flowers drink in the solar ray. And whenever on human soil He is scented for the first time, it creates an insatiable desire in the soul to daily and hourly drink at this fountain of sweetest odours. 1. The Bible would have no fragrance were it not for Christ. It would be mouldy and mildewed, antiquated and repulsive, without the aroma of this Plant. 2. Preaching would have no refreshing and soul-saving odour without this Plant. It might have persuasive rhetoric, and convincing logic, and charming elocution, and faultless learning, and elegant diction — yea, all the graces and glories of finished composition; nevertheless, devoid of the aromatic odours of the "Lamb of God" — the one Mediator for and only Saviour of a fallen world — it would be nothing more than "a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal," or a message surcharged with the "savour of death unto death"! 3. Prayer, too, would have no effect without the perfume of this Plant. There might be fluency of utterance, beauty of sentence, multiplicity of words, glowing creations of thought, minute descriptions of want, and oratorical outbursts of desire and request; but unless fragrant with the incense of Jesu's blood, and death, and intercession, it will be but a bundle of "vain repetitions," or a jingle of unmeaning terms, unacceptable to God, and unbenefiting to us. 4. Heaven would have no fragrance but for Christ. Fie is the all of heaven! The music of its songs, the brightness of its skies, the health of its atmosphere, the splendour of its sceneries, the vitality, and glory, and wonder of its inhabitants — ay, the nectar of its unwithering flowers, the eternal perfume of its homage, worship, service, adoration! II. CHRIST IS A MEDICINAL PLANT. His "leaves are for the healing of the nations." He is the "balm of Gilead," the "balm for every wound," the "cordial for every fear." A wonderful variety of medicinal virtues is characteristic of this unique Plant. While as a grand specific for the world's sin it is one; yet, for the Church's manifold ailments it is a repository of all that is needed, suited, effectual. If you suffer morally from had appetite and "indigestion," so that you do not relish the means of grace or the ordinances of the Church, and loathe the food with which God's servants try to feed you, through its not being dainty enough, or too much spiced, or not cooked to your taste — make application to Christ and He will speedily effect a cure. Or if you suffer from soul "dyspepsia," which makes you peevish, discontented, morose, and querulous in the church and in the family and in the business, so that you are an unwholesome sample to the world of our glorious Christianity — come to Christ and tell Him all. and He will send you healthy and happy away. III. JESUS IS AN UNWITHERING PLANT. Not only evergreen, ever-verdant, ever-fresh, but eternally enduring. The frosts of time cannot nip it; the roll of centuries cannot fade it; the heat of a myriad persecution — suns cannot scorch it; the blasts of all storms, and the blights of all winters, and the changes of all seasons, and the sweep and swing of all eternities, cannot sear, shrivel, wither it! In two of its ingredients — qualities — it stands in sublime and unapproachable isolation, namely, immutability and eternity. It is immutable, because eternal from necessity, and eternal from necessity because uncaused and infinite. IV. JESUS CHRIST IS A UNIVERSAL PLANT. In other words, a Plant in every place, being omnipresent; and a Plant for every sinner's appropriation, being suitable and sufficient. None can monopolise it, any more than they can monopolise the sunlight, the rain, the dew. It is the property of all in general, but of everyone who believes in particular. He is "the Saviour of the world." He is for "the healing of the nations." "All men are to be blessed in Him." As the old sun shines on every shore, so this Plant shall cast its healing shadow over every land, and drop its "sovereign balm" in every receptive heart, and be renowned by all languages and peoples. (J. O. Keen, D. D.) II. ITS BEAUTY. Every believer will acknowledge this. Feeling how exactly suitable the Lord Jesus is to meet your every want, you admire all that concerns Him. III. ITS FRUITFULNESS. The Lord God, who in the beginning gave to man every tree for meat, has given us Christ for the same purpose. Other trees have only one species of fruit, but this produces twelve manners of fruits: fruits for every season: fruits for prosperity; fruits for adversity; fruits for every occasion that can possibly arise; fruits for newborn converts; fruits for those of riper experience; fruits for fathers and mothers in Israel; fruits suited to every individual whom the Holy Spirit leads to Christ. IV. ITS PERMANENCY. Its branches will be ever stretching forth, the glory of Paradise. Its leaves will never lose their healing virtues. Its fruits will be as delicious ten thousand ages hence, as they will be in the very commencement of your future eternity. No one that takes shelter beneath its branches will ever be compelled to flee from under it. V. ITS FRAGRANCY. In whatever sanctuary He is preached, how fragrant is He there! In whatever book He is set forth, how fragrant is He there! The leaves of that book all smell of myrrh, aloes, cassia, and all manner of sweet spices. How fragrant, too, is any house which is the abode of even one of the Lord's redeemed people! How fragrant is any parish, any country, where believers are multiplied, walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost! VI. ITS SHADOW. There will come seasons when you will find the hot winds of severe afflictions beating so vehemently upon your heads, that, without Christ's supporting grace, you will be brought to your wits' end, and will be at the point to die. Oh, that you would see how sad is your condition compared with that of Christ's people in their trials and difficulties! VII. ITS CELEBRITY. In one respect this plant resembled others. In its origin it was tittle accounted of. In His incarnation, humiliation, and death, He was comparatively despised and rejected; but springing up, in His resurrection, ascension and heavenly glory, He has become greatly renowned, and is daily made more so by the spreading of His Gospel throughout all nations. I conclude by a two-fold admonition. 1. Feed upon this plant yourselves. 2. Make it known to others. (C. Clayton, M. A.) II. SOME PLANTS ARE RENOWNED FOR THEIR BEAUTY. Some for the gorgeous richness of their colour; others for the delicate paleness of their hue — some for the elegant, form and loveliness of their flower; others for the stately and majestic appearance of the plant itself. And most assuredly Christ may in this respect be called the Plant of renown. In Him we see every variety of colour and shade, which, combined, constitute the perfection of beauty. The most lovely sight which this world ever saw was the character of Jesus. Everything which pure and holy beings can admire, is to be seen in Jesus. View the graces separately, and you see each of them perfect in Christ — humility in His becoming a man — meekness in bearing insults — gentleness in administering reproofs — patience in enduring sufferings — devotedness to His Father's will, which made Him say, that in the doing of it He had meat to eat which the world knew not of — devotion, which wearied not of whole nights spent in prayer — benevolence, which knew no bounds in the bestowment of blessings — heavenly-mindedness, which made Him, though in the world, not of it. These graces shine each of them gloriously in the character of Jesus, and all of them combined constitute that perfect excellence which saints and angels shall admire forever. III. SOME PLANTS ARE RENOWNED FOR THEIR FRAGRANCE. Sweet smelling flowers and fragrant plants are felt even here to be most delightful and refreshing; but in the East, there are plants of such rich fragrance, as we can have no conception of at all in these northern climes. To pass a garden of aromatic herbs, when the gentle breeze causes the sweet spices to flow forth, is perfectly delightful to the weary traveller. And in this respect, too, Christ may be called the Plant of renown. What a sweet savour there is about all the graces and excellencies of Christ! You cannot come to the contemplation of His character without feeling that you are breathing a pure and holy atmosphere, grateful as the spicy breezes of the East to those who are faint and weary. The death of Christ is an offering and a sacrifice to God of a sweet smelling savour, and the Lord is well pleased for His righteousness' sake, seeing He hath magnified the law and made it honourable. And anxious souls feel that it has a delightful fragrance, when their hearts are cheered, and revived, and comforted, as they behold the Lamb of God taking away the sins of the world. Never was weary traveller, when like to faint under the burning rays of an eastern sun, so revived and refreshed by the spicy breezes, as poor souls, ready to faint under a burden of sin, and amid the trials of the world, are refreshed and cheered by the sweet savour that there is in Christ. IV. SOME PLANTS ARE RENOWNED FOR THEIR HEALING VIRTUE. It is a proof of the goodness and benevolence of God that, while this world, in consequence of the Fall, is filled with disease and pain, there are medicinal plants whose application has a healing efficacy. And in this respect, as well as those already mentioned, Christ may be called the Plant of renown. From the Saviour on the Cross there flows a healing virtue to cure all the diseases of our souls. The blood and grace of Jesus are the precious balm. It is balm extracted from the wounded Tree of Life — from the pierced side of Immanuel; and it is effectual in curing the envenomed bite of the old serpent, the devil in mortifying the wounds which the arrows of conviction have made in our souls, and in completely healing the loathsome disease of sin. V. SOME PLANTS ARE RENOWNED FOR THE SHELTER THEY AFFORD FROM THE SCORCHING RAYS OF THE SUN. Even in our own climate it is often most refreshing, when oppressed with heat, to recline under the shade of a spreading tree. And how much more delightful for an eastern traveller to come to a shady tree, under whose wide-spreading branches he may lie down upon the cool ground and rest himself! Flow delightful for the eastern shepherds, when they have conducted their flocks to the place of rest at noon, to lie down and rest themselves in the shade! But, oh, how infinitely more delightful for the poor sinner to sit down under the shadow of the Plant of renown! The branches of the trees of Paradise were no covering to guilty Adam, but under the shadow of the Tree of Life the awakened sinner may lie down and take quiet rest, assured that the wrath of God will never reach him any more. VI. SOME PLANTS ARE RENOWNED FOR THE EXCELLENT FRUITS WHICH THEY BEAR. This is a quality for which the plant here spoken of is renowned; for the consequence of its being raised up to God's people is, that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land. If it be delightful to a weary traveller to lie down at noon under the cool shade of a spreading tree, it is especially so when the tree is laden with mellow and delicious fruit, which the traveller may pluck and eat for the quenching of his thirst. In this respect, every believer finds Christ to be the Plant of renown, and it is while he feeds upon Christ by faith that he is no more consumed with hunger in this batten land. (John Laird.) Homilist. I. He is renowned in His STATELY BEAUTY. He towers high above all the trees of the great forests of the world, and His branches, adorned with lovely foliage, spread out in all directions over all. Christ is the incarnation of the highest moral beauty; He is altogether lovely.II. He is renowned for His WONDERFUL FRUITFULNESS. He is the Tree of Life, His fruits are for the healing of the nations. His fruits are sufficient to feed and bless all hungry souls. Who of all the children of men ever accomplished one-thousandth part of the good that Christ has accomplished? III. He is renowned for His REMEDIAL VIRTUES. He has a sovereign "balm for every wound," He "binds up the broken-hearted," He is the "Great Physician." He is a cure for guilt, for fear, for remorse, and for all the disorders of the mind. IV. He is renowned for His GREAT DURABILITY. All human plants wither, decay, and pass away; but He continues unchanged through the centuries. (Homilist.) The Creator has implanted love for the beautiful in our hearts for very wise and beneficent purposes; not that we may be like the briar, creeping along the ground, nor like thorns or nettles, pricking and stinging those who are brave enough to touch us; nor like the poppy, very showy and vain, but very empty and weak; and certainly not like the thistle, full of ill-will to everybody that shall take hold upon us. I think God wanted to show us of His great love to us; for if He had not loved us, He would never have thrown, in their variety, fragrance, and beauty, such proofs of His love all around us. And further, He intended to teach us to imitate the flowers, to try and be beautiful and fragrant, kind and pleasing, and not to live so much for ourselves as to impart joy to others. To an attentive listener, the flowers and plants are quite eloquent as they preach to us the graces and virtues of religion. The flowers are ever speaking to us of Jesus. Isaiah prophesied of the coming of "A root of Jesse"; Solomon called the Lord Jesus "The lily of the valley and the rose of Sharon." So theft if when we next go into a garden we will only think, we shall meet with things to lift up our minds and affections to Jesus.I. WHY JESUS IS THE "PLANT OF RENOWN." 1. His great beauty. It is impossible for us to say what Jesus was personally, that is, His physical appearance; nor can such a subject concern us much. Many who show little or no physical beauty reveal high intellectual and spiritual worth, and if we look at Jesus through this channel, we shall soon find that He was the most beautiful plant that eyes of man ever looked upon. No one ever said such beautiful things as Jesus. Whether He was on the sea or on a mountain apart, whether at a marriage feast or at a funeral, whether surrounded only by His beloved disciples or by the inquisitive eager multitudes, whether at home with His parents, in the house of Martha and Mary, on the Mount of Olives, or even hanging on the Cross, no one ever uttered such beautiful sayings as He. He was, for beauty, the "Plant of renown," if we look at the character Fie possessed. No passion marred it, no sin spotted it, no darkness eclipsed it, no sorrow dimmed it, nor did any combination of forces impair or weaken it,. Then His worthiness to be called the "Plant of renown" is seen if we call to mind the beautiful deeds He accomplished. It was a beautiful thing for Jesus to leave His home and glory in heaven, and to come to suffer and bleed and die for us. And how full was that life of beautiful acts! Nazareth and Capernaum, Bethlehem and Jerusalem, Bethany and the Mount of Olives, all say His life was crowded with deeds most beautiful; and therefore Ezekiel was quite right when he said that Jesus was a "Plant of renown." 2. If we examine His marvellous strength we shall find another right, or title, to the figure. There are some things exceedingly beautiful, but they are so weak that we are afraid of damaging if we only touch them. Had not Jesus been as remarkable for His strength as for His beauty, He would have been destroyed by the rough elements that surged around, and wasted their strength upon Him. The world put forth its energy to destroy this Plant; its prejudice, its envy, its malice, its hate, its unbelief, its authority, and its allurements were all brought forward to destroy Jesus; but His strength was superior to all, and so He said, "I have overcome the world." Satan, he who overcame the first Adam, and who since the victory then won has weakened, broken, defaced, and destroyed many and many beautiful plants, — Satan brought his great power to bear upon Jesus, the "Plant of renown"; but here he was foiled and defeated. So strong was Jesus that he overcame the devil And what for strength this "Plant of renown" was, it still remains. Not the roll of nineteen hundred years has at all impaired it; neither in root, nor leaf, nor flower has it suffered any decay. This Plant is a strength-giving Plant. Jesus has power to comfort the sorrowful, to help the helpless, to guide the perplexed, to release the prisoner, to make bold the diffident, and to cause the barren to be fruitful. Yes, "He is mighty to save, and He travels in the greatness of His strength." 3. His healing properties. I can't think there are many people who would refuse to have in their possession a plant which could cure all their maladies, or turn their maladies into blessings. Certain I am that if any gardener could exhibit such a plant for sale, he could have almost any price for it, and then be utterly unable to meet all demands. Now, Ezekiel's "Plant of renown" is a plant of this character. And yet — oh, marvellous to relate! — men, women, and even young people, are seldom eager to possess it. 4. Jesus is the "Plant of renown" because of the fruit He bears. Perhaps if you were to search very minutely and very long, you might meet with a boy who does not care for plants because of their beauty, or with a girl who thinks little of them because of any healing virtue they may have; but I don't think any searching would find boy or girl who would care nothing about any fruit you might mention as produced by plants. The possessors of this Plant have Christ formed in their hearts, and they bring forth fruit unto holiness, — "they grow in grace," and are "pure in heart." No plant, then, for beauty, strength, healing power, and fruit, can compare with Ezekiel's "Plant of renown." II. WHERE JESUS IS THIS "PLANT OF RENOWN." "Everything in its place," is a capital maxim. There are places where we might as well search for sunshine at midnight as for this "Plant of renown." I shall not ask you to look for this Plant in the writings of infidelity, for if it could be found there, it would only be that it might be insulted and, if possible, destroyed. I shall not ask you to search for it in the multitudinous volumes of light, fictitious literature with which we are almost deluged; such a soft has neither depth nor richness sufficient for this Plant. 1. Jesus is a "Plant of renown" in the Bible. I want to compare the Bible to a conservatory; and I think we shall find it the very best conservatory the world has ever seen. Let us go inside, for our fathers many years ago opened wide the door, and now we are quite welcome to enter. How beautifully it is fitted up, and what an assemblage of colour and fragrance, what unspeakably rare plants are here; and all preserved in excellent order. But now just listen; what can it be these plants are all saying? "We have no root of ourselves, no beauty underived, no fragrance our own, no fruit naturally, no life independent; for all these things we are dependent, and dependent only, upon Ezekiel's 'Plant of renown.'" 2. Jesus is a "Plant of renown" in all the intercourse held between man and God." Who has not heard of "the missing link"? Jesus is the only missing link of union between God and us. God's character is one of holiness, justice, truth, and love; man's character is one of sin, injustice, falsehood, and hate. Oh, what can bring the two together? Heaven and earth combined, proclaim, "Jesus of Nazareth, the Plant of renown." 3. Jesus is a "Plant of renown" in the hearts of God's people. The moment Jesus enters the soul, all sickness and darkness, all parchedness and blight, entirely disappear, and, with the "Plant of renown" right in the centre, the heart becomes like the garden of the Lord. 4. Jesus is a "Plant of renown" in the history of the entire world. What a great deal that history will have to say about His coming into and His growth in our world; about the influence of Jesus in all cottages and palaces, in all courts and camps, and in all counsels, whether of Churches or of States. How that history will show, in characters of living light, His value as Redeemer, Saviour, Friend, and King. How it will ascribe to Him preeminence in all things — in virtue, truth, goodness, grace, sanctity, glory, and everything else that is lovely and of good report; ever presenting to Him the homage and love of a glorified and saved Church, out of all nations, and peoples, and tongues under heaven. 5. Jesus will be the "Plant of renown" in heaven. Gabriel, Michael, the whole company of the angelic world, cherubim and seraphim, are all like so many plants of rare excellence; but no plant in heaven like Jesus. Think, too, of the plants that have gone from our garden plots here, from our homes, and from our hearts. All gone: we see them not, we hear them not: the Master hath called them. But whilst they were here they were "plants of the Lord's right hand planting," "trees of righteousness." Then what, after years of holy culture and constant growth, must such be in heaven? Who now shall estimate their beauty or worth? But high above and far beyond all others in heaven, will be the Lord Jesus, the "Plant of renown."(1) He will be renowned for having once left its glory, its society, and its song, in order that He might become a poor man, to suffer, bleed, and die.(2) He will be renowned for having thrown wide open to the sons of Adam its pearly gates, its everlasting privileges, and its undying glory; and for having by His attractiveness drawn into that holy place millions of the race of man; as the great and only Conqueror of death and sin, of hell and the devil. (J. Goodachre.) I. THE GLORY OF THE SAVIOUR, as intimated by the metaphorical designation here given to Him — "a Plant of renown."1. The glory that surrounded Him, even amidst the greatest depth of His humiliation. 2. His triumphant resurrection from the grave, and His exaltation to honour and glory at His Father's right hand. 3. The triumphs of His Gospel, from the earliest period of its proclamation to the present day. 4. The Divine predictions of His millennial glory on earth, and His perpetual reign in heaven. II. THE AGENCY OF GOD THE FATHER in securing all this glory to the Saviour. Jehovah is the Speaker; and He says, "I will raise up a Plant of renown" (ver. 23). 1. God the Father called the Saviour, and set Him apart to His work. 2. God the Father sent our Saviour into our world clothed in our nature. 3. God the Father qualified Him for His work, and assisted Him in it. 4. God the Father, as a proof of His love, and as the reward of His services, gave Him all that renown which He had acquired. III. THE BLESSEDNESS OF CHRIST'S PEOPLE, in consequence of His elevation to glory, or renown for their sakes. 1. In consequence of the work and exaltation of Him who is here denominated "a Plant of renown," His people shall be at once freed from want, and blessed with abundance. 2. In consequence of the work and exaltation of Christ, His people shall be at once freed from shame, and loaded with honour.Application — 1. Give glory to God for raising up for you a Plant of renown. 2. Live constantly by the faith of Him who was once greatly humbled, but is now highly exalted for your sakes. 3. Days of darkness and distress will to believers be succeeded by days of joy and triumph. 4. Use the means of making the Redeemer more renowned. 5. All must be exposed to want and eternal ruin who have no connexion with Christ as the Plant of renown. (A. Thomson, D. D.) I. PREMISE A FEW THINGS CONCERNING THIS BLESSED PLANT.1. What is here ascribed to Christ, is not to be understood absolutely of Him as God, but officially — as He is Mediator and Redeemer. 2. This Plant is but small and little in the eyes of a blind world. 3. However contemptible this Plant of renown is in the eyes of a blind world, yet He is the tallest plant in all God's Lebanon. 4. This blessed Plant of renown was cut down in His death, and sprung up gloriously in His resurrection. 5. All the little plants in the garden are ingrafted in this Plant of renown. II. HE IS A RENOWNED PLANT. He is renowned in heaven, and He is renowned on earth, and will be so (Psalm 72:17). 1. He is renowned for His antiquity. 2. He is renowned for His beauty. The glory of a God is in Him Is there any glory in His eternal Father? Why, that glory shines in our Immanuel in the very brightness of it (Hebrews 1:3). 3. He is renowned for His verdure, for His perpetual greenness. Other plants are fading. 4. He is renowned for His virtue. We read in Revelation 22, "That the leaves of the tree of life were for the healing of the nations," — that tree of life is the very same with this Plant of renown; the leaves of this Plant are for the healing of the nations; and we that are ministers are come this day to scatter the leaves of this tree of life, of this Plant of renown; try if you can get a leaf of it applied and set home upon your souls; depend upon it, there is virtue in every word of His. 5. He is renowned for His fertility: He is not a barren Plant; He would not be renowned if He were barren; He brings forth all manner of fruit every month; yea, I may add, every day, every moment. There is the fruit of His incarnation; there is the fruit of His death; there is the fruit of His resurrection; there is the fruit of His ascension; there is the fruit of His intercession, and sitting at the right hand of God; there is the fruit of His prophetic office; there is the fruit of His priestly office; there is the fruit of His kingly office; there is the fruit of His appearing within the vail; there is the fruit of what He did without the vail, and without the camp. Oh, what fruit is here! 6. He is renowned for His scent, and pleasant savour (Song of Solomon 1:2). The believer finds a scent about Him, he draws a savour from Him. What is the design of us ministers but to cast abroad His scent; and it is by this we win souls. 7. He is renowned for His shadow (Song of Solomon 2:3). Oh, sit down under His shadow, and you will find shelter there against all deadly; whatever blasts come, you will find safety there; would you be shadowed from the king of terrors, death is a terror to many. Oh, if you would be shadowed against the awful terrors of death and God's vengeance, get in under this shadow, and you are safe. 8. This Plant is renowned for His stature; He is a high Plant, He is a tall Plant. You see the heavens above you, but they are but creeping things in comparison of Him; but this glorious Plant, "He is the high and lofty one that inhabits eternity," you can never see His height. 9. This Plant is renowned for His extent, not only for His stature, but He is a broad Plant. He was planted in the first promise in Paradise, He spread through the Old Testament Church, He came the length of filling the land of Judaea, but at length this Plant has spread among us, and oh, that I could spread Him among you! III. THE RAISING OR UPBRINGING OF THIS PLANT. 1. He was raised up in the counsel of God's peace from eternity. 2. He was raised up in the first promise to Adam and Eve. 3. His actual manifestation in the flesh, when, in the fulness of time, He appeared. 4. This Plant was raised up, even in His death. 5. This Plant was raised up in His resurrection from the dead. For in His resurrection from the dead He was "declared to be the Son of God with power, by the Spirit of holiness." 6. This Plant of renown was raised up higher in His ascension into heaven, when He was set "down on the right hand of the Majesty on high," after He had, by Himself, purged our sins. 7. He is raised up likewise in the revelation of the everlasting Gospel. 8. This Plant of renown is raised up in the day of the Church's reformation. 9. This Plant of renown will be raised up at His second coming. 10. This Plant of renown will be raised up in the songs of the redeemed through endless eternity. IV. FOR WHOM IS IT THAT THIS PLANT IS RAISED UP? He is raised up for mankind sinners, not for angel-kind sinners, and every mankind sinner that hears tell of Him should lay claim to Him (Isaiah 9:6). As the firmament is for you, if you will open your eyes, so the Sun of Righteousness is for you, if you will open your hearts to Him: for the Lord's sake do not refuse Him, or else it will not be telling you; you will rue it to eternity. V. WHY IS HE RAISED UP? 1. He is raised up as a Redeemer to set the captives of the mighty at liberty. 2. He is raised up as a Mediator of the new covenant, to make peace between an offended God, and offending rebellious man, He "makes reconciliation for iniquity" (Daniel 9:24). 3. He is raised up as a Surety, to pay the debt of a company of broken divers, and to bind Himself under a bond to satisfy justice for their crimes, and that He should reduce them to obedience to their offended Lord. Hence He is called (Hebrews 7:25). 4. He is raised up as a renowned Healer, a non-such Physician. He has opened up a medicinal well (Zechariah 13:1) that washes from sin and uncleanness, and, whatever be your malady, we invite you to come to this well, and wash and be clean. 5. He is raised up as a Witness to tell the truth, or as a Prophet to reveal it. 6. He is raised up as Leader unto the people, to show us the path of life, and to lead us into it, and, by His leading, He causes the wayfaring man to walk without erring, — "I will bring the blind by a way they know not," etc. 7. He is raised up as a Commander unto the people, as the Captain of salvation, to fight our battles for us, and to head the armies of God's Israel in their way to glory. And, by His skill and conduct, He makes them all conquerors, yea, more than conquerors, etc. VI. APPLICATION. Is it so that Christ is a Plant of renown, raised up by Jehovah? Then — 1. See hence the iniquity and wickedness of these men who study to derogate from the glory of this renowned Plant. 2. See hence how to know a true and faithful minister of Christ. He will have a smell of the Plant of renown about him, whether he be in the pulpit or out of it. 3. See hence whence it is that believers flock to Gospel ordinances, where they can get them dispensed by those that bear Christ's commission to dispense them. It is the smell of the Plant of renown that draws them thither. 4. See hence why God the Father is called a Husbandman. He is so called with reference unto His raising up this Plant of renown (John 15:1). 5. See hence the regard that God hath for His Church upon earth, as His own garden. Why, He plants this Tree of Life in her, by which she became a new paradise: 6. See hence the excellency of Christ, in His Person, nature, offices, and appearances. 7. See what makes a land or a church pleasant, a Hephzibah or a Beulah unto the Lord. If the Plant of renown and His interest be thriving in a land or Church, it makes her "beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth," etc. 8. See when it is that a Church loses her beauty and glory, and makes defection. It is when Christ loses His Savour among her ministers and professors. 9. See hence how a person may know whether matters be right or wrong, whether he be thriving and prospering in grace, or if he be decaying and going backward. Is the Plant of renown rising or going back with you? If He be rising, then —(1) He will be raised up in your esteem (Psalm 73:25; Philippians 3:8, 9).(2) In your affection and love, "Whom having not seen, we love," etc.(3) In your meditation; every thought will be a captive to His obedience.(4) In your talk and walk, they will have a savour of the Plant of renown, and the chat and common talk of the world will be tasteless, like the white of an egg, to you.(5) In your religious worship, both public and private; when you go to prayer, when you go to hear the word, or when you go to a communion table, nothing will please but Christ Himself.(6) In your wishes and endeavours for the advancement of His kingdom and glory, in as far as your power can go. 10. If Christ be the Plant of renown, raised up by His eternal Father, may it not be for matter of lamentation that the Plant of renown is in so little request among us at this day, and that there is such a plucking away of the glory of this blessed Plant? 11. Is it so that Christ is a Plant of renown raised up by Jehovah? Then let all that bear the name of Chris, especially you who have been entertained at His table, and tasted of His special love and goodness, study to answer God's design, in raising up for us this Plant of renown.(1) Sit down, and rest your weary souls, under the shadow of this renowned Plant, after the example of the spouse (Song of Solomon 2).(2) Come and behold the glory and beauty of the Plant of renown: "O look unto Him, and be saved, all ye ends of the earth."(3) Come and feed upon the fruit of this Plant of renown: "For His flesh is meat indeed, and His blood is drink indeed."(4) Whenever you find yourselves wounded by temptation, or corruption, or the world, come to the Plant of renown. (E. Erskine.) Homilist. Christ is frequently spoken of as a tree, a branch, a root, a stem, a rod, a lily, a rose. But the word plant has a signification somewhat different. What we plant we cultivate, sow the seed maybe, watch the growth, and tend in its maturity. And the plant here spoken of would refer to the human work and human nature of our Lord, arranged and developed by Divine wisdom.I. THE SEED WAS SOWN IN THE ETERNAL COUNSELS OF GOD. We know that the purpose existed before the world was formed. There was the sowing of the plant. II. THE GROWING. The plant started above the soil when man fell. Its green leaves showed themselves when the promise was given as to the seed of the woman which was to bruise the serpent's head. III. THE DEVELOPING. In teaching, symbol, ritual, prophecy, the light gradually dawned. IV. THE BLOSSOMING. When Christ came visibly into the world, He "blossomed like a rose." His words were as fragrance. His acts of mercy and love beautified the earth, and filled all nations with their beauty. V. THE FRUIT BEARING. The plant flowered, and apparently withered when Christ was put to death. But out of that very fact we see the result of ripened seed — "The flower abideth alone, except it die," and Christ's death caused the seed to be scattered abroad, which should cause the whole world to bloom. The seed of life, joy, hope. VI. THE HONOUR GIVING ETERNAL GLORY. "A Plant of renown." It is not a mere passing, fading, temporary, useless growth. It is renowned for its beauty — the essence of the Father's glory; for its usefulness — the covert and shelter of all people; for its continuance — it shall never fade; for its fruitfulness — it shall nourish all mankind. Happy is the man who finds shelter and rest in Him. (Homilist.) The attempt is sometimes made to trace a gradual development and enrichment of the Messianic idea in the hands of successive prophets. From that point of view Ezekiel's contribution to the doctrine of the Messiah must be felt to be disappointing. No one can imagine that his portrait of the coming King possesses anything like the suggestiveness and religious meaning conveyed by the ideal which stands out so clearly from the pages of Isaiah. And, indeed, no subsequent prophet excels or even equals Isaiah in the clearness and profundity of his directly Messianic conceptions. This fact shows us that the endeavour to find in the Old Testament a regular progress along one particular line proceeds on too narrow a view of the scope of prophecy. The truth is that the figure of the King is only one of the many types of the Christian dispensation which the religious institutions of Israel supplied to the prophets. It is the most perfect of all types, partly because it is personal, and partly because the idea of kingship is the most comprehensive of the offices which Christ executes as our Redeemer. But, after all, it expresses only one aspect of the glorious future of the kingdom of God towards which prophecy steadily points. We must remember also that the order in which these types emerge is determined not altogether by their intrinsic importance, but partly by their adaptation to the needs of the age in which the prophet lived. The main function of prophecy was to furnish present and practical direction to the people of God; and the form under which the ideal was presented to any particular generation was always that best fitted to help it onwards, one stage nearer to the great consummation. Thus while Isaiah idealises the figure of the king, Jeremiah grasps the conception of a new religion under the form of a covenant, the second Isaiah unfolds the idea of the prophetic servant of Jehovah, Zechariah and the writer of the 110th Psalm idealise the priesthood. All these are Messianic prophecies, if we take the word in its widest acceptation; but they are not all cast in one mould, and the attempt to arrange them in a single series is obviously misleading. So with regard to Ezekiel we may say that his chief Messianic ideal (still using the expression in a general sense) is the sanctuary, the symbol of Jehovah's presence in the midst of His people. At the end of chap. Ezekiel 37, the kingdom and the sanctuary are mentioned together as pledges of the glory of the latter days. But while the idea of the Messianic monarchy was a legacy inherited from his prophetic precursors, the Temple was an institution whose typical significance Ezekiel was the first to unfold. It was, moreover, the one that met the religious requirements of the age in which Ezekiel lived. Ultimately the hope of the personal Messiah loses the importance which it still has in the present section of the book; and the prophet's vision of the future concentrates itself on the sanctuary as the centre of the restored theocracy, and the source from which the regenerating influences of the Divine grace flow forth to Israel and the world.(John Skinnier, M. A.) No more consumed with hunger in the land What a tempting thing it is to try to put right some of the evils of the world by short and easy methods! To check some of the waste of natural wealth which keeps falling away. To take drastic measures for supplying the wants of the starving, and to cut, off occasion from those who misuse the privilege of plenty! To drain off vice into channels of virtue; to make the weary to lie down, the sufferer to rejoice, the ignorant to know, the oppressed to go free! We are tempted to think that it is, after all, only the involved complications of a novel, which a word of explanation and a mere handful of advice can rectify at once. And so, from time to time, people have descended, and do descend, into the arena of the world, whether sent by God directly, or by the prompting of their own heart. Reformers, states. men, theorists, philanthropists, each with their schemes of regeneration, amelioration, or progress. But, alas! a great number in the end find that they must retire, baffled by the almost superhuman wrong-headedness of mankind; and perhaps feel that an interference, well meant, has only complicated a problem which was sufficiently difficult before. Now, one of the most imposing panaceas for regenerating society (and rightly so) is education. Education means, I suppose, a drawing forth of the human powers by instruction, by training, by discipline, by rewards, by punishments, by fostering care; education, says the popular voice of utilitarian England, means furnishing a child with useful knowledge. "See the waste of material going on in the world, teach him how to use the advantages which come in his path; see the evils of intemperance and vice, show him the beauty of morality; see the political errors of former years, educate our masters in the thin principles of political history; see the squalor and penury and extravagance which is all around us, teach them thrift." "And what about religion?" Here we are told that there are so many hundred religious sects, and so much disputing, that it is a question which can be approached only with difficulty. It is one of the darkest blots in the religious world in England at the present day, that whereas the Church, the true mother yearning for all her children, is yet willing to give up the child to the mother that claims it, rather than that the child should be taught undenominationalism or no religion at all; there are found those who are not ashamed to betray their lack of true motherly feeling for the little ones of Christ's flock, by crying out in all the bitterness of sectarian partisanship, "Let the child be neither mine nor thine, divide it." Let it be taught no religion at all, let it be brought up on that desiccated, sterile, lifeless inanity known as undenominational religion — a supposed "residuum" of Christianity left from the contentious controversies of the sects, "to which no one has any particular objection," except the few who are allowed a separate treatment of unusual favour, and the Roman Catholics who are far too wise to be taken in by the offer of a stone which has not even the appearance of bread. The blasts of sectarian controversy ought to be kept away from the education question altogether. In the first place, is it right, is it fair, either to secular or to religious education, practically to divorce them, and to allow the child to see and draw his own conclusions from the fact that the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge are planted by different hands? The State ought not to be willing to part with religious teaching, and the Church ought not to be willing to part with secular teaching. They form one sacred responsibility. Again, is it fair that Sunday, the day of religious worship and real recreation, should be made a day of slavery to the child already overpowered by a burden of ever-increasing educational requirements? The question which we are being called upon to decide is really the question as between religious and irreligious education in the long run; between education and that which can only lay claim by sufferance to that name. It has its promise. It, too, says, "I will raise up unto you a plant of renown." A great future is in store for an instructed nation. "Ye shall no more be consumed with hunger"; material progress, intellectual progress, lie at the feet of an enlightened people; "ye shall not bear the shame of the heathen any more"; ye shall be emancipated from the swaddling bands of an effete superstition. Yes, but the response is inadequate; the uneducated passions rise up in rebellion against the educated reason. There are certain powers within which do not bow to reason. Vice in its rebellious fury, dishonesty, greed, idleness, these are not to be tied down with the two ropes of a mere intellectual education. God puts before the children in our schools a plant of renown — something higher than the example of a successful tradesman, or a provident saver, or a moral improver, or an example of self-help. God puts before each of our children — high and low, rich and poor — a plant of renown, a high and holy example of One who grew up before Him as a tender plant; who knew the sorrows and needs and joys of childhood, the trials and griefs of opening boyhood, the hardships and the triumphs of manhood, and the mystery of death Can you suppose for an instant the perfect man, Jesus Christ, dividing off His life into the sharp division of the religious and useful? His work was religious, and religion ran up into His work. It is an immense thing for children to have an enthusiasm, to read the lives of heroes, of inventors, of philanthropists, of self-elevated men. But of how far greater importance is it to have a life always put before them, in all its supernatural bearing, a life to which they may cling in prayer and praise, a life which shines through the pages of the Bible, as the sun through some painted window, mere lead and glass without it. There is a time when mere useful knowledge ceases to satisfy; there is a hunger for a comforter, for peace, for truth, for a Saviour, for a very present help in trouble. There is a hunger for God. Ah, how sad to think of our great philosopher, with his keen, magnificent intellect — no Atheist, as he himself has told us, because he had never been taught to believe in God, and therefore could not reject Him. With natural affections apparently stamped out of him, with a life written by his own hand, which has in it no mention of a mother's love; yet, strange to say, humanly speaking, sacrifices his life and health at the grave of one whom he loved with an affection which had satisfied his longing, only to leave the pang of a separation behind it, and leave him beating against the bars of death unillumined by a glimpse of eternity. Are we to send our children into the world where there is the famine of uncertainty and doubt and the shadow of death, with the hunger for peace and comfort and pardon unsatisfied; without showing them where alone the food can be found which will still the craving? If we part with our children, we are parting with the young blood of the Church. The Spartans were asked in a day of humiliation to hand over fifty children to be hostages to the enemy, and the answer was, We would rather give you a hundred of our best men. They may succeed where we have failed, they may conquer where we have been beaten, and live to retrieve our honour. So I would say, we would pinch and starve, if necessary, other things which seem almost necessary to the well-being of our parishes — our very beauty of worship itself, — but we will keep our children in our hands. When they are ours we know what to do with them. When we part with them, we part with them to that which is at the best a doubtful future, and then we are parting with the young blood of the Church. The teaching of the Church is something definite. Undenominational teaching, we fear, cannot grapple with the reproach, the famine, and the sin which leaps upon a fallen world.(Canon Newbolt.) People David, EzekielPlaces JerusalemTopics Animals, Beasts, Care, Choice, Clothe, Clothed, Curds, Death, Eat, Fat, Fatlings, Fattened, Fed, Feed, Feeding, Flock, Kill, Killed, Milk, Sheep, Slaughter, Wool, YourselvesOutline 1. A reproof of the shepherds7. God's judgment against them 11. His providence over his flock 20. The kingdom of Christ Dictionary of Bible Themes Ezekiel 34:3 7786 shepherd, king and leader Library The Church of ChristThis, then, is the meaning of the text; that God would make Jerusalem and the places round about his hill a blessing. I shall not, however, use it so this morning, but I shall use it in a more confined sense--or, perhaps, in a more enlarged sense--as it applies to the church of Jesus Christ, and to this particular church with which you and I stand connected. "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 … Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 1: 1855 That None Should Enter on a Place of Government who Practise not in Life what they have Learnt by Study. Discourse on the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd' and his one Flock' - Last Discourse at the Feast of Tabernacles. The Everlasting Covenant of the Spirit How to Make Use of Christ as the Life when the Soul is Dead as to Duty. The Shepherd of Our Souls. Covenanting Predicted in Prophecy. The Extent of Messiah's Spiritual Kingdom The Eighth Commandment That the Ruler Should Be, through Humility, a Companion of Good Livers, But, through the Zeal of Righteousness, Rigid against the vices of Evildoers. Covenanting Provided for in the Everlasting Covenant. Jesus Makes his First Disciples. Second Great Group of Parables. Ezekiel Links Ezekiel 34:3 NIVEzekiel 34:3 NLT Ezekiel 34:3 ESV Ezekiel 34:3 NASB Ezekiel 34:3 KJV Ezekiel 34:3 Bible Apps Ezekiel 34:3 Parallel Ezekiel 34:3 Biblia Paralela Ezekiel 34:3 Chinese Bible Ezekiel 34:3 French Bible Ezekiel 34:3 German Bible Ezekiel 34:3 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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