Ezekiel 47:8 Then said he to me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea… Though manhood seems to be a dry place, a salt and barren land, yet in the case of this Man it yields rivers of water, — numberless streams, abounding with refreshment. I. NATURE'S DROUGHT DOES NOT HINDER CHRIST'S COMING TO MEN. 1. He came into the dry place of a fallen, ruined, rebellious world. 2. He comes to men personally, notwithstanding their being without strength, without righteousness, without desire, without life. 3. He flows within us in rivers of grace, though the old nature continues to be a dry and parched land. 4. He continues the inflowing of His grace till He perfects us, and this He does though decay of nature, failure, and fickleness prove us to be as a dry place. III. NATURE'S DROUGHT ENHANCES THE PRECIOUSNESS OF CHRIST. 1. He is the more quickly discovered; as rivers would be in a desert. 2. He is the more highly valued; as water in a torrid climate. 3. He is the more largely used; as streams in a burning wilderness. 4. He is the more surely known to be the gift of God's grace. How else came He to be in so dry a place? Those who are most devoid of merit are the more clear as to God's grace. 5. He is the more gratefully extolled. Men sing of rivers which flow through dreary wastes. III. NATURE'S DROUGHT IS MOST EFFECTUALLY REMOVED BY CHRIST. Rivers change the appearance and character of a dry place. By our Lord Jesus appearing in our manhood as Emmanuel, God with us, — 1. Our despair is cheered away. 2. Our sinfulness is purged. 3. Our nature is renewed. 4. Our barrenness is removed. 5. Our trials are overcome. 6. Our fallen condition is changed to glory. IV. OUR OWN SENSE OF DROUGHT SHOULD LEAD US THE MORE HOPEFULLY TO APPLY TO CHRIST. He is rivers of water in a dry place. The dry place is His sphere of action. Nature's want is the platform for the display of grace. 1. This is implied in our Lord's offices. A Saviour for sinners. A Priest who can have compassion on the ignorant, etc. 2. This is remembered in His great qualifications. Rivers, because the place is so dry. Full of grace and truth, because we are so sinful and false. Mighty to save, because we are so lost, etc. 3. This is manifested by the persons to whom He comes. Not many great or mighty are chosen. "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." He calls "the chief of sinners." In every case the rivers of love flow into a dry place. 4. This is clear from the object which He aimed at, namely, the glory of God, and the making known of the riches of His grace. This can be best accomplished by working salvation where there is no apparent likelihood of it, or, in other words, causing rivers to water dry places. ( C. H. Spurgeon.) Parallel Verses KJV: Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed. |
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