Ezekiel 6:14 - Homiletics.

The outstretched hand.

We usually picture to ourselves God's hand stretched out to help and heal. Here, however, we see a prediction of the same exertion of Divine energy for a contrary purpose—to smite and make desolate. The prediction suggests certain features of Divine chastisement.

I. IT IS OCCASIONAL . "I will stretch out my hand." This refers to one definite act, not to a perpetual treatment. "He will not always chide." "The mercy of the Lord endureth forever. " But his anger and punishing are limited to occasion and necessity. The very fact that men refuse to believe in the wrath of God bears testimony to his long suffering. In life-giving energy God works unceasingly, so that "in him we live, and move, and have our being." It is an eternal truth, not representing a sudden interposition, but the normal order of providence, that "underneath are the everlasting arms." Nevertheless, there are occasions when another mode of action is necessary, and the hand of God must smite in anger.

II. IT BELONGS TO THE FUTURE . God says he will stretch out his hand. It is not yet done. Future punishment will be far worse than any present sufferings of sin. It is impossible for us to measure that punishment by what we now experience, because sentence is not yet executed. But if the punishment is future, there is a possibility of its being averted, or of the sinner finding some means of escape. The warnings of Scripture are not written in order to fix our doom, but for the very opposite purpose, to drive us to the refuge of repentance and pardon.

III. IT IS FAR - REACHING . The hand stretched out signifies God's action at a distance. Though locally close to all, he is spiritually far off from those who have forgotten his presence, forsaken his way, and wandered into remote tracks of sin. Yet God can reach the most distant sinner. He met Jonah on the ocean. It is impossible to flee from God. Our utter neglect of God does not cause his utter neglect of us. The godless will be judged by God. This is a most merciful fact. To be abandoned by God would be worse than to be punished by him. Left alone to our self chosen late, we should perish in the outer darkness. The outstretched hand of God, which extends to the most remote, is their one ground of hope, even though at first it only reaches them to smite.

IV. IT IS WIDE IN ITS GRASP . It is not said that God's finger will touch a distant people, but that his hand will be outstretched. There is breadth and comprehensiveness in the image. It suggests a large sweep of Divine energy. There is to be a national judgment. The greatness of the number of guilty persons will be no safeguard in the day when God comes to judgment. There is, indeed, a sense of security in the consciousness of companionship. But if the many sin, the m.u,y must suffer. On the other hand, the wide grasp will reach those who seek to dude it by subtlety, singularity, and subterfuge. There is no possibility of escaping general punishment by a secret withdrawal from the scenes of ordinary evil to a peculiar region of our own wickedness.

V. IT IS POWERFUL . When God stretches out his hand he is evidently about to exert some mighty energy. He is awake and active in our midst. Then the fertile land may become a desert. This fearful manifestation of God will assuredly prove his present power. Woe to them who wait for such a proof before giving heed to God!