Ezekiel 11:17 - Homiletics.

Restoration and reunion.

I. THE DIVINE PRESENCE SECURES FUTURE SALVATION . The promise that God will be with his children in exile "as a Sanctuary" ( Ezekiel 11:16 ) is immediately followed by the assurance that he will bring them back to their land. It is not for nothing, then, that the poor exiles have the Sanctuary that is better than Solomon's splendid temple—God's very presence. If God is with us, the future is ours. God is not only a Stay and a Comfort today, he holds the key of tomorrow. Therefore God only needs to be a Sanctuary for "a little while." Our light affliction "endureth but for a moment." The presence of God should make the hardship of the moment doubly endurable, first because of its own immediate help, and. secondly on account of the cheering prospects it opens out. The light of such a future should throw back rays of comfort into the darkest experience.

II. THE FUTURE SALVATION IS TO BE A GREAT RFSTORATION . God will bring the exiles home again. This implies two things.

1 . Deliverance from evil. The Jews were scattered among heathen peoples whose alien temper and domineering spirit were sources of trouble; e.g. Daniel, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Sin plunges us into hurtful conditions. For wholesome discipline God's true people may be thrown into circumstances of persecution and peril. but this will not be forever. If the Son of God is with the three in the furnace, he will deliver them from it.

2 . Restoration to the old home. The exiles are to return to Canaan. Souls exiled from the kingdom of heaven by sin will, when pardoned and renewed (see verse 19), be restored to the privileges which were the birthright of all—for all have been children, and "of such is the kingdom of heaven." Further, those who have been thus far restored may well feel the need of a more perfect recovery to the home of God, since this earth is not heaven, and here the people of God are "pilgrims and strangers" seeking "another country, that is, a heavenly." God's perfect restoration includes the bringing of his children home to heaven.

III. THE GREAT RESTORATION INCLUDES PERFECT REUNION . The nation was scattered; the promise is that it shall be reunited. Sin divides; redemption unites. All evil has a disintegrating influence on national and family life. Its root is selfishness, and selfishness implies severance. But love is the source of the better life, and love is the closest bond of union.

1 . National reunion. So with the Jew. A nation will be safe against internal strife when Christian principles are followed.

2 . The reunion of mankind. War is a vast and hideous fruit of selfish sinful passions and narrow hardheartedness. Christianity, if triumphant, would kill war by miring the nations in brotherhood, thus bringing "peace on earth."

3 . The reunion of individuals. In restoration to God we learn patience, sympathy, and charity in regard to our fellow men.

4 . The reunion of families. This begins on earth in pure home love. But it will be completed in the great restoration of families when all can meet in the home beyond the grave.