Ezekiel 33:24 - Homiletics

The right of the many.

The idea seems to be—though Abraham was but one man, yet he was promised Canaan; much more, then, must his descendants have a right to the land, since they now form a numerous nation. This plea is urged against the threat that the Jews shall be expelled from their land. It is not difficult to discover its hollowness. But it is propped up by common fallacies against which we need to be on our guard.

I. THE PLEA . It stands on two grounds.

1. That children have a right to their father ' s property . This is recognized in law and equity. If a man dies intestate, his family inherits his goods as a matter of course. The same is looked for in regard to the special privileges of Divine grace.

2. That numbers multiply rights . If Abraham had a right to the land, much more must a whole nation of his descendants hold that right. This democratic age glories in the rights of numbers. No doubt the people have rights as against privileged monopolists. Thus it may well be urged in an over-populous country, that the people have certain rights in the land, that there must be some limit at least to landlord monopoly. The same democratic feeling passes over to religion. Christ preached to the people, and "the common people heard him gladly" ( Mark 12:37 ). Hence the idea that privilege in religion is transferred from the monopolist to the multitude, from priest to people, from Israel to the world.

II. THE FALLACY .

1. The descendants of Abraham may not be his true children . It was a mistake to make much of descent from the great ancestor. That only condemned the more heavily the sins of his unworthy descendants. John the Baptist rebuked this mistake when he told the proud Jews that God was able to raise up children to Abraham from the very stones of the wilderness ( Matthew 3:9 ). St. Paul pointed out that not all who were of the stock of Israel could be accounted the true Israel of God ( Romans 9:6 ). They are Abraham's children who inherit Abraham's faith.

2. Where no right exists, the number of claimants will not create it . The right to Canaan was only conferred by God's grace, and only held on condition of faithfulness. It could be and it was withdrawn when that condition was broken. The number who claimed the right could not affect the question as to the desert of the people to retain it. No one merits the kingdom of heaven. If millions claim the privileges of the kingdom, the millions have no right to it. The number of sinners creates no fight to have the pardon of sin. If the whole world deserves destruction, the whole world may be destroyed. Its numbers will not save it. If we appeal to God's grace, that applies to a single individual. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without his notice. He has infinite love for the most obscure of his subjects. Therefore the multiplication of the number of the guilty will not arouse his pity in a new and special manner.

3. Each individual must seek individual grace . We cannot be made citizens of the kingdom of heaven en masse. We must go single file through the strait gate.

4. There is room in the grace of God for the greatest number . The multitude of applicants can never be too great for infinite bounty. The many can claim no rights. But the gospel is for them, not for the few. Christ came to give his life a ransom "for many" ( Matthew 20:28 ).