Ezekiel 36:8-9 - Homiletics

Returning prosperity.

I. RESTORATION OF CHARACTER BRINGS A RETURN OF PROSPERITY . During the absence of the captives in Babylon their land fell into decay. The mountains which had been carefully terraced for vines were neglected, just as they are today on the hills about Jerusalem, where rows of stones mark the site of the ancient terraces. Sin ultimately ruins the outer as well as the inner man, for the prosperity of the wicked is but temporary, and though it may extend through an individual lifetime, it must break down during the course of the longer life of a nation. But on the other hand, restoration to God undoes the ruin of the outer life. This too may be a slow process. The individual man who has beggared himself with sinful extravagance may never become rich; but the nation that has returned to better ways of living will in time reap the good results of its renovation of character even on earth. When we think not only of external prosperity, but of inward blessedness, the result is seen sooner, and it is found in every individual soul that is pardoned and renewed. No one need despair of his present desolation. Repentance renews the face of the penitent's whole life.

II. This RETURN OF PROSPERITY IS CAUSED BY A RETURN OF GOD . "For behold I am with you, and I will turn unto you." God had abandoned the guilty land. Therefore a blight had fallen upon it. If God deserts a man, nothing can really prosper with him. He may still coin gold in his business, but it will be a curse to him. When God smiles upon a man's life he brings, not necessarily wealth , but certainly welfare . It would be well for everybody to ask himself—Is my business such that I dare ask God into it? Can I regard my workshop as a temple, or my work as a sacrifice? For these are the conditions on which true prosperity depends, because they are the conditions of God's gracious help.

III. THE RETURN OF GOD IS ACCOMPANIED BY A REVIVAL OF HUMAN ACTIVITY . "And ye shall be tilled and sown." That work will not be done directly by God, nor will it be accomplished by the unseen hands of angel-husbandmen. Men must till and sow. God's blessing does not dispense with man's labor. Assuredly it is not an excuse for human idleness. On the contrary, it is the inspiration of the highest activity. God blesses by stirring men up to wise and earnest work. St. Paul teaches us that God gives the increase after man's sowing and watering ( 1 Corinthians 3:6 ). But Ezekiel shows that God's great work does not only follow man's smaller toil; it precedes that toil, and is the spring from which the energy for it proceeds. We are first told that God will turn unto his people, and not till after this is it said, "And ye shall be tilled and sown." This is the happiest way of giving prosperity. If all the glory is God's, still the joy of service is man's. The same is true of spiritual prosperity. If we would reap a harvest in Christian work, we must not only bring it to God and ask his blessing upon it; we must first of all seek his presence m it, that it may be his work from the first. Then he will be the Inspiration of his servants' activity. We shall be able to till and sow just because God is with us. The glorious prosperity will come from God as a fruit of his gracious benediction, and it will come through us as the human instruments who are called by God like laborers to work in his vineyard.