Ezekiel 46:16-17 - Homiletics

The son and the servant.

The Jewish Law made careful provision to prevent the alienation of land from the families to which it originally belonged. The son might inherit permanently; but the servant could only receive a gift of land for a time, which would cease at the year of jubilee. Here was a marked distinction between the privileges of sonship and those of service. Now St. Paul draws attention to this distinction from another point of view, when contrasting, the gospel with the Law. There is a religion of worship, and one of service.

I. THE LIFE OF WORSHIP HAS A PERMANENT INHERITANCE . This is the case with the spiritual experience of Christianity.

1. The Christian is a son .

"The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him." God makes his counsels known to true Christians.

2. The son ' s inheritance is permanent .

II. THE LIFE OF SERVITUDE HAS BUT TEMPORARY PRIVILEGES .

1. The promises of the Mosaic religion were for this world, as Bishop Warburton proved with redundancy of argument, in his famous book on the ' Divine Legation of Moses' Therefore the Jew stood below the Christian in regard to his prospects of future good. But there are far lower lives of servitude than that of the pious Jew.

2. Christ spoke of the slavery of sin ( John 8:34 ). Now, this degraded servitude has its rewards. Sin gives gifts to its slaves. But they are not enduring possessions.

3. The bondage of worldliness holds many men. This thraldom promises great rewards. Riches and pleasures come in its train. The chains are forged of gold, and at first the weight of them is not felt. But the rewards of sin and worldliness are of brief duration. Their fruits may be sweet at first, but the after-taste of them is unendurably bitter. Even if no disappointment is met on earth, the worldly inheritance must be resigned at death. The slave of sin and the world can carry none of his treasures with him to the unseen future.