Let us turn again to God's Word
in the portion we were reading, Ezekiel chapter 20. And I want to direct with the
Lord's help your attention to the 37th verse. Here then in
Ezekiel 20.37. And I will cause you to pass
under the rod and I will bring you into the
bonds of the covenant. And I will cause you to pass
under the rod, and I will bring you into the bonds of the covenant. On Thursday evening we were looking
at words in the Psalm, Psalm 74 and verse 9, and that lament
we see not our signs, how God had visited a terrible judgment
upon his ancient covenant people, the children of Israel, in the
matter of the Babylonian captivity. Jerusalem in ruins, the temple
raised to the ground. Where were the signs of God's
favor, God's blessing? Well, we looked at that verse
and made reference, of course, to the context of the psalm in
general. How the Psalmist there goes on
to plead the Covenant, remember at verse 20, have respect unto
the Covenant. It's the prayer of Asa, have
respect unto the Covenant. For the dark places of the earth
are full of the habitations of cruelty, nor the comfort that
is to be found in. in God's covenants when all around
seems to be nothing but destruction and and desolation and so I felt
somewhat drawn to the words that I've just read this morning for
us to consider for a while as our text here in Ezekiel chapter
20 and verse 37 God says and I will cause you to pass under
the rots and I will bring you into the bonds of the Covenant. And the Covenant being spoken
of is that great Covenant, the Covenant of Grace, that Covenant
that concerns the Lord Jesus Christ, who himself is the mediator,
the surety of the Covenant, and that great salvation that he
has accomplished. We have mention of the rod, and
isn't that one of the names really that's given to our Lord Jesus
Christ? in the 110th Psalm, which is
clearly Messianic. We read there in the second verse,
"...the Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion. Rule thou in the midst of thine
enemies, thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power."
Oh, the Lord sending that rod of His strength out of Zion,
isn't that the Lord Jesus? Of course, he's spoken of also
by the Prophet Isaiah. There shall come forth a rod
out of the stem of Jesse, we're told, and a branch shall spring
out of his roots. Who is that rod? Who is that
branch? It is the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we see here in
the word that I've read this morning for our text, a reference
to the Savior, a promise really, of Him who is the great mediator
of that covenant of grace I will cause you to pass under the rods
and I will bring you into the bones of the covenant. We're told that in Israel when
they counted their sheep Remember, they must give tithes of all
their possessions unto the Lord. When they counted the sheep for
tithing, the shepherd would strike and mark them, so they knew which
were their own sheep. We have that verse back in Leviticus
27 and verse 32. where we have these words, concerning
the tithe of the herd or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth
under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord. Leviticus 27 32 and surely there
is some allusion to that particular commandment that God had given
to his people concerning the tithe of the herd or of the flock
even of whatsoever passeth under the rod the tenth shall be holy
unto the Lord by the rod they would mark the sheep and then
they would ascertain what was to be the time, the Lord's own
possession. And what was true with regards
to the manner in which they would handle their flocks also applies
to the ways of the Lord and his people. The Lord's knoweth them
that are his. Are they not marked, as it were,
The number of them which were sealed, we read in the Revelation,
was 144,000. And of course, the number is
significant. It's a symbolic number. And it's
12 times 12. We think of the 12 patriarchs
of the Old Testament, the 12 apostles of the New Testament.
It's the people of God, from Old Testament to New Testament
times, all through the Day of Grace, a particular, a specific
people. 144,000, and they're all sealed,
they're all, as it were, those who have passed under the rod,
they're those who are embraced in that covenant. And now, we
see the Lord here, in the chapter that we read, or that portion
of the chapter that we read, as the one who separates these
people to himself. Verse 33, As I live, saith the
Lord God, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched-out
arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you, and I will
bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the
countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with
a stretched-out arm, and with fury poured out. How God does
truly gather His people to himself, again at verse 38 he says I will
purge out from among you the rebels and them that transgress
against me I will bring them forth out of the country where
they sojourn and they shall not enter into the land of Israel
and ye shall know that I am the Lord well you see they are not
all Israel they are not of Israel there even there was ever that
true spiritual remnant in the midst of God's ancient covenant
people and we've looked many a time at that 34th chapter here
in Ezekiel's book where God through his servant the prophet is rebuking
the the false shepherds how the so many of the priests and the
prophets and the princes who were to be the shepherds of God's
ancient people, how they failed so miserably, and how God, in
that 34th chapter, promises that He will indeed gather His people. There at verse 11, Thus saith
the Lord God, Behold, I, even I, will both surge my sheep.
and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his
flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered,
so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of
all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark
day. Oh, the Lord God Himself will
draw these people, bring them to Himself. Verse 16 of that
chapter, I will seek out that which was lost, and bring again
that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken,
and will strengthen that which was sick, and I will destroy
the fat and the strong, I will lead them with judgment. And
as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord God, behold, I
judge between cattle and cattle between the rams and the goats. or the promises that God is making.
I will set up one shepherd over them, he says, and he shall feed
them. Even my servant David, he shall
feed them. And he shall be their shepherd.
And I, the Lord, will be their God. And my servant David, a
prince among them, I, the Lord, have spoken it. And that David,
of course, who is being spoken of, is not King David, but David's
greatest son. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. Israel,
of course, are typical people, as we know. A type of those who
are the true people of God, the sheep of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And now He calleth His own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. He says, My sheep hear My voice,
and I know them. And they follow Me, and I give
unto them everlasting life, and they shall never perish. Well,
the promise that we have here in our text this morning, I will
cause you to pass under the rock, says God, and I will bring you
into the bounds of the covenant. it's a promise surely that applies
to God's children even today in the day of grace the Lord
has his ways and means whereby he brings his people to himself
and so I want to try to say something with regards to this bond of
the covenant what it means to experience coming into this covenant
first of all what are we to understand by the bond or more particularly
What is it not? What is it not? Well, in Genesis
chapter 17 and verse 11 we read how circumcision is spoken of
there as a token of the covenant that God made with Abraham. In the Old Testament that's how
circumcision is spoken of. It's a token of the covenant. But it is not the bond of the
covenant. Some who come into this verse would say that the
bond of the covenant in the Old Testament was circumcision. And
then they go over and they say in the New Testament the bond
of the covenant is baptism. Well, the bond of the covenant
certainly is not circumcision, nor is it baptism. but neither is the bond of the
covenant faith or repentance. We have to remember that the
covenant of grace is a unilateral covenant. It's rooted really in that covenant
that is made between the three persons in the Godhead, Father,
Son and Holy Ghost, the covenant of redemption. What is the bond of the covenant
here? But if we look at the context, surely it is God. It's God's will. It's God's work. Look at the context. Time and
again in the verses around the text we see the emphasis upon
what God himself will do. Verse 33, As I live, saith the
Lord God, surely with a mighty hand and with a stretched out
arm and with fury poured out will I rule over you and I will
bring you out from the people and will gather you out of the
countries wherein you are scattered with a mighty hand and with a
stretched out arm and with fury poured out and I will bring you
into the wilderness of the people and there will I plead with you
face to face like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness
of the land of Egypt. So will I plead with you, saith
the Lord God, and I will cause you to pass under the rod, and
I will bring you into the bonds of the covenant." All the emphasis
here, so much upon that sovereign will of God. And He says it time
and again, I will bring you out and I will bring you into the
wilderness. There will I plead with you.
I will cause you to pass under the rod." And you know, when
we look at this verse, this 37th verse, are there not parallel
statements here? The first clause answers to the
second clause and vice versa. It's one and the same thing that
is being spoken of. when God causes his people to
pass under the rod by that means he is bringing them into the
bond of his covenant. And there is that that is so
sure and so certain when God speaks in this fashion. Remember how the covenant is
spoken of in the book of the prophet Isaiah as the sure mercies
of David. I will make an everlasting covenant
with you, says God there in Isaiah 55. I will make an everlasting
covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Where is the bond? It's that
sovereign decree of God, His goodwill and pleasure. And it's
that, of course, that was such a great comfort to David as he
comes to the end of his days there in 2 Samuel 23, although
my house be not so with God. He hath made with me an everlasting
covenant ordered in all things and sure. This is all my salvation
and all my desire. He looks at his own household
and all that he sees there and what troubles David knew in his
own household. The rebellion, of course, of
his own son Absalom. All those things are transpired.
It was the consequences in many ways of David's own father. And
he saw so much to trouble him. Although my house be not so with
God. Although we make it not to grow.
It's not as he would wish it to be. But here is his comfort. the everlasting covenant, and
it's ordered. It's ordered in all things and
sure. It's all His salvation, He says. It's all His desire. He has to
look to the Lord God Himself. Here then we see what the bond
is. It's what God's. It's what God
decrees. The will of God. And of course
we see it in that 16th chapter. Remember the long 16th chapter
that we have here in this prophecy. And what does God say concerning
the covenant there at the end, verse 62? I will establish my
covenant with thee, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. God says, I will, and thou shalt. That's the language of the Covenant.
I will, thou shalt, all the sovereignty of God. And of course it's what
the Apostle speaks of so plainly there in that great opening chapter
of the Ephesian Epistle, where he defines to us something of
the Gospel. That Gospel that involves all
the persons in the Godhead, the great purpose of the Father in
predestination, having predestinated us, he says, unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good
pleasure of his will. It's all according to the good
pleasure of his will. There in Ephesians 1, the sovereignty
of the Father in the great purpose of salvation. and the people
that he has committed to the Son and then Paul goes on to
speak of that redemption that was accomplished by the Lord
Jesus Christ and then he goes on again to speak of that sealing
of the Spirit Father, Son and Holy Ghost all
involved in the salvation of sinners it's the goodwill and
pleasure of God and then the work how that work that was purposed
from before the foundation of the world is executed and accomplished
here upon the earth according to God's ancient appointments
when the fullness of the time was come God sent forth his son
made of a woman made under the law or the precise moment that
God had decreed the fullness of the time remember there in
Galatians 4.4 we have we have those two definite articles when
the fullness of the time was come oh that was a time that
God had purposed and so it was that Christ came and what did
Christ do he accomplished all that work that the Father had
committed to him He can come to the end of his life and he
can pray there in that 17th chapter of John. I have glorified thee
on the earth. I have finished the work that
thou gavest me to do. All salvation is accomplished
in the covenant that's being spoken of here in our text this
morning. The bond of the covenant. It's
God, it's the will of God, it's the work of God. Christ has finished the transgression,
made an end of sin, made reconciliation for iniquity. He's brought in
everlasting righteousness. He's sealed the vision and the
prophecy. He's the One, the Anointed, the
Holy One. He's done all the work. He's
done all that work. And of course, that work that
has been purposed by the Father and now procured by the Son.
accomplished by Him, it must be applied. And so it is applied. It's the gracious work of the
Spirit, is it not? A great work of regeneration,
the sinner born again. If he's to know anything of the
grace of God, he's dead in trespasses and sins. All salvation is of
the Lord, in its application as it is in its accomplishment. its redemption accomplished and
applies and do it in apply to the true Israel of God those
that the Lord calls you see gathers to himself as scattered but he
draws them to himself he brings them to himself They are born
again of the Spirit of God. They are the true Israel. He
is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision
which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew which is one
inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart. In the Spirit,
says Paul, and not in the letter. Oh, this man who was once such
a zealot, a pharisee, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, could boast of
his circumcision, but he sees that What is circumcision? It's not the bond of the covenant.
No, it's the gracious work of the Spirit in regeneration, bringing
that sinner to an experience of the grace of God. I will cause
you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond
of the covenant. It's deliverance. Look at the
margin. If you have a margin, you'll
see that there is an alternative rendering. in the margin bond
could be rendered delivering. The delivering of the covenant. I will bring you into the delivering
of the covenant. Who is the deliverer? Why that
one who is spoken of previously as the rods? Christ is the Deliverer. He is the mediator of the New
Covenant. He is the surety of the New Covenant. Romans 11 and verse 26 we're
told, "...there shall come out of Zion the Deliverer." Christ has come to deliver the
sinner. Deliver him from all the guilt
of his transgression. to accomplish salvation for his
soul by paying that great debt that was owed to the Holy Lord
of God. How solemn it is. Christ is the
one who has come, he's born that rod of God's wrath in his own
person. That is what the Lord Jesus Christ
has done. He has died. And he has died
in the sinner's place, the just for the unjust, to bring that
sinner to God. And there is deliverance there.
Those words that we have in 2nd Corinthians, the opening chapter,
Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver, in
whom we trust that He will yet deliver us. There is deliverance
past, present, future. Oh, there's a full remission,
the pardon of all sins in the Lord Jesus Christ. What a wonder
is that blessed work that the Lord is pleased to accomplish
then in the souls of His people. There's deliverance here, but as I've intimated, it's really
the experience, it's coming into the experience of this great
salvation that is in him who is the mediator of that covenant
of grace, the deliverer of his people. And interestingly, in
commenting on this particular verse, Dr. John Gill says with
regards to the bonds, he understands it in terms of the discipline
of the covenant. the discipline of the covenant
and I suppose the reason why he understands it that way is
because he is contrasting and relating the two clauses of the
verse passing under the rod, you see equivalent to being brought
into the bonds of the covenant passing under the rod, that's
a reference surely to discipline You spare the rod, you spoil
the child. The child needs to be disciplined.
And the Lord is that one, of course, who does discipline his
people in bringing them to himself. Where the rod is, there, of course,
is to be a smarting. It's painful to receive the rod,
to be punished in that way. corporal punishment is not pleasant. And yet this is how the Lord
deals with His people, when He will bring them to Himself. He
has to bring them to that place of the conviction of sin. He makes their consciences too
smart. Certainly the Prophet Jeremiah
knew something of those experiences. And he writes there in the Lamentations,
In chapter 3, I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod
of his wrath, he says. I am the man who has been afflicted
by the rod of his wrath. The law worketh wrath, says the
Apostle Paul. That is the purpose of the law.
That's what it is. It's administration of condemnation. It's the ministration of death.
There is a work to be accomplished in, in the soul of the sinner,
to bring that sinner to the realization of where he is and what he is
before God. God takes account of our sins,
and as we saw reading through the chapter, how God repeatedly
took account of the sins of his people when they were there in
Egypt. Were they not following the ways
of the Egyptians? Were they not idolaters? And then when he brings them
out of Egypt, in spite of all their provocation and all their
sin, he deals with them. And he brings them to himself
and he takes them into the wilderness, brings them to Sinai and enters
into Covenant. But then immediately, they are
again running after idols with the golden car. oh how faithless they are even
when God is merciful because Moses pleads for them and God
is pleased to pardon them and he brings them to the very borders
of the promised land but then again how faithless they are
and so we read of the wilderness wanderings and God having to
deal with them time and again they would return they would
return to Egypt they don't like the way in which God is dealing
with them and then ultimately He brings them into the land
but even when they are settled in the land how quickly they
go after the idols of all the nations round about them and we read the chapter through
or much of the chapter through and we see how they were a rebellious
people but the Lord deals with His people He shows them themselves,
He shows them their sins That's the ministry of the law, it's
a ministry of condemnation. It only brings death into the
soul of the sinner. But the remarkable thing, of
course, is the way in which that old covenant, which is expressed
in terms of law, serves the new covenant. And Paul brings it
out so plainly in Galatians chapter 3. remarkable epistle to the Galatians. What does Paul say there in Galatians
3? In verse 17 he speaks of the priority
of the gospel over the law. Verse 17 of chapter 3, This I
say that the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ,
the law, which was 430 years after, cannot disannul that it
should make the promise of non-effect. He's speaking, you see, of the
promise that God gave to Abraham, which was 430 years before the
giving of the Lord at Mount Sinai. And that covenant centers, of course, in Abraham's
seed. the Lord Jesus Christ, spoken of here in Galatians 3.16,
to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not
unto seeds as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed which
is Christ. Oh Isaac, a remarkable type of
Christ, a promised seed. And then he goes on as we were
saying, that the covenant that was confirmed before of God in
Christ, the law which was 430 years after, cannot disannul,
that it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance
be of the law, it is no more of promise, but God gave it to
Abraham by promise. Wherefore then serveth the law?
It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come. to
whom the promise was made and it was ordained by angels in
the hand of a mediator what's the purpose of the law? well
he goes on at verse 24 the law was our schoolmaster to bring
us on to Christ that we might be justified by faith the priority
the preeminence of the gospel and the law serving the gospel
though we know that whatsoever things the law saith, it saith
to them who are under the law says Paul to the Romans that
every mouth may be stopped and all the world become guilty before
God by the law is the knowledge of
seeing that's the ministry of the law when God deals with that sinner
in terms of his sins and shows the man himself and causes him
to feel something of that wrath in his conscience the law worketh
wrath says Paul I will cause you to pass under
the wrath and by this means God brings his people into that blessing
of the Covenant. The Lord, you see, He knows the
end from the beginning. He has thoughts of peace towards
His people, not of evil. He will give them an expected
end. And He will bring them unto Himself. But besides dealing with His
people in that way at the outset, the conviction of sin, that realization that we can
do nothing for ourselves, nothing to save ourselves. Our God also,
as we're in that covenant, will deal with us now as his sons. And whom the Lord loveth, of
course, he scourgeth and trieth every son whom he receiveth. how He dealt with Israel when
they rebelled against Him. As the Psalmist says, I will
visit their transgressions with the rod and their iniquity with
stripes, God says. He'll take vengeance on all their
inventions, their foolish ways. He pleads with His people. And
we see it here in the context, I will bring you into the wilderness,
He says at verse 5. there will I plead with you face
to face like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness
of the land of Egypt so will I plead with you saith the Lord
God oh He pleads with His people He deals with His people He brings them into the wilderness
what does He say there in Hosea 2 and verse 14 I will allow her
and bring her into the wilderness and will speak comfortably unto. Ultimately God has that gracious
end in view even when he's dealing with his people, pleading against
them, bringing conviction into their soul, chasing them for
their sins. In all these things we see the
Lord causing them to see the great
blessings really that are are in the covenant, they're all
in Him, they're all in the Lord Jesus Christ nothing of self
here the sinner continually being brought to the end of himself we know that for the present no chastening
seem to be joyous but grievous but there's a nevertheless isn't
there? nevertheless afterwards There's the peaceable fruit of
righteousness of them who are exercised. The Lord will have
his people exercised in all these things. All God deals in the way then
of affliction, bringing his people under that rod. But what do those
corrections and those chastenings do? Well, afflictions make us
see what else would escape our sight. How very foul and dim
are we in God. how pure and bright all we see
something of the goodness of God as those words aren't there
that we have in Jeremiah 2 I remember these says the kindness of thy
youth the love of thine espousals when they went just after me
in the wilderness in the land that was not sold and this is
what we have here really as God is pleased to deal with these
people who'd rebelled so many times these typical people, the
children of Israel is there not something for us
to learn from the Lord's dealings with them are they not set before us as
examples whatever things written aforetime written for our learning
we're told that we through through patience or endurance and comfort
of the scriptures might have hope or that the Lord would cause
us then to pass under that rod to bear those marks that we are
truly the children of God because he doesn't leave us to ourselves
he comes and he deals with us and time and again he will bring
us into this blessed experience of His grace in the covenant
of His grace I will cause you, He says, to pass under the rod
and I will bring you into the bonds of the covenant or that
we might know something of it we're going to sing just now
as our concluding hymn 921 and I think in particular of what we read there in the third verse of that hymn
its bonds shall never break though earth's old columns bow the strong
the tempted and the weak are one in Jesus now or that we might
know then something of what's spoken of here by the prophet
concerning that covenant ordered in all things ensured, and that
the Lord might bring us into the blessed experience of it.
May the Lord be pleased to bless to us his word.