Beholding and Declaring

‘Son of man, behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart upon all that I shall shew thee; for to the intent that I might shew them unto thee art thou brought hither: declare all that thou seest to the house of Israel.’— Ezek. xl. 4.
WHETHER the mysterious Measurer was a created angel or the divine Angel of the Covenant, ‘we cannot tell.’1 But the message which he here gives to Ezekiel seems to illustrate the work of the Holy Spirit, whose office it is to take both the words and the things of Christ and shew them unto us.2 ‘Eye hath not seen,’ yet ‘behold with thine eyes; ‘ ‘nor ear heard,’ yet ‘hear with thine ears;’ * neither have entered into the heart of man,’ * yet ‘set thine heart upon all that I shall show thee.’ For ‘God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit.’3 To Ezekiel should be shown the wonderful temple, with its measurements, its laws, and its mystical services. To us shall be revealed the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him,5 and (as if to let the ladder down a step lower) ‘for him that waiteth for Him.” Afterward, he beheld ‘the glory of the God of Israel,’ and ‘he heard Him speaking unto’ him.7 And we, by the Spirit, are to behold the glory of the Lord,8 and to ‘hear His voice’ calling us by name.3
This would seem to be all promise and privilege, rather than commandment; something with which we have nothing at all to do but to wait and see if it comes! Nay! ‘Behold with thine eyes.’ ‘Go forth and bshold ’10 your King! And when we accept the seemingly impossible command, the Spirit will open our eyes that we may see. ‘Hear with thine ears !’11 And with (not even after) the obedient inclination of the ear, the still small voice will out-ring not only ‘earth’s drowsy chime,’ but all other voices. He says: ‘They shall hear My

1 Matt. xxi. 27. 2 John xiv. 26; ib. xvi. 15. 8 1 Cor. ii. 9.
* 1 Cor. ii. 10. 6 1 Cor. ii. g. • Isa. Ixiv. 4.
* Ezek. xliii. 1, 2 ; ib. xliii. 6. 82 Cor. iii. 18.
* John x. 3. 10 Cant. iii. 11. 11 Iii. Iv. 3.

voice ;’1 ‘they shall know in that day that I am He that doth speak.’2 For the Spirit will unstop the ears of the deaf. When He thus makes us behold and hear, He will finish the work and enable us to ‘set’ our wandering hearts upon all that He will show us. But the responsibility will still be ours to follow the enabling.
It will act and react. The more we set our hearts the more He will show us; and the more He shows us, the more our hearts will surely there be fixed.
‘All that I shall shew thee.’ What a vista of revelation opens before us !’ He shall take of Mine and shall shew it unto you,”—My love, My grace, My wisdom, My acts, My covenant, My goodness, My glory! He ‘will shew thee the truth.’ * He ‘will shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.’ 6 ‘He will shew you things to come.” Do we not feel like little children, wondering, in delighted expectation, what it is that we are going to see?
Like little children, too, we have been brought hither, on purpose that He may show us all this. ‘Hither,’ to the very place, the very point, where we now are. We did not come of ourselves; we were ‘brought.’ Very likely we should have gone to some other place, and aimed at some other point. But He brought us hither with gracious intent of revelation. It may have been a stiff climb up the ‘very high mountain ;” but who minds that, if they really believe in the promised view?

1 John X. 16. 2 Isa. lii. 6. 3 John xvi. 15.
* Ps, xvii. 7; ib, ciii. 7; ib. xxv. 14 ; Ex. xxxiii. 18, 19 ; Dan. xi. 2r 5 Jer, xxxiii. 3. 6 John xvi. 13. ^ Ezek. xl. 2.

As commands always lead up to privileges, so privileges again lead on to further commands. Not for ourselves alone are we to ‘see’ and ‘ hear.’ We are to declare all that we see.1 When we have seen the house, we are to ‘ shew the house.” When we have seen the Saviour, we are to make known abroad the saying which was told us concerning Him.3 When we have seen the King, weare to ‘ tell it out’ that He reigneth. ‘Hear with thine ears, and go . . . and speak.’* ‘What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light.’5
Do not let us begin quibbling about how much we can tell, or how much we ought to tell. Let us very simply and very humbly bow before this ‘ His commandment,’ and ask Him to enable us to obey it exactly as He means us to obey it, neither losing the spirit in the letter nor ignoring the letter in the spirit.*

Lord, speak to me, that I may speak
In living echoes of Thy tone;
As thou hast sought, so let me seek

Thy erring children, lost and lone.
Oh teach me, Lord, that I may teach
The precious things Thou dost impart;

And wing my words that they may reach
The hidden depths of many a heart.

Oh fill me with Thy fulness, Lord,
Until my very heart o’erflow,
In kindling thought and glowing word,

Thy love to tell, Thy praise to show.

1 I John i. 3. 2 Ezek. xliii. 10. ‘ Luke ii. IV.
4 Ezek. iii. 10, 11. ^ Matt. x. 27. « 2 Cor. iw. 15.