301 THE PLANT OF RENOWN. EZEKIEL XXXiv. 29. "And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more." M ANY are the emblems by which the Lord that any one of them, or even all combined, can give us any adequate conception of His excellency, but because each very aptly illustrates some property for which He is conspicuous. Not a few of these emblems are taken from the vegetable kingdom, the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valley, the green fir tree, the grateful citron, the fat olive, have all been employed by the inspired penmen to illustrate the beauty, and fragrancy, and purity, and refreshing properties, and abundant grace of the Lord Jesus; and though they are but faint, yet are they lovely illustrations of these striking characteristics of the Saviour. The emblem used in my text is very expressive. Well aware of the insufficiency of all ordinary emblems to set forth the perfections of Him who is altogether lovely, the speaker has avoided selecting any particular ornament of the vegetable kingdom; yet has he used a term significant enough to concentrate the remarkable properties of all—a term that is singularly applicable to One of whom it is said, "They shall hang upon Him all the glory of His Father's house;" for speaking of Israel he represents God as saying, "I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more." But it may be asked, "Does this passage apply to the Lord Jesus?" An attentive consideration of the context will satisfy us that it does. The prophet represents himself, at the commencement of this chapter, as commissioned to prophesy against the shepherds of Israel for their grievous neglect of the duty which they had undertaken. The Lord then promises to raise up unto them a shepherd of a very opposite character, for He says in ver. 23, “I will set up one shepherd over them, and He shall feed them, even My servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd." Now since David, the celebrated monarch of Israel, had at this time been dead many hundred years; and since no other king of that name ever afterwards occupied the throne of Israel, it is clear that this passage must refer to some one of whom David was the type. And who could that be save the Lord Jesus Christ? He sustains the very offices that are here ascribed to the promised David, and which were sustained by the literal David for He is the shepherd of God's Israel; He is a prince among them; so that they shall not want, neither shall any make them afraid. He is also called by the name of David not by Ezekiel only, but by other prophets; and it was as his representative that David prophetically uttered many of his psalms. Now if this one shepherd were the Lord Jesus Christ, so, I conceive, must be the plant of renown; for though the Lord God changes the metaphor, He still alludes to the same person, Let me call your attention, first of all, to the appellation here given to our blessed Redeemer, namely, 66 a Plant of Renown." In other passages of Scripture the Lord Jesus is called a plant. Isaiah, for example, says of Him, "He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground ;" and in another place, "There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots." From these passages we may infer the perfect humanity of Christ, for He was to spring from one of the families of the earth, and to grow up precisely as human beings do. We may also infer that this Plant was to spring from the family of Jesse, that is, David; and from that family when in a low and depressed state, and as little likely, according to all outward appearance, to revive again, as a withered root growing out of a dry ground. And was not all this literally verified in the Lord Jesus? That He had a human nature, the shepherds who beheld Him, a helpless babe, lying in the manger at Bethlehem, and the wise men from the east who saw Him with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshipped Him, can sufficiently testify. That He sprang from the family of David, and from that, too, at a moment when its state was low, and when there was small prospect of its revival, is equally clear. The providence of God wonderfully brought it about, that the descent of Jesus from the house and lineage of David was established in a way that admitted not of controversy; for at the period of His birth an enrolment was made with a view to a taxation at a future period by the Roman Cæsar; and all, consequently, went up to be enrolled, each in his own. city. In consequence of this enrolment Joseph went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, to be taxed, or enrolled for taxation, with Mary his wife; and thus his descent from the stock. of David was indisputably established. But though Christ sprang from David, once as a majestic and noble cedar, His state and that of His mother and foster-parent was low and obscure. Joseph was simply an artisan—a carpenter,—and so extreme was his poverty that Mary on her purification, and on her presentation of her firstborn son, instead of offering the customary offering, a lamb, brought that which was to be offered only by the very poor, namely, a pair of turtle-doves or two young pigeons. And most justly may it be said of Christ that “He grew up as a tender plant, as a root out of a dry ground." He had no temporal advantages; and though He grew in wisdom, He acquired it, not at the feet of a Gamaliel; though He was in favour with man as well as with God, yet He won it not by His riches and His glory; for as He was born in a stable, so was He nurtured in a carpenter's workshop. But the Lord Jesus is not only called "a Plant," but "a Plant of Renown." This expression implies much. He is renowned in that He is the one great theme of prophecy. Of prophecy we are told that it is the testimony of Jesus, not that prophecy never touched upon other subjects, for it touched upon a great variety of subjects, but because Christ was its great and allengrossing theme. The very first prediction ever delivered, "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel ;" and the very last, “ Unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings," equally refer to Him; and were I to stay to enumerate all the intermediate links of this vast chain-were I to attempt to unfold all that Moses in the law, and David in the Psalms, and the prophets have written concerning Him, I should never make an end. How many of the minute events that took place at the birth of the Redeemer, and immediately after, were previously foretold! Isaiah predicted that He should be born of a virgin-Micah, that He should come. forth out of Bethlehem Ephratah-Hosea, that He should sojourn in Egypt-Malachi, that He should suddenly come to His temple, as He did at His presentation-Balaam, that His advent would be marked by the appearance of a star-Jacob, that His coming should just precede the abrogation of the regal and legislative authority in Judea; and all these things, and many others, came to pass precisely as they were foretold. Now if any human being had been the grand theme on which the most celebrated poets of every age had loved to descant, all would readily admit that this individual might very properly be X |