Ezekiel 20:45

All flesh shall see that I the Lord have kindled it.

A vision of Divine judgment

I. Divine judgment is a terrific fact. God has His ideas about conduct; has a care about His moral universe. His ideas, when uttered in what we solemnly call judgments, are appropriately uttered. The flood, the fire on the cities of the plain, the destruction of Jerusalem, the death of the Saviour, the ghastly mysteries of hell--all utter God’s judgments on evil.

II. Divine judgment wrought by human agency. Judges, and parliaments, and kings; the frown of friendship, the hiss of outraged conscience in the home, or the Church, or the State; the pursuit of the police detective, and the grip of the gaoler; the revolutions of nations, and the catastrophes of commerce, may all, however blindly, be human agents in Divine retribution.

III. Divine judgments marked by naturalness. Let a man recall his life, break it up into the seven ages Shakespeare depicts, and he will find the resultant of the sins of each age in the retribution he has to suffer. The sinner finds, as has been strikingly said, that just as by abusing the body he brings a curse on it, so by abusing the soul.

IV. Divine judgment is very comprehensive in its influence. It is in accordance with historic facts, philosophic theory, and moral rectitude, that man should bring blessing or evil upon his fellow man. This fact, first, illustrates the extent of human influence; second, suggests the accountability of man to man for his moral conduct.

V. Divine judgment benevolent in its purposes.

1. The revolutions of life are under Divine control.

2. The result of these revolutions will be the victory of righteousness.

All the processes of repentance and doubt, of spiritual and of mental struggle, are designed by God to lead not to perpetual anarchy and revolt, but the rest and peace of submission to Christ. (Urijah R. Thomas.)