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Morning and Evening

July 7, Evening

C. H. Spurgeon · Modern retelling

"When I passed by thee, I said unto thee, Live." — Ezekiel 16:6 · KJV

Saved one, gratefully consider this mandate of mercy. Note that this decree of God is majestic. In our text we see a sinner with nothing in him but sin, expecting nothing but wrath; but the eternal Lord passes by in His glory, He looks, He pauses, and He pronounces the single but royal word, "Live." There speaks a God! Who but He could venture thus to deal with life, and dispense it with a single syllable? Again, this decree is manifold. When He says "Live," it includes many things. Here is judicial life: the sinner is ready to be condemned, but the mighty One says, "Live," and he rises pardoned and absolved. It is spiritual life: we knew not Jesus — our eyes could not see Christ, our ears could not hear His voice — Yahweh said, "Live," and we were quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. Moreover, it includes glory-life, which is the perfection of spiritual life. "I said unto thee, Live"; and that word rolls on through all the years of time, till death comes; and in the midst of the shadows of death, the Lord's voice is still heard, "Live!" In the morning of the resurrection it is that same voice, echoed by the archangel, "Live"; and as holy spirits rise to heaven, to be blessed forever in the glory of their God, it is by the power of this same word, "Live." Note again that it is an irresistible mandate. Saul of Tarsus is on the road to Damascus to arrest the saints of the living God; a voice is heard from heaven, and a light seen above the brightness of the sun, and Saul is crying out, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" This mandate is a mandate of free grace. When sinners are saved, it is only and solely because God will do it, to magnify His free, unpurchased, unsought grace. Christians, see your position — debtors to grace; show your gratitude by earnest, Christlike lives, and, as God has bidden you live, see to it that you live in earnest.