Dislike to Ministerial Fidelity.

 

Dislike to Ministerial Fidelity.

xxx. 9–11. This is a rebellious people, &c.

Many wish to be deceived. They have made truth their enemy and shrink from the light, desiring present relief and peace, even at the expense of future happiness. Many a man does not like to be told the truth about his business or his health. The Jews did not like to be told the truth about their national prospects. The incessant reference of the prophets to the holiness of God was offensive to them, and they tried to silence their faithful monitors. Faithful ministers of Christ meet with the same reception from many of their hearers. These cannot bear to have their consciences roused, their fears alarmed, and their minds rendered uneasy.

I. The truths which are usually obnoxious to such persons. The spirituality and unbending strictness of the Divine law, the deep depravity of human nature, the exceeding sinfulness of man’s conduct, the universal necessity of regeneration, the inefficacy of works for justification, the indispensable obligation to a separation from the world, the holiness of God, His irreconcilable hatred to all sin, and His irrevocable purpose to punish it, and the awfulness and interminableness of the doom of the impenitent. Such subjects call up the enmity of the carnal mind. They distress those who are wrongfully at ease in Zion, and they demand that the preacher shall leave them, and discourse on more pleasing themes.

II. The cause of the dislike of ministerial fidelity. 1. Unbelief. Multitudes who admit in gross the authority of the Bible deny it in detail. Its unpalatable truths are rejected. 2. The refinements of modern society and taste. It is allowed that the curses of a violated law may be uttered in barns or churches for the poor, and may fall on the rude ears of the multitude, but the doctrine and style of preaching to the congregations of rank and fashion must be smooth and soft. 3. Wounded pride. Persons of outwardly blameless life hate the doctrine which disturbs their self-complacency, and revile the man who attempts to sink them in their own esteem. 4. Painful forebodings of future misery. Resolutely cleaving to their sins, they do not like to be reminded of the doom to which they are hastening.

III. The characteristics of this dislike of ministerial fidelity. 1. It is foolish. Is it wise in the victim of vice to ask the physician to tell him that he is in good health, and is carrying on a harmless course of indulgence, &c., &c.? No concealment of the situation of the sinner can alter his condition in the sight of God or change the relation in which he stands to eternity. 2. It is sinful. (1.) In its origin. It springs from a determination to go on in sin. (2.) In its nature. It is a love of falsehood, a desire to confound the distinction between sin and holiness. Nor is this all; in aiming to suppress the voice of warning, he acts the part of that infatuated and cruel wretch who would bribe the sentinel to be silent when the foe is about to rush into the camp, or would seduce the watchman to be quiet when the fire had broken out at midnight and was raging through the city. The attempt to induce the preacher to utter “smooth things,” is an attempt to induce him to destroy himself and to contribute to the destruction of them that hear him. (3.) In its consequences. Notwithstanding the most faithful warnings, they are hurried on by it to ruin. Like infatuated Balaams, they force a passage to destruction. 3. It is dangerous. It leads men to close their ears to what it concerns them especially to know. It is only by a faithful disclosure of their situation that they can escape, but they will not hear it.

Application. 1. To ministers. (1.) The guilt of ministers who do not discharge the duties of their office with uncompromising fidelity is indescribable. They are mere pulpit agents of the devil, receiving the wages of the sanctuary while they do his work; keeping all still and quiet among his slaves, preventing all attempts to throw off his hateful yoke by flattering them with the idea that they are the servants of God. (2.) The conversion of sinners should be the chief object of every minister of Christ. They constitute the majority of every congregation; they will soon be beyond the reach of salvation. (3.) The conversion of the impenitent must be sought by suitable means. What may be called the alarming style of preaching is most adapted to convert the impenitent. Not gross and revolting descriptions of eternal torment; these are offensive and disgusting, and generally defeat their purpose, especially when done in a harsh, unfeeling manner. But a minister’s habitual preaching should be so discriminating as to leave no unconverted sinner at a loss with whom to class himself, whether with believers or with unbelievers; and it should not unfrequently contain those allusions to and descriptions of the wrath of God which, like the distant rumblings of the gathering and approaching storm, should drive men to the refuge provided by infinite mercy in the cross of Christ. (4.) It is at our peril that we soften down the terror of the Lord to please any man; we must not shun to declare the whole counsel of God; we must stand clear of the blood of the rich as well as of the poor. Did Paul regard the feelings of Felix? 2. To professing Christians. (1.) Many would have the preacher confine himself to words of comfort, and object to everything searching and practical as legal. Upon their principles, all parts of God’s Word but the promises are unnecessary; they are useless to believers, for they are above them by privilege; useless to sinners, for they are below them in respect to obligation. What is this but a requesting that the Holy One of Israel may cease from before His people? (2.) Inconsistent professors are likewise anxious that the preacher should confine himself to consolatory topics. Hypocrites! he gives you that which belongs to you. Consolation would be to you a deadly poison, a fatal opiate. (3.) Sometimes even those who have only the ordinary imperfections of even the best men wish to hear less of the alarming parts of Divine truth. But have you no concern for the salvation of others? Besides, who can tell but what you dislike may be necessary for keeping you awake? (4.) Let those who cannot bear to hear the descriptions of future punishment think with themselves how they shall be able to endure it.—John Angell James, Sermons, ii. 181–214.

 

Christian Quietness.[1]

xxx. 15. In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.

The principle of our text is, that “strength,” safety, success, happiness, is the fruit of self-control and of reliance upon God.

I. It requires little observation to perceive that this is so in outward things (Eccles. ii. 11). Look out upon life, and see who, in the long run, are the most successful. Is it the stirring and excitable, those who are most conspicuous in its busy competitions? No: it is for the most part the tranquil and retiring; those who make no display, and have the least reliance upon their own powers. The surest gains and the most certain advancement usually attend those who go on quietly and steadily, without grasping at what is beyond their reach, or wasting their energies in unnecessary exertion. The godly who, when they cannot engage on fair terms in the rivalry of the world, keep aloof from it, preserving peace with men, and exercising faith in God, are provided for, and not unfrequently even raised to conspicuous prosperity. In “quietness and confidence” in God’s providential care “is their strength.”

II. Still more important is the application of this sacred principle to what goes on in the Christian’s soul. We can further the great work of our sanctification only by acting upon it. Excitement and self-dependence can do nothing. The work which has been begun by Divine mercy must be carried out by Divine agency. We are to take heed not to throw any obstacles in the way by our rashness or despondency. If under a feeling of importance of the work we have to do, we act about doing it in any way of our own, we only invite disappointment, and peril the object we have in view. Only in a dutiful and patient waiting upon God can we obtain a blessing. Not all the will-worship which was ever contrived by human ingenuity can bring us nearer heaven.

III. These words should be our guide in every difficulty and emergency of the spiritual life. They bid us give place to no anxiety or alarm. Those who act upon them cannot be fanatics, nor will they despair. They will not seek what God sees fit to deny, nor even to attain to what is excellent by equivocal means. No real strength is to be got by ferment and agitation. We may not do evil that good may come; we may not distrust God’s power and willingness to help us; we may not seek help from Egypt.

IV. These words should be our guide in view of the changes and excitements of our times. Because of them many are filled with unreasonable fears. But are we to lose our patience and steadfastness because irreligious speculators and worldly religionists are in an uproar? No; let them follow their own course; let us act upon the principle of our text. Truth is safe; the Church is founded upon a Rock; nothing can harm it, but our attempting to defend it with carnal weapons. Our weapons are the Word of God and prayer. In the use even of them, we must take heed what spirit we are of, that we use them not in a worldly or angry spirit. Let God do His own work. Let us not venture to step beyond ours. It is not our work to keep the world in order. With the eye of our faith fixed upon Him who with unerring wisdom and omnipotent might controls all the changes and developments of human affairs, let us quietly pursue the duties which He has assigned us, and we shall be safe, and strong, and blessed.—J. G. Dowling, M.A.: Sermons, pp. 55–75.

 

The Vanity of Earthly Help in Time of Trial, and the Profit of Patient Waiting.

xxx. 15, 16. For thus saith the Lord God, &c.

The history of the Jews a striking proof of human depravity. That people at once the most favoured by God, and the most obstinate in rebellion against God. Ever hankering after some new idol, and falling into some new sin. Burden of the prophets was to reprove their pride and hardness. Isaiah no exception. In this chapter there is a solemn warning, the last remonstrance previous to Sennacherib and his army coming upon them.

First, the insufficiency of all human dependencies. Chronic failing of the Jews was dependence on the arm of flesh. In national difficulties they went to Egypt for horses, or turned to Assyria for help, thinking that these would insure defence. But these devices always failed. God, from the first, placed His people in such circumstances that they could not fail to see that it was not human might which delivered them. Illustrate this by the Exodus, Gideon, David and Goliath. In all this instruction for us, God is jealous of His honour. He brings to nought the works of the wise who ignore Him, and crowns with success the efforts of the weak and foolish who trust Him.

These words were especially addressed to the Ancient Church, and consequently their teaching is for God’s people now. We are too apt to be discouraged when earthly powers are arrayed against us, and to be elated when they are for us, in both cases placing our chief dependence on them. To do this is to lose sight of the true dignity and glory of the Church of God. The Church is the Spouse of Christ; she is gifted and dowried by Him; and does not depend for success upon the State, or any form of human help. The first preachers of Christianity were poor and unlearned men, owing all their success to the power of the Holy Ghost. We must rely upon the same force.

God teaches this lesson of dependence on Himself, not only to the Church as a whole, but to individual members. Hence He sends personal affliction, domestic trials; brings men into circumstances where human aid is of no avail. They can do nothing for themselves; nothing can be done for them. Trust in God is their only resource.

This leads to the second thought, the profit of patient waiting on the Lord. “Their strength is to sit still.” “In returning and rest shall ye be saved.” In returning from endeavours to obtain help from earthly sources. God suffers us to lean on the aid of man that we may realise its futility. Faith finds its best exercise in trial; it is also strengthened and confirmed by affliction. In such conditions, too, faith produces its richest and rarest fruit. Faith must evidence itself by works. Days of sorrow and chambers of sickness bear witness to the heroism of the believer. There are no heroes like those who suffer calmly and in secret. Many such will at the last be exalted higher than even martyrs and confessors.

The secret of patient waiting is trust in God’s promises. Our waiting must be on the Lord. Such waiting disciplines and chastens us. Evil tempers are subdued. Attachment to the world is destroyed. God’s Word becomes our daily bread; His presence as the breath of our life; and gradually the character is perfected, and made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light.—Rev. S. Robins, M.A., Dale: Miscellaneous Sermons, p. 415.

 

Divine Salvation Rejected.

xxx. 15–17. For thus saith the Lord God, &c.

The subject treated is the proposition to seek help from Egypt against the Assyrians. Here is the Divine remonstrance. It illustrates the Gospel, its treatment, and the retribution that will follow.

I. The gracious assurance.

“In returning and rest shall ye be saved, in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” God was the defender of His people. Their strength was to trust in Him. It is so still. He is the only Saviour. A Divine salvation is—1. Needed. As much as when Sennacherib spread his hosts before Jerusalem; as much as when the children of Israel in the wilderness needed the manna, without which they must have perished, &c; for man is sinful; and because sinful helpless. 2. Proclaimed (Isa. xlv. 22; Acts xiii. 38, 39). God pitied the world, and sent His son. Jesus died and rose again. His death satisfied for sin. Therefore He is able to save to the uttermost. And willing. In the ministry of the gospel He invites every sinner to come to Him. 3. Conditioned. “Return—rest.” There must be a complete change from sin; from wrong confidence to simple faith. Many examples in the Old Testament show that believing reliance on God was a surer way to deliverance than the power of man. Apostolic preaching points to faith as the link of connection between the sinner and the Saviour. The salvation is by faith, that it may be free.

II. The foolish determination.

Ver. 16. They had no faith. They looked to human helpers. It is the tendency of man. And thus the gospel is set aside. 1. By negligence. Because of prevailing unbelief spiritual blessings are undervalued. Sin is loved. There is little moral earnestness. Acceptance of the Gospel is postponed as if it were some disagreeable duty. 2. By contempt. The horses on which they said they would ride point to Egypt as their strength. It was contempt of God’s help. Thus their fathers had turned to the golden calf. Thus some turn to money, some to earthly pleasures, some to the Church, some to the priest for salvation. Anywhere rather than to the Saviour Himself. 3. By self-confidence. Ceremonies of religion are performed; prayers offered; obedience rendered; alms given with a view to propitiate the Divine favour and obtain salvation as a debt. It rejects the truth of the Bible. It proceeds from ungodliness, pride, and unbelief.

III. The dreadful consequence.

Ver. 17. All your confidence will break down. You will be utterly ruined. It will be as when a great power collapses. So shall it be with sinners (Ps. lii.; Jer. xvii. 5, 6). So with sinners who reject the Gospel. There will be—1. Complete failure. You will be left in your original helplessness; at the mercy of the enemy: at the mercy of your sins. 2. Signal punishment. For the criminality is most aggravated. You will have insulted God by flinging back His offered hand. Mark the means by which punishment will come. By the very things you have trusted. Mark the manner in which punishment will come. It will be utter ruin. Mark the end your punishment will serve. It will be a beacon to warn others against your fate. Instead of trusting in any other help, fly to Jesus. Believe in Him. He gives the weary rest. You shall be saved, now and for ever.—J. Rawlinson.

 

Waiting, Divine and Human.

xxx. 18. Therefore will the Lord wait.[1]

A promise clear and precious in itself may gain in force and value when it is viewed in its surroundings. The diamond may be sparkling and brilliant, but we prefer it in its setting. The rose by itself is lovely, but we would rather have it with the green leaves around it. We have an instance in the first chapter of this book, where, after exposing the hypocrisy, formality, and wickedness of the people in the most withering words, God suddenly exchanges the stern tone of threatening for the sweet accents of mercy, Come now, and let us reason together. Another example is found in Matt. xi., where our Lord, after pronouncing His solemn woes, and asserting the Divine sovereignty, in the very next sentence utters His tender invitation, Come unto Me. The still small voice of mercy is all the sweeter and more welcome because of the thunders by which it is preceded. The same rapid transition may be observed in the passage before us. Cast your eye over the preceding context, and you find the saddest picture ever drawn of human perversity. What a heavy indictment (vers. 9, 10). How terrible that sentence pronounced (vers. 13, 14, 17). Is it at once carried into execution? No. Therefore will the Lord wait. Wait for whom—for the humble, the repentant, the submissive? No; for the sinful, the trifling, the scoffing. This mingling of grace and truth is very striking. As the play of the lightning is more brilliant during the darkness of the night, so God’s mercy shines out more gloriously through the murky night of man’s sin. As the colours of the rainbow are most vivid when it rests on some black cloud or frowning cliff, so heaven’s grace is seen to best advantage on the background of human guilt.

I. God’s waiting for man. 1. His waiting is real and earnest. It is waiting—it is not a passive loitering; but carries with it the idea of earnest expectation and desire. And so while God waits, He plies you with warm entreaties and loving invitations, with stern threatenings and glowing promises; He seeks to win you by the shadow as well as the sunshine which He throws alternately across your path. “God waiting?” you ask. Why does He wait? Can He not subdue sinners by His power and compel them to serve His purpose, as the potter moulds the plastic clay? You forget that you are a free agent. Spirit is not matter. God will not shatter the door closed against Him, and if He is to enter it must be with your consent. It is true that the Lord opens the heart, but a forced submission would be no submission at all. God’s waiting, then, is real; it is no figure of speech; and when we think of it, is He not far greater in His marvellous patience than in ruling countless worlds?

2. God waits as a God of grace, “that He may be gracious unto you.” Grace is free, unpurchased favour, conferred independently of anything in us, or anything we can do (H. E. I., 2303; P. D. 1524).

3. God waits as a God of law. “The Lord is a God of judgment.” There must not only be grace, but truth as well. God can only forgive sin in consistency with His justice. In our ignorance we think of pardon as the removal of a grudge, the overlooking of an insult, but this loose view keeps justice out of sight. Would you accept a pardon which would degrade the character of God, represent Him as a lawless being conniving at the very sin He forgives, shake the foundations of His throne, and subvert the interests of truth and holiness in the universe? Sin is no such light thing lightly forgiven. Only through the sacrifice of Christ can remission of sin be righteously bestowed. “The Lord is a God of judgment.”

4. This waiting is God’s highest exaltation. “He will be exalted that He may have mercy upon you.” In showing mercy to the sinful, God’s glory is made great, and the sin which is so hateful and deplorable has furnished occasion for the rich display of His mercy. War is a great evil, but where would be the courage of the soldier, and the heroic deeds which have been enshrined in song, if there had been no war? And so, had sin never existed in the world, we could never have witnessed those marvellous exhibitions of God’s mercy that fill us with wonder and praise. Where sin abounded grace much more abounded.

II. Man waiting for God. “Blessed are all they that wait for Him.” We have seen how He waits for us to be gracious unto us, to be exalted in having mercy upon us, and we should wait in humble faith to receive these priceless blessings, bringing our empty vessels that they may be filled. The blessedness of so waiting is set forth in numerous passages of Scripture. What entire satisfaction and peace do they enjoy who take this attitude of soul described as waiting on the Lord! In waiting for man we are often disappointed and deceived, but how can we ever exhaust the Divine mercy and goodness? O happy soul that waits for God, and rejoicing in the plenitude of His goodness sings,

“I must have all things and abound
 Since God is God to me.”

If God had not first waited for us, we never would have waited for Him. He took the initiative. Why should any of us keep God waiting longer? Are your sins too great? Have you been proud and rebellious? It is precisely to such the promise is made. God is waiting now to be gracious, but the day of grace will soon be past.—William Guthrie, M.A.

Amidst the severest threatenings of Divine punishment of sin we find assurances of Divine willingness to exercise mercy. Here is still the question of the alliance with Egypt. In the foregoing verses the prophet points out its real weakness and danger. In the text he assures the people of the Divine readiness to forgive and restore if they will return to God as their true confidence and defence.

This truth is brought out more fully when the light of the Gospel is thrown upon it. Man is sinful. Some scarcely see this, because they have never examined the law. Some admit the truth of universal depravity, but lose themselves in the crowd. Some have a sense of sin which causes anxiety, from which they see no escape. Others find rest and comfort on inadequate and delusive grounds. Now we need not merely peace. That solicitude is put to rest does not prove that a man is safe. He may sleep when his house is burning. He may have taken what he considered precautionary measures without informing himself as to the measures that were necessary, or even in disregard of competent advice on the subject. We should find peace in God’s way. Consider the text in the light of the Gospel. It is full of encouragement, but it implies a caution.

I. It intimates that there is a provision on account of which God can exercise grace. 1. It is not His arbitrary will which pardons sin without regard to anything beyond His own pleasure in the happiness of His creatures. He considers the whole race. If He exercise mercy toward one without an adequate satisfaction, why not toward all? But this would amount to condonation of all sin—would annihilate the distinction between the consequences of good and evil. If God is gracious, it must be in such a way as that no injustice is done.

2. Well then, you say, we must reform; there must be a repentance. And this is true when properly understood. But it is not true if it means that God may be gracious to men on the ground of their repentance and reformation. The analogy between an earthly father and God as a Father is often drawn so as to overlook the fact that He is a moral governor, and that public justice is concerned in His transactions with men. A father may forgive his child’s offence on his repentance, because it is a matter purely between themselves. When the offender repents, the demands of the case are met. But an offence against public law is different. A thief or a murderer confesses his guilt, professes repentance and determination never to repeat his crime; is the law satisfied? Would any one say he ought to be forgiven? Now, sin is not only an offence against God, but against public law, for which repentance is no satisfaction (H. E. I., 4225–4228).

3. Nor is present obedience a ground to rest upon for the obliteration of past sins. The best obedience of the best fails to satisfy the present. “How can I tell when I have done enough?” asked Dr. Johnson on his dying bed. And even if you did enough to satisfy the present demands of the law, how could that avail for the removal of previous criminality? Something more satisfactory than human expedients is required (H. E. I., 375, 376).

4. That something is found in the Gospel, in the gracious provision God has made for the exercise of mercy without infringing on the rectitude of His government. It is in the gift of His Son. The love of God sent the Son of God in human flesh to obey and suffer. On the ground of His vicarious offering as the atoning sacrifice, pardon and peace may be obtained. With it justice is fully satisfied.

II. The text intimates that God is desirous to exercise grace.

It is not simply willingness. He is profoundly desirous of this result. “He wishes all men to be saved.” “He is not willing that any should perish.” This truth may be gathered:

1. For His revealed nature. He does not delight in the infliction of punishment, even when it is required by the ends of justice. His tender love longs to see the sinner avail himself of the opportunity that is afforded, and seek the offered grace (Exod. xxxiv. 5–7).

2. From the provision of the Gospel. There was no obligation on Him to provide this grace. It was His love. It was provided at a cost that was the best possible guarantee of sincerity. Having made such a provision at such expense, will He be indifferent to the issue?

3. From the invitations of the Gospel. The way of salvation is proclaimed as a royal messenger of grace to all mankind. It is not a cold statement of the fact that a channel of grace has been opened. It is accompanied by calls and invitations. Will God mock them by invitations of which He does not desire their acceptance?

4. From the attitude which He here represents Himself as having assumed, He waits for sinners that He may be gracious. He is like the father of the prodigal son, who doubtless waited long and anxiously for the prodigal’s return because he wanted to forgive him (H. E. I., 2328–2340).

And this is the answer to the question, For what is He waiting? Why cannot He be gracious at once?

III. The text implies that grace can only be exercised when its conditions are accepted.

Should He bestow it on all? In their sins? The case stands thus: God has done His part in providing mercy; there is a part for man. What is it? To consent. To confess the sin with conviction, humility, sorrow. To accept the mercy by sending up the believing cry. To surrender to God as the rebel submits to his prince and returns to his allegiance (H. E. I., 240).

This is what He waits for. When it occurs He is gracious. And how long will He wait? Not for ever. He is in the attitude of one who has determined to wait a given time, during which the opportunity is afforded. “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found.” Why should you not? Why so unwilling?

Let not the love of sin nor deadness to spiritual things hold you back. Refusal to seek His grace is determined resistance of His authority and His love (H. E. I., 4247, 4248).—J. Rawlinson.

 

Waiting for the Lord.

xxx. 18. Blessed are all they that wait for Him.

I. What is meant by waiting upon the Lord? Not that sitting still and biding our time, like a man waiting for a coach. Not that we are to sit in quiet, idle supineness, expecting the Lord to come and fill our souls with joy and peace, as He used to fill the tabernacle with His glory. Yet, because they cannot convert their own souls, and sanctify their own hearts, thousands rashly conclude that they must quietly wait until the Lord work a miracle for them and save them. The Bible declares our helplessness in order that we may be stirred up to seek help from God (Eph. v. 14; Phil. ii. 12, 13; 2 Pet. ii. 10). What do we mean when we engage a servant to wait upon us? Not that he is to compose himself to sleep until we signify that we want him; but that he should attend upon us, hold himself in readiness to do our bidding, make himself acquainted with our rules and conform to them, and with our wishes, and do his best to obey them with all readiness, cheerfulness, and faithfulness. So when the Lord bids us “wait for Him,” He means that we should diligently seek His face, inquire into His laws, keep His statutes, and walk in His ordinances, expecting to receive, in His own good time, the blessings which He has promised to those who “wait upon Him.”

II. How are we to wait for the Lord? 1. We must wait upon God with the heart: we must be in earnest. We have no respect for the attentions and fair speeches of our fellow-men when we have reason to believe them mere idle compliments: will God accept from us what we have scorn to receive from one another? (Jer. xiii. 13). 2. We must wait entirely upon God, whether we are in search of peace, strength or happiness (Ps. lxii. 1–5). 3. We must wait upon the Lord patiently and perseveringly. He is the rewarder of all them “that diligently seek Him;” but He has never pledged Himself either to the time when, or the mode in which, He will answer our prayers. He may put our sincerity to the test by keeping us waiting for some time; but we shall never wait in vain (Ps. xl. 1). Remember how long Abraham had to wait for the fulfilment of the promise of a seed; but in the end, through faith and patience, he inherited the promise (Gal. vi. 9).—E. Crow, M.A.: Plain Sermons, pp. 120–136.

Change and uncertainty mark all things here. The wisest plans often baffled, the fairest prospects blighted. But the truths and blessings of the Gospel are not subject to this law or uncertainty. God’s schemes are never frustrated; His promises never broken.

I. That devout exercise of mind here commended. “Waiting for God.” 1. His people wait in the exercise of earnest and believing prayer. They seek Him in the means of His own appointment; by that sort of diligent seeking which is opposed to that of the slothful (Prov. xiii. 4). 2. His people wait in holy expectation of blessings in providence and grace. It is the patient waiting for the performance of the promise in the exercise of faith. It implies a knowledge of God,—a confidence in Him,—a rest in His promises, as of a child in a father; a servant in a master (Ps. cxxii. 1, 2). 3. They wait for the clearing up of perplexities in the Divine Government. Oftentimes in their own history and in the history of others, God’s providence bears a mysterious and perplexing aspect. But the believing soul says, “All will come right at last. What we know not now we shall know hereafter.” (H. E. I., 4043–4048).

II. The Blessedness of such Waiting for God. 1. The very exercise of prayer, faith, and patience is a culture of the soul. In such culture there lies “Blessedness.” 2. Theirs shall be the blessedness of satisfaction. Disappointment meets man in every walk of life, but those who trust in the Lord’s Justice, Wisdom, and Goodness shall never “be ashamed.”—Samuel Thodey.

I. God’s appearances on account of His people are sometimes delayed. 1. In answering prayer. 2. In relieving them in their afflictions. 3. In explaining Himself in regard to their afflictions. 4. In affording the joys of His salvation and the comfort of the Holy Ghost. II. Your duty in the meantime: it is to wait for Him calmly, patiently, expectantly. III. The blessedness that will attend the exercise of waiting for Him.—William Jay: Sunday Evening Sermons, pp. 319–324.

 

God’s Readiness to Listen to the Needy.

xxx. 19. He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry.

I. There are persons before me for whom this gracious assurance is particularly suitable. It is most comforting—

1. To all afflicted people. You are depressed; things have gone amiss; you do not prosper in business, or you are sickening in body, or a dear one lies at home pining away. In your straits possibly you may be ready to try some wrong way of helping yourself out of your difficulties. Yield not to Satan. There is help in God for you now. The Lord is not now visiting you in wrath; there is kindness in His severity. By yielding yourself to God, and trusting Him in this your evil plight, you will obtain deliverance (ver. 15).

2. To those who are troubled on account of sin. In order to escape from sin and punishment, the very first thing with you is to come back to your God whom you have offended, since He alone can pardon you. There must be a turning of the face in repentance, and a looking of the eye by faith unto God in Christ Jesus, or you will die in your sins (H. E. I., 1479–1484). The natural tendency of your heart, even when under a sense of sin, will be to keep from the Lord. Alas! you will look at your sin again and again till you are ready to pine away in despair, but you will not look to Christ Jesus and be saved. Possibly you may conclude that there is no hope for you in better things, and that therefore you had better enjoy such pleasures as may be found in sin, and take your swing while you may. Do not believe this lie of Satan. There is hope; you are in the land of mercy still. You need do nothing to make the Lord propitious, He is love already; you need not undergo penance, nor pass through grievous anguish of spirit in order to render God more merciful, for His grace aboundeth. Therefore we say to you, go to Him and test Him, for He will be gracious to the voice of your cry.

3. To backsliders filled with their own ways, who are alarmed and distressed at their grievous departures from God. You may well be grieved, for you have done much dishonour to the name of God amongst the ungodly; you have pierced His saints with many sorrows. If you were cast off for ever as a traitor and left to die as a son of perdition, what could be said but that you were reaping the fruit of your own ways? Yet the text rings in your ears at this time like a clear silver bell, and its one note is grace. “He will be very gracious unto thee” (Jer. iii. 14; H. E. I., 424).

4. To all believers in Christ who are at all exercised in heart; and we are all in that condition at times. Even when by full assurance we can read our title clear to-day, we become anxious as to the morrow. If trials multiply, how will faith be able to stand? When the days of weakness arrive, what shall we do in our old age? Behind all stands the skeleton form of death. “What shall we do in the swellings of Jordan?” We recollect how we ran with the footmen in our former trials, and they wearied us, and we ask ourselves, “How shall we contend with horsemen?” When standing, as we shall, on the brink of eternity, will our religion thus prove a reality, or will our hope dissolve like a dream? Such questions torment our souls. Let all such fears vanish. In child-like confidence come to God, and go no more from Him. Let this verse smile on you, and beckon you to your Father’s heart.

II. The assurance here given is very firmly based. It rests—1. On the plain promise of God as given in the text, and in many similar declarations scattered all over the Scriptures. 2. On the gracious nature of God. It is His nature to be gracious. Judgment is His strange work, but He delighteth in mercy. Nothing pleases Him more than to pass by transgression, iniquity, and sin when we lie humble and penitent before Him. 3. On the prevalence of prayer. This we know, an experience of eight-and-twenty years has proved that God heareth prayer; therefore we say to you, go to Him and test Him, for He will be gracious to the voice of your cry.

III. The well-confirmed assurance of the text should be practically accepted at once. 1. Let us renounce at once all earth-born confidence. What is your confidence? Your wealth? Your strong common-sense? Your stalwart frame? What are you relying on? Will it support you in death? Will it stand you in good stead in eternity? It will not if it be anything short of the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Let us flee from all creature-confidence as from a filthy thing, for it is base to the last degree to be trusting in another creature and putting that creature into the place of the Creator. 2. Refuse despair. 3. Try now the power of prayer and child-like confidence in God.—C. H. Spurgeon: Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vol. xxiv. pp. 337–348.

 

The Bread of Adversity.

xxx. 20, 21. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, &c.[1]

I. Difficulties supposed.

“The Bread of Adversity” was a proverbial expression among the Jews (1 Kings xxii. 27; Ps. lxxx. 5). The Lord gives: He who gave the cup of salvation gives the cup of affliction. He who gives the bread of life gives also the bread of adversity (Heb. xii. 6). Recollect that the Lord who gives you the bread of adversity gave His own Son no better fare, no richer diet.

II. Consolations promised.

“Yet shall not thy teachers be removed,” &c. He will compensate temporal troubles by spiritual blessings. Numbers have found that as tribulation abounded, consolation abounded by Christ (2 Cor. i. 5). Such consolations are threefold. 1. A free access to God’s throne. “He will be very gracious to thee at the voice of thy cry.” Prayer relieves distress. 2. A faithful administration of God’s word and ordinances. Religious instruction shall be continued, “thy teachers shall not be removed.” 3. A gracious direction of God’s providence.

III. Instructions suggested.

1. Guard against whatever may endanger Christian privileges. Neglect of prayer; absence of love; seductions of the world. 2. Recollect what is needful to give this promise full effect—the influence of the Spirit. Pray for and expect a baptism of the Holy Ghost. 3. Commend to others the consolations you receive. Visit the sick; remember the widow and the fatherless. In comforting others, your own bread of adversity shall be made sweet.—Samuel Thodey.

I. A calamity anticipated.

Affliction may be continuous and severe. Bread and water are the prominent things in the sustenance of life. Day by day reserved. Few, if any, are entirely exempt from affliction. Periods of difficulty and privation, when weeks and months of consuming anxiety are experienced. Losses which seriously incommode and cripple their business. Troubles in the family, sometimes from the conduct of those most loved. Bereavements which rend the heart. Sickness, accident, consuming disease, and excruciating pain wear life slowly away.

The godly are not exempted. The infected atmosphere may poison the saint as well as the sinner. If a good man falls over a precipice he will be killed. “The same hurricane may equally swamp the vessel which is filled with pirates and that which is filled by a band of devoted missionaries.” If a Christian neglect his business, or conduct it on unsound principles, he must expect insolvency. He may conduct it with perfect commercial wisdom and care and yet be overtaken by disasters from causes beyond his control.

But it does not happen by chance. There is no such thing as fate. We recognise the hand of the Lord. “Though the Lord give you the bread of affliction and the water of adversity.” In this truth is help for believers perplexed by the mystery of sorrow. It throws their thoughts on God. And they have such confidence in Him that is a resting-place. We do not know, we never can know, the evils He prevents. When He permits or sends trouble we may rest assured that there is a sufficient reason (Lam. iii. 33).

What are the reasons?[2] We may mistake their application, but they are such as these: 1. It is sometimes punitive. God has established a connection between sin and suffering. The former always works towards the latter. The chain of connection may be so subtle, and may extend so far back, that we cannot follow it. Yet such a chain there is. When affliction comes, it is useful to trace the chain, and ascertain, if we can, wherefore the Lord is contending with us. 2. It is sometimes corrective. He deals with us as men deal with their children (Heb. xii. 5–11). It is not that He may vent His anger, but recall them to their better selves. He means it as the refiner means the fire into which he casts the gold (Ps. cxix. 67). 3. It is sometimes auxiliary. The means to an end. The dark way into light. It is necessary to some advantage which could not be reached without it. Joseph’s slavery and imprisonment were the steps to his subsequent greatness. Jesus reached the crown by the cross. Perhaps you can illustrate from your own experience.

Meantime, here is

II. An antidote promised.

Their teachers had been removed. The prophets were persecuted (verses 9, 10). Jeremiah, Zedekiah, under Jezebel’s persecution. Obadiah had hid a hundred in caves. Persecution usually fastens on the teachers as most prominent. Thus Apostles. Thus the Nonconforming clergy in England. Thus the missionaries were driven from Madagascar. But the promise here in that they shall regain their liberty. And this will be not only a relief to themselves, but an antidote to the people’s calamities. It will secure: 1. Instruction. “Thy teachers.” Truth is the basis of everything in experience or practice. It is their business carefully to unfold and apply the truth.[3] 2. Consolation. Christian ordinances are consolatory. There are truths that bear on troubles. The views of the Divine character and of the course of Providence exhibited in the Gospel sustain and comfort. 3. Direction. There is danger of turning to right or left. So many allurements, from ignorance, misguidance, temptation. By the ministry you hear the voice which points out the way, invites steadfastness, warns against divergence.

God provides guidance in the journey to the better land. Value the ministry of the Word. Attend it. Follow its teaching.—J. Rawlinson.

 

The Guiding Voice.

xxx. 21. And thou shalt hear a voice behind thee, &c.

This may be a promise to God’s people of the continuance of the services of the ministry, or of the additional blessings of spiritual suggestions to guide them in the path of duty.

I. It may be continuance of the promise in the preceding verse: “Thy teachers shall not be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers, and thine ears shall hear a word behind thee.” The Word of God proclaimed by faithful ministers follows men. Sometimes, as they listen to it, they reject it, but it pursues them, and gives them no rest until they obey it. When they are bent on a wrong course, it haunts them until they are recalled to duty. Or it stimulates them to the performance of duties they are neglecting or performing sluggishly. Thus understood, we may see that in this promise God compares Himself as it were to a shepherd, who puts his sheep before him; or to a schoolmaster who will have his scholars in sight, that so he may the better keep them in order.

Thus understood, we see our duty. It is to give reverent heed to the Word of God as proclaimed to us by His ministers. Food, however choice, is no blessing to us unless it be eaten and digested; and the Word of God is no blessing to us, except there be an ear to hearken to it, a spiritual taste to relish it, and a heart to close and comply with it. Well is it with those who imitate Lydia (Acts xvi. 14). But neglect of God’s Word shuts against us even the throne of grace (Prov. xxviii. 9). To those who disregard what they know to be the voice of God, there comes a time when they discover that the greatest of all calamities is to have their voice disregarded by Him (Prov. i. 24–26).

II. But the promise may be that of an additional blessing, the inward motions and suggestions of the Holy Spirit. His voice may be called “a word behind us,” because—1. Of its secresy (Job iv. 12). 2. Because it follows us always, as constantly as our shadow. Parallels to this promise we find in 1 John ii. 20, 27; John xiv. 26, xvi. 13.

III. This voice His people hear when they are about to wander, or have wandered from the way of righteousness. From that way it is easy to depart; but God loves His people, and cannot abide to see them miscarry, and therefore He counsels them. “This is the way, walk ye in it,” is sometimes a word of correction and reformation, in case of error; sometimes a word of instruction and direction, in case of ignorance; sometimes a word of strengthening and confirmation, in case of unsettledness.

In all these respects God’s people hear the “word behind them,” sometimes giving them very gracious hints concerning the affairs of this present life, but more frequently concerning the spiritual life. Those who wait upon God shall not lack counsels concerning the manner in which they are to serve Him. He answers the prayers of His people (Ps. xxv. 4, 5; lxxxvi. 11; cxliii. 8).

What a great comfort and encouragement we have here! If we really desire to serve God amid all the labyrinths and uncertainties of this present life, we shall be safe, for He will guide us.

IV. But how may we know whether the word behind us is the voice of God, and not merely one of our own fancies, or a suggestion of Satan’s? There are several touchstones by which every “word” may and should be tested. 1. The word within is to be compared with the Word without. Every suggestion is to be examined by the rule of Scripture. God never speaks in the conscience contrary to what He speaks there, for He is unchangeable and cannot contradict Himself (Isa. viii. 20). 2. God’s “words” are orderly and regular; they keep men within the compass of their callings, and the place in which God has set them. They incite us not to forsake our duty, but to be faithful in it. 3. They are ordinarily mild, gentle, seasonable; they are not ordinarily raptures, but such as leave a man in a right apprehension of what he does, and capable of reflection upon it. 4. They are discernible also from their effects, and the ends to which they tend. All the hints and motions of God’s Spirit tend to make us better, and to carry us nearer to Himself in one way or another. Honestly using these tests, we shall learn promptly and surely to discern the voice of God’s Spirit when He says to us, “This is the way, walk ye in it.”

V. From all this two duties plainly arise. 1. Thankfulness. A faithful monitor is a very great advantage; it is so betwixt man and man, and we should bless God that He condescends to be this to us. 2. Obedience. To His infallible, loving counsel we should give prompt heed, especially as He not only points out the way, but is always ready to help us to walk in it; and the way in which He would have us go is the only one that leads to true happiness and lasting peace. Disobedience exposes us to manifold dangers, such as (1.) God’s future silence; when His counsels are repeatedly rejected, He will cease to speak. What a terrible calamity (1 Sam. xxviii. 5). (2.) Those who hearken not to the voice of God in them are often given up to Satan, and their own corruptions bear away within them (Ps. lxxxi. 11, 12).—Thomas Horton, D.D.: 100 Select Sermons, pp. 298–304.

I. Our need of the guidance here promised. We are ignorant of the way to true happiness, and we have not always daylight. The path is narrow, and is sometimes very intricate. It lies through an enemy’s country. Many as wise as we have lost their way, and, after years of sorrow, have perished miserably. We need this guidance in youth, in manhood, in old age, even unto death (P. D., 952, 2388).

II. Some of the means by which God guides His people. The promise in our text suggests a traveller in doubt as to the course he should take, pausing perplexed at cross roads, and in danger of choosing a wrong one, when a friendly voice behind him is heard, saying, “This is the way, walk ye in it.” God thus speaks to His people. 1. By His providences. Afflictions are often monitions and instructions (H. E. I., 66–70). 2. By His Word. It clearly marks the path to heaven. 3. By our conscience (H. E. I., 1291, 1304, 1308–1312). 4. By His Spirit; by Whom conscience is quickened, our understanding cleared of delusions, our attention fixed on the happy career of the righteous, and the disastrous end of the wicked.

III. What is needed to enable us to profit by this promise. 1. A prayerful spirit (ver. 19). 2. A studious eye that will look for the waymarks, especially for the footprints of Jesus. 3. A listening ear. 4. An obedient habit of mind (1 Sam. xv. 22; P. D., 1656). Disregard of the Guiding Voice will involve us in present disaster and misery, and in eternal woe. Heedfulness of it will ensure for us present safety and peace, and eternal blessedness.—Samuel Thodey.

 

Rivers of Waters.

xxx. 25, 26. And there shall be upon every high mountain, &c.

These are symbolic of the blessings God will confer upon His people when He returns to them in mercy. These are vivid presentations of two characteristics of these blessings, their copiousness and their universality. 1. To express their copiousness the prophet speaks not of streams merely, but of rivers; “rivers and streams of water;” and declares that they shall be poured forth, not merely as the light from the sun, but as if the light of seven days were concentrated in one.[1] 2. To express at once their copiousness and their universality, He declares that the rivers and streams shall run on the hills and mountains, yea, upon every hill and mountain.[2] The idea of universality is involved also in the future of sunlight.[3]

Have these promises been fulfilled? Yes. 1. When the Gospel was given to the world. Its messengers were sent forth into every land, and it is a small thing to say that the light it gave was sevenfold that which the most enlightened of the heathen had possessed. 2. In the experience of every believing soul. The Gospel reaches many who seem utterly beyond any saving influence; and when it does really reach a man, is received into his heart. It gives him a light of more than sevenfold brightness and value as compared with the best of the lights he before professed—reason and conscience.[4] 3. It is fulfilled in our own day by the remarkable increase of religious knowledge. God’s Word is being carried into every land, and the children in our daily and Sabbath schools have a fuller acquaintance with Scripture than many men and women of the last generation. There is to be a yet more complete fulfilment of these promises in that glorious era of which we speak as the Millennium.[5]

It rests with ourselves to determine whether the fulfilment of these promises shall be to us a blessing.[6]—John Packer: Warnings and Consolations, pp. 256–271.

 

The Earthly Song and the Heavenly Voice.

xxx. 29–33. Ye shall have a song . . . and the Lord shall cause His glorious voice to be heard, &c.

The fulfilment of this prophecy is recorded in Isa. xxxvii. 36. The Assyrian power, hitherto unopposed in its march of conquest, sustained a severe check when it assailed Jerusalem. The great deliverance is here foretold. Inside the walls there would be song and gladness; outside, swift destruction. “The holy solemnity” was probably the Passover which Hezekiah and his people observed; and the “song” in that case would be the Paschal Hymn, comprising Ps. cxiii.–cxviii. There is a tradition that Sennacherib’s army was destroyed on the night of the Passover; and thus while the people were recalling their great national deliverance, a further and somewhat similar Divine interposition was about to be made in their behalf. Mark how grandly, as if in response to the songs and gladness of the Passover night, the voice of Jehovah comes in. It is impossible not to see the connection between the two voices. Songs of praise and gladness have still an echo in heaven, and call forth a Divine response to quell the church’s foes. Look, then, at the two voices, the human and the Divine, in relation to each other.

1. A voice of confidence on man’s part responded to by a voice of power on God’s part. It showed no small faith in Hezekiah and his people to observe the Passover in the circumstances. How could the little kingdom of Judah oppose the mighty conqueror? How could Jerusalem standout against the assailants encamped in such numbers around its walls? God was their defence. To Him in this emergency they raised their songs of confidence. Nothing could more appropriately express their faith than the Passover hymn. That night reminded them of the rescue from Egypt, and would inspire them with confidence in God. They were on the eve of another great deliverance, and their song was well fitted to prepare them for it, containing such passages as these, Ps. cxv. 1–11, cxviii. 6–13. Nor was their confidence disappointed. Without any human help, God overthrew their besiegers, but it was the song of faith that called forth the powerful voice of God. When faith appeals to God, the appeal is heard on high (Exod. xiv. 13; Ps. xlvi. 10). Two prisoners once prayed and sang praises to God at midnight. Their testimony for Christ had been silenced, but from the dark dungeon the song of confidence rose to heaven. “And the Lord caused His glorious voice to be heard,” an earthquake shook the foundations of the prison, and God gave His two witnesses an opportunity of bringing the Gospel to bear upon hardened hearts. Do you wish to see the arm of the Lord revealed? then sing your song of faith. Does the Church in these days sit powerless, sad, and despairing through the gloomy night of unbelief and prevailing ungodliness? Let her know that man’s extremity is God’s opportunity. In the darkest night of seeming failure she has her God-given song, and if only she can sing it in spite of all that is black and threatening in her prospects, “the Lord shall cause His glorious voice to be heard, and shall show the lighting down of His arm” in rebuking scepticism and indifference, in softening hard hearts, and in making friends of foes.

2. A song of gladness and joy in God responded to by a voice of complacent affection. All the Jewish feasts were occasions of gladness, and the Passover must have been so, when we consider the event it commemorated, the communion with God to which it invited, and the future salvation it foreshadowed. The Paschal Hymn resounds with notes of gladness, e.g., Ps. cxviii. 14, 15, 24. If our song of joy in God is hearty and sincere, we may expect a corresponding response. If we rejoice in God, He will rejoice over us (Zeph. iii. 17; Isa. xxxi. 4, 5).

3. A song of self-dedication answered by a voice of recognition. The song breathes the spirit of consecration to God’s service (Ps. cxvi. 12–19). Do we thus consciously and spontaneously lay ourselves on the altar as living sacrifices? If we own God, God will own us. The destruction of Sennacherib’s hosts was a proof to all the world that God owned Israel as His peculiar people. You, too, will have the token of Divine ownership. For your sake God will rebuke the devourer. In response to your song of dedication, “the Lord shall cause His glorious voice to be heard,” giving success to your efforts and enterprises, blessing you and making you a blessing.

4. A song of security calling forth a voice of preservation. Within the walls the people marched in procession “to the mountain of the Lord, to the rock of Israel.” That rock of ages was their defence. They felt secure in God’s faithful keeping (Ps. cxv. 17, 18, cxviii. 16–18). Have you entered into this element of the Paschal song? You shall hear God’s protecting voice, and see the acts of His preserving care. However strong the foes that muster against you, they shall not prevail, for all the Divine resources are engaged for your support (Col. iii. 3).

5. A song of thanksgiving for past mercies answered by a voice that commanded new mercies. This element was very prominent in the Passover observance, and it enters largely into the Lord’s Supper, called on this account the Eucharist. How can we remember Christ without thankfulness and praise? When He took the bread and the cup He “gave thanks,” and He and His disciples sang the Paschal Hymn. What strains of high thanksgiving it contains! It begins with praise (Ps. cxii. 1, 2). It retells the Exodus (Ps. cxiv.) It rises to grateful recognition of God’s goodness (Ps. cxvi. 7, 8, 17). When such a song rises from human lips, God will give fresh occasions for thankfulness.

Let the subject teach us the importance of sacred song. Prayer and preaching are Divinely appointed means of grace and instruction, but we cannot dispense with song. God fights for His people, but it is with the accompaniment of tabrets and harps (ver. 32).—William Guthrie, M.A.

 

Tophet Ordained of Old.

xxx. 33. For Tophet is ordained of old, &c.

Some of us have often admired the expression, “Knowing the terrors of the Lord, we persuade men;” implying that the law of persuasion should be the law of the Christian pulpit. Some would alarm men, some would bitterly rail, and others thunder at them; as though the human heart could never be prevailed upon to capitulate, but must always be taken by storm. Paul shows us the more excellent way. When he proclaims “the terrors of the Lord,” it is “to persuade men;” to persuade them to escape the ruin and to accept the remedy. Observe, he does not hide them, for the truth must be told, sin must be condemned, the wicked must be warned.

I. Let us examine the local allusion and literal meaning of this verse. “This allusion to Tophet is the earliest which appears in the Scriptures. Additional particulars appear in the history of Josiah’s reformation (2 Kings xxiii. 10; Jer. vii. 31). The prophet Isaiah here represents Tophet as a place prepared for the burning of the Assyrian king. Made deep and large, with fire and wood in abundance, prepared for the king, and he being thrown into it, the breath of the Lord kindles it into fearful conflagration. This is, of course, a figurative description, Tophet being made the central point in the figure because it was a well-known place, a valley just outside the city, the valley of Hinnom, used for burning all the offal and filth of the city of Jerusalem.” Isaiah was commissioned to utter this prophecy of the overthrow and consuming of the Assyrian army, in order to inspirit Hezekiah and the people against the threatened invasion. “Tophet is ordained of old” as that fiery place which would consume the dead bodies of these unjust invaders. Hence the Chaldee paraphrase says, “It was called the valley of the carcases and of the ashes or of the dead bodies for this reason, because the dead bodies of the camp of the Assyrians fell there;” to which Josephus gives testimony when he relates that the place was called the Assyrian camp. What force these recollections would give to our Lord’s threatenings of hell to the Jews who saw the smoke of this valley always rising before their eyes (compare Isa. lxvi. 24 with Mark ix. 43–48).

II. Note some of those solemn and awakening truths suggested by this verse. 1. The same record which provides for the security of the Church, provides for the final overthrow of its enemies. This was the time of Jacob’s extremity; he was saved and his enemies consumed. 2. In the enjoyment of our highest privileges, we are surrounded by the most solemn terrors. Tophet lay not only near, but at the very foot of Mount Zion. From the heights of Zion might be seen the smoke, the fire, and the worm in the valley of Tophet! A dreadful thought this! Hell is set full in our view when worshipping in Zion (1 Pet. iv. 17, 18). Bunyan says, “So I saw a man may go by profession to heaven’s gate and yet be cast away.” Our Lord (Luke xiii. 25). 3. While no combination of power can shield the wicked, the believer has always a source of safety and a song of joy.—Samuel Thodey.

 

The Only Counsellor.

xxxi. 1–3. Woe to the rebellious children, &c.

These words were spoken by the prophet at a time when the Jewish nation was in great and imminent danger. They were addrest to the rulers of the nation, who were endeavouring to ward off the danger: and their purpose is to rebuke those rulers for the measures they were taking with that view, by entering into alliance with Pharaoh, king of Egypt, in the hope that he would deliver them out of it. But we should make a great mistake if we imagine that there is nothing in them that concerns our duty as individuals. God’s reproofs of nations are such as we may all take home to our hearts, ponder, and learn from; for they contain principles of righteousness which, like the sun which shines at once on half the world and ourselves, are intended for the guidance both of nations and of individuals. Of this truth a striking example is afforded by our text. Its object is to rebuke the Jewish rulers for the line of policy which they were taking with the view of defending their country from her enemies. Sennacherib, king of Assyria, was marching against Judah, with the intent of conquering it, and reducing the people to slavery, as Israel had already been conquered and enslaved a few years before by Shalmaneser. The danger was very great. What was King Hezekiah to do? How was Judah to stand against Assyria? If you were to ask any of the politicians who are wise in the wisdom of this world, they would all say, there could be no question about the matter; that the only way of saving Judah was to obtain the alliance and aid of some powerful nation, whose succour might render her more nearly a match for the armies of the invader. This is exactly what the rulers of Judah set about doing. They entered into an alliance with the king of Egypt, with the view of gaining assistance from him, which might enable them to cope with Sennacherib in the field. This is just what a statesman, who plumed himself on his wisdom in these days, would do. Yet it is for doing this very thing that the prophet Isaiah in the text reproves and denounced woe against them. Their conduct, therefore, must have been sinful. Let us try to discover in what their sin lay.

1. They were making use of human means alone, to ward off the danger which threatened. It is not sinful to use such means; the sin lies in fancying they can help us without the blessing of God, and in not seeking that. This was what Isaiah denounced, and what we do. When any danger threatens us, we forthwith take counsel—of ourselves, of our friends, forgetting that all our counsel in the first instance ought to be taken of God, by searching His law with the purpose of discerning what He wills us to do, and by praying Him to enlighten our understandings, that we may be enabled to discern His will. So too we are ever seeking to cover ourselves with a covering, to find some protection or other whereby we may be preserved from danger: only the covering we should cover ourselves with is the covering of the Spirit of God. We should make Him our shield and buckler; and then we need not fear what man can do unto us.

Our unwillingness to take counsel of God can only proceed from an evil heart of unbelief,[1] and it is as unwise as it is undutiful. None but God’s counsel is infallible, and only His covering is sure. But we choose to have a covering of our own making, and send up mists and clouds to hide the covering of God’s Spirit from us, thus “adding sin to sin.”

2. Observe, the princes of Judah were not merely taking counsel of man, instead of God, and covering with a covering which was not of the Spirit of God: but the arm they were trusting to was the arm of Egypt. Now Egypt had from the first been the deadly enemy of the Israelites, and of their God. Egypt was the source from which all manner of idolatrous abominations flowed in upon them: out of Egypt they had been called; and they were no longer to hold intercourse with it. Therefore the prophet goes on to forbid their seeking help from Egypt, and to predict that the help of Egypt would end in their confusion. If we are guilty of their sin, we shall not escape their woe. When trials come upon men to-day, they are apt to listen to Satan’s assurance that in that particular emergency he can help them better than God can. They listen; they sin, and the one sin leads to other sins; and ere long they are ruined (H. E. I., 173–175).

Still it is woe to those who take counsel of anything earthly! In times of difficulty it is of God alone that we must seek and take counsel. He alone can give us such counsel as will never fail us even in this life: and the wisdom of His counsel, which we now see only through a glass darkly, will become brighter than the sun at noon, when the veil of this world is drawn away from before it.—Julius Charles Hare, M.A.: Sermons Preacht in Herstmonceaux Church, pp. 305–323.

 

The Spirituality of the Divine Nature.

xxxi. 3. The Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit.

Among the sins to which the ancient Israelites were addicted, one of the most prevailing was a disposition, in seasons of invasion or calamity, to place confidence in the power of surrounding nations, and to seek the assistance of their sovereigns, instead of trusting in the living God. Egypt, being the largest monarchy in their immediate neighbourhood, was frequently their refuge in times of distress and difficulty. Remonstrance (vers. 1, 2).

In the text an important and infinite disparity between God and man, which rendered the Egyptian monarch infinitely inferior to Him in the qualities which entitle to confidence and trust. The spirituality of the Supreme Being is the contrast.

I. The spirituality of the Deity is intimately connected with the possession of that infinite, unlimited power which renders Him the proper object of entire confidence.

There is a prejudice in favour of matter and against spirit, as if the former were possessed of greater force than the latter. It arises from our mistaking secondary and remote effects for causes, instead of ascending to God the supreme cause. Thus we think of the elements of nature and of mechanical forces. We have no power of operating on the objects immediately around us but by means of our bodies. But it is mind alone which is the seat of power. The power by which all changes are effected through the instrumentality of the body resides immediately in the mind. It is that mysterious principle called Will. Whatever motions the mind wills instantly take place. This is an illustration of the control which the Deity exercises over the universe. The Divine Being has only to will the most important changes and they are instantly accomplished. It is impossible to give any account of innumerable changes continually taking place in the visible world, without tracing them up to mind.

II. The spirituality of God stands in close and intimate connection with His Invisibility.

1 Tim. vi. 15, 16. Were He the object of sight, He must be limited. He cannot, therefore, be figured out by any art or skill of man (Acts xvii. 24–29; Deut. iv. 15; Ex. xx. 4, 5). Hence the great impiety of those who have attempted to paint and figure out the persons of the Trinity. The necessary effect of any attempt to represent the Deity to the human senses, by pictures or images, must be to degrade, to an incalculable degree, our conception of Him. Hence images of angels, the Virgin Mary, and saints of inferior character.

III. The spirituality of God is inseparably connected with His Immensity and Omnipresence (Jer. xxiii. 23, 24; Ps. cxxxix. 7–12).

1. It is necessary that matter should have some figure. But figure is circumscribed within a certain outline. To conceive of the Divine Being as material would involve absurdity. 2. If matter were unlimited there would be no possibility of motion. 3. If the Divine Being were material, He would render impossible the co-existence of created beings. Two portions of matter cannot occupy the same space. But the infinite Spirit is present with every part of His creation.

IV. The spirituality of God enables His infinite Wisdom.

This seems a necessary property of that Being who is present to all His creatures at all times. His infinite acquaintance with His creatures is a necessary consequence of His presence. Every one is as much within His survey at one moment as at another. We judge of men’s character by their actions, He by their motives. And His judgment is always according to truth.

V. The spirituality of God establishes an intimate relation between Him and all His intelligent creatures.

Their dependence on Him is absolute; their subjection to Him constant and incessant; but in a special manner is He the Father of spirits. The body has a tendency to separate us from God, by the dissimilarity of its nature; the soul unites us to Him by those principles and faculties which are congenial to His own. To estrange ourselves from God is to be guilty of a most enormous kind of offence: it is forgetting our proper parent, the author of our existence. To love him, to seek union with Him, is to return to our proper original.

VI. The spirituality of God renders Him capable of being the satisfying Portion, the Supreme Good, of all intelligent beings.

He is the source and spring of all happiness (Lam. iii. 24, 25; Ps. lxxiii. 25, 26). 1. That which constitutes the felicity of the mind must be something out of it. Whoever retires into his own mind for happiness will be miserable. God is qualified to be the everlasting and inexhaustible spring of happiness. 2. He who can always confer happiness on another being must be superior to that being. To be the source of happiness is the prerogative of God. 3. That in which the happiness of a rational and mental creature consists, must be congenial to the nature of that creature. 4. That which forms the principle of our felicity must be something that is capable of communicating itself to us. God, as He is a Spirit, is capable of communicating Himself to the spirits of His rational creatures. These communications will constitute the felicity of heaven. Even while they continue on earth, it is the privilege of the faithful to enjoy union with the Father of spirits through His Son.

Improvement. 1. Let us raise ourselves, in contemplating the Divine Being, above what is sensible, visible, and corporeal. 2. Since God is a Spirit, there must be an everlasting connection established between Him and us, on which will depend our destiny for ever. Hence Jesus Christ has come. What movements are in your minds toward this great object?—Robert Hall: Works, vol. vi., pages 1–32.

 

A Call to the Revolted.

xxxi. 6. Turn ye unto Him from whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted.

Had mankind adhered to the Divine idea, no such word as this would have been necessary. Divine communications would have consisted probably of counsels, directions, predictions, progressive revelations of truth. The demand that man turn shows that he has gone astray. All Divine communications suppose the existence of sin and the need of salvation. Happily for us, they show the way in which salvation may be obtained. The parts of the human race are as the whole. The people God distinguished by separating them from the nations, with special connection to Himself, followed the universal tendency to wander from Him. They forsook His law. When trouble came, they sought help anywhere. At the time of this prophecy they were looking to Egypt instead of to the Lord. The prophet remonstrates, and invites them to make a friend of God against Assyria. The text may be addressed to sinners now. Here is—

I. A serious accusation.

God was the King of Israel. Departure from His laws was a national revolt. Man’s revolt from God consists in—1. Disaffection. When love to the sovereign departs, the way is prepared for any act of hostility circumstances may favour. The disaffection of man to God is inbred. From the original fall man derives a mysterious tendency to depart from God (H. E. I., 3390–3397). Human nature dislikes the Divine holiness; dislike of the Divine holiness is the root from which grow men’s evil deeds. So deep is the revolt that man has no desire to return. 2. Disobedience. You may say it is natural to sin, and we cannot be held responsible for it. Do you judge of, and deal with your fellow-man in that way as to their conduct to you? If they injure, defraud you, do you say they have a natural inclination to fraud and wrongdoing, and therefore are not responsible? When a son who has been carefully trained develops tendencies and inclinations to evil, attaches himself to bad companions, &c., do you exonerate him from blame because it is his nature? You say he ought to have resisted the evil inclinations and cultivated such as were good. You are right. But why should there be a difference when the object of the wrongdoing is God? The dislike of God’s holiness inherent in human nature develops itself in the indulgence of sinful passions and disobedience to God’s commands. Does the fact that it was your nature free you from responsibility? Are you not possessed of reason and conscience? Do not these constitute responsibility? Is not the fact that you decline the help God offers for the subjugation of evil sufficient to throw on you the entire blame of your continued revolt? 3. Distrust. A large part of the revolt of ancient Israel from God consisted in distrust. When man withdraws his love from God and abandons himself to disobedience, he is sure to lose faith. You will soon cease to trust the friend whom you persistently wrong and disregard. Is not this the explanation of much of the unbelief among men? They are unhappy in their severance from God, yet unwilling to return. Then they expunge from their beliefs His declarations concerning sin and its punishment. Truth after truth disappears. Then He disappears. They persuade themselves that there is no need of Him, then that He does not exist. The wish is father to the thought. Because the heart and life have revolted from Him, the intellect labours to sweep Him out of the world which He has made.

II. An earnest call.

1. “Turn ye unto Him.” From the folly of the intellect; from the perversity of the heart; from the disobedience of the life in which your revolt has manifested itself. God is. He is a living person, with all the feelings of one, as well as a supreme ruler clothed with governmental authority. He is worth turning to. 2. In the Gospel, He invites you to repent, to turn. It is a complete change of your heart and life. You can examine and reflect upon the truth. You can consider the righteousness of His claim. You can consider the motive that is furnished by His offer of a free pardon and a full salvation procured for you by the death of His Son. 3. Do you feel yourself weak? He will help you to turn. 4. Turn from the wrong path to the right one. (1.) Turn to the trust which He encourages. Bring your sin and need to Jesus. (2.) Turn to the obedience He demands. There must be a complete surrender. All sin must be relinquished, even the dearest. Choose the way of holiness. (3.) Turn to the love He deserves. It comes indeed into the heart with submission and faith. 5. Think of the danger of continued revolt; of the wrongfulness of revolt; of the blessedness of return.—J. Rawlinson.

 

The Fiery Ordeal of the Church.

xxxi. 9. The Lord, whose fire is in Zion, and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.

There is a variety of purposes for which fire is used. One of them was of old for the sacrifice, the burnt-offering; another was for incense, to keep it always smoking. Furnaces were used by the workers in metals.

I. The fire. “Whose fire is in Zion.” Without the sacred fire there would have been no burnt-offering, no clouds of incense; and therefore God commanded that it should be kept ever burning. In this sense, the fire is the emblem of the life Divine, the Holy Spirit’s work. May it be for ever burning! Where it burns strongly, what clouds of incense of praise and prayer ascend to heaven!

II. The furnace. “Whose furnace is in Jerusalem.” It is there for the purpose of accomplishing God’s designs with regard to His people. A furnace is nothing without fuel, and the fuel may be of various kinds. God heats His furnace with different kinds of fuel—sometimes with bodily afflictions, sometimes with losses of various kinds, sometimes with bereavements, sometimes with persecutions, sometimes with all these combined. Oh, the fast importance of viewing every trial of a temporal kind as sent on purpose to constitute a little fuel for God’s furnace! God is doing three things with His furnace. He is melting, He is manifesting, He is making useful. 1. He is melting. We are so hard and stubborn, so full of dross, that nothing less than the fire will serve (Isa. i. 25). 2. He is manifesting. The fire tests both us[1] and our work (1 Cor. iii. 13). In this way God manifests the difference between His people and the false professor, and shows who are His own (Zech. xiii. 9). 3. He is making useful. Take a lesson from the very vessels you use at table every day; they would have been of no use at all, had they not passed through the fire.

Conclusion. The trials of God’s people tend (1) To exercise and develop their spiritual excellence; (2.) To demonstrate the Divine love and faithfulness; (3.) To prepare them for the enjoyment of Himself at last.[2]—Joseph Irons: Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. vii. 109–120.

 

The Preciousness of Christ.

xxxii. 2. A man shall be as an hiding place, &c.

These figures all coincide in setting forth one great and blessed truth—the truth that in Christ there is suitable and complete relief under every circumstance of distress: in distress arising—1. from temporal sufferings; 2. from conviction of sin; 3. from strong temptation; 4. from the near approach of death.—John Watt, B.D.: Sermons, pp. 92–108.

Jesus Christ—I. The refuge from all dangers; II. The fruition of all desires; III. The rest and refreshment in all trials.—A. Maclaren, B.A.: Sermons, Third Series, p. 135.

This prediction, uttered in the days of Ahaz, had a primary reference to Hezekiah, and to the relief from wicked magistrates which would be experienced in his reign. But its ultimate reference was to the Lord Jesus Christ. Here are three separate figures, very striking to an Eastern ear, which admit of distinct illustration:—I. “A hiding-place from the wind and a covert from the tempest.”[1] This is but one figure, for the latter clause, as is common in Eastern poetry, is only the echo of the former. Jesus is found to be the best hiding-place and covert:—1. From the winds and tempests of affliction. 2. From the tempest of an agitated conscience. 3. He is the only hiding-place for the tempest of Divine wrath. II. “As rivers of water in a dry place,”—that is, Jesus conveys satisfaction and refreshment to those who can find them nowhere else. He alone satisfies the heart’s thirst—1. for happiness; 2. for consolation; 3. for reconciliation with God. III. “As the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.”[2] Such a retreat does our Redeemer afford to those who are fainting under the labours and discouragements of this wearisome life (Isa. 1–4, Jer. xxxi. 25). 1. Let us thank God for such a Saviour—the very Saviour we need. 2. Let us abide in Him—we always need Him.—E. Griffin, D.D.: Fifty-nine Plain Practical Sermons, pp. 261–270.

1. There underlies this prophecy a very sad, a very true conception of human life. The three promises imply three diverse aspects of man’s need and misery. The “covert” and the “hiding-place” imply tempest and storm and danger; the “rivers of water” imply drought and thirst; the “shadow of a great rock” implies lassitude and languor, fatigue and weariness. Sad this is, but how true! Do we not need a “covert” from the tempests of adverse circumstances, of temptations, of God’s anger kindled by our sins!

II. There shines through these words a mysterious hope—the hope that one of ourselves shall deliver us from all this evil in life. “A man,” &c. Such an expectation seems to be right in the teeth of all experience, and far too high pitched even to be fulfilled. It appears to demand in him who should bring it to pass powers which are more than human, and which must in some inexplicable way be wide as the range of humanity and enduring as the succession of the ages. All experience seems to teach that no human arm or heart can be to another soul what these words promise, and what we need.

III. This mysterious hope is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. That which seemed impossible is real. The forebodings of experience have not fathomed the powers of Divine Love. There is a man, our brother, bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, who can be to all human souls the adequate object of their perfect trust, the abiding home of their deepest love, the unfailing supply for their profoundest wants. Behind His protection they are safe, by His grace they are satisfied, beneath His shelter they have rest.—A. Maclaren, B.A.: Sermons, Third Series, pp. 136–147.

I. We have here an instrument of consolation.[3] 1. It was an instrument of consolation to those who first heard it. The prophecy in which it occurs was given in the time of Ahaz, when justice was perverted, and the government, which should have been for the protection of the people, was organised for their oppression. Terrible are the sufferings of men at such a time, and precious was the hope which this prophecy held out of “a man”—a ruler—who should be a defence and blessing to the poor of the nation. 2. It was an instrument of consolation to devout men in all the centuries which intervened between its utterance and the coming of Christ. In due time Hezekiah ascended the throne, and in him this prophecy had a partial fulfilment. But he passed away, and Israel needed such “a man” as much as ever. Devout men learned to look for him in the Messiah for whom they and their fathers had waited. In the midst of national and personal humiliation and sufferings, they were sustained and cheered by the hope of His advent. 3. In due time He appeared. Whether in Him this prophecy was completely or only partially fulfilled, let any reader of the Gospels testify. And since the days when Christ went about Judæa, solacing human woes, and ministering to human necessities, this declaration has been still more full of consolation to generation after generation down to our own day. It has taught men to whom to flee in their distresses, and fleeing to Him they have found that it was with no vain hope that it had cheered them. When you think what it has been to men ever since it was uttered, can you help looking upon it with love?

II. Of this instrument of consolation all men have need. There are some portions of Scripture which have only a limited interest, because they are for special classes (e.g., kings, subjects, parents, children, &c.); but this is a portion for every one. The needs of which it speaks will be felt by all men; and all men, at some time or other, will long for the blessings which it promises. Hence—1. It should be stored up in the memory of the young.[4] 2. The aged should count it one of their chief treasures.[5]

III. To the present and permanent value of this instrument of consolation there are millions of living witnesses. The declarations of our text are very beautiful, but the important question is, Are they true? Is Christ to His people all that He is here said to be? 1. Our text says that Christ is a refuge for His people. “As a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest.” Remember what kind of storms sometimes sweep across the Eastern deserts. [See outline: The Christian’s Refuge, section I.] As you have pursued the pilgrimage of human life, have any such storms burst upon you?—the storm of adversity? of persecution? of an awakened conscience? of temptations? The worst storms are those which rage within a man! In such storms where did you find shelter? what did you find Christ to be to you? 2. Our text says that Christ will satisfy the thirst of His people. Picture the scene at Rephidim. To the multitudes who had almost died of thirst, how welcome were the streams that burst from the smitten rock! All men thirst for happiness; the distressed for consolation, the penitent for reconciliation with God. In these respects, has Christ been to you “as rivers of water in a dry place?” 3. Our text says that Christ will give rest to His people.[6]

IV. Every truth is a call to duty. To what duties does our text call us? If we have had a personal experience of the truth of its declarations, it says—1. Praise God. Would not a storm-driven traveller give thanks for “a covert,” the thirst-consumed for “rivers of water,” the faint and weary for “the shadow of a great rock?” Let us remember what Christ has been to us, and give “thanks unto God for His unspeakable gift!” 2. Take courage. Usually as years increase troubles multiply: but what Christ has been to you in the past, He will be in the future—an all-sufficient Saviour! 3. To those who have not yet had a personal experience of the truth of its declarations, my text says, Come to Jesus. Its promises are invitations. Is not a well of water in itself an invitation to a thirsty man? You need all that the text promises; and in the experience of millions of men living now, you have abundant evidence that its promises are worthy of your trust. Familiarise yourself with the “hiding-place” before the tempests of life burst upon you, that in the day of storm you may know whither to flee. Blessed are they who have made the Man of whom our text speaks their friend. According to His word (Matt. xxviii.), He is with them “always,” “as a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.”

 

The Christian’s Refuge.

(For Christmas Day.)

xxxii. 2. A man shall be as an hiding place, &c.

This is a very remarkable prophecy and promise, and at first sight most strikingly at variance with almost every other declaration of the Word of God, e.g., Isa. ii. 22; Ps. clxvi. 3; lxii. 8, 9; Jer. xvii. 5. “A man shall be as an hiding place from the wind!” A poor, weak, helpless mortal, unable to protect himself from the wind and tempest, shall he be our refuge? Shall God’s own Word command us to leave the living Fountain, and betake ourselves in our necessities to the broken cisterns of earth? Strange inconsistency, astonishing contradiction to every other portion of God’s Word? But who is this Man? He of whom it is also written (Zech. xiii. 7; Phil. ii. 6); and who is thus spoken of by the Spirit of God Himself, when predicting the event of this day (Isa. ix. 6). It is the Lord Jesus Christ, then, who reveals Himself in the words before us under two striking similitudes; the first of which regards His people’s safety, and the second their consolations.

I. As regards their safety: “hiding place from the wind, covert from the tempest.” Picture to yourself one of those scenes which Eastern travellers paint, when they describe the passage of a caravan across some dreary desert, where, throughout the long day’s journey, there is no house, no rock, no tree to afford a moment’s shade or shelter. The wind suddenly rises, the lightning glares, and in the distance are beheld gigantic columns of sand, raised and kept together in such vast masses by the whirlwind that drives them towards the poor bewildered travellers, who behold in them at once their destruction and their grave. In vain do they attempt to fly; as vain were all thoughts of resistance. Before the shortest prayer is finished, that multitude that was just now full of life and animation, is hushed in silence; every heart has ceased to beat; the simoom of the desert has passed over them, and the place they occupied is scarcely to be distinguished from the surrounding plain. This is no flight of the imagination, but a simple statement of a fact of not unfrequent occurrence. Now imagine in such a scene with what feelings these alarmed and flying travellers would greet “a hiding-place” and “a covert.” If a rock of adamant, a barrier which neither sand, nor wind, nor tempest could beat down or overleap, should suddenly spring up between them and those swiftly advancing columns of death, what would be their feelings of joy, their thoughts of gratitude, their language of praise! Who can imagine the heartfelt cry of thanksgiving to God which would arise from that vast multitude at so complete, so merciful, so unhoped-for a deliverance? With such feelings should we “behold the Man” of whom I speak to-day. We stood in as great a danger. Our sins had raised a tempest of the wrath of God, against which the whole created host of heaven would in vain have attempted to erect a barrier. But our Lord has wrought a deliverance for us as much needed, as unexpected, as complete. He has interposed between us and the mighty “wind,” the appalling “tempest,” which justly threatened our destruction. Let us who have found shelter in Christ rejoice in Him, and be glad this day because of the quietness we enjoy. Let those who are still outside the great “Hiding-Place,” the wondrous “Covert” which God’s mercy has provided, remember that an unapplied Saviour is no Saviour. Their peril has been in no sense lessened by His advent. In the gladness of this day they can have no share.

II. His people’s consolation. “As rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” Before we had symbols of safety; here we have symbols of consolation. 1. God’s people often feel that this world is a dry and barren place and thirst for consolation and succour. That which they thirst for, they may find in Christ. He is not merely a river, but (so abundant are His consolations) “rivers of water” to them that are fainting under the trials, anxieties, or distresses of the world. But it is not enough that the river is running at your feet; you must know it is there, you must drink of its waters, or they will not assuage your thirst. In Hagar sitting down in utter hopelessness and helplessness, when near her there was an abundant supply of water for herself and her child (Gen. xxi. 15–19), we have an emblem of too many distressed and sorrowful Christians. “Rivers of water” are flowing past you: arise, and drink! (Rev. xxii. 17). 2. God’s people are often faint and weary as they pursue their earthly pilgrimage. But during every stage of it they may “renew their strength,” and so be enabled to persevere until at length “they stand in Zion before God,” for Christ is “as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” Don’t be satisfied with just coming within the range of the shadow of the Rock; there are in the Rock recesses where you may find a complete shelter and a sweeter rest. Enter into them. Cultivate a closer fellowship with Christ. So in every stage of your journey you shall have not only strength, but joy (Isaiah xxxv. 10).—H. Blunt, A.M.: Posthumous Sermons, pp. 23–42.

The “Man” here referred to is the Divine Redeemer—the one theme of the Bible. “Hiding-place” and “covert” express substantially the same idea—shelter, defence, safety, deliverance from both actual and impending evil. Jesus Christ in this broad and comprehensive sense is the Refuge of His people. Fleeing to Him, men find protection, &c.

I. Christ is a refuge in the day of earthly disappointment. Human life full of disappointments. Few of our anticipations of good realised. Our fondest and most sacredly cherished hopes blighted. The world deceives men: it is not what it seems to be, it does not satisfy the desires it awakens. The god of this world is the master spirit of lying and deception, and he so manages the shifting scenes as to keep up the deception until the last. So with (a) the man of business, (b) those who aspire to earthly honour, fame, power, (c) the student, (d) the pleasure-seeker. To these children of disappointment, Christ is a refuge; He has Himself felt the ills of life (Heb. iv. 15, 16). There is a “hiding-place” where the fury of life’s storms never comes; the God of mercy offers eternal life in the Gospel. Forsaken, disheartened, disappointed men may still be accepted of Christ, and find peace and rest in Him.

II. Christ is a Refuge in time of affliction. This is a world of sorrow and suffering; men turn from it in disgust and anguish to seek relief elsewhere, or to weep life away in sadness and darkness. Now Christ alone is available in just such an hour. When the world turns its back upon us, there is a Friend who sticketh closer than a brother—one born for adversity—a shield and a deliverer in the day of affliction. We may not be able to explain the philosophy of the thing, but the soul that looks to Christ is so sustained as to rejoice in the tribulation, and the heaviest burden is lightened and made a blessing.

III. Christ is a Refuge in the day of trial. It pleases the Lord to make full proof of His people. He puts their love, fidelity, and integrity to the test. God tries (a) our faith, (b) hope, (c) patience, (d) principles. And in His day of fiery trial our only safety is in the “hiding-place” of Divine mercy—we need the “covert” of the Almighty wings. None but Christ is able to give the soul confidence in such days and hours.

IV. Christ is a Refuge in the day of fear. Sin is darkness, and hence wherever there is sin there is gloom and fear. The wicked man is a slave to fear, and even the Christian at times suffers greatly because of it. The remedy for this gloomy experience is in Christ; and there is a power in the Gospel to lift the soul into a region of perpetual sunshine. In Christian experience, peace, joy, and hope are the ministering angels (Hab. iii. 17, 18).

V. Christ is a Refuge from the torments of an accusing conscience. The day of self-convicted guilt always a day of memorable experiences. Conscience upbraids, justice demands satisfaction; the soul is ready to sink into hell. Whose arm can save you in such an hour? where shall he seek refuge? in that hour none but Christ can save.

VI. Christ is a Refuge in the day of final wrath. The wrath to come—the just, final, and eternal wrath of God—a reality, a fixed fact in thought and experience. Jesus Christ is a refuge from this impending evil. The Cross lifted up on Calvary has received the thunder; God and the believer in Jesus Christ are reconciled. What, then, have they to fear whose life is hid in Christ? Death cannot harm, the judgment-day need not terrify.

Glorious Refuge! it never fails—is never shut against the penitent soul—has never been shaken—and will yet resist the fire and deluge of the great day of wrath. This is the Ark, and they are eternally safe who are therein.—J. M. Sherwood: National Preacher, 1859, p. 217.

 

Rivers of Water in a Dry Place.

xxxii. 2. As rivers of water in a dry place.

The surface sense of this passage may refer to Hezekiah and to other good kings who were a means of great blessing to the declining kingdom of Judah; but its declarations are too full of meaning to be applied solely or primarily to any mere man. They are never fully understood until they are applied to Christ, the true King of righteousness, who confers the highest blessings upon His people. In Him there is a fulness and variety of blessing such as the varied metaphors of this passage fail to set forth. He is the true Man of whom Isaiah speaks; the man in whom the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily, and who therefore can be, and is, “as rivers of water in a dry place.”

I. The Metaphor. This implies, 1. Great excellence of blessing. How valuable is a river to the land through which it flows! So Christ is the source and the sustenance of the fertility, fruitfulness, and beauty of His people. 2. Abundance of blessing. Think of the vast floods that flow through the Amazon, the Ganges, the Indus, the Orinoco. So in Christ there is grace sufficient for all mankind. 3. Freshness of blessing.[1] 4. Freeness of blessing. Though individuals may claim peculiar rights in rivers, all creatures drink of them freely, the dog as well as the swan. So may all, however vile, partake of the grace that is in Christ. 5. Constancy of blessing. Pools and cisterns dry up, but the river goes on for ever. So it is with Jesus; the grace to pardon and the power to heal are not spasmodic powers in Him, they abide in Him unabated for evermore.

II. A Special Excellence which the text mentions. “Rivers of water in a dry place.” Only the residents in a tropical country can fully appreciate that phrase. But Christ came to such a place when He came to our race. So He does when with His salvation He visits the individual soul. Were it not for Him, the souls, even of His people under the influence of wealth or of poverty, of the cares or of the pleasures of life, would be always dry. But He refreshes, sustains, and fertilises those who otherwise would utterly faint and fail.

III. Practical Lessons. 1. See the goings out of God’s heart to man, and man’s way of communing with God. God’s heart is an infinite ocean of goodness, and it flows forth to us through Jesus Christ, not in streams and driblets, but in rivers of grace and mercy. These streams we cannot purchase or merit, we have only to receive them; when we drink of the stream, we partake of God. 2. See what a misery it is that men should be perishing and dying of soul thirst when there are these rivers so near. Some have never heard of them; therefore help to the utmost the Missionary Society. Others who have heard of them are smitten with a strange insanity that leads them to turn away from them. 3. Let us learn where, if we are suffering from spiritual drought and barrenness, the blame lies. It cannot lie in Christ. 4. If Christ is ready to be to us as rivers, drink of Him, all of you.[2] Live near Him. Live in Him.[3]—C. H. Spurgeon: Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, No. 1243.

 

Comfort in Christ.

xxxii. 2. As the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.

This chapter begins with a prophecy of the Messiah, and of the happiness which the godly should enjoy under His reign (ver. 1). True as well as beautiful are its descriptions of Christ.

I. To the children of God this world is often “a weary land.” 1. Because of the labours they have to undergo. This is a laborious world (Eccles. i. 8). Employment is in itself a blessing; it was provided for man in Eden; but every day the sun sets upon millions who are faint and weary, who are overwrought, and for whom there will be no sufficient rest until they lie down in the grave. To God’s children it is a special cause of weariness that they are compelled to devote so much time in labouring for “the meat which perisheth,” and that they have so little time for meditation and for communion with God. 2. Because of the troubles to which they are exposed (Job v. 7). Troubles attend every stage and condition of life. They are national, domestic, personal. The pains and evils of life commonly increase as its length is protracted. And there is nothing more wearisome than troubles. Many who can endure labour cannot endure trouble. This makes the heart stoop, and weakens the mind as well as the body. A troublesome world must be a wearisome world. 3. Because of the perplexities by which they are harassed. This is a dark world. What is past, what is present, as well as what is to come, lies involved in darkness. Life is full of mystery. Strange and unexpected events are constantly happening, which disappoint the hopes and frustrate the designs of the wisest. Providence often baffles the interpretation and tries the faith even of the most devout. Wickedness is often triumphant, and virtue trampled under foot. Good men are often tired of living in a world which subjects them to continual anxiety and suspense. 4. Because of the sin by which they are surrounded. The moral atmosphere in which they live is uncongenial. The practices and principles with which they are daily brought into contact fill them with disgust, with indignation, and with grief (2 Pet. ii. 7, 8; Ps. cxix. 139, 156, 158; Acts xvii. 16; Ezek. ix. 4).

II. Whensoever God’s children are weary of the world, they may find comfort in Christ. They may always find comfort. 1. In the compassion of Christ. He knows what it is to be faint and weary. He knows the heart of a pilgrim and stranger. And He has the tenderest compassion for His friends in distress or want. He is as pitiful to-day as He was when He tabernacled on earth. He feels all that His followers feel (Acts ix. 2; Heb. iv. 14–16). 2. In the intercession of Christ. As He prayed for Peter (Luke xii. 32) and for all His disciples before His crucifixion (John xvii.), so He still makes intercession for His followers according to their necessities. And His intercession is always prevalent (John xi. 42). 3. In the strength of Christ. Weakness is the cause of weariness, and the weary may always find the strength they want in Christ (Phil. iv. 13; 2 Cor. xii. 7–10). 4. In the government of Christ. He has promised to give them peace even in this world (John xiv. 27; xvi. 33; xiv. 2, 3). These are great and precious promises, because they are sure promises.

Application.—Since the friends of Christ, when they are weary of the world, may always find comfort in Him—1. They should not regard the things which make them weary of it as curses but as blessings. It is a good thing to have our hold of the world loosened. It is a good thing to be driven to Christ. All their trials and sufferings are suited to prepare them to enjoy more peace and rest in Christ, than they could otherwise enjoy. When a man finds a covert in a great storm, he finds more pleasure in it than he does on a fine fair day. So Christians enjoy more real satisfaction and happiness in adversity than in prosperity, because while prosperity leads them to the enjoyment of the world, adversity leads to the enjoyment of Christ. 2. They enjoy more happiness even in this life than sinners do. Sinners often seem happier than saints, but theirs is a loud and transient mirth, whereas God’s people have a deep and lasting joy. Autumn is oftener a pleasanter season than spring, but it deepens into the gloom and vigour of winter; whereas after the storms of March and the rain of April come the bright joyous days of summer. The life of the sinner is at best an autumn life, with autumn prospects, but the life of God’s children is a spring life. And even here and now they (and they only) are filled with that peace of God which passeth all understanding, affords joy in sorrow, and gives rest to the weary. 3. They ought never to be heard murmuring or complaining under any troubles or afflictions in which they may be involved. This world is full of murmuring; and when God’s people complain, it is highly offensive to God (Ps. cvi. 25, 26). But why should they complain? (Heb. xii. 11). And they have a present refuge, even Christ, in whom they may find “strong consolation.” 4. They ought never to be found depressed with anxiety as to the future (Phil. iv. 6, 7).—Dr. Emmons: Works, vol. iii. 352–365.

 

Christian Liberality.

xxxii. 8. But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand.

This prophecy relates to the time when the kingdom of Judah would relinquish its foolish dependence on Egypt. The king would reign in righteousness. Men and things would be called by their true names. Selfish injustice to the poor would contrast with considerate helpfulness. When generosity begins to be exercised on a large scale, the standard is raised. The raising of the standard tends to the general enlargement of the scale of benevolence.

Our subject is Christian liberality.

I. The qualities by which it is distinguished.

1. Sympathy. It is the opposite of the disposition to act on the assumption that a man’s own interest and happiness is the main end of his existence. It is the disposition that looks out to others, imagines their case, feels for them, desires their happiness. Difference of race, nationality, church, opinion sinks to nothing in its presence. It asks, What is the need? Neither temporal nor spiritual need exhausts it. Spiritual need is the chief. It desires the salvation of all men. And when compassion for men’s souls is tenderest, compassion for their temporal sufferings is usually also tenderest. The heart is often larger than the purse; but the purse-strings will not be closed. Our hospitals and other institutions for the relief of suffering and distress owe their origin and support mainly to Christian sympathy.

2. Ingenuity. “Deviseth liberal things.” Many contribute to benevolent objects when solicited, but never originate anything in such a direction. There should be a thoughtful, holy solicitude to know what is needed, and how much of it we are able to do. Those act a useful part who discover for themselves and suggest to others suitable and feasible methods of usefulness. There should also be conscientious thoughtfulness as to the proportion to be established between what God gives to us and what we give to Him in return. As Jacob (Gen. xxviii. 20–22).

3. Action. Liberality does not terminate in feeling and thought (James ii. 15, 16; 1 John iii. 17, 18). It does not devise methods of usefulness and leave them to be carried out by others. The good Samaritan did not look at the man who had been robbed and half-killed on the road and pass on (Luke x. 33, 37). The woman who brought the alabaster box of ointment and anointed the feet of Jesus showed her love to Him more than if she had spoken a thousand endearing words.

4. Willingness. No selfish churl strikes out new plans of usefulness. Such as exists he unwillingly helps, if he helps them at all. According to the Christian idea, no amount of mere giving which does not come from the willing heart is accepted as liberality. The voluntary principle is alone recognised as the principle of liberality. And voluntaryism means willinghood (2 Cor. viii. 12).

5. Continuance. Not by one generous act, nor by such an act occasionally, can the title of liberality be won. Excitable persons impulsively promise, but reflection brings them to their true selves; and they either break the promise or fulfil it grudgingly. Some undertake Christian work; for a time do it; perhaps do it well; but after a time weary of its inconvenience, sacrifice, and slow results. Now the liberal man “stands by” his liberal things. The other reading is, “adheres” to them. Continuance in the race reaches the goal.

II. The soil in which it is nourished.

It is engendered and thrives in the soil of Christianity. For it is in accordance with—1. Its Spirit. It is the spirit of love. The man who drinks most into the spirit of Christianity will be most likely to feel such benevolent interest in humanity as will take practical shapes. It tends to the overthrow of selfishness. It fosters the spirit of self-sacrifice. 2. Its Precepts. We are commanded to stretch forth the helping hand to those in need. We are to extend the kingdom of Christ. Gifts and offerings in some form are demanded by the two great dispensations; by the Gospel no less than by the Law. He who lives for himself, giving forth nothing, or giving with grudging hand, has yet to learn the first principles of Christian obedience. 3. Its Examples. The newly formed Church in Jerusalem. Contributions throughout the churches afterwards for impoverished Christians there. Above all the example of Christ.

Do not suppose that liberality obtains no recognition. 1. It becomes a source of pleasure. Let any one put this to the test. And the pleasure is in proportion to the sacrifice it costs (Acts xx. 35). 2. It is returned in blessing (Prov. iii. 9, 10). We cannot explain how this comes about, because we cannot explain the way of God’s Providence. Everything is in His hands. Can bless or blast your affairs. It certainly brings spiritual blessing. Exercises, develops, improves faith, love, self-denial. The indwelling Spirit of God is manifested in larger measure. Conscience approves. 3. It will obtain the final recognition. It is all recorded. Nothing forgotten, however little. “Cup of cold water.” “Ye have done it unto Me.” Let us strive for that commendation of Jesus, and for His commendation now, such as that He gave to the widow who gave her mites, and to the woman who did what she could.—J. Rawlinson.

 

A Call to the Careless.

xxxii. 11. Be troubled, ye careless ones.[1]

I. Who are the careless ones in our own day? 1. Those who neglect the Bible. Its main object is to arouse the attention of sinners. Claims and deserves attention. That man is indifferent to the welfare of his country who never examines the principles of its constitution, the character of its laws, &c. So he who neglects the Bible can never be regarded as a serious man. He is careless on the most momentous of all subjects. 2. Those who neglect prayer. All who have any proper feeling towards God must regard this as a solemn duty. Nature teaches its necessity and importance, the Scriptures enjoin it with great earnestness (Luke xviii. 1; 1 Thess. v. 17). 3. Those who neglect the Sabbath. This “made for man,” appointed for his convenience and spiritual good. An institution of unspeakable importance as regards eternity—in fact, no religion without it. 4. Those who neglect the institutions of the sanctuary. Those anxious to know “what they must do to be saved” always prize the preaching of the Gospel. On the other hand, as the interest in religion declines, so will be our indifference to the means of grace. See you one who makes his attendance on God’s house a matter of convenience, who avails himself of any trifling excuse to be absent, &c., there is a careless one. So also with those who are so absorbed in the pursuits of this life, so as to have neither leisure nor disposition to attend the place of prayer. 5. In a word, those are careless ones who live in impenitence and unbelief. Repentance and faith in Christ. The great interest of the soul cannot be secured without these, and no man can be said to take heed to the things that belong to his peace, without obeying Christ’s commands concerning them.

II. Why such ought to be troubled. Those who are indifferent are disposed to remain so—carelessness perpetuates itself. Still there are reasons why such should be troubled. 1. The fact that you are careless is a ground of alarm. Carelessness, an evidence of our ignorance of the true condition of the soul in the sight of God. Something truly frightful in false security where the danger is real and great. With such this fancied security is the most alarming symptom. The sinner suffering from a disease which no human skill can remove—in danger of eternal death. How fearful then the indifference, how appalling the apathy of such! 2. This indifference indicates a state of mind in which every blessing will be abused, and every warning neglected. A habit of body that would render everything received for nourishment or for medicine useless would be dreadful; what, then, of that moral disease which perverts every gift and makes the diversified means which God employs accomplish nothing for our good? 3. You ought to be troubled when you reflect what it is you are careless about, viz., your salvation. The man who is indifferent about his health, or regardless of his temporal interest, is unwise; what, then, of one who hazards the salvation of his soul by neglect? Salvation is offered in Christ—indifference is unbelief. Why so eager after the acquisition of wealth, and indifferent about the true riches? 4. Another cause of alarm is the exposure of your present position. Neglect of the Gospel ensures destruction (Heb. ii. 3). This apathy a crime for which no amiableness or morality can atone. 5. No more powerful means will be employed to awaken you to the concerns of your soul. God disclaims any responsibility for your loss (Isa. v. 4; Matt. xxiii. 37). Ministers have preached, Christian friends have entreated, the Holy Spirit has been sent down, and still you are careless. The very heathen will rise up in judgment. If one rising from the dead would not make those hear who had Moses and the prophets, what shall awaken those who have Christ and the apostles? 6. This carelessness is induced, it is not natural. A long process of hardening the heart is gone through before such a state of apathy is reached. But once ours, it has all the force of habit, and is not easily broken up (Matt. xi. 21). This indifference is voluntary (Acts xxiv. 25). Felix might have taken a different course. No iron necessity binds men to the fatal course they take, but a perverse will and an unbelieving heart. 7. This carelessness is a state of mind that provokes God to withdraw His Spirit. Deeply criminal. No apathy in heaven, there ought to be none on earth. Must it not offend God, to say that He has failed to reveal Himself in a way to interest His creatures? And yet men can be interested in a novel while the Gospel is neglected. Under the old dispensation He said, “My people would not hearken to My voice, so I gave them up to their hearts’ lust.” What of those who then reject the Son? 8. This indifference will ultimately be broken up, and will aggravate condemnation a thousandfold. Though retribution sleep, it must come and will not tarry. The Jews were spared forty years after the Saviour had wept over their doomed city. So with the sinner; there comes a time when he can be indifferent no longer; the realities of judgment and eternity produce a conviction which will go on deepening for ever. How it will embitter the soul then to dwell upon this carelessness of the past. Recollection itself a source of misery (Luke xvi. 25). What words can express the anguish of a soul thus reminded of lost opportunities, &c.

Throw off this lethargy. From this moment seek the Lord with your whole heart, and call upon Him while He is near. Why run the desperate hazard of having to do all this on a dying bed?—Mark Tucker, D.D.: National Preacher, vol. vii. p. 138.