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Post by Admin on Nov 6, 2024 17:47:52 GMT -5
LVI.
The Vision Of The Glory Isaiah 6:1-13
WHETHER this vision records Isaiah's first call to the prophetic ministry matters not. It is either the introduction to his whole ministry, or to a new section of it, probably the latter; the first five chapters describing Israel as ripening for judgment, and the sixth as receiving the sentence. Let us take up the chapter under the following heads.
I.The vision. It was a temple vision, a vision of glory, the glory of Jehovah of hosts, as such, the glory of the King and the Priest, of the throne and temple; and all this when Uzziah the king lay dying or was dead,—the earthly king passing away, the heavenly King shewing himself.
It was truly a royal and glorious vision,—Jehovah himself the center of it,—King of kings and Lord of lords, true King of Israel and of the earth, true Melchizedek, a Priest upon his throne. In connection with this King are the seraphim. Probably these are the same as cherubim, as they are
almost identical with those described in Ezekiel and John. In Genesis and in the historical books they appear as cherubim, "figures"; in Isaiah as seraphim, or "burners"; in Ezekiel and John as "living creatures." Here they stand upon the train of the royal robe which filled the temple. They
have six wings. Two cover the face,—as if the glory were overwhelming to them (as Moses hid his face, Exodus 3:6); two their feet,—to hide their whole person, body ("their bodies," Ezekiel 1:23), and feet from the brightness; two they fly with, as if ready to go forth on the errands of this mighty King. Is not this the true posture of every saint of God? Solemn awe in presence of the divine
majesty, as unfit to look upon the glorious One; profound self-abasement, as unfit to be looked upon by one so holy; readiness to do the work of God, to go forth on his service on the wings of faith and love.
II. The voice. It was the voice of the seraphim, a responsive song,—"one cried unto another." Their song was, (1.) Of Jehovah of hosts and of his three-fold holiness; (2.) Of earth,—the whole earth,—earth filled with His glory.Thus the voice interprets the vision. It is a vision of latter-day glory,— when the Lord alone shall be exalted, when holiness to the Lord shall be seen and heard everywhere, when the glory of the Lord shall fill the world. What a contrast the state of things thus revealed to that in the day of the prophet! This holy glory was to him exceeding marvelous,—a holy glory in connection with Jehovah of hosts as King of all the earth. It is the times of restitution of all things, when the Lord alone shall be exalted.
III.
The shaking. The posts of the door, or foundations of the threshold moved, or shook, at the voice of the seraphim, and the temple was filled with smoke. The foundations of God's own house are moved at the voice of the marvelous song, and the house is filled with that which symbolizes Jehovah's holy anger against sin (Psalm 18:9). The vision seems to be that of God coining down in his holiness, to shake the earth, and to express his hatred against sin, and especially against Israel's sin, in His own sanctuary (Isaiah 65:5). He is spoken of here as arising to shake terribly the earth,— beginning at His own temple, but not ceasing till He has shaken all that can be shaken, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
When God's anger waxes hot against sin, then all the earth shall be as Sinai,—when the mountain shook, and was covered with smoke from the presence of the holy Lord God. The "battles of shaking" for our world are yet to come (Isaiah 30:32). The Prophets alarm. (verse 5) His cry is, "Woe is me"; nay, "I am undone." The reason of his alarm is a new and deeper view of his own sinfulness, from a new view of Jehovah's holiness. "A man of unclean lips am I;" nay, "among a people of unclean lips do I dwell." He gives the reason,—" the King, Jehovah of hosts, mine eyes have seen." Thus the nearer God comes to us, the more are we made aware of our uncleanness (even that of our lips, and feel the uncleanness of a world of unclean lips in which we dwell. The vision of earth filled with holy glory, and with the presence of its glorious King, has overwhelmed him. As in the case of Daniel (10:8), and John (Revelation 1:17). The more we realize a present God, and an earth filled with his glory, the more shall we feel our own unholiness and cry out in fear, even though we be saints. We feel the awful contrast between our unholy lips and the holy lips of those who are singing, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts." It was Israel's "unclean lips" that cried, "Crucify him"; and for the words of their unclean lips they are now suffering the woes of God.
God's cure for this alarm. A live coal from the altar applied to his lips,—that special part which he felt impure, and in which purity was specially needed by him as a prophet. A prophet is a man like ourselves, yet God must purify his lips that he may speak. He does this by fire and blood; for the live coal was from the altar of burnt-offering. Thus the blood makes clean and the fire purifies,—"the spirit of burning." This application of fire and blood to his lips removes,
(1.) his fears;
(2.) his personal uncleanness;
(3.) national uncleanness; for the fire and blood were meant to apply to "the people of the unclean lips" as well as to himself. Thus the sense of uncleanness is removed. Thus the terror which the nearer presence of God produces is removed by that which assures the sinner of pardon and cleansing. The man's terrors are dispelled; he feels that he can now act and speak for God.
VI.God's inquiry for a messenger. Jehovah's voice is heard; its utterance is two-fold,
(1.) "Whom shall I send;"
(2.) "Who will go for us."
It is an errand of hardship, painfulness, danger, shame; from which flesh and blood would shrink, as did Moses, Jeremiah, Ezekiel. Still God in every age is looking round and asking for a messenger,—for evangelists, for missionaries, for ministers, Spirit-called, Spirit-filled, Spirit sent messengers. The work is great, the field is large, the message is judgment as well as mercy. Whom shall I send; who will go?
VII. The prophet's answer. "Here am I, send me." He answers the second question first; but he answers both explicitly. He does not shrink. He is ready for shame, for prison, for death,—as indeed he found at last The spirit is willing and the flesh has overcome its weakness. The fire and blood have removed the terror, and made him bold. Thus it was with Whitefield.
VIII.
The message. It is one of judgment;
(1.) For the people, the worst of judgments, hear on and understand not, look on but see not. A hard heart, an insensible and impenetrable soul, a seared conscience, given over to a reprobate mind;
(2.) For the land,—to lie waste and desolate, its fields untilled, its cities forsaken. This is the message of double judgment,— complete and terrible ruin. This is the end of the people of" unclean lips."
IX.The promise. All Israel's judgments have a promise mixed up with them,—a hope appended to them. They are not forever. Their unbelief is not forever. Their land's desolation is not forever. There is a holy Seed or root, in which the blessing lies hid, even in the midst of the curse; and out of this seed, or root, or stump, the future tree is to arise, more glorious than the first. Israel shall blossom, and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit. Here is the gleam of hope in the midst of despair and darkness. But how terrible the history through which Israel passes to this! How fearfully God avenges unbelief and rejection of his grace! Yet the day dawns at last! The King comes in His glory.
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Post by Admin on Nov 6, 2024 17:48:41 GMT -5
LVII.
Man's Extremity And Satan's Opportunity Isaiah 8:19-22
"Man’s extremity," says the good proverb, "is God's opportunity"; but we may coin another proverb, and say, "Man's extremity is the devil's opportunity.'' It was so in the case of Saul at Endor, and of Jehoram at Ekron, when, in the hour of despair they threw themselves into the arms of the devil. It will be so, as long as there is a devil to waylay and ensnare us. He is ready with his temptations always, but specially in the day of human darkness and depression. He has special work to do at such a time, and he knows how to do it. God and Satan stand with arms outstretched to receive the poor overwhelmed and sorrowful one; but how often does he prefer the embrace and the counsel of hell to those of heaven! He preferred it even in Paradise!
The picture here drawn is that of Israel,—Israel specially in the last days, when their unbelief and darkness increase, when calamities the most appalling are overflowing them and their land. Then it is that when God's Spirit leaves them utterly, when judgments are showering clown, when despair takes possession of them, that Satan suggests, Try my wisdom, my wizards, my familiar spirits. They try these, but it only makes the evil worse. Hardly bestead and hungry, they fret and curse both king and God.
They look above, but all is darkness; they look beneath,but all is trouble and "dimness of anguish"; all round them is darkness that may be felt.
They are passing through great tribulation, their last sorrow; it is the time of Jacob's trouble. Let us learn God's lessons here.
I. There are critical seasons in the history of a soul. It has been tossed fearfully; fighting's without, and fears within. Unbelief, skepticism, atheism, uncertainty of every kind, these, like the four winds of heaven, rush at once over and through the soul. It feels itself drifting on the rocks;
it turns round, and in desperation tries to face the storm. Like the stag at bay, it wheels round upon its merciless pursuers. Shall it battle them, or give itself up to be torn in pieces without a struggle? These are fearful moments for the soul. It is an unearthly struggle. It seems hurrying the
sinner to despair. In such a condition, how profound should be our pity!
Shall we be angry? Shall we rage at these troubled ones? Shall we call them hard names? No, let us compassionate them. They are just upon the rocks; the breakers are whitening over them. If ever there was a case for Christian love, it is here. Let those rage against you,says Augustine, "who know not with what labor truth is found; with what groans and sighs we get to understand the very least of
God."
II. Of these critical seasons Satan avails himself. He comes proffering help; holding out his hand; offering his own wisdom and strength, or man's wisdom and strength; endeavoring in every way to
prevent the soul betaking itself to God, to his Spirit, to the Bible.
Anything rather than the cross, or the blood, or the righteousness! All doubts and difficulties in reference to these are started. It is whispered that the Bible is not true, not wholly inspired; that there is no hell, or that none shall go there; "ye shall not surely die;" that science is more noble
than revelation, that reason is a higher thing than faith; that the creeds of other days are obsolete: that there must be progress and development. All these suggestions are grateful to the pride of man, and eagerly seized upon. In how many such cases and junctures has he triumphed. Man's
extremity has been his opportunity. He has stepped in with his lies and flatteries, and he has prevailed. The soul has turned away from God and Christ, and the Bible, to "familiar spirits," to "doctrines of devils," to "strong delusions."
III. These appliances of Satan only make matters worse. They remove no doubts; they only increase them; deepening the darkness; leading on from depth to depth; from error to error; from unbelief to unbelief, from blasphemy to blasphemy. No man ever gained by yielding to Satan, or lost by yielding to God. Dark as the soul may be, it only becomes darker by believing Satan's falsehoods. It becomes more wretched and more hopeless, the more that it deserts the divine teaching and listens either to
that of earth or hell, however plausible it may be.
At such seasons God comes specially near to proffer his aid. He never deserts a man on this side of hell. He follows him into the thick darkness, proffering light; into the lowest depth offering help. He is at hand in the day of evil, even to the most evil of the sons of men. No man can say, God has abandoned me to the devil, or to myself, or to error, or to sin. Christ's tears over Jerusalem are the proof of this.
At such seasons Christians ought specially to pity and to help. These distractions and doubts that we see around us are the signals of distress, unconsciously held up by a wretched world. These errors and disbeliefs are the rockets sent up from wrecked barques. This is a day of fearful disbelief and change; men rushing from one opinion to another to soothe their restlessness. Surely it is a day for pity, not for anger; a day for prayer more than for argument. Now the world is in extremity, let the church's pity and prayers go forth day and night. Now is the time for tears and intercessions. To thy knees, O Church of God.
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Post by Admin on Nov 6, 2024 17:49:29 GMT -5
LVIII.
The Day Of Clear Vision To The Dim Eyes
"The eyes of them that see shall not be dim." —Isaiah 32:3 THESE blessed words tell us four things, (1.) There are eyes that do not see;
(2.) there are eyes that do see;
(3.) of the eyes that see some are dim;
(4.) the time is at hand when they shall not be dim.
I. There are eyes that see not. Of the dead idols this is said,—"They have eyes but see not;" and this is not wonderful. But that the same should be said of living men is marvelous. It is not true of angels; it is not true of devils; they have eyes and see. It is true of men; of millions; of the
greater part of our race; they have eyes but see not. They shut them; they turn them away from their proper objects; they allow scales to grow over them; they deliberately veil them. O fearful calamity! O bitter curse! And yet for all this, they themselves are responsible. It is not God that blinds them, or veils, or darkens. They are their own undoers. They did not wish to see; they were resolved not to see. Self blinded, not God-blinded! They suffer this world to blind or dazzle them; so that their eyes are useless. They let Satan, the god of this world, put his hand over their eyes; or
bewilder them with his snares and enticements. Thus, having eyes they see not.
II. There are eyes that see. These are they whom God hath enlightened; whose eyes the son of God hath opened; for it is his work to open the eyes of the blind. They did not open their own eyes. Their eyes did not open by chance. Once they were blind,—quite as blind as others; but now they see. There are not many of whom this can be said; yet there are some. And what do they see?
(1.) They see God;
(2.) they see Christ;
(3.) they see themselves;
(4.) they see the word of God;
(5.) they see the things within the veil.
They are not like the men of this world, with eyes that see outward things, sun, moon, and stars, earth and sea, woods and hills and fields.
They see beyond all these,—that which is spiritual and divine; that which is true and glorious. Yes; they see! In a blinded generation they see!
How great a thing and how blessed to be able to say this of them,—they see!
They have got eyes that are not useless; eyes that do not mislead; eyes that present things in their proper light and proportions and distances!
Their eyes have been anointed with the heavenly eye salve, and they see! They no longer stumble nor grope in the dark, nor go after false objects.
They see, and they know that they see!
III. Of these eyes that see some are dim. They see; but they do not see afar off (2 Peter 1:9).
They see; but it is dimly. Their vision is defective.
They see men as trees walking.
They are near-sighted, short-sighted. Their eyes require further purging.
They ought to see fully and truly; but they do not.
They were not meant to be dim. God has no pleasure in their being dim. The objects are vivid and distinct; yet they are seen dimly. In what respects is this the case?
(1.) They see but part or parts of the truth;
(2.) what they do see is imperfectly realized. The gospel is but half a gospel. The cross is not so full of peace and light as it ought to be. The way of life is but partially known. The coming glory has but a feeble radiance. The advent of Christ has but little value to them. Christ himself has but little of the excellence which he ought to possess to them, and is but poorly appreciated. There is no doubt something in the atmosphere of this present evil world that hinders vision and beclouds the eye; but still, after all, it is the dimness of the eye that is the evil. How many are all their lifetime afflicted with this imperfect vision. How much they lose by this! Their faith is not the substance of things hoped for; it is but the shadow of that substance. Hope is to them a vague expectation, with little of certainty or brightness in it. Their life has more of the cloud than of the sunshine about it.
IV. The time is at hand when these eyes shall not be dim. There are many partial removals of this dimness even now; times when we see farther and more clearly. At Pentecost this was the case. At the
Reformation also. In times of revival it has been so. In individual cases this has been known. Paul was a man that saw clearly. Augustine, Wycliffe, Luther, Calvin, Knox, Rutherford, Edwards; these were clear sighted men, from whom the Holy Spirit had purged the scales and the dimness. But the reference here is prophetical. The prophet points to a coming; era of perfection, when we shall see Him as he is; see as we are seen, know as we are known. No dimness then; no defective vision; no cloudy atmosphere; no diseased organ of sight. All brightness and distinctness. The cross clear and bright. The light and love unclouded.
Christ seen face to face, no longer in a glass darkly. Every ray of glory coming freshly from his revealed countenance; every feature fair and perfect; Himself the chief among ten thousand; His kingdom infinitely glorious. No doubting either as to the things of Christ, or our interest in them. No unbelief; no error; no mist. All the perfection of vision, and the perfection of light. O day of brightness and true vision, dawn! O Morning star, arise! O Prince of light, light of the world, make haste, end the long darkness of humanity, and cover earth with celestial sunshine!
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Post by Admin on Nov 6, 2024 17:50:25 GMT -5
LIX.
The Unfainting Creator And The Fainting Creature Isaiah 40:28-31
THIS was God's answer to Israel of old in their day of trouble; it is still his answer to a desponding spirit which thinks its case hopeless and itself forsaken of God. God himself thus speaks in his love to such. Instead of taking each clause separately, let us thus classify the various points here brought before us,—(1.) an unfainting God; (2.)a fainting sinner;(3.)an unfainting saint.
I. An unfainting God. It is to himself that he draws our eye in our disquietude,—"Look unto me;" "trust ye in Jehovah." He wonders that we should not have known nor heard of him and his greatness; or that having heard of him, we should ever give way to despondency. With such a God to go to, how can we be careful or troubled?
(1.) His name. It is fourfold, and each of its four parts most full and suitable,—"God," "The Everlasting," "Jehovah," "Creator of the ends of the earth." What a name; what a declaration of himself is this! Excellency, duration, life, power, all are here! Ah, surely they that know such a name will put their trust in him.
(2.) His character. "He fainteth not;" "he is not weary;" he is unsearchable in wisdom. Here is the unfainting God,—the God only wise. Past ages have proved him such; the experience of those who have known him has borne testimony to him. Time, work, difficulty, cannot make him faint or weary.
Nothing in earth, or heaven, or hell can affect him. He has been working hitherto, and is still working (John 5:17), but he is not weary.
(3.) His ways. They are not as our ways. They are the ways of bountifulness and love. He is the giving one; he is always giving; giving more and more; never weary of giving; giving power, strength, all that is needed. Yes, he that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him freely give us all things.
This is the God with whom we have to do! Such is his name, his character,his ways! Have we not known him, nor heard? To know him is life; to listen to him is peace forevermore.
II. A fainting sinner. The object toward which the power of this mighty God is turned is a sinner; one who is "faint," who "has no might." It is the utter helplessness of the object that attracts him. It is not "like drawing to like"; but the unlike. It is the unlikeness that constitutes the attraction and the fitness. "When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." Thus the two extremes meet, the weakness of the creature, the power of the Creator; each so exactly suiting the other, and each requiring the other. It is this state of things that shews the folly of those who despair of being saved because they are so weak.
The truth is, they are not yet weak enough for God to save them. They must come down to a lower degree of helplessness ere God can interfere.
Yes, it is our strength, not our weakness, that is our hindrance and stumbling block. It is the weak that God is in quest of, not the strong; the weaker the better for the display of his strength. "To them that have no might he increases strength." "In the Lord have I righteousness and strength." "When I am weak then am I strong." It is our "infirmities" that God uses as his opportunity for the magnifying of his grace and power.
Are you willing to take the place of weakness which God assigns to you, and in which alone he can interfere to save?
III. An unfainting saint. The saint is here described as one who "waits upon the Lord." He has come to give up his waiting on all else; to wait on this living and mighty God alone. It is thus that out of weakness he becomes strong. His weakness is not less than it was, but he gets a substitute for it, in the strength of Jehovah. Everybody else, even the young and vigorous shall fail; but he shall not. When every one gives way he shall stand; he shall lift up his head. This is described under four
figures.
(1.) They that wait on Jehovah shall renew their strength. Our strength wastes by daily use; theirs increases and is renewed.That which would fatigue and exhaust others shall invigorate them.They shall become stronger and stronger. The greater their former weakness the greater their present power.
(2.) They shall mount up with wings as eagles. Many a lofty height shall they ascend and look down on the world beneath them, soaring higher and higher, gazing from Lebanon, and Hermon, and Amana (Song of Solomon 4:8), from the mountains of myrrh, and the hills of frankincense. As God bore Israel through the desert on eagles' wings, so shall they be borne.
They who once had not strength to creep or move, have now strength to fly aloft as eagles. Such is the way in which strength comes out of weakness.
(3.) They shall run and not be weary. They are not always flying or soaring; but when running,—running their race here,—they shall not be weary. They shall run with patience, perseverance, success, triumph. Theirs shall be a blessed and untiring race.
(4.) They shall walk and not faint. The greater part of their life is to be a walking. Occasionally they may fly or run; more generally they walk; ever moving onward without ceasing. In this walk they shall not faint. It may be long, but they shall not faint. It may be rough and dark, but they shall not faint. Here then is the unfainting saint, made out of a fainting sinner, by the power of an unfainting God. Wait then, O saint, on God, and thou shalt know his power; how he can uphold and strengthen thee even to the end, that thou mayest be presented faultless before him at his coming.
"He keeps the feet of his saints."
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Post by Admin on Nov 6, 2024 17:51:13 GMT -5
LX.
The Knowledge That Justifies
"By his knowledge shal my righteous servant justify many." Isaiah 53:11
OF whom speaketh the prophet this? Of himself, or of some other man?" said the Ethiopian ruler (Acts 8:34). Of some other man doubtless; of one greater than himself; higher, and yet lower than any of the sons of men. For only of one, in all earth's histories from the beginning could these things be said. Is not his name "Wonderful"? Here we have,
I. The Father's righteous servant. "My righteous servant," says God, as if he had never had another. My servant! My righteous servant! Servant is a name of subjection and obedience, yet also of honor, according to the rank of him whom he serves. As servant he is the doer of the Father's will; the Father's servant for us, and in this sense our servant: "I am among you as he that serves"; "the son of man came not to be served, but to serve." As servant he is the fulfiller of the law; the obedient One in all things; not pleasing himself, nor doing his own will. "My righteous servant," says God, as delighting in him; for never before had he got such service and such righteousness; divine, yet human service; divine, yet human righteousness. It is of this righteous servant that the whole chapter
speaks. It is he who grows up before him as a tender plant, as a root out of a dry ground. It is he in whom men saw no beauty; whom they despised and rejected. It is he who was the man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. It is he from whom men hid their faces; who was brought as a lamb to the slaughter; who was taken from prison and from judgment; who was cut off out of the land of the living. O wondrous servant! O gracious service! What or where should we be without such a servant and such a service! All we need is ministered to us by thee, freely, liberally, lovingly!
Why should we be so slow to own thee as the servant, and to accept thy service in our behalf. Thy life on earth was one of service for us; and the life in heaven is still the same. For is not thy intercession, thy advocacy, service of the best and truest kind?
II. This righteous servant justifies. He is no common servant. He is the great Judge of all; the Justifier of the sinner; he who acquits and pardons the guilty. He acted as such on earth, when he said, "Neither do I condemn thee,"—"thy sins be forgiven." He acts as such in heaven.
Our justification is in his hands; we go to him to be justified. In one aspect it is the Father that justifies; in another, it is the Son. He "justifies many."
All power is given him; judicial power, royal power, priestly power. We get acquittal and acceptance from his priestly-royal hands. Let us then come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy. He sits there to receive sinners. He takes up the case of the condemned,—as such he justifies them, He recognizes all their sin and guilt, and then he delivers. They come to him as condemned; he owns the sentence as just; but cancels it,—cancels it for evermore. His justifying sentence reverses
the law's condemning sentence. It is with the condemned that he deals; it is them that he pardons. There was justice in the condemnation; there is no less justice in the pardon. The Justifier is the Father's servant; the Word made flesh; the Son of God, who came in the name of the Lord to save him.
III. This righteous servant justifies by his knowledge. The knowledge is the link between the many and justification. He justifies them by giving them the knowledge of himself as the Justifier, and of his work as the justifying thing. Knowledge is not here used in the sense of wisdom or understanding. It means that which he teaches them to know. We are justified by knowing the righteous servant. It is not by working, or praying, or suffering, but by knowing, that we enter on the state of acceptance: "This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." This is one of the simplest aspects in which the gospel is presented to us. There is no mystery or darkness here. To know Jesus is to be justified! The justified man can say nothing in his own behalf; nothing good has he found in himself, in his works, or his feelings, or his character. All is evil, only evil. He is utterly unfit for pardon, according as men judge of fitness. All that he can say for himself is, that he knows Jehovah's righteous servant, and in that knowledge has found deliverance from the wrath and curse. That knowledge has brought him into the state of "no
condemnation." Satisfied with that knowledge (though satisfied with nothing about himself) he can say with certainty and gladness, "Who is he that condemns? "
IV. This righteous servant justifies by bearing the iniquities of those whom he justifies. He justifies as a judge; as a judge giving righteous judgment; righteous judgment in acquitting the unrighteous. The ground on which he justifies is not mere grace; it is also righteousness.
Not that sin is trivial; but that he has borne iniquity in room of the unrighteous. This bearing of iniquity was his great work on earth, from his cradle to his cross. It was laid on him. He took it willingly. He was able to bear it. He has borne it. The sin-bearer has triumphed. The sin bearing work is done. He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities. The work is done! Iniquity is borne. That which pacifies has been completed. To all this God himself has borne witness.
It is on divine testimony that we rest our belief; and from the promise annexed to this divine testimony we draw the blessed conclusion that, in believing, we shall enter on that peace which has been made. God has given us a testimony to the work of his Son; and he has added the promise, that whosoever believes that testimony is straightway justified.
We believe, and are justified. We know that we are so because of the sure word of promise to him who receives the testimony. This is what is called "appropriation." It is the simple conclusion we draw from our believing the testimony. He that believeth hath everlasting life. We believe, and we know therefore, that all this life is ours: "For God is not a man that he should lie."
We shall know when He comes again how much we lost by not crediting this true testimony; how much more peaceful, and holy, and successful would have been our life had we believed that testimony in its simplicity and fullness.
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Post by Admin on Nov 6, 2024 17:52:25 GMT -5
LXI.
The Heritage And Its Title-Deeds
"This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord." — Isaiah 54:17
IT is of "servants" that God is here speaking,—this is the name he gives them; "servants," yet "heirs:" for it is in connection with the "heritage" that he calls them "servants." The apostle joins together "sons" and "heirs;" here the prophet joins "servants" and "heirs." Israel gets this name,— "servants of Jehovah;" the church gets it; apostles get it; each saint gets it. The dwellers in the old Jerusalem had it; the citizens of the New Jerusalem have it too. "His servants shall serve him." We are to serve as angels do; nay, as Jesus did; for He was the Father's servant. We are to serve the Father; and to serve the Son "the Lord Christ;" we are to serve the church; we are to serve the world; all in love; for it is to loving filial service that we are called.
But it is specially of these two things that the passage speaks:
(1.) the heritage; (2.) our title to it.
I. The heritage. It is fully described in the previous part of the chapter; and in reading it we may say, "the lines have fallen unto us in pleasant places; yea we have a goodly heritage." It contains,—
(1.) Deliverance from sorrow and tempest (ver. 11). The time of these has been long; but the day of deliverance longer. It is everlasting deliverance.
(2.) Glory and beauty (ver. 11,12). All that the eye of man or the eye of God delights in, and pronounces good, in earth or heaven, shall be ours.
(3.) Knowledge (ver. 13). We shall be "taught of God;" all of us. No ignorance then, nor unbelief; only wisdom ; not the wisdom of this world, but of the world to come.
(4.) Peace (ver. 13). "Great peace;" peace like a river; peace that passes all understanding; God's own peace; within and without; and with the certainty that no future disquietude shall ever arise. Eternal peace; in the land of peace, under the reign of the Prince of Peace.
(5.) Stability (ver. 14). We are to be stedfast and immoveable here; we shall be still more so hereafter; for our heritage is the kingdom that cannot be moved.
(6.) Security (ver. 14). No possibility of evil from any quarter; nothing but good. Security
(1.) from oppression,
(2.) from alarm,
(3.) from enemies,
(4.) from war,
(5.) from accusations and evil reports.
All these things, negative and positive, go to make up the inheritance of Israel in the latter days; still more the inheritance of the saints in light, the kingdom which cannot be moved, the inheritance which is incorruptible and undefiled. It is the very heaven of heavens; glorious, and marvelous, and perfect beyond conception. Ah, surely this is what eye hath not seen nor ear heard. Because of it God is not ashamed to be called our God.
II. Our title to it. "Their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord." This righteousness avails not merely for personal acceptance, but for giving us the inheritance.
This is the tenure by which we hold it, and shall hold it forever. Thus it is secured to us,—secured by God himself; not simply made ours once, but secured to us forever. Our title, then, or tenure, is,
(1.) Divine. It "is of me, saith the Lord." He gives the heritage, and he gives also the title by which it is secured to us. Nay, he gives us a divine title; such as our father had not to Paradise; a title not of self, nor of' man, nor of earth, but of God; a title so truly divine that we may say, God himself is my title to the heritage which God has given me; for the righteousness by which it is secured to me is the righteousness of God.
My title-deeds are truly divine; the purchase-money is divine; the conveyance is divine; the security is divine. One with him who bought the heritage for us, we have the same title to it that he has; for we get it through means of his righteousness. As the righteous one, He was the purchaser of the kingdom which He gives to us. His righteousness bought it.
(2.) Righteous. This is implied in the expression, "their righteousness is of me," intimating that it is by righteousness that the heritage is secured to us. This heritage is more than the mere gift of love; it is the gift of righteousness. We get it in a righteous way; we hold it in virtue of a righteous price paid for it; our security for it is more than the grace of God; it is the righteousness of God. Our pardon is a righteous pardon, so is our title a righteous title,—divinely righteous,—a title which the law recognizes, and which the law will make good to us against all opposers or counter-claimants, if such there be. "If God be for us, who shall be against us?" In our title-deeds there is no flaw nor ambiguity, for they are drawn up by a righteous God, subscribed by a righteous God, and presented to us by a righteous God. Everything connected with our entrance into, and possession of, the heritage is in righteousness.
(3.) Free. Our heritage is a "purchased possession;" purchased for us by another; fully paid for by a divine equivalent; so fully paid for that there is nothing for us to pay. All is free. Canaan was God's free gift to Israel, so the inheritance is God's free gift to us. We could not pay, were it
needed; and we do not need. All payment is refused. It is so precious that none save God could pay a price for it: and He has paid the price. As life is free, and salvation free, so is the heritage; absolutely and unconditionally free; free in the sense of unbought; free in the sense of undeserved; free in the sense of its being the gift of God.
(4.) Eternal. Our title, being thus divine and righteous, must be indefeasible. It must stand forever. An eternal title to an eternal inheritance,—this is what we rejoice in. Hence the inheritance itself, and all connected with it, are described in language that intimates perpetuity
absolutely unending and unlimited. No second fall; no second loss of Paradise. No future tempter nor temptation. We enter to go out no more.
For the church is "the blessed of the Lord," to whom it shall be said,"Come ye blessed of my Father." One with the Son of God, "partakers of Christ," "joint heirs with Christ Jesus," our tenure of the inheritance must be as sure and as everlasting as His own.
It is this heritage that God in his gospel is presenting to us. He points to it, as he pointed Israel to Canaan, and says, Yonder is the glory, trust me for it, and you shall enter in.
Israel could not enter in because of unbelief; and so it is only this that shuts the sinner out of the kingdom. We preach the kingdom, and we announce that he who receives God's testimony concerning his only begotten Son shall obtain it freely. But the word preached does not profit, not being mixed with faith in them who hear it. God's testimony is true; it is a testimony intended specially for sinners.
Shall we disregard it?
Shall we treat it as worthless?
Shall we make Him a liar?
Shall we shut the open gate against ourselves?
Shall we refuse to enter in?
We that have believed do enter into rest. How free, how simple, how ready the entrance! It is God himself who stands at the open door and bids us come; beckons us in.
Shall such a heritage be lost to us? Shall such a glory be despised?
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Post by Admin on Nov 6, 2024 17:53:23 GMT -5
LXII.
The Meeting Between The Sinner And God
"Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness; those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned; in those is continuance, and we shal be saved." —
Isaiah 64:5
THE verse preceding is quoted by Paul (1 Corinthians 2:9), in reference to"the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory," so that we may take it and our text, as indicating God's thoughts of wisdom as coming out in his dealings with us in Christ; his dealings with Israel, his dealings with the church; as seen both at the first and the second comings of Christ; his dealings with man in grace, that is,according to his own free love. "My thoughts are not your thoughts; neither are your ways my ways." In our text we have a specimen of God's thoughts and ways.
I. God meets man. "Thou meetest." Distance is our natural condition; sin produced it; Adam shewed it; man loves it. As far from God as possible. Depart from us, men say. So the prodigal went into the
far country. Man wants no meeting with God. He would rather that the distance were preserved forever. The thought of meeting God is unpleasant. Hence the irksomeness of religion, the weariness of Sabbaths, even though the meeting be of the vaguest and most formal shadowy kind.
He must meet Him at the judgment day, but he tries not to think of this, and hopes that he may be ready when it comes. But though man will not draw nigh to God, God draws nigh to man. He does not love the distance and separation. He comes nigh. He did so in the person of the prophets and such like messengers. He did so specially in the Angel of the Covenant, and in the Word made flesh. But his object is not merely to visit earth, but to come up to, to draw near to each of his creatures. He is desirous of a meeting, a loving friendly meeting, not of judgment, or reproof, or vengeance, but of grace. Isaiah speaks as one who knew this.
"Thou meetest," he says; that is, thou art in the habit of doing so. It is thy practice, thy wont to meet the sinner. This is our message in the gospel, God wants to meet you,—to meet each of you. He proposes a meeting. He tells you that there is no coldness nor unwillingness on his part; that all
things are ready. Come, meet with me, I wish to meet with you.
II. How does he meet man. In love. As the Lord God merciful and gracious. He meets him as Jesus met the Galilean fishermen, and said, follow me; as Jesus met the woman of Sychar, Zaccheus, Mary
Magdalene. He meets him with pardon and reconciliation. He meets him as Melchizedek met Abraham, to bless him. Man dislikes the meeting, either for blessing or cursing; God desires it, that he may bless.
III. Where does he meet man. At the cross. That is the meeting-place. There is no other. It is a safe one, and a blessed one. There there is no wrath, no condemnation, no darkness. God stands at the cross and cries aloud, Meet me here. Not on a spot of your own choosing, but here on the spot which I have chosen; here where the blood was shed, and Christ's sacrifice offered up. This is the meeting-place. Two meeting-places; one the cross, now; the other the judgment-seat, hereafter. Which do you
choose? One you must have.
IV. What men are they whom he meets. Now in what follows we are not to understand that the class is narrowed or restricted; that he shuts out the worst, and will have none of them. The description given refers simply to the footing on which he receives them,—on that footing he is willing to receive any, all. On that footing all may place themselves, and so be sure of a welcome. Our text, however, evidently does not refer exclusively to the first meeting, but to the whole subsequent intercourse, and describes the footing on which that fellowship is to go on and be maintained. There are three things declared as to those with whom God meets; and these three things follow each other in a certain order.
(1.) The rejoicing man. He is one who has found in the gospel glad tidings
of great joy; one of those described by David in the 32nd Psalm, a man of
blessedness. He has found the rejoicing of the hope; and he holds it to the
end. He has accepted the good news, and as such he is accepted of God.
God meets him.
(2). The man that worketh righteousness.
(1.) He works,—he is not slothful;
(2.) he works righteousness,—good works;
(3.) he works righteousness, because he rejoices. He does not rejoice because he works, but he works because he rejoices. His joy makes him a worker,— a doer of the will of God; able for suffering or laboring. His life is a doing of righteousness.
(3.) Those that remember thee in thy ways. This corresponds with the apostolic "looking unto Jesus." We remember God,— we remember him in his ways, his footsteps, his doings, as recorded in Scripture. When we call him to remembrance we do so in connection with some of his many ways recorded there.
This meeting is a life-long one. Not yesterday, nor today, nor tomorrow, but continual; begun at conversion, carried on through life, consummated in the kingdom. It is a meeting for pardon; a meeting for fellowship; a meeting for the bestowal of all love and blessing; prelude of the more
glorious meeting when Jesus comes the second time to begin his endless reign.
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Post by Admin on Nov 6, 2024 17:54:35 GMT -5
LXIII.
God's Love And God's Way Of Blessing
"Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord, and I wil not cause mine anger to fal upon you: for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will
not keep anger forever. Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the Lord." — Jeremiah 3:12,13
LET us mark here two things: (1.) God's message of love; (2.) His way of blessing.
I. God's message of love. He is evidently in earnest about this. There is nothing of coldness, or delay, or insincerity. He calls a messenger, a special messenger, for the occasion. He sends him out with, "Go," as did our Lord, "Go ye into all nations"; like an arrow from a bow. "Proclaim," speak, lift up thy voice like a herald, that all may hear, and that there may be no mistake. "Toward the north," where "backsliding Israel" dwelt, and where her idolatries were practiced, as Bethel and Samaria; it is like, "Begin at Jerusalem"; go to the worst, to the very center of the sin and the
evil; go to Bethel, go to Samaria, go to the chief of sinners; go to the backslider, the apostate, the idolater. And with what message? The message of love and reconciliation! The chief point of the message is the word "return." Like the prodigal they had departed; and the Father's voice calls to them, "Come back," come back to me. God speaks as one in earnest; as a father; as a father who has lost a child, and yearns over his lost son. "How shall I give thee up" is his feeling; how can I part with thee. God is not indifferent to our departure or our absence. Though he has all heaven, with all its angels, he feels the blank made by one sinner's departure. The sea feels not the abstraction of a drop, nor the sun of a ray;the monarch of a mighty empire does not feel the departure of one subject, but God feels and mourns over the revolt and alienation of one sinner. While urging home this word, "Return," God enforces it with encouragements and arguments.
(1.)I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you.This is more exactly,I will not cause my countenance to fall on you"; that is, I will not frown upon you; the words are the same as in describing Cain: "his countenance fell." Instead of the frown shall come the smile upon my countenance: "I will lift up my countenance upon you." This is grace and tender love. The sinner is thus told what he is to expect from God in returning. "When he was yet a great way off, the father saw him," &c.
(2.) I will be merciful. With Jehovah there is mercy; for his name is the Lord God, merciful and gracious. Israel had tried his mercy to the uttermost, but it was not exhausted. Its fullness was undiminished. Where sin had abounded, grace had much more abounded; and the announcement here of his mercy is to tell Israel that all their backslidings, and apostasies, and idolatries had not altered or lessened that mercy. It was mercy to the uttermost, mercy to the last.
(3.) I will not keep anger forever. Indirectly this tells the terrible truth that there had been, and was still, anger against them. In wrath he had smitten them and scattered them. It had lain heavy and sore upon them.
But it was not to be perpetual anger. "His anger is but a moment"; it passes away, and he teaches Israel to sing, "Though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away."
Such is God's message of love; sent in truth and earnestness to Israel; sent with no less truth and earnestness to us! Return and be forgiven! Return and be blest! Return and let me pour out on you the fullness of my forgiving love!
II. The way of blessing. There is but one way to this; not merit, or goodness, or labor, or earnestness, but simply acknowledgment of sin. In this acknowledgment there is nothing meritorious, nothing in itself fitted to attract or secure blessing. But it is the way of God's appointment; it is
the channel through which the forgiveness flows; it places us on that footing in which alone God can bless the sinner. So long as there is on the part of the sinner the slightest thought that he deserves to be blessed, that God ought to bless him, that he has done or felt anything which makes
him more fit or qualified for blessing, he is not in a position in which God can be glorified in blessing him; nay, he is retaining that self righteous position which renders it impossible that God can honorably and righteously bless him. But the moment that he forgoes all claims, and takes the sinner's place before God, as one deserving nothing, that moment he is in the position in which God can and will bless. "Only acknowledge"! These are his words to us, announcing the way of blessing. "Only acknowledge"! Thus he speaks to us still (1 John 1:9).
The particulars of the acknowledgment follow:
(1.) iniquity;
(2.) transgression against the Lord our God;
(3.) going after idols;
{4.) not obeying the voice of Jehovah. Just the sins in particular that Israel had committed. It is this particular enumeration of sin that he asks of us. Go into particulars when you come before the Lord. Beware of general confessions. They do not touch the conscience, and they do not reach God.
Be very special and minute in all that you tell God concerning your sins. Yet with the full confidence of receiving pardon; for if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Only acknowledge! This is the one thing that God asks; it is the one thing that the sinner shrinks from. For it brings him down so far. It strips him absolutely of all goodness. Yet on no other footing will God deal with any sinners Laodicea's special sin; refusal to acknowledge poverty. It was to this that the Lord urged her. So he urges us. It is our pride that stands between us
and blessing. Take the sinner's place and all is ours. Let us deal with him now as sinners; and when he comes again he will own us as sons and heirs.
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Post by Admin on Nov 6, 2024 17:55:44 GMT -5
LXIV.
Divine Jealousy For The Truth
"O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth?" — Jeremiah 5:3
THIS first clause of the third verse should be connected with the two previous verses, in which the city and his people; that even when swearing by his name men disregarded it. Jerusalem had become a city of falsehood; Israel a nation of false men.
They said, God regardeth it not. He allows the speaker of falsehood to go on unpunished. His eyes are not on such men or such things. They are of no moment to him. The prophet breaks in here with his question, his appeal, "O Jehovah, are not thine eyes upon the truth?" Whatever men may say, Dost not thou regard it? Dost not thou abhor the untrue? Dost not thou cut off the liar? Dost thou not condemn him who utters error?
The word "truth" in Scripture refers both to doctrine and practice. It points both to the "error" and the "lie." It classes both together. It condemns both. False speaking, whether in reference to teaching or witness-bearing, is declared to be abominable to God. His eyes are upon the truth. They watch over it, to guard it and to maintain it. The eyes of Jehovah are upon the truth, whatever men may say; and that which is untrue, whatever form it takes, he marks and will avenge; the untrue
thing, whatever its nature or object, the untrue word, the untrue look, the untrue act, private or public, is not tolerated by him, though tolerated by man, and though God himself bear long with it.
The theory of many is that God's eyes are not upon the truth, and that therefore a man may believe what he pleases, and say what he likes, without fearing God's displeasure. It is only when the untrue thing which he thinks and says interferes with human rights, or social privileges that he is to be visited with punishment. Jehovah's eyes, then, are upon the truth,— the truth as found on earth among the sons of men.
I. They are watchful eyes. They close not. He whose eyes they are neither slumbers nor sleeps. Not a sound, a thought, a word from pen or lip, but He notices. He who sees the sparrows, numbers the hairs, and feeds the ravens, has His eye on all human utterances, all writings of man, books or tracts, all openings of man's lips in private or public.
II. They are discerning eyes. They are like flames of fire. They search and try everything. There is no indifference about their gaze. They are keen to discriminate between truth and error. They are the eyes of a judge who loves the true and hates the false. Man thinks whatever is earnestly spoken is good; not so with God. He discerns, he judges, he sifts, he tries every word, every phrase, every thought, every plan. There is such a thing as divine censorship, minute but unerring criticism.
III.They are just eyes. They do not make a man an offender for a word, yet they weigh everything in equal balances. There is no overvaluing nor under-valuing what is spoken or written. Each thing is
judged without favour or partiality, and it is approved or condemned according as it is true or false. The standard of measurement is divine and perfect. No bribery here, no acceptance of man's person whether poor or rich. It is "just judgment," a just verdict that is pronounced. The righteous
Lord loveth righteousness. With nothing less than truth, in every sense, will he be satisfied. Truth from man; truth between himself and man, truth between man and man; the true word, the true thought, the true look, and voice, and tone.
In this watchfulnesss, this discernment,this justice, there are some things specially to be observed.
1.There is but one standard of truth. God fixes the standard and acts on it, without caprice, or partiality, or compromise. Error is a thousand fold,—pliable, moveable, uncertain,—truth is ONE. On this God calls on us to act, on this he acts himself. So that man cannot excuse his error or his falsehood on the ground that there were more standards than one.
2.This one standard is definite. It is not vague or shadowy. It does not merely settle certain great principles, but smaller ones as well. It is so very definite and precise as to leave man without excuse. It lets man know explicitly God's present estimate of truth and falsehood, as well as his
future judgment on these. It is so distinct that no one with an open ear and eye can hesitate about it. In our day men call this narrowness, bigotry, littleness. But if we only insist on being of one mind with God, he that condemns us condemns God himself. Let us be as broad as he is, but no broader; that is enough, whatever the age may say.
3.That one standard is universal. It is for every age and clime. It never becomes obsolete. It is like God himself,— unchangeable; like the Christ of God,—the same yesterday, today, and forever. It was given to our fathers, it is given to us. It suited the East, it suits the West. It suited the
Jew, it suits the Gentile also; barbarian, Scythian, bond, or free. It suited the Asian, it suits the European. It suits the Briton, it suits the Indian, and the African. It suits the unlearned, it suits the learned too. One standard for all! One universal test or measurement of truth.
4.That one standard is the Bible. It is no secret standard that He judges us by, or by which He tests truth and error. The test which He gives to us He acts upon himself. The Bible is His book of truth as well as ours.That book contains what God calls truth,—truth definite, fixed, certain,not moveable, nor waxing obsolete, nor falling behind the age.
The Bible is the one book of the age, nay, of the ages,—of all ages and all climes. Man's present unbelief seeks to loosen its authority, to dilute its statements, to render indefinite its doctrines. But the word of the Lord endures forever. God is not a man that he should lie. His word is sure, his
truth is everlasting, his book is like the sun in the firmament; a light for all ages and lands.
Thus God's eyes are on the truth. It is truth that he delights in, it is error that he abhors. It is truth that he is seeking for among the sons of men.
What a condemnation to the laxity of thought in the present day! As if man were at liberty to think as he pleases, irrespective of God and his book! God watches over the truth; he marks each error, each deviation from his one standard.
O man, hast thou received the very truth, and the whole truth of God? He has given man a book for a standard, not that he may speculate, but that he may not speculate, but believe. What God, in and by that book,demands of men is not criticism, opinion, speculation, but BELIEF. God's eyes are on the truth, to see if men believe it.
The day is at hand, the great day of the Lord, when TRUTH only shall be set on high, and error put to shame. O man, God's eyes are on the truth, let thine be on it too. Be true to truth; be true to thyself; be true to God.
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Post by Admin on Nov 6, 2024 17:56:31 GMT -5
LXV.
Divine Love And Human Rejection Of It
"I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? everyone turned to his course, as the horse rushes into the battle. Yea, the stork in the heaven knows her appointed times; and the turtle, and the crane, and the swallow, observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgments of the Lord." —Jeremiah 8:6,7
THE prophet is predicting judgment upon rebellious Israel; he is depicting the woes that were suspended over Jerusalem, like the sword of the destroying angel, sorrow upon sorrow, terror upon terror, death upon death. Through this infinite gloom there shoot rays of light, as once and again
God makes mention of his love; and how brightly do these words of love gleam through the terrible darkness! But Israel quenches all these beams; he will have none of them, he loves the darkness rather than the light; he says, Darkness, be thou my light; evil, be thou my good; night, be thou
my day. And at last God leaves him to his doom,—"The Lord hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath."
Let us now look at the two sides of the picture—the divine and the human, the heart of God and the heart of man, God's attitude towards man, and man's towards God. For what is written here for Israel is written for us. God's love, and man's rejection of it, are the two points.
I. God's love. "I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright." He speaks as one on the watch for good, not for evil; like the prodigal's father, looking eagerly out for his son's return. The scene reminds us of Christ's "Oh that thou hadst known." It reminds us of "How shall I give thee up, O Ephraim"; of "Since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still." It tells us of God's eager desire to hear the faintest sigh of the returning sinner, His longing to get one word of remembrance from His alienated sons and daughters. It tells us also of God's disappointment at hearing nothing from us,—at man's silence, and distance, and refusal to return.
God is not indifferent to man's position, and danger, and wretchedness. He does not say as we do, "It is his loss, not mine," or, "He has none but himself to blame for it,—let him take it." No such hard-hearted speeches ever come from the lips of our loving God. He never loses sight of us, he pities us, yearns over us, longs to hear the inquiring voice, and the sound of the returning footstep. And when He hears it not, it "grieves Him at the heart," His heart is turned within Him,— His repentings are kindled together.
He is hearkening and listening at our doors, to catch the lowest word or sigh. Each day He listens,—He listened this morning when you rose, He listens now! Oh the joy it would give Him to hear from any of you, "I will arise, and go to my Father." Will you not give Him this joy? Will you grieve him by your silence? Shall His longsuffering not melt you?
II. Man's rejection of it. This is very strongly put in our text; and in several ways and forms.
(1.) The wrong words. He did hear words from them, but not those He wanted; perhaps the words of pride, of self righteousness, of blasphemy, of worldliness, of lust; not the prodigal's words, "I will arise," which alone are sweet to Him; perhaps the self-sufficiency of the Pharisee, "I thank
thee that I am not as other men," or, "We are lords," or, We are the temple of the Lord; not, God be merciful to me a sinner. They spake not aright."
(2.) The impenitence. "No man repented of his wickedness, saying, What have I done." Their hearts were hardened. Goodness and severity had both failed. There was no sense of sin, no shame because of evil, no dread of danger. Israel's was the impenitent heart. And such is the heart of multitudes amongst us; the heart of our nation, we may say, nay, the heart of our world; would to God that we could not say, the heart of the churches. Impenitence! How dreadful the condition of one to whom this
description belongs! Dost thou repent of thy way, O man; dost thou say in bitterness of soul,
"Oh what, what have I done!"
(3.) The recklessness. "Every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle." He is blind, madly blind, both to danger and to sin. Furiously he plunges on in evil, from sin to sin, from lust to lust, daring every venture, defying God, braving his anger, setting at nought his threats, scoffing at his judgments, rushing against his buckler, mocking at his hell. How much is there of recklessness amongst us! Recklessness in sin, crime, self-indulgence, pleasure, lust. Utter defiance of God:—bold, unblushing audacity, which nothing will daunt; which mocks at judgments, sorrows, trials, sermons, ministers, and plunges on in evil, treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath.
(4.) Stupidity. "The stork knows her appointed times," &c. We were going to say brutish stupidity, but God means to tell us that it is something worse than that. Beast and bird obey the ordained laws and keep to their appointed seasons; they return when the season calls them.
But man discerns nothing, heeds nothing; times, laws, seasons, instincts, are all disregarded by him. He is void of understanding, he has closed the eye and ear, his whole intellect has lost its power of perception, not only of duty but of danger. "My people know not the judgment of the Lord."
Their heart is waxed gross. They go down lower than the beasts which perish.
Yet God leaves us not. He does not say, Let him alone, in the sense of leave him to perish. He stretches out His hands to us, He bends over us, He is longsuffering, not willing that any should perish; He listens and listens. As He does at the door of the saint (Malachi 3:16),so of the sinner. What shall He hear? Ephraim bemoaning himself? Or the words of unbelief, and impenitence, and sin?
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Post by Admin on Nov 6, 2024 18:39:10 GMT -5
LXVII.
The Resting-Place Forgotten
"They have forgotten their resting-place." — Jeremiah 50:6
IT was of Israel's apostasy that the prophet spoke. As Moses said, "Of the rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten the God that formed thee" (Deuteronomy 32:18). So here Jeremiah says, "They have forgotten their resting-place." Thus it is with man! He has forgotten his
resting-place! He has left God! "There is in him the evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God."
I. The resting-place. Israel had a resting-place. He is compared to a sheep who had a fold, and a shepherd, and pasture. That fold or resting place was Jehovah's temple in the holy city; or you may say, Jehovah himself. They forsook him and his temple to serve other gods. Yet still he was their resting-place; a place for their rest, if they would but have taken it. So is it with man, the sinner. There is a resting-place for him. He needs it, and God has provided it. It is his resting place. It is God himself,— Christ Jesus, in whom there is "rest,"—"I will give you rest." As he is our "hiding-place," so he is our "resting-place." In him there is divine provision made for giving rest to the weary. He is the God-man, and that is rest; He is the propitiation for our sins, and that is rest; so that, as the sin-bearer, and the burden-bearer, he is our rest. In him is contained, and
presented to us, the great love of God. As the protection from wrath, as the shadow from the heat, as the security from danger, as the divine fullness of all needed blessing, he is our resting-place. The Father knowing what we needed, has made provision in him for us. All that can give a sinner rest is contained in him; for Christ is all and in all. There is but one resting-place; not many. He who gains it has enough; he who misses it, misses everything; for there is no other resting-place for Israel or for us. One rock, one refuge, one foundation, one salvation, one resting-place!
II. Man’s forgetfulness of it. The simple charge here against Israel is that of forgetting the resting-place. No strong words are used, such as despising, or dishonoring, or rejecting. All these may be true, but God confines himself to the mildest and simplest, that no man may evade the charge, or console his conscience with the thought that the description is exaggerated. God simply charges him with "forgetfulness." This "resting place" is not prized nor used; it is forgotten; it is out of sight, out of mind, out of heart. This forgetfulness is strange and unaccountable. There are so many reasons why he should not forget it.
(1.) It is so needful. He cannot dispense with it. Other things may be, this must be. To a weary soul, what so necessary as a resting-place?
(2.) It is so blessed. It contains both rest and blessedness. It is not like sleep, or the insensibility produced by opiates. It is blessedness, as well as rest.
(3.) It has been provided at such a cost. God knew that man needed it, and how much he needed it, and he provided it at an infinite cost. Yet in spite of all this the fact remains,—he does forget it. How and why is this?
(1.) He does not feel his need of it. He thinks he can do without it. He has others. He has Abana and Pharpar, which are to him better than Jordan.
(2.) He does not know how blessed it would make him. What a rest it would be to him in his day of weariness. His thoughts of blessedness are all earthly and carnal.
(3.) He hates the God that provided it. The natural heart is full of this hatred. Hatred of God must lead men to seek to put all remembrance of the rest out of mind.
(4.) He hates its provisions. Its provisions are holy and righteous. They are all connected with God himself. And hence man's object is to close his eyes and ears against a rest whose provisions and characteristics are all holy and divine.
III. Man s preference for other rests. We ought not to call them rests,for they are not so. They are labor and weariness, sorrow and trouble Israel wandered like lost sheep, from mountain to hill, in search of other rests, as if anything were better than God's. So does man. He wanders about seeking rest, and finding none. But poor as the other rests are, man prefers them to that of One in whom he has no delight. The sinner is weary, and he seeks rest. He seeks it for himself. He goes from place to place, from object to object, seeking rest. Each one is poor, but he prefers it to God and to God's rest. This preference of creature-objects as the soul's rest is unspeakably sad and sinful; yet it is universal. There is hardly any object in creation which man has not tried, in preference,
deliberate preference, to God. For it is all deliberate. It is not hasty, nor sudden, nor transient, but prolonged and resolute,—thoroughly willful. It is this deliberate preference of other resting-places for the soul that is the great aggravation of his apostasy.
IV. The evil of all this. It is thoroughly evil; evil without palliation or excuse; evil towards God, and evil to himself. It brings punishment with it; it leaves the soul unsatisfied.
(1.) It brings punishment with it. God avenges this forgetfulness, this preference of other objects; for God is jealous. He chastened Israel; he does so to the sinner, both here and hereafter. God does not let us suppose that he overlooks the sin. He judges the sinner, and will judge him hereafter. He shews us how he resents the dishonor. Many a sorrow of earth is God's stroke of vengeance because of this forgetfulness. And will not hell be the completed vengeance of Jehovah because of this?God sends blight here on man for this contempt of the resting-place. But the eternal blight hereafter is infinitely terrible.
(2.) It leaves the soul unsatisfied. It fills no part of it; it does nothing to make it happy. It may drown the awful sense of emptiness for a while, but that is all. The weariness returns; and still the soul asks, Who will shew us any good? No amount of pleasure, or excitement, or gaiety, or business can remove the weariness. Rather is that weariness increased the more it is tried to be removed.
1.Do you know that there is a resting-place? Have you not heard the report of it? There is such a thing as rest in a weary world. The goodness of it has gone abroad, Do not say then, it is vain to think to be happy; rest is impossible here. There is a resting-place.
2.Do you know what and where that resting-place is? It is to be found in God and his Son Christ Jesus. It is not afar off, but near. It is not inaccessible, but quite open and approachable. It is not costly, but free: "Come unto me, and I will give you rest."
3.Are you forgetting if, and preferring other rests to it? Most men are doing so. Are you? This is the way of the world; is it your way? Are you a forgetter of the rest? You may be no open sinner, but are you a forgetter of the rest?
4.Do you know the peril of so doing? It is misery here, it is woe hereafter. The wrath of God abideth upon you. That soul of yours is sad even in the midst of pleasure. Your prospects are fearful in the extreme; for what but everlasting burnings are in store for them that forget God, or forget the resting place? Take the resting-place as it is. It is sufficient for you. It will remove your weariness. Go then and rest.
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