Part 2
God accompanies it with saving power and the man is made to
live–and he is fashioned in the image of God! Blessed be God, the
Spirit's work is always effectual! It is possible to grieve and to
resist the Holy Spirit, but when He puts forth His almighty power,
then He is irresistible! The will is sweetly inclined and the man
cries, "Great God, I yield, constrained by mighty love. I throw
down my weapons of rebellion and I willingly go as Your gracious
Spirit leads me."
I want you to also notice that
where the Spirit came, the work was carried on to completion.
The work of Creation did not end with the first day, but went on
till it was finished on the sixth day. God did not say, "I have made
the light and now I will leave the earth as it is." And when He had
begun to divide the waters and to separate the land from the sea, He
did not say, "Now I will have no more to do with the work." He did
not take the newly-fashioned earth in His hands and fling it back
into chaos, but He went on with His work until, on the seventh day,
when it was completed, He rested from all His work and, glory be
to God, He will not leave unfinished the work which He has
commenced in our souls! Where the Spirit of God has begun to
move, He continues to move until the work is done. And He will
not fail or turn aside until all is accomplished. How we ought to
bless His name for this! If the Spirit of God ever did utterly leave
His work in any man's soul undone, then each one here might feel,
"He may leave it unfinished in me"–and there would remain no
solid comfort for any one of us! If a child of God could ever fall
from Grace, then you and I might be among the first to fall, but
Jesus said, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they
follow Me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never
perish, neither shall any pluck them out of My hand." Rightly do
we sing–
"The work which wisdom undertakes
Eternal mercy never forsakes!"
As surely as there is a first day, there will come a seventh day in
which God will rest because His work will be completed. And as
surely as the Spirit of God has moved upon our soul and there has
come to us light instead of darkness, so shall there be a day of rest
in which we shall keep the Sabbath of God with Him forever,
because the Spirit's work has been completed in us even as the
work of Christ has been finished on our behalf.
II. Now, having thus tried to draw a parallel between the Spirit's
work in the old and the new Creation, let me go on to the practical
part of this evening's meditation and try to show you, in the second
place, that THE PARALLEL WE HAVE DRAWN FURNISHES
MANY ENCOURAGEMENTS.
And first, it furnishes encouragement to those distressed sinners
who fear that they are utterly beyond the possibilityof salvation.
"I," says one, "am conscious that there is no good in me of any sort
whatever. And I am so wicked that grim despair has settled down
upon my heart." Listen to the text, my Brother–"The earth was
without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the
deep." Is not that an exact description of your heart? "Oh, yes," you
say, "that is a terribly true picture of myself!" Well, what comes
next? "And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."
While there was confusion, while there was darkness–before there
was any sort of preparation for the coming of the Spirit, any
kindling of flambeaux with which to break the darkness, or
anything that would have seemed like the beginning of order, the
Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters! Then why should
He not move in your soul? Others who were in just as sad a
condition as you are now in, have been saved–then why should you
not also be saved? You have been a gross sinner, but other equally
gross sinners have received the Spirit of God, who has brought
Christ to them–so why should not you? If you have been the vilest
of the vile, there is one text that still gives you good cheer. It is that
one where Paul speaks of himself as the chief of sinners and yet
declares that he was saved. You cannot be a greater sinner than the
chief of sinners! The chief is first of all and you can only be second
to the chief. Or if you are even equal to him, God has proved His
power to save you by saving Saul of Tarsus! Think of what Saul's
case was like when he was on the road to Damascus. Why, if it
were possible, it was more chaotic than chaos, itself, and darker
than the primeval darkness! He was exceedingly angry against the
people of God and was bent upon their destruction! Yet the Spirit of
God came upon him and within a few minutes he was crying out,
"Lord, what will You have me to do?"
Let me further say to you, poor despairing Soul, suppose such an
one as you are should be saved–would it not be a wonder of Grace?
"Yes," you say, "it would, indeed." Well, God is the great Wonder-
Worker! It is His delight to do things which are very wonderful, for
these bring Him the most glory. Men can do commonplace things,
but wonders are worked by God! If He were to save you, would
you not forever feel indebted to His Grace? "Yes," you say, "that I
should, if He would take such a black and sinful one as I am and
save me." Very well. This is just what He wants in His children,
that they should forever love Him and praise Him–and feel that
they are under gracious obligations of love to Him. When God
means to make a great saint, He often uses a great sinner as the raw
material. It is the man who is greatly in debt who loves the friend
who discharges his debt. If I were a physician and I wanted to
establish my fame, do you think that I should trouble about you
who have a finger ache or some other trifling complaint? No! If I
wanted London to ring with the story of my cures, I would try to
find out the man who is nearest to the gates of death, or one who is
afflicted with many diseases at once, for if I healed him, all would
be amazed and it would be reported everywhere,"This man has
worked this great marvel." Now, Christ is the Physician and you
are the patient. And the worse you are, the more glory can He get
out of you! He is certainly able to save you, bad as you are, and so
He will glorify His name as a Savior. "It shall be to the Lord for a
name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off." Thus I say
unto you, O Soul, though you are empty of everything but sin, the
Spirit of God can fill you with Grace! And though darkness
enshrouds you, the Spirit of God can come upon you and make you
light in the Lord! So you need not despair, but rather give your ear
attentively to this promise of the Lord Jesus Christ–"He that
believes and is baptized shall be saved." Or this, "God so loved the
world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in
Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." May the Spirit of
God lead you to believe in Jesus!
There is an equal encouragement in this text for those who are the
people of God, or who once thought that theywere, but who have
fallen into a very sad and miserable condition. There are some who
have walked in the Light of God and enjoyed sweet fellowship with
Him, but they have been very careless, or they have neglected
private prayer, or perhaps they have fallen into sin and now they
have got into such a state of heart that they cannot see anything
gracious in themselves. "Oh," says such an one, "I am worse than
the sinner who never knew Christ! I feel as if I had played the
apostate, like Judas, or as if I had turned aside, like Demas, loving
the present world, or as if I were a tree without fruit, twice dead,
plucked up by the roots. I feel that in myself there is no order of
Grace and no light of love." Listen, dear Friend, to my text–"And
the earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the
face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the
waters." I bless God that I have many a time known what it is,
when I felt most barren, to be made to blossom and bring forth
fruit–and when apparently most dead, suddenly to be quickened
into ecstatic life! And when I have, in my own estimation, lain at
Hell's door, yet by one promise applied with power, by one flash of
the Divine energy, to be lifted up and made to say, even in that
place wherein my soul slept, like Jacob did at Bethel, "This is none
other but the house of God, and this is the gate of Heaven."
Has not the Spirit of God often dealt so with you experienced
saints who know what the ups and downs of the Christian life are?
Has He not made you strong when you have been weak and made
you to sing just after you had been sighing–and made the waters to
be calmest just after the fiercest storm and your brightest days to
follow just after the hurricane? Then have you rejoiced in the clear
shining after rain, when the winter was over and gone and when the
voice of the singing of birds was heard in your land! I know you
have found it so! Then do you now think that the Lord waitsto find
some good thing in you before He will bless you? Did He not love
you when you were in your blood, like an infant cast out into the
field unwashed and unswaddled? Do you think that His arm is
shortened, or that His love is diminished? You say that you have
been unfaithful to Him, but He abides faithful! Your faith may
seem to be dead, but "your life is hid with Christ in God." You feel
so foul, but–
"There is a fountain, filled with blood,
Drawn from Immanuel's veins
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains!"
Do not despair, dear Friend–look again to the Cross–begin again
where you began before! Remember the simple story that I told you
long ago of poor Jack the Huckster, [See Sermon #47, Volume 1–
CHRIST'S PRAYER FOR HIS PEOPLE–Read/download the
entire sermon, free of charge, at .] who used to sing–
"I'm a poor sinner, and nothing at all,
But Jesus Christ is my All-in-All."
Get back to that point, dear Brother or Sister, and so you will get
back to Light of God and once more you will realize that the Spirit
of God is working within your spirit!
I think our text also gives encouragement to those who are
working for God. You are not now thinking aboutyourself. You
have, by Divine Grace, advanced beyond that stage, and you are
thinking about others. You are going to take a district and visit it–
and there are places there that swarm with the worst of characters.
You do not know any good people there who are at all likely to
welcome and assist you. Go there, my dear Brother! Venture there,
my dear Sister, without any fear, remembering that although "the
earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face
of the deep, the Spirit of God moved upon the waters." Go to that
dark spot, for the Spirit of God will go with you! He will guide you
through the darkness and through the chaos–and will help and bless
you. Missionaries have gone to lands where the people were
cannibals, but they have not been unsuccessful. The Gospel has
been carried to people who were so degraded that they did not
seem to have any sense of possessing even a soul–yet the Gospel
had not been without fruit among them! No race of men has ever
been discovered that has been sunk too low for the Spirit of God to
work upon them and to save them! Let us never despair of any, or
think that they are beyond the Spirit's power.
"But," says one, "I would like to speak to those who are willing
to hear me and who are anxious to be saved." No doubt you would,
for most people like easy work, but if the Lord sends you to those
who do not wish to be saved, and who have no care at all about
religion, you must not pick and choose your work–you must go
where God sends you! Would you not like to go where God would
get the most glory? Of course you would! Well, He gets the most
glory when big sinners are saved, when those who hated Him most
begin to love Him, when those who were most opposed to His
Truth gladly receive it! Then there is the greatest triumph of His
Grace and the greatest glory to His holy name. I have sometimes
thought that I would like to have lived in England in the days of the
Puritans. It must have been a great privilege to have heard some of
those old masters of theology preaching the Gospel and to have
mingled with the holy multitudes that worshipped God in those
days when this land was a very Paradise. But there is more need of
the preacher of the Gospel now than ever there was and, therefore,
he ought to be glad to be where he is most needed. A good servant
would rather that his master put him where there is plenty for him
to do than let him be where there are more workers than work! I
see the thick clouds of Popery spreading over the land in every
direction and see scarcely anything in the signs of the times that
tends to cheer one's heart. I see plenty of comfort in the Scriptures!
I have abundant joy in the Lord and rest in Him, but as for the way
in which things are going in all the churches–ah, Lord God, how
has Your Spirit been restrained and how little work does He appear
to be doing in these evil times! But because the times are dark,
shall we despair? No, but still remember that when "the earth was
without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the
deep"–then "the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."
Was it not so in Christ's own day and in the time of the Apostles?
The world was sunk in sin, superstition and cruelty–but after
Pentecost thousands were converted! Was it not so in Luther's day?
The professing church, like another Samson, was lulled to sleep
upon the lap of the Delilah of Rome! And the church's locks were
utterly shorn–its strength was gone and it was delivered over to the
Philistines. But, in due time, the Spirit of God came into the
darkness and the great Truth that we are justified by faith–not by
the works of the Law–was like a repetition of the ancient command
and its sequel, "Let there be light, and there was light." Blessed be
God, the darkness of those days could not keep back the light of
Luther's preaching! Nor Calvin's clear transparent preaching and
Zwingli's burning words! And if all England should become black
as night and things grow worse, and worse, and worse, and worse,
until they come to the worst–and Satan lords it over all–there
would be no cause for fear even then! Fearlessly should the soldiers
of Christ still go on, for the Spirit of God will again move when
chaos and darkness reign! Be of good cheer, Brothers and Sisters in
Christ! Pray on, work on, trust on and God will indeed bless you!
I earnestly pray that those to whom I have spoken may receive
whatever of the Truth of God I have uttered. And especially do I
pray this for the seeking sinner. How I long that he may realize that
the only power that can save him lies outside himself! If you are
ever to be accepted before God, you will never be accepted through
anything that you are in yourself. You will have to be accepted in
Christ Jesus and, in order to be accepted in Christ Jesus, you must
have faith in Jesus. If you are ever to be a living child of the living
God, the Spirit of God must quicken you! There is in you nothing
whatever that can recommend you to God. He and He, alone, must
save you if you are ever to be saved. "Why," says one, "you drive
me to despair by talking like that!" I wish I could drive you to such
despair as would make you cease from your own works and leave
off all ideas of self-salvation–and make you fall as one dead before
the Throne of Mercy and cry, "Lord, save me, or I perish!" We
cannot too plainly preach that salvation is of the Lord alone!
Everything that is of Nature's spinning will have to be unraveled
and the soul must be clothed in the spotless robe of the
righteousness of Christ. You may build on the sandy foundation of
creature merit, but all you build will surely come down! Oh, that
you may cease from such foolish building and that you may build
upon what Jesus Christ has done! There you will build upon the
Rock, the real foundation! If the Spirit of God will enable you to
build there, you will have built for eternity! May Grace, mercy, and
peace be with you in so doing, through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Amen.
Ge 1:4 • The First Day of Creation
ERMON 1252
The First Day Of Creation
"And God saw the light that it was good."
Genesis 1:4
WE shall, this morning, leave all discussion as to the creation of
the world to those learned Divines who have paid their special
attention to that subject, and to those geologists who know, or at
any rate think they know, a very great deal about it. It is a very
interesting subject, but this is not the time for its consideration. Our
business is moral and spiritual rather than scientific. We justify our
present discourse by quoting that remarkable parallel text which the
Holy Spirit has given us in the second Epistle to the Corinthians,
fourth chapter and the sixth verse, where Paul says, "God, who
commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our
hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ."
The creation was an instructive type of the new creation. God's
methods of forming the old creation illustrate His ways in
preparing and perfecting His people who are new creatures in
Christ Jesus. So we shall gather light from an analogy which is
evidently warranted by the New Testament. We trust we shall not
be guilty of inventing things fanciful, strained, or merely curious–
our objective is edification and consolation–and not a display of
ingenuity. May the eternal light of the Holy Spirit shine upon us,
now, that by His light we may see light.
Man's fallen nature is a very chaos, "without form and void,"
with darkness thick and sevenfold covering all. The Lord begins
His work upon man by the visitation of the Spirit, who enters the
soul mysteriously and broods over it, even as of old He moved
upon the face of the waters. He is the Quickener of the dead soul.
In connection with the Presence of the Holy Spirit, the Lord sends
into the soul, as His first blessing, light. The Lord appeals to man's
understanding and enlightens it by the Gospel. The heavenly light
reveals to man his obligations to God and his forgetfulness of them.
It shows him the evil of sin, his own guilt, consequent danger and
the impossibility of his escaping from that danger by any efforts of
his own.
That same light, also, reveals to man God's way of salvation–
shows him the Person of Christ, His work, its suitability and its
freeness–and lets him see how he may obtain an interest in
redemption by the simple act of believing. It is a blessed thing for
any man when the Lord God says concerning him, "Let there be
light." If you keep your eyes upon the chapter you will observe that
the light came into the world at first by the word–"God said, 'let
there be light.'" It is through the Word of God contained in this
book, the Bible, that light comes into the soul. Let me correct
myself–it is by Him who is called the Logos, THE WORD, that
light is poured into the heart of man, for, "in Him was life, and the
life was the light of men."
This is that true light which lights every man that comes into the
world. The Spirit, you see, is engaged in the new creation–He
broods over the soul. The Son of God is the Creator, also–He is that
WORD without whom nothing was made, and by whom light
came. And the Father unites in the same sacred work, for it is He
who speaks and it is done. It needs the Trinity to new-create a soul.
Oh, Triune God, our souls which are new-created worship You with
the trinity of their nature–spirit, soul, and body! The light which
broke in upon the primeval darkness was of a very mysterious kind,
and came not according to ordinary laws, for as yet neither sun nor
moon had been set as lights in the firmament.
Can we tell how spiritual light first dawns on nature's night? It
darts upon some souls without the aid of apparent ministries,
immediately from God! Indeed, though the Lord sends light by this
means or by that, yet in every case the light is His own work, and
the means are, in themselves, so evidently powerless that the whole
glory of the work belongs to the Lord alone! How He removes
darkness from the understanding and illuminates the intellect is a
secret reserved for only Himself. Mysteriously, then, the light
enters into the soul of man. But one thing is clear concerning it–
however it comes, if it is true light, it is always God-given and
comes, alone, from the great Father of lights.
No gracious light ever will or can come to any man except
directly from God Himself. There was no latent light in the chaotic
mass of world. There was no brilliance to be developed out of the
primitive darkness. It was necessary that Jehovah should interpose
and that His fiat should pour in light firm above. O heart of man,
you are darkness itself, but in the Lord is your light found! The
light came instantaneously. Six days were occupied in furnishing
the earth, but a moment sufficed for illuminating it. God works
rapidly in the operation of regeneration–as with a flash, He darts
light and life into the soul.
The operations of Grace are gradual, but its entrance is
instantaneous. Although instantaneous, it is not, however, shallow
and short-lived. The light did not depart because of its rapid
coming–it was a permanent blessing which earth received in that
glad hour. The light remained, increased and though in every spot
upon the globe there are necessary interludes of night, and though
there has been an evening as well as a morning to all succeeding
days, yet our globe has never been forsaken of the blessed light
since the day when first the eternal Word flashed it forth upon the
face of the deep! Even so, when God sends Grace into the soul of
man it comes in an instant, but it does not so depart. "The gifts and
calling of God are without repentance."
The darkness struggles for the mastery, but the light, once given,
none shall quench–it must and shall shine forth more and more
unto the perfect day. All this is worthy of our careful note, but the
point which we are about to dwell upon is this–our text concerns
only the first day of creation and the Lord's consideration of that
first day's work–and His approval of it. The first day of creation
fairly pictures the commencement of our spiritual life, our
conviction, conversion and first faith in Jesus.
My objective shall be to speak words of comfort to beginners,
that I may cheer those upon whom the true light has only lately
begun to shine. And I shall, also, give a few words of advice to
older people as to their duty to these newlyenlightened ones.
Our first observation will be this–THE LORD SEES
WHATEVER HE CREATES. "The Lord saw the light." He was the
sole observer of it. Neither eyes of man, nor bird, nor beast was
there to behold the golden glory, but God saw the light! Newly
enlightened one, it may be you are pained because you have no
Christian companion to observe your change of heart. Cease from
your sorrow, for God beholds you! Have you seen yourself a sinner
and do you, therefore, weep in secret places? Have you begun to
see the Savior and do you look to Him in loneliness of spirit and
find in Him a joy with which a stranger intermeddled not?
It is but a small matter that no human eyes have seen your
repentance and your faith, for He beholds them, even He who gave
them birth! It may be that neither father nor mother has perceived
the change and, perhaps, had they perceived it they may be such
that they would not have rejoiced in it. But let this be your
comfort–your heavenly Father sees you and His heart pities you.
When the prodigal was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and
even thus, your heavenly Father sees you! And as this was enough
for the prodigal, so it is enough for you. Upon your tears of
penitence He has fixed His eyes, and upon your glance of faith He
has turned His gaze. "The Lord saw the light"–this grand Truth of
God should be very sweet to those whose faith is lonely, who meet
with many discouragements, and little or no sympathy.
Like Hagar in the desert you should rejoicingly say, "You, God,
see me." "The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears
are open unto their cry." David said, "I am poor and needy, yet the
Lord thinks upon me." Oh, young beginner, the Lord sees the work
of Grace that is in you! Though it is but in its first day, He does not
turn His eyes from the light which He has kindled! And as long as
this is the case, you need not fear. The orator of old thought Plato,
alone, quite enough for an audience! Much more, then, may you
consider that the Lord, alone, is all that you need by way of
observation and you may joyfully pray with the Psalmist, "Look
You upon me, and be merciful unto me, as You use to do unto those
that love Your name."
That light had come into the world in a noiseless manner, yet the
Lord saw it. The entrance of God's Word which gives light is
effected in "solemn silence of the mind." If men make an
illumination, we can hear the crackling of their fireworks all over
the city. But when God illuminates the earth with the sun, the orb
of day arises without a sound! The ancients talked of the chariot of
the sun, but whoever heard the sound of wheels or the hoof beats of
horses in the sky? The health-bearing wings of the morning cause
no tumult in the air when they are spread abroad. "When morn her
rosy steps in the eastern clime advancing, sows the earth with
orient pearl," her footsteps are not heard.
True, the birds salute her coming with glad songs, but she,
herself, steals onward without voice. Even thus Grace enters the
soul and not a whisper is breathed, yet the Lord sees the light. Light
is its own advertisement, it needs no trumpet to announce it. And it
is the same with Divine Grace. Dear young Friend, in you the work
of Grace has been a very quiet one. Perhaps you remember no
remarkable sermon, no horrible dream, no sick-bed experience, no
grim terrors of the Law as have happened to others of God's
people. You have been treated as Lydia was whose heart the Lord
opened, or like Timothy, you have known the Scriptures from your
youth.
Be not, therefore, led to suspect your sincerity, or to doubt the
reality of the work of Grace. Although the work in your soul has
been so quiet, so hidden from the eyes of men, so unremarkable
and commonplace, yet take comfort from our text, "The Lord saw
the light." No trumpet proclaimed it, but the Lord saw it! No voice
went forth concerning it, but the Lord saw it and it was enough!
And in your case it is the same. The earth itself could not recognize
the light, yet the Lord saw it. Poor dull chaos, what could it know?
And as for primeval night, the light shone in the darkness and the
darkness comprehended it not.
How often does the young Believer stand in doubt as to himself!
How frequently does he enquire, "Is this light or is it not?" Nor is
he alone in such great searchings of heart, for there are times with
some of the more advanced of us, when we are very glad to think
that the Lord sees the light, for we cannot see it. There are times
when, through doubt, fear and a keen sense of sin, we begin to
question whether the Lord has ever shone upon us at all! And if this
happens to fullgrown saints it is not much wonder if it occurs to
babes in Grace in the first morning of their life. If it should
occasionally prove a very serious question–"Am I in the light or
not?"–we need not marvel, for often have sincere children of God
put up the anxious inquiry, "Is this light, or only darkness visible?"
How often do we mourn that we have scarcely more light than
suffices to reveal our darkness and make us pine for more! Oh,
troubled one, lay this home to your soul–the Lord saw the light
when earth, herself, could not perceive it! Let us not forget that
besides the light there was no other beauty. The earth, according to
the Hebrew, was "tohu and bohu," which, in order to come near to
both the sense and sound at the same time, I will render, "anyhow
and nohow." It was confusion, emptiness, waste. Matter was
discordant and disorganized. And so God fixed His eyes on the
light, not on the chaos!
Even so, beloved Friend, your experience may seem to be a
chaos, nohow and anyhow, exactly what it should not be, a maze of
unformed conceptions and half-formed desires, and ill-formed
prayers–but yet there is Grace in you and God sees it–even amid
the dire confusion and huge uproar of your spirit! What He has,
Himself, created in you He beholds, considers, and delights in!
And, as for the sin that dwells in you, He only regards it as covered
from His sight by the atoning work of His dear Son! Remember,
too, that when the light came it had to contend with darkness, but
God saw it, none the less.
So, also, in your soul, there still remains the darkness of inbred
corruption, ignorance, infirmity and tendency to sin. And these
cause a conflict, but the light is not hidden from the eyes of God.
What a mercy this is that our God keeps His eyes on the light rather
than on the darkness. Oh, how I bless Him for that! If He were to
ignore the light that is in us because it is feeble, and look only at
our sin because it is abundant, He would certainly utterly destroy
us! But instead of that He casts our sins behind His back, while
upon the new-born Grace He fixes His steady gaze and says, "I the
Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will
keep it night and day."
For many reasons the Lord sees the light, but chiefly He sees it
because He made it, and He forsakes not the work of His own
hands. God can see Grace in men where you and I cannot, because
He knows where it is, seeing He, Himself, hid it in the soul. There
is never a grain of Grace in the world but what God has a register
of it. All the Grace in men's hearts calls God, "Father," and God
hears its voice and turns His eye that way. He knows His own
children and His eyes and His heart are towards them continually
for good. He knows the light which is of His own creating–there is
not one stray sunbeam in the universe, nor one forgotten ray of
light.
Neither is there a spark of forgotten Grace, or a grain of salvation
which has got out of its course. God cannot but remember His own
Grace, seeing that the giving of it is a work so dear to His heart,
and the effect of that work is so precious in His esteem. To sum up
what we have said, you who have been converted to God may
lament that in your soul there is no order and that everything is
tossed about. You may perceive no growth, no fruit, no virtue in
your life because you have not known the Lord long enough to
produce much.
But if there is light enough to reveal Christ in you as your only
hope, be of good cheer, for the Lord does not look for the fourth
day's work on the first day! He sees that in you which is of His
own giving and creating–and he calls it good! Seeing the light in
you, He will perpetuate it so that you shall never walk in darkness!
And He will increase it till the glory breaks upon you! Do you
repent of sin? God sees the light. Have you bemoaned your
shortcomings? God saw the light. Have you begun to pray?
"Behold, he prays," says God, for He sees the light. Have you
believed in Jesus Christ with even a trembling faith? God sees the
light. Have you begun to hope in His mercy? He sees that hope, for
the God that gave you its light still looks upon it!
II. It is time for us to pass on to a second head, which is this–THE
LORD APPROVES OF WHAT HE CREATES. "God saw the light
that it was good." He took pleasure in it. Now, as far as this world
was concerned, light was but young and new–and so in some of
you, Grace is quite a novelty. You were only converted a very little
while ago and you have had no time to try yourselves or to develop
your Divine Graces, yet the Lord delights in your new-born life!
There are some older folk who are suspicious of the dawn of Grace
and look very dubiously upon new converts, but in this they have
not the mind of God.
The old members of our Churches in the country, 20 years ago,
used to say, "We must not take in young converts too soon. We
must summer and winter them before they are baptized." This they
called prudence. I wonder what they would think of prudent
farmers who summered and wintered the lambs before they took
them into the fold? Or prudent parents who summered and
wintered their babes before they pressed them to their bosom? We
ought right gladly to take the little babes in Grace and nurse them
for the Lord–and by no means despise their youth. The Lord did
not leave the light to itself till it had been tried for years, but on the
first day He smiled upon it and pronounced it good!
He took delight in it because it was as much His creation and as
truly good as if He had made it ages before. Light is good at dawn
as well as at noon. The Grace of God is good though but newly
received! It will work out for you greater things, by-and-by, and
make you more happy and more holy, but even now all the
elements of excellence are in it and its first day has the Divine
blessing upon it. Grace in the bud is pleasant unto the Lord–let this
Truth of God fill the newly converted with intense delight!
Here we must mention again that it was struggling light, yet none
the less, for it was approved of the Lord. We do not understand
how it was that the light and the darkness were together until God
divided them, as this verse intimates, but as John Bunyan says, "No
doubt darkness and light, here, began their quarrel," for what
communion has light with darkness? The black darkness was in
possession, but the arrows of light pierced it through and through.
It strove to hold its own, but before long it could be said, "the
darkness is past and the true light now shines."
Do you remember how it was with you when the light invaded the
little world within you? I remember well the inward battle and sore
conflict in my own case. What struggles! What contentions! What
conflicts my soul endured when the light first broke in upon
nature's night! My darkened heart rebelled against the light, hating
to have its deeds reproved. But the light would not be extinguished
or turned aside. Backed by the Divine fiat, it pierced its way until I
joined the company to whom it is said, "you were sometime
darkness, but now are you light in the Lord."
My Brothers and Sisters, I am sure you are no strangers to this
conflict, nor is it to you altogether a thing of the past. You are still
in the conflict. Still Grace and sin are warring in you, and will do
so till you are taken Home. Let this help you, O you who are
perplexed! Remember that struggling as the light is, God approves
of it and calls it good! Even the repentance which cannot repent as
it would is good! The faith which cannot believe as it would is
good! Life which smolders like fire in damp wood is good–and the
Lord so esteems it! "A bruised reed He will not break, and the
smoking flax He will not quench."
As yet the light had not been divided from the darkness and the
boundaries of day and night were not fixed. And it is so in young
beginners–they hardly know which is Grace and which is nature,
what is of themselves and what is of Christ–and they make a great
many mistakes. Yet the Lord makes no mistake of that which His
Grace has placed in them! They have so little discernment that they
see and do not see, for they see men as trees walking, but God sees
them clearly enough. It is neither day nor night with them–they are
in a fog and lack power of discernment–but the Lord discerns them,
for He knows them that are His. Let this be their joy that the Lord
can analyze their condition and He knows what is light in them and
approves it.
As yet the light and darkness had not been named–it was
afterwards that the Lord called the light, "day," and the darkness,
"night." Yet He saw the light that it was good. And so, though you
do not know the names of things, God knows your name! Though
you do not understand the doctrines so as to speak of them
correctly, yet He understands you. Your ignorance of terms and
names, your confusion of mind and childish misapprehensions will
not provoke the Lord or make Him overlook the Grace which He
has worked in you. The sooner you can distinguish between things
that differ, the better, but meanwhile the Lord distinguishes what is
in you and loves the light which He has given you, for He never
made a Grace which He did not love, and never worked a work in
the soul of man which He did not approve!
The light of the first day could not reveal much of beauty, for
there was none, and so, dear Friend, the light within does not yet
reveal much to you–and what it does reveal is uncomely, but the
light, itself, is good–whatever it may make manifest. If the Grace
given you, my young Friend, only reveals the depravity of your
nature. If it only shows you the cage of unclean birds within you
and the wild beasts that rage and rave within your nature–if it only
makes these growl in their dens more fiercely than ever because
their reign is coming to an end–still it is light!
If it displays your nature as tossed about in sorry tumult and
wretched disorder, yet the light is good, and God takes delight in it.
When no varied landscape of land and sea, mountain and lake,
meadow and forest charmed the eyes, yet the Lord approved the
light which shone over the formless mass. Let this cheer and
comfort you, that in the same manner you have the approbation of
God upon whatever of Grace His hands have created within you.
But why did God say that light was good? I suppose it was because
its creation displayed His attributes. The instantaneous coming of
light revealed His power, His sovereignty, His goodness, His
wisdom and His love.
He is not a God whose glory consists in darkness, but, "He covers
Himself with light as with a garment." Grace is a still more
glorious manifestation of the Divine Character and in it God
glorifies His name. The Grace that is in you has sufficed to show
you the power and the justice of God–and something of His mercy
and His love–and angels from Heaven have beheld the same sacred
attributes in the Divine work within you. Therefore God loves
Grace because it makes Him known in many of His glorious
attributes. He loves the light, too, because it is like Himself, for
"God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all."
Light is ethereal and almost spiritual, and therein like He who is a
Spirit. Light makes manifest the Truth of God and therein is like
the God of Truth. The Grace that is in you, if, indeed it is Grace, is
yet more truly of the nature of God, for it is that living and
incorruptible Seed by which you are made partakers of the Divine
Nature and are enabled to escape the corruption which is in the
world through lust. Satan is the Prince of the powers of darkness,
but another principle, even that of the light of God dwells in the
man who believes in Jesus–and this principle must be good–for it is
of God.
Light is eminently good, for the Lord spent a whole day in
creating and arranging it–a whole day out of six! This shows that
He attaches great importance to it. Moreover, He gave it the front
rank by occupying the first day of creation's week upon it. Even
thus the plan of Grace was early in the mind of God. It was and is
His masterpiece and He has never yet placed it in the background.
His eternal wisdom devised it from old and that same wisdom
continues to dwell upon it all through this long day of Grace. The
little Grace which is in you is approved of God, for it is the fruit of
His thoughts of old, and by it He has begun His new creation in
you.
I suppose that the Lord approved of the light because it was a
seasonable thing. It was what was needed to begin with. Not but
what God could work in the dark, for, as to natural light, in that
respect darkness and light are both alike to Him. We can all see that
the works of His creating skill needed light, for how could plants,
animals and men live without it? Assuredly the sanctifying
operations of the Spirit of God require light in the soul–the
understanding must be enlightened, for true religion cannot flourish
in ignorance–and until there is some knowledge of God none of the
Graces can blossom.
When God the Holy Spirit new-creates a man, the first essential
thing towards it is the illumination of his soul in knowledge and
holiness, to know the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Because
it is so essential, the Lord pronounces it good. So, then, dear
Brothers and Sisters, I have shown you that God took delight in His
own work, and I have given you some reasons why He did so.
Now, you trembling beginners, I want you to feel that if God
approves of the Grace which He has worked in you, He will
preserve it! He will not suffer the light which He kindles to be
quenched by the world, the flesh, or the devil! Yes, He will
improve it and cause your twilight to brighten into perfect day! I
would to God that some poor, troubled one could catch this
thought, for I remember well the time when it would have been
exceedingly consoling to myself.
When I compared myself with older saints I feared that there was
little of the Divine work in me. But if I had known, as now I rejoice
to know, that God's work, even at the beginning, is approved by
Him–that even the rudiments and elements of Grace in the soul are
looked upon by Him with Divine complacency, I think my heart
would have greatly rejoiced! I want you lambs of the flock to feed
on this tender grass! It is sweet food, suitable to your young days.
Fear not, little flock! Your Great Shepherd takes delight in you!
III. But now, thirdly, let me give you what will seem to be, but is
not, the same thought–THE LORD QUICKLY DISCERNS ALL
THE GOODNESS AND BEAUTY WHICH EXISTS IN WHAT
HE CREATES. The Lord did not merely feel approbation for the
light, but He perceived reason for it–He saw that it was good. He
could see goodness in it where, perhaps, no one else would have
been able to do so. Let us note, then, that light is good in itself and
so is Divine Grace. What a wonderful thing light is! Just think of it!
How simple it is and yet how complex. Scarcely have the students
of light been able, as yet, to discover a tenth of its various qualities!
Wonders have burst upon them, but there are many more to
follow. What intertwisted colors go to make up the simplicity of the
white light in which we rejoice? Grace, too, is simple yet complex.
The Grace that quickens, the Grace that convicts of sin, the Grace
that consoles, the Grace that instructs, the Grace that sustains, the
Grace that sanctifies, the Grace that perfects–it is all a very simple
matter, but how varied are its operations! How marvelous is the "all
Grace" which God makes to abound unto us! Think of the triple ray
which we find in Grace–the Grace of the Father in election, the
Grace of the Son in redemption, the Grace of the Holy Spirit in
regeneration! Consider, admire, and adore the manifold Grace of
God!
Light, too, how common it is! We see it everywhere, and all the
year round. The most despotic monarch cannot enclose the light for
himself. The meanest beggar takes a royal share! It cannot be
monopolized, but pays its gladsome visits to all alike. Even thus the
Scriptures reveal the freeness of Divine Grace–and experience
shows that it shines on the poorest and the simplest–it enlightens
the foolish and the ignorant. Yet what a precious thing is light!
Those who are blind, what would they not give to see it! And if you
and I were confined in a sepulcher, how earnestly should we long,
once more, to walk in the light of Heaven.
So is the Grace of God priceless yet free to every eye that is able
to drink it in. Light, too, how feeble and yet how strong! Its beams
would not detain us one-half so forcibly as a cobweb, yet how
mighty it is, and how supreme! Scarcely is there a force in the
universe of God which is more potent. The Grace of God, in the
same manner, is contemptible in the eyes of man, and yet the
majesty of Omnipotence is in it, and it is more than conqueror!
Light, too, as we have said before, how noiseless! You never hear
its footsteps, and yet how effectual! So the Grace of God comes not
with observation, but its transformations are unparalleled.
Light, too, how varied, as we see it in many phases and through
differing mediums, and yet, how uniform! How uniformly good!
Grace comes in many ways and works variously, yet it is always
the same, and its results are always pure, lovely and of good repute.
Well did God say that light was good, for who can make it
otherwise? Who can defile it? The sunbeam lights on a dunghill,
but its purity remains snow-white as the lily. Who can rob light of
its beauty? Its excellence remains undimmed, though it pierces the
gloom of a dark dungeon, feverish and full of loathsome filth. Light
never ferments into darkness, nor decays into gloom. The leaves
upon the trees have, in successive autumn blasts turned sere, and
have fallen to the earth to rot, but no ray of light has ever withered!
Many changes the world has passed through, but light is the
same, the glory of its youth is on it! The young sunbeams leap from
the central fire and visit us on wings unwearied. They, themselves,
being adorned with all the freshness of earth's birthday. Transfer all
this to the Grace of God and it will bear to be emphasized. Grace
cannot be depraved, it is always pure and good! It cannot be
overcome, it will effect its purposes! It never corrupts, it is the seed
of God which lives and abides forever! Oh, precious Grace, if you
are in the soul–if, as yet, it is but your first day–you are good!
Light is good, not only in itself, but in its warfare. The light
contended with darkness and it was good for darkness to be battled
with. Grace has come unto you, young Friend, and it will fight with
your sins–and your sins ought to be fought with–and to be
overcome! The light which came from God was good in its
measure. There was neither too much of it nor too little. If the Lord
had sent a little more light into the world we might all have been
dazzled into blindness, and if He had sent less we might have
groped in gloom. God sends into the new-born Christian just as
much Grace as he can bear–He does not give him the maturity of
later years, for it would be out of place.
Did not Jesus say, "I have many things to say unto you, but you
cannot bear them now." Dawn is good as well as noontide. A babe
in Grace is beautiful and the Grace in him is suitable to his
condition. Do not, dear Brother, judge the babe because he has not
the light and the Grace which belong to a full-grown man, for that
would be unreasonable. Light was good as a preparation for God's
other works. The great Creator was about to make plants. What
could plants do without light? He knew that He would soon make
fowl that fly in the open firmament, and beasts that graze the
meadows–is not light needed by all these?
He knew that light, though it was but the beginning, was
necessary to the completion of His work. Light was necessary that
the eyes of man might rejoice in the works of God and so God saw
the light that it was good in connection with what was to be. And,
oh, I charge you who have to deal with young people, look at the
Grace they have in them in relation to what will be in them! Think
not so much of the weakness of it as of the fact that it is only the
green blade! Let your faith see the golden ear which will come
from that tender shoot! See the oak in the acorn, the man in the
child–and call them good!
What a mass of thought one might raise from this one Truth of
God of the goodness of light and the goodness of Grace, as to their
results. Light produces the beauty which adorns the world, for
without it all the world were uncomely blackness. Light's brush
paints the whole and even so all beauty of character is the result of
Grace. Light sustains life, for life, in due time, would dwindle and
die out without it, and thus Grace, alone, sustains the virtues and
blessings of the Believer. Without daily Grace we should be
spiritually dead! Light heals many sicknesses and Grace brings
healing in its wings. Light is comfort, light is joy, the prisoner in
his darkness knows it to be so. And so the Grace of God produces
joy and peace wherever it is shed abroad.
Light reveals and so does Grace, for without it we could not see
the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. O to walk in the light
as God is in the light so that we may have fellowship with Him! O
Lord, "send out Your light and Your truth! Let them lead me! Let
them bring me unto Your holy hill." You see, now, that God
perceived in light a mass of latent good and, in the same manner,
He perceives, in the first work of Grace in the soul, an amount of
good which the soul, itself, knows nothing of, and which even
Christian observers, with kindly eyes, would not be able to detect.
IV. This leads me to close with a practical observation, namely,
that GOD RECORDED HIS ESTIMATE OF THIS FIRST DAY'S
PRODUCT. Here we have His judgement expressed–"God saw the
light that it was good." This leads me to say to the young Christian,
the Lord would have you encouraged. You have been looking at
yourself since you have been converted and, perhaps, you have
grown desponding, and have cried, "Alas, I am vile! I did not know
all that was in me!"
No, and you do not know all that is in you now. "But I am so
bad." Let me assure you, you are a great deal worse than you think
you are. "Alas, Sir, I see enough to drive me to despair." Yes, but if
you could see the whole truth about yourself, you would be driven
to self-despair 10 times over! You are so bad as to be hopeless! And
you had better know it, too! I often thank God for teaching me
early that my old nature was dead and corrupt, so that nothing has
surprised me since. I commenced as a penniless bankrupt and I
have, therefore, never become poorer! I began naked and,
therefore, I have never lost a rag! I was dead, utterly dead, and
therefore I have lost no strength!
It is a necessary thing for you to know that in your flesh there
dwells no good thing. "The carnal mind is enmity against God: for
it is not subject to the Law of God, neither, indeed, can be." Put
that down at the first, as an ascertained fact, and then nothing will
amaze you afterwards! Your nature is incorrigible and incurable!
But there is gracious light in you which God has put there and God
delights in you because of it. Though you may have been born to
God but a week ago and are a poor little crying baby in the nursery
of the Lord's house, yet your Father loves you and sets great store
by the Grace He has given you! Now, do not be downcast! Say to
yourself, "The Lord has said that the faith which He has given me
is good. He has said that this little love that I have for Him is good.
I will be encouraged, for if He has begun a good work in me, He
will carry it on."
My last word is to older Christian people. If the Lord says that
His work in the first day is good, I want you to say so, too. Do not
wait till you see the second, third, fourth, fifth, or sixth day before
you feel confidence in the convert and offer him fellowship. If God
speaks encouragingly so soon, I want you to do the same. A few
words to a young Christian will be greatly helpful to him and his
weakness craves them. Those of us who have been a long while in
the Lord's ways ought to be ashamed if we are gruff, and sour, and
critical. You know it was the elder brother, not one of the younger
ones, who said, "This your son has come, who has devoured your
living with harlots," and so on.
Do not degenerate into the elder brother's spirit, I pray you. You
must grow older in years, but endeavor to remain young at heart.
There is a tendency to look for far too much in young converts and
to expect in them a great deal more than we shall ever see. This is
wrong. We shall not do them much good by criticizing them, but
we may greatly benefit them by encouraging them. We have all
read in the papers this week about Captain Webb's swimming
across the channel, and we noticed that every now and then his
friends gave him a cheer. Would that help him? No doubt it did!
There is nothing like a cheer to a fellow when he feels faint and
weak.
Give the weak brother a cheer, I say! When you meet with a
young Believer who is tossed about, give him a cheer! Give him a
hearty cheer! Tell him some choice promise! Tell him how the Lord
helped you. Your few words may not be much to you, but they will
be very much to him. Whereas the black look, which, perhaps, you
really did not mean, may chill him to the very marrow of his bones!
Many a poor young Christian has been frostbitten by the coldness
of stern professors. Let us make a rule to encourage the young and
help them forward, for that work of encouragement may affect the
whole of their future history.
As the Lord said the first day was good, so He said the same right
on, till at last He declared that it was "very good." In this way I
trust it will be "good" with young converts from beginning to end.
That early blessing which you may be the means of bestowing
upon the young Christian may be the first of thousands of
commendations which shall culminate in, "Well done, good and
faithful servant." At any rate, if you do this, my dear Brothers and
Sisters, it will reveal in you a God-like disposition. The Lord said
that the first day's work was good! Be as God is, ready to see the
good, if it is ever so little, and ready to speak well of it! It will be
for your own comfort to see and commend the young work of
Grace.
If you have an eye to spy out what is good, either in young people
or old people, it will be a very happy faculty. Those who have a
keen eye for others' faults are wretched beings. They look at the
sun and they say, "He has spots." Then they gaze at the moon and
observe that its light is very pale. Better be blind than see in this
fashion! Let it not be so among you! But as God saw the light that
it was good, so do you look for it and rejoice in it. Be on the side of
weak Grace and your own Grace will grow stronger. Comfort the
feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient towards all and in holy
charity think no evil, but rejoice in the Truth of God. PORTION OF
SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Genesis 1.HYMNS
FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK."–104, 205, 891.
Ge 1:7 • And It Was So
ERMON 3064
"And It Was So"
"And it was so."
Genesis 1:7
You will find those words six times upon the first page of
Scripture. God spoke and said, "Let there be a firmament." "And it
was so." He said, "Let the dry land appear." "And it was so." He
bade the earth bring forth grass, "And it was so." He ordained the
sun and moon for lights in the firmament of Heaven. "And it was
so." Whatever it was that He willed, He did but speak the Word,
"and it was so." In no single case was there a failure. There was not
even a hesitation, a pause or a demand for a more powerful agency
than the Divine Word. In each case, Jehovah spoke, "and it was
so." Nor is this first week of Creation the only instance of the kind,
for in no case has the Word of God fallen to the ground–whether of
promise or of threat–the Word has been confirmed and fulfilled.
"As it was in the beginning, it is now, and ever shall be, world
without end." Whatever the mighty God decrees, foretells, declares,
or promises shall, before long come to pass.
I shall ask you to accompany me in a mental voyage down the
stream of history to show that this has been the case asfar as all
history is concerned up till now. "And it was so." The Lord's will
has been Law. His Word has been followed by fact. Dictum factum,
it will be socontinually in the great and in the small–in the affairs
of the world–and in our own personal matters. What God has
promised shall come to pass! And at the winding-up of all history,
it shall be said, "God said this and that, and it was so."
We stand at the fountainhead of human history and hear the Lord
declare to our parents that in the day in which they should break
His commands and eat of the forbidden fruit, they would surely die.
"And it was so." They died that moment. That spiritual death which
was the great and essential part of the sentence, was then and there
fulfilled! Thelikeness and image of God was broken in them
immediately and we are dead in trespasses and in sins by reason of
their death. He also warned them when His wrath, as it were,
glanced aslant from them to smite the soil on which they stood, that
the earth would bring forth thorns and thistles to them, and that in
the sweat of their face they should eat bread, and truly it has been
so. The earth has yielded her harvest, but she has produced her
thorns and briars, also. And though the curse of labor has become a
blessing, yet man's toil and woman's travail vindicate the Divine
veracity.
When all flesh had corrupted its way, God repented that He had
made man, and sent His servant Noah as a preacher of
righteousness to threaten a universal flood. It did not appear very
probable that the dense population of the earth could all be swept
away and that the billows should rear their proud heads above the
mountains–but it turned out that Noah was no fool and his
prophecy was no raving. God had said that the world should be
drowned "and it was so." The sluices of the great deep beneath
were drawn up, the cataracts of Heaven descended and none
escaped, save the few–that is eight–whom God enclosed within the
ark.
A little further on the Lord appeared to His servant Abraham and
told him that the wickedness of Sodom had been so great that the
cry had gone up even to His Throne and the Lord communicated to
His servant that He would go and see if it was altogether according
to the cry thereof. And if so, Sodom would be destroyed. Abraham
pleaded and his intercession almost prevailed, but as no righteous
salt was found in the filthy cities of the plain, they were doomed to
perish. They had given themselves to strange flesh and a strange
judgment must, therefore, come upon them. Hell must fall out of
Heaven upon such abominable offenders! " And it was so," for
when the morning dawned, Sodom was utterlyconsumed and the
smoke thereof went up to Heaven.
You know how God kept His Covenant with Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob, who were strangers with Him, dwelling in tents, looking for
a better city, that is, a heavenly. Whatever promise was made to the
Patriarchs was fulfilled to the letter! In all respects, "it was so."
When they went down into Egypt, God declared that after 400
years He would bringthem out and though the tribes appeared to be
naturalized in Egypt and were rooted to the soil, yet God would
bring them forth. And though Pharaoh took strong measures and
thought to hold them fast, yet God had said that they should come
out with a high hand and an outstretched arm–"and it was so." Let
the wonders which He worked on the fields ofZoan, the plagues
which overthrew the sons of Ham, the going forth out of Egypt and
the terrors of the Red Sea when the depths covered all the chivalry
of Egypt–let these remind you that God had spoken–and so it was.
Pharaoh was hardened, but he was not able to resist the will of the
Almighty! He stands forever in history as a memorial that none
shall harden himself against the Most High and prosper, for the
Lord does as He wills in Heaven and on earth and in all deep
places! Has He said, and shall He not do it? "Is anything too hard
for the Lord?"
I would not weary you, I think, if I were to dwell a little while
upon the promise that God gave to Israel that He would lead the
tribes through the wilderness and surely bring them to their
inheritance. It appeared very unlikely that they would ever enter
into Canaan, when, for 40 weary years, they wandered in the
pathless wilderness. Yet the Jordan was crossed in due season and
Jericho was taken. He said that they should, every man, possess his
portion and each tribe its lot–"and it was so." The Canaanites dwelt
in cities that were walled up to Heaven and they dashed into the
battle in chariots of iron, yet they were overcome, for God had said
it–"and it was so." He cast out the heathen and planted the vine
which He had brought out of Egypt. He overthrew Og and Sihon,
"and gave their land for an heritage; for His mercy endures
forever." Many a time, after Israel had been settled in the land, did
they provoke the Lord to jealousy, so that He sent Prophet after
Prophet, and their message was, "If you thus sin against the Lord,
you shall be given into the hands of your enemies …"and it was
so." But when they were sorely smitten, they repented and they
cried unto God andHe had pity upon them. And then He sent
another of His servants with a gentle message, saying, "Turn unto
Me, and repent, and I will deliver you." "And it was so."
In every case He kept His Word, whether for chastening them or
delivering them. Evermore was He faithful. When, in the later
period of their history, Sennacherib blasphemed the Lord, His
servant Hezekiah took the cruel letter of Rabshakeh and laid it
before the Lord in the Temple and cried mightily unto Him–and
Isaiah came with the promise, "He shall not come into this city, nor
shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a
bank against it." Who could put the hook into the nose of that
leviathan? Who could turn him back by the way that he came? The
Lord had said it should be done–"and it was so"–for that night the
destroying Angel went through the host of Assyriansand there fell
corpses on the plain as many as the leaves of autumn! Has God
promised to rescue His children? Then be assured this, however
numerous their foes, His Word shall not fail! Then came that dark
day when Israel and Judah were threatened with captivity in a
strange land. They sinned and, lo, "it was so." They were exiled far
away. By the waters of Babylon they sat down and wept. They
wept when they remembered Zion. But there came a promise to
them–a promise which they had left all unread and forgotten in
their Sacred Books, that after the lapse of 70 years they should
return again and once more see the land of their fathers–"and it was
so." God raised up for them a friend and a helper–and the captives
came back again to their land.
Let us quote the grandest instance of all. The Lord promised,
immediately after the Fall, that the Seed of the woman should
bruise the serpent's head. That promise had been succeeded by
many others and those in Israel who knew the Lord waited for the
coming of the Deliverer. The promise tarried long. Day and night
devout man cried unto God, for their patience was sorely tried, yet
they confidently expected the Messenger of God who would
suddenly come in His Temple–and when the fullness of time was
come, "it was so." The everlasting God was found living among
men and they "beheld His Glory, the Glory as of the only begotten
of the Father , full of Grace and Truth." It was the master-promise
of all–the promise of the greatest gift that God has ever bestowed
upon mankind! And that promise was kept, kept to the letter and to
the hour. He had said it should be, "and it was so," though it was a
wonder beyond all wonders!