Part 48
the world and have stood like rocks in the midst of foaming billows
when all men were against us. Another week has seen us flying
away, after denying our Master, because like Peter, we were afraid
of some little maid, or of our own shadow. After coming out of a
great trouble, we have resolutely declared "I can never doubt God
again," but the next cloud that has swept the sky has darkened all
our faith. We have been variable in our faith.
And have you not also, at times, my Friends, felt variable in your
love? Sweet Master, King of Heaven, fairest of a thousand fairs!
My heart is knit to You–my soul melts at the mention of Your
name. My heart bubbles up with a good matter when I speak of the
things which I have made touching the King–
"The strings that bind around my heart,
Tortures and racks may tear them off.
But they can never, never part,
The hold I have of Christ, my love."
Surely, I could die for You and think it better than to live, if so I
might honor You. This is the sweet manner of our spirit when our
love is burning and fervent–but soon we neglect the fire, it
becomes dim and we have to rake among the ashes even for a
spark, crying–
"'Tis a point I long to know,
Oft it causes anxious thought,
Do I love the Lord or no?
Am I His, or am I not?"
How unstable we are! At one time we are quite certain we are the
Lord's. Though an angel from Heaven should deny our election, or
our adoption, we would reply that we have the witness of the Spirit
that we are born of God. But perhaps within two minutes we shall
not be able to say that we ever had one spiritual feeling. We shall
perhaps think that we never repented aright, never fled to Christ
aright and did never believe to the saving of the soul. Oh, it is no
wonder that we do not excel when we are such unstable creatures!
Alas, my Brethren, I might enlarge on the inconsistencies of the
mass of Christians. How unfaithful we have been to our dedication
vows! How negligent of close communion! How unlike we have
been to holy Enoch!
How much more like Peter, when he followed afar off! I might
tell how one day, like the mariner, we mounted up to Heaven and
how the next moment we have gone to the lowest depths when the
waves of God's grace have ceased to lift us up. I wonder at David,
at Jacob and at every instance we have in Scripture of excellent
men. Marvel, O you angels, that God should ever make such bright
stars out of such black blots as we are! How can it ever be that
man, so fickle, so inconstant, should nevertheless be a pillar in the
house of his God and should be made to stand "steadfast,
immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord"?
How is it, O our God, that You could have steered a vessel so
safely to its port which was so easily driven by every wind and
carried away by every wave? He is a good marksman who can
shoot so crooked an arrow straight to its target. Marvel not that we
do not excel–marvel that we do excel in anything unstable as we
are.
II. And now leaving these general remarks I have to single out a
certain class of persons. I believe them to be TRUE CHRISTIANS
but they are Christians of a singular sort. I would not be so harsh as
to condemn them, though I must certainly condemn the error with
which I am about to find fault. I doubt not that they have been
converted in a genuine manner but still they are often a mystery to
me and I should think they are a mystery to themselves.
How many Christians have we in our Churches that are unstable
as water! I suppose they were born so. They are just as unstable in
business as they are in religion. They open a grocer's shop and shut
it in three months and turn drapers and when they have been
drapers long enough to become almost bankrupts, they leave that
and try something else. When they were boys they could never play
a game through–they must always be having something fresh and
now they are just as childish as when they were children.
Look at them in doctrine–you never know where to find them.
You meet them one day and they are very full of some super-
lapsarian doctrine. They have been to some strong Calvinist place
and nothing will suit them except the very highest doctrine and that
must be spiced with a little of the gall of bitterness or they cannot
think it is the genuine thing. Very likely next week they will be
Arminians. They will give up all idea of a fixed fate and talk of free
will and man's responsibility like the most earnest Primitive
Methodist. Then they steer another way. "Nothing is right but the
Church of England. Is it not established by Law? Ought not every
Christian to go to his parish Church?"
Ah, let them alone, they will be at the most gross schismatic shop
in the metropolis before long. Or if they do not change their
denomination they are always changing their minister. A new
minister starts up. There is no one, since the Apostles, like he. They
take a seat and join the Church. He is everything to them. In three
months they have done with him, another minister rises up some
distance off and these people are not particular how far they walk–
so they go hear him. He is the great man of the age. He will see
every man's candle out and his will burn on. But a little trouble
comes on the Church and they leave him. They have no attachment
to anything. They are merely feathers in the wind or corks onthe
wave.
They hear a sermon preached and they say, "I think it did me
good" but they do not venture to be sure till they speak to some
great man who is a member of the Church and he says "Oh! there
was nothing in it." "Ah! just so," they say and cannot make up their
minds whether it was a good sermon or not. They are unstable.
They could easily be talked into anything or out of anything. They
never had any brains in their head, I suppose. Or if they ever had
any they gave them to somebody else to muddle as he liked. They
believe the last man they hear and are easily guided and led by him.
Now, if the matter ended there it would not be so bad. But these
poor people are just the same with regard to any religious
enterprise they take in hand. There is a Sunday-School–they are
enchanted with the thought. What a lovely thing it must be to sit on
a form and try to teach half-a-dozen boys the way to Heaven. They
go to the Sunday-School and are alarmed the very first day when
they hear all the boys talking louder than the teachers. After about
ten minutes they think it is not quite so nice as they thought.
Perhaps they think it is that particular school they do not like and
they try another. But at last they give up all Sunday-School
teaching and make up their minds that it is not a good thing, at least
not for them.
Then there is a Ragged-School. What a Divine enterprise! They
will be Ragged-School teachers and off they go with their hearts
full of fire and their eyes full of tears over these poor children they
are going to teach. Ah, how soon is their zeal withered and all their
glory departed! Hear them talk about Ragged-Schools a month
afterwards–they shake their heads and say it is a very arduous
enterprise. They do not think they had a call to it–they will try
something else and so they keep on to the end of the chapter–they
are "everything by turns and nothing long." There are some
Brethren in the ministry very much of the same sort. They never
preach in one pulpit long, (though some say they preach there too
long, for they ought never to have preached there at all).
But I sometimes think that if they had had a little more courage
and bore a little more of the brunt of the battle, they might have
done good to some of the villages where they were placed. But they
are unstable as water and everybody sees that they cannot excel.
The same instability men will carry out in their friendships. They
meet a person one day and are as friendly as possible with him.
They meet him the next day–he does not know what he has done to
offend them but they turn their head another way. And some carry
their instability a little farther, they carry it into their moral
character.
I shall not deny their Christianity but they are a strange sort of
Christians. For these people will sometimes, at least, stretch the
cords of godliness a little too far and though they certainly do act in
the main conscientiously, yet their conscience is a large one and it
admits a great many things which tender-hearted people would
think were wrong. We cannot find out any crime for which we
could excommunicate them, yet in our hearts we often say, "Dear
me, what a sad disgrace So-and-So is to the cause. We could do far
better without him than with him, for he casts such a slur on the
name of Christ."
Now, do not think I am drawing a fancy picture. I beg to inform
you I am not. There are persons here who are furnishing me with
the model. And if they choose to think me personal I shall be
obliged to them, for I intend to be. These persons are to be found in
all Churches and among all denominations. You have met them
everywhere. They are as unstable as water. They do not excel.
Now, let me address these persons very earnestly. My Brothers
and Sisters, I would be far from dealing in a censorious manner
with you for I am inclined to think that your instability is a little
owing to some latent insanity. We are no doubt all of us insane to a
degree. There is some little thing in us which if we saw in another
we should regard as being a little madness. I would therefore, my
Brethren, deal very leniently with you but at the same time let me
very solemnly address you as a Christian minister speaking to a
professedly Christian man.
My Brethren, how much moral weight you lose in the Church and
in the world by your perpetual instability. No one ever attaches any
importance to your opinion because your opinion has no
importance in it–seeing that you yourself will contradict it in a very
short time. You see many persons growing up in the Church who
have an influence over their neighbor for good. You sometimes
wish that you, too, could strengthen the young convert, or reclaim
and guide the wanderer. My Brethren you cannot do it, because of
your inconsistency. Now is it not a fearful thing that you should be
throwing away the whole force and weight of your character,
simply because of this insane habit of yours of being always
unstable?
I beseech you, my Brothers and Sisters, recollect that you are
responsible to God for your influence. And if you can have
influence and do not get it you are as sinful as if, having influence,
you had misused it. Do not, I beseech you, suffer this instability to
continue, lest you should become like the chaff which the wind
drives away–of no account to the world at all. Remember, my
Brethren, how your instability ruins your usefulness. You never
continue long enough in an enterprise to do good. What would you
think of the farmer who should farm just long enough to plow his
ground and sow his wheat but not long enough to get a harvest?
You would think him foolish. But just so foolish are you. You
begin time enough to be overworked before you have well
commenced. My Brothers and Sisters, review your history. What
have you done? You have made hundreds of futile attempts to do
something but a list of failures must be the only record of your
labors. What do you think will be your distress of mind when you
come to die, when you look back upon your life and see it all the
way through a host of blunders? Do you not think it will stuff the
pillow of your dying bed with thorns to think that you were so
wayward in disposition, so unstable in heart that you were unable
to accomplish anything for your Master?
When you lay your crown at His feet you will have to say, "There
is my crown, my Master but it has not a solitary star in it for I never
worked long enough for You in any enterprise to win a soul. I only
did enough to fail and to be laughed at by all." And I would have
you think also, my Brothers and Sisters, how can you be a growing
Christian and yet be so changeable as you are? If a gardener should
plant a tree today and take it up in the course of a month and
transfer it to another place, what crop would he have when autumn
came? He would not have much to repay his toil. The continual
changing of the tree would put it into such a weakly condition that
if it did not actually die, it would certainly produce nothing.
And how can you expect to grow in knowledge when you have no
steadfast principle? The man who espouses one form of doctrine
and does it honestly, will, though it is a mistaken form, at least
understand it. But you do not know enough of Calvinism to defend
it from its opponents, or enough of Arminianism to defend it from
the Calvinists. You are not wise in anything. You are a rolling
stone, you gather no moss. You stay in one school only long
enough to read through the curriculum but you learn nothing. I see
you are smiling. And yet some of those who smiled are just the
men we smile at. They are here. But alas–I have noticed one sad
thing respecting these people–they are generally the most conceited
in all the world.
They think they are excellent men. They are at home everywhere.
If they are in error they know they can get right tomorrow. And
then if someone else will again convince them they are in error,
they know no difference between error and truth, except the
difference which other people like to point out to them. O you
unstable Christians, hear the word of the Lord! "Unstable as water
you shall not excel." Your life shall have little of the cream of
happiness upon it–you shall not walk in the midst of the king's
highway, in which no lion shall be found. You shall walk on the
edge of the way, where you shall encounter every danger, feel
every hardship and endure every ill.
You shall have enough of God's comfort to keep you alive but not
enough to give you joy in your spirit and consolation in your heart.
Oh, I beseech you, ponder a little. Study the Word more–know
what is right and defend what is right. Study the Law more–know
what is right and do what is right. Study God's will more–know
what He would have you do and then do it. For an unstable
Christian never can excel.
III. But now there is another class of persons whom we dare not,
in the spirit of the widest charity, admit to be true Christians. They
are PROFESSORS. They have been baptized. They receive the
Lord's Supper. They attend Prayer Meetings, Church meetings and
everything else that belongs to the order of Christians with which
they are connected. They are never behindhand in religious
performances. They are the most devout hypocrites. They are the
most pious formalists that could be discovered the wide world over.
Their religion on the Sabbath-Day is of the most superfine order.
Their godliness, when they are in their pews, cannot be exceeded.
They sing with the most eloquent praise. They pray the longest and
most hypocritical prayer that man could utter. They are just up to
the mark in every religious point of view except on the point which
looks to the heart. As far as the externals of godliness go there is
nothing to be desired.They tithe the anise, the mint and the
cummin. They fast twice in the week. Or if they do not fast, they
are quite as religious in not fasting and are just as godly in not
doing it, as if they did it.
But these people are unstable as water in the worst sense. For
while they sing Watt's hymns on Sunday, they sing other songs on
Monday. And while they drink sacramental cups on Sabbath
evenings, there are other cups of which they drink too deep on
other nights. And though they pray most marvelously, there is a pun
on that word pray and they knowhow to exercise it upon their
customers in business. They have a great affection for everything
that is pious and devout. But alas, like Balaam, they take the
reward of wickedness and they perish in the gainsaying of Core.
"These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with
you, feeding themselves without fear. Clouds they are without
water, carried about of winds–trees whose fruit withers, without
fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots. Raging waves of the sea,
foaming out their own shame. Wandering stars, to whom is
reserved the blackness of darkness forever."
They bring a disgrace upon the cause which they profess–not the
vilest profane swearer brings more dishonor on God's holy name
than they do. They can find fault with everything in the Church
while they commit all manner of wickedness and are, as the
Apostle said, even weeping "enemies of the Cross of Christ, for
their God is their belly and they glory in their shame." O hypocrite!
You think that you shall excel because the minister has been duped
and gives you credit for a deep experience. Because the deacons
have been entrapped and think you to be eminently godly. Because
the Church members receive you to their houses and think you a
dear child of God, too! Poor Soul!
You may go to your grave with the delusion in your brain that all
is right with you. But remember, though like a sheep you are laid in
your grave, Death will find you out. He will say to you, Off with
your mask, Man! Away with all your robes! Up with that
whitewashed sepulcher! Take off that green turf. Let the worms be
seen. Out with the body. Let us see the reeking corruption! And
what will you say when your abominably corrupt and filthy heart
shall be opened before the sun and men and angels hear your lies
and hypocrisies laid bare before them? Will you play the hypocrite
then? Soul, come and sing God's praises in the Day of Judgment
with false lips! Tell Him now, while a widow's house is in your
throat, tell Him that you love Him!
Come, now, you that devour the fatherless, you that rob, you that
do uncleanness! Tell Him now that you did make your boast in the
Lord! Tell Him that you did preach His Word, tell Him that you did
walk in His streets! Tell Him you did make it known that you were
one of the excellent of the earth! What? Man, is your babbling
tongue silent for once? What is the matter with you? You were
never slow to talk of your godliness. Speak out and say, "I took the
sacramental cup. I was a professor." Oh how changed! The
whitewashed sepulcher has become white in another sense–he is
white with horror.
Look! The talkative has become dumb. The boaster is silent. The
formalist's garb is rent to rags, the moth has devoured their beauty.
Their gold has become tarnished and their silver cankered. Ah, it
must be so with every man who has thus belied God and his own
conscience. The stripping Day of Judgment will reveal him to God
and to himself. And how awful shall be the damnation of the
hypocrite! If I knew that I must be damned, one of my prayers
should be, "Lord, let me not be damned with hypocrites." For
surely to be damned with them is to be damned twice over.
Conceive of a hypocrite going into Hell. You know how one of the
Prophets depicted the advent of a great monarch into Hell, when all
the kings that had been his slaves rose up and said, "Are you
become like one of us?"
Do you not think you see the godly Christian deacon, so godly
that he was a liar all his life? Do you not think you see the eminent
Christian member that kept a bank, took the chair at public
meetings, swindled all he could and died in despair? Do you not
think you see him coming into the pit? There is one man there that
was a drunkard all his life. Hear his speech, " Ah, you were a sober
man! You used to talk to me and tell me that drunkards could not
inherit the kingdom ofHeaven. Aha, and are you become like one
of usAbout a month ago, when we were on earth, you met me and
rebuked me for profane swearing and told me that all swearers
should have their portion in the lake. Ah, there is not much to
choose between you and me now, is there?"
And the profane man laughs as well as he can laugh in misery at
his desperately religious adviser. " Oh," says another–and they look
round at one another with demoniac mirth. As much mockery of
joy as Hell can afford–" Theparson here? Now preach us a sermon.
Now pray us a long prayer! Plenty of time to do it inthere is no
widow's house to eat here and he only prayed on the strength of the
widow's house."
This is a hard scene for me to describe. But I doubt not of its
truthfulness. It may be given to you in rough language but it needs
far rougher to make you know the dread reality. And what a solemn
thought it is! There is not one man nor one woman in this place
who has not need to ask, "Is it so with me?" Many have been
deceived–I may be–you may be, my Hearer. "I am not deceived,"
says one, "I am a minister." My Brethren, there are many of us who
are preachers who are like Noah's carpenters. We may help to build
an ark and never get in it ourselves.
Says another, "I shall not endure such language as that. I am a
deacon." You may be all that and yet, after having ministered,
instead of earning to yourself a good degree, you may be cast from
the presence of God. "No," says another, "but I have been a
Christian professor these last forty years and nobody has found
fault with me." Ah, I have known many a rotten bough to have
stopped on a tree forty years and you may be rotten and yet stand
all that time. But the winds of judgment will crack you at last and
down you will fall. "No," says another. "I know I am not insincere.
I am sure I am right." I am glad that you think so but I would not
like you to say it. "Let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he
fall."
There have been many great bubbles that have burst before this
and your piety may be one of them. "Let not him that puts on the
harness boast as though he put it off." It will be time enough for
you to be quite sure when you are quite safe. Yet blessed be God,
we hope we can say, "O Lord, if not awfully deceived, we have
given our hearts to You! Lord You know all things. You know that
we love You and if we do not, Lord You know we pray this prayer
from our hearts–'Search me, O God and try my ways, prove me
and know my heart and see if there are any evil ways in me and
lead me in the way everlasting.'" May God the Holy Spirit
strengthen and settle each of us.
IV. And now I have the last word to address to those who MAKE
NO PRETENSION TO RELIGION whatever. I have heard
hundreds of persons in my short life excuse their sin by saying,
"Well, I make no profession," and I have always thought it one of
the strangest excuses–one of the most wild vagaries of apology to
which the human mind could ever resort.
Take an illustration, which I have used before. Tomorrow
morning, when the Lord Mayor is sitting, there are two men
brought up before him for robbery. One of them says he is not
guilty. He declares that he is a good character and he is an honest
man in general though he was guilty in this case. He is punished.
The other one says, "Well, your worship, I make no profession. I'm
a down right thorough thief and I don't make any profession of
being honest at all."
Why you can suppose how much more severe the sentence would
be upon such a man. Now, when you say I do not make any
profession of being religious, what does that mean? It means that
you are a despiser of God and of God's Law. It means that you are
in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. You that boast
of making no profession of religion–you are boasting you know not
what of. You would think it a strange thing for a man to boast that
he made no profession of being a gentleman, or no profession of
being honest, or no profession of being sober, or no profession of
being chaste.
You would shun a man at once who did this. And you who make
no pretensions to religion just make your trial the more easy–for
there will be no need for any dispute concerning you. When the
scales of justice are lifted up at last you will be found to be light
weight and that upon your own confession. I cannot imagine you
urging such a plea as that when God shall judge you. "My Lord, I
made no profession." "What?" says the King, "Did My subject
make no profession of obedience?" "O Lord, I made no
profession." "What?" says the Creator, "Make no profession of
acknowledging My rights?" "I made no profession of religion."
"What?" says the Judge, "Did I send My Son into the world to die
and did this man make no profession of casting his soul upon Him?
What? Did he make no profession of his need of mercy? Then he
shall have none. Does he dare tell Me to My face that he never
made any profession of faith in Christ and never had anything to do
with the Savior? Then insomuch as he despised My Son and
despised His Cross and rejected His salvation, let him die the
death." And what that death is with its everlasting wailings and
gnashing of teeth, eternity alone can tell.
O Sinner! You have some part and lot in my text. You are
"unstable as water." Let me remind you that though you make no
profession of religion now, there was a time when you did. Strong
man! You are laughing now–I repeat it–there was a time when you
did talk about religion. It is not quite gone from your memory yet.
You lay sick with fever for six weeks–do you recollect when the
delirium came on and they all thought that you must die? Do you
recollect when your poor brain was right for a moment how you
asked the physician whether there was any hope for you and he
would not exactly say "No," but he looked so blank at you, that you
understood what it meant?
Do you recollect the agony with which you looked forward to
death? Do you recollect how you groaned in your spirit and said,
"O God, have mercy upon me"? Do you recollect that you got a
little better and you told your friends that if you lived you would
serve God? "Oh! it is all over now," you say you were a fool! Yes,
you were a fool, that is true–you were a fool to have said what you
did not mean and to have lied before God. You do not profess
religion! But you remember the last time the terrific thunder and
lightning came. You were out in the storm. A flash came very near
you. You are a bold man but not so bold as you pretend to be.
You shook from head to foot and when the thunder clap
succeeded, you were almost down on your knees and before you
knew it you were in prayer. "Please, God, get me home tonight,"
you said, "I shall not take Your name in vain again!" But you have
done it. You are unstable as water. You went sometime ago to a
Church or a Chapel–I care not which–the minister told you plainly
where you were going. You stood there and trembled. Tears ran
down your cheeks. You did not beat your wife that Sunday. You
were a great deal more sober that week and when your companion
said you looked squeamish, you denied it and said you had no such
thoughts as they imagined. "Unstable as water."
Oh, there are some of you worse than that still–for not once, nor
twice but scores of times you have been driven under a faithful
minister to the very verge of what you thought repentance and then,
just when something said in your heart, "This is a turning point,"
you have started back. You have chosen the wages of
unrighteousness and have again wandered into the world. Soul! My
heart yearns for you! "Unstable as water you shall not excel." No,
but I pray the Lord to work in you something that will be stable.
For we all believe–and what I say is not a matter of fiction but a
thing that you believe in your own hearts to be true–we all believe
that we must stand before the judgment bar of God and before long
give account of the things done in the body, whether they be good
or whether they be evil.
Friend, what account will you give of your broken vows, of your
perjured soul? What will you have to say why judgment should not
be pronounced against you? Ah, Sinner, you will want Christ then!
What would you give then for one drop of His blood? "Oh, for the
hem of His garment! Oh, that I might but look to Him and be
lightened. Oh, would to God that I might hear the Gospel once
again!" I hear you wailing when God has said, "Depart you
cursed!" And this is the burden of your song, "Fool that I was, to
have despised Jesus, who was my only hope, to have broken my
promise and gone back to the poor vain world that deluded me,
after all!"
And now I hear Him say "I called but you refused. I stretched out
My hand but no man regarded. Now I will laugh at your calamity
and mock when your fear comes." I always think those two last
sentences the most awful in the Bible. "I will laugh at your
calamity." The laugh of the Almighty over men that have rebelled
against Him, that have despised Him and trod His Gospel
underfoot! "I also will laugh at your calamity I will mock when
your fear comes." Rail at that if you like, it is sure, Sirs.
Remember that all your kicking at God's laughter will not make
Him leave it off–remember that all your rebellious speeches against
Him shall be avenged in that day–unless you repent. But if you
despise Him your blasphemy cannot quench the flames of Hell.
Nor will your jeers slay the sword of vengeance–fall it must and it
will fall on you all the more heavily because you did despise it.
Hear the Gospel and then farewell. Jesus Christ, the eternal Son
of God, was born of the Virgin Mary and became a man. He lived
on earth a life of holiness and suffering. At last He was nailed to
the Cross and in deep woe He died. He was buried. He rose again
from the deed, He ascended into Heaven. And now God
"commands all men everywhere to repent." And He tells them
this–"Whosoever believes on the Son of God shall not perish but
have eternal life." And this is His Gospel. If you this day feel
yourself to be a sinner, if that is a feeling worked in you by the
Holy Spirit and not a casual thought flashing across the soul–then
Christ was punished for your sins.
And you cannot be punished. For God will not punish twice for
one offense. Believe in Christ–cast your soul on the atonement that
He made. And although black as Hell in sin, you may this day find
yourself, through the efficacious blood of Christ, whiter than snow.
The Lord help you, poor Soul, to believe that the Man who died on
Calvary was God and that He took the sin of all Believers upon
Himself–that you, being a sinner and a Believer–He has taken your
sins and that therefore you are free. Thus believe and by faith you
will have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord, by whom
also we have received the atonement. Adapted from The C. H.
Spurgeon Collection, Version 1.0, Ages Software,
1.800.297.4307PRAY THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL USE THIS
SERMONTO BRING MANY TO A SAVING KNOWLEDGE OF
JESUS CHRIST.
Ge 49:8 • Praise for Jesus
ERMON 3296
Praise For Jesus
"Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise."
Genesis 49:8
THESE words were spoken by the Patriarch Jacob when he
blessed his sons as he lay a-dying. But before he finished Judah's
blessing, the good old man seemed to forget his son and to turn his
thoughts to Jesus, our Lord, of whom Judah was a very significant
type. Jacob compared Judah to a lion and a lion's whelp–and in the
Revelation we read that one of the elders said to John, "The Lion of
the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the
book, and to loosen the seven seals thereof." In the 10 th verse of
this Chapter we have Jacob's notable prophecy concerning the
comingof Christ, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a
lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and unto Him
shall the gathering of the people be."
I intend only to speak about Judah so far as he is a type of Christ,
and I trust that I shall, by the Holy Spirit's gracious guidance, move
all the brethren of the Lord Jesus Christ to praise Him, so that I
shall be able to reverently say to Him, "Jesus, You are He whom
Your brothers shall praise." So I shall speak, first, concerning the
praise of Judah andthe praise of Jesus.
First, then, let us think about THE PRAISE OF JUDAH AND
THE PRAISE OF JESUS.
Jacob said to Judah, "You are he who your brothers shall praise."
Judah was preeminent above his brethren in several things for
which he deserved to be praised. The first was the eloquence and
prevalence of his intercession. Judahseems to have been the gifted
one out of the 12 sons of Jacob, and his pleading prevailed with his
father when all others were powerless. When "the lord of the land"
of Egypt, whom his brothers failed to recognize although he knew
them, said to them, "You shall not see my face, except your brother
be with you," they went back home with heavy hearts and their
father stoutly refused to allow Benjamin to go down into Egypt.
But when all their corn was eaten up, and they were obliged to go
again to buy more, it was Judah who persuaded Jacob to let
Benjamin go with them. Reuben and Levi were obliged to be silent
in that critical period, for they had lost their rightful position in the
family by their transgressions, and Simeon was a hostage in the
hands of Joseph–but Judah was able to step into the breach and his
intercession prevailed.
We, Brothers and Sisters, are by nature like those sinful sons of
Jacob. We have offended our Father who is in Heaven, and it is in
vain for us to attempt to approach Him as sinners without an
intercessor. But our Judah-Jesus, if I may so call Him, stands
before His Father's face–and whatever our desire or our request
may be, provided it is a right one–it is sure to be granted when
Jesus pleads for us before the Throne of God! "If any man sins, we
have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Righteous."
Turn your eyes upward, Beloved, and see our Great High Priest
appearing there in the Presence of God for us! And as He points to
the print of the nails in His hands and feet, and to the scar of the
soldier's spear in His side, and pleads our cause, be certain that His
plea must prevail with His Father! Remember the argument of the
Apostle when writing concerning the Melchisedec priesthood of
Christ, "this Man, because He continues forever, has an
unchangeable priesthood. Therefore He is able also to save them to
the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He always lives
to make intercession for them." If Judah was praised because his
intercession prevailed with Jacob, much more shall Jesus be
praised because His intercession prevails with Jehovah! Clap your
hands, O you saints, at the remembrance of His prevalence on your
behalf when you sought Him out of the depths of your despair! And
praise Him that He still lives to carry on His people's cause above!
Have you any burden on your mind at this moment? Is there
anything that distresses you? Have you been much in prayer
without getting answers to your supplications? Then put your case
into the hands of Christ–He has never lost a suit yet–and that is
more than the best of earthly advocates can say about the cases
entrusted to them! Therefore praise Him, you who have committed
yourselves into His hands! And as for you who are going to do so
now, begin to praise Him, for your most sanguine anticipations of
blessing shall not be disappointed!
That was a wonderful scene when Joseph said that Benjamin
should not go back with his brothers, but should remain in Egypt as
his servant because the silver cup had been found in his sack, and
Judah pleaded with Joseph, not knowing that "the lord of the land"
was his own brother! You remember how he pictured their old
father at home, who would certainly die of a broken heart if
Benjamin did not return to him in safety and how, at last, he offered
to be a bondman to Joseph if he would but let Benjamin go free.
You see, he pleaded for substitution, and he also told Joseph how
he becamesurety for the lad unto his father–and his plea was so
effectual that Joseph could refrain himself no longer, but bursting
into tears declared that he was their long-lost brother! So, dear
Friends, if the great Lord of Heaven and earth seems angry with
you because of your sins–"and He is angry with the wicked every
day"–put your case into the hands of the sinners' Advocate, Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, and when He stands up to plead with His
Father for you, He will soon bring a smile of forgiveness upon the
righteously severe Countenance of His Father and you shall gladly
say, "Jesus, You are He whom Your brethren shall praise because of
Your almighty power in pleading for them."
We find that at a later period, the tribe of Judah was foremost in
wisdom and skill. If you turn to Exodus 35:30, youwill see that
when the tabernacle was to be erected in the wilderness, "Moses
said unto the children of Israel, See, the Lord has called by name
Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And
He has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in
understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of
workmanship; and to devise curious works, to work in gold, and in
silver, and in brass, and in the cutting of stones, to set them, and in
carving of wood, to make any manner of cunning work." And,
surely, I may metaphorically apply this description to our Judah-
Jesus! What wisdom there is in Him and what skill! What is there
that He cannot do? Bezaleel could cut, polish, and set precious
stones–but Jesus can take the worthless pebbles of the brook and
transmute them into diamonds! Jesus takes "base things of the
world, and things which are despised," and works such marvelous
changes in them that the Lord of Hosts says concerning them,
"They shall be Mine in that day when I make up My jewels." He is
a wonderful Lapidary! Some of us have been upon the wheel under
His hand for a long time–and we are apt to think that He has cut us
most cruelly–but the cutting is intended to bring out our brilliance
and to make us fit to shine in the diadem of the King in due time!
Bezaleel was also a worker in wood–and our great Judah-Jesus
came to us when we were growing wild in the forest of sin. It was
His axe of conviction that cut us down and it has been His hand of
skill that has been fashioning and carving us to make us worthy to
be pillars in His Temple!
What is there that Jesus cannot do? Has He not worked out for us
a work which required far more skill than the erecting of the
Tabernacle in the wilderness and the making of the Ark of the
Covenant, the veil which hung before the Most Holy Place, the
high priest's garments of glory and beauty and all the cunning work
devised by Bezaleel and his helpers? Did He not spend His whole
life in working out for us a matchless robe of righteousness in
which we may even dare to stand before the all-seeing eyes of
God? Angels will keep on wondering throughout eternity at the
wisdom of their Lord and ours! The wisdom of His teaching is
Divine. "Never man spoke like this Man." The wisdom with which
He deals with each individual case that is brought to Him is
matchless! He is the Great Physician and there is no earthly doctor
who has such skill as He has. Let Bezaleel, of the tribe of Judah,
have all due praise, but let Jesus, the Son of God, have far more!
All wisdom is to be found in Him! His very name is "Wisdom."
Solomon calls Him by that name. The wisest of men was not at all
wise in comparison with Incarnate Wisdom, the Wisdom of God as
manifested in Jesus Christ. Jesus, we bless You, You who have
worked out a perfect righteousness for us, You who make us into
living stones and then build us, stone by stone, into the marvelous
edifice of Your Church! Jesus, You are He whom Your brethren
shall praise for Your wondrous wisdom and skill!
Further, the tribe of Judah had precedence in presenting offerings
unto the Lord. In Numbers 7:12, we read, "Hethat offered his
offering the first day was Nahshon the son of Amminadab, of the
tribe of Judah." The Lord had said to Moses, "They shall offer their
offering, each prince on his day, for the dedicating of the altar," and
the prince of the tribe of Judah, therefore, led the way by bringing
his offering on the first day. We know that our Lord sprang out of
Judah, so he was first with his offering. "No," says someone, "Abel
was first with his offering." Yes, apparently He was in the order of
time, but Christ's offering was much more ancient than his, for He
was "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." In the
Divine Purpose, His sacrifice was offered long before the great
tragedy on Calvary! And the merit of His Atonement was reckoned
to His people's account long before man was created–but certainly
in order of precedence Christ's offering comes first. Christ brought
for His offering His own most precious body and blood and we, by
faith, present the same offering when we come to God in the name
of Jesus. What sacrifice could we bring if Judah's Prince had not
first brought His one offering by which He has perfected forever
them that are sanctified? Did I say just now that Christ's offering
had precedence? I must correct myself, for it is first, it is last, it is
midst, it is the only Sacrifice that canput away sin and make us
acceptable unto God! And there is no sacrifice either of prayer or of
praise that we can present to God unless we being it by virtue of
Christ's one great Sacrifice. Let us, therefore, praise our Judah-
Jesus! Let us give Him our loudest hallelujahs, for He comes first
to the altar, and we afterwards approach it through Him. Jesus, You
are He whom Your brethren shall praise for Your wondrous atoning
Sacrifice!
Yet again, Judah had the singular precedence of always leading
the van when the tribes were on the march. In Numbers 10:14 we
read that, when the fiery-cloudy pillar moved, "in the first place
went the standard of the camp of the children of Judah according to
their armies." First in the encampment, first on the march, first
everywhere was Judah's lion! The tribe of Dan brought up the rear,
but the tribe of Judah always went in front. And here again let Jesus
Christ be praised, for He always leads the way! If I descend into
the Valley of Humiliation, I shall see His footprints all down the
slippery steeps. If I pass through the Enchanted Ground where so
many fall asleep, I shall see the track of the Wakeful One all along
that dangerous way. If up the Hill Difficulty I have to scramble on
my hands and knees, I shall see the marks of the blood drops where
His hands were torn by the thorns and His feet were cut by the
flints as He, too, climbed there! And when I go down to the river, I
shall still see His footprints–and up the other side I shall see the
track of my risen Lord! All up the eternal hills I shall but follow
where He leads the way! Yes, and up to the very Throne of God He
has gone before us, clearing a way for His people and leading them
along it.
Yet once more, Judah afterwards attained to the sovereignty, for
David, of the tribe of Judah, was in due time proclaimed king over
all Israel. We also have a King of the line of Judah, one who is
mightier than David, and wiser than Solomon–and happy are we in
having such a King to reign over us! Who among us that loves
Christ would not set Him up upon a high throne? Oh, that we could
continually exalt Him yet more and more! Let your sweetest songs
be all in His praise! Let your most daring deeds be done for Him.
Give Him, you gracious women, your alabaster boxes full of
precious ointment! Prepare your feasts, you wealthy men, and
invite Him to preside at the table! Come, you children, and strew
branches in the way while He rides along triumphantly! Let,
"Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna!" be the joyful strain which comes
from every lip and heart because Jesus reigns over us, the King of
kings and Lord of lords! Do praise Him, do extol Him this very
moment, lift up your hearts and your voices while we sing this
familiar strain–
"Jesus is worthy to receive
Honor and power Divine.
And blessings more than we can give
Be, Lord, forever Thine."
(The congregation joined in singing, and then the preacher
continued his sermon).
II. The second part of our subject was to be THE GLORIES OF
JUDAH AS SETTING FORTH THE GLORIES OF JESUS. They
are illustrated in the sentence concerning Judah that follow our text.
The first of them mentions the victories of Judah–"Your hand
shall be on the neck of your enemies." You knowwhat it means
when a man seizes his enemy by the throat, or when a lion gets its
prey by the neck and shakes the very life out of it. Thus has Jesus
Christ done with all the enemies of His people. Shall I tell you
again the grand old story? 'Twas one dark night when the Great
Shepherd was watching His flock that He heard the roaring which
told Him that the old lion of the pit was about to leap into the fold
to tear the sheep in pieces. Then the Shepherd whispered to
Himself, "This is the dreadful hour and the power of darkness."
Taking His place in the midst of His blood-bought flock, He waited
for the next terrific roar. And as the lion sprang into the fold, He
received him upon His bare bosom, and began at once to grapple
with Him. He was wounded in His hands, in His feet, and in His
side–and in the desperate struggle "His sweat was, as it were, great
drops of blood falling down to the ground." It was a dreadful fight
which had been foreseen before the world was made, and which
shall be the theme of grateful song when the world has ceased to
be! But in the end the Shepherd tore the lion as though it had been
a kid and, crying, "It is finished," He Himself fell prostrate over
His foe, slain, but dying only to rise again and live in everlasting
triumph! In that dread combat, His hand was, indeed, on the neck
of His enemy–and now He has gone to Glory, leading captivity
captive! You who have been delivered by Him from the old lion of
the pit may well exclaim, "Jesus, You are He whom Your brethren
shall praise."
The next thing for which Judah was to be praised was Jacob's
prophecy, " Your father's children shall bow down before you."
Now, who in this house is a child of God? You will not be long in
answering that question when I put to you another, "Do you bow
down before the Lord Jesus Christ?" Here we are, a vast multitude
assembled in this Tabernacle, but we are not all the children of God
by faith in Christ Jesus. We cannot all truly say, "Our Father, who
are in Heaven." Our text gives us the means of knowing who are
the children of God, for the great Father says to His Son, "Your
Father's children shall bow down before You." Do you bow down
before the Lord Jesus Christ? Is He your only trust? Do you rest
your whole weight upon Him? Do you depend for time and eternity
upon Judah-Jesus whom God has anointed and appointed to be the
only Savior of sinners? If so, you have proved your sonship by
bowing down before your great elder Brother!
The third Glory of Judah was
his lion-like power. Jacob said, "Judah is a lion's whelp; from the
prey, my son, you
are gone up. He stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an
old lion; who shall rouse him up?" This seems to be a picture, first
of Judah, and then of the Lord Jesus Christ. As a young lion, He
has gone up and tore His prey in pieces. Sin, death and Hell He has
torn asunder! And now that He is like a mighty, full-grown lion,
woe be unto those who provoke Him to anger–but blessed are they
who have Him on their side! Many of you have seen that beautiful
engraving of Una, the type of innocence, riding upon a lion's back.
That lion, according to Spenser, protecting her from all ill. That is
how every penitent soul rides, by the Grace of God! The Lion of
the tribe of Judah is the Guardian of every believing heart. You
have but to trust yourself to Jesus and He will see to it that you are
never destroyed. He will preserve and deliver you from all evil of
every kind and, at last, shall safely bring you where you shall see
His face and rejoice in Him forever and ever! But woe to any of
you who reject Him! Woe to you who deny His Deity! Woe to you
who break His Sabbaths, abhor His Word and despise His Cross! In
that last tremendous Day, His anger against the wicked shall be so
terrible that they shall say to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us
and hide us from the face of Him that sits on the Throne, and from
the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of His wrath is come; and
who shall be able to stand?" Oh, bow before Him, accept His
Grace, trust in His atoning Sacrifice and then the very power which
should make you now tremble will be exerted on your behalf and
cause you to rejoice forever!
Further, Jesus is to be extolled for His perpetual Sovereignty.
"The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from
between His feet until Shiloh comes." Judah's sovereignty came to
an end, but Jesus always reigns. His kingdom here on earth has
often seemed as if it were in jeopardy, but it has never been
overthrown and it never will be. In the martyr days, they sewed the
Christians up in the skins of wild beasts and cast them to the dogs.
They dragged them at the heels of horses. They burned them at the
stake. They stripped off their clothes and tortured then with hot
irons on every part of their body. I dare not mention all the cruelties
that were practiced on the followers of Jesus, but nothing availed to
shake their allegiance to their King! In all these trials they were
more than conquerors through Him who loved them and who gave
them the Grace to endure all these things for His sake! Neither
tribulation, nor distress, nor persecution nor famine, nor nakedness,
nor peril, nor sword could separate them from the love of Christ!
And thus His Kingdom was perpetuated during even the darkest
ages of its history–which in another sense were also the brightest
because of the Glory that the faithfulness of His followers brought
to their King! His Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom–"of the
increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon
the throne of David, and upon His Kingdom, to order it, and to
establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even
forever."
Now we get clear of Judah and come to Shiloh, of whom Jacob
says, " unto Him shall the gathering of the peoplebe." Ah, Beloved,
there are no gatherings of the people anywhere else like those who
come to Christ! It is no small thing that, all these years, the
multitudes have gathered in this house, Sabbath by Sabbath, and
why do they come? I confidently affirm that the only reason why
such crowds gather here is because the preacher's theme is Christ!
Feebly as he sometime preaches, his unvarying theme is the Cross,
the precious blood, the all-sufficient Sacrifice of Christ offered
once for all on Calvary! This is a theme which never palls upon the
ear! This is a subject which never grows stale. "We preach Christ
Crucified," for this is the magnet that draws the people to Him.
Jesus Himself said, "I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all
men unto Me. This He said, signifying what death He should die."
The crowds that come here are nothing in comparison with the
multitudes that have been and are still being drawn to Christ by the
magnet of His death! I see His Cross standing on yonder hill and I
see the people gathering to it from every quarter. There was a little
stream at first, but it grew, and none of us can tell how many have
already been drawn to Christ–and still they come! While I have
been speaking to you, they have kept on coming to Him, and so
they shall until "He shall have dominion also from sea to sea and
from the river unto the ends of the earth." "Yes all kings shall fall
down before Him: all nations shall serve Him." "To Him shall the
gathering of the people be." They may seem to us to be long in
coming, but they must come. The vision may tarry, but it is sure–
and at the appointed time there shall be heard a great shout from
the dwellers in the land, and from those far off upon the sea and
from the glorified in Heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world
have become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ: and He
shall reign forever and ever."
At the last, good old Jacob seems to have had his eyes opened,
and to have seen a very singular vision of Judah'sKing–"Binding
His foal unto the vine, and His ass's colt unto the choice vine." Yes,
'tis He, the very same of whom the Prophet wrote, "Behold, your
King comes unto you, meek and sitting upon an ass, and a colt, the
foal of an ass." This is Judah-Jesus! He is a King, but He goes not
down to Egypt for horses. He is meek and lowly, so He is content
to ride upon the humble ass in His triumphal entry into Jerusalem!
The mention of "the vine" and "the choice vine" naturally turns our
thoughts to His most instructive parable of the Vine and the
branches. And as the ass's colt was bound to the vine, so is the
Church of God bound to Him who said, "I am the true Vine, and
My Father is the Husbandman."
Jacob's next words are also very suggestive–"He washed His
garments in wine, and His clothes in the blood of grapes." You
know the meaning of the allegory. Jesus went to Gethsemane and
there "the blood of grapes" upon the true Vine–I mean, the bloody
sweat that exuded from every pore of His sacred body–was so
copious as to make His garments appear as though they had been
washed in wine! They took Him to Gabbatha and there they
scourged Him so cruelly that again His clothes looked as if they
had been washed in the blood of grapes. And so He passed on
through the streets of Jerusalem until He came to Golgotha. Can
you bear to see Him taking His last bloodbath on Calvary?–
"His dying crimson, like a robe,
Spreads o'er His body on the tree."
After that terrible bloodbath, how does He look? What aspect
does He bear? Jacob said, "His eyes shall be red with wine, and His
teeth white with milk." His eyes were red with wine, but again it
was the red wine of His own most precious blood flowing down
from His thorn-crowned brow! And the white teeth seem to suggest
the spotless purity of the Son of God even when He who knew no
sin, was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Oh, we must praise our blessed Judah-Jesus, for He
was still fairest of the fair even when His face was marred more
than the face of any man! Let us humbly bow before Him. Let us
gratefully adore Him as we remember that, "being found in fashion
as a Man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the Cross." But that was not the end of Him, for
He was buried–but the third day He rose again and, after tarrying a
while with His disciples, He ascended to His Father and our Father,
to His God and ours! And He is coming back again, one of these
days, "to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them
that believe" in Him!
Long ago, Isaiah asked, "Who is this that comes from Edom, with
dyed garments from Bozrah? This that is glorious in His apparel,
travelling in the greatness of His strength?" And the answer came
at once, "I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save." Then the
Prophet asked, "Why are You red in Your apparel, and Your
garments like he that treads in the wine vat?" And He answered, "I
have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none
with Me: for I will tread them in My anger, and trample then in My
fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon My garments, and I
will stain all My raiment. For the day of vengeance is in My heart,
and the year of My redeemed is come." To all who trust Him, our
great Judah-Jesus is still "mighty to save." All blood-bedewed from
Calvary, He cries, "Come unto Me, all you that labor and are
heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." To every sincere penitent,
He still speaks in righteousness and says, "I washed My garments
in wine, and My clothes in the blood of grapes when I trod the
winepress of Jehovah's wrath for Your sake; when there was none
to help, My own arm brought salvation unto Me, but it was for you
that I suffered." Oh, believe Him, sinner! Trust Him and so become
a child of God by faith in Christ Jesus, and then go forth to serve
Him and to praise Him all your days–and to glorify Him forever.
Let us all go our way still singing the praises of our blessed Lord
and Master–
"Let Him be crowned with majesty
Who bowed His head to death;
And be His honors sounded high
By all things that have breath!
Jesus, our Lord, how wondrous great
Is your exalted name!
The glories of Your heavenly state
Let the whole earth proclaim!"
Ge 49:10 • Shiloh
ERMON 1157
Shiloh
"Until Shiloh comes; and unto Him shall the gathering of the
people be."
Genesis 49:10
THE dying Patriarch was speaking of his own son, Judah, but
while speaking of Judah, he had a special eye to our Lord, who
sprang from the tribe of Judah. Everything, therefore, which he
says of Judah, the type, he means with regard to our greater Judah,
the Antitype, our Lord Jesus Christ. You will remember how Jacob
gathered his 12 sons around his bed and, addressing them
individually as representatives of the 12 tribes that bear their
names, uttered different predictions, and gave to each a special
blessing. After first addressing Reuben, Simeon and Levi, he
proceeds to salute Judah in words full of majesty–"Judah, you are
he whom your brethren shall praise." A happy expression, for the
word, "Judah," signifies "praise." The name was given to him by
his mother as expressing her gratitude to God at his birth.
It is now confirmed to him by his father, who discerns in it a
presage of his character and his destiny. And verily this is true of
Jesus. If the virgin mother hailed His advent, how much more do
His grateful Brethren laud His career! Do not His Brethren
recognize in Him a Leader and Commander, a Savior and a Friend?
Is it not here, on earth, our sweetest employment, and will it not be
in Heaven our highest delight to praise His name? The praise we
bestow on men is mere flattery–the praise we receive from men is
insincere. But Jesus has a peerless name and His Brethren derive
from Him priceless benefits.
In Jesus are fulfilled the dreams of Joseph. The sun and the moon
and the 11 stars all bow before Him! All the sheaves make
obeisance unto His sheaf. Let Him be crowned with majesty who
bowed His head to death is the common verdict of all the
Brotherhood of the House of God. "Your hands shall be at the neck
of Your enemies." As one that gets his hands upon the neck of his
prey, stops its breath and destroys it–or as one who seizes his
enemy by the throat and flings him down to death. How true has
this been of Jesus! He has laid His hands upon the neck of His
enemies. When He came to the Cross, fought foot to foot with the
old Serpent, and there vanquished sin and death and Hell for us, it
was a terrible battle, but it ended in a splendid victory, of which we
shall never cease to sing!
Nor do we doubt but the hands of Jesus Christ are at this moment
on the neck of His enemies. They may be very rebellious, and, for a
time, they may seem to get the ascendancy–but He has got the
upper and as surely as Truth and righteousness must flourish and
prevail–as surely as Jehovah is the living God, the kingdom of
Christ will yet break in pieces all the powers that resist it. "He shall
break them as with a rod of iron: He shall dash them in pieces like
potters' vessels." "Your father's children shall bow down before
you."
To the descendants of Judah in the persons of David and Solomon
the whole nation gave allegiance. But worship of a higher order,
homage of deeper significance and adoration from a wider circle
pertain to Him, for whom our Father in Heaven demands of all His
faithful children love, honor, and obedience. "Judah is a lion's
whelp: from the prey, my son, you are gone up." And how does this
describe the Savior–that "Lion of the tribe of Judah"–that strong
and mighty Lion who entered into conflict with the lion of the Pit
and overcame him! From the prey He has gone up again, up into
His Glory–gone up beyond the stars, up to the right hand of the
Infinite Majesty–there to sit in perpetual peaceful triumph.
"He stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion." The
lion may have been an emblem that befitted the son of Jesse. The
lion couching might have been fitly chosen for his heraldic device,
when the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies
and of Saul. Yet with how much more propriety may this emblem
be emblazoned on the arms of Prince Emmanuel! Did He not stoop
down? Was ever such a stoop as His? Let Him be crowned with
majesty who bowed His head to death! It is for this that He
deserves to conquer, because He was willing to submit to shame
and death, itself, for the sake of His people. How glorious is it to
think that He has gone up, seeing that He once came down! Who
should deserve such honors but He who laid such honors aside for
a while?
"Who shall rouse Him up?" A grand question! Who shall rouse up
the Lion of the tribe of Judah? Who dare do it? Who can stand
against Him? He is a Lamb, gentle and tender. "A bruised reed He
will not break, and the smoking flax He will not quench." But let
Him be provoked–then fiercer than a lion that roars from the forest
will He be upon His foes! So shall it come to pass on that
tremendous day when He will ease Himself of His adversaries and
shake Himself clear of all His enemies. Do you not remember these
terrible words of His–"Beware, you that forget God, lest I tear you
in pieces, and there are none to deliver"? "The scepter shall not
depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until
Shiloh come."
The sovereignty remained with Judah. It continued to be the royal
tribe till the prophetic epoch. When other tribes lost their peculiar
position and their positive distinctiveness, Judah still remained–and
it survives in the common appellation of the Hebrew people to this
day. The Israelites are more commonly called Jews than by any
other name. Jesus, the tribe of Judah, is the King of the Jews, even
though they reject Him. Over His head upon the Cross was written
the indelible Truth in letters of Hebrew, Greek and Latin, "This is
Jesus, the King of the Jews." Yes, He is King of all faithful Jews
and of all believing Gentiles at this hour–with a sovereignty wider
than that of emperors–yes, as wide as the dwelling places of all
mankind! He is "King of kings, and Lord of lords."
Of Shiloh it is the Patriarch speaks when, with the vision of a
Seer, he describes the grand climax. Before the dim organs of his
sight he saw all his 12 sons gathered to take leave of their dying
sire. Before the beaming eyes of his faith he beheld the gathering of
all their distant posterity, or perhaps of all the kindreds of the earth
to greet with glad acclaim the everlasting King, of whose kingdom
there shall be no end! "Unto Him shall the gathering of the people
be." This simply and pointedly does Jacob refer to the Lord Jesus
Christ by the name of Shiloh. Of that name and of that prophecy I
shall try to speak.
First, let the title, "SHILOH," and secondly the TESTIMONY,
"To Him shall the gathering of the people be," engage our
attention. The title, "SHILOH." What an old word it is! What an
old world word! I should not wonder if it was one of Jacob's own
coining. A pet name is often the product of peculiar love. Tender
affection takes this kindly turn. Those whom we fondly regard, we
familiarly call by some other name than chance has bequeathed or
choice bestowed. Not content with the names that others
understand or use, there is often a new mode of recognition
between two who love each other, as much as to say, "You are to
me what you are to none upon earth beside me."
Even God gives to His people new names–and I do not wonder if
they give to Him new names. Well may Believers have each a
favorite name for Jesus. Which name of your Lord do you love the
best? If the question were passed round, perhaps some would say–