ZECHARIAH
Let the penitent reflect on the description given of God in the Scriptures—
[Nor let them judge of him by the dictates of sense. Isai. 55:8, 9.]
Let the sincere believer apply to himself that congratulation (Deut. 33:29.)
[Let him get a becoming frame of mind; and let him adopt that triumphant boast. Isai. 25:9.]
Let all contemplate the joy that will be felt when Jews and Gentiles all join in this ascription of praise.
MCCXVII
GOD’S MERCY, AS RESERVED FOR THE JEWS
Micah 7:18–20.
Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again; he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities: and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.
TO acquire the knowledge of God, we must examine what is spoken of him in his word; and more especially the delineation which he has given of his own character, when, by an audible voice, he revealed himself to Moses. Yet we must by no means overlook his character, as it is embodied in his works. In the works of creation, of providence, and of redemption, all his perfections are displayed; and in such a way as to make the deepest possible impression on our minds. The passage which we have just read, if taken apart from the context, exhibits Jehovah in the most glorious colours: but if we take it in connexion with the whole preceding prophecy, from which it results, it will present us with a view of the Deity surprisingly grand. It is evident that the prophet has been meditating on the Divine character as displayed in some stupendous acts of mercy, either already exercised, or designed to be exercised at some future period. Let us, then consider,
I. The dispensation which is here contemplated—
The Prophet Micah enters very fully into the subject of the Millennium, and opens it as circumstantially, especially as far as the Jewish nation are interested in it, as any prophet whatever. Let us hear what he says respecting it,
1. In the former part of his prophecy—
[In the fourth chapter he opens the subject nearly in the same terms with the Prophet Isaiah: “In the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob: and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plough-shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not rise against nation; neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine, and under his fig-tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts hath spoken it.”
He then proceeds to show the blessings of which the Jews shall partake in that day: “In that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that halteth; and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted: and I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the Lord shall reign over them in Mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever.” This, he adds, shall be accomplished, in part, by their deliverance from Babylon: but yet, in immediate connexion with that, he foretells events which were not accomplished at that period, nor shall be till the time fixed for their future restoration to their own land: “Now, also, many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion. But they know not the thoughts of the Lord; neither understand they his counsel: for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor. Arise, and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass; and thou shalt beat in pieces many people: and I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth.” Nothing like this was effected at any time subsequent to the Babylonish Captivity: and therefore we must, of necessity, look to some future period for its accomplishment. But the prophet himself goes on to declare, that these glorious events were not to take place till after that the Messiah should have been born at Bethlehem: “Thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be Ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: THEN the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. And HE (the Messiah) shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; and they (the Jewish remnant) shall abide: for NOW shall he be great unto the ends of the earth. This shall be the time for the universal reign of Christ: at which time the Jews are destined to act a most conspicuous part upon the theatre of the world; being, on the one hand, God’s instruments for the conversion of the Gentile world; and, on the other hand, his agents for the destruction of all who shall oppose his will: “The remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men. The remnant of Jacob shall also be among the Gentiles, in the midst of many people, as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep; who, if he go through, both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver. Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off.” Now, in this passage we have a complete summary of all that shall take place in that day. The whole world of Jews and Gentiles shall be converted to Christ; but the Jews shall lead the way, and be God’s honoured instruments for bringing in the Gentiles; by whom, in the first instance, they shall be fiercely opposed; but over whom they shall triumph with immense slaughter, and with the same facility as a lion triumphs over a flock of sheep.
Not less fully does the prophet speak also,]
2. In the chapter before us—
[He represents, in very moving terms, the Jew anticipating this blessed period: “Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness. Then she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is the Lord thy God? Mine eyes shall behold her: now shall she be trodden down, as the mire of the streets.” Then, after confirming this expectation as certainly to be fulfilled at the time appointed for the termination of their present sufferingsk, he himself cries to God in their behalf: “Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.” And to this prayer God returns a most gracious answer; declaring, that he would interpose for them as wonderfully and effectually as he did for them at the time of their deliverance from Egypt, to the utter surprise and dismay of all surrounding nations: “According to the days of thy coming out of Egypt will I shew unto him marvellous things. The nations shall see, and be confounded at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf: they shall lick the dust like a serpent; they shall move out of their holes, like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the Lord our God, and shall fear because of thee.”
Thus it is that the words of my text are introduced: they arise altogether out of the foregoing subject, and ought to be considered in connexion with it. Let us then next mark,]
II. The soliloquy uttered in the contemplation of it—
The soliloquy may be regarded as proceeding from the prophet himself, or from any pious and believing Jew.
Picture to yourselves, then, a Jew contemplating this event—
[He breaks forth into a devout ascription of praise to God: first, in a general view of the dispensation; then, in a view of the particular mercies that shall be vouchsafed under it; and, lastly, in a view of the great result. Let us follow him in each successive step.
‘Who is a God like unto thee, O Lord, who dealest thus with the remnant of thine heritage? As thine “heritage,” we were bound to serve thee: and as a “remnant” preserved from so many dangers, we were still more bound to manifest the greatness of our obligations to thee. Yet have we been a rebellious people from the day that thou calledst us. Our sins against thee have been greatly multiplied: but most of all have we deserved thy wrathful indignation for our rejection of thine only dear Son, whom thou didst send to be our Saviour and Redeemer. I am amazed that thou shouldest “pardon such iniquities,” and “pass by such inconceivable transgressions.” But I trace it to thine own love of mercy. It would have been impossible but that thou must have “retained thine anger” for ever, if it had depended on us to get it removed: but within thine own bosom thou hast found motives which could have been found no where else: and I am beyond measure astonished that ever thou shouldst contemplate such mercy towards thine offending people.
‘The things which are so indispensable to our happiness, thou hast of thine own mercy decreed to give. Though we have so provoked thee to anger by our unparalleled iniquities, yet “wilt thou turn again, and have compassion upon us;” subduing for us the sins which have led us captive, and “casting into the very depths of the sea” the sins which have subjected us to thy displeasure. Once we saw our enemies subdued, and dead upon the sea-shore: and our sins, which are infinitely more formidable enemies, wilt thou treat in the same way, making us happy monuments of thine unbounded power and grace. O Lord, I look forward to that blissful period with eager expectation, and adore thee from my inmost soul, that thou hast such blessings in reserve for us.
‘Then shall all thy promises to our nation be fulfilled in their utmost extent. To Abraham they were the fruits of “mercy,” of free, unmerited mercy altogether: but to Jacob they were memorials of thy “truth;” seeing that thou hadst made them over to Abraham and his seed, by covenant and by oath. Then shall all that thou hast “sworn” receive its full accomplishment. Then shall the seed of Abraham possess, to a far greater extent than they have ever yet done, their promised inheritance; and, at the same time, “in him shall also all the nations of the earth be blessed.” When I look forward to these glorious events, I am altogether lost in wonder, love, and praise.’]
But, as we also are interested in this salvation, let us also contemplate God’s perfections as displayed in it—
[Here we may see distinctly marked, yea, written as with a sun-beam, his mercy and loving-kindness, his power and grace, his truth and faithfulness.
How greatly have we provoked him to anger, times without number! Yet “will he not retain his anger against us,” but “will pass by our transgressions,” yea, and “pardon them,” and “blot them out as a morning cloud;” and solely “because he delighteth in mercy.” It shall be in him altogether an act of sovereign love. Nothing have we ever done to merit it; nor is it possible for us, by any thing that we ever can do, to merit it: but the motives which he cannot derive from us, he will find within his own bosom: “he will have mercy, because he will have mercy; and will have compassion, because he will have compassion.”
And what is there that he will not do for us? Verily, there is no limit either to his power or grace. Has the guilt of sin subjected us to his heavy displeasure? and is it like a millstone around our necks, ready to sink us into the bottomless abyss of hell? He will cancel it; and “put it away from us, as far as the east is from the west;” yea, “and cast it behind him irrecoverably into the very depths of the sea;” so that to us, no less than unto the Jews, shall that gracious promise be fulfilled, “The iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve;” Nor is this all. He well knows that sin, if suffered to retain its power over us, would still be, as it were, a hell within us, and infallibly plunge us into everlasting perdition: he therefore takes to him his mighty power, and, by the effectual operation of his grace, subdues it in us; so that we are renewed in the spirit of our minds, and are “transformed into his image in righteousness and true holiness.” Thus, whilst he delivers us from hell, “he makes us meet for the inheritance of the saints in light.”
And where is the person who ever laid hold on his covenant, and has not had it fulfilled to him in all its parts? No, verily: God has said, “I will never leave thee; never, never forsake thee:” and he is faithful to his word; nor has one jot or tittle of it ever failed. No, blessed Lord; to the final accomplishment of thy promises we look with unutterable joy. And, when we are once arrived at that promised land, the heavenly Canaan, O! what wonders of truth and faithfulness shall we have to contemplate! We shall view the acquisition doubtless as “mercy,” in the first instance; but we shall view it also as “truth:” for “thou hast sworn” to give it to thy believing people: and thou didst “confirm thy promise with an oath, on purpose that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for thee to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to the hope that is set before us.” Lord, keep us unto that day; and “fulfil unto every one of us that word wherein thou hast caused us to put our trust!”]
A REFLECTION or two shall close our subject—
1. If such be the prospects of the Jew, in what a noble work are they engaged who are helping forward the attainment of them!
[God sent a Moses and an Aaron to bring his people out of Egypt. And shall he use no means to gather them from their present dispersion, and to restore them to the enjoyment of his favour? The whole Scriptures attest the contrary; and assuredly, when the time draws near, he will find persons to send to them, and will bless to the intended end their benevolent endeavours. What then should be our state in reference to them? Should we not say with the Prophet Isaiah, “Here am I: send me?” It is much to be lamented, that the Christian world feel a backwardness to this work, far beyond any which they feel in reference to the Gentiles. But wherefore is this? Has not God engaged to bring them to himself? And is he not as able to effect their salvation, as the salvation of the Gentile world? The truth is, that this backwardness is a remnant of that hatred and contempt which have subsisted against the Jews these eighteen hundred years, and have not even yet been dispelled by the kindlier offices of love. It is a scandal, however, to the Christian world, that this neglect of them should continue, in the midst of all the light which we now enjoy. It is a shame to ministers that they do not more unfold to their people the purposes of God respecting them; and to private Christians, that they never study the Prophecies relating to them. But I appeal to all of you: Is it not desirable that the glorious prospects of the Jews should be realized, and that Almighty God should receive the glory due unto his name? If, when Israel was saved from Egypt, they sang, “Who is like unto thee, O God, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?” should we not labour, that more elevated songs of praise should be poured forth to him on account of that infinitely greater deliverance reserved for them? I call upon you, then, to unite in this blessed work. I call upon you to anticipate the event with confidence, and to help it forward with zeal.]
2. If such be the feelings of a Jew, in the mere anticipation of those promised mercies, what should ours be, who are in the actual possession of them?
[Thanks be to God! we are in possession of them. We know what it is to have “our iniquities forgiven, and our sins covered:” yea, we know what it is to “have peace with God, and to rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” Greatly as God has been provoked by us, we know that “his anger is turned away from us, and that he has comforted us.” True it is, that, at the period before referred to, these blessings will be enjoyed in a far higher degree; for, “the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.” But still our privileges are exceeding great: and we should contemplate them, not with indifference or with some transient emotions of joy: no; we should feel ourselves altogether overwhelmed with a sense of God’s goodness to us; and, in the spirit of our minds at least, if not in the audible expressions, we should be saying day and night, “O God, who is like unto thee?” I must say, that, if this be not our state, we are far from appreciating God’s mercy to us as we ought. And I call on all of you so to meditate on his kindness to you, that your present sense of it may be a foretaste of heaven, and your songs of thanksgiving be a recital of those which you shall sing for ever in the realms of bliss.
I know, indeed, that the trembling sinner feels it difficult to view God in this endearing light. But I would ask of any one, what evidence would you wish for of God’s disposition to forgive sin? Can you have greater evidence of it than in God’s promised return to his outcast people, even to that people who imbrued their hands in the blood of his only dear Son, and have for so many hundreds of years cast all possible odium upon his name? I say then, Hear the Jew speaking in my text, and adopt his language in reference to yourselves. And know, that, as God will return to the Jewish people in due season, so shall “mercy rejoice over judgment,” in reference to you: and, as they shall yet become most distinguished monuments of his mercy and truth, so shall mercy and truth abound towards you, and God be glorified in you for ever and ever. If there be here any one who is ready to suppose that the magnitude and long-continuance of his sins preclude a possibility of obtaining mercy, I would say to him, Though thou hadst upon thine own individual soul all the sins that ever were committed by the whole Jewish nation, if thou hadst even murdered the Son of God himself, and persisted in thy hatred of him eighteen hundred years; yet, on thy desiring to obtain mercy, thou shouldst find God all that he is represented to thee in the text. Let this saying sink down into your ears; and trembling as you are, your sorrows shall all be turned into joy.]
NAHUM
MCCXVIII
GOD A REVENGER OF SIN
Nahum 1:2, 6.
God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth; the Lord revengeth, and is furious; the Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies..… Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger?
MEN have such ideas of God’s mercy, that they cannot persuade themselves he will ever execute judgment on impenitent transgressors. In fact, it is the hope of this which encourages men to go on in their sins: for, if once they could believe that they shall soon become monuments of God’s righteous indignation, they would consider their ways, and labour by all possible means to avert his displeasure.
About one hundred and forty years before this was written, the Prophet Jonah had been sent to warn the Ninevites of their impending destruction. But they had repented of their wickedness; and God, in his mercy, had withheld his threatened judgments. But now he warns them, that since they had filled up the measure of their iniquities, his wrath should come upon them to the uttermost. Now, I would ask, supposing God to be determined to convince men that he would execute vengeance on the impenitent, what could he add to what is here spoken? Methinks there is here such an accumulation of words, as must defy incredulity itself to question the truth contained in them. It is not a pleasing subject that we are now called to insist upon: but it is necessary; and the more necessary, because of men’s backwardness to give it the consideration it deserves. Let us, then, consider,
I. The description here given of the Deity—
God is “a jealous God”—
[He has a claim to our undivided allegiance, and to all the affections of our souls. And when he sees how prone we are to set our affections on the creature rather than on him, it becomes him to be jealous. A man like ourselves would not do well to connive at the unfaithfulness of his wife, who was giving to others the affections which were his unalienable right: how much less, then, can God admit such an alienation of our hearts from him!. He cannot: indeed “his very name is Jealous:” and he must divest himself of his every perfection, before he can connive at the dishonour which our unfaithfulness reflects upon him.]
He will “take vengeance” on obstinate transgressors—
[“The Lord revengeth; yea, he revengeth, and is furious.” We are not indeed to conceive of him as feeling in his own bosom such emotions as constitute “fury” in man: in that sense “fury is not in him;” but, so far as the effects of his displeasure are felt, it will be the same to us, as if he were filled with the utmost rage. At present, indeed, he bears with sinners with all imaginable patience and long-suffering: but “he reserves them unto the day of judgment to be punished.” In my text, the word “wrath” is in italics, to shew that it is not in the original. In truth, there is no word in any language that can express what God “reserveth for his enemies;” no, nor can any imagination conceive it. The Psalmist well says, “Who knoweth the power of thine anger? Even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath”]
And “who can stand before his indignation?”
[“Who indeed can abide the fierceness of his anger?” These pointed interrogations convey the most tremendous thoughts to our minds. Now we can “puff at God’s judgments,” as if they were scarcely worthy of a thought: but it will not be so when the time for the infliction of them is fully come. Then “the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, no less than the poor bond-man, will hide themselves in the dens, and in the rocks of the mountains; and will cry to the mountains and rocks to fall upon them, and to hide them from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. “The great day of his wrath being come, who shall be able to stand?” The wrath of man has been sustained, even when it raged to the utmost extent of human ingenuity to inflict pain: but who can sustain the wrath of God? The soul, aided by divine grace, has upheld the body: but who, or what, can uphold the soul, when it is God’s arm, too, that inflicts the punishment? Some will console themselves with the thought that they shall do as well as others. But if they could for one moment descend to hell, and see the agonies, and hear the cries, of a damned soul, methinks it would be little consolation to think that they shall do as well as others. If they were only to be racked upon a wheel, and to endure its agonies but for an hour, their prospect, methinks, would be but little cheered by this thought: how much less then, when the wrath of an offended God must be endured to all eternity!]
But, that we sink not into despondency, let us attend to,
II. The advice, which one moment’s reflection on this subject must suggest—
The doom of Nineveh was fixed: but not so the doom of any amongst us. No, Brethren, there is yet hope concerning you; yes, concerning every one of you. Only,
1. Abide not in impenitence—
[When Nineveh was warned by Jonah, though no encouragement was given them to repent, they humbled themselves, on a mere peradventure that God might possibly have mercy on them: and the mercy which they sought was accorded to them. But to you I am authorized to proclaim mercy: for God’s gracious message to you is, “Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.” Hear what God says to you by the Prophet Jeremiah: “Thus saith the Lord, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it.” Yes indeed, by timely humiliation, you may yet avert the wrath of your incensed God; who, “if you forsake your evil ways, and turn unto him, will have mercy upon you, and abundantly pardon,” to the full extent of your multiplied transgressions.]
2. Abide not in unbelief—
[God has provided a Saviour for you, even his only dear Son; who has, by his own obedience unto death, effected a reconciliation for you; and “has committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation;” so that we are not only authorized, but commanded, to say to all of you, without exception, “Be ye reconciled to God.” He has illustrated this to you in his word, by the appointment of cities of refuge for those who by any accident should slay a man. The very instant he should get within the gates of any one of these cities, he was safe; and the pursuer of blood, however enraged, could not get at him to hurt himm. And who shall sustain any hurt, that flees to Christ for refuge? No: in him you will be safe. Once found in him, you have nothing to fear. You are as safe in him as you would be in heaven itself. To every one of you, then, I give this counsel from the Lord: “Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation be overpasto.”]
3. Abide not in a proud defiance of your God—
[There were, in the days of old, some who, in answer to God’s threatenings, said, “Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it.” And such there are amongst ourselves, who, in reply to all that we say, exclaim, “Ah, Lord God, doth he not speak parablesq?” But indeed, my dear brethren, God’s patience will have an end; and the very exercise of it will only aggravate our condemnation, if it do not “prevail to lead us to repentance.” Be persuaded that God’s description of himself, in the words of our text, will be found true at the last. He is indeed “a consuming fires:” and “can your heart endure, or your hands be strong, in the day that he shall deal with you?” “Have you an arm like God? and can you thunder with a voice like him?” No: it is in vain to contend with God: for “who shall set briers and thorns against him in battle? He will go through them, and burn them up together.” Verily, “it will be a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living Gody” Be convinced of this; and “to-day, while it is called to-day,” implore mercy at his hands: so shall you find, that “he will pardon your iniquity, and pass by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage; for he retaineth not anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.” And if the description of him in my text be true, you shall find that true also which is added in the seventh verse, “The Lord is good, a strong-hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.”]
MCCXIX
GOD A REFUGE IN TIME OF TROUBLE
Nahum 1:7.
The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.
WHEN God interposed in a cloud between the camp of Israel and the camp of the Egyptians, the cloud was to those a pillar of fire, to give them light; but to these a cloud of darkness, to obstruct their way. And such is the varied aspect of Jehovah to his friends and enemies in all ages. Towards the Ninevites, who had now nearly filled up the measure of their iniquities, and forced, as it were, from Jehovah a decree of utter and everlasting excision, he is represented in terms the most awful that language could afford: “God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth, and is furious: the Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies..… Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire; and the rocks are thrown down by him”. But, lest the Lord’s people should apply this description of Jehovah indiscriminately to all persons of whatever character, the prophet stops abruptly, and declares, that towards his own believing people Jehovah is of a very different character; for that “he is good, and a strong hold in the day of trouble, and knoweth them that trust in him.”
Let us for our comfort consider Jehovah as he is here depicted to us;
I. In the perfections of his nature—
[“He is good;” every way “good;” and appears to be so in all that he has ever done. His works of creation were all, after an attentive survey of them by the Divine Artificer, pronounced to be “very good.” In the course of so many thousands of years there never has been found one single instance in which any work of his could be improved; so perfect has been the adaptation of every part to its respective use, and so complete the subservience of each to the good of the whole. His works of providence come less within the sphere of human observation, because we know not all the ends that are to be accomplished by them: but of those which have been the most dark or most calamitous we have had the unanimous testimony of the best judges, that “he has done all things well;” and that, however “clouds and darkness may have been round about him, justice and judgment have been the basis of his throne.” Of his works of redemption what shall we say? In what terms can we convey any just notion of them? Verily the tongue of an archangel is incapable of expressing the goodness of God in giving his only dear Son to die for us: this mystery far exceeds the comprehension of any finite intelligence: its “height and depth and length and breadth can never be explored:” suffice it to say, that the incarnation and death of the Son of God is the one subject of adoration amongst all the hosts of heaven, and will continue to be so through the countless ages of eternity.
But, whilst the goodness of God is readily acknowledged in reference to those who are the objects of mercy, it may be doubted in reference to those who shall be the objects of his everlasting displeasure. It may be asked, How can his punitive justice be good? I answer, If he did not maintain the rights of justice he could not be “good.” Whatever ungodly men may imagine, justice is necessary in every government: and, if an earthly monarch would be thought essentially defective if he suffered all the laws of the realm to be outraged and set at nought with impunity, so would Jehovah, with reverence be it spoken, act unworthily as the Moral Governor of the universe, if he made no difference between the observers of his laws, and those who violated them without remorse. His law is a transcript of his holy will; and the honour of it must be maintained, either by the observance of its precepts, or by the execution of its penalties. Besides, if the justice of God were not displayed in the punishment of sin, he would neither be revered in heaven, nor feared on earth. In heaven, his justice and holiness and truth would be altogether darkened, and the radiance of all his other perfections obscured: and on earth, Satan would retain an undisputed sway over the hearts of men.
In every view therefore we must say, not only that God is good, but that his goodness, no less than “his greatness, is unsearchable.”]
We have a further insight given us into the character of God,
II. In the provisions of his covenant—
[Sin has brought misery along with it: and since the first introduction of sin into the world, “man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward.” But God has entered into covenant with his only dear Son as our head and representative; and has made over to us himself as our God, at the same time that he takes us to himself as his people. In the day of trouble we feel, that none but God can afford us any effectual help: and he engages at that season to be a very present help unto us. Whatever our affliction be, we may go to him with it, and find him “a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.” What a strong-hold he is we see in the instance of Hezekiah, when surrounded by the Assyrian army, whom, according to all human appearance, it was impossible for him to withstand: one assurance of protection from Jehovah enabled that holy prince to despise all the menaces of his blaspheming adversary, and to rest as secure and as composed as if there had been no danger at hand.
But if in temporal troubles God is such a refuge, much more is he when the soul is oppressed with a sense of sin. Hear what he speaks to us by his beloved Son: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Yes: our adorable Saviour was fitly represented to us by the cities of refuge, which were open day and night to the manslayer, and which afforded him perfect security from the pursuer of blood, the very instant he entered within their gates. Such a city is the Lord Jesus, “whose name is a strong tower, to which the fighteous runneth and is safe.” Has he not himself said, “Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out?” Let the afflicted sinner go to him, and he shall find that this “man,” this God-man, “will be to him as an hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place; as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” Verily “He will save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him.”]
We shall have a yet deeper insight into his character, if we view him,
III. In the dispensations of his grace—
[“He knoweth those who trust in him;” not merely as distinguishing them from others, but as feeling towards them the most affectionate regard: (in this sense the word “knoweth” is frequently used.) He views them with the tenderest sympathy and compassion, being “touched with a feeling of all their infirmitiesh,” and being “afflicted in all their afflictions.” Of his people, when suffering under their Egyptian task-masters, he said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their task-masters; for I know their sorrows.” And the same tender regard is shown by him to a solitary individual as to a whole nation: for David says, “When my spirit was overwhelmed, thou knewest my pathl;” and again, “Thou hast known my soul in adversities.” The act of trusting in God is itself so pleasing and acceptable in his sight, that there is not any thing which he will not do for one who looks to him in such a framen. So abundantly will he communicate to such an one the riches of his grace, that he will make his soul like a well-watered garden, filled with the richest fruits, suited to every season of the year. Whatever enemies may assault him, God will “keep his soul in perfect peacep,” and make him even as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever.’]
What IMPROVEMENT shall we make of this subject?
I answer,
1. “Acquaint yourselves with God”—
[Study the character of God as drawn in the Holy Scriptures. Some think of him as a God of all mercy; and others, as clothed only in the terrors of inexorable justice. But the true character of God is, that he is “a just God and a Saviour.” In the Lord Jesus Christ this union of justice and mercy is fully displayed. Once view him as dying, rising, reigning for sinful man, and then all the description given of God in our text will be seen in its true light, and all the brightness of the Godhead irradiate your souls.]
2. Glorify him as God—
[As far as we know God, even though it be only in the notices which he has given us of himself in the works of creation, we ought to “glorify him as God.” How much more then ought we to do so, when all his glory is made to shine before us in the face of Jesus Christ! How should we love him, serve him, trust in him, and delight ourselves in him! O, beloved, let your hearts ascend to him, and your souls be devoted to him, as the occasion demands. Is he “good?” praise him for his goodness. Is he “a strong-hold?” flee to him, and dwell continually in him. Does he “know those who trust in him?” let him have joy over you as monuments of his grace, and delight in you as heirs of his glory. In a word, live but for him; and as he has “bought you with a price, see that ye glorify him with your bodies and your spirits, which are hist.”]
MCCXX
THE PROPER IMPROVEMENT OF GOD’S MERCIES
Nahum 1:15.
Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy rows.
IN the writings of the prophets there is an abruptness of style, which often renders them intricate, and almost unintelligible. The rapidity of their transitions from one person to another, from one period to another, and from one subject to another, tends to bewilder the mind, and operates as a discouragement to us, when we endeavour to investigate and comprehend their meaning. But when we are on our guard respecting this, we shall often discover beauties that will amply repay the labour of investigation, and shall be led to admire those passages, which at first sight appeared to be involved in impenetrable obscurity.
The subject of the prophecy before us is the destruction of Sennacherib’s army, as a prelude to the overthrow of the Assyrian empire, of which Nineveh was the capital. The prophet begins this chapter with expatiating in general terms on the power and vindictive justice of Jehovah. He then speaks of these perfections with a more express reference to his main pointc. After that, he proceeds to address himself to Nineveh, from whence that “wicked counsellor,” Sennacherib, should come. Then, in Jehovah’s name, he addresses himself to the Jewish nation, to certify them, that, however greatly this formidable enemy should harass and distress them, they should be freed from his yokee. Then he addresses more immediately Sennacherib himself, and declares that he, his family, and his idols, should be signally and entirely cut off. Lastly, beholding, as it were, his prophecy already accomplished, he points to the Messenger hastening over the mountains to announce the glad tidings: and he calls upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem to resume their wonted occupations, and especially their religious ordinances, in humble acknowledgment of the Divine goodness, and with a faithful regard to those vows which they had made in the day of their calamity.
The affinity between this subject, and that which calls for our attention this day, will more fully appear, while we consider,
I. The tidings which are announced to us this day—
These certainly relate, in the first instance, to Hezekiah’s deliverance by the destruction of Sennacherib’s army—
[This was a great deliverance, wrought by God himself through the ministry of an angel. And it may well serve to illustrate the blessings we this day commemoratei — — —]
But they relate also to the deliverance of mankind from sin and death through the intervention of the Lord Jesus—
[The deliverances vouchsafed to the Jews, are constantly represented in Scripture as typical of the great work of redemption: and the very expressions in the text are used by Isaiah with a more direct reference to that event. Nor is this idea founded in conjecture; for St. Paul, quoting the words of both the prophets, applies them directly to the proclaiming of salvation to the Gentile worldl. If then the prophet mingled these two events, well may we do so too; and from contemplating the mercies vouchsafed to us in a temporal view, take occasion to reflect on the infinitely richer mercies which we obtain through Christ — — —]
We are at no loss how to improve these tidings, since the prophet himself suggests,
II. The duties resulting from them—
In an encouraging yet monitory strain, he exhorts us to,
1. A devout acknowledgment of the mercies received—
[The way to Jerusalem having been blocked up by the besieging army, the prophet tells the people, that now they may have free access to the temple, and come up at the appointed seasons to their solemn feasts. And should not we also now avail ourselves of the opportunities which are afforded us, and wait upon God without distraction? We should at least spend this day, not in mere carnal mirth, but in solemn feasting before God, even in spiritual, and more appropriate joy.
The remembrance of the work of redemption more especially should kindle in our hearts a sacred flame of gratitude and thanksgiving, and should stimulate us to a more strict observance of the Sabbath, which, in commemoration of it, was made to supersede the original Sabbath, and was designated by that honourable appellation, The Lord’s Day.]
2. A conscientious performance of the vows we have made—
[It is most probable, that many, during the siege of Jerusalem, would make vows to God, as the Jews from the beginning had been in the habit of doing under their calamities. Nor can we doubt but that many of ourselves, in seasons of sickness or trouble, have purposed, and perhaps vowed, to change the course of our lives, if we were delivered from the distresses which we either felt or feared. At this time in particular we have been making vows, which we are bound to perform. But, alas! if we compare our petitions in the midst of trouble, with our lives when delivered from trouble, what an awful contrast does there appear! Let it not, however, be so on this occasion; but let us remember the vows that are upon us; for “better were it never to vow at all, than to vow and not payp.”]
We conclude then with an ADDRESS, both inspired and uttered by God himself; “Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee! Offer unto God thanksgiving, and pay thy vows unto the Most High.”
HABAKKUK
MCCXXI
THE HOLINESS OF GOD
Hab. 1:13.
Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity.
MEN do not sufficiently contemplate the character of God. The Psalmist, speaking of some in his day, says, “These things thou hast done; and I kept silence: and thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself.” In like manner, we, if we do not see hefore our eyes some visible displays of God’s displeasure, are ready to imagine that he will suffer our iniquities to pass unpunished. But, whoever he be that commits sin, whether he be an avowed enemy of God, or one that is numbered amongst his people, let him know that “God is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look upon iniquity” but with the utmost abhorrence. Primarily, these words have respect to the Chaldeans, who were about to invade Judæa, and to execute upon the whole Jewish nation the most fearful vengeance. In reference to them, the prophet calls upon the holy God to arise and vindicate the cause of his people. But the words of my text contain a general truth, which it becomes us all most seriously to consider.
Let me then shew you,
I. What evidence God has given us of this truth—
If we look into the Holy Scriptures, we shall find them full of this truth. “Holiness” is that perfection which, above all others, is celebrated in heaven — — — and in which God is pre-eminently gloriousd.” But not to enumerate passages expressive of this truth, let one suffice: “Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee. The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity.” It is by an appeal to facts that I propose to establish the truth before us. See how God has manifested it,
1. In a way of judgment—
[Go back to the very fall of man in Paradise. An offence was committed; an offence against a merely positive command; and which therefore had in it no intrinsic evil, except as a violation of, what I may call, an arbitrary appointment. Yet behold, on account of that one offence were our first parents, and all their posterity, consigned to death; yea, and the whole creation also, rational and irrational, animate and inanimate, was subjected to a curse.
Go on to the time of Noah, when, for the sins of men, the whole world, with every living creature, was overwhelmed with one universal deluge; one single family alone, with a small selection of the brute creation, being saved.
Go on to Sodom and Gomorrha, and to all the cities of the plain; and see them destroyed by fire and brimstone from heaven; not so much as a new-born infant being spared, or any, except righteous Lot and his two daughters. Are these no evidences of the truth before us? Methinks they declare, in language that cannot be mistaken, God’s hatred of sin, and his determination to punish it to the uttermost.
Behold, at a later period, Achan keeping for himself a wedge of gold, and a Babylonish garment, which ought to have been destroyed. No one was robbed; and the offence was not known to any human being; but yet, on account of that, did God leave for a season all the whole nation, and never return to them in mercy, till the offender was sought out and punished with death.
A terrible act of vengeance also was executed on Uzzah, who, to keep the ark from falling, inadvertently stretched out his hand, and touched it; he himself not being of the Levites, who alone were authorized to touch it. Say, brethren, is not God a holy God? and is not sin, of what kind soever it be, “that abominable thing which he hates?”
Take but one more instance; that of David numbering the people. For that one offence were seventy thousand of his subjects slain. What further proof can any man desire of God’s irreconcileable abhorrence of all sin?]
2. In a way of mercy—
[When the whole human race were involved in Adam’s guilt and misery, God could no more look upon them with the smallest measure of complacency. Before he could cast an eye of love upon so much as one single soul, its sins must all be expiated; and a perfect righteousness must be given to it; and its every desire must be renewed. But how could all this be effected? It could be effected only through the mediation of God’s only dear Son, and by the operation of his own Almighty and eternal Spirit. To exercise mercy, was God’s desire: and that he might exercise it in consistency with his own immaculate holiness, he determined to give his only-begotten Son, that through him, and in his sacred person, his hatred of sin might be made manifest; and to give his Holy Spirit also, that, through his effectual agency, his love of holiness might be displayed. Tell me, then, whether this does not confirm the declaration in my text? To all eternity, God will not look upon any sinner that is not washed in the blood of Christ, and clothed in his unspotted righteousness: nor will he ever look on one who is not “renewed in the spirit of his mind,” and transformed by the Holy Ghost into that very image of the Deity which sin has effaced.
Verily, let these things be considered; and you will say, that “God is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look upon iniquity:” for when sin was found upon his only dear Son, and that only by imputation, the cup of God’s indignation must be drunk by him, even to the very dregs: nor, till that was done, should any soul of man find mercy at his hands.]
This truth being so clear, let us consider,
II. What lessons it inculcates on every one of us—
Of the admiration which this sublime character of the Deity demands, I shall forbear to speak. I will notice only those more plain and obvious duties, which are of prime importance to every child of man. This view, then, of God’s holiness, may teach us all,
1. To repent of our former sins—
[Who is there that has not, in instances without number, grieved and offended this holy God? — — — Look back, my brethren, upon your lives, from the earliest childhood even to the present hour, and consult the records of conscience; and then say, whether God can ever look on you but with just and holy indignation? — — — O that all of us were duly sensible of our transgressions, and were humbled before God on account of them! To hope for mercy without deep contrition is in vain. We might as well hope that God should cease to exist: for whilst he continues a holy Being, he never can behold but with anger an impenitent transgressor. He tells us plainly, that, “except we repent, we must all perish;” and it is “the broken and contrite heart alone that he will not utterly despiseg.”]
2. To flee to the Lord Jesus Christ for refuge—
[Christ is the city of refuge appointed for sinful man: and to him must every human being flee, if ever he would escape the sword of Divine vengeance. As for repentance, though it be necessary to prepare the soul for pardon, it can never of itself obtain pardon. Whole rivers of tears could never wash away so much as one single sin. Nothing but that which satisfied Divine justice can ever obtain for us the remission of any sin whatever — — — Indeed, Brethren, “no man can come unto the Father but by Christ:” “nor is there any name given under heaven but his, whereby any man can be saved.” Bring then your sins to Christ, and lay them upon his sacred head, as the high-priest laid the sins of all Israel on the head of the scape-goat. Take also to yourselves his perfect righteousness, that in that you may “stand before God without spot or blemish.” In that way you may hope for acceptance with a holy God: but in no other way shall any soul of man come up with acceptance before him — — —]
3. To implore of God the sanctifying influences of his Holy Spirit—
[To your latest hour will you find, that, in some respect or other, “the law of sin which is in your members will prevail over the better law of your minds,” and bring defilement on your souls. In truth, if you be not upheld continually by the Spirit of God, there is not any sin into which you may not relapse. Your own wisdom will not suffice to keep you from temptation; nor will your own strength suffice to preserve you from falling by it. A new-born infant does not more need to be carried in its mother’s arms, than you do to be upheld continually by the Spirit of the Living God. Be earnest, then, in crying to God for help: for it is through the Spirit alone that you can mortify the deeds of the body, or bring forth the fruits of righteousness to the honour of your God, And do not presume on God’s past mercy to you: for it is an unalterable truth, that “God cannot behold evil:” and, “if you indulge iniquity in your heart, God neither will, nor can, regard you.” To be accepted of him, “you must be holy, even as he is holy.”]
MCCXXII
OUR DUTY IN REFERENCE TO THE PROMISES
Hab. 2:3.
The vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come; it will not tarry.
AS there is no one so secure, but he may fall, so there is no one in so low and afflicted a condition, but God may have mercy in reserve for him. It has pleased God on many occasions to suffer his people to be reduced to the very last extremity before he interposed for them, in order that his interposition for them might be more visible, and might produce in their minds livelier sensations of joy and gratitude. The prophet, having foretold the total destruction of his country by the Chaldean armies, was greatly grieved at the prospect of such extensive and dreadful calamities. He looked therefore to God, to know whether there were any alleviating circumstances which might console the people in their troubles; and he was favoured with a vision of their future deliverance from Babylon; and was ordered to write it down in terms so plain, that the most inattentive or superficial observer could not but understand them: but as the promise had respect to a distant period of time, he was told to bid them wait for its accomplishment, in a full assurance that they should not ultimately be disappointed.
But we must not confine the promise to this subject: for in the Epistle to the Hebrews this promise is quoted in a general manner, as applicable to all the distresses with which the Lord’s people are tried. The Lord himself stands engaged for their support and deliverance; and he enjoins them to wait his appointed time, in a certain expectation that he will in due season fulfil his word.
We propose then to shew,
I. The certainty of the promises—
There is a time fixed in the Divine counsels for the accomplishment of every promise—
[The promises of God often have respect to a very distant period: yet that period is fixed; nor can it be either accelerated or delayed. The time for Christ’s incarnation, though not revealed from the beginning, was appointed of God from eternity. Thousands of years rolled on before the period arrived; but at the time when, according to Daniel’s prophecy, the Messiah’s advent was generally expected, he came. The time for detaining Abraham’s descendants was fixed, even to a single day: and the accuracy with which the promise was fulfilled, is noted by the historian as a circumstance worthy of most attentive observation; “It came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the self-same day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. It is a night to be much observed unto the Lord.” The same remark also extends to every blessing which God has determined to confer upon his people: nor can they use a better plea on behalf of themselves or of the Church at large, than that which the Psalmist urges, “Arise, and have mercy upon Zion; for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come.”]
When that period is arrived, the promise, how improbable soever it may appear, shall be fulfilled—
[Nothing could be more unlikely, according to human apprehensions, than the deliverance foretold in the text: yet at the appointed time the Chaldeans were subdued by the Medes and Persians, and the Jews were liberated by the very man who had been foretold by name long before he had any existence in the world. The promise made to Abraham and Sarah was delayed, till the accomplishment of it, according to the course of nature, seemed impossible: yet it was not suffered to fall to the ground; in due time it received its completion, and gave a demonstration, that God was true to his word. Thus when God delays to give peace to the contrite, and victory to those who are conflicting with sin, we must not imagine that he has forgotten to be gracious, but that the time for the performance of his promise is not fully come. He has said, that “he will give his people the blessing of peace,” and that “sin shall not have dominion over themf;” and he will “not suffer one jot or tittle of his word to fail.” “His counsel shall stand, and he will do all his pleasure”]
Being assured then of the stability of his promises, let us consider,
II. Our duty with respect to them—
As “we know not the times or seasons which the Father has reserved in his own power,” it becomes us to wait,
1. In humility—
[We can claim nothing at the hands of God. If he were to deal with us as he did with the fallen angels, we should have no more than our desert. The most distant hope of obtaining mercy is a marvellous favour conferred upon us. We should therefore lie low before him, as conscious of our utter unworthiness. We should implore mercy, only for the sake of that adorable Saviour who died for us. And we should cheerfully leave to God the time, the manner, the degree, in which he will shew mercy towards us.]
2. In faith—
[We must “not stagger at any of the promises” on account of the greatness of them, or of our own unworthiness. We should remember who it is that promises; how sovereign HE is in the distribution of his favours, and how mighty to fulfil his word. It is true, a promise of pardon to such guilty wretches, and of everlasting happiness to those who deserved nothing but misery, appears great and incredible: but he has given us his only dear Son; and will he not with him also freely give us all things? Let us not then be requiring signs to confirm our faith, but believe that it shall be even as God has said unto usk]
3. In patience—
[If God should defer granting our requests till the latest moment of our lives, we should wait contentedly upon him: his blessing, if given at the expiration of a thousand years, would amply repay us for all our solicitude and suspense. Let us consider how long he has called, and we have refused to answer; and shall we be impatient if he delay to answer us? We exercise patience in hopes of obtaining in due season the fruits of the earth: let us do the same in hopes of that grace which shall supply all our wants, and satisfy all our desiresm.]
INFER—
1. How attentive should we be to the promises which God has made us!
[There is not a situation in which we can be, wherein we have not many promises suited to our necessities. Should we not then treasure them up in our minds? Should we not plead them at a throne of grace? Should they not be to us “a light shining in a dark place?” Let us study the word of God with an especial view to the promises; for it is by them that we are to be “made partakers of a divine nature,” and by them to “cleanse ourselves from all filthiness both of flesh and spirito.”]
2. How ashamed should we be of ever yielding to unbelief!
[The office of faith is, to give to things invisible and future a present and visible existence. It was by faith that Abraham was assured that Isaac, after he should have been slain and reduced to ashes, would be restored to life; yea, he was as much assured of it, as if he had seen the very transaction pass before his eyes. This honoured God as a God of truth. But unbelief dishonours him in the highest degree: it says, in fact, that “the vision will lie.” But what ground have we for such a suspicion? When did God falsify any one of his promises? To guard against our unbelief, he has confirmed his promise with an oathq: and shall we still question his veracity? O blush, ye unbelieving people, who are doubting whether he will receive you to mercy, or supply all your need! Trust in him with unshaken affiance; and you shall find Him “faithful who hath promised.”]
3. How awful is the state of those, who, instead of being interested in the promises, are obnoxious to the threatenings!
[Every word of God is equally true, and equally certain of accomplishment. The threatening that the whole world should be destroyed by a deluge, was executed, notwithstanding the scoffs of unbelievers: and every thing which he has spoken against sin and sinners shall be fulfilled in due season. His vengeance is delayed in mercy; but it shall surely come at last. Let the impenitent and unbelieving consider this, and “flee for refuge to the hope set before them.”]
MCCXXIII
FAITH AND UNBELIEF CONTRASTED
Hab. 2:4.
Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.
THE sense of these words is not very obvious. In truth, the sense of them, as standing in the context, and as quoted in the New Testament, is so different, that we need examine them with great care, in order to find their true and full import. Their literal meaning, I apprehend, is to this effect. The prophet had foretold the captivity of the Jews in Babylon. The Jews would not believe that the predicted events could ever take place. They therefore contended with the prophet; and he, wearied with their perverseness, spread his case before the Lord, and implored direction from him: “I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say to me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.” The Lord answers him, and commands him to write it in large and legible characters, for the instruction of the whole nation, that the predicted events should take place in their appointed season; and that those who, through pride and hypocrisy, rejected the Divine testimony, should perish; whereas those who, with simplicity of mind, believed it, should be saved.
Had we no further insight given us into these words in the New Testament, we should rest in that exposition of them, and conceive that we had given nearly the full meaning of them. But the captivity in Babylon was a forerunner of a yet more terrible bondage which they would suffer, through their contempt of that great Prophet who should come into the world. Through their pride and hypocrisy, they would reject HIM, even the Lord Jesus Christ, and would perish in their unbelief: but those who should believe in Christ, and place their hopes entirely on him, should be saved by him with an everlasting salvation.
Now, if an uninspired man had put this construction upon the passage, we should consider the interpretation as forced. But when an inspired Apostle, not once or twice only, but repeatedly, quotes this passage in this very sense; and not in an incidental way only, as it were by accommodation, but in a way of solid argumentation; we cannot doubt but that, in putting this construction upon the words, we express the mind of the Holy Ghost. St. Paul shews from these words, that the way of salvation is simply by faith in Christ: “Therein,” that is, in the Gospel, “is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” Again, in another epistle, he takes occasion from these words to shew, that salvation is by faith alone, without the deeds of the law: “That no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident; for, The just shall live by faith.” In another epistle, he quotes the whole passage, to shew that, as our entrance into the way of salvation is by faith, so must also our continuance in it be: “Ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come, will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them that draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.”
I conceive that the large and comprehensive view of this passage is that which we ought to take; and that it will properly give occasion for me to mark,
I. The evil of unbelief—
It was in reference to those who rejected his testimony, and who, by rejecting it, would perish, that the prophet said, “Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him.” Here he marks the evil of unbelief in its nature, as the fruit of pride and hypocrisy; and in its tendency, as leading to destruction.
Let us notice, then, the evil of it,
1. In its nature—
[Persons would fain have it thought, that their unbelief arises from want of evidence: but in whomsoever it is found, provided he have had the means of information fully set before him, we hesitate not to affirm that it is the offspring of pride and hypocrisy. Men will not submit their wisdom to the wisdom of God; and, instead of receiving humbly what he has revealed, they will presumptuously sit in judgment upon him, and teach him, what he shall reveal, and in what manner he shall reveal it. They like not to be told that they are such guilty and helpless creatures as they really are. They like not to have all grounds of self-confidence taken from them; and to be necessitated to found their hopes altogether on another, even though that other be the Son of God himself. They like not that measure of self-denial and of devotedness to God, which the Scriptures require of them. Hence they endeavour to explain away the force of Scripture, if not to set aside its authority altogether. They do not examine it with the candour which they would exercise in the investigation of any other subject: they have a bias within them, arising from their prejudices and their passions: they wish to find occasion against the Scriptures, or an interpretation which shall enable them to evade their force. They do not set themselves diligently to conform to the word of God, as far as they believe it true: so that their whole conduct shews that “their soul is not upright in them.” This habit of mind does not prevail in all to the same extent; but in every unbeliever is it found: and it is at the root of unbelief, wherever that baneful evil exists.]
2. In its tendency—
[It operated to the ruin of those who would not listen to the warnings of the prophets respecting the judgments that would be inflicted on them by their Chaldean invaders. And a similar consequence ensued to those who rejected the Saviour of the world. And what other effect can ever be produced by it? Were not the Apostles commanded to declare, through all the world, “He that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not, shall be damned?” Nor does this consequence result from any arbitrary appointment of God: it is, and must be so, in the very nature of things. “This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life; and this life is in his Son: he that hath the Son, hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God, hath not life.” Now, if this life be in the Lord Jesus Christ, how can we receive it, if we believe not on him? We put it away from us: we do in fact say, ‘I will not have life: if God will not save me in any other way, I will not be saved at all.’ This is what our blessed Lord himself complained of: “Ye will not come unto me, that ye may have life.” It is to no purpose to dispute against this. We cannot alter the Divine appointment. A Saviour is given us: a free offer of salvation through Him is sent us: not a creature in the universe is excepted: not any one who comes to God through Him shall be cast out. But, if this Saviour be rejected, “there is no other sacrifice for sin;” no other foundation on which we can build;” “no other name whereby we can be saved.” We ought to be fully aware of this: for if we persist in our unbelief, “there remains for us nothing but a certain fearful looking for of judgment, and of fiery indignation to consume us.”]
Let us now view, in contrast with this,
II. The transcendent excellence of faith—
Faith is highly commended in the Scriptures of truth. And well it may be; for,
1. It is associated with candour—
[“The just,” is he who weighs with candour whatever is brought before him, and embraces truth wherever he can find it. This disposition of mind is called, in Scripture, “an honest and good heart:” and wherever that is, the seed of the Gospel which is sown on it will grow up, and bring forth its appointed fruit. The believer will not reject this or that declaration, saying, “This is an hard saying; who can hear it?” nor will he complain of “any commandment, that it is grievous.” He will sit at the feet of Jesus, and hear his word: and, if he meet with any thing which strikes him as new, he will “search the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things be so:” and when any thing exceeds his comprehension, he will go to God in prayer, and implore the gift of his Holy Spirit to “open the eyes of his understanding,” and to “guide him into all truth.” In this way, his doubts are cleared; his difficulties are removed; his perception of truth is quickened: his submission to it increased; and his faith, which at first was only as a grain of mustard-seed, becomes a large tree, under the shadow of which he can safely repose, and by the fruits of which he is nourished unto life eternal. In a word, his faith unites him to the Lord, “in whom he finds both righteousness and strength.” Thus, from his integrity of heart, he is enabled to discern what a jaundiced mind would reject: and, from a readiness to obey the truth, he is put into possession of all those blessings which a proud, unbelieving hypocrite can never attain.]
2. It issues in salvation—
[“The just shall live by his faith.” At the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, the believers availed themselves of a favourable moment, and fled to Pella, and escaped; whilst the whole unbelieving nation endured the righteous vengeance of an offended God. And who are they that shall be saved in the last day? Believers; and they alone. They will be then acknowledged by their God: they shall stand at the light hand of their Judge: they shall be exalted to thrones of glory: they shall live before him for ever and ever. To this the whole sacred volume bears witness. Not an exception to this truth shall ever be found: however God may suffer his people to be sifted, “not the least grain shall fall to the earth.” “It is not the will of our Father, that one of his little ones should perish.” No, verily, “they shall never perish, but shall have eternal life.”]
Suffer ye now, Brethren, a word of EXHORTATION—
1. Be candid—
[Be aware of the bias that is upon your own minds. You cannot but be sensible that there is in all of us a love of this present evil world, and a distaste for heavenly employments. You cannot but have seen it, both in your hearts and lives, from the very first moment that you began to act. You know that you have, by nature, no delight in communion with God, nor any realizing views of things invisible and eternal. You know that your affections are naturally set on the things of time and sense, and that you look to them with an intensity of interest which you do not feel in the concerns of your souls. How all this must operate on your minds, in relation to the Gospel, is obvious. That, as you well know, calls you to a renunciation of all earthly vanities, a mortification of all corrupt appetites, and a pursuit of holiness as your supreme good. Be sensible of this, when you either hear or read the blessed word of God: and beg of him to “put truth in your inward parts;” and, by the mighty power of his Spirit, to cast down all your lofty and carnal imaginations, and to bring into captivity every thought that exalts itself against the knowledge of Christ.”]
2. Be in earnest—
[It is not a mere speculation which I would impress upon your minds. No: it is the very truth of God; yea, “it is your very life.” Your rejecting of the truth will “not make void the faith of God.” It will stand, whether you reject it or not: and the final judgment will assuredly be in conformity with it. Do not then trifle. Remember how much you have at stake. Lose no time. Hear the threatenings of God, and tremble at them: and listen to the promises of God with lively gratitude and humble confidence. Bear in mind the issue of things with respect to the Jewish people: has not every word of God been fulfilled to them? You shall surely, ere long, see the same in reference to yourselves. If you proudly despise the word of God, or hypocritically pretend a submission to it which you do not yield, nothing remains for you but the stroke of God’s avenging rod. But if you will believe in Christ, and give yourselves up to him, you shall surely experience all the riches of his grace, and finally inherit all the fulness of his glory.]
MCCXXIV
GOD GREATLY TO BE FEARED
Hab. 2:20.
The Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.
TO any one who beholds the works of creation, one would suppose that there could not exist a doubt respecting the being of a God: and to any one that contemplates an idol of his own formation, one would suppose it absolutely impossible that he should ascribe to it divine attributes, or worship it as his God. Yet experience shews, that God is thus overlooked, and that idols are almost universally substituted in his place. The very people of God themselves, to whom he had so often manifested himself in the most stupendous acts, were ever prone to renounce him, and to place their trust in idols of wood and stone. But a dreadful woe is denounced against all who so dishonour God, and debase their own souls; and the declaration of God to the whole universe is this, “The Lord is in his holy temple: let the whole earth keep silence before him.”
Let us here contemplate,
I. The majesty of Jehovah—
Viewing him in contrast with senseless idols, let us contemplate him,
1. As in the temple of the universe—
[He is there as the Creator of all, the Governor of all, the Judge of all. Idols are the work of men’s hands: but men themselves, together with every thing in the whole creation, are formed by God; who, by a single expression of his will, called them all into existence, and upholds them all by the word of his power. Behold the worlds and systems that are around us, every single star preserving its appointed course, and fulfilling the ends for which it was formed: who can behold them, and not acknowledge a God of infinite wisdom, and power, and grace? Or look at the smallest insect, that is scarcely visible to the naked eye, and can be distinctly seen only through the medium of a microscope; and say, whether the Deity be not as conspicuous in it, as in the universe itself? The whole of this is under his continual care. A poor senseless idol, so far from directing others, cannot even move itself, but is carried whithersoever the maker of it wills; and, instead of bearing others, is often itself, as the prophet well observes, “a burthen to the weary beast.” But Jehovah governeth all things, both in heaven and earth; insomuch that not a sparrow tails to the ground, or a hair from the head of any one of his saints, without his special permission. His very enemies, whilst they think to oppose him, do, in fact, accomplish his will: even the crucifixion of his only-begotten Son, though so horrible an impiety, did in reality fulfil his eternal counsels: nor was there any part of that awful event which was not predicted by God, and “by him determined before to be done.”
Nor is there so much as a transient thought in the mind of any man, but it is marked by him, and recorded in the book of his remembrance; and shall be brought forth at the day of judgment, as the ground of that sentence of condemnation or acquittal that shall be passed upon us. He appears, indeed, to be so far removed from us, that he cannot take cognizance of any thing that we do: but “all things are naked and open before him;” and “with him is no darkness at all; but the night and the day to him are both alike.” As for idols, they are unconscious of what is done even to themselves; and themselves are falling to decay, and may at any time be cast into the fire and be burnt. How unlike are they to Jehovah, who will assign to every one his proper doom; and himself exist for ever, the joy of his redeemed people, the terror of his prostrate enemies!]
2. As in the person of the Lord Jesus—
[It will be remembered by you all, that Jehovah dwelt, as it were visibly, first in the tabernacle, and afterwards in the temple, in that bright cloud called the Shechinah, the symbol of the Divine presence. But yet more visibly, if I may so speak, did he dwell in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ: according as it is said, “The Word was with God, and was God, and was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us.” The expression here used has a direct reference to the tabernacle, which was a type of Christ’s humanity: He was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us, as in a tabernacle; and on that very account he is called the image of the invisible Godb; that is, the person in whom the invisible God has condescended to make himself visible to mortal man. In this adorable Saviour “dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily:” and in him all the perfections of his Father shine forth, insomuch, that he is “the brightness of his Father’s glory, and the express image of his person.” Behold, then, the incarnate Deity, sojourning on earth, to fulfil the counsels of eternal Wisdom, for the redemption of a ruined world. How contemptible are worthless idols in comparison of him! and how must every Dagon fall from its very base before him!]
Let us then contemplate,
II. Our duty towards him—
Well is it said, “Let the whole earth keep silence before him.” Truly, as surrounded by his majesty, and upheld by his power, and saved by his mercy, we must behold him,
1. With reverential awe—
[He is indeed “greatly to be feared, and to be had in reverence of all them that are round about him.” If the rocks trembled at his presence when he descended on Mount Sinai, much more must his intelligent creation, and still more the sinners of mankind. In heaven, all his hosts, whether of sinless angels or redeemed saints, fall prostrate before him: and on earth, his most favoured people have never beheld his glory, or heard his voice, but they have fallen on their face, as Abraham did, with the profoundest awe, and in deepest adoration. Even to a fellow-creature the most respectful reverence has been often shewn, and that, too, even by persons of the highest rank, through an admiration of his superior goodness and wisdom: what, then, must be due to the God of heaven, whether as riding on the heavens in his majesty, or walking on the earth in the multitude of his tender mercy?]
2. With meek submission—
[Many things, of course, occur, which we feel to be painful, and are unable to comprehend: for “our God doeth whatsoever pleaseth him;” “nor will he give account to us of any of his matters.” Nor should we for one moment rise against any of his dispensations. However dark or trying they may be, we should say, “It is the Lord: let him do what seemeth him good.” In truth, his dispensations are frequently ordered for this very end, “to humble us, and to prove us,” as he proved Israel of old: and he says to us, “Be still, and know that I am God.” This is our duty, whether we contemplate his majesty or his love; and in every event of life we must learn to say, Not my will, but thine be done.”]
3. With humble affiance—
[Great as is our God, he has engaged to interpose in behalf of his people, and to order every thing for their good. On him, therefore, we should rely with perfect confidence; not doubting but that he will accomplish for us that which, on the whole, shall be most for our good. The example of David, in this respect, is most worthy of imitation: “In the Lord put I my trust. How say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain? For, lo. the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart. If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” What? “The Lord is in his holy temple: the Lord’s throne is in heaven;” and, as long as he is there to succour me, “I fear not what men or devils can do against me.” In relation to every concern, temporal, spiritual, eternal, this must be our frame: and this our song, “If God be for me, who can be against me?”]
4. With unreserved obedience—
[No authority must be regarded in opposition to his; no disposition be harboured that is contrary to his will. Of the angels it is said, “They do his will, hearkening to the voice of his word.” Thus should we be listening with deep attention to the manifestations of his will: and, when once we have discovered it, we should fulfil it with our whole hearts. Nothing should deter us, nothing should impede us: we should strive to do his will, with the readiness and constancy that it is done in heaven.]
From this subject we may gather ample matter,
1. For reproof—
[It is truly surprising, that, with all our knowledge of God, we should be so regardless of him, as not to have him “in all, or any, of our thoughts.” It is not too strong to say of the generality of those who are called Christians, that they are “Atheists in the world.” But what impiety is this! yea, and what folly too! If, indeed, we could withstand his power, there were some kind of excuse for us: but “will our hands be strong in the day that he shall deal with us? or can we thunder with a voice like his?” Alas! we must assuredly stand at his judgment-seat, and “receive from him according to what we have done in the body, whether it be good or evil.” I call you, then, to stand in awe of him, and to tremble at his presence: for, if you refuse to fear him now, oh! think what trembling will come upon you, when you shall be summoned to his bar, to receive your eternal doom. I pray you despise not this warning; but today, while it is called today, implore his mercy, lest he leave you to the hardness of your own hearts, and give you up to final impenitence.]
2. For encouragement—
[God is, indeed, in his holy temple, ready to hear the weeping suppliant, and mighty to save his repenting people. To the Jews of old, access was denied, yea, was denied even to the high priest himself, except on one day in the year, to the more immediate presence of their God: but for you the way into the holiest is made clear; so that you may come with boldness and confidence to the very throne of God, whenever a sense of your necessities, or of his mercies, inclines you to approach him. When your Redeemer died, the vail was rent in twain, in order to represent to you this delightful truth. In Christ, your God is reconciled unto you: in Christ, he is ever nigh unto you, and ever ready to impart unto you all the blessings of grace and glory. Nay: He will make even your own hearts his temple; and “will dwell in you,” and “manifest himself unto you.” To you, then, I will rather reverse the direction in the text, and say, “Keep not silence; but rather plead with him, and give him no rest, day or night,” till he grant you the desires of your heart. “Be not straitened in yourselves; for ye are not straitened in him.” “However wide you may open your mouth, he will fill it,” and will “give you exceeding abundantly above all that you can ask or think.” In reference to his dealings with you, indeed, you must keep the most reverential silence: for “his ways are in the great deep;” “nor are his thoughts” at all in unison “with ours.” But I again say, in reference to all your own necessities, you can never ask too much, nor ever expect too much. Only look to him as “your God;” and you shall surely find him “a God unto you.”]
MCCXXV
A REVIVAL DESIRED
Hab. 3:2.
O Lord, revive thy work!
THE ministry of the Prophet Habakkuk seems to have been contemporaneous with that of the Prophet Jeremiah. He foretells the judgments which should be executed on the Jewish nation by the Chaldeans; and the fearful recompence which should come on the heads of the Chaldeans by the instrumentality of the Medes and Persians. But he was not willing that his people should wait so long without a blessing, even the whole period of their threatened captivity; and therefore, in a divine ode, an ode of peculiar sublimity, he implores of God the restoration of his favour towards them, and entreats him to blend his judgments with mercy: “O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years; in the midst of the years (of their captivity) make known: in wrath remember mercy!”
The petition here offered is highly proper to be presented to God, at all times:
I. For the Church at large—
It is proper,
1. For the Jewish Church—
[The captivity of that people in Babylon lasted only seventy years: but that to which they have been subjected, since their dispersion by the Romans, has lasted above seventeen hundred years: and in all this time there has been no material revival amongst them, in a way of humiliation, or of return to God. But now it seems as if God were about to return in mercy to them, and to restore them to himself: so that we are encouraged to cry unto him, “O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years!” And certainly we have the same encouragement which the prophet had. He in all the subsequent part of this chapter, reminds God of his former interpositions for them, in Egypt, and in the wilderness; and of the deliverances vouchsafed to them under circumstances of still greater difficulty than that with which they were encompassed in Babylon: and we may also well call those wonders to remembrance, as an encouragement to plead for them, and to expect from God’s hands the most signal interpositions in their favour. For their present dispersion is not more unfavourable than their oppression in Egypt; nor are the manifestations of God’s favour, which we look for in their behalf, more glorious than those which were vouchsafed to them at the Red Sea, and on Mount Sinai. It is not a new work which we have to solicit for them, but only a revival of the former work. And we may hope, that God will yet again, and at no distant period too, take them under his protection, and “reveal unto them more richly than ever the abundance of peace and truth.”]
2. For the Christian Church—
[This is at a low ebb, and greatly needs a revival. Where are the Pentecostal effusions of the Spirit, and the simultaneous conversions of thousands unto God? In great and extensive countries, where religion once flourished, the very name of Christ is now scarcely known. And amongst those who profess to be followers of Christ, how little is there of real piety, and of vital godliness! Whether amongst pastors or their flocks, we behold but little of that primitive simplicity, or of that entireness of devotion to God, which characterized the apostolic age. We read of “days of the Son of man;” and those are what we want to behold amongst us. We want to see the lighting down of his arm amongst us; and such displays of his power and glory as he gave when “he shook the room where his people were assembled, and filled them all with the Holy Ghost” and with power. In a word, we are looking for “times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord:” and for these we should be earnestly pleading with God in prayer; saying, with the prophet, “O that thou wouldest rend the heavens, and come down; that the mountains might flow down at thy presence!” and, with David, “Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee? Shew us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvationc.”]
But the petition may be offered also,
II. For our own souls in particular—
Who amongst us does not need to offer it?
[We are but too apt, all of us, to experience changes in the divine life, similar to those which take place in the natural world. There are seasons of spring and autumn, summer and winter: and such we find at times within our own souls. In early youth, our feelings are warm and our imaginations lively: and we seem as if it were not possible for us ever to decline from the ways on which we have entered. But, when we have advanced to middle life, how often do we see reason to deplore the loss of those ardent affections which once glowed in our souls! “The cares of this World, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desire of other things,” have beguiled us, and caused a painful declension within us; so that we have need particularly to cry, “O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of my years!” — — —]
To the prophet’s remedy, then, we should betake ourselves—
[Prayer is, of all things, the most effectual. Personal exertions are good in their place, and even necessary: but, to whatever extent they be carried, they will be of no avail without prayer. The husbandman may labour day and night; but he can never obtain a crop, without the shining of the sun, and the influences of the former and latter rain. All is under the controul of heaven with respect to him: and so it is with respect to us: and it is by prayer that the Divine blessing is to be obtained. And what would not the prayer of faith effect? Has it closed heaven for three years and a half, and then opened it again; and shall it not avail for us? Were we but earnest and constant in prayer, there would be little reason to complain of declension, though every day would still bring with it the need of a revival.]
And have we not the same encouragement?
[The prophet looked back to former days, and pleaded for a repetition of former mercies. And shall not we also look back to the day when he quickened us from our death in trespasses and sins, and created us anew, and translated us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear Son? We are taught to consider his gifts as earnests and pledges of further mercies: and that is a just mode of arguing which the Psalmist adopts, “Thou hast delivered my soul from death; Wilt thou not deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before the Lord in the light of the living?” God says to us, “Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justifiede:” and if we use these means in faith, our success shall resemble that which the prophet describes: “Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord! awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old! Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon? Art thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over? Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.”]
APPLICATION—
1. Inquire now, I pray you, what is the state of God’s work within you?
[Has he ever yet wrought effectually in your souls? Has he ever brought you out of bondage to the world, and sin, and Satan; and brought you to live in a state of entire dependence upon him, for guidance in his ways, for protection from enemies, for daily supplies of grace and peace, and for the final possession of the promised land? And are you advancing in the divine life, and “making your profiting daily to appear?” — — — If the work is not yet begun, lose not a moment in pleading with him, that you may obtain mercy at his hands. And if, through the prevalence of temptation, it has declined at all, cry to him with all possible earnestness, “O Lord, revive thy work!” and leave nothing undone, if by any means you may “strengthen in your souls what is yet remaining, but is ready to die”]
2. Let nothing discourage you in your application to the Lord—
[See the state of the Jews in Babylon; and judge whether you can be in a more desperate state than they. To Babylon they had been sent by God himself, in token of his heavy displeasure: and there they were oppressed without mercy. No access to God had they in his ordinances; nor had they any hope of deliverance, except what was founded on his word of promise. Let your state, then, be as bad as your imagination can paint it, and the same blessed hope is yours: for God will not shut his ear against the cry of the poor destitute, or disappoint their desire. Go to him with that prayer of David, “Return, O Lord, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants. O satisfy us early with thy mercy, that we may rejoice, and be glad in thee all our days!” and you may be perfectly assured that he will return to you, and “give you a reviving in your bondagei.”]
MCCXXVI
THE CHRISTIAN’S BOAST
Hab. 3:17, 18.
Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls; yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
A CHRISTIAN will be distinguished from others, whatever be his situation in life; but the more trying and afflictive his condition be, the more will he cause his light to shine before men, and demonstrate the excellence of the principles he has embraced. The prophet’s resolution, in the prospect of the Babylonish invasion and of the calamities consequent upon it, affords a just picture of every child of God: for though all do not possess the same attainments, all determine through grace to make God the exclusive object of their joy and triumph. Taking then the text as expressive of the feelings of all God’s people, we shall notice,
I. The Christian’s boast—
The Christian is not exempt from the common calamities of life: but though he partakes of the troubles in which others are involved, he feels supports with which others are wholly unacquainted—
1. He views God as his God and Saviour—
[The Christian contemplates God as the Creator and Governor of the universe, but more especially as the Saviour of sinful man. He admires the stupendous method which God has devised for the salvation of sinners through the blood and righteousness of his only dear Son: but that which gives peculiar sweetness to his meditations is, that he is enabled to claim God as his Saviour, who has been already the “God of his salvation, and is daily his strength; and will be an effectual Saviour, making his feet like hinds’ feet, and causing him to walk upon his high places” — — —]
2. He determines, in the want of all other things, to rejoice in him—
[In possessing God, he enjoys a suitable good, an all-sufficient good, and an everlasting good; he has that which fully satisfies the desires of his soul — — — which makes him regardless of all his wants or trials — — — and which is unchangeable, no less in its operation than its existence — — — Hence he determines to rejoice in God, no less when bereft of all the necessaries of life, than when surrounded with a fulness of all earthly comforts.
Nor is this a vain boast: for it accords with the experience of the godly in all ages of the world — — —]
We shall have a just view of the Christian, if we consider,
II. The insight which this gives us into his real character—
Following the clew which this passage affords us, we shall find that the Christian is,
1. An exalted character—
[His thoughts are not engrossed by the things of time and sense; he soars to heaven, and views God himself in all the perfections of his nature, and in all the wonders of his grace. Nor could he be contented to call the whole world his own: he will be satisfied with nothing but the enjoyment of God, and a well-grounded persuasion of an interest in his favour. In this respect he as much surpasses the wisest philosopher, as the philosopher excels the most illiterate clown; because they who search deepest into the works of nature are circumscribed by the creation, whereas the Christian contemplates the Creator himself. Indeed he emulates even the angels around the throne, who are represented as continually looking into the mysteries of redeeming love.]
2. A happy character—
[The Christian is not exempt from trials and troubles; yet is he far happier than any unregenerate man. There is not any earthly bliss of which he has not a higher relish than others, because he enjoys, not the creature only, but God in the creature. A carnal mind cannot form any estimate of the Christian’s joys. To know what is meant by communion with Christ, by the witness of the Spirit, and by the love of God shed abroad in the heart, we must experience them ourselves; and without such experience we are as incapable of judging of them as a blind man is of colours, or a deaf man of sounds. No words can fully express the joy with which the Christian is sometimes favoured: it is represented as “unspeakable and glorified.”]
3. An independent character—
[Others, if bereft of earthly supports, are reduced to extreme distress: the Christian may be deprived of all external comforts, and still the source of his happiness will remain entire. He can even derive happiness from his afflictions; he can “rejoice in his sufferings,” and “glory in his tribulations.” He is independent of the whole world: none can greatly add to his happiness, or materially detract from it. In the fulness of earthly blessings he enjoys God in all; and in the absence of them he enjoys all in God]
ADDRESS—
1. The careful Christian—
[God would “have you without carefulness:” he commands you to “be careful for nothingi:’ and four times in the space of a few verses does our Lord repeat the command, “Take no thought,” that is, no anxious thought, “about any earthly thing whatever.” O ye who are “careful and cumbered about many things,” see how ye live below your privileges. Get your hearts more filled with the love of God, and the cares of this world will be dissipated as the dew before the sun.]
2. The timid Christian—
[Some, though dead to the world, have not that joy in God which it is their privilege to possess. They meditate too much upon their own infirmities, and too little upon the perfections and promises of their God. O brethren, look at God as the God of salvation, as the God of your salvation, and you shall have your fears turned into confidence, and your sorrows into thanksgiving and the voice of melody.]
3. The confident Christian—
[If your confidence be tempered with humility and contrition, “hold it fast,” and “keep the rejoicing of your hope firm unto the end.” Such joy in God will recommend religion unto others, and “be the strength of your own souls.” While living in this state you will be prepared for every event: you will be guarded equally against the allurements of prosperity, and the terrors of adversity. “Rejoice then evermore; rejoice in the Lord alway; and again I say, Rejoice.”]
ZEPHANIAH
MCCXXVII
THE SECURE AND ATHEISTICAL CONDEMNED
Zeph. 1:12.
It shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees; that say in their heart, The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil.
SUCH was the state of the Jews for a long time previous to the Babylonish captivity, that the prophets had little to do, but to denounce the judgments of God against them. The promises which they were inspired to utter had respect to a different and distant period, a period for the most part yet future; shadowed forth indeed by their deliverance from Babylon, but to be realized only by their future conversion to the faith of Christ. Nevertheless, the warnings given to them are of use to the Church of God in all ages. The Christian Church at this time is in a state not very dissimilar to that of the Jews in the land of Canaan. We are externally the chosen people of God: we enjoy the ordinances of religion in their purity: and we have all the means of grace richly afforded us. But we rest in external services, as they did; and have as little of real piety as the generality of that infatuated nation. Whilst we call ourselves the people of the Lord, we differ but little from the nations that know not God. We conform in many things to customs most repugnant to true religion; and in the spirit and habit of our minds, shew, that, whatever we may retain of “the form of godliness, we are strangers to its power.” The evils which God reproved amongst them, are to be found in no less degree amongst us also: and the judgments that were denounced against them shew what reason we also have to dread the displeasure of God. In confirmation of this truth, we will consider,
I. The characters here described—
Such we behold in every place; persons sunk in,
1. Carnal security—
[The metaphor by which the state of these persons is depicted exhibits it in a most striking point of view. Wine, when “settled on its lees,” retains for a long time its strength and flavour, which, if it were emptied from vessel to vessel, it would soon lose. In like manner, when, through a long period of ease and prosperity, persons have their natural dispositions fixed, and inveterate habits formed, they retain throughout their whole man, and manifest throughout their whole conduct, a savour of earthly things. The very habit of sin hardens them in sin; and the forbearance which God in his mercy exercises towards them, confirms in them an expectation of final impunity. This is the description which the Prophet Jeremiah gives of Moab; and with it agrees the testimony of David respecting the ungodly in all ages: as long as they have no changes “to awaken them from their slumber, they fear not God.” How true this is, we cannot but see in all around us. How securely do men live in a total neglect of their everlasting concerns! They have no dread of God’s displeasure; no anxieties about the future judgment; no alternations of hope and fear as arising from an examination of their state before God. Whatever God may say in his word, they regard it not. If he tell them, that “broad is the road that leadeth to destruction, and that many,” even the great mass of mankind, “walk therein; but that narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it;” they account it worthy of not the least attention: they cannot believe that they are in any danger; and they hold fast their delusions with a confidence that nothing can shake.]
2. Atheistical presumption—
[Persons, the more effectually to exclude all misgivings from their minds, deny that God takes any cognizance of their state. “Tush, say they, how shall God know? is there knowledge in the Most High?” They think it would be dishonouring God to conceive of him as marking all the ways of the children of men in order to a future judgment. True indeed, they hear him denounce many threatenings against the ungodly: but they will not believe that he will execute them. They hear him, too, promising many things to his humble and obedient people: but they cannot persuade themselves that he will fulfil them. They imagine that he has, as it were, “forsaken the earth:” and quite contented are they that he should do so, since the very thought of his presence would disquiet them. Thus do they, in fact, “say like the fool, ‘There is no Godd’”
Not that this is the language of their lips: they would be ashamed to avow such sentiments as these. But it is the language of their hearts: “they say in their hearts, The Lord will not do good; neither will he do evil.” If they believed in their hearts the promises and threatenings of God, they would manifest a suitable regard to them in their lives: but, as they neither delight themselves in the one, nor tremble at the other, they shew beyond all doubt what the secret feeling of their hearts is, and that the construction which God puts upon their conduct is true. They may be moral and decent in their outward conduct; but radically in their hearts they are “Atheists in the world.”]
After this view of the persons described in our text, we shall not wonder at,
II. The judgments denounced against them—
Two things God declares in the words before us;
1. That however hidden they may suppose their state to be, God will search it out—
[The Jews at the passover would search every corner of their houses with candles, in order to find the smallest portion of leaven which might lie concealed: and God will search with candles, not Jerusalem only, but every place, yea and every heart, to find the abominations which have been just described. They may not betray themselves by any overt acts, so as to excite the attention of men: they may even exist where all the outward conduct is correct; even as the most offensive masses of corruption are hid under a whited sepulchre. But God will not be deceived by any appearances, however specious; “The darkness is no darkness with him; but the night is as clear as the day:” before him all things are naked and opened: the thoughts and intents of the heart are discerned by him: and “he will make manifest its most hidden counsels.” “He searcheth the heart, and trieth the reins,” and “weigheth the spirit” as in a balance; and will interpret as infallibly the language of the heart, as if it had been manifested by ten thousand acts. Let this be duly considered. We may deceive others, and we may deceive ourselves: but we cannot deceive our God; for “he knows the things that come into our mind, every one of them.”]
2. That however innocent they may suppose their state to be, God will punish it—
[God cannot look upon persons of this description without the deepest resentment: for they place him on a level with the basest idol, whose proper character is, that “it can do neither good nor evil.” And how can a holy and jealous God endure this? Be it so: their wickedness is only, as it were, of a negative kind; and consists rather in a neglect of what is good, than in a perpetration of what is evil: but was this unpunished in the antediluvian world? “They ate, they drank; they planted, they builded; they married, and were given in marriage:” and, What harm, it may be asked, was there in all this? None: but the evil was, that they lived without any regard for God: and therefore God sent a deluge, and swept them all away. And so will he do with respect to those who now cast off all fear of him, and, in heart at least, banish him from the world which he has created. See in what light he views such conduct: he declares “the iniquity of it to be exceeding great;” and denounces against it his heaviest indignationh. And so far are these persons from being out of danger, that the more secure they apprehend themselves to be, the greater and more imminent their danger is. They may say, Peace and safety; but “sudden destruction will come upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape;” they may sleep; but “their judgment lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.” “The sins of some are open beforehand, going before to judgment: but they that are otherwise cannot be hidk.” It is in vain to say that they do no harm: for the unprofitable servant, no less than the openly wicked, shall be “cast into outer darkness, where is weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth.”]
ADDRESS—
1. Those who are living in the state above described—
[I will appeal to you yourselves respecting the wickedness of your lives. Judge ye between God and your own souls. Consider yourselves but as creatures; and does it become you to live without any regard for your Creator? But view yourselves as sinners redeemed by the blood of God’s only dear Son; and then say, whether a life of carnal security and atheistical presumption be such an one as your condition calls for? — — — Look into the Scriptures, and see whether you can find any countenance for such a life, either in the commands of God, or in the examples of his saints? — — — Think whether your own opinion of such a state will always remain what you now profess it to be? Do you find that any awakened soul looks back on such a life with complacency? Does it appear to him a light matter to have lived all his days as without God in the world? If you continue to harden yourselves against God, he may give you up to your own delusions, and leave you under the power of them in your dying hour: but what think you will be your views of such a life the very instant your eyes are opened on the invisible world? What will be your views of it when standing in the presence of your Judge? and what will be your views of it, when you are eating the fruit of your own ways in that place from whence there is no return, and in which your residence will be fixed to all eternity? If in your hearts you think that you will then rejoice in the retrospect of a carnal life, go on; and sleep out the little remainder of your days. But if conscience tell you, that in that day you will have far different views from those which you now profess, then awake from your slumbers, and turn unto God without delay. God has given you a candle wherewith to search yourselves; (for “the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly:”) make use of it then with all diligence: “search and try your ways, and turn unto the Lord your God:” and doubt not but that in Christ you shall find a full and complete redemption. “Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead; and Christ shall give thee light.”]
2. Those who have attained deliverance from it—
[Blessed be God, if any of you have been quickened from your death in trespasses and sins: and now beware, lest ye relapse again into your former state of atheistical supineness. It is no uncommon thing for persons to run well for a season, and then turn back again; to “begin in the Spirit, and end in the flesh.” But to you also will I make my appeal: Is it “a vain thing to serve the Lord?” Will he not do good to those who seek him in sincerity and truth? Is he not, as he has said, “the Rewarder of all such?” Does he not even now impart to the soul blessings that are of more value than ten thousand worlds? Does he not answer prayer? Does he not communicate to the soul a peace that passeth all understanding? Does he not lift up the light of his countenance on the poor and needy? Does he not shed abroad his love in the heart? Does he not give the witness of his Spirit to the soul, and seal it unto the day of redemption? On the other hand, does he not hide his face when you become remiss, and leave you to feel what “an evil and bitter thing it is to depart from him?” Yes: you can testify that there is a God that ruleth in the earth; you can testify how rich his grace is, and how abundant his mercy in the Son of his love. You can testify that Christ “reveals himself to his people as he does not unto the world;” and that he dwells in them, and gives them, by the manifestations of his love, an earnest and a foretaste of their future inheritance. Go on, then, living by faith upon him, and cleaving unto him with full purpose of heart; and shew to all around you what the Christian life is. Run, as in a race, for an incorruptible crown: wrestle as one that is striving against all the principalities and powers of hell: and fight manfully till all your enemies are put under your feet. So shall you be living witnesses for God in this world, and partakers of all his blessedness in the world to come.]
MCCXXVIII
REPENTANCE URGED
Zeph. 2:1–3.
Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired; before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord’s anger come upon you. Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.
IN the preceding chapter, the most dreadful judgments are denounced against the whole Jewish nation. That devoted people are represented as a sacrifice, which God himself has prepared to be devoured by their enemies, whom he has invited as guests to come and prey upon them. Yet, as God afforded space for repentance to the Ninevites, notwithstanding the apparent immutability of his decree against them, so he does here to his own people the Jews. By the voice of his prophet he bids them “gather themselves together” for the purpose of national humiliation, and repent, before the threatened judgments come upon them. And, if they in their national capacity will not hear his voice, he bids the meek and contrite among them to abase themselves, that they at least may be preserved amidst the general wreck.
A similar exhortation is at all times seasonable; since at all times there are the heaviest judgments impending over the ungodly, and since by true and timely penitence they may be averted.
To analyze this passage, will be to enervate its force. I shall therefore ground upon it a general address, having respect to its main import, and prosecuting in an unartificial way its more prominent topics. Know then, that
The most dreadful judgments hang over an ungodly world—
[There is a day wherein “God will judge the world by that man whom he hath ordained, even by our Lord Jesus Christ.” That day is called “the day of wrath and of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God;” and “the day of the perdition of ungodly men.” But the terrors of that day who can conceive? Who can form any idea of what is meant by that wrath of God, which is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men?” Who can imagine what it is to be “cast into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone,” where “the worm,” that gnaws the conscience, “dieth not, and the fire is not quenched?” In a word, the “power of his anger who can tell?”]
To escape those judgments should be the one concern of every living man—
[There is no man who is not justly exposed to them: all are trangressors of God’s holy law, and consequently obnoxious to the curse which it denounces against sin. All then, as with one heart and one mind, should unite in deprecating the displeasure of their God, and in “fleeing for refuge to the hope set before them” in the Gospel — — — Hear this, “O people not desired:” whether through the hardness of your hearts ye are not desired by God, or through your ignorance of him are not desirous of his favour, (for the prophet’s expression may be understood in either way;) you should not lose an hour in embracing the proffered mercy. If once “the decree bring forth,” there will be an end of all possibility of obtaining mercy to all eternity. “As the tree falls, so will it lie” for ever and ever. O, then let all of you “gather yourselves together,” and, as the word also imports, “search yourselves,” ere it be too late. For your immortal souls’ sake, repent, I beseech you, without delay, “before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord’s anger come upon you.”]
To those who have any measure of humility and contrition, this truth will approve itself as most unquestionable and most important—
[Prevalent as impiety is to a vast extent, there are some, I trust, “who have wrought God’s judgment,” and laboured in sincerity to fulfil his will. Such, it might be supposed, would be most self-confident. But the very reverse is their experience: the more observant they have been of the Lord’s statutes, the more will they be humbled under a sense of their defects: they are, and ever will be, “the meek of the earth.” To such then we address ourselves with the greater hope of success: “Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth.” You have already shewn that you think God is to be feared: your very attainments, small as they may be, yet testify in your behalf that you are neither “undesirous,” or “undesired.” You have chosen God; and that is a proof that God has previously chosen you. Relax not then your endeavours: be not contented to have run well for a season: press forward, forgetful of all that you may have attained: “never be weary in well-doing,” lest you “turn back,” and “your last end be worse than your beginning.”]
But let your humiliation be such as God requires—
[“Seek righteousness, seek meekness;” “seek righteousness” in the way wherein God has appointed it to be obtained, even by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; who, by his own obedience unto death, has brought in an everlasting righteousness for the justification of the ungodly; and by his efficacious and all-sufficient grace will “sanctify you throughout, in body, soul, and spirit.” Rest not in any thing short of the full possession of Christ and all his benefits: but labour night and day, till “he is, of God, made unto you wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” Particularly “seek meekness” also; for that is the grace which God most delights in: “the broken and contrite heart he will not despise;” on the contrary, he will come down from the highest heavens to testify his regard for it, and to make it his habitation. If there be one grace more than another which distinguishes the more advanced Christian, it is that of humility. Job was a “perfect” man before his sufferings; but, after them, his attainments in grace were exceedingly enlarged; and then it was that he “abhorred himself in dust and ashes.” Do ye also aspire after perfection in every grace; but learn most of all to “lothe yourselves,” when you have the most confident hope that “God is pacified towards you.”]
It shall then assuredly prove effectual for the salvation of your souls—
[“Repent,” says the prophet, “and turn from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.” Where the judgments are of a temporal nature, the true penitent may hope that God will put a difference between him and others; but in reference to judgments that shall be inflicted in the eternal world, he may be sure of it. The sheep and the goats shall have their appropriate places assigned them; and the wheat be treasured up in the gamer, whilst “the chaff is burnt up with unquenchable fire.” Were there but a peradventure concerning this, it were quite sufficient to encourage our deepest penitence: but it is not a matter of uncertainty: it not only “may be,” but shall be: and not the smallest grain of true wheat shall ever be lost. Did Jesus, even in the days of his flesh, lose one whom the Father had given him? No: “nor will he ever suffer one to be plucked out of his hands.” “Their lives are now hid with Christ in God; and therefore when He, who is their life, shall appear, they also shall appear with him in glory.”]
MCCXXIX
WHAT RECOMPENCE WE MAY EXPECT FOR OUR NEGLECT OF GOD
Zeph. 3:7, 8.
I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction; so their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them: but they rose early, and corrupted all their doings. Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey.
IN great national calamities we are apt, for the most part, to overlook the hand of God, and to trace events only to second causes, or to ascribe them to mere chance. But whatever there be either of “good or evil in the city,” God must be acknowledged as “the doer of it.” Moreover, in whatever he does, he has some fixed design: and to answer that design should be the labour of all his creatures. Now the general design of his judgments is, to awaken the inhabitants of the earth from their torpor, and to teach them righteousness: and if smaller judgments produce not this effect upon us, we may expect heavier to ensue. One very important object to be attained by cutting off the nations around Judæa, and by sending the ten tribes into captivity in Assyria, was to reform his more peculiar people, the tribes of Benjamin and Judah. And as his people were far from improving his judgments for that end, he declared that he would visit them in a way suited to display the enormity of their guilt, and the riches of that grace which they had so abused.
In order to accommodate this subject to the present occasion, we shall consider,
I. What God has been expecting from us—
Dreadful have been the judgments which God has inflicted on the surrounding nations—
[To whatever part of Europe we direct our attention, we shall see that the different nations have, during the last twenty years, been visited with calamities of a most afflictive kind: but more particularly, the recent devastation of Russia, the destruction of its ancient capital by fire, and the total annihilation of the French army in the space of a few weeks, are events that demand particular notice at this time. Indeed, with the exception of our highly-favoured land, there is scarcely a country to which, at some period of this war, we may not in a measure apply the words preceding our text; “I have cut off the nations: their towers are desolate; I made their streets waste, that none passeth by: their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, that there is none inhabitant.”]
And has not God been speaking to us by these great events?
[Yes, surely: he has sought to reclaim us from our evil ways: he has “said with himself, Surely thou wilt fear me; thou wilt receive instruction; so that thy dwelling shall not be cut off, howsoever I punish thee.” Of us this improvement of his judgments might well be expected, not only on account of the peculiar protection which has been afforded us, but on account of the transcendant advantages which we enjoy in the knowledge of God’s word, and the ministration of his Gospel — — — And now, I ask, was not this expectation reasonable? and is not that complaint which God made against his people of old, in the fullest and strictest sense applicable to us? — — —]
Alas! We have reason to blush and be confounded, when we reflect,
II. How we have disappointed his expectations—
Hear the accusation of God against us; “They rose early, and corrupted all their doings”—
[There is no sin, in the commission of which we are not as eager as ever. It should almost seem that “the goodness, and long-suffering, and forbearance of God, which should have led us to repentance,” have produced rather the contrary effect, of lulling us to sleep in our sins. The accusation is more fully stated in a preceding verse: let us consider it more minutely: let us make use of it as a light by which to search and try our ways — — — exceeding heinous?]
And is not the accusation applicable to all ranks and orders amongst us, even as it was against the Jews of old?
[We do not in general wish to speak of others: but in a view of national iniquities we are constrained to do so, especially where the prophets lead the way. Behold then what the prophet speaks respecting the princes, the judges, the prophets, and the priests of his day: we will not say that precisely the same iniquities prevail amongst those different orders in our land; but we appeal to you, whether any material change has taken place amongst the higher ranks; or whether those, whose duty it is to instruct and reform the world, have increased in activity and zeal, by any means to the extent that the occasion has called for? Alas! if we consult the records of the New Testament, and see what the Apostles preached, and how they lived, and then compare it with the lives and ministrations of the sacred order amongst us, we shall see cause to wonder that God has not already removed his candlestick from us, and left us in utter darkness — — —
And well may the misconduct of these orders be more distinctly noticed, since on them depends, in so great a degree, the state of all the other classes of society. If all ministers would preach the Gospel with fidelity, and exemplify its holy precepts in their lives; and if our princes and nobility would take the lead in the great work of reformation; an immense change would soon be wrought in every quarter of the land: but if, for want of their exertions, the whole land continue in its iniquities, let them not wonder that their criminality is exposed, and that the judgments reserved for them are proportioned to the guilt which they contract.]
The disappointment of God’s expectations from us leads us naturally to consider,
III. What we may expect from him—
On this part of our subject we shall be led to extremely different views, according to the interpretation which we put on the concluding words of our text. Some understand the words thus: “Ye have disappointed all my reasonable expectations; therefore expect from me the most tremendous judgments.” Others justly observe, that the word “therefore” may properly be translated “nevertheless;” and that the sense is, ‘ye have disappointed all my reasonable expectations; nevertheless that shall not induce me to alter my gracious purposes towards Jews and Gentiles, whom I will unite under one head, and sanctify as my peculiar people.’ In confirmation of this latter sense, we must say, that this is the very way in which God often introduces his most glorious promises; and that the two verses following our text seem to require it. But as we cannot certainly determine which of the senses is the right, we include both; and shew what we may expect from God,
1. In a way of judgment—
[Often does God denounce especial vengeance against those who have abused his mercies: and well indeed may we expect to have it executed upon us: well may we be constrained to drink the dregs of that cup which has been put into the hands of the surrounding nations. And how fearful will be our state, if “God pour upon us his indignation, even all his fierce anger!” Let us not indulge in presumptuous security. Who that had been told a few years ago that either the ancient capital of the Russian empire, or that of the British empire, would before this be certainly destroyed by fire, would have imagined on which the lot should fall? O let us tremble for ourselves, and labour to fulfil the gracious designs of God, before his wrath come upon us to the uttermost — — —]
2. In a way of mercy—
[The Jews have an idea that the Messiah’s advent was deferred on account of the wickedness of their nation: but it was not deferred; nor shall any thing prevent the final execution of God’s promises, in the restoration of the Jews, and the bringing in the fulness of the Gentiles — — — No: we look for those events with full assurance that they shall be accomplished in due season. It is probable, indeed, that great calamities will precede those eventsk; and there is great reason to hope, that the calamities of the present day are preparing the way for them. May God hasten forward that glorious period! and then, grievous as have been the distresses of the world for so many years, we shall not think we have sustained one too much, if it has been accessary in any measure to the promotion of so blessed an end.]
APPLICATION—
[Let us now drop all idea of national concerns, and come to those which are purely personal. Let us call to mind our personal transgressions, and reflect upon the personal judgments or mercies that await us — — — And may God reap the fruit of all his kindness; and Christ “see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied!”]
MCCXXX
THE POOR LIVING BY FAITH
Zeph. 3:12.
I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people; and they shall trust in the name of the Lord.
THE Lord’s people have in every age been a mere remnant, in comparison of the great mass of mankind. At the time of the deluge they were confined to Noah and his family. In the patriarchal age, from the call of Abraham to the descent of his posterity into Egypt, they were still a very “little flock:” and though they afterwards in appearance multiplied, and became a great nation, yet “they were not all Israel who were of Israel:” there was still but a small portion of that people who truly loved and served God; and even in the apostolic age St. Paul tells us, that they were then only “a remnant according to the election of grace.” Moreover, this remnant has for the most part been of the description mentioned in our text, persons destitute of any thing whereon to found a carnal confidence, and necessitated to confide solely in their God. At the period referred to in the preceding context they will cease to bear the character of a remnant, seeing that they will fill the face of the whole earth, and comprehend in their number all the kings and princes of the world: but till that period they will be characterized as “an afflicted and poor people, who shall trust in the name of the Lord.”
In further speaking of them, we shall be led to notice,
I. Their low condition—
The description here given of them is for the most part verified in them,
1. As members of the community—
[Riches and poverty are relative terms; and, when viewed in a large and comprehensive sense, will serve to draw a broad line between the different classes of society. It is from the lower of these classes that the Lord’s people are most generally taken. Others are not excluded; on the contrary, some of the opposite class will always be found among them: but “not many great, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: God has chosen rather the foolish, the weak, the base, the despised, that no flesh should glory in his presence.” So evident has this been in all ages of the Church, that St. James appeals to his brethren all the world over in confirmation of the fact: “Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of his kingdomc?” Indeed to this circumstance our Lord himself referred as confirming the truth of his Messiahship, that “to the poor the Gospel was preached:” and they received his word, and “heard him gladly,” whilst the Scribes and Pharisees almost universally rejected him.
Affliction too is not unfrequently associated with poverty in the Lord’s people: for it is rarely that any man will turn truly unto the Lord, till affliction of some kind or other has prepared his heart, and “plowed up, as it were, the fallow ground” for the reception of the heavenly seed. Almost all have occasion to acknowledge, with the Psalmist, “Before I was afflicted, I went astray.” The minds of men are so carnal and worldly, that they will scarcely admit a serious thought, till they are made to feel, like the Prodigal in the parable, the insufficiency of earthly things to comfort them in the hour of trouble. Then they awake, as it were, out of a dream; and begin to say, “I will go unto my Father, in whose house there is bread enough and to spare.”]
2. As convinced sinners—
[In this state every child of God without exception answers to the character in our text. There was once a time when all of them thought that they were “rich and increased in goods, and had need of nothing;” but, when the Lord opened the eyes of their understanding, they were made sensible that they were “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” From that time they become “poor in spirit,” and “go on their way weeping” for all their past iniquities and abominations. Now they have on their hearts a load too heavy for them to bear; and under the pressure of it they go to that adorable Saviour, who has invited to him the weary and heavy-laden, and who alone is capable of giving them rest. Such are the persons to whom alone the Gospel is acceptable, or can ever be preached with full effect: “the whole need not a physician:” it is the sick alone that desire his aid, or will receive his prescriptions. And such are the Lord’s people: they feel themselves utterly destitute of all wisdom, goodness, and strength; and they are content to receive these blessings out of the fulness that is in Christ Jesus.]
3. As professors of godliness—
[In former ages, long before the coming of Christ, the Lord’s people were persecuted by an ungodly world. Thousands “of whom the world,” as the Apostle says, “was not worthy, had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment: they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword; they wandered about in sheep-skins and goat-skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented.” Of the saints under the Gospel dispensation it is needless to speak: the Acts of the Apostles amply testify, as the Epistles do also, that the followers of Christ have been treated as “the filth of the world, and the off-scouring of all things;” and experience proves that they are so regarded even to this day. The increase of civilization, and the protection afforded by human laws, prevent the same cruelties from being exercised towards them as in days of old: but it is as true at this day as at any period of the world, that “he who departeth from evil maketh himself a prey;” and that “all who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” True, we are not dragged to the stake as formerly: but is it nothing to be hated, and despised of all men, and to be made a butt for impiety and profaneness to expend their arrows upon? Is it nothing, too, to have one’s “greatest foes amongst one’s own household?” Yet so shall every man, who will be faithful to his God, find it in his own experience: he shall surely have some cross to bear; and be himself a witness, that the Lord’s servants are “a poor and afflicted people.”]
Nevertheless they need not be discouraged, if only they will improve,
II. Their exalted privilege—
“The name of the Lord is to them a strong tower, to which they may run and be safe.” It is their privilege to trust in,
1. His mercy to pardon their offences—
[Whatever their former sins may have been, their Lord and Saviour is ready to forgive them, and to blot them all out as a morning cloud. Even though they may have been “red like crimson, they, through the virtue of his blood, shall be made white as snow.” Know then your privilege in this respect: let no sense of guilt keep you from him: limit not his tender mercies: look at those whom he received in the days of his flesh: and be assured, that he is still as gracious as ever; and that “those who come to him he will in no wise cast out.” “Though your sins may have abounded, his grace shall much more abound;” and he will say to you, as he did to a notorious sinner of old, “Thy sins, which are many, are forgiven thee.”]
2. His power to uphold them in their difficulties—
[Great may be your conflicts with sin and Satan; but great shall be the succour which you shall derive from your living Head, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will “strengthen you with might by his Spirit in your inner man:” and “as your day is, so shall also your strength be.” In you shall that sweet promise be verified, “The foot shall tread down its adversaries, even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy.” However formidable then your enemies may appear, remember, that “your Redeemer also is mighty;” and that, “whilst God is for you, none can with any effect be against you.”]
3. His love to overrule every thing for good—
[God has promised to his people that “all things shall work together for their good.” How the good shall be elicited from the evil, and especially at the time, they have no idea. But God knows how to accomplish his own gracious purposes by the very means which his enemies are using to defeat them. The history of Joseph, and the book of Esther, draw aside the veil, and shew us how God is acting at this very hour. The instances that occur are invisible to mortal eyes, as they were in the histories referred to: but the plot is going forward; and in due time millions of other instances will be seen, no less real, and no less wonderful than they. It is the privilege of God’s people to “commit their ways entirely to him,” and he engages that he “will bring to pass” what shall eventually be for their greatest good.]
4. His faithfulness to keep them, even to the end—
[Never does he forsake his poor and afflicted people. He has promised them, “I will never leave thee; I will never, never forsake thee.” We may be confident, as the Apostle was, that “where God has begun a good work, he will carry it on, and perfect it till the day of Christ.” This is assured to them by covenant and by oath, that they may have the stronger consolation. Not that a reliance on their Saviour is to supersede their own efforts, but rather to encourage them; seeing that it is by their own efforts he will work: but still it is their privilege to anticipate the issue of their conflicts with confidence; and to rest assured, that “nothing shall ever separate them from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus their Lord.”]
ADDRESS—
1. Let it not be a grief to any that they are “afflicted and poor”—
[Such the Saviour himself was; “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” And shall it be a grief to any to be made like unto Him? — — — Besides, it is by our own utter destitution of all good, that the power and grace of Christ will be magnified. And shall we not thankfully acquiesce in any thing that glorifies him? The Apostle Paul “took pleasure in his infirmities and distresses,” because “the power of Christ as made perfect, and manifested to be perfect, by his weakness:” and this is the proper disposition for us all. Be contented to be nothing; that “Christ may be all in all.”]
2. Let the religion of the heart be more and more cultivated—
[We are far from undervaluing religious acts: they are excellent, as fruits of the Spirit, and as evidences of a lively faith. But it is the religion of the heart that must be our first concern; since till the tree be made good, it is in vain to hope for any good fruit to spring from it. The grand characteristic feature of the Lord’s people is, that “they trust in his name.” Now trust is altogether an act of the soul; an act invisible to mortal eyes. It realizes the presence of Jehovah, and his government of the whole universe. It rests on him: it reposes all its hopes on his agency; and thus honours him, far beyond all other exercises either of the mind or body. This then is to be the habit of our minds: and “the whole life which we now live in the flesh, we must live altogether by faith in the Son of God, who has loved us, and given himself for us.”]
MCCXXXI
THE DUTY OF THANKFULNESS FOR GOD’S MERCIES
Zeph. 3:14, 15.
Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy: the King of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more.
THE prophets are chiefly occupied with reproving the evils which prevailed in their day, and with denouncing, both on Israel and the surrounding nations, the judgments they had merited by their multiplied transgressions. But occasionally they change their voice, and, as heralds of mercy, proclaim to all, but to Israel more especially, the blessings which God has in reserve for them in the latter day. In performing this office they quite exult; and, when they have begun, they scarcely know how to end, their benevolent congratulations. In the former part of this chapter the prophet brings his accusations against the Jews, who, disregarding the warnings which God in his providence had given them by the judgments visibly inflicted upon others, persisted in their iniquities without shame or remorse. But, in the latter part of it, he launches forth into a subject more congenial with his feelings, and announces, both to the Jewish and Gentile world, that God had designs of love towards them, and would incorporate them all in one blessed society, and restore them all to his favour. In the address which I have just read to you he is peculiarly animated. We may consider it as delivered,
I. To the Jews, prospectively, in a way of anticipation—
The events referred to are spoken of as already past, even though at this time, after the lapse of twenty-five centuries, we see not yet the predictions fulfilled. But this mode of speaking is common to all the prophets, who, knowing the unerring certainty of their predictions, look through intervening ages as through a telescope, and see the objects of which they speak accomplished before their eyes.
Now here the prophet felicitates the Jews as already liberated from the judgments which they had suffered, or which yet at distant periods impended over them—
[They were to be carried captive to Babylon and to Assyria, and to be utterly destroyed by the Roman power, and to be scattered over the face of the whole earth as objects of hatred and contempt amongst all people. And it is a fact, that no people that ever existed upon earth were ever so universally despised, and hated, and persecuted as they. But the prophet says to them by anticipation, “Thy judgments are taken away.” This has already in part been “fulfilled.” And it is certain that in God’s good time her judgments shall be so perfectly taken away, as not to leave even the appearance, and scarcely the recollection, of them behind: “Thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. For thy Maker is thine husband.… the God of the whole earth shall he be called” So completely shall this be done, that Jerusalem shall yet become a name and a praise amongst all the people upon earth, as soon as ever the Lord shall have turned back the captivity with which his people are now oppressedc.]
But, to enter more distinctly into this subject—
[Three things are here predicted as grounds of unutterable joy: First; Their enemies shall all be cast out; next, The Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, shall dwell in the midst of them; and lastly, There shall be an utter end of their troubles.
Their enemies shall all be cast out. When the time shall arrive for the full accomplishment of this, the combination against them will be formidable in the extreme. But “all of their enemies shall fall for Zion’s sake:” yea, if there were “a confederacy of the whole earth against them,” the Jews shall consume them “as easily as a torch of fire consumes a sheaf,” and as certainly “as a lion prevails over a flock of sheepf:” such “a burthensome stone shall Jerusalem be, to crush all her opponents;” and to such an abject state shall she reduce them, that, “like serpents, they shall lick the dust of the earth before her,” and be “like worms that dare not to crawl out of their holes through fear.”
Then shall the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, descend to dwell in the midst of them. This is repeated in most glowing terms by the prophet in the second verse following my text; and is affirmed also by the prophet Zechariahi, and by Ezekiel also, who declares, that “they shall dwell in the land where their fathers dwelt,” and that the true “David, their Messiah, shall be king over them;” and that “God’s tabernacle shall be with them;” and his presence so conspicuous in the midst of them, that “all the heathen world shall acknowledge them as his peculiar people.” As to the personal reign of Christ on earth for a thousand years, I can say nothing to it. But I have no doubt, his manifestations of himself to them will be beyond all former example glorious; and his communications of his grace and peace to them far exceed all the precedents of former times, “the light of the moon being as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun seven-fold, as the light of seven days.” Under the Mosaic dispensation they saw the Saviour as in a shadow: we see him as in a glass or mirror: but “the Jews in that day shall see him eye to eye,” and face to facem.
Then shall there be to them an utter end of all their troubles. “They shall not see evil any more.” Then “will God take out of their hands the cup of trembling; and they shall drink it no more.” “No more will he hide his face from themo:” “the days of their mourning shall be ended:” and they shall thenceforth be for a name and a praise to God amongst all the nations of the earth.”
And now I ask, is not this a ground for most exalted joy? So Jehovah himself regards it: “Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. Be you glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.” I call upon you then, my brethren, not to be indifferent to this sublime subject. If at the time when the prophecy was delivered, the prospect of these great events was a ground of joy, much more should it be so now, when the accomplishment of them is no near at hand. Could I address all the nation of Israel dispersed throughout the world, I would say to them, “Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; rejoice and be glad with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem;” for thy complete redemption draweth nigh. I already see, as it were, “the glory of the Lord revealed to thee;” and in the name of the Most High God I proclaim unto thee, “Thy warfare is accomplished; thine iniquity is pardoned; and thou shalt receive at the Lord’s hands mercies double” the amount of all the sins thou hast committed, and of all the judgments thou hast merited.]
But we must not confine the prophet’s address to the Jews: whilst it was delivered to them in a way of anticipation, it was delivered also,
II. To us immediately in a way of congratulation—
It is in reference to converts from among the Gentile world that the prophet says, “Then I will turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent,” that is (as the margin translates it), with one shoulder; the whole world, Jews and Gentiles, drawing together harmoniously, like well-disciplined oxen, in the same blessed yoke. The truth is, that every soul, on its conversion to God, is brought into this blessed state, and made a partaker of all these privileges. The only difference between the Millenarians and us is, that we enjoy, in the earlier dawn, the light which they will behold in its meridian splendour. To all of you then who have believed in Christ, and through him been made the children of the living God, I say, “Sing and shout, yea, be glad and rejoice with all your hearts;” for “Jerusalem is as much your mother,” as she was of the Jews of old. To you then I say,
“The Lord hath taken away your judgments”—
[Think what guilt you have contracted, and what condemnation you have merited, by your numberless transgressions in thought, word, and deed, from the first moment of your existence, even to the present hour: yet, if you have believed in Christ, I am authorized to declare, that “your sins are all blotted out as a morning cloud,” that “God has cast them all behind his back into the very depth of the seax,” and that “there is now no condemnation to you” — — —]
“He hath also cast out all your enemies”—
[You well know, you cannot but know, how the world, and the flesh, and the devil, have had dominion over you, and led you captive at their will. But “by faith you have been enabled to overcome the world:” “you have also crucified the flesh, with it saffections and lustsa:” and “from the snares of the devil are you recovered.” He is a vanquished enemy, “judged by Godc,” and “cast out from his dominion,” yea, and “overcome by youe,” and so restrained, that he “cannot touch you,” though, like a roaring lion, he is incessantly seeking to destroy you. He is indeed still permitted to assault you: but his efforts are all in vain: the prayer of faith “puts him utterly to flightg;” and in a little time “he shall be bruised for ever under your feet.” Whatever other enemies you may have, they shall all be put to shame, and, “through him that loved you, you shall be more than conqueror over alli” — — —]
“To you also does the Lord Jesus manifest himself as he does not unto the world”—
[“He dwells in your very hearts by faith.” He is altogether “one with you,” “one body with youm,” and “one spirit also.” So gloriously does he reveal himself unto you, that “you behold his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and trutho;” you so “behold his glory, as to be changed by it into his image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord;” and you are enabled by him so to “comprehend the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of his unsearchable love, as to be filled by means of it with all the fulness of God.” In a word, “He lives in you, and is your very lifer;” and from that very circumstance you are assured, that “at his future coming you shall appear with him in glory” — — —]
From this time also you may bid an eternal farewell to evil of every kind—
[You may have trials; but “they shall all work together for your good:” they shall all prove only blessings in disguise. Moral evil shall no more prevail over you. Penal evil, so far as it is the loving correction of a Father, you may yet feel; but, as a vindictive process of a Judge, you shall never feel it to all eternity. Not one of your sins shall ever be remembered by him; nor shall any one of your corruptions retain an allowed ascendant over youx. God engages that he will “perfect that which concerneth you,” and “finish in you the good work he has begunz.” Though you be the least of his little ones, “he will not suffer you to perish:” nor shall any prevail to “pluck you out of his handsb.” Therefore, even whilst you are yet conflicting with evils of various kinds, you may rest assured, that “none of them, how great or formidable soever they may be, shall ever separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”]
And is not here abundant ground for joy?
[Well does David say, “Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.” I say then to you, in the name of Almighty God, “Rejoice in the Lord alwaye;” “rejoice evermore:” yea, “though now ye see not your beloved Saviour with your bodily eyes, yet, believing in him, it is both your privilege and duty to rejoice in him with joy unspeakable and glorified.” In fact, “if you do not sing, and shout, and rejoice in him with all your heart, the very stones will cry out against youh.”
Whilst I say this, I am far from recommending to you a tumultuous joy. A tender contrite spirit must be retained in the midst of all your joy. Even in heaven are his redeemed people all prostrate before him, whilst they sing with all imaginable love and gratitude his praise. A similar prostration of spirit I recommend to you: and, if only that be preserved, your joy can never be too exquisite, nor your praises too devout — — —]
APPLICATION—
[But do these congratulations belong to all of you, my brethren? Must I not rather say to many of you, “Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep?” Many, I fear, have never sought the removal of their judgments, so that “the wrath of God abideth on them to this very hour.” They are still, as much as ever, the bond-slaves of sin and Satan. As for union and communion with the Lord Jesus Christ, they are yet strangers to it, and know nothing of “a life of faith upon the Son of God, as having loved them, and given himself for them.” What then shall I say to such persons? That “they shall not see evil any more?” No: I must rather say that nothing but evil is before them, both in this world and the next—an unholy life, an unhappy death, a miserable eternity. “O that mine head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep over them day and night!” I pray you, brethren, see what mercies you lose, what blessings you despise. Were you but penitent, and believers in Christ, all the congratulations which we have been contemplating would be yours. The Lord grant that ye may avail yourselves of the opportunity now afforded you, and that “this day of grace may be the day of salvation” to all your souls!]
MCCXXXII
GOD’S DELIGHT IN SAVING SINNERS
Zeph. 3:17.
The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty: he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy: he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.
HOW wonderful are these expressions, as uttered by Jehovah himself, in reference to such a worthless and sinful creature as man! But they are the very words of the Most High God addressed to his Church of old, and, in them, to us also. Behold then,
I. What bright prospects are here for the Jewish Church!
[Greatly had they sinned against their God and raised his indignation against them. Hence they are threatened with utter destruction. But their enemies too had grievously offended; and therefore they also are threatened with the visitations of his wrathb. But in the midst of judgment God remembered mercy towards his ancient people; and by his prophet announced his purpose to bring them back unto himself, and to make them happy in the enjoyment of his love. But, scattered as they are over the face of the whole earth, this seemed to be almost impossible. He therefore reminds them how “mighty” he is to save, even as in the day that he delivered them from their Egyptian bondage. And, as he had rejoiced over her to do her good in former days, so would he again in the latter day, taking away all her judgments, casting out all her enemies, and so perpetuating his mercies towards her that she should not see evil any more.” — — —]
But let us notice also,
II. What bright prospects are here for every individual believer!
“Fear not, believer, nor let thy hands be slack,” but consider for thine encouragement what thy God has here so graciously set before thee; namely,
1. His power to save—
[He who was in his Church of old, is equally present with thy soul: and he, even “the Lord thy God, is mighty” See what he wrought in the days of old, when he brought forth his people out of Egypt, delivering them from all their enemies, and supplying all their wantsf. And “is his hand now shortened that he cannot save, or his ear heavy that he cannot hear?” Be assured, there is not any thing which he will not accomplish for you also, through the care of his providenceh and the operation of his grace.]
2. His determination to save—
[“He will save;” and none shall hinder him. Having bought you with the blood of his dear Son, and committed you to him, he will suffer “none to pluck you out of his hands.” Under all circumstances, “the grace of Christ shall be sufficient for you,” and “the strength of Christ be magnified in your weakness.” Only “be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might,” and “nothing shall be impossible unto you.”]
3. His delight in saving—
[You may see in the parable of the prodigal son, what are the feelings of Jehovah towards returning penitents. But if that convey not an adequate idea to your minds, call to mind the image under which God has condescended to set forth the joy which he feels in his believing people. Nothing that a natural man can experience, can exceed the joy with which a bridegroom, after a long season of suspense and fear, is animated in the possession of his bride. Yet to that does Jehovah refer as most fitly illustrating the delight which he has in manifesting his love to his chosen people.]
4. His immutability towards those whom he intends to save—
[Man is often alienated from the object of his affections, either by means of some unexpected evil he has discovered, or through his own fickleness and inconstancy. But God changeth not. Whom he loveth he loveth to the endn. He hateth putting away. And, as he loved his people from eternityp, and chose them without any reference to good, either seen or foreseen, in them, so will he not forsake them on account of their infirmitiesr. He will indeed punish their transgressions with all needful severity; but his gifts and callings are without repentancet; nor will he cast off the people whom he has chosen in Christ, and given to him.]
SEE, Brethren,
1. How marvellous the compassion of your God!
[Call to mind the wickedness of God’s ancient people through the whole course of their conduct, till they completed it and filled up the measure of it in crucifying their Messiah, the Lord of glory. Yet to them is my text more immediately addressed, and in them shall it ere long be certainly fulfilled. How utterly does such love pass all human comprehension! But look back to your own ways, my brethren, and ye will have reason enough to adore and magnify the grace of God, when ye consider, that you also are interested in these promises, and that in you shall they receive a speedy accomplishment. Dear brethren, I would have this to be, if I may so say, the constant subject of your devoutest meditations. It is this that will set your hearts at liberty, and cause you to go on your way rejoicing. Nothing can obstruct the happiness of a mind habituated to such contemplations as these.]
2. How ardent should be your zeal in his service!
[Is his mind so set on you, and his power so engaged for you? how devoted then should ye be to him; and how entirely should your souls be occupied in endeavours to fulfil his holy will! Does he “rest in his love” to you, and will ye suffer one moment’s intermission in your love to him? O stir yourselves up more and more to serve him; and let your every faculty, whether of mind or body, be in constant exercise for the advancement of his glory.]
HAGGAI
MCCXXXIII
CONSIDERATION OF OUR WAYS ENFORCED
Hagg. 1:2–5, 12.
Thus speaketh the Lord of Hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built. Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste? Now therefore thus saith the Lord of Hosts; Consider your ways..… Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Josedech, the high-priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him, and the people did fear before the Lord.
ALL the preceding prophets prophesied either before or during the Babylonish captivity: but Haggai, and the two who follow him prophesied after the return of the Jews from Babylon. What space of time Haggai continued to prophesy, we know not: but all his prophecies which are come down to us were delivered in the short space of two months. His principal office, in which he was soon joined by the Prophet Zechariah, seems to have been to stir up the Jews to rebuild their temple, and to assure them, that, however inferior to the former temple it might be in their eyes, it should in reality far surpass that in glory. In reference to their neglect, he reproves them with just severity; and shews them, that already had God inflicted his judgments on them on account of it; but assures them at the same time, that, if they will recommence and prosecute the work with diligence, his blessing shall be visibly poured out upon them.
In discoursing on this subject, we will notice,
I. The conduct reproved—
They had begun to build the temple about sixteen years before; but having been stopped by an edict from Artaxerxes, they had desisted, and had attended only to their own personal accommodations. But the Persian monarch was now dead; and they ought therefore to have availed themselves of that circumstance, and to have proceeded with the work. A whole year had elapsed, and they had not even thought of resuming the pious labour: they were even well pleased with the obstacle that had been put in their way; and satisfied their consciences with saying, that “the Lord’s time for rebuilding the temple was not yet come.” They did not say that they would never execute that work; but they justified their present neglect of it by this vain excuse.
Now this is precisely what we ourselves are prone to do,
1. In reference to God’s temple which is to be erected in the world—
[The Church is his temple, “the habitation of God through the Spirit;” and on the whole face of the globe is it one day to be erected. But when we call on persons to arise and work, they answer, “The Lord’s time is not come.” They see many difficulties to be surmounted; and, instead of regarding them as occasions only for calling forth their zeal, they consider them as indications that God does not require the work itself to be performed; thus making the dispensations of his providence a cloak for their own supineness. In reference to the conversion of the Jews in particular, this excuse is offered by many; and offered with as much confidence, as if they were acquainted with all the counsels of the Deity, and knew exactly all the times and the seasons which the Father has reserved in his own power. But this excuse of theirs is nothing more nor less than a plea for inactivity, and an acknowledgment, that they are altogether indisposed for the exertions which they are called to make in this sacred cause.]
2. In reference to the temple which is to be erected in our own hearts—
[Believers are “temples of the Holy Ghost:” Christ dwells in their hearts by faith: “the Father too dwelleth in them, and they in him:” and such temples all of us are called to be. But when persons of every description are urged to consecrate themselves entirely to the service of their God, they reply, as with one consent, “The time is not come.” They will not say, ‘No; God never shall dwell in me;’ but, acknowledging it to be their duty to surrender up themselves to him, they think themselves excused from it by some providential impediment: one is too young to engage in such holy services as yet: another is too much immersed in business to afford the time: another is for the present afraid of offending some earthly superior: and thus, like the persons invited to the wedding in the Gospel, they all, on some frivolous pretext or other, unite in saying, “I pray thee have me excused.”]
But how vain such excuses are, may be seen by,
II. The reproof administered—
This consists of two parts; an expostulatory appeal, and a solemn admonition: “Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste? Now therefore, thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Consider your ways.”
We then in like manner make our appeal to you—
[Have you time for yourselves, and not for God? for your bodies, and not for your souls? for the affairs of this short transitory life, and not for those of eternity? Is it thus that ye have been taught of God; to “seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness last?” and to “mind your own things only, and not the things of Jesus Christ?”Was this a just return from those who had been delivered from their captivity in Babylon? and, if not from them, is it from you, who have been redeemed by the blood of God’s only dear Son from a bondage infinitely more tremendous, a bondage to sin and Satan, death and hell? Judge ye, whether it becomes you to be seeking your own carnal ease, interest, and pleasure; and to be neglecting the work of God, and the welfare of your immortal souls? Only let conscience deliver an unbiassed testimony, and we consent that you shall be judges in your own cause.]
To you also we offer this salutary admonition—
[“Consider your ways.” Twice is this repeated by the prophet: and repeatedly should it be urged on all who are guilty of the conduct before described.
“Consider your ways,”in order to your humiliation. Look back, and see, how highly criminal they have been. The more fully you call them to remembrance, and the more distinctly you view them with all their several aggravations, the more you will see cause to humble yourselves before God in dust and ashes — — —
“Consider your ways,” in order that you may see what indignation they have already excited in the bosom of an avenging God. The Jews were referred to the judgments which God in his providence had inflicted on account of their sin, as proofs of his heavy displeasure: and, if we could with equal certainty be informed of the reasons of those chastisements which God from time to time has inflicted on us, either publicly in common with the whole land, or privately in our several persons and families, there can be no doubt but that we should find our sins to have been the root and ground of all. But without such infallible information from above, we should not presume to interpret the dispensations of Providence in this way, except in our own particular case; and even then we should do it with great caution and diffidence. Nevertheless in many instances we may clearly read our sin in our punishment. We have preferred the cares and pleasures of the world; and we have been given over to a worldly mind: we have been impenitent; and have been delivered up to hardness of heart: we have disregarded the gracious visits of our God; and he has withdrawn himself from us altogether: he has left us to “be filled with our own devices, and to eat of the fruit of our own ways.”
Once more; Consider your ways, in order to the amending of them in future. To this the Jews were called; and to this we also are called: and without this, all consideration of our ways would be to no purpose — — — Determine then, with David, “not to give sleep to your eyes, or slumber to your eye-lids, till your hearts are become a temple for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob.”]
Happy the prophet who executed his office with such fidelity! and happy the people who were favoured with such a monitor! may our testimony also correspond with his in,
III. The effect produced—
Great and instantaneous was the change wrought on their minds—
[“The remnant of the people,” from the highest to the lowest, all obeyed the voice of the Lord, and of the prophet whom he had sent unto them. They all began to “fear the Lord,” and in little more than three weeks actually commenced the work to which they were called. O that such a change also might be wrought in us! O that our governors also, both in Church and State, might obey the call; and that all classes of the community would begin, as with one heart and one mind, to serve the Lord; first, to get their whole souls sanctified unto the Lord; and then, to promote his glory through-out the world! — — —]
Great also was the encouragement instantly afforded them by God himself—
[No sooner did they evince a desire to comply with God’s command, than God commissioned his prophet to say to them, “I am with you, saith the Lord.” And no sooner did they set about the work, than God called them to notice the very day, and pledged himself from that hour to bless themi. Yea, even the very day of their change did God himself register, not only in the book of his remembrance in heaven, but in the written records of his prophet on earth: “In the four and twentieth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.” O that this present year of our king might be so marked! yea, that this very day might be so registered, as the season of a remarkable conversion of our souls to God! Be assured, that, if only one amongst us should now begin to obey his call, and to turn from earthly vanities to the Lord our God, it should not be overlooked, nor should it be forgotten in the eternal world. The very angels in the presence of God would shout for joy: and if they would notice it with such delight, we may be well assured that our God and Saviour, at whose call we turn, will not he regardless of so blessed an event.]
CONCLUSION—
[The time will come when you will deeply regret that you have wasted the present hours in frivolous pursuits. Your past ease, and pleasure, and vanities, of whatever kind they have been, where are they? What fruit of them all have you at this time? Compare them with one single hour that has ever been spent in penitential sorrow: Is there any comparison as to the satisfaction they have left behind them?
Again: For what end is your time now allotted you by God? Is it for no higher purpose than to advance your temporal interests? Is there no work that you have to do for him, and none for your own souls? — — —
Again: Will it not be a bitter subject of regret to yon in a dying hour, that the day in which you might have worked is passed away; and that the night is arrived when no man can work?
To all then, I say, in the name of the Most High God, “Consider your ways.” Consider the evil of them, that you may see your guilt; consider the fruit of them, that you may bewail your folly; consider the commands of God relating to them, that you may amend them henceforth, and obtain from God the blessings reserved for you in the eternal world.]
MCCXXXIV
CHRIST THE DESIRE OF ALL NATIONS
Hagg. 2:7.
The Desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of Hosts.
MANKIND are apt to imagine that God is pleased with what is grand and magnificent in their eyes; hence the many splendid edifices that have been raised to his honour: but a contrite heart is a more acceptable residence for God than even the temple of Solomon itself. The Jews, on their return from Babylon, began to rebuild their temple; but they, who remembered the former temple, wept aloudb. To encourage them to complete the structure, the prophet was sent to declare, that, however inferior this should be to the former in point of magnificence, it should exceed that in glory; for that the Messiah himself should adorn it with his own personal appearance.
Let us inquire,
I. Who is the person here spoken of—
The prophet does not speak of desirable things, as silver and gold. He refers to Christ’s advent, and appearance in the flesh. Christ is here properly called “the Desire of all nations”—
Many in all nations do desire him—
[The Jews, by means of their captivities, or flight, were scattered through the Assyrian, Chaldean, Persian, and other empires, and since the establishment of Christianity there are Christians in every part of the globe. Amongst these, there is indeed found a considerable difference with respect to clearness of knowledge and fervour of affection; but the desire of them all accords with that of the Apostle.]
All nations, if they knew him, would desire him—
[He has in himself all imaginable excellencies, as God, as man, as mediator. Would we desire a mighty Saviour? he is God over all. Would we desire one in our own nature? he was made flesh. Would we desire one that had testified his love? he has died for us. Would we desire one that from his own experience might sympathize with us? he has been tempted like us for this purpose. If any hear of him, and desire him not, the reason is plaink—.]
He did in due season honour the temple with his presence—
[The season of his appearance there was foretold. At the appointed time he was brought thither by his parentsm: at twelve years old he sat there among the doctors, and afterwards it became the frequent place of his resort.]
The prospect of this event was peculiarly consoling on account of,
II. The consequences of his advent—
The presence of Christ in the temple “filled it with glory.” It rendered the latter temple far more glorious than the former.”
He more than supplied all those things which were wanting in this temple—
[Though many of the sacred vessels were restored to the Jews by Cyrus, there was much that was irrecoverably lost. The Shechinah, the bright cloud, the symbol of the Deity, was withdrawn: the ark, with all that it contained, was missing: the urim and thummin, or breast-plate, whereby the high-priest discovered the Divine will, was also gone: the fire, that came down from heaven, was extinguished. These defects however were more than supplied to the latter temple by the presence of Jesus. Instead of a shadowy resemblance of the Deity, it had God incarnate: it had the true ark, containing infinitely richer memorials of Divine love: it had a divine Instructor, who revealed all his Father’s counsels: nor could it need the fire to render the sacrifices more acceptable, since Jesus was about to offer one sacrifice for all. Thus did it excel in glory, even in those very particulars wherein it appeared most defective.]
He also exhibited in it a brighter display of the Deity than ever had been seen in the former temple—
[The glory of God did indeed fill the temple of Solomon, but in Christ it shone with brighter, though less dazzling splendour. Behold the condescension of the Deity, in that he not merely dwelt with man, but became man! Behold the wisdom, in every discourse that Jesus uttered! Behold the power, in in his miraculous cures, and irresistible operation on the minds of men! Behold the grace, in his treatment of the adulterous woman! Such an exhibition of the Divine perfections in the temple far overbalanced every defect.]
APPLICATION—
[Wherever Christ dwells, he imparts a glory. And has he not yet a temple to which he will come? Will he not vouchsafe his presence in his ordinances? And will not his presence in them make them gloriousy? Will he not also make the souls of his people his habitation? And will not the soul, in which he takes up his residence, be transformeda? Let him then be “the desire of our hearts; nor let us ever be satisfied till we possess that privilege—.]
MCCXXXV
INTEGRITY OF THE SOUL ENJOINED
Hagg. 2:11–14.
Thus saith the Lord of Hosts; Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying, If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priests answered and said, No. Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean. Then answered Haggai, and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the Lord; and so is every work of their hands: and that which they offer there is unclean.
THE one great rule of life which was given to Moses, and which is of universal and unchangeable obligation, is the moral law—the law of the ten commandments. But the ceremonial law also, which, in its primary use, was to shadow forth the Gospel of Christ, was of a moral tendency, and very instructive in that view. Take the most insignificant of its rites, such as the not wearing a garment of mixed materials, or sowing a field with different kinds of corn, or seething a kid in its mother’s milk; they were all intended to teach us some practical lessons of great importance. The same we may say of the law mentioned in my text. Jehovah intended to reprove the supineness of his people in neglecting to rebuild the temple. For this end, he directed the Prophet Haggai to consult the priests as to the demands of the law; and from their answers, to deduce the truth, which he was instructed to enforce. They acknowledged, that the meat which belonged to the priests, as their share of the sin-offerings, could not, though holy in itself, make any thing else holy which it might come in contact with; though a person, who by the touch of a dead body was unclean, would, according to the law, render any thing else unclean which he might chance to touch. From thence he took occasion to shew them, that the sacrifices which they offered, so far from cancelling their sins, were themselves vitiated, and rendered worthless by their supineness.
Now here was a valuable lesson for them: and it is no less valuable to us; since it is of use,
I. For the forming of our judgment as to the theory of religion—
To enter into this, consider the precise state of things at that time. The foundations of the temple had been laid several years before. The people having been obstructed in the work, became indifferent to it; and thought, that, by offering their sacrifices with regularity, they should supersede the necessity of incurring the expense and trouble of rebuilding the temple. ‘Now,’ says the prophet, ‘your sacrifices themselves, instead of being accepted of God, are detestable in his sight, on account of the hypocrisy which yet reigns in your hearts’ In other words, we may consider him as determining two most important points:
1. That practice is of no avail without principle—
[The Jews supposed that their offering of sacrifices would be accepted, though they were wholly inattentive to the principles by which they were actuated. And a most common error this is. Men abound in duties, public, social, personal; and add to these the offices of kindness and liberality to their fellow-creatures; and then ask with confidence, “What lack I yet?” Such were the Pharisees of old; who even went beyond the law in their observances, whilst they “neglected many of the weightier matters of the law—justice, mercy, and truth.” But I must declare, that these people labour under a most fatal error: for if St. Paul himself, who was, “touching the righteousness which was of the law, blameless,” and who was therefore “alive, in his own estimation, without the law,” but, when he saw the defectiveness of his obedience, saw and acknowledged himself to be a dead condemned sinner; if St. Paul himself, I say, so failed in establishing any righteousness of his own, much more must we lay aside such an erroneous conceit, and confess, that without a principle of faith and love we can never find acceptance with our God. We may attend the house of God every Sabbath; we may go to the table of the Lord; we may offer some stated prayers also in secret; and yet, if impenitent and unbelieving, be consigned over to everlasting perdition. We may have the tongues of men and angels, and have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and have faith so that we can remove mountains, and bestow all our goods to feed the poor, and even give our bodies to be burned; and yet be destitute of a principle, without which we are no better than “sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal.” We may see clearly, that without a principle of real, vital, universal holiness in the soul, no external services, however good, can find acceptance before God.]
2. That principle is of no avail without practice—
[As men of a Pharisaic cast maintain the error which I have just mentioned; so men of an Antinomian complexion are prone to indulge this of which I am now to speak. They have embraced the Gospel; they believe in Christ: they see in him a perfect righteousness: they have that righteousness imputed to them: they stand, as they suppose, perfect and complete before God, and are in his sight “without spot or wrinkle or any such thing; yea, holy and without blemish.” But are they necessarily in the state which this profession seems to imply? The persons reproved in my text offered their sacrifices, and professed to look to that great Sacrifice which those offerings prefigured: but were they therefore accepted of their God? No: they were essentially defective as to practical religion: under the influence of covetousness and self-indulgence, they neglected to rebuild the temple of the Lord: and therefore all their professions of faith were vain. Thus it is with thousands who rely on the Gospel of Christ for salvation, but neglect to adorn it by a suitable conversation. Their faith does not “overcome the world,” and “work by love,” and “purify the heart;” and therefore “their faith, being without works, is dead; and is in reality no better than the faith of devils.”
Nor let any one imagine that it is only a course of open sin that will thus invalidate the efficacy of his faith. No: if there be in him any secret lust, such as covetousness, or pride, or envy, or impurity, or any other, it will “so defile him,” as to make all his professions of religion vainf.” “A right eye or a right hand, which offends” against the principles of vital godliness, must be parted with, or “it will destroy him, both body and soul, in hell for ever.”]
But the reproof here given is yet further useful,
II. For the regulating of our conduct, as to the practice of it—
You will observe in the text the figure, and the truth contained in it. Now both of these are instructive, in reference to practical religion:
1. From the figure we may learn to take heed to our communications—
[It is a far easier thing to convey defilement to the souls of men, than holiness. One man that is diseased may impart infection: but ten men that are in health cannot impart health. Now, it is common for persons professing godliness to associate with the world, under an idea of doing them good; forgetting how much more likely they themselves are to contract evil from such society, than to impart to them any substantial benefit. A heathen could say, “Evil communications corrupt good manners.” And experience proves the truth of it: for there is scarcely a person who associates much, and without necessity, with the world, but he imbibes the spirit of the world; and if not outwardly, yet in heart, declines from God. I mean not to say, that all connexion with ungodly men should be avoided; for “then must we needs go out of the world:” our duties in civil and social life require some measure of intercourse with them: but I mean, that we should be aware of the danger of infection from the ungodly; and that we should mix with them as a physican mixes with his patients in a hospital; having in our minds a desire to do them good, and exerting our influence for that end; and withdrawing, when we have fulfilled our duty, happy to breathe a purer atmosphere, and to associate with those whose state and habit are in accordance with our own. And this is the rule prescribed for us in the Gospel: “We are not to be conformed to this world:” we are to “come out from it, and be separatek:” we are “not to be of the world, any more than Jesus Christ was of the world:” we are “not to affect its friendshipm;” or to “love any of its ensnaring vanities.” Our affections must be “set rather on things aboveo;” and “our conversation is to be in heaven:” and we must be ever on our guard to keep our garments cleanq: since it is almost impossible to come in contact with the ungodly, without contracting some defilement from them.]
2. From the truth itself we may learn to look well to our hearts—
[Solomon’s advice is good: “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” It is lamentable to think how much there may be amiss within us, whilst the external conduct is correct; yea, and whilst religion appears to have the chief ascendent over us. Truly, it becomes us to“search and try our ways;” yes, and to beg of God also to “search and try our hearts, to see whether there be any wicked way or principle in us, and to lead us in the way everlastingt.” When we reflect, that one evil propensity, if indulged, will vitiate all our moral and religious acts; and that it will make “our very prayers an abomination in the sight of God;” we cannot but tremble for the great mass even of religious professors, who will be tried by the heart-searching God, and have their final doom fixed according to their real character, as it stands before him. Indeed, brethren, I wish you to examine yourselves well, whether ye be sound in principle, and upright in practice also. And be careful not to “deceive your own souls;” nor to rest, till you have an evidence in your own bosoms, and the witness of God’s Spirit also, that ye are “Israelites indeed, in whom there is no guile:” for whatever ye may imagine, it is “the pure in heart, and they only, that shall sec God” with comfort in the day of judgment.
MCCXXXVI
GOD RECOMPENSES OUR WORKS
Hagg. 2:19.
From this day will I bless you.
MEN, when they see so great a disparity in the states of their fellow-men, are apt to imagine that there is an inequality in the ways of God. But “God’s ways are equal,” both in the dealings of his providence, and in the dispensations of his grace. True, indeed, this equality, under the Mosaic economy, was evinced in temporal gifts, whereas it is now manifested rather in spiritual blessings: and we may all observe it in reference to ourselves, almost as clearly as they could who are addressed in my text. Let us,
I. Review the dealings of God with us in past times—
God called his people, after their return from Babylon, to “consider” how he had dealt with them. Whilst they were occupied only in their own concerns, and neglected to execute his will in the rebuilding of the temple, he visited them with sore and successive judgments: but now that they were engaged in that sacred work, he bade them take notice, even from the very day that they had commenced the work, that he would bless them. Now, “consider” how God has dealt with us,
1. Before we began to seek the Lord—
[We might prosper perhaps in temporal things, as the world accounts prosperity; but what was the real state of our minds? Did we find all the satisfaction in them which we hoped for? We sowed largely in hope: but when we reaped, and came to measure the produce, were we not grievously disappointed? Say, brethren, was there even one half the happiness derived from them that you expected? Did you not find, that whilst you neglected to seek your happiness in God, the blessings which you sought with the greatest avidity and labour were but as “broken cisterns, that could hold no waterc?” Yes; you must confess that every thing to which you looked for comfort has proved, not only “vanity, but vexation of spirit also.” There was a worm at the root of every gourd from which you expected consolation and reposee.]
2. Since we turned to him—
[Possibly enough, in respect to temporal things, you may have suffered loss. But has not that loss been abundantly made up to you, by an increase of grace, and by the manifestations of God’s love to your soul? Have you not learned, that “man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things that he possesseth;” and that he only is happy who seeks his happiness in God? Possibly, too, you may have been bowed down greatly under the weight and burthen of your sins: yet will I ask with confidence, whether you do not look upon that day, when you were first convinced of sin, and stirred up to flee from the wrath to come, as the best and happiest day of your life? From what time, think ye, would St. Paul date his happiness, but from the hour when he was struck to the ground in his way to Damascus, and when he received the first communications of converting grace? And if you could tell the time of your first awakening, with the same accuracy as the laying of the first stone of the temple was marked (“the 24th day of the 9th month”), you would be able to say with certainty, “From that day God has blessed me.”]
Supposing, then, that we have been truly converted to God, let us,
II. Consider the anticipations which we are authorized to indulge—
Here the promise in our text indisputably belongs to us: “From this day will I bless you.” Again I say, that we are no longer to estimate the Divine favour by the measure of our success in temporal things. True indeed, “If we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all earthly things, so far as they will conduce to our welfare, shall be added unto us.” But that which we are authorized to expect, is, that “God will bless us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ Jesush.” God will give you,
1. The communications of his grace—
[These shall be suited to your necessities, and sufficient for your wantsk— — —]
2. The manifestations of his love—
[No words can express what is implied in these. But “he will manifest himself to you as he does not unto the world,” and “shed abroad his love in your heartsm,” and “give you the witness of his Spirit, as the earnest of your everlasting inheritance” — — —]
3. A meetness for glory—
[His whole work of grace will he carry on within you, till you are transformed into his imagep, and fully prepared for his glory — — —]
ADDRESS—
1. To those in whom the foundation of God’s spiritual temple is not yet laid—
[You, alas! have no part or lot in these promises: and a far different portion have you to expect. If ye will be intent only on your own business, and be concerned only to please yourselves, how can you expect that God should bless you? “Consider, I pray you,” whether they who serve not their God can reasonably hope for the same portion as his faithful servants shall enjoy. I will be content that you shall judge this matter for yourselves. But, O! be persuaded, ere it be too late, to follow the convictions of your minds, and to turn unto God with your whole hearts.]
2. To those who are building up themselves a temple for their God—
[To you assuredly is the promise made, that God will bless you, both in time and eternity. Be more and more diligent, then, in the work in which ye are engaged. “Be coming daily to Christ, as lively stones, to be built up on him as the living foundation-stone;” and God will make you the habitation of his holiness for ever and ever.]
3. To those who think this distinction visionary—
[If such there be among you, put it to the proof. God himself challenges you to this. Make but the experiment fairly, and I have no fear of the issue.]
ZECHARIAH