Synod Sermon

(Preached by the Retiring Moderator of Synod, in St Jude’s Church, Glasgow, on Tuesday, 17th May, 1994.)

“Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. And I will wait upon the LORD, that hideth His face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for Him.
Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.” (Isaiah, 8: 16-18)
by Rev D. MacLean, Glasgow

At this time in the history of the land of Judah the king was Ahaz; he did not walk in the ways of David his father but in the idolatrous ways of the kings of Israel. When his capital city, Jerusalem, was threatened by the power of Israel and Samaria he sent for help to a heathen power, the king of Assyria. That help indeed did deliver Jerusalem from the power of Israel and Syria, but his not sanctifying the Lord of hosts, by failing to trust in the Lord the God of his fathers, meant that the king of Assyria invaded his land, and came as Isaiah had declared he would come — “The Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory.” That was the danger with which the Cause of God in Judah, the land where God was once well known, was threatened — “the river, strong and many” flowing through the land in the way that is described here. These days are gone, but the Church of God in the day and generation in which we live is also threatened with a mighty power, with a river that is carrying away many who profess the Name of Christ, and will continue to carry them away. We must therefore be conscious of this great fact — that there are dangers with which the Church of Christ in our day and generation is threatened. They are dangers in the nature of a flood, dangers that are ready to carry all before them. We read here the description of “the waters of the river, strong and many” coming over the land of Judah and spreading all over that land, so we in our day and generation are confronted with a similar danger. It is not the danger of a heathen power with carnal weapons, but the danger of a confederacy, that is threatening to sweep away the Cause of Christ in many places.

Therefore, we shall consider first of all — this “river strong and many,” with many tributaries converging into it and strengthening its power. Secondly, we shall consider the command given to Isaiah with regard to this power. That command was two-fold. First of all, he was to have no part in the confederacy. Ahaz had sent and entered into a confederacy with the king of Assyria, but Isaiah as a servant of the Lord was to have no part in it, but rather he was, in the face of this mighty river, to “sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself.” “Let Him be your fear and let Him be your dread.” Not the king of Assyria, nor the river, the power of confederations, but the Lord Jehovah was to be his fear and dread. Thirdly, we shall consider the command given to him with regard to the exercise of his office, because he was a prophet. He was to have nothing to do with a confederacy. He had something else to do. He was to “bind up the testimony” and “seal the law among my disciples” and to “wait upon the Lord that hideth His face from the house of Jacob.” That is what he was to be engaged in, and when he was engaged in that work then he would have what are described here as “children”. He would have disciples. He would have those in whose hearts the law was sealed, although the testimony would be bound with regard to the majority of the generation in which he was, so that he would have to say, “Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” The Word of God had become a closed book to them that did not understand, nevertheless there were those, whom he calls a remnant, and who were described here as his children whom the Lord had given him, in whose hearts the Word of God was sealed by the inward operation of the Spirit of God. They were the ones who would stand against the flood. They were the ones who would witness against the flood. They were the ones who would have nothing to do with the confederacy. These words outline for us our duty at the present time in view of the dangers which confront the Cause of Christ in the world.

1. Now the river to which we wish to refer is described in the Word here as a confederacy. There is a confederacy, like a river, strong and powerful, sweeping away much of the professing Christian church. It is a confederacy of religion. There is confederacy, as we know, of a political nature. We leave that aside just now. We are not concerned with that at present. What we are concerned with is that there is a confederacy with regard to religion. That confederacy is a powerful river, a river that has many tributaries to it, and a river which is only too successfully carrying away much of the professing church in our day and generation. It constitutes a great danger to the church of Christ. It is, first of all, a confederacy that has its source in what we know as the ecumenical movement. That is the source where this river rises, and it is in connection with its rising from that source that there are many tributaries entering into it and making it a river of power to destroy. Now, originally the ecumenical movement was intended to be a union of churches. It was intended to be, in other words, a union of those who professed the Christian religion. It therefore held out a fair prospect of encouragement to those who took the view that the outward union of the church would make it a mighty power for good. Consequently, we find that churches entered into this union through the World Council of Churches and other councils of various descriptions and kinds, and so this river grew as these tributaries flowed into it. It became more and more powerful. It was a confederation, or a confederacy, of churches, without respect to doctrinal truth, without respect to a union based upon the Word of God, without respect to a union based upon the worship of God, without consideration of a union based upon the practice and government of the church, but a meeting together of churches on the lowest common denominator. It became a river. It flowed into churches. It carried away so-called evangelical churches, so that they were submerged in it. Their testimony is being lost in it, and as they become more and more involved, so this river is spreading all over the world and reaching in every direction. It is bringing into this confederacy the various churches in the world, seeking that they would be able to win victories (as they imagine) for Christ and for His Cause in the world. This river has grown for many years. We have all been witnesses to it. We have all seen its power to bring into this confederation, churches of every kind and description — national churches, independent churches, baptist churches and paedobaptist churches. They have all been drawn into this confederacy. It has become a power which is threatening the Church of God, and threatening to sweep away everything that belongs to it.

Now what began in this way has now grown so that it is no longer concerned merely with joining Christian churches together, but it is joining together members of every kind of religion, including the eastern religions, with all their mysticism, and their so-called spirituality. They are becoming what has been termed in one place “a spiritual United Nations”. The idea is being spread abroad that politicians have failed men and they are at their wits’ end. They do not know what to do, and now it is the spiritual dimension that is needed and not the political one. Consequently, this spiritual dimension is to come, not from Christianity, but from the religions of the east, from Shintoism, Buddhism, Hinduism and so on. They are all being brought into this river and it is powerful. This confederation is now to include not only those of the Christian religion, not only those of other religions, but the whole of mankind. This is a direct result of the heresy of the universal Fatherhood of God which teaches that every member of the human race is a child of God the Father. The river is composed now of the whole human race without distinction. Consequently in 1893, just when the Rev Donald MacFarlane was making his stand against the backsliding of the Free Church, there was another meeting taking place. That meeting was of the Parliament of World Religions, attended by three thousand people from all over the world of every kind and description — witches, Jews, Hindus, Moslems — all of whom are the enemies of Christ. One hundred years later, when we commemorated our centenary, the Parliament of World Religions commemorated its centenary. There were four and a half thousand people present on that occasion. While we do not believe that it is possible for them, because of the differences between them, to form as it were, one specific religion, yet this is a parliament, a confederacy of the world religions brought together to embrace the whole of the human race and eventually, no doubt, aiming towards a world government. That is why many of those connected with the Parliament of World Religions are closely bound up with the United Nations. Of course, as you know, U Thant was a Buddhist. He was one of the first secretaries of that organisation. Now this is a powerful force. You may not hear much about it in our circles, but it is there, and it is operating in the world, and, as it operates in the world, it seeks to do its own work. The great thing that is condemned by the Parliament of World Religions is what is called intolerance. This is a dagger (to use another figure) aimed at the heart of Christianity. Because Christianity claims to be unique, because it claims that “there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved” but the name Jesus, and that no man can come to the Father but by Him, it is termed intolerant and called extremism by those who support the Parliament of World Religions. Normal Christianity teaches that Christ and Him crucified is the way to the Father. To hold such a view and to condemn all others, is called intolerance, and that is not to be allowed by this confederation. That raises another matter. Where does the Church of Rome figure in this flood, because it is in it? It stood outside to begin with. It would not have anything to do with the ecumenical movement. It would not have anything to do with the World Council of Churches, because the Roman Catholic Church claims that it is the true church, that they have the true religion, that one cannot be saved outside of that church, and if one wants the fullness of grace one must become a member of it. What place does it have in this flood? Well it has a very powerful place, We know that, because the Pope met representatives of eastern religions in Assissi and was quite at home with them. One of the reasons for that is — there is a great deal of mysticism in the church of Rome itself — people seeing visions and having visions of the virgin Mary and so on. There is a great deal of mysticism and a great deal of paganism in the church of Rome, so that the church of Rome is at home with the Parliament of World Religions. It is interesting, I think, and very informative, to consider the fact that the worship of Mary, so prominent in the church of Rome, appeals to all the feminist movements which are bound up with the world religions, and with these eastern religions who have their goddesses and who worship goddesses. Here is a religion and it has as the central part of its worship and a central part of its belief and a central part of its adoration, a female in the person of the virgin Mary. Therefore the church of Rome has a very prominent part, though perhaps not publicly, in connection with this Parliament of World Religions. She is involved with it. She is keeping in touch with it. It is a fundamental principle of the church of Rome that you cannot become a member of the church of Rome, you cannot have access to the fullness of grace supposed to be there, without acknowledging the Pope as the vicar of Christ and as the head of the church. That is absolutely essential. When the Duchess of Kent became a member and believed all she was taught by a priest, she also had to submit to this, and so will all those ministers in the Church of England who are going over to the church of Rome. They will have to submit to the claims of the Pope, not only to be the vicar of Christ but to be the king of kings and lord of lords. * This is to occupy a very prominent position in the religion of the next century according to the views which are expressed by those who are engaged in this work. This is a very powerful flood. You can see on the right hand and on the left how people are carried away by it. How they rejoice that the things which were formerly condemned, in Popery for instance, are now approved in so-called Protestant churches. High mass, low mass, confession and all the things that at one time were set aside as errors and blasphemies are now engaged in, and Protestants are quite content to give a place to them. It is an overflowing power carrying away the churches, carrying away the so-called evangelicals, carrying them away into the ecumenical movement and therefore carrying them away in this flood.

1. Now that brings me to the command that was given to Isaiah and that was, “Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy.” He was to stand against this flood, and he was to resist it in the strength of grace. He was to stand alone and have neither part nor lot with this confederacy however powerful it might appear, and however powerful it was. That is our clear duty as a branch of the visible church in our day and in our generation. We have to say to every endeavour that seeks to draw us into union with other churches, “Say ye not, a confederacy.” That is the position we have taken up and that is the position which people ridicule. But, you see it is a position in line with what was said to that eminent man of God, Isaiah, on this occasion. He saw and he knew that river to be powerful. He knew it was to spread over Immanuel’s land, and that the church was in danger of being submerged. See what it says — “He shall reach even to the neck.” When a flood reaches to his neck, a man is drowning. He is going down. Isaiah however was to behave himself in another way. He was to stand firm in the command that was given to him here — “Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself; and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread.” Do not be afraid of the king of Assyria though he has entered into a confederacy with the king of Judah, and this flood is coming in on the land. Having neither part nor lot in it. Remember that the Lord is more of might by far than all the mighty waters. The Lord sits King upon the floods. The Lord will give peace to His people and He will bless them for evermore. Isaiah was to remain firm and have nothing to do with this confederacy, but to keep the eye of faith upon the Lord of hosts, and to remember the name, Immanuel’s land. Immanuel means God with us. Isaiah was to remember that. Let them have their mighty river and let them have their various tributaries coming into it and contribution to the power of the flood. Nevertheless, God is with us. This is what Isaiah was to hold and to contend for in the midst of it all. That is our duty also in the strength of grace when we see, and we must see if we have any understanding of this matter at all, how powerful the forces are in every direction. When the Parliament of World Religions met over a hundred years ago, the then Archbishop of Canterbury did not pay any attention to it. One hundred years passed, and Archbishop Carey sent support to the Parliament of World Religions. His predecessor, Dr Runcie, said that the great thing for the religion of the twenty-first century would be interpenetration of eastern and western religions. Not only Archbishop Carey, but Mr Douglas Hurd, the Foreign Secretary of Great Britain, sent support, and all this shows how powerful this flood is.

If we see that, then we must understand the necessity for resisting it and standing against it. We shall not stand in our own strength but only in the sense that is brought before us here and that is, “Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself; and let Him be your fear, and Let Him be your dread.” Hide His Word in your heart lest you offend Him.

1. Isaiah was given a task with regard to his prophetic office, and that task was in regard to the law and the testimony that had been placed in Israel, “the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” That Word revealed and made known the love of God to a number that no man can number of the human race, by His providing salvation for them in which He would be glorified as “a just God and a Saviour.” That law and testimony Isaiah had. “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy,” and, when we read his own prophecy, how clearly and wonderfully does “the testimony of Jesus” shine in it all. In Chapter 53 we read, “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him.” Isaiah declared that, but here was a mysterious thing. He was told to bind up this testimony. That was an intimation of the fact that though the men and women of Judah heard the testimony, they would not understand it. They would not be able to read it and understand it. Blindness had overtaken them so that Isaiah himself, as I mentioned already, would have to say, “Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” When he saw the glory of Christ in Chapter 6 in the year in which King Uzziah died, he “heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. And He said, Go and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.” Now that is the meaning of these solemn words of binding up the testimony. The people to whom it was declared would not understand it. They would not grasp it, and it is in this sense, I believe, that we are to understand the words, “that hideth His face from the house of Jacob.”

Now I do not believe that these words mean that the Lord is hiding His face from His true people. No, but He is hiding His face from the professing church. When He was hiding His face from the professing church, then although the testimony was there, and the Word was preached, the people were not believing it or understanding it. There were few conversions in the day in which Isaiah lived, and this was the work that he was given to do. Now we might say, Surely it was trying for a man who was facing the flood, that he would be told that this would be the result. Instead of sinners fleeing from the wrath to come, they would remain dead, carnal, under the preaching of the Word of God. There would be no movement among them to flee to Christ and “be found in Him”, not having their own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is by faith, because the Lord was hiding His face. He was hiding His face, that is to say, hiding the light of His countenance, so that when His Word was declared, the light was not shining into the understandings of sinners, so they understood not, they believed not. The Gospel was preached but it had no effect on them. Now we live in a day and generation when that is sadly and lamentably true. The Gospel is preached and people sit under it. They have been hearing it for years but they remain in their sins. They remain darkened in their understandings. They remain alienated from the life of God through the blindness that is in their hearts. Why? Because the Lord is hiding His face from the visible church in this sense of the term. Surely that is very trying.

It is trying when we are standing against the flood, when we are witnessing against error, when we are witnessing against the delusions of Popery and Mohammedanism and Buddhism, warning our people to have nothing to do with the confederacy, but experiencing what Isaiah himself experienced here — “Who hath believed our report?” An unbelieving people, unbelief reigning. We read with regard to the Saviour Himself, “He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.” Now anybody who has any understanding of this knows very well that it is very trying to be standing against the flood, yet knowing what was said here, “Bind up the testimony.” The people, when he was to preach the Word of God, were to be hardhearted and refuse to close in with Christ in the everlasting Gospel. Yet you see Isaiah was not alone. No. This is what he said, “I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth His face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for Him.” I will be pleading with Him, “Shine forth, O Thou that dost between the cherubims abide.” Let the light of Thy countenance shine forth once more in Thy sanctuary, that sinners may be born again, and that they may be brought out of darkness into Thy marvellous light. I will wait upon the Lord Who is hiding His face from the visible church in this sense of the term. “I will look for Him.”

While he was doing that, he could also say — “Behold I and the children whom the Lord hath given me.” He calls them a very small remnant, and although the testimony was bound up and the majority of the people were not listening and would not understand the Word of God, there were those of whom we read here, “Seal the law among My disciples.” The Word of God was to be sealed in their hearts by the power of the Holy Ghost, and they would come to know in the light of Divine Truth, “We with our fathers sinned have, and of iniquity too long we have the workers been.” They would come to realise that they were lost, and that they were ready to perish. They would come to see by faith in “the glorious Gospel of the blessed God” the Saviour of God’s providing, the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit would take of the things of Christ and reveal them to their souls so that they would be enabled by faith to embrace Christ in the Word of God and to have the Word of God abiding by faith in their hearts. Isaiah says here, “Behold I and the children whom the Lord hath given me.” As you know, although we do not have time to deal with that aspect of the matter, these words are applied to the Saviour in His speaking to the Father, but in the case of Isaiah these children or disciples were given to him by his preaching being blessed to them, just as there were in Corinth those who had one spiritual father and that was Paul. The Word of God at his mouth was blessed by the power of the Holy Spirit to them. So it will be. There will always be, and there are now, those of whom we read here — that the law was sealed in their hearts and the Word of God was sealed in their souls by the power of the Holy Ghost. They felt its authority and they knew that Isaiah was a man of God, and therefore they stood with him. They were his spiritual children and therefore they stood with him against the flood. Now, notice what was said about them. They were “for signs and wonders.” We are reaching that stage now. The people who believe the Bible is the infallible, inerrant Word of God are a wonder. There are so few of them. People who will not have instrumental music in the worship of God are a wonder, as are people who exercise discipline with regard to erring members of the church. All this is bound up with the testimony for Divine Truth in which these spiritual children take their part. To the rest, to the Parliament of World Religions, to the ecumenical movement, they are looked upon as wonders. A man who believes the Bible to be infallible and inerrant, and who preaches the doctrines of Calvinism, is going to drive the people away, they say. To build up a congregation, you must accommodate yourselves to the needs and the wants of people. Above all things, do not be speaking about sin and death and judgement and hell and a lost eternity.

Now, just in conclusion, when Isaiah stood there alone, as a flood the king of Assyria was spreading his wings over “Thy land O Immanuel.” But Isaiah knew something else. He knew that the Cause of Christ could not be destroyed by the Assyrian power or any other power, because Immanuel was to come in the fullness of the times, and this land, this land where this river was overflowing, was Immanuel’s land, where He was to be born in Bethlehem and where He was to die on Calvary. Let the powers be as they like. Let them think they are going to conquer as they will. Christ is the Head of the church, and He will secure the safety of all His people, and secure the safety of the church. In the midst of devastating floods, the Spirit of God will raise up a witness against them. This is the situation that we find ourselves in. Do not let us be discouraged by it. Let us see from the Word of God how this man of God acted and how he said, “And I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth His face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for Him.”

In the Psalm we were singing, Psalm 46, we have “The Lord to her an helper will and that right early prove.” These words “right early” mean at the turn of the morning. When the darkest hour is there and the dawn is ready to break, the Lord will be the help of His people. This is where we are to look, above the floods, beyond the floods, to the One Who is alive and “alive for evermore,” and Who has said, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world, Amen”, and the word “alway” means “all the days.” In the days of the flood of the King of Assyria, in the days of Hezekiah and his passover, when Israel was rejoicing, in days of adversity and days of prosperity, Immanuel says, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” May He bless His Word.

• “At the enthronement of the Pope, as the Cardinal Deacon places the triple crown or tiara on the Pope’s head, he says: Receive the tiara with three crowns and know that thou art the Father of Princes and of Kings and Ruler of the world; yea, the Vicar of our Saviour, Jesus Christ on earth.” (Romanism and Evangelical Christianity — F. J. Paul — page 325).