THERE are three things to be noticed:—1. Those to whom God makes this Promise. 2. The Promise. 3. The fruit they shall grow, etc.
The Promise is to Israel when they were obeying the voice of the Lord, who is calling—“Oh, Israel, return unto the Lord, for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.” The Promise is not unto Israel when they were going away, but when they were returning and obeying His command. The call to return implies that they have forsaken Him. The Lord gives direction now to return with prayer. He puts suitable words into their mouth because of ourselves. We know not how to pray. Take with you words and turn to the Lord. We need words to express our desires. The Lord is so willing we should return that He teaches us what to say, “Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously.” We need iniquity to be taken away by free and full forgiveness. The next petition—“Receive us graciously,” not for any merit in us. We see here the doctrine of justification. In justification God forgives all sin, and accepts our persons as if we had never sinned for the sake of Christ. God tells what they would do when He took away all iniquity—they began to praise and render the calves of their lips. The lips were their instrument of praise. In Old Testament times, when services were typical and shadowy, there were instruments for praising, but in the New Testament it is the lips. This is an instrument no one can make. It is the Lord that made us, not we ourselves. They have renounced confidence in everything. They have no confidence in the flesh, nor creature for salvation. They were to renounce false gods and say no more to the work of their hands, Ye are our gods. See how low we come as to worship the work of our hands. Some came so low as to worship pictures. But these were to worship the true God, for in Thee the fatherless findeth mercy. Orphans are very helpless, but here they find help in God. He healeth their backsliding, and will love them freely, and His anger is turned away. Now, in our text there are three things—1, Those to whom the promise is given, I will be as the dew to them. He gives Himself, and then He gives all. He compares Himself to the dew. The dew comes from above and falls on the ground, and so no blessing can do us good but what comes from above. The world cannot give it, nor our fellow-creatures. It must come from above. The dew comes imperceptibly, not like the rain—it comes in drops, but not so the dew. When God comes to His people, He comes in the still, small voice—not in the storm nor in the thunder, but in the still, small voice. However we may be agitated by God’s law, it will not give the blessing. We need to be convinced of sin: but the Gospel comes in the dew silently. We receive the Gospel in the heart when God speaks. The dew is refreshing. It comes on the ground when it is dry; the grass then begins to grow. The dew comes plentifully and covers all the blades of the grass, trees, etc., and not only on one blade, but every blade. When God comes with the dew every faculty of the soul will be refreshed. He does not send the dew apart from Himself. He will be as the dew, sending the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, to all who come to God by Christ. He will be as the dew in the Word of the Gospel: my speech shall distil as the dew. I have been myself much refreshed by hearing the Gospel, not only by the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, but Christ in the Gospel. Many times God’s people enjoyed this, and it would be wrong to deny it. It should not be enough for us to hear this promise, but seek to realise it in our own souls. What is the effect? He shall grow—grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Nothing grows without two things, life and root. The grass must have life and root. No dead thing can grow. There is the seed of grace in God’s people. They were once dead but now live. Nothing grows without root. You see sticks in a fence; however much the rain comes on them they do not grow, but rather decay. So the Gospel to some is only a saviour of death.
2. God’s people are rooted and grounded in Christ, and they shall grow as the lily.
Several things may be said of the lily. It is a lovely plant: it does not grow high. So God’s people, who were once haughty were brought low, as Christ said: Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly. God’s people have a different estimate of themselves than that of the world. Some of God’s people are more lowly than others, and some think more of themselves than they should. The lily is beautiful not in the mount, but in the valley. Christ was thirty-three years in the valley of humiliation. The Lord’s people are the most beautiful people, though their bodies would be like that of Lazarus. They are beautiful in holiness. There are several species of the lily. It grows in winter, though other plants do not grow until summer. In Strathdearn we have seen the lilies under the snow. So do God’s people grow in the snow of adversity, and when this snow goes away, God sees His people grow. It is also a tender plant. There is no thorn in the lily. They are tender: so will God’s people be in the world with people trying to hurt them. We should try not to hurt them, as God’s people have a tender conscience towards Him. Others may break the Sabbath, but, if God’s people do it, it will hurt their conscience, and they shall say they will not do it again. The lily is a tender plant: so God’s people are afraid of sin.
3. The growth of the Christian is not only compared to the lily, but to the trees of Lebanon.
The lily is weak, but the trees of Lebanon are strong. The trees of Lebanon grow very high, and perhaps no other tree grows so high: so God’s people grow higher than the world. Although lowly in themselves, they grow to the full stature of Jesus Christ. They are not to be babes and young men always. They grow to full manhood, not crooked, but straight and upright. So believers are called upright. “The upright love Thee.” They are not crooked, although not perfect. They are upright in heart, and endeavour to be upright in conduct. There are some gardeners who put weights on the branches to make them crooked. There are some professing Christians who have weights that leave them crooked all their lives. It is natural for men to be crooked spiritually, but God’s people shall grow upright like the cedars of Lebanon. He shall cast forth his roots as Lebanon. The roots are in the ground. The natural growth is seen by all; not so the roots, only God sees them. It is said the roots of the trees of Lebanon are as long as the tree. In stormy weather, in winter, it is then the root of the tree grows, for every shake it gets it casts its roots deeper, and takes a firm hold. So does the storm of temptation and suffering cause the Christian to take root in Christ. Some of the disciples followed Christ no more, but others said: “To whom shall we go?” This is the language of saving faith. A Christian can part with many things, but he cannot part with Christ so. Thus do the trees of Lebanon cast their roots into the earth. I have seen it so with other trees. In Strathspey the roots spread out and cast themselves about rocks: so does the believer lay hold of Jesus Christ. So when other trees are uprooted by the storm, the believer takes root. When others go away under temptation, the true Christian stands firm. We as a Church met many forms of trials. We met the storm of 1892, and those who had no root went down before the storm. Although we do not want to speak of ourselves, there were only two ministers and a few students and laymen who stood in Scotland. The chaff goes with the wind, but the grain is not carried away; though a few light grains may go with the chaff, but very few, so a few weak Christians may go away in every trial, but very few. The people of God shall grow not only upwards and downwards, but their branches shall spread. This is true of the Church of God. It was set up in the Garden of Eden. It spread to the land of Jordan. It did not stop there: it came to the Continent of Europe, to the Highlands of Scotland, and to Dingwall. So have we as a Church spread our branches far and wide. Isobel Murchison said:—I went to Glasgow to the Communion, and then to Greenock and Tighnabruaich. The neighbours were asking me afterwards where I was and what I was doing in all these places. She said—”Are you not ignorant? Do you not know that the Vine that was brought from Egypt spread far and wide?” So we as a Church have spread over Britain and to the Continents of America and Africa, etc. Many said, “You cannot be useful; you cannot send the Gospel to the heathen; but we have, and our prayer is that the heathen shall be saved. It is not only that they were to grow like the trees of Lebanon, but their beauty was to be like the olive tree. We should be taking to heart the call of the Lord to turn, and there is no doubt but He will make good His promise. It will bring heaven and earth and an understanding in these things that the world knows not. Better be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord than dwell in the tents of sin. We appeal to all who forsake the truth to return, and they will experience a little of the joy we have in following the Lord. Amen.