“In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thy hands be slack. 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.”—Zeph. iii. 16, 17.
THESE interesting words, addressed originally to God’s ancient people, were intended to apply to the true Israel of God in all ages. “Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope. The words are the more remarkable, as coming after many sad denunciations against the Philistines, Moab, Ammon, Assyria, Ethiopia, and even Judah itself. All the more striking are they as contained in the very chapter in which the sins of Jerusalem are unsparingly unfolded and denounced. Jerusalem is here called the “filthy, polluted, and oppressing city,” whose princes are “roaring lions, and her judges evening wolves,” her “prophets light and treacherous persons,” her priests men who “have polluted the sanctuary, and done violence to the law.” But this is the manner of God. Just as the sound of condemnation had not ceased in Eden, till it was succeeded by the voice of mercy; just as the prophet Isaiah had no sooner, in his first chapter, exposed the wickedness of the Jews, than he said, in God’s name, “Come and let us reason together; though your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow”: so, no sooner had Zephaniah laid open the abounding wickedness of Judah, than he pointed forward to brighter scenes—to the returning suppliants, under the power of the Spirit, ashamed of their doings—to those who rejoiced in their pride removed—to the power of sin destroyed by the omnipotence of Divine grace, and to the full flood of Divine eternal mercy going forth towards those who were redeemed, not with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. “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 remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth; for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.” “In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not; and to Zion, Let not thy hands be slack. 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 rejoice over thee with singing.”
The text is consolatory. Its object is to bear up and establish the souls of true Christians in faith, hope, and joy; and I trust the meditations to which it naturally leads may be found suitable on a day of high communion, when God brings His people into His banqueting-house, and says, “Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled.” Open the gates of righteousness, that my people may enter in and bless the Lord. The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner. Trust in the Lord for ever; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved. He will be thy sun and shield, giving thee grace and preparing thee for glory, and withholding no good thing from thee. Even in the wilderness a table is spread for thee in the presence of thine enemies; and, seated around that table, thou shalt experience a foretaste of thy holy joy, when thou shalt see the King in His beauty, and the land that is very far off—when the wicked shall cease from troubling, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away for ever.
There are first, however, one or two points to be clearly apprehended and fixed in your minds. This consolation is addressed only to true Christians. It is to “Jerusalem” that the admonition “not to fear” is addressed; it is to “Zion” that it is said, “Let not thy hands be slack.” No encouragement is therefore given here to open transgressors or persistent backsliders. “Unto the wicked God saith, what hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?” No encouragement is given to incorrigible hypocrites: “The sinners in Zion are afraid, and fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites.” No disguise can intercept the clear glance of Him who “searcheth the hearts and trieth the reins of the children of men.” The encouragement is addressed only to such as have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before them in the Gospel—who thus stand in the same relation to God, spiritually, in which the ancient Zion stood temporally. They are His peculiar people—rescued from the spiritual Egypt, joined with Him in solemn covenant, and destined to dwell for ever in the Jerusalem above, “the mother of us all.”
All the more necessary is it to make this clear distinction, because none is so prone to take to themselves the promises of the Gospel as those to whom they clearly do not belong. The natural blindness and foolish selfishness of man is strikingly illustrated in this. Just as the man who has evidently no righteousness at all is most prone to seek heaven as a reward of his obedience, so the man who has evidently no fear of God before his eyes is most prone to appropriate to himself the promises of the Gospel. “Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased in goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art poor, and miserable, and blind, and naked,” standing in need of all things. No! stand back, thou profane, from the sacred table; but still know that for you the Master calleth. His language is, “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.”
But not only is the text specially addressed to the people of God—it is spoken upon the supposition that they shall often be overwhelmed with anxiety—that they shall “fear,” and that “their hands shall be slack.” No greater mistake can exist than that of supposing that a Christian’s life is a period of continual sunshine. It is more like one of the days of this world—sometimes fair, sometimes cloudy, the clouds returning after the rain. The rainbow in the cloud is an evidence that there shall be no deluge; but certainly not that there shall be no rain. Such is the power of unbelief, even in the best—so many are the trials, temptations, and sins, to which all believers are exposed—that it will generally be found that those who have least cause for fear are most frequently under its dominion. David speaks of his heart as “overwhelmed and in perplexity.” He tells us that he “looked on his right hand and beheld”: “refuge failed him, no man cared for his soul.” Listen at the door of the closet of the daughter of Sion: “Zion saith, the Lord hath forsaken me, my God hath forgotten me.” The Church is represented as now enjoying all delight—again, in deep despondency; as going about the streets of the city, and saying, Saw ye Him whom my soul loveth! O thou whom my soul loveth, tell me where thou feedest, and where thou causest thy flock to lie down at noon. I opened to my beloved, but He was gone. My soul failed when He spake; I sought Him, but I could not find Him; I called, but He gave no answer. Oh, that I were as in months past, when His candle shined upon my head. Such is the varying experience of the true members of the Christian Church. And if there is a time more than any other when Christians are apt to falter, it is when, amidst the solemnities of a Communion table, they take the cup of salvation, and eat the children’s bread. Now to those in such circumstances this admonition may most appropriately be addressed, “Ye are weak, of yesterday, crushed before the moth; but the Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty. Ye are sinful dust and ashes; but the Lord is a Saviour to the uttermost. All obstacles have been removed by Him. All the claims of justice satisfied, grace now reigns through His righteousness to the eternal life of the chief of sinners. Ye are sorrowful, but He rests in His love, which is, like Himself, eternal and unchangeable; and rejoices over you, even with singing.”
This brings me to the main object of this discourse, viz., to illustrate the grounds of confidence which all Christians may have in the unchanging love of their Almighty Redeemer. The whole scope of revelation is fitted to impress this truth upon our minds, as well as the whole past dealings of God with His people; from which it appears that, insignificant and guilty as they are, there has been nothing too great for the Holy One and the Just to give, or to suffer on their behalf. Let us illustrate this.
I. What are the marks of love?
Our love towards an object may be known by the direction of our thoughts; for, on the beloved object our thoughts chiefly dwell. Time and space are annihilated, and the distance only increases the flame. So the thoughts of Christ are turned towards His people, and have been from eternity: Before the depths were formed, when there were no fountains abounding with water, He was set up from everlasting, and rejoiced in the habitable parts of the earth, and His delights were with the children of men. During all the Old Testament economy, His thoughts were constantly towards His people, when, as the Angel of the covenant, He accompanied the Israelites in all their wanderings; and when His Spirit, by the prophets, foretold His coming and sufferings, and the glory that should follow. When the appointed time of His advent came, His thoughts were upon His Church. He saw that there was no man; He wondered that there was no intercessor. “I know the thoughts I have towards you—thoughts of peace, and not of evil.” “Save from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom.” “Lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of Me; to do Thy will I delight, O God; yea, Thy law is within my heart.” I will go to yon distant world, and take the form of a servant, and pay the price, that these may go free. His thoughts were towards His Church, when on earth He went about continually doing good—gathering in the lost sheep of the House of Israel; when He said, “I ascend to my Father and your Father—to my God and your God;” when, in prayer, He cried, “Now, I am no more in the world, but these are in the world; and I come to thee, Holy Father: keep, through thine own name, those that thou hast given me, for they are thine.” “Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory.” In the regions of heaven, His thoughts are still upon His people. There, He is preparing for them mansions of blessedness; thence is He continually sending the Holy Spirit to sanctify them, His angels to guard them, and making all the events of Providence to work together for their good. His unceasing occupation is to present their prayers, in the golden censer full of incense, perfumed with His infinite merits: whilst, throughout eternity, His thoughts will be on His redeemed and glorified Church. “The Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and lead them unto living fountains of water; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”
Our love towards an object may be manifested by our anxiety in regard to its welfare. “Deal gently,” said David, “with the young man Absalom for my sake;” proving how intensely he loved that young man, wicked as he was. And so Christ overrules all events, and gives charge to His servants, the angels, that excel in glory and strength: “Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation?” Not only so, but He gives solemn charge even to wicked men: “Touch not mine anointed, do my prophets no harm.” He even charges Satan, binding him like waves of the sea, and saying, “Hitherto shalt thou come, but no farther.” Satan himself was convinced of this in the case of Job: “Hast thou not hedged him about, and all that he hath?” Nay, we find God threatening those who meddle with His saints: “It were better that a milestone were hanged about his neck, and be cast in the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.” We find Him, in the days of old, making the sun and moon stand still in the firmament for them; the sea stand up as an heap, that the ransomed of the Lord should pass over. The solid rock gave forth streams of water, and great laws of nature were reversed. We find Christ identifying Himself with His people. “He that receiveth you, receiveth me.” “He that giveth a cup of cold water to a disciple shall in no wise lose his reward.” “Inasmuch as ye did it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto me.”
Love may be known by the extent of suffering which we are willing to undergo for the person beloved. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for a friend. Scarcely for a righteous man will one die; “but God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and it seemed but a day, for the love he had for her; although the dews were upon him by night, and the sun by day. Now, Christ hath endured inconceivable agony for His Church. We may apply to Him the language of the prophet, “Behold, and see, all ye that pass by, if there be any sorrow like my sorrow, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of His fierce anger.” He suffered in His body, which was agonised and nailed to the accursed tree; in His soul, which was exceeding sorrowful and sore amazed; and if we will come and see where He bled, hear His groans, and behold the place where the Lord lay after shedding that blood, every drop of which was infinitely precious, we must be convinced that there never was love like His. When Christ was about to be betrayed, He said to those who came to take Him “If, therefore, ye seek me let these go their way”—a statement which will apply to His whole Church. Cast me, like Jonah, into the sea, that all the rest may be saved; nail me to the accursed tree, spend your malice on me; I am willing to tread the winepress alone, and that of the people there shall be none with me—only let these go. Thus Christ stood between His Church and danger—He acted as the conductor upon which the lightning of Divine vengeance might break and exhaust itself, that they might be untouched. He drank the bitter cup, that they might not taste it; He was wounded, that we might be healed; He bore away the curse, that we might carry away the blessing. There was no sorrow like His, nor any love to compare with it—I have loved thee, and given myself for thee. Hence the Apostle tries to measure this love, but his line is too short; he cannot find its height, and depth, and breadth, and length. He tries to speak of it, but language fails—it is unspeakable. He tries to know its extent, but the human mind, sustained by inspiration, breaks down in the attempt. “It passeth knowledge.” Only, he infallibly concludes that the greatest evidence has been given of boundless love, and that God, who spared not His own Son, but gave Him up to the death for us, is, with Him also freely pleased to give us all things.
Our love is discerned by the prominence given to the object beloved. Solomon made a seat for his mother at his right hand. All men have some object on which they dwell with satisfaction—their wealth, their talents, their honours, their beauty. Now Christ regards the Church as the object of His chief love. That Church is His treasure. She is called “Hephzibah,” for the Lord delighteth in her; she is Christ’s inheritance, as it is written, “Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance.” In her he sees the travail of His soul, and is satisfied. Her glory is the joy set before Him, for which he endured the cross, despising the shame. I gave Egypt for thy ransom—Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Nay, He has built a stately palace for this Church, of which this world, with its bright canopy of sun, moon, and stars, is only the porch. He gives that Church all the advantages of time and all the blessedness of eternity, so that we may well exclaim, “Who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the Shield of thine help, and the Sword of thine excellency! All thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee, and thou shalt tread upon their high places.”
II. Consider, again, this love, and the relationships implied in it.
If we come more closely to it, and examine into the nature of this love, the statement in the text will become more clear and wonderful. God is called, in the text, “thy God”; and He is said to be “in the midst of us,” and to “rejoice over us, with singing.” In other words, there is a close relationship between God and His people; He is their God, in a more peculiar sense than He was the God of the ancient Israelites. As He tabernacled of old amongst the Jews, so He dwells in them, and walks in them, and they are temples of the Holy Ghost. Nay, as the eagle fluttereth over her nest, carrieth her young upon her wings, so our Saviour God watches over His people, and rejoiceth to do them good.
Consider the names by which He is called. He is our Surety—that implies singular love. He has paid our debts hundreds of years before they were contracted—cast them behind His back, and into the depths of the sea, so that they shall never rise in remembrance against us. He is our Mediator. It was love that induced Him to undertake our otherwise desperate cause, and to stand between us and the offended majesty, justice, and truth of heaven. He is our Advocate—not a hired intercessor, who may not care for the success of his client, or a poor fallible, earthly pleader; but one whose infinite wisdom, power, and love are spontaneously put forth in our defence, and are always prevalent. He is our Captain. Shall the Captain not love His soldiers, and feel a deep interest in their success and victory? He is our Head. Shall the Head say of any of the members of the body, I have no need of thee? No man hateth his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it. He is the King of saints. Their hearts are His throne, and love is the very sceptre by which He rules them. In a word, all the names of Christ in relation to His people prove that He rejoices over them, with singing. On the other hand, consider the names by which they are called. They are His friends. “Henceforth I call you not servants, but friends; for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth.” It is in this capacity that we sit at His table, and hear the invitation, Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved. His is not the hollow friendship of this world, which changes like the varying sky; but Christ is “a friend that sticketh closer than a brother,” and is especially “a brother born for adversity.” When even the dearest friends on earth forget and forsake us, we have a sure refuge in Him. “When my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will take me up.” We are called His children—”being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible; by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” We all know how strong a love is implied in the joy of parents. Yet this is the favourite image. Man, the prodigal son; God, eyeing him with pity amidst all his folly; hailing the first symptoms of his return, and saying, “Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. It was meet that we should make merry and rejoice, for this my son was dead, and is alive again—he was lost, and is found.” How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? Is Ephraim a dear son, is he a pleasant child? We are the spouse of Christ. Thou shalt say, my Maker is my Husband, the Lord of Hosts is His name. All the splendours of Eastern imagery are lavished on this glorious bride. She is perfumed with myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces. King’s daughters are amongst her honourable women: on the right hand doth stand the queen, in gold of Ophir. O daughter, hearken and regard; forsake thy father’s house and thine own people: so shall the King greatly desire thy beauty; for He is thy Lord, and worship thou Him. Thou are beautiful as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem. Who is this that looketh forth as the morning—fair as the moon, clear as the sun, terrible as an army with banners. No greater mark of love can be imagined than this. He passes by all others, and chooses her to the most exalted place of honour, to the most endeared relationship. We are His house. Christ, as a Son in His own house, whose house are we, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end. Now, every idea of happiness centres around our own home; humble though it may be, still it is ours, and all the objects of our most familiar and dearest affections are there. And so, when Christ called the Church His house, framed of living stones, in which are many vessels of gold and silver, but all meet for the Master’s use—He intended to intimate the intense and peculiar love with which He regards His people. We are His sheep. The Shepherd defends His sheep, even at the risk of His own life, as David did against the lion and the bear. He knows them all by their names—He makes them to lie down at noon in the green pastures and beside the still waters. This great Shepherd of Israel, who slumbereth not nor sleepeth, drives away the wolves and birds of prey, gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them in His bosom, and gently leads those that are with young. His sheep know His voice and follow Him, and will not follow a stranger; and He gives them eternal life, and they shall never perish, nor shall any be able to pluck them out of His hand. He is the Good Shepherd: the good shepherd giveth His life for the sheep. Above all, we are His jewels. “They shall be mine,” saith the Lord, in that day when I make up my jewels.” Men chiefly value their jewels, and place them in the strongest hold of their dwelling-places. The jewels of a kingdom are especially precious. They are placed in a tower of safety, railed round with iron. And, as we look at them through the iron grating, the armed guards stand round to protect them from danger. When the ambassadors and princes of other lands assemble, and a grand display is to be made of the wealth and glory of a kingdom, these jewels are brought forth, and exhibited to dazzle the foreign eyes. So, in the vast dominions of the King of kings, His redeemed children are His jewels—more precious than the topaz of Ethiopia or the fine wedge of Ophir. They are now hedged round, and all that they have. You may look on them, but, without Divine permission, you dare not touch them. Their place of defence is the munition of rocks; and when, at length, all the principalities and powers of darkness, and the kings of all lands are assembled with the mighty crowds of the judgment day, these shall be brought forth, as the trophies of His power and wonders of His kingdom—enemies made friends—souls once defiled and debased, but now elevated and made radiant as sons of the morning. Meantime is the statement true, “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” The love of Christ is centred upon those who are His jewels.
III. Consider what Christ has already done for His people.
They are His by choice. He chose them from eternity. I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore, with loving-kindness have I drawn thee. We must look back, through a long flight of ages, to a period before the earth was made, before the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy; and think of Christ, from the depths of eternity, choosing His people, and determining to secure their salvation. He saw us in ruin, and even then He passed by and said unto us, Live: yea, he said unto us, Live. His time was a time of love. These were the bosom thoughts of God towards His people, this the love of that glorious sovereignty, out of which the whole plan of salvation arose. Love called the world into being, that it might be a theatre of redeeming grace: love triumphs over all difficulties, and the eternity of the future is only the full development of what was fixed and resolved upon in the eternity that is past.
They are His purchase. We love what is ours, especially what we have obtained with difficulty, especially what we have lost and then obtained again, as the poor woman rejoiced over her lost piece of money when found—as the shepherd rejoiced over his recovered sheep—as the father over the returning prodigal. Now, all we like sheep had gone astray, and are brought back with an unspeakable price—even the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot.
Let us put the merits of the case thus:—The people of God were cast out and condemned. A days-man arose, but conditions must be fulfilled—He must die that we might live; He must endure the curse, if we were to inherit the blessing—endure the punishment of sin, if we were to live and reign. In a word, He must buy us, or we cannot be His. He accepts the terms, finishes transgression brings in an everlasting righteousness, offers it to us, sends ambassadors to urge it upon our acceptance, sends the Holy Spirit to change our hearts. When it is accepted, the rebels are set free—the debtors bring their books, and the pen of heaven is run through their debts, and thus God now sees no iniquity in Jacob, nor perverseness in Israel. There is enough in reality, but in them, clothed with Christ’s righteousness, the Father sees none. They are accepted in the beloved, and these clothed and justified ones all the Trinity behold with a pleasant countenance—whilst Christ sees in them of the travail of His soul, and is satisfied. Nay, strange though it may seem, the great delight of Christ is here; He taketh pleasure in His people, and will beautify the meek with His salvation; He delights to see you, to be with you, to converse with you—but for you the world would be only fit for the fire. “Let me see thy face, let me hear thy voice: For sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.”
We are His by a new creation. David asks, “Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? shall they rise and praise thee?” The question is answered in the experience of every Christian. For by him ye are created in Christ Jesus unto good works. At the omnipotent command of Jesus, Lazarus comes forth, casts off his grave clothes, and sings for joy. Man reckons it a great work to raise the sick, greater to raise the dying, a still greater to raise the actually dead—and it is the greatest of all to raise a soul “dead in trespasses and sins.” But the Almighty voice which called the universe into existence and said, “Let there be light, and there was light,” can burst the barriers which shroud in darkness an immortal spirit, can lift up the everlasting doors of the human soul that the King of glory may enter in, can make the spiritual lunatic come to himself, and appear clothed and in his right mind—in a word, can make a new creation rise from the ruins of the Fall, radiant in new life and in the prospect of a blessed immortality. As God said of the first creation, it is all very good; so He regards with especial affection this new and wonderful workmanship, and “rejoices over it with singing.”
We are His by covenant. We were by baptism solemnly devoted to Him, and we have now devoted ourselves. On the day when we received the truth in the love of it, our language was, “Come, let us join ourselves unto the Lord in the perpetual covenant, that shall not be forgotten.” Of old, there was a solemn dedication of the Jews to God—Moses sprinkled the book and the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord hath made with you”; and they said, “All that the Lord hath said will we do.” And year after year, as they observed the Passover, their language was, “God is the Lord, who hath showed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.” Here are we—thine, O David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse; what wilt thou have us to do? We will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord. Thus we have avouched the Lord to be our God. Like wandering sheep, we have returned to the eternal fold. The meaning of our communion is, that this God shall be our God for ever and ever. Let us rest assured that He never said to any of the seed of Jacob, “Seek my face in vain.” “Fear not, little flock; it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” “This is as the waters of Noah unto me, saith the Lord; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah shall no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I will not be wroth with thee nor rebuke thee.” “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that riseth in judgment against thee shall I condemn.” Affliction may depress, sorrows may cloud our prospects, difficulties may perplex, but, amidst them all, “look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh.”
We are aware that, notwithstanding all these powerful reasons, such is the insidious influence of unbelief, so many swarms of “vain thoughts” not only enter, but “lodge” in our minds., and we find God in His blessed Word seeking to drive them out. “Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your God.” They are assured that a price is paid “double,” though their sins have been of the deepest dye. But this is not enough. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, my way is hid from the Lord? Hast thou not known that our God will abundantly pardon all who truly repent? And if any are ready to object that no man, no king, ever acted thus, God says, “My ways are not your ways, neither are my thoughts your thoughts.” Again: “He shall dwell on high,” like the eagle, beyond the reach of assault; “his place of defence shall be the munition of rocks.” But the hesitating soul may say, We may be starved there. No: your “bread shall be given.” But, still, it may be argued, there is no water on the top of the rock. Yes: your “water shall be sure.” Nor shall that be all: “You shall see the King in His beauty, and the land that is very far off.” It is added: There shall be a place of broad rivers and streams. But the hesitating soul may say, Ships may carry enemies. But this may not be: “no galley with oars nor gallant ship shall pass thereby.” So, again, the Apostle says, He hath blotted out the handwriting of ordinances which was against us. This is not enough—He hath taken it out of the way. Perhaps it may be found and read. Not at all: He hath nailed it to the cross. Nay, God not only gives His Son and His promise, but His oath: “That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.” He heaps mountains on mountains of eternal strength; He lays heaven and earth at pledge, as it were, all to convince us. For the Word of God is a pillar of heaven, and the oath of God an eternal seal, which all creation cannot break—all to convince our doubting souls.
Above all, we have the whole past experience of the Christian Church to prove the truth of the text. We find Jacob using this argument from experience: “The God that led me and fed me all my life long until this day.” When David fled from Saul, and came to the high priest, he asked for a weapon with which to defend himself. The answer was: “There is none but the sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest.” “Give it to me,” said David, “for there is none like it”; it is the trophy of past success and the pledge of future triumph. Thou hast been my helper, therefore will I put my trust under the shadow of thy wings. “They that know thy name shall put their trust in thee.” Why? “For thou hast not forsaken them that trust in thee.” “Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.” “To Him that divided the sea, and smote great kings, for His mercy endureth for ever,” is the song of David. Awake, awake, O arm of the Lord. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the Dragon?
As often as the Passover was celebrated, it was part of the duty of him who presided to detail the wonders of the love of God, beginning with Abraham, and going on to the bondage of Egypt and Israel’s marvellous deliverance. And so, when we observe our New Testament Passover, we should look back over the past eternity—and, especially the six thousand years of the Christian Church—think of the millions who have drank at this fountain of redeeming love, an exceeding great multitude, which no man can number, all in glory, all singing the song of Moses and the Lamb, all monuments of eternal love. Do you doubt the Saviour’s promise? Here He exposes anew the symbols of His death. Yonder are the trophies of His blessed triumph, whilst with one voice the ransomed in heaven exclaim, thou has redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every people, and kindred, and tongue, and nation.
In conclusion, the subject of our discourse is well fitted, under the power of the Spirit of God, to give an overwhelming sense of our own unworthiness, and to cast down all pride. Our language should be, We are ashamed and confounded, and will never open our mouths any more, since God is pacified towards us, notwithstanding all that we have done. It is fitted to banish all formality in worship, all unthankfulness, unfruitfulness, and hatred. “If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.” Let us seek, whilst clothed with humility and hating all sin, to be filled with love and joy. We may well say, “Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.” Why do ye, sons of a King, go mourning from day to day? Let us join in the glorious anthem of the Psalms: Praise Him, ye sun and moon; praise Him, ye stars of light; praise Him, ye heaven of heavens, for He spake, and ye were created. Who remembered us in our low estate; for His mercy endureth for ever. And hath redeemed us from our enemies: for his mercy endureth for ever. “And now, blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. And blessed be His glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and Amen.”