Preached by Rev. D. Beaton, Oban, at St. Jude’s, Glasgow, on Tuesday, 17th May, 1938.
“Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea the set time is come.” (Psalm cii. 13.)
THE Apostle Peter, when writing to those who had obtained a like precious faith with himself, speaks about exceeding great and precious promises. The word “precious” seems to have been a favourite with the Apostle. He speaks of “like precious faith” and “the precious chief corner stone” and the “precious blood” and “the exceeding great and precious promises,” and further he speaks of Christ as the “preciousness”—that is, the One in whom all preciousness is summed up.
It is of interest to notice that the promises of God may not make an appeal to His people until they are brought into circumstances in which these promises are fitted to cheer them and encourage them, and it will be found, if there is a promise given of light in darkness, a man that is walking in the light will not think so much of that promise as one who is longing to see the light, and who is walking in darkness. The promise that says to him that there will be light in the darkness will be an exceeding great and precious promise when it is realised by him.
You will notice in connection with the Psalm that has been read in your hearing, that it has the following inscription: “A
*“Unto you, therefore that believe, He is precious” (preciousness)
—I. Peter ii. 7.
Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the Lord.” This is the prayer of one who is in great trouble—one who finds himself in a situation out of which he cannot deliver himself. As far as he is concerned it is a case of hopelessness, and many there be that have been in such a plight down through all the ages of the Church, and many a one has found in this Psalm something to cheer him and encourage him, so that he may go on his way rejoicing.
It is not necessary for me to point out to you the sad position in which the Psalmist found himself at this time. You have listened to what he had to say in connection with that matter. As we listened to it and read it, does it not make this impression, that he was in great straits? That it was no ordinary trouble through which he was passing? That it was not something he could by his own skill deliver himself from? A case that was absolutely hopeless as far as any human power or wisdom was concerned, and that there was only one thing he could do, and that was to look to God; and if trouble sends us to God, that trouble will be blessed to us. If it is only hardening us, then we are not receiving a blessing from it, but if it is shutting us in more and more to Him, who is the God of salvation, and who has an interest in His own people, don’t let us regret that we are passing through trouble—it may not be pleasant—it may not be comfortable—it may not be anything our nature would desire to experience, but the day may not be far distant when we will recognise that in all these things through which we are passing, there is infinite wisdom and loving kindness behind it, and that there is sufficient power to deliver us in God’s own appointed time, so that we will have to recognise His hand and say through grace: “Good is the will of the Lord.”
I was thinking since I came to the platform here, of another remarkable Psalm—that is, the 89th. This Psalm you will notice begins in a high triumphant note, but as the Psalmist goes on, there is a going down, notwithstanding all he said about the might and power of God—the God who delivered them out of
Egypt, and whose resources were infinite—”The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine; as for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them.” He is a God of unlimited resources, yet the Psalmist says that he does not see God’s promises being fulfilled—instead, there is a contrary movement, and one is so ready to look at a certain part of the carrying out of God’s purposes and to come to a conclusion that is entirely contrary to what is the divine purpose. I was reading the other week a criticism of certain scientists, in which the critic said that they used what he might call the “spot argument”—they were not taking into consideration what was going before and what was coming after—they were looking at the matter from the standpoint of what was facing them. Whether this is true I will not take upon myself to say, but it is certainly true of how we look at the purposes of God—we are ready to look at certain spots and come to certain conclusions about them—we cannot see the future and it is an infinite mercy we cannot, and as for the past, we are dull and stupid scholars—we have not learned the lessons from what God has left on record to teach us, and, like Jacob of old, when the divine purpose was unfolding itself, he looked at a certain spot and said, “All these things are against me.” But he was wrong—seriously wrong. In connection with the 89th Psalm, it will be noticed that perhaps the correct interpretation is not the one that seems to be on the surface, viz., that the Psalmist begins on a very high note and then goes down lower and lower. I think the correct interpretation is more after this line—the Psalmist sees the condition of things very far from what he expected them to be—he is confronted with a situation which he never anticipated, and yet in face of it all, he has to sing of the mercies of God. Bad as things may be, and very depressing they were, yet, he turns to God and says:—”I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever”, and not only that, but he says he is encouraged in this because not only is He a merciful God, but He is a faithful God—a God that is keeping covenant, and that He will stand true to His covenant engagements for He has infinite resources to draw upon
in order to succour His cause in the time of need. Then he goes on to speak of the power of this infinite One, who broke Rahab in pieces, and who made a way through the sea, and a God who did that is One to be trusted in the darkest hour that will come on His cause in the world. When things are dark, this is not a time when this confidence should be given up, but a time when faith should lay firmer hold of the promises which God has made, and if we do so you will find we will get the encouragement which the Psalmist got when he was in difficulties.
The Psalm read in your hearing, as noticed already, is: “A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the Lord.” Oh! how deep were the experiences of the Psalmist! When we read this Psalm we just feel that any experience we have is merely on the surface—we have not gone into the depths at all, and it is only those who have gone into the depths who realise what a God they have. What a God to trust and hope in! One who wrought deliverance in every time of need. What does the Psalmist do? Does he fold his hands and give himself up to despair? Is that the attitude that ought to characterise those who profess to believe in God—those that believe in One to whom all power in Heaven and earth has been given? Is that the attitude that we ought to assume towards a God whose purposes down through the ages have been showing themselves in the most wonderful way, although at times very dark and mysterious, yet out of the darkness and seeming confusion, the well-ordered plan of heaven is revealed, so that those who did not understand it to begin with had to say: “This is the doing of the Lord, and wondrous in our eyes.” Now, in connection with this the Psalmist turns away from his own state and condition. We are so ready to be taken up with ourselves. We are cast down and we think everything around us is going to wreck and ruin. You know the effect of the mind when depressed and cast down—the sun shining in the heavens is not so bright as it used to be, and there is never to be
any getting out of this difficulty or that trial at all. It is extraordinary the effect that a troubled mind and a depressed heart have upon us. It is good to be looking within to see what is going on in the heart—some never look there at all—but, as Samuel Rutherford used to say: “For every look you take within, take ten looks at Christ;” and if you do, will you be going about with a drooping head and languid spirit? Will it be the case that your knees are almost losing their strength, and your heart failing? Did you ever hear of a Christian, who, looking to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Mighty God, as His Saviour, being downcast? If there was such a one, it was because of his lack of trust in His Lord and Master. What a comforting thing it is when you get a look at Him, who has received all power in heaven and earth, and who is exalted at God’s right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour! It was to this mighty God that the Psalmist turned his eyes in the time of his distress, and, dear friends, if we ever did it in our lives—if once in our lifetime we took one look to the great God who is ruling in Heaven, how different all things became! It is said of Moses that “he endured as seeing Him who is invisible,” and as it is in the Gaelic version, “he was strong in his mind”—he was not at all as one that was easily overcome. Others wanted to get back to Egypt, but you never hear Moses say: “Let us go back to Egypt. It was a grand place, and we had a happy time down there, and it is a great pity we came into the wilderness at all.” Never such words came from the lips of Moses. He was strong in his mind, and endured as seeing Him who is invisible—he got a sight of the majesty of the God, who took them out of Egypt, and that sight so impressed him that there was nothing impossible for Him to do, and if we got a sight of that God we would leave this house tonight in a different spirit than the spirit in which some of us came to it. It is a sight of this great and holy One that would lift us above the things of time and sense, and impress us with the greatness of the God with whom we have to do and whom we profess to serve. The Psalmist tells us that he turned his
eyes to this God, and what effect did this produce. Listen to what he says:—”Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion; for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come.” That is the hope that came into his heart. Throughout all the ages of the Church there have been times when the cause of Christ was exceptionally low, but God came to the deliverance of His people. Three hundred years ago in this same city (Glasgow), which was then a small town, God appeared in His might and majesty, and rolled back the waves of opposition in an extraordinary manner, so that Scotland to this day is reaping the benefit of the Assembly of 1638. Alas! men are thinking little of it to-day. God appeared for Zion and wrought a wonderful work then. You will hear something about this work later on.* Let us look at the matter as it is here presented—”Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion”. This is a great promise. Who is it that is to come for the deliverance of Zion? Is it the Angels from Heaven that are to do this great work? Are God’s people to band themselves together and in this way to work deliverance for His cause? Dear friends, this is the Psalmist’s hope, and may it be yours and mine too, that it is God Himself who will arise and show favour to Zion, and it has always been so when God wrought deliverance for His people. It was for His own Zion He did it, and when God begins to build the house, there is a sure foundation laid, and it will be a very beautiful work when finished. Just as it was said when the second Temple was built; they were to cry: Grace, grace, unto it. The word “grace” there means beauty. It will be a beautiful work when finished, when the cope stone is laid. Oh! what a beautiful building—every stone of it showing forth the glory of the One who built it; what a beautiful building will God’s people see one day. God will arise and have mercy upon Zion. God is not seemingly taking notice, as far as men can see, of all that is going on. Men
*The reference is to the commemoration of the tercentenary of the Glasgow Assembly of 1638. As our readers are probably aware papers on the Assembly were read on the evening of Monday, 23rd May, in St. Jude’s Church. These will be printed in due course.
—Editor.
may be crying to heaven and getting no answer. Why? Because God’s set time has not yet come. Our time is always ready—it is now. But when God’s appointed time will come, God’s work will be of such a nature that men will have to say: “This is the doing of the Lord, and wondrous in our eyes.” I know it is the prayer of some here, but some of us will, in all likelihood, never see it, but what a great day it will be! God shall arise, and have mercy upon Zion. In connection with this, it is a set time. Men have their own time, and you will find that it is a common thing nowadays certain movements are set in motion—such as the Rededication Movement, the Forward Movement, and the Recall to Religion. The Recall to Religion came from the Archbishop of Canterbury, and there was a day in Scotland when a deaf ear would be turned to the Archbishop of Canterbury and all the more so when his sympathies were shaping Romewards. Is a religion that is leading men to the Church of Rome, the religion to which the Presbyterians in Scotland are being Recalled to? Surely never! Men delude themselves with the idea that they are to build a strong and powerful church in this land, but they are failing to recognise that it is Jehovah Himself who will arise and have mercy upon Zion.
As I have been called rather unexpectedly to take this service, I have no intention of keeping you long, but I would like to speak of certain signs that will take place when God will do this great work. What are they? “When the Lord shall build up Zion, He shall appear in His glory.” There were days in Scotland when He did appear in His glory. There were days when the little children gave up their play and gathered together in prayer-meetings and implored God’s blessing upon them—days when people would go out at 6 o’clock in the morning to hear George Whitefield and other ambassadors of Heaven, and received their message, which brought hope and cheer to them, and gladdened their hearts all the days they lived in time. There were days when He appeared in His glory in the Highlands of Scotland—days when the truth had such an effect upon the hearers that
they drank the gospel and forgot all their sorrows. These were days when He appeared in His glory. John Brown of Haddington as a shepherd lad used to walk all the way over the hills to hear Ralph Erskine preach, and declared in after days that the hearers were brought face to face with the God of Israel under the preaching of this master in Israel. What wonderful preaching that must have been! How real the message must have been which brought them face to face with the God of Israel! If we experienced this when we were hearing God’s Word proclaimed to us, do you think we would be so easily cast down? No! We would say: “His truth at all times firmly stood, and shall from age to age endure.” When I quote these words, there comes up to my mind what the late Rev. D. MacLeod, Shieldaig, told me on one occasion. He had gone from his island home in the west of Lewis to Manchester to earn his living. In this great city he was very depressed with what he saw of godlessness—so different was it all to what he had been accustomed to at home. While in this state of mind, a band of people who had gathered in the Square, opposite his window, began to sing the 100th Psalm. When they came to the words, “His truth at all times firmly stood, and shall from age to age endure”, they had such an effect upon him that he said, “I thought I would never be moved in my life after that.” It was a message from heaven to him. That is what we need, something like that—that the truth of God would be very real to us, so that we would not be always leaning on crutches. You remember John Bunyan speaks of one leaving his crutches when he got to the River. It would be a good thing if we left them long before we got to the River. When we come to a little hill it appears to us like the Himalayas—we sit down and look at it and say we will never get past it. Do you not know something about such an experience? If we had sufficient faith and trust and believed that God will appear in the glory of His power, Oh! what would all the opposition of the Church of Rome be? Or all the opposition of Mohammedanism? Or all the opposition of the Communists?
Or all the opposition that is being offered by false religions to Jesus Christ and His Kingdom? What are all these before the might and power of this God? And if, seemingly, He is taking no notice of what is going on, that does not mean that He has no power or purpose to deliver. When the German Armies made a tremendous effort to break down and crush the Allied Armies they gathered all their strength and the very expenditure of that strength proved their undoing. The German High Command staked all and lost all. Their battalions, so menacingly powerful, were driven before the Allied Armies, and were it not that they sued for peace, the greatest calamity in military annals would probably have befallen them in the field. So will it be with God’s enemies. God will allow things to go on for a certain time, until they come to a height, and then He will say: “Thus far and no farther.” God will appear in His own appointed time, and whether we will live to see it or not—some will; the great armies of opposition will be turned back, although, at times, it looks as if it would never be. Why should we harbour the thought that God is never to arise and plead His own cause, and that He is going to allow the enemy to prevail? The cause came very low at the very beginning of the Christian era and, in connection with such occasions, I have been using an illustration of an incident that occurred a little while ago in Oban. Sitting at the manse window, I happened to lift up my eyes and saw the sun like a ball of molten gold descending behind the hills of Mull. There was a glory in the heavens, but beneath there was a thick black cloud stretching from Morvern across the Sound of Mull, and I said to myself, wait and see what will be the effect when the sun sets. At last the sun went down behind the hills, but the glory in the heavens was still there—the sun although it was out of my sight, had not set at all—it was still there, and that is how it often happens, and it happened when the enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ seemed to gain the day, and when the poor Disciples saw their Lord and Master led out to be crucified between two malefactors. Oh! who can enter into their feelings?
All the hopes they had for eternity were in Him, and now these appeared to be all blasted—everything seemed to be turned into ashes, when they saw Him being taken out and led to death. Was it the setting of the sun never to rise again? No, friends. It was the setting as far as they saw at the time but it was the most beautiful setting that ever was seen in this world, but it was to rise again. In the wonderful and beautiful sunsets we have in the west you need dark clouds if you are to have a beautiful sunset. That was the most beautiful sunset time ever saw, but it did not mean the sun was never to rise again—it was only for a season. It was to rise again and its light was to fill eternity with its glory. It is well we should keep this in mind that the Lord of glory said this to His people: “Yet a little while and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me,” and the world’s last sight of Jesus Christ was a crucified Saviour on Calvary’s accursed tree. It will never see Him again until He comes in the clouds of heaven. His people saw Him after His resurrection but He had to show Himself to them. “A little while and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me.” The world shall see Him again at last, and in that day His glory will be resplendent, when He will come again taking vengeance on His enemies. He shall appear in His power and in the glory of His mercy. Did we ever get a glimpse of the glory of the mercy of God? How great is it?
Well, when God will arise to build Zion, men will get a sight of His glory. He will appear to them in the glory of His love, and in the glory of His wisdom. Would it not be a great matter for you and me to be numbered among that people that will praise Him! When He appeared the first time they were crying: “Hosanna to the Son of David”, but their “Hosannas” did not continue long. The little children themselves were singing “Hosanna” to Him in the Temple. What were they doing there? I know not, but one thing we know is they were saying: “Hosanna! to the Son of David.” The little children with their tender voices and hearts as yet untouched by the sorrows of the
world—He was a Saviour for the little children—He laid His hands upon them and said: “Suffer the little children to come unto me.” Did you ever see the glory of that Saviour? Were you ever touched by it? While the little children were singing their “Hosannas” to Him in the Temple, their songs displeased the chief priests and the scribes but He stood up in their defence. He had accepted their service (Matt. xxi. 16). Oh! that He would accept our service here tonight, with all its imperfections, and if we had such a desire in our hearts that we could say, Hosanna! to the Son of David, and blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord, I think we would get a little of the comfort and joy of the Psalmist, which must have been his when he thought about this, that God would arise and have mercy upon Zion when the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come.
May God bless this portion of the Word of God to us, and may we receive the comfort that it is fitted to give.