Preached by Rev. D. R. MACDONALD, North Harris, in St. Jude’s Hall, Glasgow, on Tuesday, 20th May, 1941.
And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went forth Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the Lord your God; so ye shall be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper. And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say Praise the Lord; for His mercy endureth for ever.—II. Chron., xx., 20, 21.
I WAS looking around in the Word of God for a portion suitable for the present occasion, and this portion came before my mind, and it seems to me at any rate, very suitable. We see there was a war on and an invasion threatened and made by numerous and cruel enemies. The enemies are brought before us in the 83rd Psalm where it is said: “The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab and the Hagarenes; Gebal, and Ammon and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre.” In the chapter read it says “that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites came against Jehoshaphat to battle” and it says there was a great multitude from beyond the sea on this side Syria. It appears that they came against a divine benefit in days past; for he (Jehoshaphat) says, “And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab, and Mount Seir whom thou wouldest not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them and destroyed them not: Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession which thou hast given us to inherit.” We have here their aim—to cast them out of the possession which the Lord gave them to inherit; to take from them the Land of Promise—the land flowing with milk and honey; to enslave them, and very likely do away with their worship.
The Kingdom of Israel was divided into two parts; the northern part, called Israel, was under the authority of Ahab, and the southern part was under the rule of Jehoshaphat. Although they on some occasions worked together, they were as far asunder as the poles in character. Ahab, like others, would take all the help necessary for his own plans, but I do not read anywhere that he gave any help to Jehoshaphat or Judah—he took all the help he could get but gave nothing in return. So in our present circumstances there are the two parts, Protestant and Popish, and however the one part may help the other, there seems to be a division. Those who have gone with the teaching of Rome, show very much the same principle that Ahab had in connection with Jehoshaphat. Wartime brings out many things, and shows the character of people.
Now there had been a revival in the days of Asa, king of Judah. The revival continued more or less, showing itself in a certain place at one time, and then in another. There was a revival and a reformation (where there is a real revival, there is consequently a reformation). The reformation is carried on by Jehoshaphat. It were well for us that the present war would have the same effect upon us that it had upon the people of Judah. You find it is said of Jehoshaphat that he feared, and set himself to seek the Lord. He proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. The people gathered together, and what they had in view was to ask help of the Lord. They looked to the Lord for help. They looked to the Lord to overthrow the wisdom and power of their enemies. “Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the Lord, before the new court.” He prayed with his people and for his people. “O Lord God of our fathers, art thou not God in Heaven? and rulest thou not over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?”
For a few minutes just now, as the Lord may enable me, I shall endeavour to say a word or two (I.) On the character of this king of Judah—Jehoshaphat—the character the Spirit gives him, and He gives him a good character, but He notices also his blemishes. (II.) We shall consider his commandment, his kingly commandment. It is as follows:—”Believe in the Lord your God,
so shall ye be established: believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.” If you want to get on for time and for eternity, then “Believe in the Lord your God,” and along with that, “believe his prophets”—it does not say “believe in the prophets” but ‘believe his prophets;’ that is, as they follow the beaten path going in the footsteps of the Lord’s prophets that went before them. Be ye followers of them as they are of the Lord. That was his commandment, a royal commandment, a good commandment, a suitable commandment in every way, and suitable for us too. (III.) He had a band—he appointed singers. Well, there is nothing peculiar about having a band. Armies usually have bands, and in olden times clans had had their pipers and their music. You can learn a lot about their character and views from their music. If the singing is of the flesh, it pleases the flesh. A natural band is likely to please natural people. There is a lot of music, such as it is, broadcast in our day, and many claim it is very necessary for our morale. Well, the music that Jehoshaphat used—I think it is wonderful. It says that they should praise the beauty of holiness. You never before heard a band like that. Was there not one like that at the Red Sea? I do not think it was very like this one; for this one was specially to praise the beauty of holiness. Like every band it went before the army, and the soldiers coming after would be expected to be influenced by the matter of the music, by the truth brought before them, the beauty of holiness. There is very little of the beauty of holiness in the music we get broadcast in our day. It would do good to Clydebank and Glasgow, and yourself and myself, to see and to hear and to be filled with the music of the beauty of holiness. A word or two on each of these three heads, as the Lord may enable me.
I. The character of this king, and we have it here.
The Holy Spirit says concerning him, “The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the first ways of his father David”—in his best days—he walked in the best ways of David; and again the Spirit says, “and sought not unto Baalim.” He sought the Lord. He wanted the Lord as his portion. He hungered and thirsted for the Lord. Further, the Lord established the kingdom in his hand, and it were well that the same should be true of myself and of yourselves. “His heart was lifted up in the
ways of the Lord—not down in them, but lifted up, as if he rejoiced greatly in the ways of the Lord. And then he sought a reformation in the country; he sought that they would be in the land to witness for the Lord and to worship Him. It was a Land of Promise, a land flowing with milk and honey, as long as they were faithful, as long as they had an eye to the promise; but as soon as they as a people departed from the ways of the Lord, they could not expect to enjoy the land. You see also he was a man of prayer. The Baptist says, “They that wear soft clothing are in king’s houses. Very few kings have been Christians.” But Jehoshaphat was a godly man, and as such he prayed with and for his people. He saw the need of a reformation, and very likely to test how things were going on and progressing, he proclaimed a fast. We read that the people came together in order to pray together to the Lord. A beautiful sight is presented to our view when we read, “And all Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives and their children. They all were involved, they all were in danger. All stood in need of mercy. All stood before the Lord as if they were honouring Him. You stand before a person whom you respect. They stood as outwardly respecting the Lord; as if they said, “We have been guilty before Thee: We acknowledge our guilt, and we deserve to hear that sentence,” “Depart from me.” They stood to hear a word for good, saying with the psalmist, “Lord bless and pity us; shine on us with Thy face.” So far things were favourable to Jehoshaphat. But there were blemishes in his character and the Holy Spirit notices them.
In the 18th chapter it says, Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honour in abundance and joined affinity with Ahab.” The Holy Spirit says, in effect, “You have riches and honour in abundance, yet you are not satisfied; for you turn aside and join with Ahab.” That was just laying as it were the pipe line from Samaria to Jerusalem, and the muddy water of Samaria, the teaching of Jezebel, would infiltrate to his family; and so it happened, and proved disastrous to his family after his death. The cruel idolatrous teaching of Jezebel came into his family at Jerusalem. We are told that after certain years Jehoshaphat went down to Samaria to see Ahab who persuaded him to go up with him to Ramoth-Gilead. “Ahab king of Israel said unto
Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Wilt thou go up with me to Ramoth-Gilead? And he answered him, I am as thou art, and my people as thy people; and we will be with thee in the war.” He joined with him. He became his ally. But Ahab took every precaution to save himself and secure his own safety, and to make sure that things would not go well with Jehoshaphat, if the day went against them. There is a sad matter in this connection; for Jehoshaphat wanted a prophet of the Lord to enquire of Him, and the prophet Micaiah honoured the Lord and prophesied truly, but we do not read that Jehoshaphat did a single thing to save him. He did not say, “Oh! you cannot punish poor Micaiah like that as he has a revelation from the Lord and what he has said you must acknowledge.” It is not written that he said one word on his behalf. Does not that apply to ourselves in our own day? I fear it does. Have we been on the side of the truth? Look at Abyssinia. The moment the Italians got it the missionaries had to go. Did anyone protest that the missionaries were teaching God’s Word and must be allowed to remain? No; they did not! But “the mills of God grind slowly” and so, the missionaries may now go back, and the Word of God may be heard in Ethiopia yet. And they shall stretch their hands to the God of eternity to help them.
The next thing, he joined himself to Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, in his enterprise. We read in this chapter, “And after this did Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, join himself with Ahaziah, king of Israel, who did very wickedly.” The Spirit notices this and you cannot but wonder at a gracious man a godly man—and yet he joined himself with the wicked king of Israel to make ships to go to Tarshish. “Then Elizir, the son of Dodavah of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, “Because thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, the Lord hath broken thy works. And the ships were broken, that they were not able to go to Tarshish.” It is wonderful when you see the dealings of the Lord in a case like that. First of all Ramoth-Gilead, then this going to Tarshish to gather wealth for the kingdom. The place where Jehoshaphat drew the line was his religious policy, and that brings me to say a word or two on his commandment.
II. His commandment.
He commanded them, “Hear me, O, Judah.” It is a royal proclamation by the magistrate—”Hear
me” as God’s magistrate in the land. Well, what have you to say? “Believe in the Lord your God.” There has been a work of reformation going on, but you have need of more. You need more faith and more outgoings of soul to the Lord. “Believe in God”—not the gods of the heathen, but believe in the God of Israel. Let your faith go out to Him. Let the exercise of your soul go out to the God of Israel. This is the foundation of everything worth while, and everything worth while is in this, “Believe in God”—God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Father of the whole family whether in heaven or on earth. Believe in the Holy Spirit to work in you, to apply to you the redemption purchased by Christ. Have the Three Persons in your creed, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Believe in the second place, on the Son as the Messiah, the Procurer of salvation. The sacrifice typified and foreshadowed that “without shedding of blood there could be no remission of sins.” It is the Holy Spirit that applies it and makes it effectual unto salvation. We have need of the Three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father gave the Son; the Son came in God’s great Name to save, and the Holy Spirit opens the eyes of the blind and frees the captives. The Holy Spirit made the Day of Pentecost what it was. He came like a flood. He makes all the difference in the world. Do you want a good foundation for eternity? Well, believe in this God. Why should I believe in Him? Because you have your being from God. You have also your well-being from God. All your benefits are from God. Your freedom is from God. You were down in Egypt and He freed you. When you think of your great and precious privileges, they all are from the Lord. For example, any way in which the Israelites differed from other people was from the Lord. The temple, the worship, the priesthood, the Scriptures, were all from God. The Law was from God and the Sabbath and all their good was from God. There never was any deliverance from slavery, outward slavery, but as the Lord revealed Himself. If a man looks upon himself as nothing better than a beast, he is sure to look upon his fellows in that light too, and to enslave them. Well, the truth of God causes sinners to regard themselves as different from the beasts, and as created to be free; free from men that they be not men
pleasers, but servants of the Lord. The same views and principles hold in connection with the Sabbath Day. When we think of all our own benefits in this land, added to what the Jews had, we should love and admire the Lord for His goodness. We have the preaching of the gospel, the administration of the sacraments and prayer. With Israel we may say, “All my wellsprings are in thee.” The spirit of prayer, the grace of prayer is from the Lord. In one word “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of Lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” If you want to be built upon the foundation of Moses, Abraham, Isaac and all the saints of God, you must believe in God.
Then he (the king of Judah) goes on to another matter. You want to prosper, do you not? Then, “Believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.” The first thing, how would you know his prophets? How would you know them from the wolves that came, and still come, in sheep’s clothing? There was a way, and that way still holds, of knowing them. The Church of Rome believes in apostolic succession. It means one minister ordaining another to office, so that there is a complete chain to the Apostles. One minister might ordain a bad successor to office. We believe in Apostolic succession, but it is the succession of Apostolic doctrine—the doctrine of God’s Word, the doctrine of Moses and the Prophets of other days—the doctrines and principles revealed to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Samuel, and so on down through the ages until the Canon is completed. There is also a succession of believers—they belong to the Lord; they are of the household of faith, they love the Lord and they grow in grace. At times they seem to go back; there seems to be times of declension in their experience, but they grow nevertheless, and they go on from strength to strength; for they love the Lord. Then there is another thing. The prophets of the Lord were known by this, their messages were given by the Lord Himself. These messages were not deceptive. The people who believed Moses were agreeably surprised to find it so. They believed His word and saw it was from the Lord. It kept them humble; it kept them near Himself. It made them see salvation from first to last as from the Lord, and it is to God’s glory, and in connection with it, that we have brought out what is in the sinner. Well, if you want to
prosper, if you want to succeed spiritually, then believe God’s Word; believe the truth; believe His revelation. If you want to succeed spiritually to the possessions that other people have had, then you must believe the truths that they believed. If you want to wage this warfare victoriously and win in the long run, you must believe the Word of the Lord. We do not want in this present war to be overthrown—we want the victory. It is more important that we should have the victory over Satan and sin and the things that war against us. This is the person that overcometh, the one that believes in the Lord Jesus Christ the great prophet, and believes His Word. He grows in experience and finds the revelation of God sweet unto his taste. “So shall ye prosper.” Ye shall prosper in accumulating spiritual experience—prosper in gathering this gold tried in the fire. Ye shall become richer and richer by His truth. You claim to have been revived. Very well, keep your faith in the Lord, and keep your eyes on His prophets, and you shall prosper more and more against your enemies. You shall prosper in your spiritual business, going from one degree to another, from strength to strength. You shall surely prosper if you believe God’s Word. That brings me in the third place to say a word or two about the band.
III. The band.
We read, “When he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord.” As to the appointment, you find business people when they want to have their business advertised sometimes use the phrase “by Royal Appointment.” This cannot be used without authority. The members of this band were appointed to their places as singers of the praises of the Lord “by Royal Appointment.” They were also appointed in a democratic manner; for you find that he consulted with the people. As if he had said, “Now you must have a band; we must have singers and players to go before our armies.” What do you think? A band to praise the beauty of holiness, and to praise the Lord. We have read of a band to go out before us setting forth the holiness of God. To keep before us our need of repentance and our want of improvement in the past. We need this for the holiness of God is rebuking us that we have not improved our privileges, and our opportunities.” It seems to me we have something of this in the 83rd Psalm,
“Keep not thou silence, O God; hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.” They were to sing this as they went out, keeping before them the beauty of holiness. “For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones.” “Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; Yea let them be put to shame and perish.” And why? That they may know the great men we are? Oh, No! No! but “That men may know that thou whose name alone is Jehovah, art the Most High over all the earth.” You have to consider them first of all going out. I remember one time I was in . . . and I saw a military funeral passing through the town. The band was playing some tune such as is used on these occasions. The soldiers walked so mournfully and sad as they took their comrade to his last resting place in this world. But I saw them on their return march, and you would not think that they had been at a funeral at all; for they were now marching to the strains of some bright music.
There are some people and they do a lot for window dressing, and there is a religious window dressing too. For example, you see in wartime shops where they used to have a lot of goods and now have very little; though they have not the appearance of any shortage in their windows, but there are only empty boxes there. When you enter and ask for the goods in the windows, “O,” they say, “we are out of stock.” But I do not believe this was a religious window dressing at all; for they had behind it, “We have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We have not worshipped the Lord as we should, and we have not valued our privileges as we should have.” You see them coming out from Jerusalem sorrowfully. The more we see the beauty of holiness the more we are affected. O, what it means to a person going out to battle or to his work seeing the beauty of holiness! There is nothing, I think, so wonderful as holiness. Holiness makes God what He is; the “Holy One of Israel.” It is that perfection of His nature that is connected with every attribute. He is infinite but in a holy manner; He is omnipotent, but it is a holy omnipotency; He is omniscient, but it is a holy omniscience. We read that God is love. It is a holy love. And when you think of His work, it is not like ours,
holiness stamps His work. When He created everything in the beginning, the whole creation reflected the beauty of holiness. The angels that kept not their first estate were created holy, and mankind was created holy. When you think of it—holiness—a sinner coming before a holy God, and a holy God who cannot look upon sin providing salvation for sinners! We hate God because He is a holy God—He is against our sins, His holiness, His purity. His law is a holy law, and that is why we hate it.
Criminals may praise honesty, but they hate it nevertheless, and so with us. His salvation is a holy salvation. It is offered by a holy God. What does “holy” mean? I have only a word or two to offer on it. It seems to bring before us “wholeness,” perfection, a health of soul, spiritual health, a want of defect. There is nothing that interests us so much as holiness, because holiness is a communicable attribute; the Lord may communicate it to us. Holiness is the song of heaven: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.” The family in heaven are perfectly holy. We do not see that in this world, but then there is a longing after holiness. It does not say “without power” or “without understanding,” but it says “without holiness no man shall see the Lord,” and this holiness may be had freely.
They were to go out praising the beauty of holiness, spiritual purity, and that would work repentance; praising a holy God for all the benefits they had. If you went away from home, for example, you would say, I did not appreciate home when I had it. If you do not appreciate repentance, the Lord will take it away. People who do not appreciate the gospel and continue like that to their dying day, will be done with the gospel forever and ever. Appreciation is not our strong point, yours or mine, that is as before God. Do you yourself appreciate, or do I that God sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to work out redemption? Oh, No! We do not appreciate it as we should. Do we appreciate His long suffering as we should? I remember in my day meeting a man who was 96 years of age. I asked him if he would like to be young again and to live his years over again. “Yes,” he said. I said, What are you thinking of at the end of 96 years? He replied, “I am thinking of the time when I was young and at the fishing.” Are you thinking nothing of God, of death, or of judgment, and eternity? “Oh,
No! but the fishing in my younger days and the people that were with me.” That was far from the beauty of holiness, far from grace. We ought to remember our younger days, but in the way of repentance. Then, as in the case of the military band connected with the funeral, you see the band of our text returning from the victory, and the music they had was the 84th Psalm, “How amiable are thy tabernacles. O Lord of hosts.” After all the trouble we have met, “My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth, for the courts of the Lord” for there was the sacrifice typifying the eternal Son of God, and the redemption yet to be revealed. The shadows were to pass away and the “Sun of Righteousness” to rise with “healing in his wings,” and it says, “Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee”—praising the beauty of holiness, “Blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee; in whose heart are the ways of them,” and then he concludes like this, “For the Lord God is a sun and shield, the Lord will give grace and glory. No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.” Surely, they are influenced by the beauty of holiness—they see this beauty before them, and the more they see it and the nearer they get to it, the more they see their vileness; And he concludes like this, “O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.” Amen.