Preached by the Rev. J. R. ANDERSON, of Glasgow, 7th April, 1854
(Hitherto Unpublished).
O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.—Habakkuk iii., 2.
(Continued from page 183.)
II. The way in which the prophet was affected.—“And was afraid.”
Need we wonder at this, considering the glorious Being from whom the speech came. The prophet might be afraid to hear His speech whatever was the subject matter of it, but when we add to this the weighty nature of the communication there is still further reason for fear. The word of God is pure and there is unspeakable majesty about it: and there is in it when one really comes under its influence, what is like nothing else, and when one experiences it, they find it to be like the water of which Christ speaks, John iv., 13, 14. “Jesus answered and said unto her, whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” So when once a man is brought under the influence of the word of God he is put out of conceit with everything else. That word begets a fear and hence trembling, and so the prophet elsewhere addresses comfort to those who tremble at the word of the Lord. So, when the prophet heard this speech he was afraid. We find this was a way in which prophets were very commonly affected in receiving divine communications and I apprehend that no one can fail to be struck with the extreme difference between ancient and modern prophets in this respect. Where are ministers that are afraid when they hear His speech? When people hear their speech, are they afraid? No, and they thus give evidence that they never heard His speech. They can never hear His speech because the God of Israel is not their God. The prophets of Baal cried, “Baal, Baal, hear us!” But there was no voice. So with the idols that are worshipped now, their worshippers never hear their voice. Psalm cxv. 5—7. “They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not; they have ears, but they hear not; noses have they, but they smell not; they have hands, but they handle not; feet have they, but they walk not; neither speak they through their throat.” The ancient prophets had to wait upon the Lord and hear His speech; and in proportion as a man drinks into the spirit of these men, drinks into their burden, and bears their burdens, in that proportion will he be afraid. I have myself heard preachers express great surprise at any fear being felt; they call it slavish fear, and they attribute it to this, but as for hearing the speech of the Lord, we are afraid that was too high for them. Why should the prophet be afraid?
Firstly: He could be afraid for the evil that might come upon himself.
I told you that part of the preparation for the work of having the sins of others opened up to him, and his being enabled to show them their sins, and set before them their iniquities, was learning his own sins. Now, he would learn the judgments of God that rested upon his own sin, and on this account he would be afraid lest he himself should come under the hand that strikes. His fear on this ground would be increased sometimes by apparent symptoms of judgment begun. I believe this eminent man was no stranger to ups and downs, darkness and light, nearness to God and distance from Him. Look at Jeremiah xv., 18. “Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed? Wilt thou be altogether to me as a liar and as waters that fail?” Look at Jonah rebelling against his commission and throwing it down, procuring for himself unspeakable trouble, so that he was plunged into the belly of hell. Ezekiel, too, seemed to have had something of the kind when he had the iniquities of the people laid upon him. Now, it may be that His servants get a touch of various evils by which they are never to be mastered, beneath which they are never to fall, under which they are never to perish. But they may get a touch of these evils, in order to let them know, more and more clearly, the condition of those to whom they are sent, and fear more and more because of His judgments. But there is a fear raised in the soul, lest it be only the beginning of trouble, lest it be an introduction into the second death, lest it be the shadow of eternal death; hence Job says, xxxi., 23, “For destruction from God was a terror to one, and by reason of His highness I could not endure.” Psalm xxviii., 1. “Unto thee will I cry, O Lord, my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if Thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down to the pit.” Oh! we could shake hands cheerfully with a minister that we met with who gave evidence of such a feeling.
Secondly: He was afraid because he saw evils coming upon others.
The prophets were real patriots. They loved their country. They were full of true philanthropy. They loved their brethren. Those who are most roughly handled by a sinful generation are always the best friends of that generation. Who received the most ungrateful treatment at the hands of Israel? Moses. Yet who stood in the breach between them and an offended God? This same Moses. And so the prophets that were sent to open up the sin of the people and to denounce the judgments of God were the very men that would weep for them. Jer. xiii., 17. “But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears because the Lord’s flock is carried away captive.” And we apprehend that it was a sight through the communication that the Lord gave to Habakkuk of the evil that was to come on that generation that moved this man’s heart. So is it still. This is one of the marks by which you may know true and false prophets; false prophets look after the fleece, true prophets look after the flock. The hireling fleeth, because he is a hireling. They see the wolf coming, and think it will perhaps take them and so they flee. They hold their tongues, they keep very quiet, they must be prudent. Oh, yes! be very prudent, lest the wolf seize you by the neck. So the hireling fleeth. John x., 13. “The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.” Where is the shepherd of the sheep? He sees the storm coming and is willing to take the first blast of it on his own head; if so be the sheep may escape. We have the brightest example of this in the Lord Jesus Himself. None was treated as He was, yet no one stood in the breach as He stood. No one bore the stroke that He bore. No one showed himself the friend of sinners, as He showed Himself.
III. Look at what the prophet did. He prayed. His prayer is in these words. “Oh Lord revive Thy work, etc.”
It is to Him from whom the speech came that filled his heart with fear, that he offers prayer. To whom could he go? Who could pardon sin but He against whom it was committed? Who could screen from judgment but He who threatened to bring judgment? Who could make a partaker of mercy but He who is the fountain of mercy? Prayer is a lovely ordinance. It is a marvellous contrivance of divine wisdom. I believe we know little about it yet. He who takes to Himself the title of Hearer of prayer appears under such a title clothed with unspeakable majesty, and lovely in condescension and grace. It is wonderful that He stoops to hear any prayer at all, and more marvellous still that He stoops to hear the prayer of poor worms of the dust. One broken cry will enter His ear, sound in His palace, move His heart, and gain His love; Psalm xxxiv., 6. “This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.” The Psalmist when in deep waters and likely to be overwhelmed sent up a cry, the cry entered His holy temple, then the whole glory of Jehovah was moved to the very sky, and all creation felt the consequence of that movement. What came from grace in the Psalmist’s soul, came from the heart of Jehovah, and it went to the heart of Jehovah, hence the train of steps to effect that deliverance. Psalm xviii., 16. “He sent from above, He took me, He drew me out of many waters.” The Hearer of prayer is little known in the present day.
As to this prayer I had intended to open up to you,
Firstly: The knowledge that the prophet has of the Lord; and I had intended to bring before you the work of the Lord under the three aspects in which it is presented in the text; “Thy work,” “make known,” “in wrath remember mercy.”
Secondly: I intended to show you that this prayer indicates that he was cast down at this declining of this work of the Lord.
Thirdly: A desire is expressed that it should be revived from this decline.
Time forbids me going into these matters. You will have to try and get into them yourselves.
In conclusion
Firstly: Learn what a weighty matter it is to be a prophet of the Lord.
They are sinful men, they are objects of His sovereign choice, there is a wide separation made between them and others; they are widely separated from the world that lies in wickedness; and they are very very widely separated even from those that are called with them to the Fellowship of His Son. A minister’s life is a mystery to himself, and certainly it is a mystery to all around him; they know little of it. How precious the gift of such a man to a people!
Secondly: See what it is prophets have chiefly to do with.
They have chiefly to do with the Lord’s speech, to catch His breath, to get His mind. Paul says, “We have the mind of Christ.” So the Saviour Himself, the Prince of prophets spoke much of knowing the mind of the Father, and He spoke the words the Father gave to Him. A minister in his place and calling, should be exceedingly desirous of having only what is the Lord’s speech. Still there is a difficulty in getting that, and it is peculiarly trying in a time like this, when the Lord is evidently forsaking the land to such an extent. But it is better to go on with a little of His than with a great deal of what is taken from other sources, “A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked.” A righteous prophet with a little of His speech is better than great mountains of words, fine eloquence, and tinsel ornaments. As prophets have chiefly to do with the speech of the Lord, so should it be also with those to whom they are sent. You should search the Scriptures to see if it be so. You should take what you hear to the mind, and get it stamped with the King’s image, and then make use of it as current coin. See and be honest in your religion. We cannot afford to live as other professors to. “Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called.”
Thirdly: Observe how the speech of the Lord ought to affect prophets and those to whom they are sent; they should be afraid.
We have not profited by the study of the word, unless we are afraid. We have many a hill of difficulty to climb to get into this pulpit; it was never easy to get into any pulpit, but the difficulty is increasing the further we go. One may well be afraid to touch these things. Ought not you to be afraid to take them into your ears? We would need to have our ears touched with a “live coal from off the altar,” in order to utter them; and you would need to have your ears circumcised so as to hear the word of the Lord, and so that it may produce its proper effects. He threatens judgments upon those not circumcised in heart, He will cut them off. Take care that you be found hearing the word with circumcised ears, then only will you fear it; fear it because of Him from whom it comes; because of the opening up of sin in it; because of the infinite goodness that there is in salvation from sin; because of this salvation is wholly in the hand of Him who gives as it pleases Him. “I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy.”
Fourthly: See the practical effect that the speech of the Lord should produce.
It should lead to prayer. Woe to the prophet that preaches and does not pray; and woe to the hearers that hear, and do not pray. I am thinking that if men were more afraid of the speech of the Lord, there would be fewer speeches, and more praying. And see the prayer that is suitable in connection with the speech of the Lord. “Revive thy work in the midst of the years.” Do not stop till years of judgment have run their course, but in the midst of it revive thy work. What work? “In the midst of the years make known.” Make known what? Make known Thyself! Where He is made known all is made known. John xviii., 3. “And this is life eternal, that they may know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” “In wrath remember mercy.” Do not stop till wrath is all out, but in the very midst of it remember mercy. There was a subject of prayer suited to Habakkuk’s time, surely it is a subject of prayer suited to our time. AMEN.