By the Rev. JAMES BEGG, D.D., Newington Free Church, Edinburgh.
II.
“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).
(Continued from p. 148).
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 servants 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 the 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 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. Kings’ 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 art 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 knowest them all by their names,—He maketh them to lie down at noon in the green pastures, and beside the still waters. This great Shepherd of Israel, who slumbereth not nor sleeps, 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 dominations of the King of kings, His redeemed children are His jewels—more precious than the topaz of Ethiopia or the fine wedge of Onyx. 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 like Kings of all lands are assembled with the mighty crowds of the Judgement-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 was 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 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 daysman 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 sees now no iniquity in Jacob, nor perverseness is 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 takes 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 are ye created in Christ Jesus unto good works. At the omnipotent command of Jesus, Lazarus comes forth, casts off his grave-cloths, 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 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 a 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 shalt thou condemn.” Afflictions may depress, sorrows may cloud our prospects, difficulties may perplex, but amidst them all, “look up, and lift up your hearts 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, that 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 hand-writing of ordinances which was against us. This 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 my 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 upon 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 the 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 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 my 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 not thou 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, and 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 hast 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 lift up 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 remembereth 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.”
Extracts from Rev. Andrew Gray’s Sermon on Great and Precious Promises.
THERE are three things in Scripture that are called precious,—Christ, He is called precious, I. Peter, ii. 7; Faith is called precious, II. Peter, i. 1, “To you that are partakers of the like precious faith with us;” And the Promises, they are called precious. And Faith (as it were) hath two blessed eyes—by one of these it beholdeth Christ and by another of these it beholdeth the promises and fixeth itself upon them. O Christians and expectants of Heaven! would you know what is the rise of all the sad things that have befallen you in these days? It is this in short—Ye believe not the promises. O Christians! what is the reason that ye carry not your crosses with patience? It is because ye believe not the promises by which your soul must be uphelden in the day of your affliction. O Christians what is the rise of your little mortification? Is it not because ye believe not the promises? For by them ye should be made partakers of the Divine nature. O Christians! what is the ground that you pray so little and that you pray with so little success? Is it not because ye believe not the promises! A Christian when he goeth to pray should take these two things along with him: 1. The sensible convictions of his necessities and 2. The precious promise that is given to answer that necessity—the one would provoke Fervency, and the other Faith. O Christians! what is the reason of your so much sorrow and of your so little spiritual comfort? It is that ye believe not the promises. It is no wonder that your name is called Marah because ye exercise not faith upon the precious promises of God. . . . Let a Christian cast his eyes upon the sweet rise and spring or fountain of the promises and there ye will see their freedom shining most clear: for what is the fountain of the promises? Is it not the boundless and everlasting love of Christ? This is clear (Deut. vii. 8) when God giving a reason for all the great things that He had performed for them, He setteth down the rise of it: “Because I have loved you” saith He. And it is clear (Ezek. xvii. 18) when God calleth the time of entering into covenant with them, a time of love. That love was eminently shining in that day when God did condescend to covenant
with them. And hence ye see in Scripture that the promises are called by the name Mercy, (Micah, vii. 20)—“To perform the mercy to Abraham,” which is the promises and they are so called because mercy and boundless love is the sole fountain and spring of all these promises. . . . Ye may read the freedom of the promises, if ye consider the time when the promises are accomplished. It is often at such a time when the Christian hath been and is under no very spiritual frame. Hence we see in Ezek. xvi. 60, 61, that when the promises are accomplished then God requireth confusion and blushing of face because of their former ways. And Ezek. xxxvi. when the promises are accomplished, then that is the time when the Lord calleth them to remember their own evil ways and their doings that were not good. But besides this, see David’s practice, II. Sam. vii. 8. He readeth the freedom of the promises from his own imperfections: “What am I” said he “and what is my father’s house that thou shouldst have brought me hitherto.” . . . Ye read such a promise as that: “Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden.” “Oh,!” say ye, “I am not weary and I am not under the burden of sin (in a proper way) therefore I cannot come.” I will tell you what is the real meaning of that command. Christ inviteth those who have the greatest unwillingness to come and get willingness. But withal, it showeth this, none will come to get rest from Christ but these that are first weary; and that this is the Lord’s method of working, first to make weary and then to ease; but no such matter in His Word that first we must have a weariness of our own making or else He will not receive us. No, but when ye come, ye will be weary and He will receive you. . . . I shall in three places let you see this strange arguing of Faith in closing with the promises: There is that Psalm, xl. 11, 12: “Let thy truth continually preserve me.” That is—Let thy promises be accomplished and made lively to me, which are my preservation. And would ye know the ground and reason that he annexeth unto this. “For,” saith he, “innumerable evils compass me about, they have taken such hold of me that I am not able to look up. He maketh his very want of qualifications the ground of his closing with the promise and seeking its accomplishments. And there is that second expression which is most wonderful, Psalm, xxv. 11. David prayeth for the accomplishment of that promise—“Pardon my sin” upon that same very account “because it is very great.” And I shall give you a third place in which the arguing by faith is most mysterious. Exod. xxxiii, compared with Exod. xxxiv. 9. In the first place God denieth the accomplishment of the promise of going up amongst the people. And the ground He giveth of it is: “Because ye are a stiff-necked people.” And chapter, xxxiv. 9, when Moses is praying for the accomplishment of the promise that God would go amongst them he taketh that very same argument out of the mouth of God: “Go up amongst us for we are a stiff-necked people. . . . There is a sixfold crown which shall be put upon your head. Would you have long life? Then come to Christ and ye shall have a crown of eternal life. Would ye have glory? Then come to Christ and ye shall have a crown of glory. Would ye have knowledge of the mysteries of God? Then come to Christ and He shall crown you with knowledge. Would ye have eternal felicity and an uninterrupted happiness? Then come to Christ and ye shall have an immortal crown. Would ye have holiness and sanctification? Then come to Christ and ye shall have a crown of righteousness. Yea He shall
put a royal crown upon your head, a crown of pure gold; and then that word shall be accomplished to the full Ezek. ix. 16. “Then shall they be as the stones of a crown lifted and as an ensign upon the land.”
I must tell you, There is a fourfold suit of apparel that ye shall be clothed with ere long. 1. Ye are now clothed with Heaviness but then ye shall be clothed with the garments of Praise: and did ye ever know such a robe as that? Is it not a more excellent robe than the robes of Kings and Emperors in the earth: to be clothed with praises? Many of them are and shall be for ever clothed with infamy and shame. 2. Ye shall be clothed with a change of raiment and shall be brought unto the King in raiment of needlework. O poor lass, and poor lad, that sitteth upon the Dunghill that knows not what it is to have a change of apparel, ye shall have it in that day when Christ shall solemnise the marriage with you—you shall mistake yourself. O Christian, if you knew yourself ever so well you will be forced to cry out “O! is this I? is this I? that am now made perfect through His comeliness?” 3. Ye shall be clothed with the garments of immortal glory, ye that have your foundation in the dust and dwell in houses of clay, ye shall then be clothed with these excellent robes of immortality, and clothed upon with your house from heaven. 4. Ye will be clothed with the garments of the spotless righteousness of Christ, O! such a majestic walk ye will have, when ye shall have a sceptre in one hand and a palm in the other; these robes put upon your back and these crowns upon your heads and shall be walking through these streets that are paved with gold.