HOW gracious, how encouraging, how precious to the believing soul, are the “fear nots” of God recorded in His holy Word! Reader, let us look at them for a few moments.
To Abraham, the great father of the faithful, God said:—”Fear not, Abram; I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward” (Gen. xv. 1).
To Hagar, in the wilderness of Beersheba, driven from her master’s house, and her son dying of thirst, the Angel of the covenant said:—”Fear not, for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is” (Gen. xxi. 17).
To Isaac, at the same Beer-sheba (the well of the oath), Jehovah appeared in a vision of the night, and said:—”I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake” (Genesis xxvi. 24).
To Jacob, again at Beer-sheba (where he had arrived on his journey, to see his long-lost Joseph), and in a similar vision, God spake unto Israel, saying:—”I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation: I will go down with thee (how gracious!) into Egypt; and I will surely bring thee up again; and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes” (Gen. xlvi. 3, 4).
To the trembling children of Israel, with the Red-sea before them, and the hosts of Pharaoh pressing on behind, Moses, as the mouth-piece of God, gave the cheering watch-word—”Fear ye not; stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will show you to-day” (Exod. xiv. 13).
To Moses, again, on the eve of a deadly conflict with Og, the king of Bashan, Jehovah said:—”Fear him not; for I have delivered him into thy hand, and all his people, and his land” (Numb. xxi. 34).
Again, to the awe-stricken Gideon, from whose astonished sight the Angel of the covenant had vanished in the flame of his sacrifice, the Lord said:—”Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die” (Judg. vi. 23).
Over the evangelical page of Isaiah, there is scattered many a sweet and precious “fear not;”—”Fear thou not, for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God.”—”Fear not; I will help thee.” “Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.”—”Fear not; for I have redeemed thee; I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.”—”Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west.”—”Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou Jesurun, whom I have chosen. For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground.”—”Fear ye not, neither be afraid; have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.”—”Fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.”—”Fear not, for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou
*From The Gospel Magazine, 1st May, 1857.
confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame” (Isa. xli. 10; xlii. 10, 13, 14; xliii. 1, 5; xliv. 2, 3, 8; li. 7; liv. 4).
Jeremiah, too, has his “fear nots” (chap. xxx. 10; xlvi. 27, 28): and Ezekiel one to make his forehead as adamant against apostate Israel:—”Fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house” (iii. 9).
To Daniel, the “man greatly beloved,” God sent a most precious “fear not” by the hands of an angelic messenger:—”Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words” (x. 12).
For “Thy land,” too, “O Immanuel,” that land which “the Lord our God careth for,” and upon which his eyes are set “from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year,” there is a sweet “fear not” reserved:—”Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the Lord (for thee) will do great things” Joel ii. 21): a “fear not” to be gloriously fulfilled in the day when “it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be faint” (Zeph. iii. 16).
For the nation of Israel, in the latter days, there are also “fear nots” kept in store:—”Thus saith the Lord of hosts: according to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not” (Hag. ii. 5). “And it shall come to pass, that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Israel; so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing: fear not, but let your hands be strong.”—”For thus saith the Lord of hosts; as I thought to punish you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, saith the Lord of hosts, and I repented not: so again have I thought in these days to do well unto Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah: fear ye not” (Zechariah viii. 13—15).
We come now to the New Testament, and here all the “fear nots” are Jesus’s own. For the reviled and slandered He has one:—”Fear them not—for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known” (Matt. x. 26).
For the persecuted, even unto death, He has one:—”Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul” (Matt. x. 28).
For the mourner whose beloved one is even now dead, He has one, though more special in its application,—the one He spake to the ruler of the synagogue:—”Fear not; believe only, and she shall be made whole” (Luke viii. 50).
For “Little-faith,” with his unbelieving cry, “The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me,” He has one:—”Fear ye not—ye are of more value than many sparrows” (Matthew x. 31).
For the “little flock” which He loved with an everlasting love, and for which He laid down His life, He has one; (Oh, how precious!)—”Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke xii. 32).
For Paul, in his tempest-shattered bark, and amid the howling of Euroclydon, He had one:—”Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Cæsar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee” (Acts xxvii. 24).
And last, but not least, for the beloved John, in the isle of Patmos, when overwhelmed by the effulgence of His glory he “fell at his feet dead!” He had one;—”Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen” (Revelations i. 17, 18).
Oh, beloved, what treasures of Divine love, what stores of blessed consolation, what sources of spiritual strength, what pledges of final victory, do these most precious “fear nots” contain! They are God’s “fear nots,” and therefore as true and faithful as Himself: man’s “fear nots” are too often (like Jael’s, “Turn in my lord, turn in to me; fear not,” while her heart was already busy with the “nail” and the “hammer”), but a deceitful mirage luring the thirsty traveller to destruction; but God’s “fear nots” are indeed wells of living water.
Again, they are God’s “fear nots,” and therefore addressed to the fears of his people: when no fear exists there needs no “fear not.”
Oh, then, poor weakling, whose heart is full of fears, regard them not as “a feast of fat things” of which, however, thou mayest not partake. There was fear in the heart of Abraham, when God said, “Fear not, Abraham, I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.”—There was fear in the heart of Jacob, when God said, “Fear not to go down into Egypt.”—There was fear, deadly fear in the hearts of Israel, when the word was given, “Fear not, stand still, and see the salvation of God.”
And so, beloved, if there is fear in thy heart, it does but give thee a title to these sweet “fear nots.” “But—but.”—Ah! I understand that “but;”—you would have them laid warm upon your heart—you would have them whispered audibly in the ear of faith—you would have not only the King’s word, but the King’s voice. Is it not so? Well, tarry thou the Lord’s leisure—”seek thy Beloved, like the Spouse, at night upon thy bed; yea, even in the streets and lanes of the city—beg hard for a “fear not” from his own dear lips, and soon, perhaps, at a season when He seems most distant, at a moment when you hardly expect Him, at faith’s eleventh hour, He will lay his right hand of love upon thee, and thrill thy soul with the love-whisper;—”Fear not, for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine.” Then, being given “beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;” thou shalt learn to sing exulting with the poet:
“When Jesus, with his mighty love,
Visits my troubled breast,
My doubts subside, my fears remove,
And I’m completely blest.”
The Late Mrs. Alex. Mackay, Strathy Point.
MRS. ALEXANDER MACKAY was born at Strathy Point, in July, 1860, and died there on the 12th day of January, 1943, aged 82 years. Her father, Mr. Murdo Mackay, was an elder in the old Free
Church and was well known as a man of piety. We cannot tell when the good work of the Holy Spirit began in her case, but the Lord Jesus declares, “by their fruits ye shall know them.” For many years she publicly professed that all her hope and confidence was placed in the merit and preciousness of Jesus and His broken body and shed blood. Her profession was united to a life-long practice which was according to the gospel and quite clearly the fruit of abounding grace over abounding sin in her heart. She was a mother in Israel spiritually, and showed much affection for and warmth of attachment to everything connected with the Cause of Christ in our midst as a Church. The warm welcome she would give to the preachers of the Gospel and any of the Lord’s people who visited her hospitable home, cannot easily be forgotten by those who knew her. Until she was well nigh eighty years of age, she set an example to old and young by her regularity in the House of God, although having to walk quite a long distance from her home. Several years before she died she took seriously ill, and was thereafter confined to her home. During this period, she was at times very “broken in her heart and grieved in her mind,” fearing lack of preparation to meet God, along with other fears. But Christ was all her salvation. And in due course, we believe, she entered into that Kingdom on high where “there are pleasures for ever more.” May all the members of this gracious woman’s family be enabled to follow in “the footsteps of the flock.”
R. R. S.
The Late Mr. Murdo Mackay, Missionary, Strathy.
THIS worthy Christian who passed away to Eternity on the 24th day of November, 1942, at the age of 73, was a native of Strathy Point, Sutherlandshire and a son of the late Mr. William Mackay. His mother was especially noted for godliness and he was indeed brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. His brother Donald who was a student of the Church, died in the prime of life; and the late Prof. J. R. Mackay, D.D., one time minister in Inverness, was another brother.
“Murdo,” as he was ordinarily called by most of his friends, was a great sinner in his own estimation and was deeply taught by the Holy Spirit concerning the evils of the heart of unbelief which departs from the living God; but the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ was the rock of his salvation. The true people of God, and even worldlings, recognised that here was a man of God who was in the world but not of it. This was abundantly evident from his life and conversation. One could not be long in his company without hearing from his lips some reference to the Scriptures, a complaint regarding “the old man with his affections and lusts,” or an observation upon man’s need of seeking the mercy of the Lord. Mr. Mackay knew what it was to be cast down in his soul through manifold temptations; yet none could appear brighter than he, in the fellowship of those who loved the Saviour and His Word, speaking of the Truth and relating anecdotes of godly men and women of the past. He was a man much given to prayer, kindly in his manner to all and “given to hospitality” in his own house.
For upwards of forty years he was an elder in Strathy and Farr Congregation and for a long period acted as the Church’s missionary to the Congregation until the end of his sojourn on earth. He carried much of the burden of the affairs of the Congregation with an undivided heart and a willing mind as helped by divine grace and strength; and especially preached to the people under his care the Word of Truth of the Gospel, warning sinners in Zion, exalting Christ Jesus, and speaking comfortably to poor and needy believers. We know that he grieved much over the spiritual desolation prevailing everywhere, but precious souls in his own district without God and without Christ, especially caused him many a groan. On inviting a Christian friend, one time, to visit Strathy, the friend observed that most of the Lord’s people whom he had known were not away to heaven, and that there was not the former attraction to travel there. But Murdo in his own friendly and solemn manner replied, “Come see the place where the Lord lay.”
When the earthly house of this tabernacle began to weaken, he persisted in going to the house of God, by which he evidenced the mind of the sweet Psalmist of Israel—”The habitation of thy house, Lord, I have loved well.” But latterly he was confined to his bed, being patient and pleasant while tenderly nursed till he passed from the “Valley of through the gates of death, into the joy of his Lord and Saviour.
Truly the “ways of Zion do mourn” as another witness is removed from the Church on earth, and to the people of Strathy his death occasioned much real sorrow. May his widow, Mrs. Mackay, and his two sisters, Miss Charlotte Mackay, Thurso, and Mrs. Mackay, Balligill, Strathy, be consoled by the God of all comfort.
R. R. S.