by the Late Rev. John Kennedy, D.D., Dingwall
(Preached at a Meeting of the Synod of Ross, in Tain, in the year 1899)
“In wrath remember mercy.” — Hab. 3.2.
How solemn the position of a prophet was, when the veil between him and the future was drawn aside, and he looked in on a scene on which no eye but God’s had ever looked before. Standing in the presence of God, with the Spirit resting on him, what was never seen before but by God is seen by him; and how can he but tremble, be he an Habakkuk, or an Isaiah, an Ezekiel by the river of Chebar, or a John in the Isle of Patmos? And if the disclosure be of coming judgment — if the scene before him is invested with the awful glory that appeareth on a day of wrath — how can his spirit fail to be overawed? The man who comes forth from such a position must find the message, which he bears to men, to be a “Burden of the Lord.” When, with a voice as of thunder, the Lord describes what He reveals to him by the lightning flashes of threatened judgments, how can he be ought else than overwhelmed! “I heard thy voice,” the seer saith to the Lord in prayer, “and was afraid.” After the prayer with which the chapter opens, he portrays the scene presented in vision before him. The feelings excited by the scene he describes in the sixteenth verse. And in presence of the awful glory, and in view of the coming trouble, his faith triumphs in a victory of hope and love, when from his heart bursts forth the marvellous song with which the chapter closes.
The days of prophecy have ended, but the teaching of prophecy remains. The veil which hides the future has fallen, not to be raised again; but on its outside inspired prophets have written what they saw when the Lord uplifted it to them; and in front of this, prayerful dependence for instruction on the Spirit of truth is our dutiful attitude, and that of the Church to the end of time.
But it is to a prayer, rather than to a prophecy, the text directs our attention. In the Book of Habakkuk we have rather more of the feeling excited in the prophet’s heart by what he saw than we have of express prediction — of what he saw around him when the light of vision shone on the present, than of what he saw in the future of the details of impending judgments, and of the blessedness of the time when “the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord; as the waters cover the sea.” Stirred into earnest wakefulness by the one, and encouraged by the other, he looks on his surroundings, and he cries, “O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years; in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.” He observes signs of decay in the condition of the Lord’s work; he sees no traces of the manifestation of the power and glory of the God of Israel; and his heart is saddened by tokens of divine wrath appearing in the present aspect of providence.
Fixing our attention on the last petition of the prophet’s prayer, let us consider. first, whether we have any reasons for thinking that our own is a time of wrath, and, thereafter, the prayer of one who is rightly affected at such a time.
- We propose to inquire — “Are there any tokens by which God, presently, and to us, indicates that He is angry?”
How awful an object of contemplation divine wrath is! How can I direct my thoughts to this, who am a weak dependent creature, by whom certainly the full expression of divine wrath in punishment is deserved, on whom verily a divine sentence of death was passed, and to whom from death there is no escape, but through the only exhaustive expression of that wrath that ever has been given! How, even with my hope of deliverance solemn awe must mingle, when the only escape, to me, from divine wrath is through divine blood! How “trembling” must be joined “with mirth” in the heart of him who by such a way fleeth from the wrath to come! Who can tell, who can bear to know, what divine wrath is, as the aspect the divine Being presents to us, in relation to sin, when He deals with it on His throne of judgment? It is the necessary disposition of God, as Judge, because of His infinite and immutable love of righteousness, towards one who is a criminal at the bar. Jehovah ariseth out of His place, in all the perfectness of His moral character, and in the omnipotence of His power, to oppose, by the effectiveness of His administration of justice, all rebellion against His government. The unimpassioned calm of Him who is “over all and blessed for ever,” behind all the awfulness of His righteous government bearing on the guilty, is something which, when I think of it, only adds to my trembling. There is no malignity, no passion, no excitement behind the cloud whose awful darkness is charged with the fire of judgment. “Fury is not in Me,” saith the Lord; but, oh, how awful is the majestic calm — the calm majesty — of the divine movement in a course of judicial actions bearing on the guilty! If this were all I had before my mind in contemplating God, never could I dare to utter the prayer of the text. But it is not to the aspect God presents to me, but to the aspect presented by His providence, the text directly refers. I am looking around when thinking of the wrath here spoken of. True, I cannot think of the tokens of the wrath without considering what these do indicate. But were I only looking up and were the gaze of my eyes fixed exclusively on wrath, I could not pray. Yet, looking on tokens of wrath around, and even when seeing nought besides in the aspect of providence, my mind may still be free to think of another aspect of God’s character than that which wrath presents, and my prayer yet may be, “In wrath remember mercy.”
It is to the evidences, which the dealings of His providence furnish, of God’s being angry with us that the text directs our attention. Now, these are presented in the more hidden form of spiritual judgments, and in the more palpable form of temporal judgements. The former usually precedes, and its effect is to render more easy and impenitent those towards whom the latter is approaching. There is judgment in being allowed to provoke, and to ripen for, judgment. We have to do with what may appear in the providence bearing on ourselves — with what we, in our generation, or land, or district, or Church, or individual lot, may be called to regard as tokens of the Lord’s being angry.
To some of these I now propose briefly to direct attention. And,
- Surely, in a very marked way and measure, has the Lord given us a token of his displeasure, in the removal of so many from among us, who were His faithful witnesses.
At whatever time, and in whatever place, the Lord makes this a marked feature of His providence, we must regard it as a token of His anger — a premonition or an omen of coming evil. These were “the righteous,” who were “faithful” as the Lord’s witnesses, and who were wont to wrestle with Him for His blessing. With them the Lord was graciously present, and by them the Lord graciously wrought. Their removal, in course of time, to their home rest in heaven, is indispensable. One by one, they must go hence, at the time for each appointed. But when the Lord gathers them in groups, and leaves their places unsupplied, then, verily, He indicates His displeasure with the generation out of which He takes them. And has not this been a marked dealing, in the course of God’s providence, bearing upon us in this land of ours? By those outside such a providence may not have been observed. To some within the Church it may have been a relief. A restraint, under which they chafed, was removed, or a place to which they aspired became accessible. And to those who have “the unction from the Holy One” this series of events presents, on one side, a bright aspect. The righteous, in dying, passed into their rest, and through their death shines light from heaven, which brightens the event of their removal in the view of surviving brethren. But this providence, towards those who are left behind, wears a frowning aspect. So it seemed to the Psalmist, when he cried:— “Help, Lord, because the godly man doth daily fade away, And from among the sons of men The faithful do decay.” And so it seemed to Isaiah, when he said, “The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart; and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.” And he regarded it thus, though he added, “he shall enter into peace.” “It is well for him,” as if he said, “but is ill for us.” As righteous he was faithful to God while he was here, and he could not be so without being a man of mercy to us. His removal was the withdrawal of mercy from us, though it was the bestowal of mercy on him. He was “taken from the evil to come,” and this to him was peace, but because he is gone, evil is coming to us. The “fir trees” must “howl” when the “cedar” is “fallen,” for their shelter from the storm has gone.
And thus too, was Micah affected by such a providence as this. “Woe is me!” he cried, “for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grape-gleanings of the vintage; there is no cluster to eat; my soul desired the first ripe fruit.” Why was it that he was thus affected? Why felt he like one in a vineyard at the close of autumn, when but the grape-gleanings were left, and the desolation of the vineyard was saddening him, because it told him that winter was nigh? The good days of the past in memory only, and the evil looming out of the immediate future, his heart was chilled. With a thrill of sadness, produced by his memories of the past, there mingled in his consciousness the shiver caused by the dread of coming evil. Why was this his state of feeling? “The good man is perished out of the earth,” is the reason he assigns for his sorrow.
And have we no reason to mourn, as mourned those men of God, who saw in the removal of the righteous a premonition of coming evil? If we look up to the high places of our Church, how many are the blanks which we observe — positions still empty where men eminent for gifts and grace once stood. If we look around us, within our own providence as a Synod, how many have we to miss who once were honoured witnesses for God — men of godliness and men of power. From each of our congregations how many have been taken whose places have not yet been filled. Near us, all around us, and in all parts of our land, breaches have been made through which “the evil to come” has opportunity to enter. Winter is setting in, for there are only grape-gleanings in the vineyard. The Lord is angry with us, for He will not leave His loved ones among us.
- The withholding of His Spirit, as a feature of present providence, is a token of wrath to our land.
If it were not for this it were far easier to think of the gathering of His saints by the Lord from the midst of us. One could even sing as he saw the clusters being taken from the vineyard below, if the vine were “putting forth its tender grapes,” to supply the blanks which the gathering of “the first ripe fruits” had left upon its branches. But if He withholds His Spirit while He withdraws His people, the result can be “for a lamentation” only. How unspeakably great is the Lord’s opportunity of expressing His anger in connection with the dispensation of His Spirit! To the Spirit belongs the glory of being the agent in fulfilling all the purposes of the Godhead. “By His Spirit He garnished the heavens” as well as formed the earth. By His power all is sustained, which by creation He produced. Into a body which He created He breathed the spirit of man at first, and by Him God is the Father of the spirits of all flesh. By Him divine strivings with men are conducted. He it is who restrains the power of evil in hearts which renewing grace has never touched. It is He by whom the provision of the Father’s love, according to the covenant which the blood of the Son has sealed, is revealed and applied to those for whom it was destined. It is His work to bring sinners unto Christ, that in Him they may have life for ever. It is His to carry on a work of grace in all whom He hath sealed in Christ, till, in perfect likeness to the Firstborn, they are ready to pass with Him into the Father’s house. It is His to prepare believers for vineyard work on earth, and by His power alone can the labour of these be made fruitful unto God. All this work being His, how unspeakably great is the power which God, through that work, has of giving expression to His grace; and unutterably awful is His power of expressing His anger in the cessation or intermission of that work! How fearful the judgment if amidst a people the Spirit ceaseth to put forth His converting power, allows the quickened to decay and be unfruitful, and withdraws the checks by which the ungodly are restrained!
Have we, in our day and in our land, any reason to conclude that a judgment, such as this, has to any extent come upon us? If there is good ground for thinking that it hath, then verily ours is a time of “wrath from the Lord,” and we ourselves are a “generation of His wrath.” If, on the other hand, there is no reason for thinking that such a token of His anger hath been given by the Lord, we are surely called to rejoice and give thanks.
To the minds of some, it appears altogether certain that the Lord is withholding His Spirit to an extent which indicates that He hath a controversy with us. This appears to them, in its effect upon the Church in general, in so far as they observe, that true godliness is discredited and substitutes for it readily accepted; that there is unfaithfulness to ascertained and avowed truth on the part of those who are under vow to maintain and defend it; that the integrity and perfectness of the inspired record is being openly impugned within the Church; that growing conformity to the spirit and ways of the world is to be seen in the lives of those who profess to be the Lord’s; and that the ungodly are becoming more shameless and defiant.
But there are some who think that this token of the Lord’s anger appears only to a jaundiced eye. These are rather disposed to rejoice that, with those godly fathers who have been removed, there has passed away a type of religion which, because of its alleged gloom and austerity, is well supplanted by something brighter and more genial. But, whatever estimate may be formed of it, that there has been a change no one will deny. So marked is it that one sometimes feels quite as startled, when he realises it, as if he had slept through the period of transition, and had only awoke when the ripened result had come. There is a danger in instituting comparison between the past and present state of religion in our land, of a blind partiality for the past, of refusing to acknowledge the measure in which the Lord still pleads His cause and advances His work, and of forgetting that, even in a dark and cloudy day, such as was that of Elijah, the Lord may have a reserve of seven thousand who bow not the knee to Baal. But there is another danger. In an age of marvellous progress in other departments, it is difficult for some minds to come to the conclusion that religion and the Church can possibly be falling behind. These are prone to an unreasonable facility of accepting any semblances as evidences of the divine favour. They are ready to make the most of all that would help to cover out of sight any signs of decay which the aspect of the Church presents. It is palpable to all that there have been, in our day, stirrings repeated and widespread, which have been generally regarded as indications of the presence and operation of the Spirit of grace. Under the influence of these a great amount of religious activity has been generated, and a type of religion developed, which differs in a marked degree from that with which those who knew the fathers were in other days familiar. The difference appears to them in the measure in which the new is superficial, undiscerning, and unsteadfast. These, having tasted the old wine, do not desire the new, being very decidedly of the opinion that the old is better. But the new satisfies those who wish to think that no day could be brighter than that in which they shine — no vineyard more fruitful than that in which they labour.
How thinspread is gospel truth over the pages which give us samples of the teaching of the times! How little of deep digging for a solid foundation, how little sifting in order to separate wheat from chaff, how little probing for heart-sores or for heart-troubles are brought to bear on souls! And how undiscerning, as well as superficial, is the spirit which prevails. Almost any religious change is accepted as conversion, and almost any form of doctrine is accepted as the Gospel. Charity seems to be the idol of the hour and like every other idol it has but eyes that see not. But true love is not blind. The apostle of love was of all the most uncompromising to all error, and the most unsparing in his rebukes of profession that was not genuine, and of all practices that were not according to the law of Christ. The Spirit of the Lord in Zion is a “Spirit of judgment” and “of burning,” as certainly as He is a “Spirit of grace.” And surely unsteadfastness is a feature of the religious activity of the times. One’s mind, when directed to the various movements, away from former positions of thought and former lines of practice, is conscious of a bewilderment, somewhat like the brain-dizziness which a constant motion produces through the eye that is directed to it.
There are some who feel persuaded that the Lord is giving us, in our land and in these days, a token of His anger by withholding His Spirit of grace and supplication. But how many there are who, never the subjects of the Spirit’s work themselves, have in their hearts no desire for an experience of His gracious power, and care not though the bones around them should be drying, in their deadness, into fuel for the fire that never shall be quenched. How many, too, lacking spiritual discernment, and ignorant of Satan’s devices, are made glad by semblances of the Spirit’s work, and by means of accepted counterfeits are hiding from their eyes the need there is of the Spirit’s fruitful work of grace. A people accustomed to hear of the Spirit’s work cannot at once pass into quiescence, without something that looks like evidence of the operation of His hand. But how easily are they satisfied! The deceiver is ready to gratify the desire of these, and how easily he can do his work! He need be at no great pains in constructing the counterfeit when a spirit of blindness has come upon the people. Those, thus for a season quieted, shall soon weary of the semblance, and subside into a deadness more insensate than that out of which they were awakened. This is the great danger connected with soul-stirrings which produce no saving, lasting fruit. If there be a danger, and there is, of denying what the Lord is doing, and of refusing to cherish the fruits of His work, is there not a danger of ascribing to Him work to which he never applied His holy and His gracious hand, of encouraging souls to rest on that which, in the day of trial, shall be overthrown, of being deceived in forming an estimate of the Church’s strength in presence of the foes by whom she is assailed, and of being decoyed by the results of a deceiver’s work from looking, in harmony with the mind of God, on the real aspect presented by his providence? The wine of a false hopefulness may intoxicate a generation, just as surely as that which the pleasures of the world supply. This, in a time of wrath, may be as deadly in its effect as an impiety which is defiant. It may be the fruit of spiritual judgment, resulting, in the first instance, in the dreamer’s cry of “peace and safety,” and ultimately in the sudden destruction which is sure to follow a generation’s slumber.
(to be continued)
Those who take care to keep a good conscience, may cheerfully trust God with the keeping of their good names, and have reason to hope that He will clear up, not only their integrity, but their honour, as the sun at noonday — Matthew Hendry.