by Rev. D. A. Macfarlane, M.A. preached at Dingwall, on Sabbath 18th April, 1971.
There is a reference here to the long captivity of the children of Israel in Babylon. Every seventh year the land was to rest so that it would be shown that the land and people belonged to the Lord. They despised the commandments given by Moses His servant, and they, especially Jerusalem and the land of Judah, were taken into captivity in His own time and way. The hand of the Lord came in judgment upon them, especially by Nebuchadnezzar and his armies. At last, on account of their enormities in manifold ways, as in the days of Manasseh when even the children were caused to pass through the fire to Molech, the Lord gave them over to Nebuchadnezzar, and they were in captivity in Babylon for seventy long years, as told in the last chapter of 2nd Chronicles. Manasseh got repentance in the kindness of the Lord, and was brought from darkness to light. Josiah also was a gracious king but the bulk of the kings and people down to the time of Zedekiah went away fearfully from the Most High. Isaiah makes reference to this in the opening chapters of his prophecy: “Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient ye shall eat the good of the land.” The end came when Jerusalem was brought low. Many were killed, children were dashed against stones and the bulk of the people taken to Babylon. Many settled on the banks of the river Chebar. While judgment was foretold again and again, nevertheless the Lord had a remnant according to the election of grace, even in captivity. This was set forth to comfort those in captivity who were by grace fearing the Lord so that they might plead to be restored from captivity and from the fury of the oppressor. Nebuchadnezzar was as a rod to come down on Judea where there was far more desolation than on the land of Israel. The main cause of their being brought down and suffering so much was on account of the land not getting her sabbaths and revelling in iniquities in one form or another. Yet, we have this question, “Where is the fury of the oppressor?” Fear ye not the reproach of men. In the question there is a promise implied — that the Lord would bring to an end the fury of the oppressor.
Two instances may be helpful in meditating on the question of our text. The fury of the oppressor came to an end on the night when Belshazzzer was at a banquet. On that very night the Medo-Persian empire and generals got the river turned to a prepared channel and the river bed at Babylon was dry so that the Medo-Persians got right up to Babylon. In the holy providence of the Lord, when the seventy years of captivity were fulfilled, the land of Israel got rest. By that time Belshazzzer saw an outstretched hand writing on the wall, and his knees shook. On that night the king was slain. The glory of his gorgeous banquet vanished. He had little taste or relish for his delicacies when hosts of soldiers and officers came hurrying in on every side. Where was now the fury of the oppressor? The children of Israel endured sore afflictions during their captivity, but the Lord’s time came — prophesied by Isaiah one hundred years before the days of Nebuchadnezzar. This was to comfort in advance the remnant that the long captivity would come to an end, and encourage them to put their trust in the Lord. By the time Belshazzar was slain we have this question, “Where is the fury of the oppressor?”. The answer is in Micah, Jeremiah and in Ezra, who tell of the deliverance that Cyrus gave in bringing back the Israelites to their own land, and giving full permission for the building of the temple. “Zerubbabel . . . shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings crying, Grace, grace unto it.” Though He dealt with us as he did, yet the remnant would be saved. There was a golden thread running through it all. We have an account in Zechariah of how the Lord blessed him and was a wall of fire round about him and the glory in the midst.
Whatever plan is brought against the Cause of Christ, “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper.” There was an Israel within Israel. Many said, “We have Abraham to our father, therefore we are secure”, but this is carnal security and not the language of humility, lowliness, faith. This is one outstanding instance of our text — the end of the Babylonian captivity and the Medo-Persian beginning. The purpose of the Lord was fulfilled, and they were permitted to re-build the temple. Where is the fury of the oppressor?
Instance 2. The Lord has a care over His own Church in all ages. The gates of hell shall not prevail against it. In Psalm 8 we read, “How excellent in all the earth, Lord our Lord is thy name.” “From infants and from sucklings’ mouth thou didst strength ordain.” Though these are infants sanctified from the womb we believe this portion is not limited to literal infants. We have the case of David, who in his early days, was sent by his father with parched corn and cheese to visit his brethren at Elah. Goliath of Gath defied Israel for many days. David may be regarded as a man after God’s own heart. How could you speak of a man who had killed a lion and a bear as a suckling? He was well trained in the use of the stave. How are we going to look on him as an infant or a suckling? His brothers taunted him with pride. The backbone of the matter is when, in the providence of the Lord, he undertook to meet Goliath, he could not take Saul’s armour but had a staff and a sling. Even the soldiers were terrified by Goliath’s boasts and challenge. When David came forth he said, “Am I a dog that you come to me with a stave?” Goliath overlooked the sling. He made no reference to the sling and stone. He was going to give David, and, therefore, Christ in David, to the birds of the air. Satan at the back of Goliath wished to cut the promise which ran from the garden of Eden to the womb of the virgin Mary, that is what is in the background. Goliath was very mighty and powerful, but “brutish folly plainly is their wisdom and their way”. “They to their fathers’ race shall go, they shall never see light etc.” David had, at this time, what Saul had not got, viz. God the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. David got into many a snare, but he was a man after God’s own heart, and he was anointed to be king, and in course of time the Redeemer would come from the house and lineage of David. The Lord sealed on Him what he was to say and do, and he was dependent, like a babe or suckling, even to old age and to all eternity on the breasts and promises of the everlasting covenant. We must desire to grow in grace, humility, self-abhorrence, love to God and to our fellow-creatures, but in being dependent on what God the Lord doth speak. David did not say: “Well, I’ll do my best while I’ll hear ‘This is the way, walk ye in it,’ but I’ll do this other thing also.” No. He put his amen to the good and holy will of God, and he knew in advance that the stone he took to cast from the sling, unseen by Goliath, would not bounce off the helmet of Goliath, and that it would not come down with a thud on his breastplate. “I come to thee in the name of the Lord God of Israel.” “Thou shalt sling it but I shall sling it too.” There were two at the back of the stone. David used skill, but he knew that the pebble would come on the forehead of the poor miserable Goliath, that his forehead would be broken, and he would come down with a slump on the ground. When David ran and took the pebble he was guided by the Lord who created the pebble, and the forehead of Goliath smashed, and where now is the fury of the oppressor? You can apply it to one hundred cases, if you like. Who is going to have the last word in the matter?
Our closing instance concerns Christ, and if I were to lead up to the ministry of the Redeemer, Gethsemane and Calvary we should need to read the evangelical narratives and holy records in the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and all the prophecies in the Old Testament — His being conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary, His birth, Herod’s attempt to slay the child Jesus, His public ministry, and if the Jews could, He would have been over the brow of the hill. Where then would be Isaiah chapter 53, Psalm 69, and Psalm 22, which in an acceptable time, were to have their fulfilment? They were to be fulfilled by the time in Gethsemane, the council hall of Pilate and Herod, the condemnation and crucifixion, sufferings which we cannot understand, and which he bore in love in the cup, which he drank in love for you today if you love the way of salvation, and if your soul is married to the meaning and virtue of salvation. You died with Christ and rose from the dead with Him. Those who crucified the Redeemer did their utmost, as if they had all power over Him, and got complete victory over Him, but in the midst of all He dismissed His own life. They could not do it. He had the Holy Spirit not according to measure, imparting strength to His human soul to endure what He judiciously undertook to endure. He took the sting out of death and rose from the dead, and all the Church rose in Him. Quite a number of men and women here today were in the grave representatively and rose with Christ, and if you like the gospel and if Christ is your bread and wine, and the slaker of your spiritual thirst, then you have in you a well of water rising up into everlasting life. If you are burdened with indwelling sin, and your heart is like a lump of stone, you are ashamed of your ungodliness and fruitlessness, you are just walking in the footsteps of Paul and David. But Christ is precious to you, and you rose representatively in Him.
May the Lord grant that our little company today may be able to say “Unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and hath made us Kings and priests unto God and His Father: to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”