God tells us in Scripture that we are not “sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves” (2 Cor 3:5). Confining ourselves to religious duties, we must be clear that the source of our ability to perform them is most definitely not in ourselves; we must look beyond ourselves. Indeed Paul continues, “Our sufficiency is of God”; it is only from Him that anyone can obtain the necessary grace to carry out the duty to God’s glory. Not only can we not do what is to His glory and according to His commandments; not only can we not speak in a way that reflects the teachings of Scripture; but we are not sufficient even to think what is according to the mind of God. There are fundamental matters – such as seeking God, realising the seriousness of our sin and our rebellion against God, and recognising the suitability of Christ as a Saviour from sin and its guilt – which we are not sufficient to address by our own power. We are not even willing to do so.
Our basic problem is that we are sinners. All mankind fell in Adam, who was the covenant head of all mankind. He sinned; he lost the blessings of the covenant of works, not only for himself, but for all his natural descendants in every generation. So none of us have any inward resources for seeking the Lord; thus we will never find Him unless He will make us able and willing to look to Christ by faith. We are not sufficient for this; our sufficiency must be from God, working in our hearts by the Holy Spirit for the sake of Christ, who died instead of sinners so that a multitude whom no one can number will be saved at last.
Paul well knew, by the time he wrote to the Corinthians, that he had no resources of any kind that could earn him salvation. Even though, in the past, he believed that he was blameless “touching the righteousness that is in the law”, his righteousness was altogether imperfect; it could not pass the scrutiny of the holy God. He had no true love to God and was rejecting the Messiah whom God had provided – for the salvation even of self-righteous individuals like the Pharisee from Tarsus. He was unable to assess what was wrong with his law-keeping until the Holy Spirit began to teach him about his sin and his fallen nature. He was no doubt familiar with the teaching of Scripture: “All
our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Is 64:6), but he was unable to think properly about it and apply its teaching to his own spiritual condition; he needed such truths to be applied to his soul by the Holy Spirit.
He was no doubt familiar also with David’s petition, “Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow” (Ps 51:7), but he did not have, in himself, the spiritual resources that would bring him to feel his need of this washing, that would make him truly white. But Christ, as the great Prophet, was able to teach him his need as a sinner and the virtue of the blood that He shed at Calvary to wash away the sinner’s guilt. Paul was not sufficient, from his own resources, to send up David’s petitions to heaven sincerely, but the Spirit of prayer was to give him sufficient grace to plead before God again and again because of the sin he continued to see within himself. Paul was not sufficient for these things, from himself, but his sufficiency came from God.
Every unconverted person is in the same position, as Paul had already told the Corinthians: “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor 2:14). In his commentary on 1 Corinthians, Charles Hodge explains “the things of the Spirit of God” as “the truths of His Word”. He goes on, “Although they have been communicated in language taught by the Spirit, yet, by a certain class of men, they are rejected. That is, they are not believed, appreciated and obeyed. This class of men is called natural.” By this expression “we must understand the unrenewed man; the man under the influence of human nature, as distinguished from those who are under the influence of the Holy Spirit. The natural or unrenewed man does not receive the things of the Spirit. As the things which the Holy Ghost has revealed address themselves not only to the intellect as true, but to the conscience as obligatory and to the affections as excellent and lovely, not to receive them is not to recognise, in our inward experience, their truth, authority and excellence. . . .
“Foolishness is that which is to us absurd, insipid, powerless. When, therefore, it is said that the things of the Spirit are foolishness to the natural man, it means that they are to him absurd, insipid and distasteful.” When Paul affirms that the natural man cannot know “the things of the Spirit”, he means that “he cannot discern the truth, excellence, or beauty of divine things. . . . The thing is foolishness to him . . . because [it is] . . . discerned through the Spirit. . . . His inward state must be changed by the influence of the Spirit before he can apprehend the truth and excellence of the gospel.” By way of application, Hodge concludes, “The only hope of the unrenewed, therefore, is in doing as the blind did in the days of Christ. They must go to Him for spiritual discernment; and those who go to Him He will in no wise cast out.”
Let no one despair. However insufficient we are, there is no insufficiency with God, and there is no insufficiency in the provision that Christ has made for the salvation of sinners. God has made known that sinners are to be saved “by the foolishness of preaching” (1 Cor 1:21), but we should be clear that ministers are not sufficient to think anything as from themselves, far less to change the hearts of their hearers by any power of their own. Yet their sufficiency for all their responsibilities is from God, who has ordained that weak, fallible men should proclaim the good news of salvation and has further revealed that He is pleased to bless that proclamation to the souls of sinners – sometimes to more and sometimes to fewer, according to His sovereign will. What we ought not to question is that God is altogether able to save sinners, whoever the sinner may be – oneself or anyone else. He hears prayer, and we should send our petitions up to heaven, insufficient though we are for that duty. But the Spirit, as the Spirit of prayer, is able to give us sufficient grace to pour out our hearts to God, pleading for saving mercy for ourselves and for others, even for the whole world.
Even the most advanced believer, after many years on the way to heaven, is still insufficient to think anything as from himself; his sufficiency must continue to come from God. He must not feel, in any degree, independent of God, especially when Christ insists, “Without Me, ye can do nothing” (Jn 15:5). Apart from Christ, and true dependence on Him, the believer can never do anything that is to the glory of God, or of advantage to himself spiritually. God continues to call him, and such as him, in these terms: “Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord JEHOVAH is everlasting strength” (Is 26:4). Not only does God provide everlasting strength, but He provides the grace to look to Him to supply all his needs.
Whatever the believer’s situation, let him trust in the Lord, whose resources are without limit. It may be the most ordinary of situations, when apparently everything is going well, but he must remember that his sufficiency must come from God. On the other hand, he may be facing many obvious and serious dangers, but he is to realise that God’s grace is still sufficient. And when the last will come to the last and the believer is face to face with death, he must continue to trust in the Lord Jesus, especially in the light of the fact that covenant promises are still valid. The Good Shepherd will most certainly not forsake any of His sheep now, but He will guide them safely into the green pastures of heaven, for God’s grace is sufficient for them. Even at that solemn, final stage of his pilgrimage, the believer is to say, “The Lord hath been mindful of us: He will bless us” (Ps 115:12).
As a very young minister in London in the 1850s, C H Spurgeon showed that he understood something of human insufficiency and of God as the only
source of our sufficiency, when he said in a sermon,1 “It is not thy hold of Christ that saves thee – it is Christ. It is not thy joy in Christ that saves thee – it is Christ. It is not even faith in Christ, though that is the instrument – it is Christ’s blood and merits. Therefore look not so much to thy hand with which thou art grasping Christ, as to Christ; look not to thy hope, but to Christ, the source of thy hope; look not to thy faith, but to Christ, the author and finisher of thy faith; and if thou dost that, ten thousand devils cannot throw thee down; but as long as thou lookest at thyself, the meanest of those evil spirits may tread thee beneath his feet. . . .
“Is it not Jesus who rebukes the evil spirit? . . . Perhaps you have been trying to rebuke the evil spirit yourself; you have tried to argue and dispute with him . . . . Beloved, have you not been doing wrong? It is not your business to rebuke Satan. ‘The Lord rebuke thee’, that is what thou shouldest say. O if you had looked to Jesus and said, Lord, rebuke him, He had only need say, Hush! and the demon would have been still in a moment, for he knows how omnipotent Jesus is, since he feels His power. . . . It is Jesus only who can remove the affliction.
“It is no use to get praying simply. Prayer is good in itself, but that is not the way to get rid of Satan – it is thinking of Christ. We get saying, O that I had stronger faith! O that I had love to Jesus! It is good for a Christian to say that, but it is not enough; the way to overcome Satan, and to have peace with God is through Christ, [who said]: ‘I am the way’; if thou wouldest know the way, come to Christ. ‘I am the truth’; if thou wouldest refute the devil’s lies, come to the truth. ‘I am the life’; if thou wouldest be spared from Satan’s killing, come to Jesus.
“There is one thing which we all of us too much becloud in our preaching, though I believe we do it very unintentionally – namely, the great truth that it is not prayer, it is not faith, it is not our doings, it is not our feelings upon which we must rest, but upon Christ, and on Christ alone. We are apt to think that we are not in a right state, that we do not feel enough, instead of remembering that our business is not with self, but Christ. Our business is only with Christ. O soul, if thou couldest fix thy soul on Jesus, and neglect everything else; if thou couldest but despise good works and aught else, so far as they relate to thy salvation, and look wholly, simply on Christ, I tell thee Satan would soon give up throwing thee down; he would find it would not answer his purpose, for thou wouldest fall on Christ and . . . rise up each time stronger than before.”
1The sermon, on Luke 9:42, was published in C H Spurgeon, The New Park Street Pulpit, vol 2, Banner of Truth reprint, 1963, pp 375-6. A shorter extract appears in Iain H. Murray, The Forgotten Spurgeon, Banner of Truth, 1966, p 50.
God’s Glory Filling the Temple (2)1
A Sermon by Peter MacBride
Ezekiel 44:4-9. Then brought he me the way of the north gate before the house: and I looked, and, behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord: and I fell upon my face. . . .
2. What is manifested. God reveals His glory: “The glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord”.
(1.) This implies a manifestation of Himself. In that house, in these means, these souls feel that they have to do with Him. God Himself is felt there. The soul is then cured of its atheism. God is brought before the soul, and the soul is brought before God.
(2.) It implies a discovery of what God is. He not only comes into view, but He manifests what He is, and there is a shining light which reveals what He is to the soul. There is a discovery of His Being, His greatness, His majesty, His holiness, His moral attributes. He reveals the purity of His nature in opposition to sin; and I include in this His justice, whereby He is not only opposed to sin, but must manifest this opposition, in such a manner as to show what a Holy God He is. It involves also His goodness and mercy – in short, He manifests to us what He is, as that is brought to view in the work that He has done, and in the Word that He has given.
(3.) There is implied a discovery of the excellence of what God thus is. This is specially what is implied in His glory. In hell, God is thoroughly manifested in a certain sense. He is known in that awful place, and yet it is quite plain that in hell there is for ever thick darkness and no manifestation whatever of His mercy. Yet in the manifestation of His justice in hell there is a mark of His justice. When man fell, he did not lose his intellectual knowledge of God. Man did lose his knowledge of the excellency of God; and so it was with the fallen angels. But so far as they have any knowledge of God, they and God are opposed to each other.
So far as unconverted men have any sight or ideas of God, they are opposed to Him, and to those ideas of Him; they are opposed to everything in Him. They speak of goodness and mercy, yet they are opposed to the goodness and mercy of God as it is in Him. They are hostile to the true God; the carnal mind is therefore enmity to the true God. Sinners are opposed to the true God; they are enemies to God. They have a heart full of enmity to what the true God really is. Every natural man is an enemy of God, a bitter enemy of God; he is just a devil in his heart to God. The natural man would just run in the very face of God and turn Him out of heaven if he could. Every soul
1The second and final part of the sermon. The first part dealt with “How it is that the glory of the Lord fills the house”.
that has not discovered that this is his natural character, and whose heart is not broken because of this, is a devil, an enemy of God. You may rest assured that all who are strangers to what their hearts are, are strangers to the true God. They do not see His excellency; they are not attracted by it.
Have you been brought to see anything of this? Have you obtained an insight into the excellency of God, so that you are turned to this God, converted to Him? His excellency is manifested to us in His law. Although the whole glory of God is not brought into view in the law, yet the glory of God is brought into view there.
When the glory of God returned to the temple it was the same glory that was manifested when God came to destroy the temple. What sort of glory was that? It was His glory as a just God, a God who would execute judgement on the pollutions of that temple. That very same glory came back. God as the Lawgiver is a God worthy to be loved. Some say that God as a Lawgiver cannot be loved at all, that displays of mercy are necessary for this. Is it to be maintained that the holiness of God is not a lovely thing, that there was no love to that glorious Being before any manifestations of mercy? I take it that people will scarcely take it upon themselves to say that there is nothing glorious in the holiness of God. To say this is to declare doctrines of devils, smoke out of the pit. Therefore there is beauty in the holiness of God and in that very justice of God that requires the punishment of sin.
Take the case of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God exposed to all that justice could inflict, and yet His love never faltered, failed, declined or hesitated for an instant. Behold, on that cross, the man Christ Jesus, loving God yet suffering for sin. The reason that we do not love Him is because we are carnal. It is not our misfortune; it is our sin. It is due to our depravity that we do not take the side of God directly against ourselves. The excellency of God as Lawgiver is shown in this manner to every gracious soul. They see His glory in what He requires in that law and in sending the soul at last into everlasting burnings for its transgression. It is possible to approve the justice of God in condemning to suffering, while certainly it is the desire of every soul to escape from it.
Whenever God manifests His glory, He shows the glory of His law, and of His justice in connection with that law. We must say, Amen, to all these things. This must be the case with every soul who really sees the true glory of God. In the very nature of things, nothing more of His glory is to be seen until this is seen. Why? Because it is in the mercy of this Holy God, to whose sentence you are brought in reference to yourselves, to say, Amen, to these things. You will see His excellency in providing mercy. It is in the
exercise of mercy in and through Him, in delivering sinners, that the glory of God is manifested. The glory of God is seen in the face of Jesus Christ; that is the way in which He draws the soul, converts the soul to Himself. Now it is such views of these things – views that touch the heart, that destroy sin in the root, that transform the heart into the image of God – that are at the foundation of true religion, and which true believers mourn for and seek in the means of grace.
3. The effect produced. (1.) It brings down the individual into the dust before God. “I fell upon my face.” There is a subduing of the soul before Him, a bringing of the soul into the dust in His presence, and into a submission to Him. True religion is excellent. Why is the life of religion so hard? It is because if you knew God, if you saw Him, you would be down, down in the dust before Him, renouncing yourselves in His presence. You would take the place that belongs to you. You would fall upon your face. Some will say, This is a hard saying. Some will say, It is impossible for us to submit to this. Why is that? It is because you do not know the glory of God, because if the excellency of His Being would only shine into your heart, you would fall upon your face and submit to Him.
(2.) It is followed by a drawing of the soul to confidence in God. This is the way to come to true confidence. The soul is brought into the exercise of this confidence in Christ.
(3.) The soul is quickened into gracious communion. The soul comes to receive, in the way which He has appointed, the way of confidence in Him, the end of faith, even the salvation of the soul. There is communion with the God of salvation here.
(4.) There is an insight into the will of God. There must be this in order to the things mentioned, and in order to further insight into them. This includes the plan of redemption and everything connected with it. There must be an insight into the will of God. No teaching will make you able to understand the doctrines of free grace if you are not brought to this. It is only those to whom God’s glory has been revealed, and who have been brought to the submission of faith, that are really capable of declaring the mind of the Lord.
(5.) There is a special insight into what is required in the true worship of God: “The Lord said unto me, Son of Man, mark well and behold with thine eyes and hear with thine ears all that I say unto thee concerning all the ordinances of the house of the Lord, and all the laws thereof; and mark well the entering in of the house, with every going forth of the sanctuary”. There is an insight into the ordinances of Divine worship, and into what is required there. This is imparted to those who are brought to be acquainted with God. There is an insight into what really constitutes the ordinances of His house,
the laws of His house and the character of the worshippers who are set apart to enjoy the privileges of the people of God.
There is an insight into the disorders in His worship that had brought down the judgements of God before, and which must be removed in order that their Lord might appear among them again. As to the worshippers, they are not to be strangers, “uncircumcised” persons. Bringing them into His house is here condemned, bringing them to the enjoyment of what belongs only to His own people. “Uncircumcised in heart” and “uncircumcised in flesh”: the latter is a grosser infringement of God’s law, inasmuch as this is seen outwardly; they appear more unfit for enjoying this privilege: but both the one and the other are here condemned by the Lord. He gives a solemn charge as to these (v 9), but how are these things to be prevented? As to the uncircumcision in flesh, the case is obvious. As to the “uncircumcision in heart”, it is true that no man can thoroughly search the heart of another, but much might be done in this respect that is not done, not only by ministers but by the church in general (v 6).
He speaks to the house of Israel. In the end, the guilt of this lay at the door of the rebellious house of Israel. Ministers may warn, and they ought to warn, but besides the warning, the power of the Church must go along with it. If strictures in this respect are to be condemned, rebelled against, opposed, disregarded, if people are to stay away in indifference, what is it but most obvious rebellion against God. This disorder had gone so far that it is difficult to see how it would be remedied but by a Babylonish captivity. But certainly if God came in His glory, there would be an overturning, a casting out of many who have broken the covenant and polluted the sanctuary.
Unless He will come in a way something like this, the true God will not come at all. It is manifest that Christ is absent from ordinances in Scotland. He refuses to come near for the tears or prayers of His people. He has turned His back. Where are such communions as used to be seen? Where are tokens of God’s presence? The people of God will begin to abhor the sacrifice, to turn away from it, and to leave it to those who pollute these ordinances. If God do not return to purify His house, what have they to do at communion tables where His presence is not manifested, when He has turned His back? So it deeply concerns us all to seek that the pollutions here may be removed. Those who have an insight into these things are your witnesses, witnesses against these abominations. Were the uncircumcised turned out, there is reason to believe that more of the presence of God would be manifested in His ordinances than is generally seen.
Application. (1.) Have you no cause to mourn the absence of the Lord? Is it not evident that He is absent in a great measure from His temple? There
is no doubt but that God is sovereign in this, but there is no doubt that we are sinners and that we have grieved Him away. I put it to you: is it not so? Have you evidence of His presence in sinners being turned to see what they are, so as to condemn themselves and fall down before God? Have you evidence of the presence of God, not only in His bringing sinners down to the dust, but in their sovereign, gracious deliverance through the Saviour?
If His presence is carrying forward this work in the souls of men, then, so far, we have cause to rejoice. But is it so? Is it not too manifest a fact that we are in a great measure, strangers to the presence of God? We may have ministers; we may have the truth; we may have ordinances, but if God is not there, what does all else signify? The temple may stand in all its glory, and yet if God in His glory leaves the temple, what virtue is there? Look and see if we have not cause to mourn the absence of God. O that we were brought thus to mourn, that these hearts were humbled to feel concern on account of this, and were brought to mourn after the Lord.
(2.) See that the Lord has a care of His ordinances. If His presence departs from the ordinances it is a token of their destruction: the temple will be burned up. God will not uphold useless ordinances. He will not uphold means from which He sees cause to be absent for any length of time. But God will not leave His cause; He will maintain it. He will return again and set up His worship. While our temple may thus be burnt up, the Lord will cause another to be built. Many fear that the church will be overturned, yet He will not be without a church.
Let everyone examine himself whether he knows God. Look to it, dear friends, we must not lose ourselves in generalities. Has God ever shown you what you are? Has He ever turned you? Have you been brought to say, Amen, to all the cases in the book of the law? Are you acquainted with your sins and your undone condition as sinners? Have you obtained deliverance from it? And how were you delivered from it? Was it by a discovery of the glory of the Lord of salvation? Are there those who have evidence of knowing God? O dear friends, be thankful for what the Lord has done. See now that you grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. You have much need to press forward unto perfection. You have much need to grow up in experiential saving acquaintance with God. O seek to press forward unto this. Use the means of grace, and seek Himself in these means. And as ye have received Christ Jesus, so walk ye in Him.
Is anyone mourning the darkness in which he is, far from the knowledge of the Lord? Do you really mourn the lack of it? Have you really seen that you are without it? Is that really painful to you? Does it disturb your rest, peace and comfort, so that you do not enjoy means and ordinances? Are you
broken in heart because of this? If so, do not reject the Word of the Lord, for to you there is a word of encouragement, “The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind”. Where one is made conscious of his blindness, he certainly must be raised up. You who are children of darkness even to this hour, you live in a gospel land, where you have the Word of God, where you hear the truth of God, O that you might see the state in which you are! O that you would see what is before you in the blackness of darkness for ever! But I fear many such are not to be delivered.
God seems to be saying, “Let them alone”; they are not to receive the warning, not to be led to flee from danger or to seek after the knowledge of God. It is certain that people do not appear to pay attention to what they are told about their danger; they have hardened their hearts. I do fear that this is the case with many. I entreat you, if you would not lose your souls, if you would not dwell at last in the blackness of darkness, where not one ray of mercy or hope shall ever shine – I entreat you to be done with a religion without God, in which God and you are strangers. That is a chariot in which you will go to everlasting burnings. Leap out of it before it plunges you into that lake whence there is no escape. O turn you, turn you, why will you die? Do not be satisfied till the true God returns to you and till you turn to Him. O that you would lay these things to heart! I leave it between God and your own souls.
Early Years of John Macdonald1
John Kennedy
It was in the interval between two of his college sessions that John Macdonald began in right earnest to ask, “What must I do to be saved?” There is reason to believe that the reading of Jonathan Edwards’ works was the means of beginning the work of conviction which issued in his conversion to God. This in his case was a fiery process. He has been heard to declare that such was his experience then of “the terror of the Lord” that he was at the time persuaded that the agony of his soul was an anticipation of hell. Shut up to Christ as his only resource by the felt desperation of his case as a sinner, and by the authority of the command to believe in the Son, on the one hand: and on the other, shut out from Him in darkness under the power of unbelief and in the impotence of spiritual death, he well knew then
1Abridged from The Apostle of the North, Kennedy’s biography of Macdonald, who was latterly minister of the Highland parish of Ferintosh, in the Black Isle. The book has been reprinted by Free Presbyterian Publications (304 pages, £4.50); it is still available.
the agony of a soul lying without hope at the disposal of Him who will have mercy on whom He will have mercy, and who hardeneth whom He will.
In this state of mind, as he himself once told the writer, he was walking one day by the seaside. Under the pressure of despair, and at the suggestion of the tempter, he advanced within the sweep of the great billows that were breaking wildly on the shore. Before the advancing wave had reached him, a ray of gospel light pierced the darkness in which his soul was shrouded. Rushing at once from the danger which he had rashly provoked and climbing up into a quiet cave in the rock hard by, he was there and then enabled to commit his soul to Christ. He went to the shore that day in the grasp of the destroyer; he returned from it in the arms of the Saviour.
The place in which the Lord then met him became his favourite resort. Only a few days had passed when, as he was pouring out his heart before God in the cave, a young man, whose soul was just entering on the felt darkness of despair, was going towards the sea. Overhearing a sound from the cave, he stood to listen. The words which he heard were the means of arresting him, of dispelling the shadow of death from his heart, and of assuring him that there was hope in the gospel even for him. Thomas Forbes was that young man’s name. He was afterwards well known in Glasgow as a consistent, fervent follower of the Lamb.
It is impossible to trace with any distinctness the steps of Macdonald’s progress in the knowledge of Christ. He himself refrained from referring to his personal experience, regarding it as selfish and indiscreet to do so. He kept no record then of God’s dealings with his soul. This much, however, is certain, that the works of Edwards, his father’s wise and prayerful instruction, and the clear and unctuous preaching of Mr Robertson, then missionary at Achreny, afterwards of Rothesay and Kingussie, were the means employed and blessed by the Lord in guiding him into the truth as it is in Jesus. For Robertson he continued to cherish the warmest affection, to which he gives fervent expression in an elegy written by him after Robertson’s death, unquestionably the best of all his Gaelic poems.
Macdonald was licensed to preach the gospel, on 2 July 1805, by the Presbytery of Caithness. He was then known only as the son of James Macdonald. His father’s fame as a Christian and as a catechist heightened the expectations for his preaching, and the love and respect entertained for the father made many anxious for the success of the son. His first sermon was not accounted worthy of his father’s son. Some expected in his preaching a reproduction of his father’s maturity of thought and feeling, and were therefore greatly disappointed. One of his first texts, “I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory,” startled others. A sermon on such a subject they regarded as too
ambitious an effort for a young man, and not a few shook their heads and hinted that a young head suited young shoulders better than an old one.
His first discourses, though carefully prepared, were very unpretending; they were distinctly but coldly delivered. Some of the more discerning of his hearers found a germ of promise in his earliest sermons but, except to a few, there was in his appearances as a probationer no indication of his future pulpit power. There may have been an excess of care as to the composition of his sermons, a forgetfulness of his hearers’ needs and an overrating of their knowledge, a desire to write well rather than to preach effectively, and a nervousness which made him diffident, and set him to commit his sermons to memory with a painful exactness that acted as starch on his manner in delivering them.
Two months after being licensed, he started on a tour of the north-west Highlands, during which he did not forget that he was dedicated to higher service. He preached in every parish which he visited, and thus, within three months, he began to acquire some training for the great work in which he became famous as “The Apostle of the North”. Having preached in the parish of Glenelg, the minister, a genuine Highland moderate, said to him after the service was over: “That was a very good sermon, I suppose, but it was quite unsuitable here; for you spoke all day to sinners, and I know only one in all my parish”.
Crossing the hills between Assynt and Lochbroom, his guide across the trackless moor was a girl just entering her teens. As they were parting at the journey’s end, he slowly and solemnly repeated the words, “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them”. Twenty years afterwards he was preaching at Contin during a communion season. After the sermon a woman greeted him and told him that she was the young girl who acted as his guide across the hills of Assynt, and that the words he had repeated to her on that occasion had made an abiding impression on her heart. Inquiring about her, he ascertained that she was regarded by all who knew her as a truly Christian woman.
He returned to Caithness in November and officiated as a missionary in the districts of Achreny and Halladale for six months. His first marriage took place in January 1806. He was ordained as a missionary minister at Berriedale in September 1806 and he laboured there till his translation to Edinburgh in January of the following year. While at Berriedale he continued to improve as a preacher, but did not even then excite very high expectations. He was greatly respected by the more judicious of his hearers, and was regarded as a servant of Christ by all, but none anticipated his future eminence.
Having received from the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge a presentation to the Gaelic Church in Edinburgh, he deemed it his duty to accept that charge. He left Berriedale in December 1806, and was inducted as minister of the Gaelic chapel in Edinburgh in January 1807. His father visited him at Berriedale on the eve of his departure, and helped him in preparing to leave. The day on which he left his humble home at Berriedale was very stormy; and as he was taking his last look at the cottage, its roof was lifted by the strength of the gale and strewn in fragments on the ground. His father turned to him and said, “John, I think it was high time to leave Berriedale!”
While in Edinburgh his work gradually increased, till at last his labours became excessive. Besides delivering two Gaelic discourses during the day, he preached an English sermon every Sabbath evening. Besides prayer meetings and district catechising, he delivered regularly a weekly lecture. As his fame was rising, demands for his services multiplied. He preached occasionally in Greenock, Port Glasgow, Dundee and Perth, and frequently in Glasgow and Stirling, where Highland regiments were stationed. There were blessed fruits of his preaching to the Highland soldiers. Not a few of them were converted to God through his sermons at that time, and when their regiments were disbanded they returned to their homes in the north, to labour in the service of the Lord and to live to His praise.
During the earlier portion of his ministry in Edinburgh he steadily visited his people. This was work in which he could easily excel. His cheerfulness, conciseness and punctuality enabled him to overtake an amount of visitation impossible but to a few, and to make it always pleasant and instructive.
He visited, on one occasion, a member of his congregation whose husband was a Roman Catholic. At the time, the man was lying apparently on his deathbed, and the minister was asked to speak to the sick man. He found him very exhausted, but it was owing to lack of food rather than to lack of health – the priest had administered extreme unction and forbidden him to taste food thereafter. The minister’s persuasion, backed by the sick man’s hunger, proved stronger than the priest’s authority. He was given food and was taking it when the priest came in. Indignant, and even furious, he moved forward to snatch the food from the sick man’s hand, but the broad shoulders of the Highland preacher were thrust between him and the bed; and the priest, after discharging a mouthful of curses at the heretic, sullenly withdrew when he became conscious of the muscles of his opponent. The man recovered and was a regular hearer ever after in the Gaelic church.
Macdonald passed through an important change during his time in Edinburgh. There is no record of his experience at that time, but there was abundant evidence that he had made a fresh start in the way of life. There
have been instances of persons becoming “other men” who were never new creatures in Christ, but there have been also instances of renewed men becoming other men under a fresh baptism of the Spirit. This was the change which Macdonald underwent in Edinburgh. It was soon apparent in his preaching.
Always clear and sound in his statements of objective truth, his preaching now became filled with life. It was now searching and fervent, as well as sound and lucid. Knowing the terror of the Lord as he did not know it before, he warned sinners in Zion with such faithfulness and power as excited the wonder and the awe of his hearers. His statements of gospel truth were now the warm utterances of one who deeply felt its power. The Lord’s people could now testify that he spoke from his own heart to theirs. His manner in the pulpit underwent a corresponding change. His action became most vehement, but it never seemed extravagant to any hearer who could sympathise with the views and feelings of the preacher. His melodious voice, though often very loud, was always under his control and was pleasant in all its tones. His sermons, always full of thought, bright with illustration, and teeming with feeling, were fitly delivered in the most unaffected and intensely earnest way.
So marked was the change which then passed over his preaching that many were led to judge that he had never preached the gospel till then. This is entirely a mistake. He preached the gospel in Berriedale as surely as in Edinburgh, though with far less unction, discrimination and power.
Soon after this change he visited his father in Caithness and preached in several places during his journey, exciting the astonishment of all who heard him. In Tain, on his return from Caithness, he was asked to preach by the local minister, Angus Mackintosh, and he at once agreed to do so and occupied his pulpit during all the services of the Sabbath. Being an utter stranger to the people he received but a cold welcome from them when he was seen mounting the pulpit stairs instead of their own revered minister.
There was present in church one who, on that day, had walked 16 miles, as he had often done before, to hear the great minister of Tain. He thus described his feelings on that occasion: “I was greatly disappointed on seeing Dr Mackintosh walking towards the manse seat and, instead of him, a smart-looking young man walking, as I thought, with too rapid progress and with too light a step, towards the pulpit. I felt at once as if the day was lost. I expected no good and shut up my heart against the youth who came in between me and my wonted Sabbath fare. He gave out the psalm. ‘You can’t spoil that at any rate’, I said to myself. The prayer began, but I scarcely heard the first part of it. Gradually my attention was attracted, but towards the manse seat I found my eye still wandering. Before the prayer was over I ceased to look away from the pulpit.
“When the sermon began I forgot all but the doctrine I was hearing. As he warmed up with his subject, the preacher became most vehement in his action; every eye was rivetted on the speaker, and suppressed sounds testified to the effect which his sermon was producing. His second discourse was so awe-inspiring that the audience became powerfully affected. Such was the awful solemnity of the doctrine and the vehemence of the preacher’s manner that I expected, before he was done, every heart would be pierced and that the very roof of the church would be rent.”
The Spirit as Comforter1
2. The Method of Comforting
James Buchanan
Having seen that God in Christ is the inexhaustible source of that comfort which is imparted to His people by the agency of the Spirit, it will be of considerable practical importance to consider the means and method by which the Holy Spirit fulfills this precious part of His work.
It is a dangerous error to suppose that the Spirit comforts His people by infusing joy and peace and hope into their hearts without the use of the ordinary means of grace, or separate from His other fruits and His operations as their teacher and sanctifier. He acts in this, as in every other part of His work, in a way that is consistent with the laws of our moral nature and adapted to its necessities. And His work is not divided; its various parts may be distinctly considered, but they never exist separately from each other; they constitute one grand work by which His people’s happiness is secured while their holiness is advanced.
The Spirit comforts His people by means of the truth revealed in His Word, enabling them to understand its meaning, to feel its power, and especially to apply it to the case of their own souls, in the exercise of an appropriating faith. That the gospel, or the truth contained in the gospel, is the instrument by which the Spirit comforts His people appears from the Apostle’s prayer that they might be filled “with all joy and peace in believing”; and from his language in another place: “Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope”. David too refers to the same means of consolation when he says, “This is my comfort in my affliction; for Thy Word hath quickened me”.
1A second extract from a chapter entitled, “The Work of the Spirit as the Comforter”, in Buchanan’s book, The Office and Work of the Holy Spirit. Last month’s article dealt with the source of comfort.
He begins to impart this comfort at the time of a sinner’s conversion. No sinner is converted until he is so far enlightened in the knowledge of Christ as a Saviour, and persuaded of the certainty and freeness of the gospel, as to feel that he may, as a sinner, guilty and helpless as he is in himself, venture, on a scriptural warrant, to put his personal trust in Christ. He draws near to God through Christ, in the humble hope that whosoever comes to Christ shall in no wise be cast out; and that there is enough in these, the simplest elements of gospel truth, to impart immediate relief and comfort to the sinner’s heart. Then, like the Ethiopian treasurer, he may from that hour go “on his way rejoicing”. For the gospel of Christ is really good news, glad tidings of great joy, addressed as it is, not to the innocent, but to the guilty, and affording, as it does, to every sinner, and just because he is a sinner, a divine warrant to return unto the Lord, in the assurance that He will have mercy upon him – even to our God, who will abundantly pardon.
From the beginning of his Christian course, the believer may taste and see that the Lord is gracious, and may experience that measure of joy and peace and hope which the simplest elements of divine truth are fitted to inspire, when they are rightly apprehended and really believed. Yet his comfort, like every other fruit of the Spirit, admits of growth and increase, and is advanced in proportion as he acquires larger and clearer views of the truth as it is in Jesus. The believer’s comfort is often, for a time, weak and fluctuating, just because his views of divine truth are dim and indistinct; but as these become clearer and more comprehensive, under the teaching of the Spirit, his comfort also becomes more settled and stable.
The believer’s comfort must be increased by every new view which he obtains of the character of God as it is displayed in the cross of Christ, by every new proof of His wisdom and justice and love in the work of redemption and especially in His dealings towards his own soul, and by every fresh experience of the power of God’s truth. Even his first faint glimpse of these things imparted comfort to his heart. And it is in this way, especially by enlightening him more fully in the knowledge of Christ, that the Spirit comforts His people, as we learn from that remarkable prayer of the Apostle: “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God”.
Mark here that (1) even true converts, genuine believers in Christ, are as yet comparatively ignorant of the boundless love of Christ; (2) they must be strengthened with might by the Spirit in the inner man, in order to form any suitable conception of that love; (3) a knowledge of Christ’s love is slowly and gradually acquired in the course of Christian experience, for Christ must dwell in their hearts by faith, and they must be rooted and grounded in love, in order to comprehend it; (4) after all, they never can exhaust a subject which is in itself inexhaustible: it has a height and a depth in it “which passeth knowledge”; and (5) to know Christ’s love, as only the Spirit can make us know it, is the means of a comfort as full as it is sweet: it is to “be filled with all the fullness of God”. In this manner the Spirit comforts His people, by disclosing to them the fullness that is in Christ, and the freeness with which His privileges are bestowed; for “we have received,” says the Apostle, “not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God”.
It is of great practical importance to remember that all genuine gospel comfort has its ground and warrant in the revealed truth of God, for then it is not delusive and groundless, like the false security of those who say, “Peace, peace; when there is no peace”. But it is stable and sound and permanent, in proportion to the strength of the ground on which it rests.
Again the Holy Spirit provides for the comfort of His people by sanctifying them. We read of two kinds of rest which Christ proposes to us in the gospel; and these two are not only inseparably conjoined in Scripture, but will be found to be very intimately connected in experience. The first is the rest of justification or pardon, of which Christ speaks when He addresses the guilty sinner laden with the burden of his sins: “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”. He will take the burden of guilt away; He will abundantly pardon. But the second is the rest of sanctification: “Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.”
This comfort arises from subduing unholy passions, and substituting for them the gracious fruits of the Spirit, which are, in their own nature, as peaceful as they are lovely, and not only lead to the happiness of believers, but to its constituent elements. It is only necessary to list them, and to contrast them with their opposites, to see that in their own nature, and apart from all arbitrary rewards or punishments, they are essentially and inherently blissful. Mark the contrast, as it is drawn by the Apostle: “The works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like.” “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.”
Merely to list these opposite qualities of character should be sufficient to convince you that the graces of the Spirit are fitted, in their own nature, to minister to the believer’s comfort. And we have the Lord’s own assurance that every beatitude stands connected with one or other of these graces, when He says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.”
The Spirit then comforts us by carrying on the great work of sanctification; but it is no part of His work to comfort us in our sins. It is still true, as it ever was, that the wicked are as a raging sea when it cannot rest; for “there is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked”.
Again, the Spirit comforts His people by disclosing to them, and enabling them to discern, such marks and evidences of a work of grace in their hearts as may afford a comforting assurance of their sonship and awaken a cheering hope of future glory. “The Spirit Itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God; and if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.”
The Spirit does not act as their Comforter by making known their election with an audible voice, or by revealing anything that may not be gathered from the Word, when viewed in connection with their own experience. He acts as their Comforter simply by producing His gracious fruits, and then enabling them to discern these fruits as so many scriptural marks and evidences of their conversion. For it is the presence of the Spirit in their hearts, evinced by the change which His power produces there, which is the witness or evidence of their sonship: “Hereby we know that we dwell in Him; because He has given us of His Spirit”; and “He that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit”; and “ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession”.
I need not say that it is no part of the Spirit’s work as a Comforter to exempt His people from trials; on the contrary, they seem to be subjected to afflictions both more numerous and more severe than those of the men of this world. In addition to disease, bereavement and disappointment, which
they share in common with others, they are exposed to trials which are limited to themselves. Some are inward, arising from the exercise of their own minds, the warfare in which they are engaged, the discipline to which, if need be, they are subjected for their trial, humbling and establishing. Others are outward, arising from the criticism and opposition, the ridicule and persecution of the world. But here is the mystery of their peace: it is peace in the midst of trouble, joy in the midst of sorrow. “In the world,” says the Saviour, “ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Hence Paul could say, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed”.
Christ in the Psalms (2)1
William Nixon
Luke 24:44. All things must be fulfilled, which were written in the . . . psalms, concerning Me.
- There are psalms in which the writer shows that, while he had regard to the ceremonial sacrifices and purifications which the law required, he had an overpowering feeling of the paramount necessity of experiencing the cleansing virtue of a true atonement, and of saving grace. In Psalm 51, for instance, David sets forth the original and inherited depravity of his nature and his actual transgressions, in as impressive a representation of the malignity of sin as is to be found in Scripture. He then pleads to be purged with hyssop that he may be clean – that is, that the ashes prepared and kept ready for use, which consisted of the remains of the slain and consumed heifer, and of the pure running water with which it was mingled, might be applied to him to take his sin away.
Yet manifestly he was not looking to that ceremonial cleansing as sufficient, but through it he was looking wholly to the far higher sacrifice for sin and praying for the Holy Spirit to apply it to his guilty conscience and sinful heart and life. For he pleaded that God would deliver him from blood guiltiness, would create a clean heart and renew a right spirit within him, would not cast him from His presence, nor take His Holy Spirit from him, but visit him with the joy of His salvation, and uphold him with His free Spirit. And in the later part of the psalm, he still further shows that, while he realised the obligation of offering the typical sacrifices according to the law, he realised
1Taken, with editing, from Nixon’s Christ All and in All. The first three points were made in last month’s article. This piece concludes the series.
that they were utterly unfit in themselves, and in merely presenting them, to secure God’s forgiveness and favour, or to be a sufficient acknowledgment of the salvation prayed for. He taught a faith in the Lord, and a gratitude for redemption, which completely identified the experience of the Psalmist with that of all believers, who are all brought into a state of forgiveness, acceptance, peace and fellowship with God through Jesus Christ.
Such psalms as 32, 66 and 130 have a similar character. No language could be fitter than what they contain to express the experience of all who are washed, sanctified and justified “in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God”.
- Again there are such psalms as 19 and 119, full of expressions of delight in the law of God, such as equal or exceed the highest and richest and most blissful experiences of the divine life, and the most notable exercises of the gracious affections, to be found among the holiest and happiest children of God. It is an absolute impossibility, in the nature of things, that such experience could have been attained by any Old Testament believers, except through the work of the Spirit of Christ in them. For God’s holiness, justice, goodness and truth are unchangeable.
The law which issued from these perfections and is stamped with them is unchangeable. The malignity of sin is unchangeable, and the fact that every man is utterly depraved by it is unchangeable. The necessity of enduring the curse denounced against transgressors is unchangeable, as is the impossibility of any transgressor being pardoned unless the curse due to his sin is endured. The obligation to fulfill the law by a perfect obedience, before a title is established to divine favour and eternal life, is unchangeable. Unchangeable also is the fact of the utter helplessness and hopelessness of man’s fallen and ruined state, so far as any personal efforts on his own part to save himself are concerned.
Not less unchangeable is the necessity of satisfaction to law and justice for sin, which the sufferings and death of the Divine Redeemer rendered – of the fulfillment of the law’s demands, which it received from Him in His perfect obedience to it. Just as unchangeable is the necessity of the enlightening, quickening, sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Christ in the souls of men, in applying the redemption thus provided in Christ, and in bringing them under the shelter of His blood, the merits of His obedience and the saving power of the truth as it is in Him. This is in order to their pardon, acceptance, renewal to holiness, and admission into the family of God; their possession of the privileges of the family, their attainment of His likeness, and their final entrance into His presence, kingdom and glory.
Now there never was a sinner on earth who could be brought to love the
holy God and His holy law, and to take delight in Him and it – without first receiving pardon of all his sins through the one atonement provided, and acceptance for his person in the righteousness provided, and deliverance from the dominion of sin by the grace bestowed. This love and delight comes with his felt freedom from the condemnation which he deserved, with his felt deliverance from the bondage of the lusts which he has been made to hate. And this is through seeing God’s holiness, justice and truth, law and government vindicated, upheld and honoured, in the way by which God’s mercy thus reaches, embraces and saves him.
Only thus is he constrained to yield himself up in love and gratitude to God, as alive from the dead, to serve Him with gladness, and to walk before Him in newness of life. Only as thus redeemed from evil, restored to favour and fellowship with God, and confiding in the grace of which they had become partakers, to preserve their souls in life, and guide them in the way of peace – only thus were true believers, as servants and children of God, led and enabled to love the law of the Lord, and to make it their meditation all the day. Deep and rich were their experiences of what the grace of God had done and was doing for them, and great and joyful was their hope of what it would yet accomplish. This was so much so that the psalms in which these experiences and hopes are recorded are found, and will to the end of time be found, the fittest means of giving utterance and fresh strength to the highest, holiest and most joyful experiences of God’s children. In them grace is reigning through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ.
- There are Psalms which celebrate the power, wisdom, and goodness of God in the works of creation and providence. Some may be ready to ask, What special relation has Christ to these works and to the psalms which celebrate their author? Our answer is:
(1) “By Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth . . . and by Him all things consist” (Col 1:16,17); “all things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made” (Jn 1:3). It is by His Son that God “made the worlds”, and it is the Son of God who is “upholding all things by the word of His power” (Heb 1:2,3). If so, “the heavens declare the glory of [the Son of] God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork” (Ps 19:1). He, equally with the Father and the Spirit, is magnified in the psalms of praise for the works of creation and providence.
(2) In consequence of sin entering among the works of God, through the fall of angels and of man, a general disorder and great desolations have ensued. But by Christ, the Father is reconciling all things unto Himself, “whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven” (Col 1:20). The Son of Man shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them that do iniquity.
The purification of creation shall be accomplished when the heavens being on fire are dissolved, and the elements melt with fervent heat, and the earth and its works are burned up; and then shall at once rise to view the new heavens and the new earth “wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Pet 3:13). Now there are psalms full of the loftiest adoration of Jehovah, as displaying His natural and moral perfections in these works of His hands, and in the manner in which He is preserving, governing and disposing of them, and combining them all in showing forth His praises.
But, as we have seen, it is by the hand of Christ that they are created, formed, upheld and guided to their destiny. In connection with this fact, we may mention how the words of Psalm 102:25 are applied in Hebrews 1. The suppliant who utters the words of the psalm, amid his overwhelming afflictions, takes refuge in the Lord his God, who dwells in Zion and will build it up and appear in His glory. The Psalmist thus takes refuge because of His unchangeableness in the midst of His changing creatures, saying, “Of old hast Thou laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Thy hands. They shall perish but Thou shalt endure . . .”. But the Apostle quotes the words as spoken by God the Father to the Son, by whom, He had already said, the world was made and upheld.
Christians may fail to realise the presence and glory of Christ in all the psalms, that are full of the divine workings in creation and providence, and of the glory yet to accrue to God from all His works; yet Christ is in all these works from the beginning. They fail to realise these things because their hearts and minds, still ignorant and erring, fail to recognise Him; for Christ assuredly is all in all, in reference to them as to everything else in the universe.
Effectual Calling1
8. It Brings with It Every Blessing
James Foote
Once more here – and not to multiply further particulars but include many in one – mark this most comprehensive and valuable property of effectual calling: it brings along with it every blessing in time and throughout eternity. Consider, very briefly, a few of these blessings.
It secures, for example, the providential arrangement of everything for the
1Taken, with editing, from Foote’s Treatise on Effectual Calling. Foote (1781-1856) was a minister in Aberdeen, latterly in the Free Church. The two previous articles emphasised that effectual calling is not the result of works but according to God’s purpose. This is the last part of this series.
best. According to the inspired language of the Apostle Paul, “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose” (Rom 8:28). Even what might seem to be against them will prove advantageous to them. It is true that our Lord said to His disciples: “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you”. But He also said, “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world”; and His beloved disciple said, “Whosoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith”.
The world too, in the bad sense of the word, is theirs, to prove their steadfastness, and to warn them against the rocks on which so many make shipwreck of faith and a good conscience. The possessions of the world, which are a deadly snare to many, are a blessing to them, because they use them as not abusing them, and employ them for the glory of God and the good of their fellow-creatures. Nor is affliction any exception to this rule. On the contrary, under the influence of the Holy Spirit and in connection with the gospel, it works directly and powerfully for the good of those who have obeyed the call, as it affords them an opportunity for the exercise of patience and resignation, as it calls forth and enlivens the grace of prayer, as it softens the heart, as it mortifies sin, as it cherishes holiness, as it weans from the world, and as it reconciles and prepares them to die. Yet, under the pressure of affliction, they are graciously supported and comforted.
Again, how rich and varied are the spiritual blessings which effectual calling brings along with it in time! It might be shown how “they that are effectually called do, in this life, partake of justification, adoption, and sanctification”; and also of the blessings which, in this life, do either accompany, or flow from these, such as, “assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and perseverance therein unto the end”.
But without entering on so wide a field, it is enough to notice that most blessed circumstance connected with effectual calling: it is certainly followed by perseverance in a state of grace and, of course, by final salvation – that is, eternal life. This is very distinctly and fully taught in Scripture. “The gifts and calling of God are without repentance”; The Lord “shall confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ”; “God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord”; “Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it”; “They which are called . . . receive the promise of eternal inheritance”; “Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called: and whom He called,
them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified” (Rom 11:29; 1 Cor 1:8; 1 Th 5:24; Heb 9:15; Rom 8:30).
This last quotation is peculiarly strong. It is not said that God glorified some or many of those whom He called and justified; but it is said, positively and without exception, that He glorified those whom He called and justified – that is, all of them. The benefits flowing from effectual calling in this life are followed up by unspeakably precious benefits at death and at the resurrection, according to the following noble climax: “The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory; and their bodies, being still united Christ, do rest in their graves till the resurrection”. And then, “at the resurrection, believers being raised up in glory, shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgement, and made perfectly blessed in the full enjoying of God to all eternity” (Shorter Catechism, Ans 37,38).
Of what vast importance then is the first decided change – to close with offered mercy – when such are its certain and blessed accompaniments and results in time and eternity! How are they to be pitied who have no interest in Christ! Nothing is theirs in any profitable way; but all things, through their own sinful obstinacy or neglect, are co-operating for their ruin. How happy are they to whom, according to His divine power, God has given all things that pertain unto life and godliness, “through the knowledge of Him that hath called them to glory and virtue”! What wise man would not desire, above all things, to be in such a state? Who would not grasp at such an offer as this that has any enlightened regard to his own true interest?
The Redeemer’s Glory1
J R Anderson
Let it never be forgotten, that we are here dealing with visible symbols; neither let us confound these with the glorious attributes which they were intended and employed to shadow forth. We must guard against the error and confusion of those who would make these singular appearances to be the Divine glory of the Son of God. For a direct revelation of that glory to any creature, however high, is an impossibility: “No man knoweth the Son but the Father”. True, the Apostle John says: “We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father”. But how? Let the same apostle answer:
1An extract from a new paperback from Free Presbyterian Publications, The Transfiguration by Jonathan Ranken Anderson (122 pages, £6.50). It is a valuable study of a very significant incident in the life of the Saviour. It is well worth reading and studying.
“This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth His glory; and His disciples believed on Him”. By the works which He did, and which the apostles witnessed, did they learn something of those perfections that belonged to Him. And hence, we may understand what Peter means, by saying of the Transfiguration itself: “We have also a more sure word of prophecy;” because it contains a record, sure and abiding, of what has been said and done by the I AM; and therefore it may be consulted, and searched, and tried by men of all ages, and of all countries.
Let us beware, however, of running to the opposite extreme, and, because the appearances we are considering are only symbolic, concluding that they are without meaning. We have said enough, incidentally, to show that such an inference is wholly groundless. But it may be useful formally to rebut it, by humbly inquiring into the meaning of the phenomena presented to the eyes of the disciples. The manifest tendency and design was to exalt Christ in their estimation. He could be no ordinary person that was visited in this manner from above. But ere we pursue this thought farther, it may be permitted us to advert to the design of the Transfiguration, as it respected Christ Himself in human nature. We will not presume to pry curiously into the mysterious union that subsists between the human nature and the Divine. But if we are careful not to underrate the Divine, not less careful must we be not to undefy the human nature. The human nature, then, be it ever borne in mind, was made of the substance of the Virgin, by the power of the Holy Ghost; and though united to the Person of the Son of God, was susceptible of growth in wisdom and in stature.
Now, it becomes a weighty question, how this nature, in itself dependent, was maintained and advanced to the perfection which it is said to have reached: “And, being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey Him”. We apprehend, light will be thrown on this deep and sacred theme if we think of the fellowship which the Son, in His holy human nature, had with the Father. “The Father loveth the Son, and showeth Him all things that Himself doeth,” and again: “Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again.” If the Father loves the Son, because He lays down His life, surely He loves Him because He assumed that nature whose life He lays down. But how, on what occasion, and for what end, was this fellowship instituted and kept up? In the Transfiguration, we have a spring of illustration of these points.
The brightness that shone on the Person of Christ was, as we have seen, from the Father. Now, what did not the Lord, in the human nature, see of the Father in this visit? He saw that He was the Father of Lights, and that all beauty, and glory and dignity are in Him, as their proper fountain, and emanate from Him according to His pleasure. He saw that it is the Father’s will to raise Him, in the nature He had assumed, to a height surpassing all creatures in heaven and on earth. He saw that the Father had power, when it pleased Him, to invest Him with the glory which He designed to bestow.
In this way, He must have been amazingly elevated, and refreshed, and prepared for the sorrows He was about to endure, and to which He steadfastly set His face; in spite of the rude assaults of Satan, through the words of Simon Peter. We have thus another key to the Transfiguration: “Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.” The Redeemer repelled the enemy in the wilderness, and then angels ministered unto Him. Here He repelled Satan in Paradise, and the God of angels crowns Him with glory and honour. In like manner, when His people shall prove faithful unto death, they shall receive a crown of life.
We now return to the disciples. We have said that the Lord Jesus could, in their estimation, be no ordinary person, in being thus honoured from above. Of the reality of His manhood, they could not entertain a doubt; it had been certified to them by evidence perfectly irresistible. But well might they now ask, What manner of man is this, arrayed in splendour so heavenly?
He was manifestly above all the children of men – the fairest of the sons of men; for He shone in a brightness in which no other appeared: for the glory of Moses had no glory “by reason of the glory that excelleth”. He stood in a relation to the invisible God more near than that of any other person; for this was also indicated by the splendour in which He shone. The lustre that was seen on the face of Moses was regarded as the effect of his nearness to God – a nearness exceeding that of all the rest of the children of men. But here, too, the Redeemer has the pre-eminence, and is counted worthy of more honour than Moses. In this relation, He enjoyed a fellowship with God peculiarly intimate. We can hardly speak on such a subject, for who can tell the intimacy of the communion to which the Redeemer in His human nature was admitted with Him who is the Father of Lights? “The Father loveth the Son, and showeth Him all things that Himself doeth.” And what must have been the exercise of His holy soul under such intercourse? “Thou hast made Me exceeding glad with Thy countenance.”
The disciples could hardly fail to see that their Lord was exalted and honoured above all, in the judgement of God, and thus be prepared to yield obedience to the divine will, “that all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father”. A believer gets to feel the force of this command, when he apprehends the authority which it carries on its bosom, and when he sees somewhat of the excellence of the object to whom it relates. But the
same effect flows from some insight into the estimation in which He is held by the Father. To have fellowship with the Father in this matter is no small part of vital religion; and thus no man who does not know the Father can possibly know the Son. “Every man that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto Me.”