New Tokens of Ancient Love
(No. 2880)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 1904.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON A LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
DURING THE WINTER OF 1861-2.
"The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yes, Ihave loved you
with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn
you." Jeremiah 31:3.
IT is said that when the stars cannot be seen during the day from the
ordinary level of the earth, if one should go down into a deep well,
they would be visible at once and, certainly, it is a fact that many of
the brightest of God's promises are usually seen by His children when
they are passing through some of their darkest experiences. As surely
as God puts them into the furnace of affliction and trial, He will be
with them in the furnace. I do not read that Jacob ever saw the Angel
of the Lord until that night when, by the brook Jabbok, "there wrestled
a Man with him until the breaking of the day," but then, the wrestling
Jacob met the wrestling Angel foot to foot. I do not know that Joshua
ever saw the "Captain of the Lord's host" until, outside the walls of
Jericho, his Divine Leader appeared to him. I do not know that Abraham
ever saw the Lord until, as a stranger in the plains of Mamre, He
manifested Himself to His servant in the form of a traveler and His
friends needing hospitality and refreshment.
It is in our most desperate straits that we often have our most joyous
Revelations. John must go to "the isle that is called Patmos" before he
could have the wondrous Revelation that was there given to him. It was
only on that barren, storm-girt rock, shut out from the world's light,
that he could find the fitting darkness in which to view the Glory of
Heaven undistracted by the shadows of earth! The message of our text
was given to Jeremiah in a time of deep distress– it was meant to be
helpful to the Lord's people in their greatest desolations. That being
the case, we may use it in a threefold manner and view it, first, as an
answer to many complaints. Secondly, as teaching some exceedingly
valuable doc-trinesand, thirdly, as a stimulant to self-examination as
to our state before God.
I. First, then, our text may be viewed as AN ANSWER TO MANY COMPLAINTS.
If you look at your Bibles, you will see that the word, "saying," is in
italics, showing that it is not in the original, but has been supplied
by the translators. Sometimes they have inserted words which have
really brought out the meaning more clearly–but, in this case, if I
understand the passage, they have rather obscured the sense. The fact
is, the first sentence is a complaint on the part of Israel. In the
previous verse, God had said, "The people which were left of the sword
found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to
rest." "Ah," said Israel, "but that was centuries ago–'the Lord has
appeared of old unto me.'" There was a note of complaint even in the
expression of gratitude, as much as to say, "Times are changed, for the
Lord does not appear unto me now." The complaint was that His choice
Revelations and wondrous deliverances were all in the ages long ago.
But the Lord's answer was, in effect, "It is true that these
Revelations and deliverances were in the past, but they are designed to
yield you present comfort, for they prove that I have loved you with an
ancient love and, since I am Immutable, you may omit the word, ancient,
and insert, everlasting–Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting
love.'"
Then, to complete the answer, the Lord avers that even in Israel's
present time of mourning He had manifested His loving kindness. He
seems to say, "Is not that as much as I ever did? Talk of all the
wonders that I worked in the days gone by, when I cut Rahab in pieces
and wounded the dragon–this is a greater wonder, that I have drawn you
with loving kindness! Say not that the former times were better than
these. Say not that the wonder-working power of God is
exhausted. I loved you of old, but I also love you today and I have
proved it by drawing you with the bands of My love. This is as great a
miracle, as high a privilege and as sure a sign of My love to you as
anything I did in the olden days."
Now, Brothers and Sisters, is not this sometimes our complaint–that we
read in the Bible of what God did of old, but we see nothing like that
nowadays? Indeed, some people think that although there were wonders in
those ancient times, the oracle has long ceased to speak. I daresay you
have heard of the poor ignorant woman who, on being told by her
minister about the crucifixion of Christ, said, "Well, well, Sir, if it
was so, it happened a long while ago and a great way off–but let us
hope the story is not true." I address some people, not quite so
ignorant as that woman, who, nevertheless, when I preach about the
wonders God has worked, say, "Well, Sir, those things happened long ago
and a great way off–but it is not at all probable that God would do
anything like that now." What? Do you think that His arm is waxed
short, or that His hands have become powerless, so that He is not now
able to help His people as He did in the ages gone by? This is the
complaint of many! Perhaps they do not put it into words, but this is
what they often say in their heart.
What is God's answer to this complaint? Let each Believer hear Him say,
"I have done for you as great wonders as I ever did for Abraham, Isaac,
or Jacob. I have worked miracles for you as matchless as when I brought
Israel up out of Egypt, or led the chosen nation through the wilderness
into the land of Canaan. Did I bring them up out of Egypt? Have I not
brought you up out of the dominion of sin? Did I break the power of
Pharaoh? Have I not crushed the might of Satan? Did I divide the Red
Sea for Israel to pass over? Have I not made a pathway for you, through
many a tumultuous sea, so that you have gone over dry shod? Did I feed
the people with manna in the wilderness and have I not fed you–not
with bread, alone, but also with the Words which have come forth out of
My mouth? Did I cause Moses to lift up the bronze serpent, that they
might be healed when they were bitten by the serpents? And have I not
lifted up the Son of Man, that whoever looks unto Him may be cured of
the serpent-bite of sin? Did I bring them into Canaan and give them
rest? And have I not said to you, 'There remains, therefore, a rest to
the people of God'? Did I drive out the Canaanite before them and give
them possession of the land? And have I not driven out your sins and
will I not, by My Spirit, purify and cleanse your whole life? Did I
give them Prophets after my own heart–and have I not given you
shepherds who have fed you with knowledge and with understanding? Did I
give to them, at last, King David to sit upon his throne–and have I
not given to you great David's greater Son and Lord to be the King of
your heart and to rule over your entire being? Did I give them Solomon,
a temple and riches and glory? And have I not promised to you Heaven
and greater riches, glories and splendors than anything I ever gave to
him when he ruled over Israel?"
I feel sure that if you will carefully look into it, your own
experience will prove to be far more wonderful than anything which God
did of old, so that you will have no reason to say, "The Lord appeared
of old unto our fathers, but He is not now with their children." We are
apt, sometimes, to think that natural miracles are greater than
spiritual ones–for instance, that the dividing of the Red Sea, as
recorded in the Book of Exodus, is a greater miracle than the forgiving
of sins, as recorded in the Gospels. But if you will weigh these two
things in the balances of the sanctuary, you will at once see that the
spiritual miracle is infinitely greater than the natural one. It is an
easy thing to shut the mouths of ordinary lions, but it is a great deal
more difficult to shut the mouth of the roaring lion of Hell who goes
about seeking whom he may devour. It is a very simple matter for the
Omnipotent God to make a world–He speaks and it is done! But to remake
an innumerable company of His creatures who have become debased and
spiritually dead–this is, indeed, a work only comparable to that which
He accomplished when He "brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus,
that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the Everlasting
Covenant."
God made the world without any suffering, but He could not redeem even
one soul without unknown agonies. At the close of the six days work of
Creation, God could say of everything that He had made, that it was
very good. But, on the Cross, the Savior could not say, "It is
finished," until His very heart had been broken with anguish and
reproach. God could rejoice over the works of His hands–and His
delights could be with the sons of men, but, after man had fallen, God
could not lift him up again without sighs, groans and bloody
sweat–yes, death itself, the death of deaths–"the death of the
Cross."
Therefore, let none of us, in these days, say that the former times
were better than the present ones, or that God has ceased to perform
His mighty works. He has done as much for us as He ever did for our
fathers–so let us praise and bless His holy name, and laud and magnify
His deeds of Grace! We, as a church, perhaps, are apt to think that we
must not
expect great things from God in these times. Why not–I pray–why not?
Did not God give tongues of fire and send His Apostles forth to preach
the Word to the people of every clime under Heaven? And is it not a
fact that, within a hundred years of Christ's death, His Gospel had
been proclaimed through all the then known world? And is it not
possible that from this time forth the Church of Christ may take great
strides like a giant, instead of creeping like a snail? Why may not the
army of the Cross march onward–
"From victory unto victory"– instead of being so frequently repulsed?
Is the Church of Christ always to be like a little stream in which you
may see the pebbles lie? No! Let her be like Kishon, the mighty torrent
that swept away the hosts of Sisera and Jabin, and let her carry off
the legions of darkness into the depths of despair! Let God but arise
in His might and wondrous works such as He did in the days of Huss, and
Luther, and Calvin shall be done again! The thunder-claps of Whitefield
and Wesley shall reverberate again! God can make all His ministers to
be flames of fire if He so pleases. He can once more awaken His Church,
scatter all her foes before her and enrich her with the spoils of the
holy war!
We have not fallen upon evil days, Beloved. We may be feeble, but our
God is not! The light may be dim just now, but the sun is not dim. What
if the winds do not always blow with hurricane force? They are but
slumbering for a while and will awake with all their known vigor and
drive the chariots of the sky at resistless speed! What if the ocean
should seem, just now, to be sleeping in its briny bed? Before long it
will respond to the Psalmist's invitation, "Let the sea roar, and the
fullness thereof." If the stars should be, for a little while, hidden
from your gaze, they will soon pierce through the darkness and, once
again, shall you behold those eyes of Heaven peering down in mercy upon
you! God can speedily renew to you all the manifestations of His
Presence! Ebbs shall be followed by floods, winters by summers, and our
present indications of a state of death shall give place to signs and
tokens of a glorious life! Say not, complainingly, O Church of God,
"The Lord has appeared of old unto me," but rather rejoice and revel in
His comforting assurance, "Yes, I did appear of old unto you, for I
have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn you.
I have thus explained how I believe our text was intended to be used.
II. Now we will look at it as TEACHING SOME EXCEEDINGLY VALUABLE
DOCTRINES. And, first, I believe that it teaches us the Doctrine of
Effectual Calling–"With loving kindness have I drawn you." No one ever
comes to the Lord unless the Lord, Himself, draws him. He cannot come
and he will not come. Christ said to the murmuring Jews, "No man can
come to Me, except the Father which has sent Me draw him." And to those
who sought to kill Him because of His miracles on the Sabbath, He said,
"You will not come to Me, that you might have life." That is the
sternest blow against free-will of which I know! What a free-willer can
make out of that text, I cannot tell. He says that any man can come to
Christ, yet Christ said to some, "You will not come to Me." And both
observation and experience prove that this is still true. Never yet did
a soul come to Christ till first Christ came to it. There are some who
think that the Doctrine of Effectual Calling means that God forces men
to repent and believe against their wills–a more absurd and
unscriptural notion than that could hardly be mentioned! God does not
drag men to Heaven by the hair of their heads! There is a wide
difference between physical force and spiritual force. God does not
save an unwilling man– He makes him willing in the day of His power.
We may not be able to explain all about this great mystery, yet we may
firmly believe–in full accordance with the laws which regulate human
minds and, without at all violating the free agency of His
creatures–that God knows how to persuade men! Yes, and how sweetly to
"compel them to come in," that His house may be filled! There is a sort
of compulsion, you know, which one exercises by argument. The force of
logic, or the spell of eloquence, we all acknowledge. In this way the
understanding is overwhelmed. The mind, at first, resists, and says, "I
will not do such-and-such," but you bring argument after argument to
bear upon it until, at last, it yields and says, "I am compelled to do
it." Yet it acts willingly, freely and not without pleasure. The
understanding has been enlightened that acts upon the rest of the
powers of the mind–and thus the man is influenced. We may even say
compelled without any violation of the fact that he is free!
And so the Holy Spirit enlightens the understanding by bringing the
Truth of God to the mind and, through that Truth, leads the soul to see
certain consequences that follow from it. Then the understanding, being
enlightened, the soul, with full consent, comes to Christ. The Holy
Spirit does what you and I cannot do, for He acts directly upon the
will. We cannot do that except by physical force and, even then, the
will is not really changed, for, if a man resolves that
he will not do a certain thing but you afterwards compel him to do it,
I question if his will is actually conquered. But the Holy Spirit knows
how to apprehend "My Lord Will-Be-Will"–as Bunyan calls him–put him
in irons and lead him away captive. There is still the will, but I can
hardly say that it is put into fetters, for it was in fetters before!
But it is as changed and assimilated to the will of God that it is
really free in its love of holiness. It seemed to be free before, but
it was a slave to evil passions. Free-will is a slave, by nature, but
when Christ comes and, (as some would say), fetters it with the golden
chains of love–then the will becomes free, indeed!
Thus I have shown you how the Holy Spirit acts upon the will. He can
also act upon the heart which is, perhaps, an even more important part
of the man. When a man truly loves any objective, he is always willing
to do anything in furtherance of that objective. And so, when the Holy
Spirit shows to the mind's eye the beauties of Christ, His sufficiency
and adaptation to the needs of the soul, the heart begins to love
Christ. Where the heart goes, the will must follow– especially if it
is led by "My Lord Understanding, the Lord Mayor of Mansoul," according
to Bunyan's Holy War So, though no soul ever comes to Christ without
being drawn to Him, yet let it always be understood that such drawing
is in perfect accordance with the laws which govern human minds and
that the Spirit of God thus acts without, in the least degree,
violating the freedom which God has given to men!
The text says that God draws His people "with loving kindness." Yet it
is quite certain that the Holy Spirit makes use of the Law of the Lord
in drawing men to Christ and salvation. The thunders of the Law, the
terrors of judgment, the stings of conscience and the pangs of death
are all employed for this purpose–but they are all tempered and
softened by the loving kindness of the Lord! In every instance you will
find that it is His loving kindness that gives the finishing
stroke–even with those who are driven to Christ by that stern teacher,
the Law. The prodigal set out for his father's house from a sense of
need, "but when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had
compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck and kissed him." So that the
last steps he took towards his father's house were taken with those
kisses still warm upon his cheek and His father's welcome still music
in his ears! Rightly do we sing–
"Law and terrors do but harden
All the while they work alone.
But a sense of blood bought-pardon
Soon dissolves a heart of stone." And when that sense of blood-bought
pardon comes to the heart, the Law's thunders are all hushed and the
heart is won for God!
The Master came one night to the door of a man's heart and knocked on
it with the mailed gloves of the Law upon His hands. The door creaked
and shook, but it did not open, and the man put up against it all the
furniture he could find, to keep it from opening, crying, all the
while, "I will never be forced to yield." So the Master turned away for
a time, but, by-and-by, He came back and, with His own soft hand, using
mostly that part where the nail had penetrated, He knocked again, oh,
so softly and tenderly! This time the door did not shake, but, strange
to say, it opened and there, upon his knees, the once-unwilling host
was found, waiting to welcome his Divine Guest! He said to Him, "Come
in, come in! You have knocked in such a way that I can no longer resist
You. I could not think of Your pierced hand leaving its bloody mark
upon my door and then of Your going away homeless–Your head filled
with dew and Your locks with the drops of the night. Come in, come in!
You have won my heart and I yield to You, You blessed Lord and Savior!"
It is so, I believe, in every case–loving kindness wins the day! What
Moses could not do with his hammer, Christ does with His Cross. What
Moses, with the two tablets of stone, could never do, Christ does with
one touch of the finger of His mercy!
This is the Doctrine of Effectual Calling as I see it in the text. Do
you all understand it experimentally? Can each one of you say with Dr.
Doddridge–
"He drew me, and I followed on, Charmed to confess the voice Divine"?
If so, may He continue to draw you until, at last, He shall draw you
from earth to Heaven and you shall sit down at the marriage supper of
the Lamb, to go no more out forever!
I also see in the text the Doctrine of Eternal Love. Why has the Lord
drawn His people to Himself? Because He loved them "with an everlasting
love." To some good people, the word, "election," sounds almost like
blasphemy. If "predestination" is mentioned, they think it is something
dreadful! Yet that Doctrine is in the text and you cannot get the idea
of "predestination" away from the word, "everlasting." The reason–and
the onlyreason why any man is ever drawn out from the world and brought
to Christ, is to be found in the eternal love of God! There is nothing
more, naturally, in that man than in any other man. Indeed, in many
cases he is worse than others. If salvation had been the reward of
merit, he would have been left out. There is, by nature, nothing in man
to win the heart of Christ. What form, what comeliness is there in
human nature in His sight? Shall blackness win the heart of Him who is
without blemish and without spot? Shall loathsome leprosy be attractive
to the Divine Being? Shall deformity so charm the eyes of Jehovah that
He shall love it? It cannot be! The onlyreason for God's love to us is
that He willlove us. From that fountain of His own dateless love
springs our effectual calling and everything else that comes to us!
Let us pause awhile and meditate upon this everlasting love. Let every
Believer in Jesus think upon it to his own comfort. There are many old
things in the world–we like to see old castles, old abbeys and old
ruins–but, long before those castles and abbeys were built, Christ
Jesus had proved His love to us by redeeming us from our sins by
shedding His precious blood for us on Calvary's Cross! We delight to
travel in foreign countries and to see the remains of old Rome, or the
pyramids of Egypt, or other wonders of the world. But long before any
of those stupendous structures were piled, God had declared that the
Seed of the woman should bruise the old serpent's head! It is
delightful to go back, in thought, to the time when the hills were
born–when the hoary Alps were yet infants and when the aged ocean was
but a baby, sporting in its newborn existence and clapping its hands in
its early glee. But if you go back as far as that, you have not begun
to get anywhere near the time when God, in covenant with Christ, gave
to Him a people and promised that they should be His forever and ever!
Scientists love to go back to the most remote geological periods–to
those ages before man was created–when those various deposits of
shells, bones and other materials were made which are gradually being
discovered. But you must go further back than that! Yes, you must go
back beyond the very first creative act of God–and even then you will
not have reached that period of which the Psalmist says, "The mercy of
the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him."
Fly back in imagination, if you can, to the time when the unnavigated
ether had never been disturbed by the wing of cherub and when the song
of the seraphim had never startled the silence of the infinite! Go back
to the time when God dwelt alone and you have only then begun to
approach that mysterious eternity when God loved His people "with an
everlasting love." This wondrous love, too, was from eternity fixed
upon such a worm as I am–and such worms as you are, Beloved. What a
marvel it is that the Eternal should ever have deigned to think upon
me, or upon you, my Brother, my Sister! Try to grasp it, if you
can–though it is one of those things which only "expressive silence"
can set forth. "HE loved me–from everlasting" Feed on this glorious
Truth of God, O Christian, and remember that your being drawn to Christ
is the effect of this eternal love and is, at the same time, the proof
of it–the proof that you were upon God's heart long before He–
"Spread the flowing seas abroad, And built the lofty skies!"
Read the text another way and it will teach us a third Doctrine. The
word, "everlasting," looks not only backward, but forward. "I have
loved you with an everlasting love." That is to say, "I have drawn you
because I intend to save you to everlasting. I would not have called
you by My Grace if I had meant to ever leave you to perish. I would not
have begun the good work in your soul, by drawing you with loving
kindness, if I had not intended to bring you to My Glory at the last."
O beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, love without beginning is
indeed sweet, but there is a still more luscious sweetness in love
without end! It will do us good to dilate a little upon this wondrous
Truth of God, nor shall we need to draw much upon our imagination in
doing so. I can readily picture the time when this dark hair of mine
shall be silvered over with gray and the sunlight of Heaven shall begin
to whiten my brow. Yes, but God's promise is, "Even to hoar hairs will
I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry and will
deliver you." It needs no great stretch of the imagination to look
forward to the time when the old man will have to lean upon his staff
and those that look out of the windows shall be darkened and the
grasshopper shall be a burden. Perhaps it will be the lot of some of us
young people to grow old together–if so, may we grow ripe as we grow
old! But if we are the Lord's people, we shall be able, each one, to
say as infirmities increase upon us, "My flesh and my heart fails, but
God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."
Then we look forward to that silent chamber where friends will stand by
our bed and whisper, "He cannot last long now." Whether we shall hear
them say it, or not, we cannot tell, but, "we know that if our earthly
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." Now the last moment
comes. The death sweat is on our brow, the death rattle is in our
throat, yet David's words are fulfilled in our experience–"Yes, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,
for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me." Now my
soul has stretched her wings! She has left mortality behind, to–
"Soar through tracks unknown"–
but still she sings–
"Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee."
In due time will come the great Day of Judgment, but–
"Bold shall I stand in that great day,
For who anything to my charge shall lay?
While through Your blood absolved I am
From sin's tremendous curse and shame." Now the drama of Time is
finished. Eternity has come and we shall be "forever with the Lord!"
The sun has spent its fire, the moon has paled its feeble light, the
elements have been burned up with fervent heat, the stars have shut
their eyes in eternal blindness and the universe dissolves as the
billow's foam sinks into the wave that bears it. But still, our Lord's
words describe the joy of His people–"the righteous into life
eternal." Oh, that precious everlasting love of God, always ours,
because with loving kindness He has drawn us!
There is a thief over there who wants to steal away this Doctrine from
me. He has been borrowing the old-fashioned burglarious instruments of
dead men–the pick-locks of Arminius and the center-bits of Mr.
Wesley–a good man, but one who was on a bad errand when he tried to
take this choice and comfortable Doctrine from the children of God. Yet
I do not care what any of them may say or do, "for I am persuaded that
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any
other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which
is in Christ Jesus our Lord." If we are in Christ, there is one thing
which should make us feel very safe–if anything could ever divide us
from the love of Christ, we would have been divided long ago. Suppose
that our troubles could do it–then it would have been done long since,
for we have had a sea full of them already! Yet, in six troubles the
Lord has been with us and, in seven, He has not forsaken us!
Suppose that sin could do it–then, Brothers and Sisters, it would have
been done in the first hour after our conversion. I must certainly make
my sorrowful confession–
"If ever it could come to pass
That God's own child should fall away,
My fickle, feeble soul, alas,
Would fall a thousand times a day!" If the Lord had ever meant us to
fall into Hell, we would have gone there years ago.
"But," say some, "perhaps we may meet with strong temptations." Yes,
probably we shall, but we shall never meet with a temptation stronger
than the arm of God can enable us to overcome! Others say, "But perhaps
we may backslide." Yes, I know we may. But if we do, the Lord will say
to us, even then, "Turn, O backsliding children, for I am married unto
you." Yet others say, "But perhaps we may make the Lord angry with us."
Yes, I know we may, but I also remember how He pleaded with those who
did so in the olden day–"How shall I give you up, Ephraim? How shall I
deliver you, Israel? How shall I make you as Admah? How shall I set you
as Zeboim? My heart is turned within Me. My repent-ings are kindled
together. I will not execute the fierceness of My anger, I will not
return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man."
This is a question about which we need not dispute here, for I do not
suppose that there is one member of this church who ever entertains a
doubt about the truth of this Doctrine. We sing over and over again–
"Did Jesus once upon me shine? Then Jesus is forever mine!"
And we delight to repeat that confident assurance of Toplady, whose own
end was so joyous because of his enjoyment of this precious Truth of
God–
"Yes, I to the end shall endure, As sure as the Earnest is given! More
happy, but not more secure, The glorified spirits in Heaven."
III. I was to have concluded my discourse by considering our text as A
STIMULANT TO SELF-EXAMINATION AS TO OUR STATE BEFORE GOD, but our time
has gone, so I can only ask this all-important question–Brothers and
Sisters, have you any part and lot in these things of which I have been
speaking? Are you the objects of eternal love?
"That is just what I would like to know," says one, "can you tell me?"
Well, I cannot climb to Heaven to read the roll of the redeemed, nor
can I tell you of a way to go up Jacob's ladder to read it for
yourself. But there is a way of knowing whether God loved you before He
made the world–and whether He will love you after the world has ceased
to be. It is this–has He drawn you with His loving kindness? Examine
your hearts and see. Have you felt your need of Jesus? Has that need
constrained you to pray to Him? Has that prayer been answered by your
being enabled to put your trust in Him? Have you been drawn away from
the confidence in which you once boasted? Have you been drawn away from
the love of your old sin? Have you–to sum up all–been made a new
creature in Christ Jesus? Then, never doubt your election and never
doubt your glorification! "For whom He did foreknow, He also did
predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be
the first-born among many brethren. 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."
What are you doing, Mr. Unbelief? You are trying to separate
glorification from calling, but you can never do it, for God has joined
them together so securely that neither death nor Hell can break the
bond that unites them! Remember– "whom He called, them He also
justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified." May we all
be there, among the heavenly birds of paradise–
"And vie with Gabriel while He sings, In notes almost Divine"
of love without beginning and of favor without end! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: ISAIAH60
The subject of this chapter is "The glory of the Church in the abundant
access of the Gentiles, and the great blessings after a short
affliction."
Verse 1. Arise, shine; for your light is come, and the glory of the
LORD is risen upon you. The Church is like the moon which shines with
borrowed light. When God shines upon the Church, then the Church shines
by reflecting His light. The Glory of Jehovah is her glory. If that is
withdrawn, she is dark, indeed, but when that shines into her and
through her, then her brightness is great, indeed.
2, 3. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross
darkness the people; but the LORD shall arise upon you and His glory
shall be seen upon you. And the Gentiles shall come to your light, and
kings to the brightness of your rising. There is nothing that breaks
the darkness except the light from God's face. And when that falls upon
the Church, then the Church straightway begins to shine in the midst of
the darkness–and multitudes come to the light. Even the great ones of
the earth, the kings, come to the brightness of her rising.
4. Lift up your eyes round about, and see: they all gather themselves
together, they come to you: your sons shall come from far, and your
daughters shall be nursed at your side. There is no sign here of the
Church of God being deserted. On the contrary, she shall become,
through the Grace of God, the center of attraction! Men shall come from
distant lands to her–however far removed they were, they shall still
come–"your sons shall come from far." She shall also be increased by
the accession of those near at hand–"and your daughters shall be
nursed at your side."
5. Then you shall see and become radiant, and your heart shall fear and
be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto
you, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto you. Oh that we might
live to see this happy day when we shall feel a holy awe because of
God's Glory as revealed in His Church! This fear is not a servile dread
but a
holy awe of God. And then the heart shall be enlarged–we shall deal
with great things, wish for great things, attempt great things, do
great things and see great things. "Your heart shall fear and be
enlarged," for the sailor far away upon the sea and the whole strength
of the Gentiles shall come to you.
6, 7. The multitude of camels shall cover you, the dromedaries of
Midian and Ephah, all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold
and incense; and they shall show forth the praises of the LORD. All the
flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto you, the rams of
Nebaioth shall minister unto you: they shall come up with acceptance on
My altar, and I will glorify the house of My glory. These people had
mostly been followers of false prophets, but they, too, shall forsake
their fanaticism and their bigotry and come to unite with the Church of
God. Those least likely and furthest off from hope shall be brought in
by the Sovereign Grace of God.
8. Who are these that fly as a cloud and as the doves to their
windows?The Church is astonished! She asks, "Who can
they be?"
9, 10. Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish
first, to bring your sons from far, their silver and their gold with
them, unto the name of the LORD your God, and to the Holy One of
Israel, because He has glorified you. And the sons of strangers shall
build up your walls, and their kings shall minister unto them for in My
wrath I smote you, but in My favor have Ihad mercy on you. The Church
of God is one continuously. At first it was a Jewish Church and it has
never ceased to comprise within its bounds some members of the chosen
race. But now, in these latter days, she has broken the narrow bonds of
race and from Tarshish and the distant isles of the sea, multitudes are
already coming to the Church of God–and they shall come much more
numerously in the years that have not yet arrived.
11-14. Therefore your gates shall be open continually; they shall not
be shut day nor night, that men may bring unto you the forces of the
Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought For the nation and
kingdom that will not serve you shall perish, yes, those nations shall
be utterly wasted. The glory of Lebanon shall come unto you, the fir
tree, the pine tree and the box together, to beautify the place of My
sanctuary; and I will make the place of My feet glorious. The sons also
of them that afflicted you shall come bending unto you. Or, if they do
not themselves come, their children shall; each generation shall
include a remnant according to the election of Grace and, in due time,
shall come the great ingathering.
14-22. And as they that despised you shall bow themselves down at the
soles of your feet, and they shall call you, The City of the LORD, The
Zion of the Holy One of Israel Whereas you have been forsaken and
hated, so that no man went through you, I will make you an eternal
excellency, a joy of many generations. You shall also suck the milk of
the Gentiles, and shall suck the breasts of kings: and you shall know
that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of
Jacob. For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver,
and for wood, brass, and for stones iron: I will also make your
officers peace, and your exactors righteousness. Violence shall no more
be heard in your land, wasting nor destruction within your borders, but
you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise. The sun
shall be no more your light by day, neither for brightness shall the
moon give light unto you: but the LORD shall be unto you an Everlasting
Light, and your God your Glory. Your sun shall no more go down; neither
shall your moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be your Everlasting
Light and the days of your mourning shall be ended. Your people also
shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land forever, the branch
of My planting, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified. A little
one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the
LORD will hasten it in his time. "Amen! Amen!" So say we with all our
heart!