The Heavenly Rainbow
(No. 3412)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 1914.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"And there was a rainbow around about the Throne, in sight like unto an
emerald." Revelation 4:3.
"A RAINBOW!" "A rainbow around about the Throne!" I have a notion
concerning this rainbow, that it was a complete circle. In the 10th
Chapter the Apostle tells us that he saw "another mighty angel with a
rainbow upon his head," which could hardly have been the semi-circular
arc we are accustomed to see in the sky in times of rain and sunshine.
It must have been, I should imagine, a complete ring.
I stood, two years ago, on a little wooden bridge in the village of
Handeck on the Swiss side of the Grimsel Pass, and looked down upon the
roaring torrent beneath. The waterfall, breaking itself upon enormous
rocks, cast up showers of foam and spray. As I looked down, the sun
shone upon it and I saw a rainbow such as I had never seen but once
before in another place upon a similar occasion. It was a complete
circle around the fall, then another one and within it a third– three
wheels within wheels, consisting of all the delightful colors of the
rainbow, from the timid violet up to the courageous red! There was no
mistake about it. They were complete rings that seemed to go right
round the torrent, like great belts of sapphires, emeralds and
chalcedonies. The ring was trebled as it shone before me. I stood and
wondered at the sight. Then these very texts came to my mind, "a
rainbow around about the Throne," and, "I saw a mighty angel, who had a
rainbow upon his head."
It seems to me that John had such a sight before him–a rainbow which
entirely surrounded the Throne of God. If it is so, I shall not, I
think, be accounted fanciful if I draw a moral. In this world we only
see, for it is all we can see, one-half of the Eternal Covenant of
God's Grace. That one upward arch of Divine masonry is all that we see
here. The other downward half, on which the one which we see rests,
namely, the eternal decree, the purpose, the resolve of Infinite
Sovereignty–that is out of sight as yet. We cannot discern it. Earth
comes between the horizon and bounds it. But when we shall get up
yonder and see things as they are, and know even as we are known, then
the Covenant will be seen by us to be a complete circle, an harmonious
whole–not a broken thing, not a broken arc, or a semi-circle, as it
seems to be now– but, like Deity itself, perpetual, everlasting,
complete, perfect, eternal! It may be true to the figure–it certainly
will be so in fact. What we know not now, we shall know hereafter and
possibly this very emblem is here used to set forth to us that while we
see the Glory which God has made manifest, we do not and cannot, at
present, see the eternal purpose itself, except as far as we judge of
it from its grand results. Oh, it is delightful to think of going up
yonder if for nothing else than knowing more of Christ, understanding
more of Divine Love, drinking deeper into the mystery of godliness
through which God was manifest in the flesh! Surely, if we know but
little, that little knowledge has set us thirsting for deeper draughts
and we are waiting for the time when we shall drop the veil which parts
us from spiritual realities and shall see them face to face, needing no
longer to view them as in a glass, reflected darkly!
I want you to notice three things which these words suggest, "There was
a rainbow around about the Throne." First–Divine Sovereignty never
oversteps the bounds of the Covenant, but is rainbow-hedged with a wall
of fire around about the Throne. In the second place–Divine Government
springing from Sovereignty–the Throne of God is always regulated by
the Covenant–there is respect at all times to the Covenant of Grace in
everything that Jehovah does. Thirdly–in the Covenant of Grace the
predominant quality is Grace–"it was in sight like unto an emerald, "
which I will further explain indicates that loving kindness and tender
mercy towards men always shine radiant in the Covenant. First, then,
"there was a rainbow around about the Throne."
I. DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY NEVER OVERSTEPS THE BOUNDS OF THE COVENANT.
"There was a rainbow around about the Throne"–as though the rainbow
hedged the Throne of God–belted it, girt it round about. God's
Sovereignty must, of necessity, be absolute and unlimited. He made
everything and as nothing existed before God, or independent of God, He
had a right to make what He pleased and to make all that He did make
after His own will and pleasure. And when He has made, His rights do
not terminate, but He still continues to have an altogether unlimited
and absolute power over the creatures of His hands. He claims the right
for Himself. "Has not the potter power over the clay to make of the
same lump one vessel to honor, and another to dishonor?" God has the
power to create and the power, afterwards, to use that which is created
for the purpose for which He has made it. "Shall I not do what I will
with My own?" is a question which the Almighty may well ask of all His
creatures who would dare to bring Him to their bar and blasphemously
rejudge His judgment, snatch from His hands the balance and the rod and
seek to set themselves up as censors of the Holy One! Whenever men say,
"How can God do this?" and, "How shall He do that?" it should always
content us to answer, "No, O man, but who are you that replies against
God?" for whether we will have it or not, still God has said it and He
will stand to it. "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I
will have compassion on whom I will have compassion"–so then, it is
not of him that wills nor of him that runs, but of God that shows
mercy!
But as one Truth of God is always to be taken in its relation to
another Truth and not to be isolated from its natural kindred, it is a
delightful consideration that God, in His absolute Sovereignty, never
does violence to any of His other attributes and, above all, never does
violence to the Covenant The Covenant still surrounds the Sovereignty
and practically hedges it within its bounds!
God is practically, as far as we are concerned, bound by His own
Revelation of His own Character. He has been pleased to tell us that He
is just and that He is the Lord God, merciful and gracious. In a few
words, He has given us the sum of Himself by saying that, "God is
Love." When a man says concerning himself, "I have a right to do as I
like, but I am generous as well as just," you feel sure he will
exercise the right which he claims in a manner according to and
consistent with his own statement of what he is. And if he has rightly
estimated his own character, he will give bountifully and pay
honorably. Rest assured, then, that God's Sovereignty never will prove
Him to have misrepresented Himself, or to have deceived us! When He
says that He is just, He neither can nor will act unjustly towards any
creature He has made. There was never a pang or a pain inflicted
arbitrarily by God. God never pronounced a curse upon any man unless
that man had clearly and richly earned it by his sin! No soul was ever
cast into Hell by God's Sovereignty. God takes counsel with Himself,
but He stoops not to caprice. How comes the hapless creature, then, to
this dread torment? Sin brings the sinner into a ruined
state–yustiepronounces the sinner's doom. Sovereignty may let that
doom stand. What if it moves not to avert the issue? Justice it is that
pronounces the curse. Be assured, Man, however much you may kick
against the Doctrine of Election, you have no reason to do so! Whatever
that Doctrine may involve, it is not possible but that God must and
will act towards you in a way so strictly just that when you, yourself,
come to discover it in eternity, you will not be able to complain, but
be compelled to stand speechless!
Moreover, God has been pleased to assure you that He is Love–that He
is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. Now,
whatever Sovereignty may decree, you may rest assured that the decree
will be in consonance with the fact that God is full of mercy, grace
and truth. I know some of you set up the decree of God like a huge
monster before you. You paint a horrible picture, as though the visage
of Him that speaks to you from Heaven were cruel and pitiless. But that
picture is drawn by your perverse imagination–it is not God's portrait
of Himself, for He says, "As I live, says the Lord God, I have no
pleasure in the death of him that dies, but had rather that he would
turn unto Me and live." God mocks not when He says, "Turn you, turn
you; why will you die, O house of Israel?" That is honest emotion which
God feels over a sinner who ruins himself when He cries, "How can I
give you up? How shall I set you as Admah? How shall I make you as
Zeboim? My heart is moved; My repentings are kindled together!" God
wills not the death of a sinner, but had rather that he should turn
unto Him and live! So He, Himself, assures us and, Sovereign as He is,
yet He still remains both just and gracious forever–and let us not
doubt it for a moment! The rainbow, the rainbow of His own glorious
attributes of mercy always surrounds the Throne of God!
It is equally certain, taking another view of this subject, that God's
Sovereignty never can by any possibility run counter to thepromise
which He Himself has made. God has a right to do as He wills with His
own, but when He once, in His Sovereignty, chooses to make a promise,
He would be unfaithful if He did not keep it–and it is not possible
that Hecan be unfaithful, for none of His Words ever did fail, or ever
shall! He has been true to the very jots and tittles of all that He
has, Himself, declared. Never in any case has any man been able to say
that God has spoken in secret, and said to the seed of Jacob, "Seek you
My face," in vain. I want every unconverted person here to be careful
to note this Truth of God. Whenever you find a promise in God's Word,
do not let the thought of Predestination scare you from it.
Predestination can never be contrary to the promise! It is not in
Election, or Reprobation, or in any Doctrine that asserts Divine
Sovereignty to make the promise of God to be of no effect! Take a
promise like this–"He that believes and is baptized, shall be saved."
If you believe, and if you are baptized, you have, then, God's Word for
it–you shall be saved! Be sure of it– that stands fast! Heaven and
earth may pass away, but that Word shall not fail you. God will keep
His Word of Truth with you and at the Last Tremendous Day you shall
find that since you believe, God will save you!
Take another–"Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
Then, if you call upon the name of the Lord–that is if with hearty,
earnest prayer, you cry to God and if with your whole soul you take Him
to be your All-in-All, calling upon His name as the heathens do upon
their gods when they avow themselves to be their followers–if you do
this, you shall be saved! Now, I beseech you, remember that no decree
can possibly run counter to this. You say, "What if the decree shall
destroy me?" Man, His promise is the decree! The promise of God is His
eternal purpose, written out in black and white for you to read. So far
from the counsel of eternity being contrary to the Revelation in time,
the revelation in time is nothing more than a transcript of what God
resolved to do from before the foundation of the world! Take any
promise you will. Let it be this, if the others seem to miss you–"Come
now, let us reason together; though your sins are as scarlet, they
shall be as wool." Now, your sins are as scarlet, and you are willing
to come and reason with God and you find that when He reasons with you,
He tells you that you must rest in the blood of Jesus, leave your sins
and depend wholly upon Christ. Well, now, after you have done, you have
God's Word for it that those scarlet sins of yours shall be "whiter
than snow." Well then, they must be so! It is not possible that
anything unknown to you should come in and make void the promise which
is known. I will read that verse I just mentioned again, "He has never
spoken in secret, and said to the seed of Jacob, Seek you My face in
vain." God has not said behind your back what He has not said to your
face! He has said, "Come unto Me, and I will give you rest." He has
said, "Oh, you thirsty, come and drink." He has said, "Whoever will,
let him come and take of the Water of Life freely." There is nothing in
that mysterious roll, which no human eye has ever seen, that can be in
conflict with the golden promises which gleam in the Book of God's Word
upon every needy sinner that comes and trusts in the Lord! There is a
rainbow around about the Throne. Sovereignty never gets out of the
circle of the promise.
Oh, child of God! Your heavenly Father, in His Sovereignty, has a right
to do with you, His child, as He pleases, but He will never let that
Sovereignty get out of the limit of the Covenant! As a Sovereign, He
might cast you away, but He has promised that He never will–and He
never will! As a Sovereign, He might leave you to perish, but He has
said, "I will not leave you nor forsake you." As a Sovereign, He might
suffer you to be tempted beyond your strength, but He has promised that
no temptation shall happen to you, but such as is common to man, and He
will, with the temptation, make a way of escape! Let no dark thought
ever cross your mind that, perhaps, towards you He will deal
arbitrarily. It is not so. He will carry out His purpose to you–and of
that purpose He has already informed you by telling you that you are
His, His adopted child and you shall be His forever and ever! In the
second place–
II. THE RULING GOVERNMENT OF GOD IN THE WORLD ALWAYS HAS RESPECT TO THE
COVENANT OF GRACE.
It is so in great things. He set the bounds of the nations according to
the number of the children of Israel. When you read God's Word, Egypt
comes upon the stage–Assyria, Babylon, Greece and Rome. Yet what are
they but a sort of background? They come and they go, for all their
secular grandeur, as mere accessories. The central figure is always the
Election of Grace–the people of God–for the rest, they are merely the
plowmen and the vinedressers for the Lord's own people. Sometimes these
nations are nursing fathers. At other times they are sharp rods.
Whichever they may be, they are mere instruments. The Bible speaks of
them as so much scaffolding for the building of the living temple in
which the mercy of God shall be displayed! Whenever you read, or hear
people talk about prophecy, you may depend upon it that Inspiration has
not been given to tell of Louis Napoleon, or any other earthly
Sovereign. It is not the history of Prussia, Russia, or France that the
heavenly Apocalypse unveils. The whole Book is written for His
people–it gives us the history of the Church–but it does not give us
the history of anything else! The way to read the Book, if you do read
it, is with this central thought in your minds–that God has not
revealed to us anything concerning Assyria, Babylon, Greece, or Rome
for their own sakes–but He has referred to them because they happen to
have a connection with the history of His Church. That is all, for He
has chosen Jacob to Himself and Israel to be His peculiar treasure. My
Brothers and Sisters, I believe that when kings and potentates meet in
the cabinet chamber and consult together according to their ambition, a
Counselor whom they never see pulls the strings and they are only His
puppets. And even when armies meet in battle array, when the world
seems shaken to and fro with revolutions and the most stable thrones
quiver as though they were but vessels out at sea, there is a secret
Force working in all. The end and drift of these momentous actions is
the bringing out of the chosen race–the salvation of the blood-bought
company and the glory of God in the redeeming of the world unto
Himself! When you read the newspaper, read it to see how your heavenly
Father is managing the world for the good of His own children! All
else–be it the disposal of a throne, the settlement of a political
question, or the winning of a boat race–all else, I say, are minor
things compared with the interests of the Election of Grace! All things
are revolving and cooperating for good. They are working together for
good to them that love God, and are the called according to the purpose
of His Grace. By them He will make manifest throughout the ages unto
the angels and the principalities, His manifold wisdom!
Now, as this is the case in the great, it is equally so in the little.
In all your smaller affairs, God always governs with respect to the
Covenant. Your worst afflictions are still meant for your good, for
this is one clause in the Covenant, "Surely in blessing, I will bless."
When you come to the worst, even should that happen to be at the close
of life, you will find that God has still kept within Covenant
engagements. Hear what David said upon his bed of pain, "Although my
house is not so with God, yet"–oh, gracious, "yet"!–"yet has He made
with me an Everlasting Covenant, ordered in all things and sure." You
have lost your property–it is a sad thing for you to come down in the
world, but this always was in the Covenant. Have you never read it? "In
the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have
overcome the world." Lately, when you have been in prayer, you have had
but little comfort–and when you have read the Word of God, it has not
seemed to gleam with delight to you, but rather the Book has seemed
dark. Well, well, that is in the Covenant! Did I not read it to you?
"As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten; be zealous, therefore, and
repent." Perhaps you have been backsliding. It is sad that it should be
so. And now you have lost much of your enjoyment and you are
exceedingly cast down. But did you ever read it, "The backslider in
heart shall be filled with his own ways"? Do you not know it to be a
promise from God–"If his children err from My commandments, then will
I visit their transgressions with the rod; nevertheless, My Covenant
will I not take away from him, nor suffer My loving kindness to fail"?
You are only receiving, now, what God has promised to give to you!
Look upon these things as tokens that God is faithful. We are told in
the Covenant God made with Noah, that "seedtime and harvest, summer and
winter shall never cease." Now, the snow has fallen today, and it is
bitterly cold. But, my Brothers and Sisters, it was in the Covenant
that the winter should not cease. No doubt when the harvest comes, and
the summer laughs with joy, we shall say, "How good God is and how true
He has been to His Covenant, that there should be a harvest and a
summer!" Ah, but when the seed is cast into the cold soil and the frost
covers it, you ought to be equally grateful to the faithfulness of God,
for this, too, is one part of the promise! If He did not keep one part,
you might be afraid that He would not keep the other! Just so is it
spiritually. Your troubles are promised to you. "In the world you shall
have tribulation." You have got your troubles. "As many as He loves, He
chastens." You have got the chastening. Be, therefore, thankful that
you have another proof of the Divine Faithfulness towards you. There is
a rainbow around about the Throne of God, and let the Throne decree
what it may! The scepter is never stretched beyond the boundary of
Covenant Love. It is impossible for God to deal towards His people
contrary to the spirit which breathes in the two Immutable things in
which it is impossible for Him to lie, and by which He has given strong
consolation to those who have fled for refuge to the hope which is set
before them in the Gospel . Our third point is–
III. IN THE COVENANT OF GRACE, REPRESENTED BY THE CIRCULAR RAINBOW,
LOVE AND GRACE
ARE ALWAYS CONSPICUOUS.
The emerald, with its green color, is always taken to represent this
green earth and the things which concern the dwellers therein. And it
has always been viewed as a type of mercy. It is a soft and gentle
color, the most agreeable to the eyes of all the colors, the vibrations
of light caused by it being found to be more suitable to the optic
nerve than the vibrations of any other color. Scarlet and such bright
colors, the emblems of justice and vengeance, would soon destroy
theeyes. White, the emblem of purity, cannot long be endured. Those of
us who have crossed lofty mountains covered with snow have had to
suffer as long as we have been there, from snow-blindness. The human
eyes would soon cease to perform its functions if the earth were long
covered with snow and if we had nothing to relieve the eyes. Green is
the color that suits mankind and it represents the mercy, the
tenderness and the benevolence of God towards mankind.
Whenever you read the Covenant, read it in the light of the emerald. I
have sometimes thought that some of my Brothers and Sisters read it in
another light. I think I have heard prayers which, if translated into
plain English, would run something like this–"Lord, we thank You that
we are elected. We bless You that we are in the Covenant. We bless Your
name that You are sending sinners down to Hell, cutting them off and
destroying them, but we are saved!" I have sometimes thought I have
caught in such prayers an air of complacency in the damnation of
sinners, and even a little more than that–I have fancied I have seen
in certain hyper-Calvinists a sort of Red Indian scalping knife
propensity– an ogre-like feeling with respect to reprobation–a
smacking of lips over the ruin and destruction of mankind! As to all of
which, I can only say that it seems to me to be "earthly, sensual,
devilish." I cannot imagine a man, especially a man who has the spirit
of Christ in him, thinking of the ruin of mankind with any other
feeling than that which moved the soul of Christ when He wept over
Jerusalem, crying, "How often would I have gathered you as a hen
gathers her chicks under her wings!" Let no one imagine that the spirit
of Calvinism is a spirit of hostility to universal humanity! It is not
so! It is a perversion and a caricature of the expositions of Calvin
and Augustine–and of the Apostle Paul and of what our Master
preached–to represent us as thinking with complacency of the ruin of
any one of the human race!
My Brothers and Sisters, when I have sometimes heard statements made
about the fewness of those who will be saved at the last, I have
thought that surely the rainbow around about the Throne of the God whom
such people worshipped must have been scarlet in color. It could not
have been "in sight like unto an emerald." There must have been a
predominance of vengeance in it and not of mercy! Why, I firmly believe
that at the last it will be found that there are more in Heaven than in
Hell, for when the great winding up of the drama shall come, Christ
will in all things have the preeminence! Now, alas, there are few that
find the narrow road while broad is the gate of Hell and many there are
that go in that way. We are in the minority, now, but when I think of
the countless hosts of little children, elect of God, who have gone
from their mother's breasts to Glory, not having passed through actual
sin, but being bought with precious blood, I can see a vast multitude
that belongs to Christ! And when I look forward to that brighter age
when the nations shall flock to the feet of Christ, and tens of
thousands and hundreds of millions shall sing His praises from the
rising of the sun to the going down of the same, I rejoice to think
that then the Lord Jesus Christ will see of the travail of His soul and
will be satisfied–and it is not a little that will satisfy Him! I have
sometimes thought with a certain good Divine, that when the King comes
to end His reign, there will be found no more in prison in comparison
with the great number of His creatures, than in any well ordered
government. At any rate, let us hope so. We have no right to speak
positively where we have no positive declaration. But it is significant
that there is always a prominence given in Scripture to the grace, the
mercy, the goodness and the loving kindness of God. Surely Scripture
would not tell us this unless it would also seem to be so in the
universal Providence of God. I believe that in the rainbow, the emerald
will be the most conspicuous, and that Divine Grace will be "in Heaven
the topmost stone," for it "well deserves the praise." And now, in
conclusion, my dear Friends–
IV. LET ME MAKE ONE OR TWO PRACTICAL REMARKS.
Let me exhort you all to understand the Covenant, of which the rainbow
is the symbol. I am sorry to say that there are many professors who do
not know what the Covenant means. I have been told that there are
pulpits where the word, "Covenant," is scarcely ever mentioned, so that
the congregation really do not know what the Covenant of Grace means.
Now, the old Scotch Divines and our own Puritan forefathers were of
opinion that the two Covenants are the very essence of all theology.
When a man gets a clear view of the Covenant of Works and sees how it
was made with Adam, and broken, and how it involved our ruin–and then
gets a clear view of the Covenant of Grace made with the Second Adam,
the conditions of which are all fulfilled by Him, so that the Covenant
cannot be broken by us–and that all the provisions of that Covenant
are made sure by His having fulfilled His Suretyship and Sponsorship on
our behalf. When a man gets a hold of these two things, why, he cannot
be an Arminian. It is impossible! But he must keep pretty near to those
grand old Doctrines which we call the Doctrines of Grace. If any man
says to me, "What is the one thing which I have to learn to be a sound
preacher of the Gospel?" I think I would say, "Learn to distinguish
between the Covenant of Hagar, which is Sinai in Arabia, and the
Covenant of Sarah, which is the Covenant of the New Jerusalem, which is
of promise. The distinction between works and Grace, between debt and
gift, between the works of the Law and the abounding loving kindness of
the Lord our Lord." May I ask young members of the Church to read the
Scriptures upon this point and to ask their older friends to instruct
them in the matter of the Covenant? It is such an important point that
I would press it very earnestly. I hope you do not wish to go to Heaven
like those of whom the Savior speaks, and who enter into life lame, or
maimed, or having but one eye. Oh, no, but seek to clear away
ignorance! That the soul is without knowledge is not good. Get a clear
view of these things, for by so doing you will be comforted, you will
be strengthened, you will be sanctified!
But if you do understand the Covenant, have a constant regard to it.
There is a sweet prayer, "Have respect unto Your Covenant." We pray
that to God. Well, He does have respect to the Covenant. He has the
symbol of it all around His Throne! He cannot look anywhere without
looking through His Covenant. He sees us, He sees the world, He sees
all things through that rainbow which is around His Throne. He sees all
human affairs through the medium of the great Mediator, the Covenant
Angel, the Lord Jesus. Well now, what you ask God to do, and what He
does, do for yourselves! Have respect unto the Covenant. Do you ever
think of the Covenant? Some, I am afraid, do not think of it by the
month together and yet the Covenant–oh, Brothers and Sisters–it is a
casket full of wealth! It is a fountain full of crystal streams! It is
the Heaven out of which the manna falls! It is the Rock out of which
the living waters flow–the Rock, Christ, who is the essence of the
Covenant to us! Live upon the Covenant in life and let it claim your
last accents in the moment of death! Rejoice in this Covenant of Grace
all day! Live upon the choice morsels which God has laid up in store
for you in it. The Covenant! The Covenant! Oh, keep your hearts, keep
your thoughts, keep your eyes constantly on it!
And oh, get comfort from the Covenant! Do not merely think of it, but
really lay hold upon it. You are in covenant with God! It is not a
question with you, as a believer in Christ, whether God may keep you
and bless you and cause His face to shine upon you. He will do so! He
cannot do otherwise, if I may use such language concerning Him, because
though He is free, yet He has bound Himself by His promise! He has
bound Himself by His oath! He has put Himself within the limit of the
rainbow and out of that He cannot, and will not go! It encircles His
Throne and Himself. You may go up to His Throne humbly but still go
there with boldness. You do not come like a common beggar. You do not
knock at the door as a man does at your door, a chance beggar asking
for charity. You have got a promise! Come, then, as a man goes into the
bank who has got a bank-bill that is dated and now the day is come for
it to be paid! Go to God, making mention of the name of Jesus, with the
humble boldness with which a child asks of its own loving parent what
that parent has often promised to bestow. Let the comfort of the
Covenant be continually yours!
And if you have this comfort, never, never be so base as to indulge
hard thoughts of God. It is very easy for me to say this to you, but it
will not always be so easy for you to practice it. Ah, Friends, we
think we can take God's will and be submissive to it and acquiesce in
it–but when it presses hard upon us–then is the proof. When a man
gets into the fining-pot and the crucible is put into the fire, they
will show what faith he has! Ah, it is hard when you get a heavy
stroke, when you are told that such-and-such an one who is very dear to
you will die before long, or when you know that you, yourself, have a
fatal disease–it is then hard to say, "The Lord lives, and blessed be
my Rock!" Or, "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away, and blessed
be His name." It was admirable in David, that when he began one of his
mournful Psalms, he knew that he was going to groan a good deal, so he
said, "There is one matter we will set right before we get out of trim.
Truly God is good to Israel." That is settled. He puts that down as the
first thing when he gets into the box as a witness. He says, "I am
confused, today, and tumbled up and down in my wits, but before I say
anything, I have to say this one thing–I solemnly declare before men,
angels and devils–God is truly good to Israel! As for me, my feet had
well-nigh gone, my steps had almost slipped," and so on–but he begins
with that. Now, settle that, settle that in your soul! Put that down
like an anchor, right deep in the sea–come winds, come waves, come
hurricanes–God is good! God is faithful! God will keep His Covenant!
Every dark and painful line meets in the center of His Love. It must be
right. Never let your soul be envious of the wicked when you see their
prosperity, but still rejoice in your God and let Him do as He wills!
If you do know anything about the sweetness of the Covenant, when you
meet with a poor child of the house of Israel, tell him about it. And
as you do not know who he may be, tell everybody about it! There may be
one of your Brothers or Sisters with whom you are to live in Heaven
sitting next to you in the pew. Since I mentioned last Sundaynight that
there was a young person who had been here for two years and nobody had
ever spoken to her, I have had a letter from a young man to say that he
is in the same case. Oh, dear! You know how I told you on Sunday night
that I was ashamed of some of you, but I did not know in which part of
the chapel you were and, therefore, as I did not know who it was, I
could not be ashamed of you, but get you to be ashamed on your own
account! Now, you see, there are two cases, and I am afraid if we get
more testimony, it would go to ever so many places in the Tabernacle.
Do not let it be so! Let each one pluck up heart and say unto his
fellow, "Know the Lord." Let each man say to his neighbor, "Have you
tasted the sweetness?" Who finds honey and eats it all? You ought to
say, like the Syrian lepers, "This is a day of good tidings; if we
tarry here, perhaps mischief will befall us; let us go even into the
camp of Israel and let us tell them of this thing." Spread abroad the
good news! Who knows how many you may bring to my Master's footstool,
to their salvation and to your own comfort and joy?
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: REVELATION 18:21-24; 19:1-10.
Blessed is he that reads and understands the prophecy of this Book. We
have no difficulty in knowing to what city this great Babylon refers,
for the Church of Rome, in the plenitude of its wisdom, has taken the
title to itself in attempting to claim that Peter was the first bishop
of Rome! They quote the text, "The church that is in Babylon salutes
you"– that church, they say, being the church in Rome! Therefore Rome
is Babylon! Besides, the whole of the 18th Chapter gives such a
description as can only apply to her and she must, and shall, come to
her end!
Verses 21-24. And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great
millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall
that great city, Babylon, be thrown down and shall be found no more at
all And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and pipers, and
trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in you; and no craftsmen of
whatever craft he is, shall be found anymore in you; and the sound of a
millstone shall be heard no more at all in you, And the light of a
candle shall shine no more at all in you. And the voice of the
bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in you: for
your merchants were the great men of the earth; for by your sorceries
were allnations deceived. Andin her was found the blood of Prophets,
and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth
REVELATION 19:1-10.
Verses 1-4. And after these things I heard a great voice of much people
in Heaven, praying, Alleluia, Salvation, and glory, andhonor, andpower,
unto the Lord our God: For true andrighteous are His judgments: for He
hasjudged the great whore which did corrupt the earth with her
fornication, and has avenged the blood of His servants at her hands.
And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up forever and ever
And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and
worshiped God that sat on the Throne, saying, Amen: Alleluia. For the
overthrow of a monstrous system of error gives delight to all holy
spirits–and chiefly to those who stand nearest the eternal Throne of
God!
5-6. And a voice came out of the Throne saying, Praise our God, all you
His servants, and you that fear Him, both small and great And I heard,
as it were, the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many
waters, and as the voice of mighty thunders saying, Alleluia: for the
Lord God Omnipotent reigns! The harlot church is put away! The true
Church is introduced, fully arrayed in perfect holiness, ready for the
consummation of her own joy and her master's–her last delight.
7-10. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him: for the
marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife has made herself ready. And
to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and
white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he said
unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage
supper of the Lamb. And he said unto me, These are the true sayings of
God. And I feel at his feet to worship him, and he said unto me, See
you do it not: I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren that have
the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the
spirit of prophecy. If John made a mistake, because the saints in
Heaven are all so like their Master, it is well that the mistake was at
once corrected, for angel worship, or the worship of saints, is to be
avoided by all saints! And God's Word about it is, "See you do it not."
It is said that we should certainly pay reverence to holy men that are
now with God, but see you do it not! Indeed, here among men, the same
kind of idolatry is sought to be kept up, and the preacher is arrayed
in garments to make him distinct from the people, as though he were
something better or different from them and not their fellow servant!
But, for all this, let us hear the voice which says, "See you do it
not. I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren that have the
testimony of Jesus." Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the
spirit of prophecy.