A Sermon for the Time Present
A Sermon
(No. 1990)
Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, October 30th, 1887, by
C. H. SPURGEON,
At [5]the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
"In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion,
Let not thine hands be slack. The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is
mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest
in his love, he will joy over thee with singing. I will gather them
that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, who are of thee, to whom
the reproach of it was a burden."–Zephaniah 3:16-18.
HOLY SCRIPTURE is wonderfully full and abiding in its inner sense. It
is a springing well, whereat you may draw, and draw again; for as you
draw, it springs up for ever new and fresh. It is a well of water
springing up everlastingly. The fulfillment of a divine promise is not
the exhaustion of it. When a man gives you a promise, and he keeps it,
there is an end of the promise; but it is not so with God. When he
keeps his word to the full, he has but begun: he is prepared to keep
it, and keep it, and keep it for ever and ever. What would you say of a
man who had wheat upon his barn floor, and threshed it until he had
beaten out the last golden grain; but the next day he went and threshed
again, and brought back as much as the day before; and on the day
after, again taking his flail, he went to the same threshing, and again
brought back his measure as full as at the first, and so on for all the
days of the year? Would it not seem to you as a fairy tale? It would
certainly be a surprising miracle. But what should we say if,
throughout a long life, this miracle could be prolonged.? Yet we have
continued to thresh the promises ever since faith was given us, and we
have carried away our full portion every day. What shall we say of the
glorious fact that the saints in all generations, from the first day
until now, have done the same; and of that equal truth, that as long as
there is a needy soul upon earth, there will be upon the threshing
floor of the promises the same abundance of the finest of the wheat as
when the first man filled his measure and returned rejoicing? I will
not dwell upon the specific application of the text before us: I do not
doubt that it was specially fulfilled as it was intended; and if there
still remains some special piece of history to which this passage
alludes, it will again be fulfilled in due time; but this I know, that
those who have lived between whiles have found this promise true to
them. Children of God have used these promises under all sorts of
circumstances, and have derived the utmost comfort from them; and this
morning I feel as if the text had been newly written for the present
occasion, for it is in every syllable most suitable to the immediate
crisis. If the Lord had fixed his eye upon the condition of his church
just now, and had written this passage only for this year of grace
1887, it could scarcely have been more adapted to the occasion. Our
business shall be to show this; but I would aim at much more. Let our
prayer be that we, may enjoy this marvellous portion of the sacred
word, and take intense delight in it. As God rests in his love, so may
we rest in it this morning; and as he joys over us with singing, so may
we break forth into joyous psalms to the God of our salvation.
I am going to begin with the last verse of the text, and work my way
upwards. The first; head is, a trying day for God's people. They are
sorrowful because a cloud is upon their solemn assembly, and the
reproach thereof is a burden. Secondly, we will note a glorious ground
of consolation. We read in the seventeenth verse, "The Lord thy God in
the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee
with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with
singing." And, thirdly, here is a brave conduct suggested thereby: "In
that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let
not thine hands be slack."
I. Beginning at the eighteenth verse, we notice A TRYING DAY FOR GOD'S
PEOPLE. The solemn assembly had fallen under reproach. The solemn
assemblies of Israel were her glory: her great days of festival and
sacrifice were the gladness of the land. To the faithful their holy
days were their holidays. But a reproach had fallen upon the solemn
assembly, and I believe it is so now at this present moment. It is a,
sad affliction when in our solemn assemblies the brilliance of the
gospel light is dimmed by error. The clearness of the testimony is
spoiled when doubtful voices are scattered among the people, and those
who ought to preach the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the
truth, are telling out for doctrines the imaginations of men, and the
inventions of the age. Instead of revelation, we have philosophy,
falsely so-called; instead of divine infallibility, we have surmises
and larger hopes. The gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the same
yesterday, to-day, and for ever, is taught as the production of
progress, a growth, a thing to be amended and corrected year by year.
It is an ill day, both for the church and the world, when the trumpet
does not give a certain sound; for who shall prepare himself for the
battle?
If added to this we should see creeping over the solemn assembly of the
church a lifelessness, an indifference, and a lack of spiritual power,
it is painful to a high degree. When the vitality of religion is
despised, and gatherings for prayer are neglected, what are we coming
to? The present period of church history is well portrayed by the
church of Laodicea, which was neither cold nor hot, and therefore to be
spewed out of Christ's mouth. That church gloried that she was rich and
increased in goods, and had need of nothing, while all the while her
Lord was outside, knocking at the door, a door closed against him. That
passage is constantly applied to the unconverted, with whom it has
nothing to do: it has to do with a lukewarm church, with a church that
thought itself to be in an eminently prosperous condition, while her
living Lord, in the doctrine of his atoning sacrifice, was denied an
entrance. Oh, if he had found admission–and he was eager to find
it–she would soon have flung away her imaginary wealth, and he would
have given her gold tried in the furnace, and white raiment with which
she might be clothed. Alas! she is content without her Lord, for she
has education, oratory, science, and a thousand other baubles. Zion's
solemn assembly is under a cloud indeed, when the teaching of Jesus and
his apostles is of small account with her.
If in addition to this, worldly conformity spreads in the church, so
that the vain amusements of the world are shared in by the saints, then
is there reason enough for lamentation, even as Jeremiah cried: "How is
the gold become dim!" Her Nazarites, who were purer than snow and
whiter than milk, have become blacker than a coal. "All our enemies
have opened their mouths against us." If no longer there is a clear
distinction between the church and the world, but professed followers
of Jesus have joined hands with unbelievers, then may we mourn indeed!
Woe worth the day! An ill time has happened to the church and to the
world also. We may expect great judgments, for the Lord will surely be
avenged on such a people as this. Know ye not of old that when the sons
of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and they were
joined unto them, then the flood came and swept them all away? I need
not pursue this subject further, lest our burdens take from us the time
which is demanded for consolation.
It appears from the text that there were some to whom the reproach was
a burden. They could not make sport of sin. True, there were many who
said that the evil did not exist at all, and others who declared that
it was not present in any great degree. Yes, and more hardened spirits
declared that what was considered to be a reproach was really a thing
to be boasted of, the very glory of the century. Thus they huffed the
matter, and made the mourning of the conscientious to be a theme for
jest. But there was a remnant to whom the reproach of it was a burden;
these could not bear to see such a calamity. To these the Lord God will
have respect, as he said by the prophet:–"Go through the midst of the
city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads
of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done
in the midst thereof." The many drank wine in bowls and anointed
themselves with their chief ointments, but they were not grieved for
the affliction of Joseph (Amos 6:6); but these were pressed in spirit
and bore the cross, counting the reproach of Christ greater riches than
all the treasures of Egypt. God's people cannot bear that Christ's
atoning sacrifice should be dishonored; they cannot endure that his
truth should be trodden as mire in the streets. To true believers
prosperity means the Holy Ghost blessing the word to the conversion of
sinners and the building up of saints; and if they do not see this,
they hang their harps upon the willows. True lovers of Jesus fast when
the Bridegroom is not with his church: their glow is in his glory, and
in nothing else. The wife of Phinehas, the son of Eli, cried out in her
dying agony, "The glory has departed," and the reason that she gave was
once because of the death of her husband and his father, but twice
because "the ark of God is taken." For this she named her new-born
child Ichabod–. "The glory is departed from Israel, for the ark of God
is taken." The bitterest pain of this godly woman was for the church,
and for the honor of our God. So it is with God's true people: they lay
it much to heart that the truth is rejected.
This burdened spirit, is a token of true love to God: those who love
the Lord Jesus are wounded in his woundings, and vexed with the vexings
of his Spirit. When Christ is dishonored his disciples are dishonored.
Those who have a tender heart towards the church can say with Paul,
"Who is offended, and I burn not?" The sins of the church of God are
the sorrows of all living members of it. This also marks a healthy
sensibility, a vital spirituality. Those who are unspiritual care
nothing for truth or grace: they look to finances, and numbers, and
respectability. Utterly carnal men care for none of these things; and
so long as the political aims of Dissenters are progressing, and there
is an advance in social position, it is enough for them. But men whose
spirits are of God would sooner see the faithful persecuted than see
them desert the truth, sooner see churches in the depths of poverty
full of holy zeal than rich churches dead in worldliness. Spiritual men
care for the church even when she is in an evil case, and cast down by
her adversaries: "thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favor
the dust thereof." The house of the Lord is to many of us our own
house, his family is our family. Unless the Lord Jesus be extolled, and
his gospel conquer, we feel that our own personal interests are
blighted, and we ourselves are in disgrace. It is no small thing to us:
it is our life.
Thus have I dwelt upon the fact that it is an ill day for God's people
when the solemn assembly is defiled: the reproach thereof is a burden
to those who are truly citizens of the New Jerusalem, and because of
this they are seen to be sorrowful. The Lord here says, "I will gather
them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly." They may well be
sorrowful when such a burden is laid on their hearts. Moreover, they
see in a hundred ways the ill effect of the evil which they deplore.
Many are lame and halting; this is hinted at in the promise of the
nineteenth verse: "I will save her that halteth." Pilgrims on the road
to Zion were made to limp on the road because the prophets were "light
and treacherous persons." When the pure gospel is not preached, God's
people are robbed of the strength which they need in their
life-journey. If you take away the bread, the children hunger. If you
give the flock poisonous pastures, or fields which are barren as the
desert, they pine and they become lame in their daily following of the
shepherd. The doctrinal soon affects the practical. I know many of the
people of God living in different parts of this country to whom the
Sabbath is very little of a day of rest, for they hear no truth in
which rest is to be found, but they are worried and wearied with
novelties which neither glorify God nor benefit the souls of men. In
many a place the sheep look up and are not fed. This causes much
disquietude and breeds doubts and questionings, and thus strength is
turned to weakness, and the work of faith, the labor of love, and the
patience of hope are all kept in a halting state. This is a grievous
evil, and it is all around us. Then, alas! many are "driven out," of
whom the nineteenth verse says, "I will gather her that was driven
out." By false doctrine many are made to wander from the fold. Hopeful
ones are made to stray from the path of life, and sinners are left in
their natural distance from God. The truth which would convince men of
sin is not preached, while other truths which would lead seekers into
peace are beclouded, and souls are left in needless sorrow. When the
doctrines of grace and the glorious atoning sacrifice are not set
clearly before men's minds, so that they may feel their power, all
sorts of evils follow. It is terrible to me that this dreadful blight
should come upon our churches; for the hesitating are driven to
destruction, the weak are staggered, and even the strong are perplexed.
The false teachers of these days would, if it were possible, deceive
the very elect. This makes our hearts very sorrowful. How can we help
it?
Yet, beloved, all the time that the people of God are in this evil
case, they are not without hope; for close upon all this comes the
promise of the Lord to restore his wandering ones. We have the sense
twice over: "I will get them praise and fame in every land where they
have been put to shame." "I will make you a name and a praise among all
people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes,
saith the Lord. "The adversaries cannot silence the eternal testimony.
They hanged our Lord himself upon a tree; they took down his body and
buried it in a tomb in the rock; and they set their seal upon the stone
which they rolled at the mouth of the sepulcher. Surely now there was
an end of the Christ and his cause. Boast not, ye priests and
Pharisees! Vain the watch, the stone, the seal! When the appointed time
had come, the living Christ came forth. He could not be holden by the
cords of death. How idle their dreams! "He that sitteth in the heavens
shall laugh: the Lord doth have them in derision." Beloved, the
reproach will yet be rolled away from the solemn assembly: the truth of
God will yet again be proclaimed as with trumpet tongue, the Spirit of
God will revive his church, and converts as many as the sheaves of the
harvest shall yet be gathered in. How will the faithful rejoice! Those
who were burdened and sorrowful shall then put on their garments of joy
and beauty. Then shall the ransomed of the Lord return with songs and
everlasting joy upon their heads. The conflict is not doubtful. The end
of the battle is sure and certain. Methinks I even now hear the shout,
"The Lord God omnipotent reigneth."
II. Secondly, let us think of something which shines like a star amid
the darkness. The second verse of the text presents A GLORIOUS GROUND
OF CONSOLATION. Here is a rich text indeed. This passage is like a
great sea, while I am as a little child making pools in the sand which
skirts its boundless flood. A series of discourses might well be
founded on this one verse: I mean the seventeenth.
Our great consolation in the worst times lies in our God. The very name
of our covenant God–"the Lord thy God"–is full of good cheer. That
word, "the Lord," is really JEHOVAH, the self-existent One, the
unchangeable One, the ever-living God, who cannot change or be moved
from his everlasting purpose. Children of God, whatever you have not
got, you have a God in whom you may greatly glory. Having God you have
more than all things, for all things come of him; and if all things
were blotted out, he could restore all things simply by his will. He
speaketh, and it is done; he commandeth, and it stands fast. Blessed is
the man that hath the God of Jacob for his trust, and whose hope
Jehovah is. In the Lord Jehovah we have righteousness and strength; let
us trust in him for ever. Let the times roll on, they cannot affect our
God. Let troubles rush upon us like a tempest, but they shall not come
nigh unto us now that he is our defense. Jehovah, the God of his
church, is also the God of each individual member of it, and each one
may therefore rejoice in him. Jehovah is as much your God, my brother,
as if no other person in the universe could use that covenant
expression. O believer, the Lord God is altogether and wholly your God!
All his wisdom, all his foresight, all his power, all his
immutability–all himself is yours. As for the church of God, when she
is in her lowest estate she is still established and endowed in the
best possible sense–established by the divine decree, and endowed by
the possession of God all-sufficient. The gates of hell shall not
prevail against her. Let us exult in our possession. Poor as we are, we
are infinitely rich in having God; weak as we are, there is no limit to
our strength, since the Almighty Jehovah is ours. "If God be for us,
who can be against us?" If God be ours, what more can we need? Lift up
thy heart, thou sorrowful one, and be of good cheer. If God be thy God,
thou hast all thou canst desire: wrapped up within his glorious name we
find all things for time and eternity, for earth and heaven. Therefore
in the name of Jehovah we will set up our banners, and march onward to
the battle. He is our God by his own purpose, covenant, and oath; and
this day he is our God by our own choice of him, by our union with
Christ Jesus, by our experience of his goodness, and by that spirit of
adoption whereby we cry "Abba, Father."
To strengthen this consolation, we notice next, that this God is in the
midst of us. He is not a long way off, to be sought with difficulty, if
haply we may find him. The Lord is a God nigh at hand, and ready to
deliver his people. Is it not delightful to think that we cry not to
God across the ocean, for he is here? We look not up to him from afar,
as though he dwelt beyond the stars, neither do we think of him as
hidden in the fathomless abyss; but the Lord is very near. Our God is
"Jehovah in the midst of thee." Since that bright night in which a babe
was born at Bethlehem, and unto us a Son was given, we know God as
"Emmanuel, God with us." God is in our nature, and therefore very near
unto us. "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." Though his
bodily presence is gone, yet we hare his spiritual presence with us
evermore; for he saith, "Lo, I am with you alway." He walketh among the
golden candlesticks. We have also the immediate presence of God the
Holy Spirit. He is in the midst of the church to enlighten, convince,
quicken, endow, comfort, and clothe with spiritual power. The Lord
still works in the minds of men for the accomplishment of his purposes
of grace. Let us think of this when we are going forth to Christian
service: "The Lord of hosts is with us." When you call your class
together in the Sabbath school, say to your Lord, "If thy presence go
not with me, carry me not up hence." Ah, friends! if we have God with
us, we can bear to be deserted by men. What a word that is, "Where two
or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of
them!" Shall not the army shout when the King himself is in their
ranks! Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered! When he is with us
they that hate him must flee before him. Be it our concern so to live
that we may never grieve away the Spirit of God. Beloved, there is such
abundant consolation in the fact of the presence of God with us, that
if we could only feel the power of it at this moment, we should enter
into rest, and our heaven would begin below.
Let us go a step further, and note that our consolation is largely to
be found in the fact that this God in the midst of us is full of power
to save. "The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will
save." That is to say, "Jehovah, thy God, is mighty to save." His arm
is not shortened, he is still "a just God and a Saviour." Nor is he
merely able to save, but he will display that ability; "he will save."
Come, my brother, we see around us this and that to discourage us; let
us, like David, encourage ourselves in the Lord our God. We may very
well forget all difficulties, since the God who is in the midst of us
is mighty to save. Let us pray, then, that he will save; that he will
save his own church from lukewarmness and from deady error; that he
will save her from her worldliness and formalism; save her from
unconverted ministers and ungodly members. Let us lift up our eyes and
behold the power which is ready to save; and let us go on to pray that
the Lord may save the unconverted by thousands and millions. Oh, that
we might see a great revival of religion! This is what we want before
all things. This would smite the enemy upon the cheek-bone, and break
the teeth of the adversary. If tens of thousands of souls were
immediately saved by the sovereign grace of God, what a rebuke it would
be to those who deny the faith! Oh, for times such as our fathers saw
when first Whitefield and his helpers began to preach the life-giving
word! When one sweet voice was heard clear and loud, all the birds of
paradise began to sing in concert with him, and the morning of a
glorious day was heralded. Oh, if that were to happen again, I should
feel like Simeon when he embraced the heavenly babe! Then would the
virgin daughter of Zion shake her head at the foe, and laugh him to
scorn. It may happen; yea, if we are importunate in prayer it must
happen: "God shall bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear
him." Let us not seek power of rhetoric, much less of wealth; but let
us look for the power which saves. This is the one thing I crave. Oh,
that God would save souls! I say to myself, after being badgered and
worried through the week by the men of modern thought: "I will go my
way and preach Christ's gospel, and win souls." One lifting up of Jesus
Christ crucified is more to me than all the cavillings of the men who
are wise above what is written. Converts are our unanswerable
arguments. "Happy is the man," saith the Psalm, "that hath his quiver
full of them: they shall speak with the enemies in the gate." Blessed
is the man who has many spiritual children born to God under his
ministry; for his converts are his defense. Beholding the man who was
healed standing with Peter and John, they could say nothing against
them. If souls are saved by the gospel, the gospel is proved in the
surest manner. Let us care more about conversions than about
organizations. If souls are brought into union with Christ, we may let
other unions go.
We go yet further, and we come to great deeps: behold God's joy in his
people. "He will rejoice over thee with joy." Think of this! Jehovah,
the living God, is described as brooding over his church with pleasure.
He looks upon souls redeemed by the blood of his dear Son, quickened by
his Holy Spirit, and his heart is glad. Even the infinite heart of God
is filled with an extraordinary joy at the sight of his chosen. His
delight is in his church, his Hephzibah. I can understand a minister
rejoicing over a soul that he has brought to Christ; I can also
understand believers rejoicing to see others saved from sin and hell;
but what shall I say of the infinitely-happy and eternally-blessed God
finding, as it were, a new joy in souls redeemed? This is another of
those great wonders which cluster around the work of divine grace! "He
will rejoice over thee with joy." Oh, you are trembling for the ark of
the Lord; the Lord is not trembling, but rejoicing. Faulty as the
church is, the Lord rejoices in her. While we mourn, as well we may,
yet we do not sorrow as those that are without hope; for God does not
sorrow, his heart is glad, and he is said to rejoice with joy–a highly
emphatic expression. The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him,
imperfect though they be. He sees them as they are to be, and so he
rejoices over them, even when they cannot rejoice in themselves. When
your face is blurred with tears, your eyes red with weeping, and your
heart heavy with sorrow for sin, the great Father is rejoicing over
you. The prodigal son wept in his Father's bosom, but the Father
rejoiced over his son. We are questioning, doubting, sorrowing,
trembling; and all the while he who sees the end from the beginning
knows what will come out of the present disquietude, and therefore
rejoices. Let us rise in faith to share the joy of God. Let no man's
heart fail him because of the taunts of the enemy. Rather let the
chosen of God rouse themselves to courage, and participate in that joy
of God which never ceaseth, even though the solemn assembly has become
a reproach. Shall we not rejoice in him when he, in his boundless
condescension, deigns to rejoice in us? Whoever despairs for the cause,
he does not; wherefore let us be of good courage.
It is added, "He will rest in his love." I do not know any Scripture
which is more full of wonderful meaning than this. "He shall rest in
his love," as if our God had in his people found satisfaction. He comes
to an anchorage: he has reached his desire. As when a Jacob, full of
love to Rachel, has at length ended the years of his service, and is
married to his well-beloved, and his heart is at rest; so is it spoken
in parable of the Lord our God. Jesus sees of the travail of his soul
when his people are won to him; he has been baptized with his baptism
for his church, and he is no longer straitened, for his desire is
fulfilled. The Lord is content with his eternal choice, content with
his loving purposes, satisfied with the love which went forth from
everlasting. He is well pleased in Jesus–well pleased with all the
glorious purposes which are connected with his dear Son, and with those
who are in him. He has a calm content in the people of his choice, as
he sees them in Christ. This is a good ground for our having a deep
satisfaction of heart also. We are not what we would be; but then we
are not what we shall be. We advance slowly; but then we advance
surely. The end is secured by omnipotent grace. It is right that we
should be discontented with ourselves, yet this holy restlessness
should not rob us of our perfect peace in Christ Jesus. If the Lord
hath rest in us, shall we not have rest in him? If he rests in his
love, cannot we rest in it?
My heart is comforted as I plainly see in these words love unchanging,
love abiding, love eternal: "he will rest in his love." Jehovah changes
not. Being married to his people, "he hateth putting away."
Immutability is written on his heart. The turtle-dove, when he has once
chosen his mate, remains faithful throughout life, and if the beloved
dies, he will, in many cases, pine away with grief for her, for his
life is wrapped up in hers. Even so our Lord hath made his choice of
his beloved, and he will never change it: he died for his church, and
so long as he lives he will remember his own love, and what it cost
him: "Who shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord?" "He will rest in his love."
The love of God to us is undisturbed: "The peace of God, which passeth
all understanding," dwells with his love: he is not disquieted about
it, but peacefully loves, and is never moved. The calm of God is
wonderful to contemplate: his infallible knowledge and infinite power
put him beyond fear or question. He sees no cause of alarm as to his
redeemed, nor as to the cause of truth and the reign of righteousness.
As to his true church, he knows that she is right, or that he will make
her right. She is being transformed into the image of Jesus, and he
rests in the full assurance that the image will ere long be complete.
He can carry out his own purposes in his own way and time. He can see
the harvest as well as the sowing; therefore he doth "rest in his
love." You have seen a mother wash her child, and as she washes its
face the child perhaps is crying, for it does not for the present enjoy
the cleansing operation. Does the mother share the child's grief? Does
she also cry? Oh, no! she rejoices over her babe, and rests in her
love, knowing that the light affliction of the little one will work its
real good. Often our griefs are no deeper than the cry of a child
because of the soap in its eyes. While the church is being washed with
tribulations and persecutions, God is resting in his love. You and I
are wearying, but God is resting.
"He shall rest in his love." The Hebrew of this line is, "He shall be
silent in his love." His happiness in his love is so great, that he
does not express it, but keeps a happy silence. His is a joy too deep
for words. No language can express the joy of God in his love; and
therefore he uses no words. Silence in this case is infinitely
expressive. One of the old commentators says, "He is deaf and dumb in
his love," as if he heard no voice of accusation against his chosen,
and would not speak a word of upbraiding to her. Remember the silence
of Jesus, and expound this text thereby.
Sometimes also the Lord does not speak to his people: we cannot get a
cheering word from him; and then we sigh for a promise, and long for a
visit of his love; but if he be thus silent, let us know that, he is
only silent in his love. It is not the silence of wrath, but of love.
His love is not changed, even though he does not comfort us.
"His thoughts are high, his love is wise,
His wounds a cure intend;
And though he does not always smile,
He loves unto the end."
When he does not answer our prayers with his hand, he yet hears them
with his heart. Denials are only another form of the same love which
grants our petitions. He loves us, and sometimes shows that love better
by not giving us what we ask than he could do if he spoke the sweetest
promise which the ear has ever heard. I prize this sentence: "He shall
rest in his love." My God, thou art perfectly content with thy church
after all, because thou knowest what she is to be. Thou seest how fair
she will be when she comes forth from the washing, having put on her
beautiful garments. Lo, the sun goes down, and we mortals dread the
endless darkness; but thou, great God, seest the morning, and thou
knowest that in the hours of darkness dews will fall which shall
refresh thy garden. Ours is the measure of an hour, and thine the
judgment of eternity, therefore we will correct our short-sighted
judgment by thine infallible knowledge, and rest with thee.
The last word is, however, the most wonderful of all: "He will joy over
thee with singing." Think of the great Jehovah singing! Can you imagine
it? Is it possible to conceive of the Deity breaking into a song:
Father, Son and Holy Ghost together singing over the redeemed? God is
so happy in the love which he bears to his people that he breaks the
eternal silence, and sun and moon and stars with astonishment hear God
chanting a hymn of joy. Among Orientals a certain song is sung by the
bridegroom when he receives his bride: it is intended to declare his
joy in her, and in the fact that his marriage has come. Here, by the
pen of inspiration, the God of love is pictured as married to his
church, and so rejoicing in her that he rejoices over her with singing.
If God sings, shall not we sing? He did not sing when he made the
world. No; he looked upon it, and simply said that it was good. The
angels sang, the sons of God shouted for joy: creation was very
wonderful to them, but it was not much to God, who could have made
thousands of worlds by his mere will. Creation could not make him sing;
and I do not even know that Providence ever brought a note of joy from
him, for he could arrange a thousand kingdoms of providence with ease.
But when it came to redemption, that cost him dear. Here he spent;
eternal thought, and drew up a covenant with infinite wisdom. Here he
gave his Only-begotten Son, and put him to grief to ransom his beloved
ones. When all was done, and the Lord saw what became of it in the
salvation of his redeemed, then he rejoiced after a divine manner. What
must the joy be which recompenses Gethsemane and Calvary! Here we are
among the Atlantic waves. The Lord God receives an accession to the
infinity of his joy in the thought of his redeemed people. "He shall
rejoice over thee with singing." I tremble while I speak of such
themes, lest I should say a word that should dishonor the matchless
mystery; but still we are glad to note what is written, and we are
bound to take comfort from it. Let us have sympathy with the joy of the
Lord, for this will be our strength.
III. I close with a brief word upon THE BRAVE CONDUCT SUGGESTED
THEREBY. Let us not sorrow under the burdens which we bear, but rejoice
in God, the great Burden-bearer, upon whom this day we roll our load.
Here it is–"In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not;
and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack."
There are three things for God's people to do. The first is, to be
happy. Read verse fourteen–" Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, Israel;
be glad and rejoice with all thy heart, daughter of Jerusalem." Any man
can sing when his cup is full of delights; the believer alone has songs
when waters of a bitter cup are wrung out to him. Any sparrow can chirp
in the daylight; it is only the nightingale that can sing in the dark.
Children of God, whenever the enemies seem to prevail over you,
whenever the serried ranks of the foe appear sure of victory, then
begin to sing. Your victory will come with your song. It is a very
puzzling thing to the devil to hear saints sing when he sets his foot
on them. He cannot make it out: the more he oppresses them, the more
they rejoice. Let us resolve to be all the merrier when the enemy
dreams that we are utterly routed. The more opposition, the more we
will rejoice in the Lord: the more discouragement, the more confidence.
Splendid was the courage of Alexander when they told him that there
were hundreds of thousands of Persians. "Yet," he said, "one butcher
fears not myriads of sheep." "Ah!" said another, "when the Persians
draw their bows, their arrows are so numerous that they darken the
sun." "It will be fine to fight in the shade." cried the hero. friends,
we know whom we have believed, and we are sure of triumph! Let us not
think for a single second, if the odds against us are ten thousand to
one, that this is a hardship; rather let us wish that they were a
million to one, that the glory of the Lord might be all the greater in
the conquest which is sure. When Athanasius was told that everybody was
denying the Deity of Christ, then he said, "I, Athanasius, against the
world": Athanasius contra mundum became a proverbial expression.
Brethren, it is a splendid thing to be quite alone in the warfare of
the Lord. Suppose we had half-a-dozen with us. Six men are not much
increase to strength, and possibly they may be a cause of weakness, by
needing to be looked after. If you are quite alone, so much the better:
there is the more room for God. When desertions have cleaned the place
out, and left you no friend, now every corner can be filled with Deity.
As long as there is so much that is visible to rely upon, and so much
to hope in, there is so much the less room for simple trust in God: but
now our song is of the Lord alone; "for great is the Holy One of Israel
in the midst of thee."
The next duty is fearlessness: "Fear thou not." What! not a little? No,
"Fear thou not." But surely I may show some measure of trembling? No,
"Fear thou not." Tie that knot tight about the throat of unbelief.
"Fear thou not": neither this day, nor any day of thy life. When fear
comes in, drive it away; give it no space. If God rests in his love,
and if God sings, what canst thou have to do with fear? Have you never
known passengers on board ship, when the weather was rough, comforted
by the calm behavior of the captain? One simple-minded soul said to his
friend, "I am sure there is no cause for fear, for I heard the captain
whistling." Surely, if the captain is at ease, and with him is all the
responsibility, the passenger may be still more at peace. If the Lord
Jesus at the helm is singing, let us not be fearing. Let us have done
with every timorous accent. rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for
him. "Your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; he
will come and save you."
Lastly, let us be zealous: "Let not thine hands be slack." Now is the
time when every Christian should do more for God than ever. Let us plan
great things for God, and let us expect great things from God. "Let not
thine hands be slack." Now is the hour for redoubled prayers and
labors. Since the adversaries are busy, let us be busy also. If they
think they shall make a full end of us, let us resolve to make a full
end of their falsehoods and delusions. I think every Christian man
should answer the challenge of the adversaries of Christ by working
double tides, by giving more of his substance to the cause of God, by
living more for the glory of God, by being more exact in his obedience,
more earnest in his efforts, and more importunate in his prayers. "Let
not thine hands be slack" in any one part of holy service. Fear is a
dreadful breeder of idleness; but courage teaches us indomitable
perseverance. Let us go on in God's name. I would stir up the members
of this church, and all my brethren, to intense zeal for God and the
souls of men. "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast,
unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye
know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."
Would God that all were on Christ's side out of this great assembly!
Oh, that you would come to Jesus, and trust him, and then live for him
in the midst of this crooked and perverse generation! The Lord be with
us. Amen.
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Zephaniah 3.
HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"–46, 731, 18.
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