Fourfold Satisfaction
(No. 2726)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, MAY 12, 1901.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, JULY
4, 1880.
"And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness. And My people
shall be satisfied with My goodness, says the Lord… ForIhave satiated
the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul." Jeremiah
31:14,25.
THE subject of this morning [Sermon #1549, Volume 26–GOOD NEWS FOR
THIRSTY SOULS] was spiritual'thirst, and the promises made thereto. I
tried to encourage those who are not at rest concerning the state of
their souls–those who have strong and ardent desires to escape from
the wrath to come–I tried to encourage them to partake of Christ, by
faith, that they might find peace of heart and so might be perfectly
satisfied. I believe that some did find peace this morning. We shall be
on the look-out for them and hope that they will speedily come and tell
us what God has done for their souls.
But, on this occasion our subject is the very opposite of that of this
morning. It is neither thirst nor hunger, but perfect satisfaction, not
strength of agonizing desire, but rest of holy satiety of which I am
about to speak, in the earnest hope that all of you who are believers
in our Lord Jesus Christ may enjoy this perfect satisfaction even at
this very hour. There are four forms of satisfaction described in the
four sentences of the two verses which form our text.
I. The first is GOD'S SERVANTS ARE SATISFIED WITH THE APPOINTED
SACRIFICE. Read the first sentence of verse 14–"I will satiate the
soul of the priests with fatness."
God's people are His children, but they are also His servants. And
their service, viewed from one special point, is that of priests.
Christ has made all of us who believe in Him to be kings and priests
unto our God. It is the business of every Christian to be a priest.
There is now no special order of priests apart from the general body of
believers in Christ. We regard the use of the term, "priests," as
relating to any other persons as utterly misleading and untrue. Every
man who is a Christian is a priest unto God and he daily offers unto
God the acceptable sacrifice of prayer and thanksgiving. In fact, his
whole life should be a sacrifice–his ordinary garments should be his
priestly vestments–and wherever he is, the place should be a temple
for God's worship. His own house and every room in it should be
consecrated to the Lord's service. And every action of his life should
be the act of one who is holy unto the Lord and who does everything
with a view to the Glory of God.
Priests, of course, must have a sacrifice, and it is the special
privilege of the priests of God that they shall be satisfied by eating
the fat of that sacrifice. If you read, when you are at home, in the
7th chapter of the Book of Leviticus, you will find that the Aaronic
priests were forbidden to eat the fat of the sacrifice and, in fact, to
eat any portion of the fat of a beast that had been sacrificed to God
was a crime that was punishable with death! There were certain portions
of the sacrificial animals that were allotted to the priests, but all
that was described as, "the fat thereof," was for God, and for God
alone, so that, under the Jewish dispensation, the priest could never
be satisfied with fatness. But Christ has made us priests after another
order than that of Aaron–and the richest part of the Sacrifice, the
very fat of it–is now ours to feed upon!
Dear Brothers and Sisters, what is the Sacrifice of which we speak
today, but the Lord Jesus Christ? We know of no other atoning Sacrifice
but the blessed Person, body, soul, spirit, and blood of Jesus Christ,
our Incarnate God and Savior! It is with this Sacrifice that Believers
are perfectly satisfied.
First, we are satisfied with Christ as our Sin-Offering. Brethren, He
did really take upon Himself our sin and He did make an end of it upon
the Cross. Believing in Christ Jesus, we have no more consciousness of
sin so far as its guiltis concerned. A thing cannot be in two places at
one time. When Christ took our sins, we had not one of them left. We
were clear of them, in God's sight, the moment that Christ became our
Substitute. And when, by faith, we laid our hand on that dear head of
His and made confession of our transgression, we received the personal
assurance that our sin was made to meet upon Him more than 1,800 years
ago. When He was nailed to the accursed tree, outside the gate, He
presented a sin-offering for our sake and that one offering was
effectual, for by it He has fulfilled the great prophecy concerning
Messiah the Prince, "to finish the transgression, and to make an end of
sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting
righteousness." Brothers and Sisters, you believe this great Truth of
God, I know you do, but are you satisfied with it? If you are not, you
ought to be, for what better fountain of cleansing can you desire than
the precious blood of Christ? What better way of Atonement do you need
than that Christ should bear the wrath of God for you– that He should
take your sin and hurl it into the depths of the sea where it can never
be found again? When He had done this, he cried, "It is finished!" And
it was finished forever–so are you not perfectly satisfied with Christ
as your Sin-Offering?
Next, we are satisfied with Christ as our Burnt-Offering. Under that
aspect, also, He was well pleasing to God. Man was bound to bring to
God a perfect obedience which would please his Maker. By himself, man
could never do this. But Christ has done it, and you and I who believe
in Him are perfectly satisfied that God is well pleased with Him, and
also well pleased with us who are representatively in Him. By faith,
wrapped in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, with His finished work
imputed to us and His perfect robe covering us as with raiment of
worked gold, we believe that we are beautiful in the sight of God,
"accepted in the Beloved," so that He can use His words to the spouse
in the Canticles and say to us, "You are all fair, My love; there is no
spot in you." If you believe this and have really a firm grip of it,
you are perfectly satisfied with Christ as your justifying
righteousness, the Burnt-Offering with which God is well pleased so
that He smells in it a savor of rest.
There was another offering, called the peace-offering, in which the
worshipper partook with God of the sacrifice in token of complete
reconciliation between God and the sinner. Are you not perfectly
satisfied with Christ as your Peace-Offering? You feed upon Him and God
feeds upon Him and, therefore, you feel yourself to be at perfect peace
with God, do you not? "Therefore being justified by faith, we have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Have you that peace,
Beloved? If you are looking to Christ alone as your Savior, I know that
you do feel within you that deep "peace of God, which passes all
understanding," which does "keep your hearts and minds through Christ
Jesus." Do you need any better peace with God than Christ has made? Do
you need any better reconciliation than Christ has accomplished? I know
you do not and you can, at this moment, from your inmost soul say, "God
has satisfied my soul with the Sacrifice of His dear Son. The fatness
of that Sacrifice has filled me and I am delighted with it. Christ has
put away all my sin. He has made me acceptable unto God. He has given
me the enjoyment of peace with God and communion with Him. Now am I
fully contented."
Dear Brothers and Sisters, when a man truly lays hold of Christ, he
gets fully satisfied. People come to us and say, "Why don't you take up
the modern-thought doctrines? Why don't you study the new theories that
so many have accepted?" Well, the reason is that when we have the best
Object for our faith that we can ever get, we feel as if that is quite
good enough for us. We cannot imagine anything that could give such
rest to our entire nature as a belief in Christ has done. If you can
really prove to us that there is something better, we are not fools,
and we shall be quite willing to accept it–but we greatly question
whether you will ever bring us to your way of thinking, for this Christ
of ours, in whom we have believed, is so good, great, gracious and
glorious, that He fills and overfills us, and we do not see what more
we could ever want or have!
Oh, how long was my mind in bitter anguish till I came to eat the fat
of Christ's Sacrifice! And when I trusted in Him as my Substitute, He
at once satisfied the demands of my intellect. I seemed to think that
it was the most glorious invention possible, even to God, that Christ
should die, "the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God."
Then I understood how God could be justified and yet be the Justifier
of him that believes in Jesus–how He could pardon me and yet punish my
sin–how there should be no violation of His justice and yet no
limitation of His mercy because Christ stepped in and paid all my debt,
so that it was justly as well as mercifully struck out from the record
of God! There are
some very great intellects in the world–no doubt there are much
greater ones than mine–but, as far as mine is concerned, that doctrine
of Christ's Substitution perfectly satisfies me.
Words fail me when I try to tell you how fully this Truth of God also
satisfies my conscience. My conscience, burdened, troubled and
perplexed when it was once awakened, used to plague me day and night. I
said to myself, "If God does not punish me for my sins, He ought to do
so." I could not believe in any love of God that did not punish my sin.
But when I saw that He bade His sword awake against His own dear Son
who stood in my place–when I saw that He was too just to wink at sin
and pass by transgression, but visited it upon a willing
Substitute–blessed be His name, then my conscience found a place of
perfect rest! I felt that I could love God and trust God because He had
not winked at sin, but had punished it, in the Person of His dear Son,
on my behalf! Oh, this fat of the Sacrifice satisfies God's servants as
to their conscience!
And now it also satisfies my affections. And it will satisfy yours,
dear Friend, if you trust to it. You need somebody to love–everybody
does. You cannot go through the world simply living inside your own
ribs. You must live in somebody's heart and if you give your heart
altogether to any human being, you will be disappointed. But, oh, when
you love Christ with all your heart–when you live wholly for Him, then
you have something that fills your heart right up! Here your love can
rest! It can roost and build its nest in the wounds of Jesus! There is
nothing that can fill the affections of any one of us like the dear
Person of our suffering Lord.
And I am sure that He also satisfies all our hopes. Large as they may
be, there is enough in Christ to fully gratify them. And as for our
fears, He fills them up so that we seem to have nothing to fear! "If
God is for us," in Christ, "who can be against us?" If Christ has died
for us, who is he that condemns us? And what is there that can now
separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord? Oh,
if you would all but try this blessed plan of believing in Jesus as the
Lamb of God slain for your sin–if you would but eat the fat of this
great Sacrifice–you, also, would prove the truth of the first sentence
of our text, "I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness." In
that way you would have all you could take in and a great deal more
than all you need!
II. Now let us turn to the second sentence of our text. "My people
shall be satisfied with My goodness, says the Lord." This teaches us
that AS GOD'S PEOPLE, WE ARE SATISFIED WITH GOD'S GOODNESS. All through
my discourse, I shall be appealing to you, dear Friends, and asking you
whether it is not as I say. Come now, Beloved, you who are the Lord's
people, I want to ask you a few questions concerning His goodness to
you.
First, are you satisfied with God's eternal purposes?Your names are
written in His Book of Life. He chose you from eternity to be His.
Before the torch of light had kindled the first shining orb, He had
looked upon you with Prescient eyes and loved you! You are satisfied
about that great Truth of God, I hope–"I have loved you with an
everlasting love." "Satisfied," did I say? That word seems scarcely
good enough! Sit down and turn over in your mind this eternal love of
God and you will feel such delight within your soul, if you feel as I
do, that you will soon have tears streaming down your cheeks for very
joy as you sing–
"Loved of my God, for Him again With love intense I burn! Chosen of You
ere time began, I choose You in return."
Well, now, out of that eternal love comes adoption into God's family.
Taking us out of the family of the Prince of Darkness, He has made us
His own sons and daughters! Are you satisfied with that adoption? Do
you need any higher honor than to be a child of God? For, "if children,
then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ." Earthly
sovereigns are accustomed to confer titles of nobility upon certain of
their subjects. I suppose there is something in the honor, though not
much. But when God makes a man His child, He puts him among the princes
of the blood royal of Heaven, the imperial family of the skies! The
peerages of Heaven are so glorious that all the nobilities of earth
sink into utter insignificance in comparison with them! You, poor man,
and you, humble woman, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, are allied
to the God that made Heaven and earth! You have been admitted
distinctly into the one Divinely royal family of the universe! Are you
not satisfied with this honor? You should be, indeed, more than
satisfied with this goodness of the
Lord!
Well, now, since you have become the subject of this adoption, all
God's dealings with you have been the dealings of a Father. He treats
you now as His sons. Perhaps, at the present moment, you do not feel
quite satisfied with God's dealings with you. But if you are in a right
spirit, you will be. It may be that God has stripped you of your wealth
and pulled you down from the high places you once occupied–you now
stand in a very lowly position compared with that which you once
filled. Yet, Beloved, if faith is in active exercise, you will say
concerning the Lord's dealings with you, "What pleases Him, pleases me.
Whether He lifts me up, or casts me down, since He does it out of
fatherly love and makes all things work for my good, I will be
satisfied with whatever He does, for it is all goodness and it is
written, 'My people shall be satisfied with My goodness.'"
dear Friends, this is a happy state of mind to be in, to be content
with all that happens to us–to have done with wishing for any
alteration in God's dealings with us–to be satisfied with whatever He
gives and just as satisfied when He withholds–to be even as a weaned
child, crying no more after this poor world, but giving yourself up
entirely to your loving Father's care! May God grant to each one of you
this privilege of being perfectly satisfied with His Providential
dealings with you! You will be a very naughty child if you are not–and
you will bring upon yourself a heap of trouble if you kick against what
God has done. It will cost you more pain to rebel against God's will
than that will ever can cause you if you yield to it.
Are you not also satisfied with the goodness of God in His
promises?Take your Bible–is it not a galaxy of stars– everyone of
them infinitely more precious than the whole of the wealth of this
world? All that you need for time and for eternity is included in the
promises of God's Word–
"What more can He say than to you He has said, You who unto Jesus for
refuge have fled?"
1 am quite sure that you are also satisfied with your prospects. Why, I
think, that you will each one say, "I am infinitely more than satisfied
with the prospect before me. It is too bright, too good, too glorious."
I am sure that God's people, when they are in a right state of heart,
are so satisfied with His goodness that they do not wish for anything
more. They can hardly conceive of more than God has prepared for them
that love Him. Let me but have God's goodness and all may be as God
wills! Only grant me Your favor, O my God, and I will make no choice of
continent or climate, of poverty or wealth, of sickness or health, of
time to live or time to die. If I have Your goodness, all else is but a
trifle. God's people show that they are satisfied with God's goodness
for they have no wish to change it for anything else. They would not
give up their God if all the kingdoms of the world could be delivered
over to them–they do not desire anything better for their children
than God's goodness. When you, who are parents, think of your dear ones
growing up around you, you are naturally anxious about their prospects.
If you did but know that they were all the Lord's children, you would
say, "We really care for nothing more than that. Their fortune is made
when once their father's God has become their God."
This spirit of resignation makes you content to wait here below,
whether it is threescore years and ten, or fourscore years, or less, or
more! That question will not trouble you so long as God's goodness
follows you. And this satisfaction also makes you happy in the thought
of departure out of this world–not impatient, but still expectant,
hoping for the day to come soon when, borne on wings sublime, you shall
leave behind you all the fret and care of this poor undeveloped life,
and shall enter into the Glory where your spirit shall expand itself in
the full Light of God and you shall know what God has prepared for them
that love Him.
III. I can only speak very briefly upon the third sentence of our text,
which is found in the 25th verse. "I have satiated the weary soul."
THIS SATISFACTION IS MEANT FOR WEARY PILGRIMS.
First, they are to be satisfied with Divine refreshments. Was it not so
with you, Beloved, when you started on the heavenly pilgrimage? I
should like to recall to you, my Brothers and Sisters, that memorable
day when first you knew the Lord. In my own case, I can testify that I
was very heavy of heart and very weary in spirit. Often did Satan tempt
me to give up seeking rest, for I had sought so long in vain. I had
attended the ordinances of God's House, and used the means of Grace
with great diligence, yet I think I was none the better, but rather
grew worse. But the moment that I looked to Christ upon the Cross–the
very instant I understood that all I had to do was to look unto Him and
be saved–truly He had satiated my weary soul! I could have danced for
joy, or shouted "Hallelujah!" at that moment! And by the hour together
my spirit was singing, "Praise the Lord!" I did not know how to
sufficiently express my delight.
You remember that time yourselves, do you not, when the Lord satiated
your weary soul? He had given you all that your soul could feed upon
and a great deal more. You were like a mouse that gets into a dairy
full of cheese–you knew
that you could not eat it all so you seemed to bury yourself in the
fatness and fullness of the Lord's mercy! There was no hope that you
would be able to take it all in. It was so with me, I know. I felt like
a little fish in the Atlantic, swimming where I pleased–above,
beneath, around on all sides there was an infinity of delight that much
more than filled my soul. That is what the Lord does for us when we
begin to trust in Jesus. How has it been with us since then?
Well, Brothers and Sisters, I for one testify that He has continued to
revive us. We have often been weary since those early days. Sometimes,
weary in the Lord's service, though never weary ofit. We have been
wearied with pain. We have been wearied with trials. We have been
wearied with doubts and fears. We have been wearied with the assaults
of Satan. We have been wearied with the unkindness of men and weary in
a great many ways, but, oh, whenever we have come to Christ, how
speedily He has satiated our weary soul! We could laugh at opposition
then! We could cheerfully take up our heaviest cross and find it light
as a feather! And we marched onward singing–
"In darkest shades if He appears, My dawning is begun! He is my soul's
sweet morning star, And He my rising sun."
Perhaps our greatest weariness is weariness of ourselves. The one
person that troubles me most is the one from whom I cannot get away as
long as I am here. There is, I expect, a troublesome fellow who worries
and bothers you a great deal–that is, yourself. Well, dear Friend,
when you are weary of self, you will find it a blessed thing just to
look away to Christ and say, "Lord, I am empty, but You are my
fullness. I am weakness itself, but You are my strength. I am a mass of
sin and misery, but You are my righteousness and my salvation. I am
less than nothing, but You are all in all to me." It is when we are
most sick of self that we are most fond of our Savior–and it is when
we get most weary of sinning that we find the sweetest repose in our
sin-conquering Redeemer!
So, you see there is perfect satisfaction for weary souls, and well
there may be, for look, you weary ones, and see what you have to give
you this satisfaction! God the Father is yours, to be your Father! God
the Son is yours, to be your Husband, your Head! God the Holy Spirit is
yours, to be your Comforter, your perpetual Indweller. "All things are
yours. . . the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things
to come; all are yours; and you are Christ's; and Christ is God's." The
Covenant, in which the "all things" are wrapped up, is yours, for He
has made with you "an Everlasting Covenant, ordered in all things and
sure." Heaven is yours, with its golden streets, its green inviting
fields, its endless glories, its boundless bliss–all is yours. Are you
not satisfied, O poor weary one? Throw yourself down upon the couch of
God's goodness and take your fill of rest, for this is the rest, and
this is the refreshing and, "so He gives His Beloved sleep."
IV. The last sentence of our text can only just be touched upon. It
speaks of SATISFACTION FOR MOURNERS. "I have replenished every
sorrowful soul."
There are plenty of sorrowful souls about and, no doubt, there are many
in this congregation. As we look into their faces, they appear
tolerably cheerful, but, "the heart knows his own bitterness." There
are some of us who are, at times, very heavy of heart–but when we do
wear sackcloth, we always wear it next to our skin. I can speak for
myself upon that matter. I do not like to wear sackcloth outside for
everybody to see because if we do that, we make other people wear it,
too, for we set a fashion of mourning. But this is our Lord's
command–"When you fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad
countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto
men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But you,
when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face; that you appear not
unto men to fast, but unto your Father which is in secret: and your
Father, which sees in secret, shall reward you openly."
But, now, where are you, sorrowful ones? Here is satisfaction for you,
whatever may be the cause of your weeping and grieving. Are you
sorrowing about past sin? Well, the Lord has given you perfect
satisfaction concerning that matter, if you are a believer in the Lord
Jesus Christ, for He tells you that He has put away all your
iniquity–"I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions
and, as a cloud, your sins." "Though your sins are as scarlet, they
shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall
be as wool." You need not be downcast concerning the sins that God
tells you have ceased to be! Remember that wonderful declaration in
Jeremiah 50:20? "In those days, and in that time, says the Lord, the
iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and
the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them
whom I reserve."
Perhaps you are sorrowful about inbred sin. You grieve because you
cannot live as you would like to live. That is a blessed kind of
sorrow. All God's servants have to fight with inward corruption, more
or less, and it often makes us cry with the Apostle, "O wretched man
that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" But do
not stop at that question–go on to say with Paul, on another occasion,
"Thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ." Your inward sins will all be conquered! There is not one
Canaanite in the land who will not be destroyed by the power of your
glorious Joshua, Jesus, who is leading you on to the battle! You shall
be perfect, one day, before the Presence of God. With exceeding joy you
shall be presented, "without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing."
Perhaps, however, some of you may be sorrowing because of your present
troubles. Then the Lord comforts you by telling you that your troubles
are working for your lasting good. I should like to bear my own witness
to the Lord's goodness to me and I desire to bless Him as much for the
cups full of bitterness as for the chalices of sweet delight. And I
really and honestly believe that, of the two, I have gained more by
affliction than by joy. And I have more reason to praise God, at this
moment, for deep depression and heart sorrow than for all the joys I
have ever known, with but one exception, that is, the joy of believing
in Christ and having fellowship with Him. Put all earthly enjoyments
together and I do not think that they are worthy to be compared with
the benefit of sanctified sorrow
There may be some of you who are sorrowing because of dear children
whom you have lost. The text says, "I have replenished every sorrowful
soul" so that you must not sorrow over these dear ones who have died,
especially after you have read in this chapter about God comforting
Rachel concerning her slain children. You know how the innocents were
murdered at Bethlehem by the cruel Herod and Rachel mourned for them in
this Prophetic lamentation. But the Lord said to her, "They shall come
again from the land of the enemy." It is a high honor to be the mother
of a child in Heaven! It is something still higher to be mother to many
sweet little ones who have gone on before you and who are singing up
there an everlasting song of praise unto the King! It is a wondrous joy
to be the father of those who, day and night, wait upon God in Heaven
and see His face, and serve Him evermore! So be not sad or downcast if
that is your case. As for all who die in the Lord, we sorrow not as
those who are without hope. There will be blessed meetings, by-and-by.
You look back, with great sorrow, to the loss of a dear husband, wife,
brother, sister, father, mother–yes, but you know where they are and
you have the blessed assurance that you shall meet them again in the
day when the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised–and you,
with them, shall form an unbroken family around the Throne of God in
Heaven!
What is your sorrow, dear Friend? I will not stop to go into any
further particulars, but whatever it may be, there is sufficient Grace
stored up in Christ to take all your sorrow away. Come, aching head,
lay yourself down upon the bosom of the loving Jesus! Come, weary
heart, lean your whole weight upon His wounded side! Come, child of God
with the sad countenance, and the red eyes of sorrow, look to the Man
of Sorrows, griefs close acquaintance, and learn from Him where the
River of Salvation perpetually flows! If the Lord will but reveal
Himself to you, you will need no other consolation, for He is, Himself,
the Consolation of Israel.
Some of you may not come to this place many more times. Perhaps you are
getting old and very feeble. Well, suppose you never come again–we
shall be sorry to miss you if we ourselves remain, but you will not be
sorry to be "forever with the Lord." You are going from good to better
and from better to best! And what will the best be? If, at the Lord's
Table, down here, you have sometimes had such raptures that you hardly
knew how to bear the joy–and I know that you have had such bliss–what
will it be to see your Savior face to face and to be forever with Him
where you can never grieve Him again and where He will pour out all the
love that is in His heart into your glorified spirit? All that may
happen to you within a week, within an hour, within a moment! Nobody
knows how near we are to the King's pearly gate, so let us not sorrow
too much, nor be too much cast down. Listen to the music of the golden
harps–they are ringing out so sweetly that if we could but open these
ears of ours a little more, we might catch at least some stray notes
from the everlasting harmonies! Some of you are nearer to Heaven than
you think you are. If these eyes could but be opened, or be taken away
altogether, so that the spirit might see without the hindrance of these
poor dim glasses, what a sight it would be! The jeweled city, with its
12 foundations all formed of precious stones–and the eternal Light
shining out of it from the face of God and the Lamb, for no other light
is needed there–
"What must it be to be there?"
Just think that we may be there within the next ten minutes and this
thought should make us bear without a sigh the sorrows of the present
moment, whatever they may be–
"The road may be rough, but it cannot be long,"
so let us–
"Smooth it with hope, and cheer it with song"
–and God be with us evermore, for Christ's sake! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: JEREMIAH31:1-26.
Verses 1-3. At the same time, says the LORD, willIbe the God ofall the
families ofIsrael, and theyshall be Mypeo-ple. Thus says the LORD,
Thepeople which were left ofthe sword found Grace in the wilderness;
even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest The LORD has appeared of
old unto me, saying, Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love:
therefore with loving kindness have I drawn you. Was there ever a
sweeter word from Heaven than this–everlasting love proved by the
drawings of Divine Grace? I know that your hearts will be full of music
if ever the Spirit of God has spoken home to your soul such a message
as this! Let us read it again. "The Lord has appeared of old unto me,
saying, Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with
loving kindness have I drawn you."
4, 5. Again I will buildyou, andyou shall be built, O virgin ofIsrael:
you shallagain be adorned with your tambourines, and shall go forth in
the dances of them that make merry. You shall yet plant vines upon the
mountains of Samaria: the planters shall plant, and shall eat them as
common things. God has kind purposes of love towards His ancient people
and He will yet bring Israel again to her own land. And, spiritually,
He has like purposes of love to all His elect. And they shall joy and
rejoice with unspeakable delight. What if you are barren for a while?
God shall yet come to you and you shall be fruitful.
6-9. For there shall be a day that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim
shall cry, Arise you, and let us go up to Zion unto the LORD our God.
For thus says the LORD; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among
the chief of the nations: publish you, praise you, and say, O LORD,
save Your people, the remnant ofIsrael Behold, I will bring them from
the north country, and gather them from the coasts ofthe earth, and
with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that
travails with child together: a great company shall return there. They
shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I
will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way,
wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a Father to Israel, and
Ephraim is My first-born. Do not forget the first meaning of this
passage in its reference to Israel, but suck in also the consolation
which comes from it to all who are believers in Christ. The Lord will
certainly bring all His chosen ones to Himself. Blind as they
are–wandering as they have been–they shall come back to Him! They
shall come back with tears of repentance, and with refreshments of
mercy: "by the rivers of water." They shall come back to their God, who
says, "I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is My first-born."
10, 11. Hear the word ofthe LORD, O you nations, and declare it in the
isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him,
andkeep him, as a shepherd does his flock. For the LORD has redeemed
Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he.
Redemption lies at the bottom of every favor that we receive from God.
He blesses us because He has redeemed us. He has bought us with so
great a price that we are too dear for Him to ever lose us. Because He
has bought His flock, He will, therefore, fetch it away from the enemy.
12-14. Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and
shall flow together to the goodness of the LORD, for wheat, and for
wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and
their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorro w any
more at all. Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men
and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will
comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow. And I will
satiate the soul of the priests with fatness. And My people shall be
satisfied with My goodness, says the LORD. Why, these very words are
full of marrow and fatness! The promise is inexpressibly sweet! What
must the fulfillment of it be? Oh, for faith to lay hold upon it! Yet
there is a note of sorrow mingled with the pealing of the joy-bells–
15, 16. Thus says the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation,
and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children, refused to be
comforted for her children, because they were not. Thus says the LORD;
Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears: for your
work shall be rewarded, says the LORD; and they shall come again from
the
land of the enemy. "Your lost babes shall live; their very bodies,
moldering in the earth, shall rise again. Be not grieved or vexed
overmuch, for, 'they shall come again from the land of the enemy.'"
17. And there is hope in your end, says the LORD, that your children
shall come again to their own border There is another sorrow–a deeper
sorrow than grief over children, that is, sorrow for sin–
18. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus. You have
chastised me, and I was chastised. And that was the end of it.
18. As a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. Since Your chastisements
have been of little service to me, lay Your hand
upon me–
18, 19. Restore me, and I shall be turned; for You are the LORD my God.
Surely after that I was turned, I repented. Repentance is a turning
from sin unto the Lord.
19. And after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh. In very
grief of heart, as if I could not smite myself enough for having
sinned.
19. I was ashamed, yes, even confounded, because I did bear the
reproach of my youth. Now when a man talks like that, how does God
speak?
20. Is Ephraim My dear son? Is he a pleasant child? For since I spoke
against him, I do earnestly remember him still. "Not only do I remember
him, but 'I do earnestly remember him still.'"
20. Therefore My heart yearns for him. "I cannot bear to see his
misery."
20. I will surely have mercy upon him, says the LORD. Oh, what
blessedness there is in this gracious promise!
21-26. Set you up landmarks, make you high heaps: set your heart toward
the highway, even the way which you went: turn again, O virgin of
Israel, turn again to these your cities. How long wiilyou go about, O
you backsliding daughter? For the LORD has created a new thing in the
earth, A woman shall compass a man. Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the
God of Israel; As yet they shall use this speech in the land of Judah
and in the cities thereof, when I shall bring again their captivity;
The LORD bless you, O habitation of justice, and mountain of holiness.
And there shall dwell in Judah itself, andin all the cities thereof
together, husbandmen, and they that go forth with flocks. For Ihave
satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.
Upon this I awaked and beheld; and my sleep was sweet unto me. I should
think it was. If a man could dream like that, he might well wish to go
to sleep again! To dream of everlasting love, of gracious drawings, of
heavenly restorations, of sin forgiven, sorrow removed and desire
satisfied, well may the Prophet, say, "My sleep was sweet unto me." May
we, when we are awake, learn what the Prophet heard in his sleep!