Shining Christians
(No. 2617)
INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, APRIL 9, 1899.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
JANUARY 1, 1882.
"Arise shine; for your light is come, and the Glory ofthe LORD is risen
upon you." Isaiah 60:1.
I BELIEVE that this text refers to the Church of God. I am aware that
it is considered by some to have a special reference to Israel, but I
also know that "no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private
interpretation," and that this particular Scripture may be most justly
and fitly applied to every child of God. I pray the Holy Spirit to bear
witness to that fact, even while I am speaking, by applying the text to
all Believers who are assembled here. The first word of it is, "Arise."
There is much need, dear Friends, that we should be, sometimes at
least, awakened. Here are persons in the light–the day has dawned upon
them, but they are fast asleep–so the trumpet is sounded in their ears
and the watchman shouts aloud, "Arise, shine; for your light is come."
I believe that there are some Christians who have wasted a large part
of their lives for need of somebody or something to wake them up. There
is more evil worked in the world by lack of thought than by downright
malice and there is more good left undone through lack of thought than
through any aversion to the doing of good! Some Christians appear to
have been born in the land of slumber and they continually live in
their native country of dreams. They occasionally rub their eyes and
suppose themselves to be wide awake, but they are in the Enchanted
Ground and though they know it not, they are little better than
sleepwalkers most of their days.
All of us may be conscious that, at times, we are startled into
something better than our ordinary mode of life. We have been going on
quietly, doing some good, but, all at once, we have been impressed with
the value of an immortal soul–we have been struck with the nearness of
eternity by the sudden death of a friend, or we have been awakened by
the special application to our conscience of some eminently-powerful
Scripture–or even the sight of some grievous sin has shocked us into
holy action.
For a time we have been quite different from our ordinary selves and
those who have observed us have thought that there was more in us than
they ever expected to see. Certainly more came out of us than we had
ever seen before, but, alas, we have soon slipped back into our former
quiescent state until, perhaps, something else of an unusual character
has happened and startled us again. I have known some in whom, happily,
the process of awakening has been a really effectual one. There came,
once, to a meeting I was addressing, a Brother who had been, for years,
earnest after the ordinary fashion of Christian young men–and the Lord
so guided me that I spoke about the usefulness that some men might
acquire if they would but bestir themselves. I urged the desirability
of some attempting to preach in the street, who might find their gifts
abundant for that work,
Well, this young man went back and tried what he could do for Christ
and God greatly blessed him. That young man was Mr. W. P. Lockhart, of
Liverpool, who is, at this moment, pastor of the church meeting in the
Toxteth Tabernacle, a large edifice erected by the people whom he
gathered by his preaching! Our friend has, with much acceptance,
occupied this pulpit and been of great service to our denomination.
But, if it had not been for God's awakening him under that particular
address, he might have remained just the ordinary trader that he was,
serving the Lord in a very proper way, but nothing noteworthy might
have come of it. I wonder whether there is anybody here who needs, as
it were, to be dragged out and impressed into the service of
Christ–some Brother, perhaps, from Liverpool, or Manchester, or
Birmingham, or Glasgow, or from this great London, itself–someone who
is "not slothful in business," yet not "fervent in spirit, serving the
Lord." Such a man may be, really, a fine fellow with great capacity,
but most of his talent is latent and dormant so far as the Word of Cod
is concerned.
My dear Friend, you have been sluggish quite long enough. Is it not
time for me to cry to you, "Arise," and is it not time for you to lift
yourself up from that couch of indolence, and say, "Yes, I have been
hearing sermons for a good long while. I have been a member of a
Christian Church and have been attending communions for many years. It
is high time that I ceased from sloth and began to do something to show
that God is with me and in me and, by His Grace, so it shall be"? Happy
will the preacher be if that shall be the result of calling your
attention to this first word of the text, "Arise." We all need to hear
the clarion call of Charles Wesley's hymn–
"Soldiers of Christ, arise
And put your armor on!
Strong in the strength which God supplies
Through His eternal Son!"
It is high time that all of us did arise. "Let us not sleep, as do
others." Loved by our God from all eternity, predestinated unto
everlasting life, bought with the precious blood of Jesus, helped by
the Spirit of God, and indwelt by Him, it is, indeed, time that we did
something worthy of our pedigree, something worthy of the price with
which we have been bought, something worthy of the love which set us
apart unto itself before the world was! I have no doubt that I am
addressing some who do not lack grace–God has given them that. They
are not without a saving knowledge of the truth–they do know Christ,
but what they need is somebody to start them on a higher and nobler
career. There are some who are just like Elijah's sacrifice, with the
wood all laid in order on the altar, and the bullock on the wood. O
Lord, send the fire from Heaven, that the sacrifice may be completely
consumed! Let the man be given to you as a whole burnt offering unto
the Most High! It may be that this poor weak hand may strike the match
that shall set that sacrifice on a blaze. So may it be, and God shall
have all the Glory!
The text says, "Arise," but then it goes on to say, "Arise, shine; for
your light is come, and the Glory of the Lord is risen upon you." In
these words I see three things for me to do. First, to remind you of
your privilege–"your light is come." Secondly, to awaken you to your
service–"Arise, shine." And then, thirdly, to rally you to your work,
by a few remarks which the context will suggest.
I. I am now speaking only to the people of God. There are some of you
whose light has never come, but you are in darkness even now. The Lord
have mercy upon you, but, to God's own people who have believed in the
Lord Jesus, this is my first message, REMEMBER YOUR PRIVILEGE. Your
light has come!
Remember, first, out of what darkness that Light of God has delivered
you. You are no longer in the darkness of sin, the darkness of
spiritual ignorance, the darkness of spiritual death. Neither are you
any longer in that darkness of distress and despair which might be
felt. You are now in the Light of God, but think a little while of what
your state of darkness used to be. It is not so many years ago that
there was a young man who did not know his right hand from his left in
spiritual things. He put darkness for light, and light for darkness,
bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter–but that man, not as young now,
knows the Savior–he has learned the evil of sin and he has rejoiced in
all the delights of pardon! Was that young man yourself? If so, you may
well prize your present privileges. It is not so long ago that there
was a man who was in the darkness of soul-agony. His sin was heavy upon
him. God's hand pressed him till all the moisture of his being seemed
to exude and he was like a plant withered in the long droughts of
autumn. He cried to the Lord, but for a while he received no response
to his petitions. He begged for mercy, but it did not come.
Now, that same person is sitting here, thankful that he is pardoned and
that he knows how he has been delivered from the wrath of God! And he
blesses that Divine Substitute who took upon Himself his sin and with
it that sin's penalty, and so delivered the guilty one from the wrath
to come. Oh, what a change there is in that young man! That young man
is yourself, is he not? Sister, it has been the same with you, too! Oh,
what a difference there is between the knowledge which God the Holy
Spirit has imparted to you–and the blindness in which Satan held you
captive! Oh, the difference between the misery into which conviction
and despair had brought you–and the peace and restfulness which you
feel at this moment through faith in Jesus Christ, your Lord and
Savior! Is it not true that your light has come, and do you not bless
God for it? Oh, I think you must and that you will use that blessed
fact to help me in my argument when I come to enforce the lesson of the
text–"Arise, shine; for your light is come." If God has given you
light out of such horrible darkness, it well becomes you to shine to
His praise as brightly as you can!
Please notice, next, that this light, which God has given you, is His
own Glory. "And the Glory of the Lord is risen upon you." Oh, but that
is wonderful–that God would not only give us light, but that that
light should be His own Glory! Creation is a part of God's Glory, but
it is only a moonlight Glory compared with that of Redemption! God, in
the gift of Jesus Christ, displayed the whole of His Nature. Creation
is not a canvas large enough for the whole image of God to be stamped
upon it. Byron speaks of God's face being mirrored in the sea, but
there is not space enough for the face of Deity to be fully reflected
in the broad Atlantic, or in all the oceans put together! The image of
God is to be fully seen in Jesus Christ, and nowhere else, for there
you behold attributes which Creation cannot display. Creation can
manifest love, power, wisdom and much else, but how can Creation
manifest justice, and justice lying side by side with mercy, like the
lion and the lamb? It is only in Christ that you can see this wondrous
sight–God hating sin with perfect hatred, but yet loving sinners with
much more than the tenderness of a mother towards her child!
It is upon you, dear Friend, that this light of the Glory of God has
fallen. In your history, in your case, the Glory of God's attributes
has been illustrated. You have seen it, yourself, in a measure, and
others are also to see it in you. Your light has come, the Glory of the
Lord has risen upon you. Therefore, God's Glory is to shine through you
and in you, and by you, and through you God shall manifest Himself to
angels and principalities and powers in the ages yet to come! I confess
that I am talking about what I do not fully understand. I am quite out
of my depth here. I see the light of the Glory of God in the face of
Jesus Christ, but to describe it is quite impossible. When I first saw
the electric light, if you had asked me what it was like, I could have
only told you something about its candle-power or its brilliance in
comparison with gas, but I could not have made you understand it. But
what is the electric light compared with the glory of the sun to one
who sees it for the first time? And what are all the suns that could
ever be created compared with the wondrous blaze of the Glory of God?
Yet such a marvelous light as that has fallen upon you, my Brother, my
Sister–"the light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of
Jesus Christ."
There is also this blessed thing to be said about this Light of
God–you will never lose it. I dwell upon that thought for a minute,
that you may rejoice in it. Read the 30th verse. "Your sun shall no
more go down, neither shall your moon withdraw itself: for the Lord
shall be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be
ended." The light that God has given you will never be taken away from
you! Ah, you have feared a good many times that it would be, but it
never has and it never will! You have put your hand before your eyes
and then you have thought that the sun was blotted out, but it was not.
Clouds have sometimes arisen between you and your God, but the light of
His everlasting love has gone on shining all the while and so it always
will. We bless God that we have not to preach to you of temporary
salvation, a salvation that saves people for a quarter of a year, or
that saves them for a few years and then away they go back, again, to
the world! No, no, our comforts may be slower in the making than are
those of others, but they last when they are made, for they are made by
the Grace of God! We are not saved by a sudden jump into something–we
know not what–but by a new creation, by a new birth, by a total and
radical change. Now, if the Light of God has risen upon you in that
way, so as to change your very heart and the whole nature of your
being, that Light will go on shining forever! Drink in that thought.
You have, by Grace, laid hold of that which you will never lose and One
has laid hold of you who will never let you slip out of His grasp, for
it is written, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they
follow Me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never
perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand."
I must not get on that glorious theme of the Final Preservation of the
Saints because it is one that always sets my heart leaping with delight
whenever I turn to it! But I say to you that if you take away from me
the Doctrine of the Final Perseverance of the Saints and all that is
involved in it, I have not anything left that is worth keeping! I
should not care about the Gospel if that essential feature of it were
gone. That Truth of God seems to me to be the very soul of it–
everlasting love making an everlasting covenant and taking the objects
of that everlasting love into everlasting union with Christ and giving
them everlasting life by virtue of that union with Him! So, Believer,
that light of yours will never burn out–it shall shine on forever and
ever. "Your light has come" and it shall never go away. Oh, joy, joy,
joy! Let God be praised continually for such a blessed gift as this!
Now I must leave that part of my subject, only asking you to turn it
over in your minds and to rejoice if the text is true of you, "Your
light is come." I wish that some here who have been in the dark till
now, might know it to be true in their case, and each one be able to
say, "I do believe! I will believe in Christ Jesus as my Savior." If
you do, your light has come!
II. But I am going to speak further to those who know that their light
hascome. Dear Friends, as soon as you have received this light of the
Glory of God–this very same light that makes Heaven what it is–this
light which never will be dim and which you will never lose–I want to
push you on to my second point, which is this, TO AWAKEN YOU TO
SERVICE. "Arise, shine; for your light is come." A man cannot shine if
he has not any light, but as soon as ever he has the Light of God, what
is he to do? Why, shine, of course! He must not put away his light as
in a dark lantern, but the moment he receives it, he is bound to show
it!
First, my dear Friend, since your light has come, shine by holy
cheerfulness. I am very sorry whenever I meet with Christians who have
no joy. I am most of all vexed with myself whenever my own joy burns
dimly, for we who have the light of the Glory of God ought to have
shining faces. We have been forgiven! We are God's children! We are on
the way to Heaven! Then, surely, if anybody's mouth ought to be full of
laughter and if any tongue should be tuned to sweetest music, it should
certainly be ours! There are none who have such a right to lead
perfectly happy lives as Christians. I know that there are some who I
cannot doubt are good people, but who are a very surly sort of folk.
Dear Hearts, they will be all right when they get to Heaven, but I
would not like to meet a Heaven full of them if they are in Heaven as
they are here! There are some persons who never can be content.
Providence never pleases them. The weather is always wrong. Their
dinners are always ill cooked–nothing goes right, nothing has gone
right with them for years–and they are very snappish and snarling.
This style of living will not do, my Brother! "Arise, shine." I would
like to lay those words on your breakfast plate tomorrow morning.
Before you go out to business, put this passage between two pieces of
bread and butter, "Arise, shine; for your light is come." It may be
that you will wake up in the morning rather gloomy and you will say to
yourself, "I have to go out and battle with the world again." Take this
text, "Arise, shine; for your light is come," and say to yourself, "I
must shine. Come, come, come, come, come! I must not let myself get
down in the dumps, I must not begin the day mourning. God has given me
light, so I must and I will shine to His praise and Glory." May God
help you to do it, for that is one way in which we can adorn the Gospel
of Jesus Christ, our Savior, by the cheerfulness of our deportment!
The next way of shining is by a gracious godliness. True Christians
ought to shine by their lives. The stars do not say anything, but they
keep on shining. Did you look up at the sky, the other night, and see
Jupiter hard by the moon and Saturn apparently just a little way off?
There has been a wonderful beauty about various planets during the past
month–perhaps never was the sky more interesting than it has been of
late, but never a word was said among the shining bodies in the
heavens! I kept company with the pole star, I think, for 12 long hours
as I was traveling home from the South of France I kept seeing him out
of the carriage window. He never said a word to me all the time, but
one thing he did do, he continued shining! And I also gazed at all the
stars of Ursa Major, as I remained wakeful the whole night long, but
not a syllable did they say to me. They do not need to speak, for they
shine! In like manner, you Christian people who cannot talk–the women
especially. I mean that you cannot preach, you are not allowed to
preach–I want you to shine. Some people seem to think that there is no
shining without talking, whereas the very best shining is that of
Christian women, who, if they have little to say, have a great deal to
do. They make the house so bright with heavenly grace and decorate it
so sweetly with the flowers of their cheerful piety, that those round
about them are won to Christ by them! Therefore, shine, dear Brothers
and Sisters, by your gracious godliness, for so you will bring Glory to
God!
Then, thirdly, shine by zealous earnestness. We do not often meet with
people who are too much in earnest. I can only thank God that I hear,
in certain places, an outcry against fanaticism. We have been such a
long time without it, so we may be almost glad to have a little of it,
especially as the so-called fanaticism is probably only zeal thoroughly
awakened. If there are some people who seem to be wildly enthusiastic,
let us imitate them! We have had so much slumbering, so much coldness,
so much death, that we can put up with a little extravagance and
excess. Still it would be better if, judiciously, one went steaming
straight ahead in the service of God with a resolution never to be
beaten, never to cease every earnest endeavor to make known the Gospel
of Christ–and to reflect the Light of God which has shone upon us from
above! Oh, for a zealous earnestness! May God pour it out upon this
Church yet more abundantly! May you go into your Master's service with
all your might and main, and may the Spirit of God, as a spirit of
burning, rest upon everyone of you far more abundantly than in the
past!
This would lead, dear Friends, to your shining by a secret bravery.
There are some dear people whom I must encourage to be a little more
bold. We have some friends, here and there, to whom I could hint, only
very gently, that they are quite forward enough, but there are many
good people who always keep in the background. They might do so much
for Christ if only they had a little courage! Do, dear Friends, break
through the ice this year! If you have felt that you ought to do
something for your Lord, and yet have never begun to do it, begin at
once! Do you ask, "What is the best way to try to serve Christ?" Well,
I think the best way is to doit. "But how should I begin?" Well, I
would begin by beginning! "When shall I begin?" Begin now! This very
hour. "But in what way?" In the first way that comes to hand–"whatever
your hand finds to do, do it with all your might," for our text says,
"Arise, shine." If you have the Light of God, emit it, distribute it,
scatter it somehow or other! Have pluck–that is a plain English word,
but I do not know how to put my meaning better. Have pluck enough to
come out and be a Christian–do not always be like a rat behind the
wall, but come out and acknowledge yourself on Jesus Christ's side and
promote the everlasting Gospel wherever you have the opportunity!
So runs the text, "Arise, shine; for your light is come."
III. Now, in closing, I want TO RALLY YOU TO THIS SHINING BY ONE OR TWO
ARGUMENTS.
And, first, by the world's great need. Read the second verse of this
chapter–"Behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross
darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon you, and His Glory
shall be seen upon you." Oh, the darkness and the death shade still
over the people! Over this London of ours there hangs a pall of deadly
nightshade, a darkness that may be felt! Then, little glowworm, even
you must not hide your light! Sparks, tiny sparks, you that have but
one little flash, you must not conceal it, for the night is dark, and
the darkness deepens! The devil, drunkenness and lewdness, Romanism in
all its forms, false doctrine, infidel teaching, skepticism in a
thousand shapes–all these make night hideous and further deepen the
dense shades of darkness! You who have the light–show it! If it is not
the Light of God, say so, and renounce it. But if it is the Light of
God, in the name of the eternal God, good man, I pray you, let your
light be seen! Arise, shine; for darkness covers the earth, and gross
darkness the people!
Shine, next, because of the great results that will surely come of it.
If all Christians were once to shine–and that means if you were to
shine, and your neighbor, and I and my neighbor–if all of us were to
shine, then it would come to pass that Gentiles would speed to the
Light of God, and kings to the brightness of the rising! Then, from all
lands and from the sea, would converts come, till nations should crowd
to Christ like flocks of doves flying to their dovecotes. And the
Church of God would be multiplied beyond all count. We often keep from
work for Christ because we despair of its success. We neglect effort
because we are afraid that effort will be useless. Doubt no longer! He
that bids you sow intends to give a harvest and He will bless your
sowing if you will but sow in faith. We may well be encouraged to do so
when we think such thoughts as these, "Shine, for your light shall be
seen; shine, for your light shall be useful to save lives like a
lighthouse on the rock–useful to direct others home, like the
cottager's candle in the window to guide her husband to his resting
place." Shine, then, because of the good that will come of it to the
world.
Shine, next, because of the great blessing that it will bring to the
Church, for, if all Christians rally to serve God as they should, then
shall the Church have the days of her great glory–"The glory of
Lebanon shall come unto you, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box
together, to beautify the place of My sanctuary; and I will make the
place of My feet glorious. The sons, also, of them that afflicted you,
shall come bending unto you; and all they that despised you shall bow
themselves down at the soles of your feet; and they shall call you The
City of the Lord, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. Whereas you have
been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through you, I will make
you an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations." A shining Church
will be a happy Church, but if we do not shine, we will be miserable.
But if we will shine for Christ, we shall see great prosperity for the
Church of the living God!
And, best of all, we must do this because of the argument used in the
21st verse. I will not speak upon it, I shall leave it with you–"that
I may be glorified." It is God your Father who says that! It is Christ
who has bought you with His blood who says it! It is the Holy Spirit
who is your indwelling Comforter who says it! There is no argument that
eloquence could state, or that reason could suggest that can have such
force with a loyal heart as this–"that I might be glorified." Do you
not pray, "Father, glorify Your Son"? Now, in the power of the Holy
Spirit, prove the sincerity of your prayer by giving out whatever light
God has given to you and, since your light has come, arise and shine,
as you have ability, from this very hour! The Lord grant it, dear
Brothers and Sisters, to me and to you, for His name's sake! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM 103; ISAIAH 59:16-21; ISAIAH
60:1-16.
What more appropriate passage than the 103rd Psalm can we read, on this
first Sabbath night of another year, to express the gratitude of our
thankful hearts? I will only interject a sentence here and there, but
let me beg all to try to worship God in the spirit while we once more
read together the familiar words of this much-loved Psalm.
Psalm 103:1. Bless the LORD, Omysoul. O my Soul, be not thoughtless and
wandering, but give this holy hour to the sacred employment of praising
and blessing your God!
1. And all that is within me, bless His holy name. Let every string of
my heart be now touched by the fingers of the Holy Spirit, let every
faculty of my being wake up to praise the Lord–"and all that is within
me, bless His holy name."
2. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits. They are
very memorable. They deserve to be "engraved as in eternal brass." To
be forgetful of them will be a base form of ingratitude. Come, my
memory, wake up! "Forget not all His benefits." Here are a few of the
choicest of the gems in this cabinet–the jewels are too many for me to
exhibit them all.
3. Who forgives all your iniquities. The Lord has done it and continues
to do it–"who forgives"–not some of your iniquities, but all of them,
so that you can sing, "The depths have covered them: there is not one
of them left." Why, there is enough to sing of in that, alone! We need
never leave off praising God for that one mercy of forgiven sin –it is
the first of God's favors and prepares us to enjoy the rest.
3. Who heals all your diseases. Many times has my heart had to sing
about the gift from my God of this precious pearl, "who heals all your
diseases," and some of you have also had occasion, in your restored
health, to praise the Lord for this privilege. But, oh, to think that,
every day, He is healing us of the great disease of sin–our very
afflictions being, often but the lancet and the knife with which He is
removing from us the foul taint of evil. "Who heals all your diseases."
4. Who redeems your life from destruction. You have a life that can
never die, for He has redeemed it. Then, bless your Lord for
Redemption! If you do not sing for this cause, the very stones in the
street will cry out against you!
4. Who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies. What a
crown! What gems are on it! No gold or silver can ever equal
this–"loving kindness and tender mercies." Every child of God is a
crowned king–shall we not, for this, also, sing aloud, "Bless the
Lord, O my soul"?
5. Who satisfies your mouth with good things; so that your youth is
renewed like the eagle's. If you enjoy sweet inward contentment and
satisfaction with your God, you must praise Him, "who satisfies your
mouth with good things; so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's"
With renewed strength, can you, will you, be silent? I am sure you
cannot, but you must use all the strength that God has given back to
you to His praise and Glory.
6. The LORD executes righteousness and judgment for all that are
oppressed. Blessed be His name for this! He is the supreme Governor of
the world and He will rectify all its wrongs in His own time and way.
There is a great power that makes for righteousness and that power is
on the Throne of God. "The Lord reigns."
7-9. He made known His ways unto Moses, His acts unto the children of
Israel The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous
in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will He keep His anger
forever Let your heart keep praising the Lord as we read every one of
these sentences, for there is a theme for everlasting music in each
line of this Psalm. "He will not always chide," Hallelujah! "Neither
will he keep His anger forever." And again we say, "Hallelujah !"
10. He has not dealt with us after our sins. Blessed be His holy name!
10. Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. Forever adored be His
long-suffering and His tender mercy.
11. For as the Heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy
toward them that fear Him. Therefore praise
Him–
"Loud as His thunders, shout His praise,
And sound it lofty as His throne!"
If He is such a God as this, you can never overdo His praises. It is
impossible to exaggerate your exaltation of Him!
12. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our
transgressions from us. They are gone! They are removed to an infinite
distance–they will never come back. It is not possible that they
should ever again be laid to our charge.
13. Like as a father pities his children, so the LORDpities them that
fear Him. Do not stop the music of thanksgiving. Let your hearts, if
not your voices, keep on saying, "Bless the Lord! Bless the Lord!" Oh,
what pity you and I have needed! What tenderness and compassion! And–
"Such pity as a father has Unto his children dear"–
such pity has God had upon us!
14-16. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust As for
man, his days are asgrass: as a flower ofthe field, so he flourishes.
For the windpasses over it, andit is gone; and the place thereof shall
know it no more. As a congregation, we have had most grievous proof of
this Truth of God during the last two or three months. It has seemed to
me as if everybody was dying. Our ranks have been thinned wondrously–
"And we are to the margin come, And we expect to die."
17-19. But the mercy ofthe LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon
them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto children's children; to
such as keep His Covenant, and to those that remember His Commandments
to do them. The LORD has prepared His Throne in the heavens; and His
kingdom rules over all Do not believe the people who attribute sickness
and death to the devil, and so try to make it appear that God has left
His Throne. He still reigns! He reigns forever, "King of kings, and
Lord of lords, Hallelujah!" "Bless the Lord, O my soul!" "The Lord has
prepared His Throne in the heavens; and His kingdom rules over all."
20-22. Bless the LORD, you His angels, that excel in strength, that do
His Commandments, hearkening unto the voice ofHis Word. Blessyou the
LORD, allyou His hosts;you ministers ofHis that do Hispleasure. Bless
the LORD, all His works in all places ofHis dominion: bless the LORD, O
my soul. For well you may, O my Soul, for the Lord has dealt
bountifully with you! Lead the song and may the whole world join you in
joyful adoration of the Triune Jehovah, Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
Now we will read the passage that especially relates to the message I
have to deliver to you presently in my Master's name. Turn to Isaiah
59, verse 16–
Isaiah 59:16. And He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there
was no intercessor: therefore His arm brought salvation unto Him; and
His righteousness, it sustained Him. Man's extremity was Christ's
opportunity. There was no one left to save poor fallen manhood, no one
who could lift a hand or a finger for our rescue. Therefore, Jesus
came, and fought, and bled, and died, and conquered on our behalf.
17-19. For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of
salvation upon His head; and He put on the garments of vengeance for
clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak. According to their deeds,
accordingly He will repay fury to His adversaries, recompense to His
enemies; to the islands He will repay recompense. So shall they fear
the name ofthe LORD from the west, and His Glory from the rising ofthe
sun. Christ came once and He is to come a second time because He will
be again needed here. And when He returns, He will ease Himself of His
adversaries, and speedily win the victory for truth and righteousness.
Then shall the whole earth know what Christ can do.
19-21. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit ofthe LORD
shall lift up a standard against him. And the redeemer shall come to
Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, says the
LORD. As for Me, this is My Covenant with them, says the LORD; My
Spirit that is upon you, and My Words which Ihave put in your month,
shall not depart out of your mouth, nor out ofthe mouth of your seed,
nor out ofthe mouth of your seed's seed, says the LORD, from henceforth
and forever. The Church of God shall have the Spirit of Truth and the
Word of Truth ever abiding in her midst. God will not break His
Covenant by withdrawing His Spirit from His Church. The Redeemer has
come and His work of Redemption is accomplished. The Spirit also has
come, but His work is not as yet done–it is being performed from day
to day and the Spirit will never be withdrawn while any part of His
ministry remains unfulfilled. The consequence of all this is the Glory
of the true Church of the living God. There are better days coming for
the cause of Christ and of His Truth. Listen, and be encouraged, all
you that are heavy of heart!
Isaiah 60:1-3. Arise, shine; for your lightt is come, and the Glory of
the LORD is risen upon you. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the
earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon
you, and His Glory shall be seen upon you. And the Gentiles shall come
to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. The Church
of God is one, whether it is among Jews or Gentiles. That poor Church
seemed abandoned and forsaken. Dark days came and it looked as if the
Church must even cease to exist, but it did not. Now God has brought in
many sinners of the Gentiles and He will bring them in much more
numerously in the future times of refreshing. They shall come in
armies, in hosts, in nations–and the Church of God shall be
exceedingly glorious!
4,5. Lift up your eyes round about and see: all they gather themselves
together, they come to you: your sons shall come from far, and your
daughters shall be nursed at your side. Then you shall see, and flow
together, and your heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the
abundance of the sea shall be converted unto you, the forces of the
Gentiles shall come unto you. All the strength of the land and of the
sea–the armies and the navies shall come and prostrate themselves
before the Church of God. The supreme power on earth shall yet be the
Christ in the midst of His Church.
6. The multitude of camels shall cover you, the dromedaries of Midian
and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come. The Easterns shall bow
before the King; they that of old had some light shall come to the yet
greater light. In those holy lands which afterwards became so unholy,
there shall yet be a return to the Truth of God and all the false
prophets shall be expelled. Where Mohammed's crescent has cursed the
nations, there shall shine again the Sun of Righteousness, with healing
in His wings.
6, 7. They shall bring gold and incense; and they shall show forth the
praises of the LORD. All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together
unto you, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto you: they shall come
up with acceptance on My altar, and I will glorify the house of My
Glory. Wandering tribes of wild Arabs shall come and bow before Christ,
and lay their wealth at His feet.
8. Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their
windows?The growing Church sees a greater multitude coming to her than
even the populous East could muster. From where do they come? Listen,
Brothers and Sisters, and look around and see for yourselves.
9. Surely the isles shall wait forMe, and the ships ofTarshish first,
to bring your sons from far, their silver and their gold with them,
unto the name of the LORD your God, and to the Holy One of Israel,
because He has glorified you. In ships from these remote islands, and
from countries that were dimly spoken of, in the East, as, "lands of
Tarshish," far away, great multitudes were to come to Christ. Are they
not coming today from this Ultima Thule, this distant land beyond the
pillars of Hercules, are they not coming to Christ "as a cloud, and as
the doves to their windows"?
10-16. And the sons of strangers shall build up your walls, and their
kings shall minister unto you: for in My wrath I smote you, but in My
favor have I had mercy on you. Therefore your gates shall be
continually open; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may
bring unto you the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be
brought. For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall
perish; yes, those nations shall be utterly wasted. The glory of
Lebanon shall come unto you, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box
together, to beautify the place of My sanctuary; and I will make the
place of My feet glorious. The sons, also, of them that afflicted you
shall come bending unto you; and all they that despised you shall bow
themselves down at the soles of your feet; and they shall call you, The
City of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. Whereas you have
been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through you, I will make
you an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations. You shall also
drink the milk of the Gentiles, and milk the breast of kings: and you
shall know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the
Mighty One of Jacob. In God's good time, all this shall come to pass.