The Man With The Measuring Line

The Man With The Measuring Line

DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 11, 1864, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT
THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"I lifted up my eyes again and looked and behold a man with a measuring
line in his hand. So I said, Where are you going? And he said to me, To
measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is the length. And
there was the angel who talked with me, going out; and another angel
was coming out to meet him, who said to him, "Run, speak to this young
man, saying, 'Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls
because of the multitude of men and livestock in it. For I,' says the
Lord, 'will be a wall of fire around her and I will be the glory in her
midst.'" Zechariah 2:1-5.

IT is evident that this vision and prophecy graciously reveal the
future history of Jerusalem. You may spiritualize, if you will, and say
that Jerusalem signifies the Church–but I pray you not forget the
literal meaning of such words as these in the twelfth verse–"The Lord
shall take possession of Judah as His inheritance in the holy land and
will again choose Jerusalem." Jerusalem is spoken of and Jerusalem is
meant. A man with a measuring line is about to measure the length and
breadth of the city. He appears to be interrupted in his work by
another angel who foretells that so greatly shall Jerusalem extend that
she will be as a town without walls, for the number of men and
livestock that shall be in it.

This prophecy has not as yet been fulfilled–it may have had some
partial fulfillment in those times of peace before the coming of the
Savior, but even then Jerusalem was surrounded by a triple wall. And
though it is true that there was a large suburban population, yet the
city was not then, "as towns without walls," nor was the Glory of God
in the midst of her in any eminent degree. I believe this passage
refers to a happy and glorious future yet to come when the city of
Jerusalem shall have no walls, except the protection of the Lord, but
shall be extended far and wide.

The Jewish people and their royal city shall remain the center of the
manifestations of Divine Glory, just as the city of London still
remains the center of the metropolis. But the nations of the earth
shall be joined unto the Lord so that while Jerusalem remains the city
of the Great King, the faithful among the people of all nations shall
be, as it were, a suburban population to the chosen city and the
kingdom of Messiah shall extend far and wide. Jerusalem will be rebuilt
in more than her former splendor. The Jews will be restored to their
own land. And Messiah will reign as a prince of the house of David.

We cannot understand many portions of Scripture except upon this
belief. If it is so, it appears according to this prophecy that God
shall be the protection of this great city and the glory in the midst
of her. All her sons shall be gathered from their distant wandering
places. And where they have associated themselves with Antichrist, they
shall hear the voice which says, "Deliver yourself, O Zion, that dwell
with the daughter of Babylon." Christ Himself shall fulfill His
promise, "Lo, I come." The nations shall be judged. God shall shake His
hands over all lands and give them as a spoil to His people. Zion shall
sing and rejoice–her Lord and King shall dwell in the midst of
her–many nations shall join themselves to Jehovah and He, from shore
to shore, shall reign while all flesh is silent before Him because He
is raised up out of His holy habitation.

I am not given to prophesying and I fear that the fixing of dates and
periods has been exceedingly injurious to the whole system of
pre-millennial teaching. But I think I clearly see in Scripture that
the Lord Jesus Christ will come–so far I go and take my stand–that He
will come personally to reign upon this earth. At His coming it appears
clear to me that He will gather together the Jewish people. Jerusalem
shall become the metropolis of the new empire which shall then extend
from pole to pole, from the river even to the ends of the earth. If
this is a correct interpretation of prophecy, you may read the whole of
this chapter through and understand it–you have the key to every
sentence! Without such a belief I see not how to interpret the
Prophet's meaning.

Dear Friends, we may sometimes refresh our minds with a prospect of the
kingdom which is soon to cover all lands and make the sun and moon
ashamed by its superior glory! We are not to indulge in prophesies as
some do, making them their spiritual food, their meat and drink. But
still we may take them as choice morsels and special delicacies set
upon the table. They are condiments which may often give a sweeter
taste, or, if you will, a greater pungency and savor to other
doctrines. Prophetic views light up the crown of Jesus with a superior
splendor.

They make His Manhood appear illustrious as we see Him still in
connection with the earth–to have a kingdom here as well as there–to
sit upon a throne here as well as in yonder skies! To subdue His
adversaries even upon this Aceldama, as in the realm of spirits! To
make even this poor earth upon which the trail of the serpent is so
manifest a place where the Glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all
flesh shall see it together. If our view of prophecy is the correct
one, it seems to be in perfect harmony with all the doctrines of the
Gospel.

God certainly did elect His people the Jews. He made a Covenant with
His servant Abraham and although you will remind us that this was only
a temporal covenant, I would remind you that it was the type of the
spiritual one and it would be an unhappy reflection for us if the
typical Covenant should prove to be only temporary as well as temporal!
If that came to an end and if God cast away, in any sense, the people
whom He did foreknow, it might foretell to us the ill foreboding that
perhaps He might cast away His spiritual seed also–and that those who
were chosen as the spiritual seed of Abraham might yet be cut off from
the olive into which they had been grafted. If the natural branches are
cast away forever, why not the grafted branches, too?

But here is our joy–the God who swore unto His servant Abraham that to
him and to his seed would He give the land forever has not gone back
from His word–they shall possess the land. Their feet shall joyously
tread its fruitful acres yet again. They shall sit, every man, under
his own vine and under his own fig tree and none shall make them
afraid. And so the spiritual seed to whom the spiritual heritage is
given as by a Covenant of Salt shall also possess their heritage
forever and of their rightful portion no robber shall despoil them.

Now, I think it cannot be said that I have avoided the immediate
meaning of the passage before us and that I have selected the vision as
a text merely to accommodate it to my own purpose. You have now before
you the intention and mind of the Spirit of God, so far as I am able to
perceive it. And having spoken thus far upon it, I now feel at liberty
to interpret the vision in what is commonly called a more spiritual
sense, begging you, however, not to think that I make the spiritual
sense override the sense I have already given, for the mind of the
Spirit in the passage is ever to be respected far beyond any human
accommodation.

And though the accommodation may seem to be less historical and more
suitable for Sunday food to the people of God, yet remember God's sense
stands first and our sense is only to be regarded and respected as it
stands in harmony with other portions of Holy Writ. My heart is so
taken up with the present state of my Church and congregation that I
feel moved to use my text in its application to us and I think it may
well bear such an application. May God teach it and bless it to us!

First, dear Friends, I want you to lift up your eyes with Zechariah and
see the man with the measuring line. Secondly open your ears with
Zechariah and hear the voice of the prophesying angel. And then,
thirdly, I want you to go your ways and publish abroad the commands of
this angel.

I. First, then, LET US SEE THE MAN WITH THE MEASURING LINE IN HIS HAND.
All Zechariah's visions are remarkably simple. They are not like
Isaiah's when he saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted
up. Nor or they like Ezekiel's when he beheld living creatures with
four faces and wheels full of eyes. Zechariah had not imagination
enough to be capable of beholding with due appreciation visions so
complicated and mysterious. He was not the proper instrument of God for
the Revelation of these more mysterious matters. But the Lord had a
place for him and a vision for him, too.

How sweet to be a servant of God in any position! He sees simply a man,
an ordinary architect, going forth with a measuring line to measure the
city of Jerusalem–a very simple sight–and without any stretch of the
imagination you can all picture the man with his line. If this man in
the text is to be viewed as an angel, commissioned by God to take
measurements of that city, he would be sure to do it accurately and his
measurements would be instructive, could he re- veal them to us. Since
they are hidden from our eyes, let it be enough for us to perceive that
the city has measurements– has a settled length and breadth–and that
the measurements can be taken and that we have Divine authority for
asserting that they have been taken.

This leads us to contemplate the doctrine of predestinating love, with
its line of Divine Grace, and its plans of wisdom. God's city of
Jerusalem is not to be built haphazardly. The line marks out and
measures how long the wall shall be and where the corner shall be
placed. And how far the other wall shall be carried and where it shall
come to an end. The towers are counted, the bulwarks are considered.
Every single item and particular of the sacred architecture of the
Church of God is written down in the decree of the Most High. Every man
has his plan and shall not the Most High God?

He is esteemed to be a simpleton who begins to erect a building with no
sort of idea how it will look at the end! Who, but a fool waits till
the topstone is brought out before he conceives in his mind any sort of
idea of what the building will be like? You would never employ a person
without foresight as an architect. And if a man were foolish enough to
do this with his own building, all who heard of it would make it the
theme of laughter.

It cannot be supposed, therefore, to be so with God! Your belief in His
wisdom supposes that He has a plan, no, necessitates that there should
be a design in the Divine mind! Moreover, you cannot separate the
thought of Omniscience from God. If God is Omniscient, He knows the end
from the beginning. He sees in its appointed place not merely the
cornerstone which He has laid in fair colors–in the blood of His dear
Son–but He beholds in their ordained position each of the chosen
stones taken out of the quarry of nature and polished by His Grace! He
sees the whole from corner to cornice, from base to roof, from
foundation to pinnacle.

He has in His mind a clear knowledge of every stone which shall be laid
in its prepared space and how vast the edifice shall be and when the
topstone shall be brought forth with shouts of, "Grace! Grace unto it!"
Deny the decree of election and what do you see? You see the work of
Grace without God's superintendence in it. What would creation be if
God had not been absolutely present there? Can we conceive of a single
creature formed without the creating purpose of God? Is there a fish in
the sea, or a fowl in the air which was left to chance for its
creation? No! In every bone, joint and muscle, sinew, gland and blood
vessel you mark the Presence of God working everything according to the
design of infinite Wisdom.

Shall God be present in creation, ruling over all and not in Grace?
Shall Grace be left in a state of chaos while creation is ordered by
the Most High? Look at Providence! Who knows not that not a sparrow
falls to the ground without your Father? Even the hairs of your head
are all numbered. Every dark and bending line meets in the center of
your love. It is our joy to believe that the measuring line is used in
our trials and our troubles. If He ordained the number ten, who can
make it eleven? If He filled the cup but half-full, even Satanic agency
cannot fill it to the brim. God weighs the mountains of our griefs in
scales and the hills of our tribulation in balances.

And shall there be a God in Providence and not in Grace? What? Shall He
ride in the chariot of the clouds and put a bit into the mouth of the
tempest and rein in the wild steeds of the storm and yet shall He leave
the greater work of His Grace–His third dominion, the grandest and the
best–to the will of man, to the fickle choice of the creature? Shall
He make the glorious salvation of Jesus an unsettled thing to be kicked
about as a football by the free agency of man? Shall Divinity stand as
lacquer to the creature's changeful choice? Never! He will have mercy
on whom He will have mercy! He will have compassion on whom He will
have compassion!

And at the last it shall be seen that in every chosen vessel of mercy
Jehovah did as He willed with His own. And in every separate instance
of salvation and in every part and portion of the work of Grace the
Lord reigned as King forever and did as He willed and glorified His own
name. I see a man with a measuring line and I rejoice to see him and
thank God that it is written, "The foundation of God stands sure,
having this seal, The Lord knows them that are His." It is just
possible that the man in the text was nothing but a man. At any rate,
we may often see apparitions of men with measuring lines. And while I
have an intense reverence to the angel with the measuring line, I must
confess an entire dislike to the man with the measuring line.

How often, Brethren, have we seen men with the measuring line
endeavoring to estimate the length and breadth of God's true Church?
Some of them take a very long line and they begin to calculate how many
Protestants, Roman Catholics, and members of the Greek Church there may
be throughout the world. Then they write down all these millions as
being Christians! Now, we beg to differ from the estimate–how we wish
we could agree with it!

Glad enough should we be to hope that these were all true members of
the Church of God! But when we remember the errors with which one
section of the Church is polluted almost beyond hope. When we remark
the absence of all spirituality in others. When we see how the mass of
nominal Christians are living without God and without Christ. When we
reflect upon the many criminals, harlots and open sinners who would,
according to this rule, be called Christians, we beg to remind the man
with the measuring line, "They are not all Israel which are of Israel"!
And although they may all lie upon the threshing floor, "What is the
chaff to the wheat? says the Lord." The field is the world, but among
the wheat many tares are growing–multitudes are gathered here, not in
the valley of decision, but in the plains of outward profes-sion–and a
separating day must come!

If we were to measure in this way, we should certainly be deluded–we
should find Christians whom we could not trust! Christians who did not
know their creed! Christians who did not rejoice in the name of
Christ–Christians without faith, without hope and strangers to the
commonwealth of Israel! Christians merely in name cannot be Christians,
for, "Except a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
"He that believes on Him is not condemned: but he that believes not is
condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only
begotten Son of God."

Again, I very frequently see another man with a measuring line. He is
of a very sad countenance and looks out upon the universe through blue
spectacles. He will never fall into the error of the first man but
delights in the opposite extreme. "Oh," he says, as he wrings his hands
in a kind of delicious misery, "the people of God are a handful, a
remnant, a child might write them." He likes right well that hymn–

"Dear Shepherd, of Your chosen few, Your former mercies here renew." He
wishes his minister to preach from, "Fear not, little flock." Or this
one, "Strait is the gate and narrow is the way, which leads unto life
and few there are that find it." Sometimes Despondency takes the shape
of a man's fearing that he himself shall not enter–now there is
something humble about that and therefore it is bearable–but in
frequent instances, Despondency is married to Pride and then it is not
despondency about themselves, but about all the rest of the human
family. They are doubtless the men and "wisdom will die with them."

They hear of backsliders and they conclude that all professors will
backslide. They have read a story of some famous minister who stained
his character and they believe that all ministers are mere pretenders.
They hear of Mr. Liberal, who was noted for his generosity and for his
zeal in the cause of Christ and yet he turned out to be generous with
other men's money and to be thought little better than a thief. And
Despondency shakes her head and says, "I told you so–all men are
liars." "Lord! Are there few who shall be saved?" is the constant
question of Despondency.

And every day she lives, she keeps making the measuring line a little
shorter till perhaps the day will come when Despondency shall prophesy
the destruction of the Christian faith, the return of the Papacy and
the outpouring of the vials and say, "The faithful fail from among men,
Zion is under a cloud." A day of clouds and of thick darkness, is the
only description of the present age which this spirit allows to be
correct. Perhaps Despondency herself may die in the dark, believing
that she is not included in the line of the Covenant of Grace.

Well, now, I must confess I am thankful that God has not set our
desponding brother to measure His Zion! I am grateful that He is
pleased to keep that in His own hands, or it might be woe forever to
many of the brightest of the Lord's people. Certain men occasionally
come across my path who carry a measuring line which was originally
made either by one called Mr. False Experience or Mr. Proud Experience.
These Brethren will not believe any to be Christians who have not
experienced precisely the same emotions, doubts, fears, trembling,
horrors, terrors, ecstasies, delights or raptures which they themselves
have felt!

They get hold of every Christian professor and they do with him as
Procrustes did with men in his day–they take him into their bedchamber
and there is their bed of experience–the exact length that it should
be. If the Brother to be judged is not long enough to reach from head
to foot, then they have a rack ready for him and they will pull his
limbs a little. Or, if he should happen to be rather longer than
themselves, then their pride is more aggrieved, still, and it is likely
enough that a sharp two-edged sword of censure will take off his head
so as to accommodate him to the length of the couch.

Perhaps you know certain professors of this kind and if you live in
their midst the only path of wisdom will be to hold your peace. They
are supposed to have received information by special revelation from on
high that their particular rut and that rut alone, leads to the land
where sorrow is unknown. See them put on their spectacles and sit as a
sort of jury to investigate a candidate for Church membership. This
poor young man only professes to have been converted some three months.
If they entertain his case at all it is with the decided determination
ultimately to reject him. Thus they begin with him, "Have you ever
experienced such-and-such law-work in your soul? Were you ever led to
curse God and to feel the awful corruptions of your nature, tempting
you to blaspheme the Holy Spirit?"

The poor young man can only say he knows himself to be a sinner lost by
nature and saved by Grace through faith in Christ. They shake their
heads and tell him it is a mere natural, notional faith. As he has not
known the law-work which they have known, he is of no good whatever.
They pretend to hope for him but they mean all the while that they do
not believe in him an atom.

Another class of emotional religionists steer by another star. They
question the enquirer from another catechism, "Have you been carried up
to the third Heaven, like Paul? Can you say, 'Whether in the body, or
out of the body, I cannot tell, God knows' "? Such Brethren sometimes
will put such questions as this–"Do you feel any pleasure whatever
when you are with your friends? Can you take a walk in the fields and
find enjoyment in the singing of birds and in the foliage of the
trees?" And if you answer, "Yes, thank God, I can," ah, they are
sickened at you! You are not spiritually-minded, if you can look at
works of art and admire them. If you can view the works of God in
creation and feel any pleasure they are astonished at you and think you
carnal!

As for themselves, they have attained to such a superfine degree of
spirituality that they have purified all the common sins out of
themselves as well as the "sense." Dr. Watts says–

"May purge ourselves from sense and sin, As Christ the Lord is pure."

He meant by "sense" feeling, mere carnal feeling. But I am afraid that
some have really purged themselves from sense in the ordinary
acceptance of the term and might very well claim that their
spirituality was not at all akin to worldly wisdom, for it is
remarkably akin to absurdity and cant. Now, I thank God that the
measuring line is not in the hands of the experimentalists and bless my
Master that it is written, "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ
is born of God." And, "We know that we have passed from death unto life
because we love the Brethren."

I have also seen the measuring line in the hands of
others–Doctrinalists. Yes. And their line has five marks which were
originally made by John Calvin. And if your opinions do not square
exactly to the standard, you are cut off from all part and lot in the
blessings of vital godliness. Zion is certainly built according to the
arrangement of the five points and therefore if any Brother or Sister
does not comprehend and receive them all, he is not a weak Believer,
but according to the measuring line of our rigid friends, he is not a
Believer at all!

You know, Brethren, that there is no soul living who holds more firmly
to the Doctrines of Grace than I do and if any man asks me whether I am
ashamed to be called a Calvinist, I answer, I wish to be called nothing
but a Christian. But if you ask me do I hold the doctrinal views which
were held by John Calvin, I reply, I do in the main hold them and
rejoice to avow it. But, my dear Friends, far be it from me even to
imagine that Zion contains none within her walls but Calvinistic
Christians–or that there are none saved who do not hold our views.
Most atrocious things have been spoken about the character and
spiritual condition of John Wesley, the modern prince of Arminians. I
can only say concerning him, that while I detest many of the doctrines
which he preached, yet for the man himself I have a reverence second to
no Wesleyan.

And if there were wanted two Apostles to be added to the number of the
twelve, I do not believe that there could be found two men more fit to
be so added than George Whitfield and John Wesley. The character of
John Wesley stands beyond all imputation for self-sacrifice, zeal,
holiness and communion with God. He lived far above the ordinary level
of common Christians and was one of whom the world was not worthy. I
believe there are multitudes of men who cannot see these Truths of God,
or, at least cannot see them in the way in which we put them, who
nevertheless have received Christ into their hearts and are as dear to
the heart of the God of Grace as the soundest Calvinist out of Heaven.

I thank God we do not believe in the measuring line of any form of
bigotry. I remember meeting with one who knew, yes, he knew how many
children of God there were in the parish where he lived–there were
exactly five. I was curious to know their names, and much to my
amusement he began by saying, "There is myself." I stopped him at this
point, with the query whether he was quite sure about the first one.
Since then, his character has gone I know not where, but cer- tainly he
will get on better without it than with it! Yet he was the first on his
own list and a few others of his own black sort made up the five.

There were in the other places of worship to which he did not go, men
whose characters for integrity and uprightness, yes, and for
spirituality and prayerfulness, would have been degraded by being put
into comparison with him. And yet he, he was set as judge in Israel and
was to know exactly how many people of God were in the village! Oh, I
bless God that we have learned to have very little respect for the
vision of the man with the measuring line! When we see an angel with
it, if such is the intention of the vision, we are glad enough. "The
Lord knows them that are His." But when we see a man with it, we tell
him that he must give us a warrant from God and show us how he is to
know the elect by any other method than that laid down in
Scripture–"By their fruits you shall know them"!

Notice that this vision soon departed. The Prophet does not seem to
have dwelt long upon it. Almost as soon as it appeared it disappeared.
Perhaps it is not a good thing for the people of God at any time to be
much engaged in numbering the people. It is a question what was the
particular sin of David in numbering the people. I will not enter into
it just now, but I do fear that it is hard for us to number the people
at any time without committing a sin–either the greatness of their
number may lift us up and inflate us with pride or the littleness of
their number may make us despond and doubt the strength of God.

The vision of the man with the measuring line is only to be looked upon
for a moment and then it may depart. We therefore ask you to close your
eyes to that and open your ears to the voice of that Covenant angel,
who, interrupting the man, began to tell Zechariah good things
concerning times to come.

II. From my text it appears, dear Friends, THAT WE ARE TO LOOK FOR A
GREAT EXTENSION OF THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST. I hope we are to look for it
now. Jerusalem shall be inhabited "as towns without walls." There are
those in this place who remember when, if you crossed Blackfriars
Bridge, you scarcely saw a house–as soon as you had crossed the bridge
from London you were in the country at once. They still survive among
us to see how this great city has not only swollen to this district,
but has gone right on for miles and threatens to absorb mile after mile
of the country.

Such an extension we are to expect in Christ's Church. It began with
twelve Apostles. It was soon swollen to some four hundred Brethren. It
was increased by three thousand more at the day of Pentecost. There
were added afterwards to the Church daily of such as should be saved.
The Gospel was preached throughout all regions. The children of God
were found in Athens and Corinth, in Derbe and Lystra–from all parts
of the earth the elect were gathered in. The kingdom extended. The
Gospel was preached in Spain as well as Italy. It passed on to Gaul, it
came to Great Britain. In these after days it still continues to
spread.

A new world has been discovered, the religion of Jesus has been carried
there. The emigrants who are peopling great islands of the southern
seas bear with them the religion of Jesus Christ. Everywhere the
kingdom grows. There is, as it were, a little core and center of
Believers from among the Jewish people–but all around these there
spreads a vast multitude of whom I might almost say that no man can
number them. In our portion of Christ's Church it has been upon a small
scale the same. Beginning with but a handful of men, God has been
pleased to add hundred after hundred till He has extended our number to
a great host.

But I do trust that what it is now is only the nucleus around which
there is to be built a yet mightier Church. I would to God that now He
might open the windows of Heaven and pour us out a blessing and so
multiply us that the present thousands of this Church might be
altogether lost in the numbers yet added. Truly, I would not ask it for
this Church alone, but that other Churches all around may derive health
from our prosperity–that God may raise up out of our loins Churches
which shall be our sons and daughters–which shall again beget
spiritual children, so that the kingdom of Christ may come and His name
be exalted in the land! We are to look for an extension.

I want to encourage our elders and deacons and all our Brothers and
Sisters to be looking for it. We have prayed for God's blessing–if
ever a people prayed, we have. There has been an earnestness, I am
sure, about the most of the Brethren here which cannot be without its
reward. We have pleaded the name of Jesus even unto tears and God does
not answer prayer if He does not send us a blessing! We have used His
Son's name. We have pleaded His own promise. We have asked in faith,
nothing doubting–and the blessing must come! Let us look for it and as
sure as ever effect follows cause, so surely must we receive an
extension of this Church!

It appears from the vision that the supply for all the number shall be
as great as is required. "Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without
walls for the multitude of men and livestock in it." The livestock are
the provisions for the population. What is to be done with so large a
Church? How are the converts to be seen after? How are the members to
be fed with spiritual food? "As your day, so shall your strength be."
Whatever provision the Church shall want, God will give it.
Jehovah-Jireh is His name! This city of London has not overgrown its
supplies–while we may be astonished at the population, we may be
equally astonished at the provision.

It shall be so in the kingdom of Grace. God will raise up in the midst
of any growing Church the proper men to look after the converts and see
to their spiritual health. We have no need to be under any alarm in
this respect–"All needful Grace will God bestow." Other friends are
afraid that if there is so large an extension of the Church there will
be many added to it who are not Believers and that consequently the
Church may be increased, but not really strengthened. That too, is
supplied in the text. "I, says the Lord, will be a wall of fire round
her," both to keep out her enemies and to protect her from the incoming
of false friends.

It is the Church's duty to see to it that she admits not unworthy
persons knowingly, but her best guard is the Presence of God. It is
written, "Of the rest no man dared join himself unto them." You
remember the death of Ananias and Sapphira? It came in opportunely,
just at the time when the Church was rapidly increased. That solemn
judgment set a wall of fire round about the Church so that ungodly
persons dared not hypocritically come to be united with them. And so
will God do to His Church now.

The traveler, when he wishes to keep out the wild beasts, makes a ring
of fire and then the lion is shut out. And God makes a ring of fire
round His Church and the enemy is kept at a distance. China is said to
be protected by a wall of stone. Old England is shielded by her wooden
walls. But the Church of God has a better wall, still, for she has the
Divine wall of fire! Her enemies cannot break through this to destroy
the meanest of her citizens and her false friends shall say to
themselves, "Who among us can dwell with the eternal burnings?" And so
they shall keep back from a Church which is visibly sheltered and
protected by the Presence of the Most High.

Observe, dear Friends, while the Church is thus supplied and thus
protected, she does not lack for glory. Her glory, however, does not
lie in her numbers, nor in the provision made for them, but in the
Presence of God. "I will be the glory in her midst." Let us never cease
to pray for this. Let the Church distinctly recognize that the Holy
Spirit is in the midst of the Church now. When we sing–"Come, Holy
Spirit, heavenly Dove," we mean rightly enough. But the words must not
be understood to mean that the Spirit of God is not here–for He is in
the midst of His Church always and He dwells among His people as the
Shekinah in the temple! And your bodies are the temples of the Holy
Spirit–God dwells in you!

Our prayer must be, "You that dwell between the cherubim, shine forth!
Stir up Your strength and come and save us." The glory of a Church does
not lie in the architecture of the place where she meets, nor in the
eloquence of her minister, nor in the greatness of her number, nor the
abundance of her wealth, nor the profundity of her learning. It lies in
her God. "Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered." O God, when You
went forth before Your people, when You marched through the wilderness,
the earth shook! The heavens also dropped at the Presence of God–even
Sinai itself was moved at the Presence of God, the God of Israel. Here,
then, lies the Church's best hope! Let her make this the grand object
of her prayer–that the Lord may be the glory in her midst!

To close up this point let us observe that doubtless at such seasons,
Divine love shall be very sweetly enjoyed among all the members. For
the eighth verse says–though I do not intend to push our
investigations further than the text– "He that touches you, touches
the apple of My eye." We never know so much of our nearness and
dearness to God as when we, in common with the rest of God's people,
are visited with the joy of His Presence. How differently things look
in the sunshine from the way in which they appear without it! Ride
along this land of ours when the rain is pouring down, or the mists
have gathered and what a dull, dreary wilderness it seems.

And these London streets! What a settlement for convicts they appear in
the midst of our thick fogs! But let the sun shine forth as it did this
morning! Let the mists be scattered, and then even the leafless trees
have a golden light upon them and all nature rejoices and the meanest
and poorest landscape becomes, after its sort, sublime! So when our
hearts are dull and heavy and the Church of God is in the same state,
how poor everything appears! But when the Lord shines forth and the Sun
of Righteousness arises with healing in His wings, then the Doctrines
of Grace, how precious! Then the ministry of the Gospel, how effectual!
Then the means of Grace, how dear! The people of God, how estimable!
The things of God, how delightful!

O that we may have this! We have a right to expect it! We do not
deserve it, but God has promised it! Let us give Him no rest till we
have it! Stop your measuring, O Despondency! Stop your measuring, O
Bigotry! Stop your censures, you who cut off the people of God and
hearken while the angel prophesies that the kingdom of Christ shall
grow and increase, till, like a city without walls, Jerusalem shall
have for her glory the Presence of the Lord–and for her boundary
nothing but the will of the Most High!

III. I close with a few words on the third point and but a few. Where
is this increase to come from, this great increase? It is to come from
two sources indicated in the sixth and seventh verses. MULTITUDES ARE
TO COME OUT OF THE WORLD. "Up, up! Flee from the land of the north,
says the Lord, for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the
Heaven, says the Lord." God's chosen people are scattered here and
there. There are many of them in this assembly of whom we know
nothing–but God knows them. The preaching of the Gospel is a message
to you to come forth!

That message is this: "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall
be saved." It comes to every soul among you with this commanding, but
most consoling word, "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved."
My Hearers, you know what believing means. It is simply trusting upon
what Christ has done for sinners. "Now is the accepted time, now is the
day of salvation." If you now trust Him, your many sins shall be
forgiven you! You are a child of God and an heir of Heaven if you but
trust Him!

Like prodigals you may have spent all your substance–spiritual hunger
may have seized upon you–you would gladly fill your belly with the
vain pleasures of the world, but you cannot. The Holy Spirit whispers
in your heart, "Arise and go to your Father." Obey that heavenly
whisper and though you are as yet a great way off, yet your Father sees
you! He runs to meet you as you are! He falls upon your neck and kisses
you, just as you are, undeserving and sinful. He cries to His servants,
"Bring forth the best robe and put it on him." Will you trust that
Father's love? Will you confide in it as it is set forth in the
bleeding sacrifice of the Lord Jesus?

It is from you, O unconverted men and women, that we expect the
greatest increase through the Spirit's power. We are looking for it and
praying for it. I hope that the people of God this morning will be
looking after you and when this sermon is done I hope they will speak
with you, or if they cannot do so, at least pray for you. "Up, up, come
forth"– twice the shout is given–as if you were slumberers and needed
to be awakened. "Up, everyone that thirsts, come to the waters." Here
there are two "ups," as if you should be called with vehemence, with
earnestness, with pleading–"Come forth!" The year is almost over–I
pray God that a new year may not be begun by you in sin, but may God
begin with you at the fall of the year and bring you now to know His
power to save.

There is another class from which the Church is to get this increase,
indicated in the next verse, "Deliver yourself O Zion, that dwell with
the daughter of Babylon." There is a large number of this second class
in this congregation. There are a number of you who believe in Christ
but you dwell with the daughter of Babylon. If a census were taken of
Christians according to the Church roll–and I do not know that it
could be taken better by mortal man–then you must be put down as being
of the world. When the Lord's Supper is spread and the Savior says, "Do
this in remembrance of Me," you go away, or stay in the galleries.

You practically say to the Lord Jesus, "Lord, I will not do this in
remembrance of You. I feel myself justified in disobeying Your command.
I believe I have a valid reason for not doing what Your loving lips
request me to do." I do not know if I put it in that shape that you
will quite agree with your own assertion, because how can a man really
have a justifiable reason for not doing what the Lord Jesus Christ
expressly tells him to do? That word "separation" needs to ring in the
ears of Christians, "Come out from among them and be you separate, says
the Lord and touch not the unclean thing."

Though this is to be done practically by your actions, yet first and
foremost it should be done by a distinct avowal of your Lord Jesus
Christ and that avowal should be by Baptism and union with the Church.
May God bless these remarks both to saints and sinners, for Jesus'
sake. Amen.