The Storm and the Shower

The Storm and the Shower

(No. 3088)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 1908.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING,
DECEMBER 3, 1874.

"Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, and against the Man that is My
Fellow, says the LORD of Hosts: smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall
be scattered: and I will turn My hand upon the little ones." Zechariah
13:7.

WE are sure that we understand this passage, for we have our Lord Jesus
Christ's application of it to Himself–"All you," He said to His
disciples, "shall be offended because of Me this night: for it is
written, I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered."
It is always well, when we are considering a text in the Old Testament
which we think may refer to Christ, if we can be certified that it does
so by some declaration of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament, or by
some testimony from the lips of the Master, Himself, as we have in this
case.

The passage seems to me to be best illustrated by a description I once
heard from one of our Lord's servants who pictured a tempest as
gathering in the heavens, the darkness deepening and, by-and-by, came
the thunder and lightning, and the storm shook the earth. He saw before
him a towering mountain, with its peak lifted high up towards Heaven.
At the foot of it lay a sheltered hamlet. The storm seemed all
concentrated around the mountain's brow that was the center of the
battle of the elements. That lofty peak seemed to be split and broken
to shivers by the dread artillery of God. The hamlet down below was in
comparative peace–only some gentle drops of rain fell on it,
fertilizing its fields. And he who gave the illustration said, "That
peak was the Christ of God, Jesus the Substitute and Surety of His
people, standing in our place, on whom burst the full tempest of
Jehovah's wrath, that the soft drops of pity and of Grace might fall on
the people for whom He suffered."

Looking at the text in that light, we have, first, the thunder of the
tempest–"Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, and against the Man that
is My Fellow, says the Lord of Hosts: smite the Shepherd, and the sheep
shall be scattered." Then we have the soft and gentle shower–"I will
turn My hand upon the little ones." There is the war-note first, the
crack and clang of conflict and then it is peace, with the music of
rest and joy.

I. First, then, LET US WATCH THAT TERRIBLE STORM.

And let us notice, first, the Victim upon whom it fell. According to
the text, the sword was to awake against One who is called by God, "My
Shepherd," and who is further described as "the Man that is My Fellow,
says the Lord of Hosts." We gather, therefore, that Jesus, who suffered
in our place, holds the office of a Shepherd, a Shepherd appointed by
God, and sent by Him to take care of the sheep. It is not my objective,
at this time, to speak at length upon this office

of the Lord Jesus Christ, [Mr. Spurgeon preached many Sermons upon
Christ's office as Shepherd, including the following– Sermons #995,
Volume 17–THE SHEEP AND THEIR SHEPHERD; #1877, Volume 32–OUR OWN DEAR
SHEPHERD; #2120, Volume 35–THE SECURITY OF BELIEVERS–OR, SHEEP WHO
SHALL NEVER PERISH and #3006, Volume 52–"THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD"] but

just to remind you that, as Jacob, when he was shepherd to Laban, was
responsible for all the flocks under his care, so has God committed His
own chosen flock into the hands of Jesus, "that great Shepherd of the
sheep," and He has become responsible for them. They will pass again
under the hand of Him that counts them, and He will say to His Father,
"Here I am, and the sheep that You did give into My hand. Of all that
You gave Me, I have lost none." It is Christ's office to keep His sheep
even to the end, and to lead them at last to lie down upon the hilltops
of Heaven, not one of them having been lost by the way. Dear Friend,
let us exult in this relationship between Christ and His people! We are
as weak and foolish and as full of needs as sheep can be, but we have a
Shepherd who perfectly understands us, who so loves us that He will
preserve to the end even the very least among us!

I want to dwell now upon the personal description of Christ that is
given by the Lord of Hosts Himself–"the Man that is My Fellow." We
never wish to deny the real Manhood of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not
always possible to speak of that Manhood without making some mistakes,
but for my part, I believe the mistake of falling short of a
description of full and proper Manhood is far more frequent than the
mistake of carrying that description too far. Jesus Christ felt as we
feel, suffered as we suffer and was tempted in all points like as we
are. He was a Man as to His body and He was a Man as to His soul. He
was born as we are and from Infancy grew to Boyhood, and "increased in
wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man." He reasoned as we
reason, but without the evil bias which the Fall has given to our
judgment. He lived as we live, only without that tendency to evil which
has come to us through our natural depravity. In everything that is
included in pure Manhood, Christ was one with us. Sin was not present
in the first ideal of manhood, and it was not present in Christ–"in
Him was no sin." Do not, I pray you, ever set Jesus Christ up so high
as to imagine that His Manhood was not like yours, so that He cannot
sympathize with you–for then you cannot sympathize with Him! And the
next thing will be that you cannot love Him, and that you cannot trust
Him and that you cannot come unto Him and have fellowship with Him.
Believe, Beloved, that He was in all points such as you are with the
exception of your sin. He had infirmities such as you have, though they
were sinless ones. He felt just such aches and pains as trouble you and
the depressions and downcastings that vex your spirit. Yes, He who
stood in our place was a Man! The Law demanded that man, who had done
dishonor to it, should also vindicate it–and it was so, for the Son of
Mary stood in the gap on our behalf. The second Adam, the true
representative Man, stood there to render unto living Justice full
payment of the debt which the first Adam, representing us, had
incurred!

But the text is equally clear in the description of Christ's
Godhead–"the Man that is My Fellow, says the Lord of Hosts." What a
wonderful description this is! A Man and yet "My Fellow, says the Lord
of Hosts." The word translated, "Fellow," signifies companion,
associate, confidant and equal. I could not express the full meaning of
it in fewer words than those. Christ was God's Companion–"the Word was
with God." "I was by Him, as One brought up with Him." Christ was God's
Associate, with whom the Father constantly communed in fullest
fellowship. He was God's Confidant–He had seen all things that His
Father had done and, therefore, He was able to make them known to us.
He was also equal with the Father, and we may go even beyond our text
and say that He was One with God, for so He claimed to be when He said,
"I and My Father are One." I never wonder, when persons once doubt the
Deity of Christ, if they go to great lengths in slandering His
Character. I heard, the other day, something said with regard to our
Savior's birth which it is not right for any man to repeat, yet I said,
when I heard it, "Yes, and it would be so if He were not really God."
The mystery of His birth does become a matter that we have to speak of
with bated breath if He was not the Son of the Highest. And His life
itself (I say this with the utmost reverence to His holy name) was a
barefaced imposture if He was not the Son of God, for that He certainly
claimed to be! But, Beloved, we know of a surety that Christ was the
Son of the Highest and "very God of very God." And such He is to us in
His power within our souls. He has done for us what no mere man could
ever have done and we are resting all our hopes for time and for
eternity upon One who is able to save us unto the uttermost because He
is Divine! He is indeed the "Fellow" of the Eternal, and I delight to
think that He who stood in our place and suffered in our place, though
Man, was not merely Man! It was the Infinite who became an Infant! It
was God who became Man, that He might stand in the sinner's place and
that so the Atonement might have an infinite value which otherwise it
could not have had! It was God who bore my sins in His own body on the
tree! And the Apostle spoke under Divine Inspiration when he said to
the elders of the Church at Ephesus, "Feed the Church of God, which He
has purchased with His own blood." The expression must be allowable, or
it would not have been used in such a connection, so I also will use
it. It was my God who bled for me on Calvary, that I might live with
Him forever! Oh, what consolation there is in this Truth of God, that
He who was smitten instead of us, was most truly God as well as most
certainly Man!

I have thus, then, clearly set before you that wondrous Victim of the
terrible storm.

Now think, next, of the sufferings He endured. Concerning them, the
text says, "Awake, O sword…smite the Shepherd." It was a sword, then,
with which He was smitten! Upon Christ there did not so heavily fall
the rod of chastisement as the sword of punishment. He was chastised
for our sake, for "the chastisement of our peace was upon Him," but
more than that, there was the sharp penal sword which demanded life
itself! Against our Savior the most fatal weapon was used. He must not
merely be sorrowful even unto death, but He must actually die! Dear
Friends, that sword

was so keen and piercing that it cut Him to the very soul. I talk of
these great Truths of God very simply, for I do not think there is any
occasion here for using flowers of speech. But if we were as we ought
to be, we should be very deeply affected at the thought that the Son of
Man most perfect, and the Son of God most glorious, should have the
sword of Divine Vengeance against sin plucked out of its scabbard that
it might be used upon Him! O Darling of Jehovah, must You bleed? You
fairest among ten thousand fair, You who are altogether lovely, must
You be dragged down into the dust of death? O Face like the noonday
sun, must You be eclipsed in darkness? O Eyes brighter than the evening
star, must You be sealed in the midnight of death, after having first
been quenched in floods of tears? It must be so! The sword which is for
criminals, the sword which is to avenge high treason, the sword which
cannot be quiet so long as there is sin before the Throne of God–that
sword must leap out of its scabbard and sheathe itself in the heart of
Christ!–

"Jehovah bade His sword awake,

O Christ, it woke against Thee!

Your blood the flaming blade must slake,

Your heart its sheath must be!

All for my sake, my peace to make

Now sleeps that sword for me." And then you will notice that the very
wording of the text indicates the sharpness of the suffering. It is,
"Awake, O sword," as if the sword of God had been asleep! Yet I have
read of Pharaoh and his hosts destroyed at the Red Sea, and of Amalek
cut off from before the Lord, and of Canaanites abolished from their
native land and of Sennacherib's vast army slain in a single night! Was
not the sword of the Lord awake then? No–it was only, as it were,
starting in its sleep. The sword of Divine Justice was stirring in its
scabbard, but God's long-suffering was pushing it back. But now He
cries to it, "Awake, O sword! End your slumbering now! Human sin has
startled you many a time, but I have said to you, 'Sleep on, My
patience must have her perfect work, so wait.' But now leap out of your
scabbard, O sword, for your Victim is before you! He is come upon whom
human sin is concentrated–the Victim whom you are to smite, because
upon Him the Lord has laid the iniquity of all His people." It seems a
dreadful thing to me. I cannot express what I have thought about it and
felt about it, that this sword of God's vengeance, which, uplifted at
any time, would smite us to Hell, must be bid to awake, that is, to
awaken itself to more than its usual sharpness, to cut and hew and hack
as it did when Christ was exposed to its keen blade. His physical
sufferings, His mental griefs and His spiritual torments are beyond all
description! When God's Infinite Justice was wide awake and in sternest
action, you may guess in a measure, but you cannot fully conceive what
our Lord must have endured!

Observe once more, for this adds to the force of the language, that
this sword was awakened by the voice of God, Himself. I can imagine the
cry that arose to God's sword when the world was corrupt and full of
sin in the days of Noah, and man's sin cried aloud, "Awake, O sword!" I
can understand how the groans and tears of the children of Israel when
they were in Egypt, in cruel bondage, said, "Awake, O sword!" I can
imagine the unutterable abominations of the Canaanites crying, "Awake,
O sword!" I think I can even hear your sins and mine saying, "Awake, O
sword!" Yet God did not suffer that sword to awake to the fullest
extent, even in those dreadful times! And, in the case of Believers,
not at all, for "He has not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded
us according to our iniquities." But, at last, God spoke! God, the Lord
of Hosts, spoke and said, "Awake, O sword!" Now the sword must awake,
for it is God who calls to it! And when God Himself bids the sword of
Divine Justice smite His Son, He knows, as we cannot, what those blows
must have been. "Yet it pleased Jehovah to bruise Him; He has put Him
to grief." The bruising of the Roman scourge was terrible, but His
Father's bruising were far worse. Neither Jew nor Gentile could put Him
to grief as the Father did. That was the keenest agony of all which
made Him cry, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" So it was God
who awakened the sword and God who smote the Shepherd with Omnipotent
power, which, if Christ also had not been Omnipotent, would have
utterly destroyed Him! I believe that our poet was right when he said
that Christ–

"Bore all Incarnate God could bear,

With strength enough, yet none to spare." Now notice, thirdly, while I
am speaking about the storm, the startling effect of it upon those who
were with the Victim–"Smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be
scattered." The disciples were alarmed at the very approach of the
Savior's sufferings. They feel asleep even while He was praying in the
garden. And they ran away, like cowards, when He

was arrested. Some of them crept back by stealth to see Him in the Hall
of Judgment, but one of them denied Him even there–and none of them
had the courage to stand by Him in His time of trial. We may blame
them, but there is a view of their conduct which may be taken which,
though it does not excuse them, may at least show how much we are like
they are. I think they were startled at His agony, astonished at His
griefs, amazed that such an One as He was could be treated with such
scorn and ignominy and be put to such a shameful death. They believed
Him to be the Son of the Highest and they could not understand how He
could be made to suffer so. And when I have seen sin laid on Jesus, I
must confess that I have been astonished and startled and overwhelmed
by His grief. And I have thought that if I had been with Him in His
agony, as His disciples were, I might have been scattered with them.
The sufferings of the Man who was the Fellow of the Lord of Hosts, in
place of us poor worms of the earth, were more than we can comprehend!
God grant us Grace, if startled as we hear about them, to rally again
to Him and, each one of us to say, with Thomas, "My Lord, and my God,"
and then to cling to Him through life and in death, come what may!

II. I will not further describe this great storm, for I need your
patient attention for a little while longer while I speak of THE
BLESSED SHOWER OF MERCY WHICH FOLLOWED IT–"I will turn My hand upon
the little ones."

Where does this shower of mercy fall? "Upon the little ones." What does
that expression mean? It is a name of fondness and endearment We who
are parents love to talk about our little ones. And God, who is the
Father of the family of which Christ is the Elder Brother, calls us His
little ones to show how He loves us. There is a propensity about love
to speak of its object as little–you know how we make little words of
endearment and apply them to those of whom we are very fond. So God
calls His children–His people–His little ones and says that He will
turn His hand upon them. How little we all are in comparison with God!
We are not worthy even to be mentioned in connection with Him. We talk
about the little ants which toil and tug to move one tiny grain of
wheat, but the ants might very well say to us, "We are not little at
all, compared with you, in comparison with what you are when you are
contrasted with the great God who made both us and you." He fills all
things and, compared with Him, we are less than nothing! Then how sweet
it is to know that God will turn His hand upon His little ones, such
insignificant nothings as we are–born yesterday, living today and dead
before tomorrow comes–mere flowers that bloom but to fade and die! O
God, how good You are to think about us who are so little!

And then, further, those whom the Lord loves are little in their own
estimation and the promise of the text is to those who are little. "I
will turn My hand upon the little ones"–little as to excellence. Yes,
with no excellence of which you dare to boast–little as to natural
strength to do that which is good. Yes, with no natural strength at
all, but feeling yourselves to be helpless and hopeless apart from
Christ–so little that you need to be swaddled in the bands of Grace,
carried in the arms of power, fed from the bosom of eternal love and to
be nurtured, kept, preserved, protected by God all your life–for you
can do nothing of yourselves! Well, if you feel your littleness, here
is the promise for just such as you are, "I will turn My hand upon the
little ones." You strong ones may take care of yourselves, if you can.
You who exult in your own native strength may go your own way. You who
are rich and increased in goods may glory in what you have, but my
Master fills the hungry with good things! He lifts up the beggar from
the dunghill and sets him among princes. Thus He turns His hand upon
the little ones and happy are you who are the objects of His mercy!

Next, think of the Giver of the mercy–"Iwill turn My hand upon the
little ones." Then it is God, Himself–that same Lord of Hosts who
smote the Shepherd–who turns His own hand upon the little ones! Was He
strong to smite, Beloved? Then He is equally strong to save! Did He
smite His Son with Omnipotent blows? Then He will bless us with
Omnipotent love. Oh, think of this! The hand that smote the Shepherd is
now turned in another direction, but with the same power in it, to
bless the sheep! How just, then, is the Grace which we receive! The
right hand of God wields the sword and with it He smites His
well-beloved Son. But, having smitten Him, He draws the sword and the
same hand of Infallible Justice now deeds out the bounties of the
Covenant, for every blessing which any child of God receives comes from
Him as justly as if it were not a gift of mercy, for when Christ died
for us, and so discharged all our debts, it was but just that we should
be justified in Him. When He had stood in our place and offered a
perfect righteousness and a complete Atonement for us, it was only
justice that we should be "accepted in the Beloved." Every gift that
now comes to God's people comes in a way of which Divine Justice itself
approves! No, more–it so comes that it would not be just if it had not
come! The right hand which smote Christ on our behalf is the same right
hand which is now turned upon the little ones.

Oh, how blessed it is to see Justice and Mercy thus united in the
Covenant of Grace! How honorable it is to be found in such a condition
that God's own royal hand has now become our protection! Yes, Lord, I
have learned the inflexible character of Your Justice in the death of
Your dear Son. And as I have seen Him bleed and die, my soul has been
crushed into the dust and I have been terrified because of Your
severity. But now that I know that just such an One as You were in all
Your sternness in smiting Your Son, just such You are in Your loving
care of all Your elect and, therefore, does my spirit exult in You!
Take the attribute of Justice away from God and you have taken away
that which makes all the other attributes sure to the people of God!
But when you see that He who is the God of Infinite Justice is also the
God who turns His hand upon us in mercy, there is a sweetness about the
whole matter which otherwise we would not have been able to perceive!

So I close by noticing what this mercy is which comes to the people of
God–"I will turn My hand upon the little ones." That is, "My hand of
compassion. Before, through their sin, I put them away from Me, but now
that I have smitten their Shepherd instead of them, I will draw near to
them. I will be with them. I will touch them. I will be their God and
they shall be My people. I will turn My hand upon them in compassionate
familiarity."

"I will turn My hand upon them." That is, "My hand of power to protect
them. When any come forth to attack them, I will put forth My hand to
shield them from danger. No, more–I will take them up into My hand and
none shall pluck them from it. I will keep then as the apple of My eye.
I will cover them with My feathers and under my wings shall they trust.
My Truth shall be their shield and buckler. I will turn My hand upon
the little ones, so that though they were defenseless before, My
Omnipotent power shall guard them against danger of every kind."

"I will turn My hand of bounty towards these little ones." God's hand
is a full hand and He gives of His fullness to His little ones and
satisfies their mouth with good things. He opens His hand and supplies
the needs of every living thing, so He will certainly not neglect those
little ones for whom Christ died as a Substitute!

Next, "I will turn My hand of gracious working upon the little ones,"
as if we were, like the potter's vessels upon the wheel, only half
fashioned as yet. But God will turn His hand upon us. He has done
something to us and He will keep on doing more and more till He has
made us perfect. Already the image of Jesus Christ is, in a measure,
set upon all His chosen, but the Lord will keep His hand at work upon
us until He has made our likeness to Christ complete. "Beloved, now are
we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be. But we
know that when He shall appear, we shall be like He," for God's own
hand working continually upon us shall make us so, and then "we shall
see Him as He is." Is there not much joy in this thought?

I think I ought to add here that as after our Lord had been smitten on
Calvary, the day of Pentecost came and thousands were gathered into the
Church–and in that respect God's hand was turned upon the little ones
to gather them in, so I bless His name that He still has a chosen
people whom He means to gather with His almighty hand of gracious power
because He has smitten Christ in their place. And my hope concerning
every sinner here lies in this Truth of God, that Jesus Christ has a
people purchased with His blood, many of whom do not yet know this and,
ignorant of Him, are still lying outside the fold. But them also He
will bring in, that there may be one flock [See Sermon #1713, Volume
29–

OTHER SHEEP AND ONE FLOCK] and one Shepherd. We preach the

Gospel to you unconverted people for this reason, because God, having
smitten Christ in the sinner's place, has promised to lay His hand upon
the little ones! And we trust that you may be among those upon whom He
will lay His hand of Omnipotent Grace, and bring you in, that you may
be His forever.

O unconverted people, do learn from the text how much it cost the
Savior to bear our sin! He had to be smitten with God's sword though He
was only bearing the sin of others. What will it cost you if you have
to bear the punishment of your own sin forever and ever? Tremble at
that thought and answer the question if you can. Christ sweat great
drops of blood even while anticipating the agonies of the Cross–and if
you could know what it would be for you to have to suffer for your own
sin forever, it would not be extraordinary if you, also, were to sweat
great drops of blood at this moment! It is such an awful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God while unforgiven, so beware, you whose
sins are unpardoned, lest that sword which has been sleeping with
regard to you until now, should leap out of its scabbard and pierce you
to the heart! It must and will do so before long if you remain
unrepentant . If Christ had to suffer so much for the sins of others,
how will you suffer when the burden of your own sins shall be laid upon
you!

See, Sinners, the only way of peace for you–it is through Jesus
suffering in your place! Your debts to God you can never pay! No, not
one in a million of them, but Christ paid the debts of all who believe
in Him. You can make no atonement for yourself, but everyone who trusts
in Jesus can claim His Atonement for his own. Oh, may God's Infinite
Mercy move you to trust in Christ this very hour! And that being done,
the Sword of Justice will be sheathed so far as you are concerned–and
God will turn His gracious hand upon you and bless you from this time
forward, and even forevermore!

As for you who are saved by Christ, see what you owe Him. By every
groan He suffered, love Him! By every pang He endured, love Him! By the
piercing of that sharp sword even to the death, love Him! And as you
love Him, live for Him! And as you love Him, speak well of Him! And as
you love Him, pray for the coming of His Kingdom! And as you love Him,
keep His commandments! And as you love Him, grow more and more into His
likeness every day you live, until you go to be with Him forever! God
bless you, dear Friends, for Jesus' sake! Amen.

HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"–291, 406.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM22.

This Psalm so sweetly and so accurately pictures the inward griefs of
our Divine Savior that it might have been

written after the Crucifixion rather than so many hundreds of years
before it. I call your attention to the fact that this

Psalm is followed by the 23rd, which begins, "The Lord is my Shepherd;
I shall not want," to remind you that you and I

would never have had that sweet 23rd Psalm to sing if our Divine
Shepherd had not been made, with groans and tears, to

weep out the 22nd Psalm, which begins with our Savior's saddest cry
from the Cross. [See Sermons #2133, Volume 36–"my god, my GOD, WHY
HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?"; #2562, Volume 44–CRIES FROM THE CROSS and
#2803, Volume 48–THE SADDEST CRY FROM THE CROSS]

1. My God, My God! Why have You forsaken Me?Every word here is
emphatic. Take the first two words "My God, My God. "These reveal our
Savior's claim upon God as His God. Why have You forsaken Me? I can
understand that others should leave Me, but why have You done so?" Then
lay the stress upon the last word–"'Why have You forsaken Me–Your
only-begotten Son, your ever-obedient Son, your well-beloved Son?"

1, 2. Why are You so far from helping Me, and from the words of My
roaring? O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You hear not; and in the
night season, and am not silent. See our Savior hanging on the Cross!
Hear Him utter these sorrowful words and remember that He had come up
from Gethsemane, all crimson with the bloody sweat which had oozed from
every pore as He had agonized in prayer–yet no deliverance had come to
Him, for God had left Him to die in accordance with the Covenant into
which He had voluntarily entered.

3. But You are holy, O You that inhabit the praises of Israel. He will
not bring any charge against God, even though He has left Him. And,
Beloved, in your bitterest griefs never lay any blame upon your God.
Like Job, say, "Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we
not receive evil? The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed
be

the name of the Lord." [See Sermon 3025, Volume 54–FIFTEEN YEARS
AFTER!]

4-6. Our fathers trusted in You: they trusted, and You did deliver
them. They cried unto You, and were delivered: they trusted in You, and
were not confounded. But I am a worm, and no man.–So low did Christ
stoop, for our sake, that He became less than man! There is a little
crimson worm, to which this passage alludes, which seems to be made
altogether of blood–and Christ felt as if He were nothing but a mass
of suffering, a poor trodden "worm, and no man."

6-8. A reproach of men, and despised of the people. All they that see
Me laugh Me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head,
saying, He trusted on the LORD that He would deliver Him: let Him
deliver Him, seeing He delighted in Him. It is very easy to read these
words, or to hear them read, but it is not so easy to realize the
sorrow they must have caused Christ. He was dying, in unutterable
agonies, yet His cruel enemies thrust out their tongues at Him, hissed
their bitter taunts and made a jest even of His prayers. If you have
ever been in great suffering and have then been ridiculed, you know
something of the acute anguish that must have been felt by our Savior
when He was dying amidst mockery and scorn without a friend to help
Him.

9-11. But You are He that took Me out ofthe womb: You didmake Me hope
when I was upon Mymother's breasts. I was cast upon You from the womb:
You are My God from My mother's belly. Be not far from Me; for trouble
is near; for there is none to help. Men recollect how God took care of
them in the time of their infancy. And when they are brought very low,
they look to Him who guarded them in the times when they could not lift
a finger to help themselves. The Savior did so. He was peculiarly born
of God–there was a specialty about His birth which entitled Him to
plead it when He was in His death throes.

12. Many bulls have compassedMe: strong bulls ofBashan have beset Me
round. He was looking on the Scribes and Pharisees, and the strong
Roman soldiers who made a ring around the Cross.

13. They gaped upon Me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring
lion. There was no look of pity, no token of sympathy–they were all
eager for His death. The mighty men of the day and the religions men of
the day were not content until they had slain the one and only Savior
of men!

14. I am poured out like water. He feels as if He were being dissolved!
There is such a sense of faintness upon Him that every muscle, every
ligature seems to be turning to liquid and He cries, "I am poured out
like water."

14. And all My bones are out ofjoint. The jarring of the Cross, when
they dashed it into its place, had dislocated our blessed Redeemer's
bones. What must His pain have been!

14. My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst ofMy bowels. Now
the terrible death-faintness comes over Him. "The spirit of a man will
sustain his infirmity," but when his heart melts, how can he bear the
strain any longer? Yet our Savior speaks of Himself again–

15. My strength is dried up like a potsherd. The wounds in His head,
hands and feet and all the tortures of the Crucifixion had brought a
raging fever upon Him, so that He was dried up like the burnt clay of
which men make potsherds.

15. And My tongue cleaves to My jaws; and You have brought Me into the
dust of death. He felt as if every particle of His body was beginning
to separate itself from the rest and He was turning into dust again
while yet alive. It is a fearful picture of pain and they who
understand what the effect of crucifixion is tell us that this is a
very graphic, minute and accurate descriptions of the agonies of one
dying as our Savior died.

16. For dogs have compassed Me. There is the ribald crowd, the common
multitude, howling at Him and eager for His blood.

16, 17. The assembly ofthe wicked have enclosed Me: they pierced My
hands and My feet I may count all My bones: they look and stare upon
Me. They had stripped Him and this was no small part of the Savior's
grief and shame that He hung there a spectacle of scorn to ten thousand
cruel eyes that looked and stared at Him.

18. They part My garments among them, and cast lots upon My vesture.
Now He returns to prayer–

19-21. But be not You far from Me, O LORD: O My Strength, hasten You to
help Me. Deliver My soul from the sword; My darling from the power
ofthe dog. Save Me from the lion's mouth: for You have heard Me from
the horns of the unicorns. He had been delivered before and He expected
deliverance again. And He had it, but He had to pass through the iron
gates of death to get it and to win the victory over death by His own
death! Now there is a change in the Psalm. The Savior's griefs are
drawing to an end and He begins to look at the result of His passion.
He sees what is to follow from His Crucifixion and He talks thus to
Himself–

22. I will declare Your name unto My brethren. "I shall live again. I
shall see Peter and James and John, and many more whom I have
loved–and I will talk with them about My Father."

22. In the midst of the congregation will I praise You.[See Sermon
#799, Volume 14–JESUS, THE EXAMPLE OF HOLY PRAISE] He knew that He
would rise from the dead and that He would

praise God in the midst of His brethren.

23, 24. You that fear the LORD, praise Him; all you the seed of Jacob,
glorify Him; and fear Him, all you the seed of Israel For He has not
despised nor abhorred the affliction ofthe afflicted; neither has He
hid His face from Him; but when He cried unto Him, He heard. He is
telling Himself, in the little quiet interval just before He breathed
out His soul, what His testimony would be concerning God–how He did
hear Him and help Him at the last.

25, 26. My praise shall be of You in the great congregation: I will pay
My vows before them that fear Him. The meek shall eat and be satisfied:
they shall praise the LORD that seek Him. [See Sermon #1312, Volume
22–good news for seekers]. He is Still talking to Himself about what
WOuld happen after

His death and Resurrection–how gracious men would praise the Lord and
how He, Himself, would live again to praise God among them! He so
realizes the existence of those whom He has redeemed, that He seems to
talk to them as if they were actually present. He says–

26. Your heart shall live forever. "I die, but by My death you shall
live forever." He sees them, as it were, gathered around His Cross and
He congratulates Himself upon the fact that He has bought eternal life
for them.

27. All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD;
and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before You.The
conversion of the nations shall be the fruit of His death.

28. For the Kingdom is the LORD'S: and He is the governor among the
nations. See how He distributes crowns, and talks of thrones, just as
He is about to die–so sure is He that His soul shall not rest in
Hades, neither shall His holy body see corruption, but that He shall
rise again and be forever "King of kings, and Lord of lords."

29-31. All they that are fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they
that go down to the dust shall bow before Him: and none can keep alive
His own soul. A seed shall serve Him; it shall be accounted to the Lord
for a generation. They shall come.I should have liked to hear those
syllables fall from those dear lips of His. "They shall come," He says
to Himself. "They shall come"–

31. Andshall declare His righteousness unto apeople that shall be born.
He sees the great host of the regenerate, the twice-born, who shall be
saved through His death.

31. That He has done this. It would be a very literal translation if I
read these last words thus, "It is finished." Thus the Psalm ends and
so ended the great Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross–"It is
finished."–

"'It is finished!'–Oh what pleasure Do these charming words afford!
Heavenly blessings without measure Flow to us from Christ the Lord–
'Itis finished!'

Saints the dying words record."