The Blood of Christ’s Covenant

The Blood of Christ's Covenant

(No. 3240)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 1911.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING,
NOVEMBER 12, 1863.

"As for you, also, by the blood ofyour Covenant I have sent forth your
prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water." Zechariah 9:11.

[Two other Sermons by Mr. Spurgeon upon this same subject are #277,
Volume 5–THE BLOOD OF THE EVERLASTING COVENANT and #1186, Volume
20–THE BLOOD OF THE COVENANT.]

[Two other Sermons by Mr. Spurgeon upon Verses 11 and 12 are #2839,
Volume49–"PRISONERS OF HOPE" and #2883, Volume 50–PRISONERS
DELIVERED.]

THE LORD is here speaking to His ancient people, Israel. That nation
had always been preserved, although other nations had been
destroyed–and the reason was that God had entered into a Covenant with
Abraham on their behalf. Circumcision was the sign and seal of the
Covenant, so that God could truly speak of "the blood of your
Covenant." The Jews have never ceased to be a nation, though they have
been scattered, peeled and delivered over into the hand of their
adversaries because of their sins. They may enjoy various rights and
privileges in the different countries where they sojourn for a while,
but they cannot be absorbed into the nationalities by which they are
surrounded. They must always be a separate and distinct people–but the
day shall yet come when the branches of the olive tree, which have been
so long cut off, shall be grafted in again. Then shall they, as a
nation, again behold the Messiah, the true and only King of the
Jews–and their fullness shall be the fullness of the Gentiles, also!

All Believers have some share in that Covenant made with Abraham, for
he is the father of the faithful. We who believe in Jesus are of the
seed of Abraham, not according to the flesh, but according to the
promise, and we are pressed by a Covenant which like that made with
Abraham, is signed and sealed with blood even "the blood of the
Everlasting Covenant." We, too, are saved and kept as a separate and
distinct people, not because of any natural goodness in us, or because
of our superiority over others, but solely and entirely because the
Lord has made an Eternal Covenant concerning us, which is "ordered in
all things and sure," because Jesus Christ is, Himself, the Surety on
our behalf that its guarantees and pledges shall all be carried into
effect.

I. So, applying our text to the Covenant people of God in all ages, we
have first to consider THEIR NATURAL AND YET PRIVILEGED CONDITION. By
nature they are like prisoners in a pit wherein is no water, but by
Grace they are in Covenant relationship to God!

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, when we were in our natural state, we
were like prisoners. A prisoner is one who has lost his liberty–and
that was our condition before Jesus met with us and set us free. We
were "carnal, sold under sin," in bondage to our own lusts and held
captive by the devil at his will. No doubt we boasted of our free will,
but our will, itself, was enslaved with all the rest of our powers.
There is no greater mockery than to call a sinner a free man. Show me a
convict toiling in the chain gang and call him a free man if you will!
Point out to me the galley slave chained to the oar and smarting under
the taskmaster's lash whenever he pauses to draw a breath–and call
hima free man if you will–but never call a sinner a free man, even in
his will, as long as he is the slave of his own corruptions! In our
natural state we wore chains, not upon our limbs, but upon our
hearts–fetters that bound us and kept us from God, from rest, from
peace, from holiness–from anything like freedom of heart and
conscience and will! The iron entered into our soul and there is no
other slavery as terrible as that. As there is no freedom like the
freedom of the spirit, so is there no slavery that is at all comparable
to the bondage of the heart!

A prisoner is also one who feels that he cannot escape from his
prison–and that is how we felt. We began to have longings after better
things. A heavenly Visitor came to us and dropped a new and strange
thought into our minds–and we began to pant after something higher and
nobler than this poor world could give us–but we could not reach it,
for we were prisoners. We could not escape from the cruel grip of our
captor and it became quite clear to us that we could never be delivered
from the house of bondage by any power of our own. Do you not remember,
my Brothers and Sisters, when you used to sorrowfully say–

"I would but cannot pray I would but can't repent"–

and when you could use Paul's words as your own and sadly cry, "To will
is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not?"
You were still a prisoner, yet you were beginning to be one of the
"prisoners of hope."

That is a strange kind of prison that is mentioned in the text–"the
pit wherein is no water." In the East, pits were frequently used as
prisons. When a tyrant king wished to keep anyone in safe custody and
also in ignominy and shame, and sorrow, he would have him cast into one
of these waterless pits where the poor prisoner would be beyond human
sight or hearing–and with no possible hope of deliverance from his
doleful dungeon. Such was our sad state by nature, and well do we
remember our first efforts to obtain release! We were in dense darkness
and we felt all round the walls of our prison to try to find a door, or
window, or ladder by which we might escape, but all in vain. We tried
to look up, but we seemed to have been thrust, like Paul and Silas,
into some inner prison where no ray of light could penetrate. The fact
that there was "no water" in our prison-pit made our agonies all the
more terrible! Those of you who have passed through that state of deep
conviction of sin know that in such circumstances there is no comfort
for the present and no hope for the future–as to the past, there is
nothing to look back upon but sin–and as to the future, there is
nothing "but a certain fearful looking for ofjudgment and fiery
indignation." To a sinner in that condition, there seems nothing within
but a heart as hard as stone, nothing beneath but a gapping Hell and
nothing around but thick darkness. How dreary and dreadful is the state
of man by nature–and how painfully conscious he is of his true
condition when the Holy Spirit reveals it to him! Then is he, indeed,
like a prisoner in a "pit wherein is no water."

This is the actual state, by nature, of all the elect–they are
prisoners, just as other men are–and they are in as dark and dismal a
pit and they have as little comfort in it as the very worst of mankind
have. Yet, by Divine Grace, they are in an altogether different
condition from that of others, for they are in Covenant with God though
they are not yet aware of that blessed and comforting Truth! God's
election of His people took place long before their creation. Those
whom He has chosen unto eternal life were given to Christ in the
Covenant of Grace, in that eternity of which we can form so slight a
conception. And when they were born into this world, though they were
born in sin and grew up to be the children of disobedience–enemies to
God by wicked works–yet the Covenant made with Christ on their behalf
remained unbroken all the while!

"Well," says someone, "that is strange." Yes, it is strange, but it is
true. We must never forget that we were under a Covenant of Works long
before we were born. Adam stood as our federal head and representative
in that Covenant. You, my Sister, never put out your hand to pluck the
forbidden fruit–and you and I, my Brother, never partook of it, yet we
all have to share the consequences of Adam's transgression because he
was our Covenant head. Do you object to that and say that it was unjust
to visit upon us the sin of another? If you do, then you must equally
object to the Gospel plan of salvation by the righteousness and death
of Another, even Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, the one great
federal Head and Representative of all who believe in Him! He took the
place of the countless myriads of His elect who had been given to Him
by His Father, and died on Calvary's Cross in their place, although
great numbers of them had not then been born and, consequently, could
not have any virtue or merit of their own! Through His substitutionary
Sacrifice, they were even then "accepted in the Beloved" and, in the
fullness of time, they become Believers in Him and so enter consciously
into the enjoyment of the Covenant privileges which had been conferred
upon them from eternity! The Covenant is not made with them when they
believe in Jesus–it was made on their behalf by the Father and the Son
in the eternal council chamber long before the daystar knew its place
or planets ran their round!

See, then, the twofold condition of the chosen–they are like prisoners
in a pit wherein is no water, yet is there an eternal Covenant
concerning them which guarantees that they shall be brought out of the
bondage of their sins and shall be set at liberty forever! Does someone
here say, "I trust that such a blessed Covenant as that has been made
on my be-

half? Dear Brother or Sister, if you have a sincere longing to be a
sharer in the blessings of the Covenant of Grace, me-thinks that is a
proof that you have an interest in it already! And if you will, at this
moment, put your soul's trust in that precious blood that is their sign
and seal of the Covenant, then you may rest assured that Grace has
inscribed your name from all eternity in God's eternal book!

II. Now let us turn to the second part of our subject which is THE
MEANS OF THE DELIVERANCE OF THESE COVENANTED ONES–AND THE EVIDENCES OF
THEIR DELIVERANCE.

The text says, "By the blood of your Covenant I have sent forth your
prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water." I think this means,
first, that the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ is the essential matter
of the Covenant In order to make the conditions of the Eternal Covenant
effective for His people, it was necessary that Christ should be
obedient unto death and that His blood should be shed for many for the
remission of their sins. When, by faith, I look upon the blood of
Jesus–whether I see it streaming down in the bloody sweat of
Gethsemane or flowing in the crimson rivulets at Gabba-tha or in the
sacred streams of Golgotha, I see in that precious blood of Christ the
essential matter of the Covenant, and I sing, with sadness on His
account, but with rejoicing on my own–

"Oh, how sweet to view the flowing Of His sin-atoning blood! By Divine
assurance knowing He has made my peace with God!" Yes, O blessed Jesus,
You have fulfilled on our behalf Your part of the Eternal Covenant! You
have met all the demands of Infinite Justice even to the uttermost
farthing! Your Father justly requires perfect obedience to His holy Law
and You have rendered it in Your pure and spotless life. The offended
Majesty of that Law demands adequate punishment for man's multiplied
violations of its just requirements–and Your one Infinite Sacrifice
has fully paid the penalty, so that Divine Justice is completely
satisfied and the dishonored Law is magnified and glorified. Thus it is
that God can "be just and the Justifier of him which believes in
Jesus," for in the Person, life and death of Christ, their Covenant
Head and Representative, all claims upon Believers have been discharged
forever!

Further, the blood of Jesus is also the Seal of the Covenant Speaking
after the manner of men, until the blood of Jesus had been shed, the
Covenant was not signed, sealed and ratified. It was like a will that
could only become valid by the death of the testator. It is true that
there was such perfect unity of heart between the Father and the Son,
and such mutual foreknowledge that the Covenant would be ratified in
due time–that multitudes of the chosen ones were welcomed to Heaven in
anticipation of the redemption which would actually be accomplished by
Christ upon the Cross. But when Jesus took upon Himself the likeness of
men and in our human nature suffered and died upon the accursed tree,
He did, as it were, write His name in crimson characters upon the
Eternal Covenant and thus sealed it with His blood. It is because the
blood of Jesus is the Seal of this Covenant that it has such power to
bless us and is the means of lifting us up out of the prison-pit
wherein is no water. Let me put it thus to some of you who have long
been under conviction of sin. You have been trying in your poor way to
keep the Law of God, but you have utterly failed to do so. You know
that there are many precious promises in God's Word, but you get no
comfort from them. Why is that? You feel that you are like a prisoner
in a pit–and that you are shut away from the Presence of the
thrice-holy God–and that His awful attribute of Justice bars your way
like the flaming sword at the gate of Paradise, so that you cannot come
near to Him. Then you listen to the Gospel, of which the sum and
substance is this–that Jesus Christ has fully atoned for the sins of
all His people, that He has suffered everything that they deserved to
suffer and that God has accepted His substitutionary Sacrifice as a
sufficient Atonement for all who believe in Him. As soon as you trust
Him, you are lifted up out of the prison-pit, your feet are set upon a
rock and a mug of grateful praise is put into your mouth! You are not
afraid of the sword of Divine Justice now–no, you go and stand beneath
the flashing blade and trust to it to defend you against all your
adversaries! You rightly say, "As Jesus suffered in my place, Justice
demands that I should go free! He has discharged all my liabilities.
The Law has no longer any terror to me." So you see, Beloved, how the
blood of Christ's Covenant brings the poor, trembling, despairing soul
up out of that dread prison "wherein is no water."

Now I want, dear Friends, to ask you all to answer honestly one or two
questions that I am about to put to you. The first is–Do you know what
it means to be delivered from that pit by the blood of Christ's
Covenant ? Perhaps I ought first of all to ask–Do you know what it
means to be a prisoner in that pit wherein is no water? Have you ever
moaned

and groaned under the weight of your sin? Have you ever smarted under
the lash of that ten-thonged whip of the Law? Has your conscience,
itself, been sufficiently awakened as to condemn you? Have you ever
been brought to such a state of self-despair that you could see nothing
but death and damnation written upon everything that pertains to you?
Was your comeliness withered, your strength dried up and your pride
humbled so that you had to sit in sackcloth and ashes and cry,
"Unclean! Unclean!" as the leper of old had to warn others to keep away
from him? If not, I fear that you have never proved the power of the
blood of the Covenant, for he who has never been humbled has never been
exalted!

I feel sure that some of us here can answer, "Oh, yes! We remember well
when we were humbled so that we felt ourselves to be less than nothing
and vanity–and we realized that, by nature, we were totally ruined and
undone–and blessed be God, we also recollect the time when a Power
infinitely above our own, drew us up out of the pit in which we were
imprisoned." But, my dear Hearers, have you also been conscious of the
working of this Almighty Power? Have you felt a mysterious influence,
which you could not comprehend, drawing you out of your natural state
and giving you new thoughts, new desires, new hopes, new joy and also
new pains? Certainly you have never been delivered from this waterless
prison by any power less than the Divine, so if God's hand has not yet
been stretched out on your behalf, you are still in the pit! Or, as
Peter said to Simon the sorcerer, you are still "in the gall of
bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity."

Is there anyone here who is in that pit, yet who earnestly longs to
escape from it? Is your soul yearning to be delivered, not only from
the consequences of sin, but from the sin, itself? Are you panting
after reconciliation with God and acceptance in the Beloved? Do you
hunger and thirst after righteousness? Then you are already among those
whom the Savior calls blessed and to whom He has given that gracious
promise, "they shall be filled." Such longings as these grow not in
Nature's soul–they are the product of Divine Grace. Therefore, be very
thankful for them, for they are at least hopeful indications of the
Holy Spirit's working within you! And you may rest assured that where
He has begun a good work, He will continue it until He brings it to
perfection. He will never lift you part of the way out of the pit and
then let you fall back again into the prison–He will bring you right
out, even as the children of Israel were brought out of Egypt with a
high hand and a stretched-out arm!

If you have been delivered, I feel sure that you will prize your
deliverance. I would give little for what you call your grace if you
would not willingly part with all else that you have rather that part
with that! A slave who has been set free will value his liberty beyond
all price. The man who can talk lightly of being free, never knew what
bondage meant. I fear that none of us think highly enough of what the
Lord has done for us. We get to worrying ourselves because He has not
done more for us, because we are not yet perfect–how much better it
would be if we would praise and bless Him for all that He has done for
us! Remember that you are a free man even though some links of your
chain are still clinging to you. Thank God that the chain is broken and
that the last links shall soon be snapped–and you shall be perfectly
delivered from the badge of bondage! Therefore be of good courage,
prize your deliverance and praise Him who has done such great things
for you!

Surely, too, if you have been drawn out of this pit wherein is no
water, you will love your Deliverer and you will desire above
everything else to live to Him and to labor for Him all your life! I
hope you can truthfully say to your Lord–

"Have You a lamb in all Your flock

I would disdain to feed?

Have You a foe, before whose face

I fear Your cause to plead?

You know I love You, dearest Lord,

But oh, I love to soar

Far from the sphere of mortal joys,

And learn to love You more."

I trust that you have dedicated yourself wholly to your Lord–perhaps
not in writing, yet just as truly as if you had set your signature to
such a covenant as some have felt moved to leave upon record. If you
have resolved thus in your heart, you can say with me at the moment,
"Lord Jesus, I am Yours–body, soul and spirit–wholly Yours, only
Yours, always Yours. You have bought me for Yourself, not with
corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with Your own most
precious blood and, therefore, You shall have me with all my powers,
all my possessions, all my possibilities in life and in death, in time
and in eternity! I give all up to You absolutely without reserve, that
You may do with me whatever You

please and whatever will bring most Glory to Your holy name. I fear
there is much dross still remaining in me–in all the gold You have
given me in Your wondrous Grace. If it seems good in Your sight, put me
into the hottest furnace, but O Lord, do take away all the dross and
then fashion me into a vessel meet for Your own use!" The man who can
truthfully talk thus to the Lord Jesus is in the Covenant! And by the
blood of the Covenant he has been brought forth out of the prison
wherein is no water!

Perhaps you are afraid to say as much as this, lest it should seem to
be presumption on your part. Well then, possibly you can say, "I dare
not talk as some do about their attainments in spiritual things, but I
do trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. My sole reliance is upon His perfect
righteousness and His one great Sacrifice for all." Then, my Brother or
my Sister, you are among those who have built upon the Rock and you
shall be preserved in the greatest storm that can ever beat upon you!
You are no longer a prisoner in the pit wherein is no water! Faith in
Jesus is not the heritage of the slaves of sin and Satan–it is the
portion of those who are free men and free women in Christ Jesus–and
if He has made you free, you are free, indeed, and you can never be
enslaved again! You are at liberty to walk wherever you will on all the
holy land which is the purchase possession of the children of the King!
Every promise that He has given to His chosen people is a promise to
you, so take full advantage of all your privileges as a Believer in the
Lord Jesus Christ! You are now His and you shall be His when this world
is on fire and when all things that are of time and sense shall perish
in the last great conflagration! You shall be His amid the pomp and
terrors of that tremendous day and you shall be His amidst the splendor
and Glory of eternity!

If any here are still prisoners in the pit wherein is no water, may the
Lord even now bring them forth by the blood of His Covenant, that they
may share with all the chosen ones, all the blessings of that Covenant
now and to all eternity! And too Him shall be the praise and the Glory
forever and ever. Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: ZECHARIAH 9; 10.

As we read these ancient prophecies, we will not only notice how
exactly they have been fulfilled, but we will also try to learn the
lesson that they are intended to teach us.

Zechariah 9:1-4. The burden of the Word of the LORD against the land
ofHadrach andDamascus, its restingplace (for the eyes of men and all
the tribes of Israel, are on the LORD). Also against Hamath which
borders on it. And also Tyrus and Sidon, though they are very wise. And
Tyrus did build herself a stronghold, and heaped up silver as the dust,
and fine gold as the mire of the streets. Behold, the Lord will cast
her out, and He will destroy her power in the sea; and she shall be
devoured with fire. Alexander the Great besieged Tyre and utterly
overthrew it. The citizens thought that their "strong hold" was
impregnable, but they had at last to surrender to the mighty monarch
whose attacks they had so long resisted. All the mercenaries whom they
could procure with their heaped-up silver and gold could not avert the
doom which the Lord had foretold and which, through the instrumentality
of Alexander, He accomplished–"The Lord will cast her out, and He will
destroy her power in the sea."

5-8. Ashkelon shall see it, and fear, Gaza also shall see it, and be
very sorrowful, and Ekron; for her expectation shall be ashamed; and
the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.
And a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of
the Philistines. And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and
his abominations from between his teeth: but he that remains, even he
shall be for our God, and he shall be as a governor in Judah, and Ekron
as a Jebusite. And I will encamp about My house because of the army,
because of him that passes by and because of him that returns: and no
oppressor shall pass through them any more: for now have I seen with My
eyes. When Phoenicia had fallen into the hands of the conqueror, there
was no power able to avert the overthrow of Philistia. And Jerusalem
would also have come beneath his sway had not the Lord miraculously
interposed for its preservation. Alexander was restrained by a power
which perhaps he did not understand, but which he could not resist, so
he passed by the holy city of which the Temple of the Lord was the
glory in the midst. They who are Divinely protected are in absolute
safety even in the most perilous times. "The name of the Lord is a
strong tower: the righteous runs into it and is safe."

9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout, O daughter of Jerusalem:
behold, your King comes unto you: He is just, and having salvation;
lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass. You
know how exactly this prophecy was fulfilled in our Lord's triumphal
entry into Jerusalem–when the multitudes welcomed Him with
hosan-nas–probably the same crowds that soon hoarsely shouted,
"Crucify Him! Crucify Him!"

10. And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from
Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off;

and He shall speak peace unto the heathen: and His dominion shall be
from sea, even to sea, and from the River even to the ends of the
earth. He shall yet be acclaimed as the universal Monarch, "King of
kings, and Lord of lords," for, "of the increase of His government and
peace there shall be no end."

11, 12. As for you, also, by the blood of your Covenant I have sent
forth your prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water. Turn you to
the stronghold, you prisoners of hope: even today do I declare that I
will render double unto you. This "stronghold" is very different from
that of Tyre, which failed her in her hour of need. It is, indeed, that
of which the Prophet Nahum wrote–"The Lord is good, a stronghold in
the day of trouble; and He knows them that trust in Him."

13. For I have bent Judah, My bow, fitted the bow with Ephraim, and
raised up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and made you
as the sword of a mighty man.Note well that it is the Lord who is doing
all these notable deeds–bending Judah like a bow, fitting Ephraim to
the bow as the archer presses his arrow to the string, and raising up
the despised sons of Zion so that they may be able to overcome the
proud sons of Greece! "The sword of a mighty man" owes its strength to
the hand that wields it, and the sons of Zion are only mighty when the
Lord holds them in His almighty hands and uses them as seems good in
His sight.

14. And the LORD shall be seen over them, and His arrow shall go forth
as the lightning: and the Lord God shall blow the trumpet, and shall go
with whirlwinds of the South.Then how safe must the Lord's people be!
And what terror must spread among their enemies!

15. The LORD of Hosts shall defend them; and they shall devour and
subdue with slingstones; and they shall drink, and make a noise as
through wine; and they shall be filled like bowls, and as the corners
of the altar There seems to be a hint here of the strange scene that
was witnessed in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, when the
unbelieving mockers said of the Spirit-filled disciples, "There men are
full of new wine," but Peter repudiated the slander and declared that
the wonder which the people could not comprehend was really the
fulfillment of the ancient Prophecy, "It shall come to pass in the last
days, says God, I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh."

16. And the LORD their God shall save them in that day as the flock of
His people; for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an
ensign upon His land. See how many metaphors the Prophet was Inspired
to use in a single verse in describing the Lord's chosen ones–"as the
flockof His people; as the stonesof a crown…as an ensign upon His
land." No human language can fully set forth all that their Lord thinks
of them–and all that they are in His esteem!

17. For how great is His goodness, and how great is His beauty! Corn
shall make young men cheerful, and new wine the maids.

Zechariah 10:1. Ask the LORD for rain in the time of the latter rain;
so the LORD shallmake bright clouds, and give them showers of rain,
grass in the fields for everyone. The atheistic philosopher of the
present day laughs at such a verse as this and sneeringly asks, "What
possible connection can there be between men and women praying to God
and the showers of rain which fall upon the earth? Why," he says
"according to the laws of Nature, showers fall at such-and-such seasons
and if the atmosphere should not happen to be in such-and-such a state,
all the praying in the world cannot produce a single drop of rain!" But
faith can clearly see where reason is blind–and the prayer of faith
moves the arm of God and the arm of God controls what the philosopher
calls the "laws of Nature," and so the rain descends. Let us learn from
this precept and promise, the power of believing prayer! Prayer has the
key of Nature as well as the key of Heaven hanging at her belt! Observe
also, that when we have received one mercy from the Lord, we are to go
on to pray for another. These people must have had "the former rain,"
yet they were to ask for "the latter rain," also! And if you, dear
Friends, have had "the former rain" of conversion, go on to ask the
Lord for "the latter rain" of sanctification. If, in our Church
fellowship, we have had "the former rain" of gracious additions to our
numbers, we must ask for "the latter rain" by praying that God would
continue thus to bless us. When we cease to pray for blessings, God has
already ceased to bless us–but when our souls pour out floods of
prayer, God is certain to pour out floods of mercy.

2. For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie,
andhave told false dreams; they comfortin vain. Observe the readiness
of man to forsake the great fountain of Living Waters and to make unto
himself broken cisterns which can hold no water! Notice, too, that some
sort of comfort may, for a time, be derived from a false trust, but it
is

"comfort in vain." As a dream yields no comfort when a man wakes up and
finds himself to not be rich–as he had vainly dreamed that he was–but
miserably poor, so all confidence in the flesh, all reliance upon
anything except the almighty arm of God, even if it should yield us
temporary hope and consolation, will only make our grief the greater
when its utter failure is discovered!

2. Therefore the people wend their way as a flock, they were troubled
because there was no shepherd.The sheep that belong to Christ's flock
will never find any true shepherd except He who is "the Good Shepherd."
If, for a time, they should so lose their spiritual wits as to follow
strangers–which, indeed, is not a natural thing for them to do, for "a
stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know
not the voice of strangers"–they will meet with a thousand troubles
because they have no shepherd.

3. My anger is kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the
goatherds. Whenever people are afflicted with unfaithful ministers,
when God comes to visit these people, He will not only punish the
ministers, but the religious leaders, the false professors in those
churches, the he-goats who led the flock astray! Oh, what a plague and
a curse will an unfaithful minister be found to have been at the Last
Day! A well which only yields bitter water like that of Marah, merely
mocks a temporary thirst. But a minister who does not preach the Gospel
and who does not live the Gospel, mocks the soul's eternal thirst!
Whatever I may be, God grant that I may never be an unfaithful preacher
of His Word! Surely, if there is an innermost Hell, a place where the
soul's feet shall be made more fast in the stocks of the Pit than
anywhere else, it shall be reserved for the man who, professing to be
an instructor of the ignorant and a leader of the flock, taught them
lies and led them out of the Way! May the Lord save us from shepherds
against whom His anger must be kindled!

3. For the LORD of Hosts has visited His flock the house of Judah, and
has made them as His royal horse in the battle. As an expert horseman
skillfully controls his steed and turns it according to his pleasure in
the day of battle, and makes it obey himself, alone, so does the Lord
rein in and direct His Church, so that she becomes like a "royal horse
in the battle."

4. Out of Him came forth the corner, out of Him the nail, out of Him
the battle bow, out of Him every oppressor together Let us learn from
this verse that everything comes from the Lord of Hosts, the God of
Providence, as well as of Divine Grace. Those statesmen who are the
cornerstones of the great building of State, must come from Him. Those
Christian men and women of experience who seem to be as the
cornerstones of our spiritual building must come from Him. Those who
are as nails, upon whom weaker Christians seem to hang, come from Him.
And whoever is, in the day of battle, like God's bow, must also come
from Him, for apart from the Lord there is no strength, nor power, nor
wit nor wisdom among all His people. We must learn, then, to lift up
our eyes unto God and look to Him for all that we need whether it is
political, social, or religious needs that are to be supplied–all must
come from Him.

5. And they shall be as mighty men, which tread down their enemies in
the mire of the streets in the battle: and they shall fight because the
LORD is with them, and the riders on horses shall be confounded.The
Jewish infantry often turned to flight the Syrian cavalry, and I may
fitly compare the Apostles of old to humble fighters upon foot, while
heathen and other philosophers were like mighty men on horseback! Yet
they were turned back by the apparently weaker warriors of the
Cross–and it is still so. We can well afford to give our adversaries
every advantage that they can ask– let them have State patronage, let
them have worldly dignity, let them have learning, let them have
wealth–yet, in the name of God will we vanquish them, for the Truth of
God is mightier than all the wisdom of man and the weakness of God is
stronger than the greatest strength of man!

6. And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house
of Joseph, and I will bring them back, for I have mercy upon them: and
they shall be as though I had not cast them off for I am the LORD their
God, and will hear

them. [See Sermon #2588, Volume 44–PERFECT RESTORATION.] See, Beloved,
how the Everlasting Covenant is the great foundation of everything for
the saints. "I am Jehovah their God," says He. The Lord has taken His
people to be His own forever and, therefore, though He may seem
temporarily to reject them, yet permanently and everlastingly He will
hold them fast and acknowledge them as His people.

7. And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart
shall rejoice as through wine: yes, their children shall see it and be
glad; their heart shall rejoice in the LORD. Get a firm hold of this
promise, Believers, and plead it! Are you dull and heavy, desponding
and sad? Then plead this promise, "Their heart shall rejoice in the
Lord."

8. I willhiss for theem, and gather them; for I have redeemed them: and
they shall increase as they have increased. The word, "hiss," is
supposed by some to be an allusion to the Eastern custom of men who
managed bees making a sound like hissing in order to gather them into
the hive. Others, however, translate the word, "piping," as the
shepherd pipes to his flock and they gather round him. In the words, "I
will gather them, for I have redeemed them," we see that particular
redemption is the groundwork of effectual calling those whom Jesus
Christ has bought with His precious blood, the Holy Spirit will call by
power out from the rest of mankind.

9-11. And I will sow them among the people and they shall remember Me
in far countries; and they shall live with their children, and turn
again. I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and
gather them out of Assyria, and I will bring them into the land of
Gilead and Lebanon; andplace shall not be found for them. And he shall
pass through the sea with affliction. In the restoration of Israel,
there is to be an even greater triumph than that which was achieved at
the Red Sea.

11. And shall smite the wave in the sea, and all the deeps of the River
shall dry up: and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the
scepter of Egypt shall depart away. For the Glory of God in the
deliverance of His people is sure to be attended by another form of
Glory in the destruction of His enemies! Christ is a sweet Savior unto
God both in them that are saved and in them that perish.

12. AndI will strengthen them in the LORD; and they shall walk up and
down in His name, says the LORD.