The Heavenly Singers and Their Song

The Heavenly Singers and Their Song

(No. 2321)

INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, AUGUST 13, 1893.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, JULY
14, 1889.

"And when He had taken the Book, the four beasts and twenty-four elders
fell down before the Lamb, having, every one of them, harps and golden
vials full of odors, which are theprayers of saints. And they sung a
new song, saying, You are worthy to take the Book, and to open its
seals: for You were slain and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out
of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and have made us
unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth."
Revelation 5:8-10.

THIS morning [Sermon #2095, Volume 35–The Lamb in Glory.] we had a
picture of our Lord Jesus Christ appearing in Heaven in His Sacrificial
Character, being adored in that Character, looking like a Lamb that had
been slain, and being worshipped under that aspect in the very center
of Heaven. I tried, as far as ever I could, to insist upon it that we
must never hide the Atoning Sacrifice–that Christ, as the Lamb of God
which takes away the sin of the world–is always to be brought to the
front, to be put foremost in our preaching and in our practice, too. In
this verse we go a step further. This blessed Lamb appears in Heaven as
the Mediator between God and men. At God's right hand was the Book of
His Eternal Purposes. None dared even to look upon it–it was hopeless
that any creature should be able to loose its seven seals. But there
came forward this glorious Lamb who had the marks of His slaughter upon
Him and He took the Book out of the right hand of Him that sat upon the
Throne of God! Thus He acted as Mediator, Interpreter–taking the will
of God and translating it–letting us know the meaning of that writing
of the right hand of God which we could never have deciphered, but
which, when Christ looses the seals, is made clear to us!

Jesus Christ, then, is seen as our Sacrifice in the capacity of
Mediator and, in that capacity, He becomes the object of the adoration,
first, of the Church, then of all the thousands and ten thousands of
angels, and then of every creature that God has made! It would be too
large a subject to take in all those hallelujahs and, therefore, in
speaking, tonight, I select only these three verses to set forth the
song of the Church, the adoration of the Church of God, rendered to the
bleeding Lamb as the Mediator between God and men.

I shall have only two divisions. First, behold the worshippers. And,
secondly, listen to their song.

I. First, BEHOLD THE WORSHIPPERS, for, remember that we must be like
they if we are to be with them. It is a well-known rule that Heaven
must be in us before we can be in Heaven! We must be heavenly if we
hope to sit in the heavenly places. We shall not be taken up to join
the glorified choir unless we have learned their song and can join
their sacred harmony. Look, then, at the worshippers. You are not yet
perfectly like they, but you will be, by-and-by, if you have already
the main points of likeness worked in you by the Grace of God.

The first point about the worshippers is this, they are all full of
life. I must confess that I should not like to dogmatize upon the
meaning of the four living creatures, but still, they do seem to me to
be a picture of the Church in its Godward standing, quickened by the
life of God. At any rate, they are living creatures and the elders,
themselves, are living persons. Yet alas, alas, that it should be
necessary to say so true a thing, but the dead cannot praise God! "The
living, the living, he shall praise You, as I do this day." Yet how
many dead people there are in this great assembly tonight! If one who
had sufficient powers of penetration as to be able to detect the
actions of the spiritual life of man, were to go round this crowd, "Ah,
me," he would say, "take this one away, take that one away–these are
dead souls in the midst of the living in Zion."

I will not dwell upon this very solemn thought, but I wish the
conscience of some here to dwell upon it when the service is over. You
are dead people in the midst of life! You joined in the song just now,
but there was no living praise in your singing. Prayer was offered by
my dear Brother Hurditch very fervently, but there was no living prayer
in you. Do you know that it is so? If so, then take your right place
and God grant you enough life to know the absence of life, lest He
should say of you, "Bury My dead out of My sight," and you should be
taken away to the house appointed to the dead, since you cannot be
allowed to pollute the gathering of living saints! Those in Heaven are
all full of life! There is no dead worshipper, there, no dull, cold
heart that does not respond to the praise by which it is surrounded!
They are all full of

life.

And further note, that they are all of one mind. Whether they are 24
elders, or four living creatures, they all move simultaneously. With
perfect unanimity they fall on their faces, or touch their harps, or
lift up their golden vials full of sweet odors. I like unanimity in
worship here. You remember the lines–

"At once they sing, at once they pray! They hear of Heaven, and learn
the way." We used to sing that hymn when we were children, but is there
always real unanimity in our assembly? While one is praising, is not
another murmuring? While one is earnest, is not another indifferent?
While one is believing, is not another an infidel? O God, grant to our
assemblies, here below, the unanimity that comes of the One Spirit
working in us the same result, for so we must be in Heaven, and if we
are not of one mind here below, we are not like the heavenly beings
above! When little bickerings come in. When sectarian differences
prevent our joining in the common adoration, it is a great pity. God
heal His one Church of all her unhappy divisions and any one Church of
any latent differences that there may be, that our unity on earth may
be an anticipation of the unanimity of Heaven!

Note, next, that as the heavenly worshippers are full of life and full
of unity, so they are all full of holy reverence. "When He had taken
the Book, the four living creatures and twenty-four elders fell down
before the Lamb," all reverently fell down before the Lamb! And in the
14th verse, after their song was over and after the angels and the
whole creation had taken their turn in the celestial music, we read,
"And the four living creatures said, Amen." It was all that they could
say–they were overawed with the majestic Presence of God and the Lamb!
"And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshipped Him that lives
forever and ever." They did not say anything, then. They simply fell
down and worshipped. It is a grand thing when, at last, we have broken
the backs of words with the weight of our feelings–when expressive
silence must come in to prove the praises which we cannot utter! It is
glorious to be in this reverent state of mind. We are not always so,
but they are so in Heaven! They are all ready to fall down before the
Lord. Do you not think that we often come into our places of worship
with a great deal of carelessness? And while the service is going on,
are we not thinking of a thousand things? Or if we are attentive, is
there enough lowly worship about us? In Heaven, they fall down before
the Lamb–Brothers and Sisters, would not we serve God better if we did
more of this falling down to worship the Lamb?

Note, next, that while they are all full of reverence, they are all in
a praising condition–"Having, every one of them, harps." They did not
pass one harp around and take turns in playing it. Nor was there one
who had to sit still because he had forgotten his harp. They had, every
one of them, his harp. I am afraid those words do not describe all
God's people here, tonight. My dear Sister, where is your harp? It is
gone to be repaired, is it not? My dear Brother, where is your harp?
You have left it on the willow tree, by the waters of Babylon, so you
have not one here. I must confess that sometimes I have not a harp–I
could preach a solemn sermon–but I could not so well render the
praise. Our dear friend, Hurditch, seemed to have brought his harp with
him, tonight! I am glad he praised the Lord so many times for so many
mercies. We do not always have our harps with us, but the living
creatures and the elders had, all of them, the apparatus for the
expression of their holy joy, "having, every one of them, harps." Try
to be like the spirits above.

But this is not all–they are all ready for prayer. In Heaven there is
prayer–we must correct the common mistake about that matter–and there
is something to pray for. Although we do not ask the intercession of
saints and angels– that were far from Scriptural– still, we believe
that the saints do pray. Are they not crying, "O Lord, how long?" Why
should they not pray, "Your Kingdom come. Your will be done, in earth,
as it is in Heaven"? They would understand that prayer better than we
do. We know how God's will is not done on earth, but they know how it
is done in Heaven! And they could pray, "Your Kingdom come, for Yours
is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, forever, Amen."

How sweetly could their lips move over such words as those! Well, they,
all of them, had "golden vials full of odors." Are we always furnished
and prepared for prayer? This ought to be more easy than always to have
a harp, but I am afraid that we have not always our golden vials full
of odors. I do not know that they are golden vials at all. I am afraid
that ours are of the earth, earthy. But in Heaven they have golden
vials, pure and precious, and they are full of odors. Sometimes, when
you look into your prayer box, my Brothers and Sisters, you have to
scrape the bottom to find enough perfume to make even a little incense.
But to have our vials full of sweet odors, this is the state of mind in
which we should always be. God bring us to that! We shall be getting
near Heaven when we can always pray, and certainly near Heaven when we
can always praise–

"Prayer and praise, with sins forgiven, Bring to earth the bliss of Hea
ven," and make us ready to go up and share that bliss.

Now you see something of what these worshippers were. I do but pause a
moment to ask whether we are prepared to go there, whether we are like
those who are there. Remember that there is but one place for us
besides–if we do not enter Heaven, to praise with those perfect
spirits–we must be driven from the Divine Presence to suffer with the
condemned! You are not willing to go to Hell–will you not be in
earnest to go to Heaven? You recoil at the idea of, "Depart, you
cursed!" Oh, why not, even now, accept, "Come, you blessed," while
Jesus repeats His gracious invitation, "Come unto Me, all you that
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest"? I wish that I
were able to press this invitation upon you, but I do put it before
you. In the name of Jesus, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of
the world, I invite you to trust in Him and find your sins forgiven
and, so doing, you shall be prepared to meet the Lamb who sits upon the
Throne of God and there, forever, adore His Sacrifice while you enjoy
the blessings that flow from it! May we all meet in Heaven! It would be
a dreadful thing if we could know the destiny of everybody here and
find, among other things, that some here will never see the Gate of
Pearl except from an awful distance–with a great gulf fixed–of which
gulf it is said, "They which would pass from here to you, cannot.
Neither can they pass to us, that would come from there." May we be on
the right side of that gulf! Be on the right side of it, tonight, for
Jesus' sake!

II. Now, having thus spoken of the worshippers, I want you to LISTEN TO
THEIR SONGS. We must listen our best in the short time that we have
left. "They sang a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the Book,
and to open its seals, for You were slain and have redeemed us to God
by Your blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
and have made us unto our God, kings and priests: and we shall reign on
the earth."

It is rather an unusual thing to take a hymn and treat it doctrinally
but, for your instruction, I must take away the poetry for a moment and
just deal with the Doctrines of this heavenly hymn.

The first Doctrine is Christ is put in the front–the Deity of Christ,
as I hold it. They sing, "You are worthy, You are worthy." A
strong-winged angel sped his way over earth and Heaven, and down the
deep places of the universe, crying with a loud voice, "Who is worthy
to open the Book?" But no answer came, for no creature was worthy. Then
came One, of whom the Church cries in its song, "You are worthy, You
are worthy." Yes, Beloved, He is worthy of all the praise and honor
that we can bring to Him! He is worthy to be called equal with God. No,
He is, Himself God, very God of very God, and no man can sing this
song, or ever will sing it, unless He believes Christ to be Divine and
accepts Him as his Lord and God.

Next, the doctrine of this hymn is that the whole Church delights in
the mediation of Christ. Notice, it was when He had taken the Book that
they said, "You are worthy to take the Book." To have Christ standing
between God and man is the joy of every believing heart. We could never
reach up to God, but Christ has come to bridge the distance between us.
He places one hand on man and the other upon God–He is the Daysman who
can lay His hands upon both–and the Church greatly rejoices in this!
Remember that even the working of Providence is not apart from the
mediation of Christ. I rejoice in this, that if the thunders are let
loose, if plagues and deaths around us fly, the child of God is still
under the Mediator's protection and no harm shall happen to the chosen,
for Jesus guards us always. All power is given unto Him in Heaven and
in earth, and the Church rejoices in His mediatorship!

But now, notice, in the Church's song, what is her reason for believing
that Christ is worthy to be a Mediator. She says, "You are worthy, for
You were slain." Ah, Beloved, when Christ undertook to be her Mediator,
this was the extreme point to which Suretyship would carry Him–to be
slain! And He has gone to the extreme point and He has paid

life for life. "In the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die,"
was the sentence pronounced upon Adam. The Second Adam has died–He has
bowed His head to the sentence–He has vindicated the Law of God! He
has gone to the extreme length of all that His mediatorship could
possibly demand of Him and this makes the redeemed lift up the song
higher and higher and higher–"You are worthy, for You were slain."
Jesus is never more glorious than in His death! His Propitiation is the
culmination of His Glory, after all, as it was the very utmost depth of
His shame, Beloved, we rejoice in our Mediator because He died!

Well then, notice, that they sing of the redemption which His death
effected, but they do not sing of the redemption of the world. No, not
at all–"You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out
of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation." I am not going
into a doctrinal discussion, tonight. I believe in the infinite value
of the Atoning Sacrifice. I believe that if God had ordained it to be
effectual for the salvation of many more, it was quite sufficient for
the Divine purpose–but those whom Christ redeemed unto God by His
blood are not all mankind. All mankind will not sing this song! All
mankind will not be made kings and priests unto God! And all mankind
are not redeemed in the sense in which this song is lifted up to God. I
want to know, not so much about general redemption, of which you may
believe what you like, but about Particular Redemption, personal
redemption–"You have redeemed us." "Christ loved the Church and gave
Himself for it." "You have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of
every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation."

My dear Hearer, can you join in this song? It is all very well to say,
"Oh, yes! We are all sinners. We are all redeemed." Stop, stop! Are you
a sinner? Do you know it? Sinners are very scarce in London. "Why,
there are millions of them!" you say. Yes, yes, yes–nominally, they
will say so–but the bond fide sinner, who knows his guilt, is a scarce
article–

"A sinner is a sacred thing, The Holy Spirit has made him so." If there
is a real sinner in this house, tonight, she will be weeping at my
Master's feet, washing those blessed feet with her tears! But as for
you sham sinners–you are sinners, enough, God knows, but you do not
really believe that you are sinners! You have never done anything very
wrong, nothing very particular, nothing very important, nothing to
break your hearts about. Oh, you–why you cannot even claim to come in
among the sinners–you are a sham even there! But as for redemption,
that redemption that redeemed everybody will not do you any good, for
it redeemed Judas, it redeemed the myriads that are now in Hell! A poor
redemption, that! The redemption that you need is the redemption that
would fetch you right out from your fellow sinners, so that you would
be separated unto God, according to that word, "Come out from among
them, and be you separate, says the Lord, and touch not the unclean
thing, and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and you
shall be my sons and daughters."

A thing that is redeemed belonged, originally, to the person who
redeems it, and the redeemed of the Lord always were His–"Yours they
were," says Christ, "and You gave them to Me." They always were God's.
You cannot go and redeem a thing that does not belong to you! You may
buy it, but you cannot redeem it. Now, that which belonged originally
to God came under a mortgage through sin. We, having sinned, came under
the curse of the Law and though God still held to it that we were His,
yet we were under this mortgage–sin had a lien upon us. Christ came
and saw His own and He knew that they were His own. He asked what there
was to pay to redeem them, to take them out of pawn. It was His heart's
blood, His life, Himself that was required! He paid the price and
redeemed them–and we, tonight, sing, "You have redeemed us to God by
Your blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation."
He has, by redeeming us, separated us to Himself and made us a peculiar
people–bought with blood in a special sense out of all the rest of
mankind!

I could tell you a great deal about the universal bearings of Christ's
redemption in which I believe, and in the infinite value of that
redemption, in which I believe, but I also say that there was, in the
design of God, and in the work of Christ, a peculiar form of redemption
which was only for His own people, even as His intercession is, for He
says, "I pray for them, I pray not for the world: but for them which
You have given Me, for they are Yours." Whatever some may think about
it, there is a specialty and peculiarity about the redemption of
Christ–and this makes the very highest note of the song of Heaven,
"You have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every kindred, and
tongue, and people, and nation."

So much about the heavenly hymn doctrinally.

Now about it experimentally–"You have redeemed us to God." I have
said, dear Friends, that you cannot sing this song unless you know
something of it now. Have you been redeemed? Has the mortgage that was
on you through sin been taken off you? Do you believe in Jesus Christ?
For, every man who believes in Jesus Christ has the evidence of his
eternal redemption. You have been bought back with a countless price if
you believe that Jesus is the Christ and you are trusting, alone, in
Him! That was their experience–"You have redeemed us." They felt free.
They remembered when they wore their fetters, but they saw them all
broken by Christ. Have you been set free? Have you had your fetters
broken? Ask the question and then let us pass on.

This redemption is the ground of their distinction–"You have redeemed
us to God by Your blood." I heard one, the other day, say of a certain
minister, "Oh, we want another minister, we are tired of this man. He
is always talking so much about the blood." In the Last Great Day, God
will be tired of the man who made that speech. God never wearies of the
precious blood, nor will His people who know where their salvation
lies. They do not, even in Heaven, say that it is a dreadful word to
mention. "Oh, but I do not like the word!" says some delicate
gentleman. Your lordship will not be bothered with it, for you will not
go to Heaven! Do not trouble yourself–you shall not go where they sing
about the blood. But, mark you, if you ever do go there, you will hear
it over and over and over again–"You have redeemed us to God by Your
blood." How they will ring it out! "You, You, You have redeemed us to
God by Your blood." How they will emphasize that pronoun, "You," and
address the praise wholly to Jesus, and sound out that word with the
full music of their harps, "You have redeemed us to God by Your blood."
They are not ashamed of the blood of Jesus up there!

It is this redemption that has made them kings. We cannot realize our
kingship to the fullest here below, though we do in a measure. There is
a poor man here who has but one room to live in. He has no money in his
pocket, tonight, yet he is a king in the sight of God! There is one
here, perhaps, who used to be a drunk. He could not overcome the
evil–he signed the pledge, wore the blue ribbon and so on–but still
he went back to the drink. By the Grace of God he has got his foot upon
it, now, for he has a new heart and a right spirit. That man is a king!
He is a king over his drunken habits! There is one here who used to
have a very fierce temper. It was hard to live with him, but Christ has
made him a changed man and now he is a king, ruling over his temper! It
is a grand thing to be made a king over yourself. There are some who
have dominion over millions of others, who have never ruled themselves.
Poor creatures! Poor creatures! Thank God, if He has given you the
mastery of your own nature–that is a glorious conquest! Yet this is
only the beginning of what is in this song of Heaven!

And then they say, "You have made us priests." Oh, the poor creatures
we have, nowadays, in the world, who cannot go to Christ except by a
priest! They must go to a priest to confess their sins and go to a
priest to get absolution. We have priests not only in the Church of
Rome, but elsewhere! We are sorry to see this accursed priestcraft
coming in everywhere. Why, some of you people would like your minister
to do all your religion for you, would you not? You take a sitting and
leave your religion to your minister. Christ has made every one of His
people a priest, and every child of God is as much a priest as I am!
And I am a priest certainly, a priest unto God to offer the spiritual
sacrifice of prayer, and praise, and the ministry of the Word. But here
is the peculiar joy of all Christians–that God has made them priests.
If they do not use their priesthood, here, I am afraid that they will
never be able to use their priesthood before the Throne of God with
their fellow priests. This is the melody of the heavenly song, "Washed
in the precious blood, redeemed by that matchless price, we are now
made unto our God kings and priests." Even on earth each saint can
sing–

"I would not change my blessed estate, For all that earth calls good or
great! And while my faith can keep her hold, I envy not the sinner's
gold."

Thus have I spoken of the song doctrinally and experimentally. Now let
me speak of it expectantly.

There is something to be expected–"And we shall reign on the earth."
When John heard that song, the Resurrection Day had not yet come. These
are the spirits before the Throne of God, disembodied–they are
expecting the Day of the Resurrection. When that day will come, who can
tell? But when it comes, the dead in Christ shall rise first. Starting
up at the midnight cry, they shall quit their beds of dust and silent
clay–and the saints that are alive and remain shall join them. I will
not go into the details of that time but then shall come a period of
halcyon bliss. "The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand
years were finished." Then shall be a time of the saints' reigning upon
the earth. Their

life shall be regal–their delights, their joys and their honors shall
be equal to those of kings and princes–no, they shall far exceed them!
Do you and I expect to reign upon the earth? It will seem very odd to
one who is very poor, obscure, perhaps ignorant, but who knows His
Lord, to find that Christ has made Him a priest and a king and that he
shall reign even on the earth with Him, and then reign forever with Him
in Glory! But it would be more amazing–it would be perfectly monstrous
if we were to assert of some persons, and of some here present–that
they would reign on the earth!

The man who lives for himself shall never reign on the earth! "Blessed
are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth"–not the men who, in
their selfishness, trample down everybody else with iron heels! You
shall not reign on the earth–you have lived here simply to hoard
money, or to make a name for yourself, or to indulge your passions, or
to revenge yourselves upon your fellow men. You reign, Sir? You? God's
prison house is the place for you, not a throne! But when He has made
us meek, humble, lowly, reverent and pure, then we shall become fit to
be promoted to this high calling of being priests and kings for Christ
unto God in Glory and even here on earth in the day that is coming.

I wish that everybody here would take to searching himself as to
whether he is likely to be of that blessed number. Do you with joy
accept Christ as your Mediator? Do you see clearly how worthy He is to
be the Mediator? Have you been redeemed from among men? Have you been
taken away from old associations? Have you broken loose from habits
that held you a slave among the Egyptians? Have you come into a new
society? Has God brought you into a new Heaven and a new earth? Has He
given you any measure of reigning power over yourself? Do you live as a
priest, serving God continually? If you are obliged to keep on saying,
"No, no, no," to all these questions, then what shall I say but, "Come
to Christ"? May you come to Him, tonight! May He, tonight, begin in you
that blessed process that shall make you meet to be partaker of the
inheritance of the saints in light, for Jesus' sake! Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON PSALM136.

When the chorus was taken up by the whole of the people, accompanied by
a blast of trumpets, this must have been a magnificent hymn of praise.

Verse 1. O give thanks unto the LORD; for He is good: for His mercy
endures forever. The Psalm begins with the august name, the
incommunicable title of the one living and true God, Jah, Jehovah. For
this name the Jews had a high respect which degenerated into
superstition, for they would not write it in their Bibles–they put
another word instead, in which our translators have imitated them, not
to the improvement of the version. Surely, if it is, "Jehovah," in the
original, we should have it, "Jehovah," here! The name is a very
wonderful one," Je-ho-vah." No man knows exactly how it should be
pronounced. It is said to consist of a succession of breathings,
therefore is it written, "Let everything that has breath praise the
Lord," whose name is a breathing and in whom dwells the life of all who
breathe. Let us take care that we never trifle with the name of God! I
think that the common use of the word, "Hallelujah," or, "Praise the
Lord," is simply profane. Surely, this is not a word to be dragged in
the mire–it should be pronounced with solemn awe and sacred joy.

2. O give thanks unto the God of gods: for His mercy endures forever.
If there is any other god, if there can be imagined to be any, our God
is infinitely above them all! The gods of the heathen are idols, but
our God made the heavens. If there is any reverence due to magistrates,
of whom we read in Psalm 82, "I have said, You are gods," yet are they
nothing at all compared with Jehovah, "the God of gods."

3. O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for His mercy endures forever.
Whatever there is of authority, or lordship, or kingship of any kind in
the world, it is all in subjection to Him who is "the Lord of lords." I
think I hear the trumpets sounding it out and all the people joining in
chorus, "O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for His mercy endures
forever." It is always the same strain, the enduring mercy of God, that
bore the strain of Israel's sin and Israel's need, and Israel's
wandering.

4. To Him who alone does great wonders: for His mercy endures forever.
Nobody does wonders that can be compared with Jehovah's wonders. Nobody
helps Him in the doing of His wonders. He asks no aid from any of His
creatures.

5. To Him that by wisdom made the heavens: for His mercy endures
forever. Every time you lift up your eyes to that one great arch which
spans all mankind, praise the name of the great Builder who made that
one enormous span, unbut-

tressed and unpropped! What a work it was! And it was made by mercy as
well as by wisdom. If we go into the scientific account of the
atmosphere, of the firmament and of the stellar heavens, we see that
the hand of mercy was at the back of wisdom in the making of it
all–"for His mercy endures forever."

6. To Him that stretched out the earth above the waters: for His mercy
endures forever. We ought to praise Him for the making of every
country, especially, I think, we who dwell on these favored islands,
because He has placed our lot in an island–

"He bade the waters round you flow. No bars of brass could guard you
so." We might have been beneath the tyrant's foot if it had not been
for "the silver streak" that gives us liberty. The whole earth,
wherever men dwell, will afford some peculiar reason for their praise
to Jehovah.

7-9. To Him that made great lights: for His mercy endures forever: the
sun to rule by day: for His mercy endures forever: the moon and stars
to rule by night: for His mercy endures forever. Why three verses about
one thing? Because we are not known to dwell upon God's goodness as we
should. We are, therefore, told first to remember light in general–and
then the sun, the moon, the stars–each one in particular. And each
time we do so, we may say, "His mercy endures forever." We are not left
in the daytime without the sun and, when the day is over, the darkness
of the night is cheered either by the moon or by the stars which show
us that not only day unto day, but night unto night, He thinks of us,
"for His mercy endures forever." Praise Him, praise Him, whether it is
high noon or midnight, when the day is renewed or when the curtains of
your rest are drawn, still praise Him, "for His mercy endures forever."

10. To Him that smote Egypt in their firstborn: for His mercy endures
forever. It is not a common mercy of which we have to sing, but a
peculiar theme for thanksgiving. He "smote Egypt in their firstborn."

11. And brought out Israel from among them: for His mercy endures
forever. Sing of His goodness to His chosen, even though it involved a
terrible stroke upon his proud adversary. There are some who cannot
praise God's left hand, but we can–not only the right hand that helps
His people out, but the left hand that smites the Egyptians. We praise
Him, still, with unabated joy in Him. What He does must be right and in
His vengeance there is justice, and justice is mercy to mankind.

12. With a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm: for His mercy
endures forever. In all God's acts there is some peculiarity which
commands especial attention. "He brought out Israel," praise Him for
that. He did it "with a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm,"
therefore again praise Him, The ring is precious, but the brilliance in
the ring is that to which in this verse you are told to look, namely,
Jehovah's strong hand and stretched out arm.

13. 14. To Him which divided the Red sea into parts: for His mercy
endures forever: and made Israel to pass through the midst of it: for
His mercy endures forever. And when you, too, come to the Red Sea on
your way to the heavenly Canaan– when your path is blocked, God will
divide it for you–and as He gently leads you through the very deeps,
He will have you sing, "His mercy endures forever." No floods can drown
His love, nor divide you from it. "Who shall separate us from the love
of Christ?" Jehovah will split seas in two to make a passage for His
people, "for His mercy endures forever."

15. But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea: for His mercy
endures forever. This is the deep bass of the hymn, He "overthrew
Pharaoh." "The horse and his rider has He thrown into the sea." We
cannot give up that verse! We cannot refuse to sing the Song of Moses.
We must praise and bless God for all that He did at the Red Sea, even
though terrible were His deeds of righteousness, when the warriors of
Egypt sank to the bottom of the sea like a stone.

16. To Him which led His people through the wilderness: for His mercy
endures forever. Here is another point where you can join with Israel.
This world is a wilderness to you, but the Lord leads you through it.
By His fiery-cloudy pillar, He conducts you all your journey through.
By His manna, gently dropping from Heaven, He still feeds you and He
will guide you till He brings you over "Jordan's stormy banks"–

"To Canaan's fair and happy land." 17-20. To Him which smote great
kings: for His mercy endures forever: and slew famous kings: for His
mercy endures forever: Sihon king of the Amorites: for His mercy
endures forever: and Og the king of Bashan: for His mercy endures
forever. Here you have the repetitions of God. I have sometimes said
that I like the tunes which allow us to repeat the line of a hymn and,
certainly, one likes a Psalm which turns over some great mercy of God,
and makes us see the various facets of

the wonderful jewel. The Psalmist does not merely say that Jehovah
smote great kings, but these kings were famous in battle, which
rendered their greatness or power the more formidable. But whether men
are great, or whether they are valorous, or both, they cannot prevent
God's mercy to His people! He will push a way for them against the
horns of their adversaries and they shall be victorious. As if to show
the depth of His gratitude, the Psalmist gives the names of these kings
and of the countries over which they ruled–and He dwells with emphasis
upon these points of the mercy of God to His people in that He slew
famous kings–Sihon king of the Amorites, and Og the king of Bashan.

21, 22. And gave their land for an heritage: for His mercy endures
forever: even an heritage unto Israel His servant: for His mercy
endures forever. He gave them those countries which were beyond the
land of promise, because these foes tried to stop their journey. He did
not limit Palestine but, on the contrary, He stretched the ordained
bounds of it and enclosed the land of the Amorites and Bashan within
the territory He gave to His people. Now comes a soft sweet verse–I
think I hear the harps leading the singing–

23. Who remembered us in our low estate: for His mercy endures forever.
Can you not sing this tonight? Some of you, who were very poor, very
sad, despairing, abhorred of men, slandered, persecuted, very
low–perhaps some here who once were in the slums of this city, now can
sing–"Who remembered us in our low estate." Spiritually, our estate
was low enough. It had ebbed out till we had no comfort nor hope
left–but the Lord remembered us! That is a blessed prayer, "Lord,
remember me." That prayer has been answered for many, here! Yes, even
before we prayed it! He remembered us in our low estate, "for His mercy
endures forever." Dear Heart, are you in a very low estate tonight? Do
you feel as if you were at death's dark door and at Hell's dread brink
by reason of the greatness and blackness of your sin? "His mercy
endures forever!" Catch at that rope! Drowning men clutch at straws,
but this is no straw–cling to it–it will bear your weight! It has
been a means of salvation to myriads before you. Trust God's mercy in
Christ and you are saved, "for His mercy endures forever." "Who
remembered us"–what next?

24. And has redeemed us. This song is climbing up–it begins to ascend
the heavenly ladder! It has already reached redemption.

24, 25. From our enemies: for His mercy endures forever. Who gives food
to all flesh: for His mercy endures forever. God is the great Feeder of
the world. What a commissariat is that of the universe! One cannot
think of the needs of the five millions in London without shuddering
lest, some day, there should not be food enough for them. But there
always is. I will not trace it to the mere fact that trade and commerce
supply us. No, there is an over-ruling Power at the back of it all,
depend upon it! All the world seems eager to supply our markets and to
make the loaf for the laborer, but it is God who has planned it all!
Let us praise Him "who gives food to all flesh." As for spiritual meat,
He will give us that, too! I trust we shall all have a portion of meat
in due season, tonight. If any shall be hungry at the end of the
service, it shall be surely from lack of willingness to be fed rather
than lack of suitability in the Word of God to sustain the spirit and
bless the soul.

26. O give thanks unto the God of Heaven: for His mercy endures
forever.