The Vine of Israel

The Vine of Israel

(No. 3243)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, MARCH 30, 1911.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. On behalf of the British
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Jews, ON THURSDAY
EVENING, MAY 9, 1878.

"Return, we beseech You, O God ofHosts: look down from Heaven, and
behold, and visit this vine." Psalm 80:14.

I FEEL somewhat straitened on this occasion because of the specialty of
my subject. I have been persuaded by the Society to preach on behalf of
the Jews, but my mind does not quite run in the direction which is
prescribed for it. I have been so in the habit of preaching the Gospel
to everybody, knowing neither Jew nor Gentile, barbarian, Scythian,
bond, nor free, that the very recognition of anything like nationality
and specialty is somewhat difficult for me. I do not think that the
recognition of the distinction is wrong–no, I think it right–but it
is so unusual that I scarcely feel at home. I would sooner, by a
thousand times, take a text and preach the Gospel to sinners or to
saints than discourse upon a special race. Yet is it necessary and,
therefore, let it be done. And I trust the Holy Spirit may make our
meditation profitable. Assuredly, if there is any distinction which
might be maintained, and I think there is none, for that distinction of
Jew and Gentile seems to me to be wiped out and obliterated–if there
is any distinction, we may, at least, remember that which lingeringly
subsists between the seed of Israel and the nations, for God's election
of old fell upon them–and when the old world lay in darkness, gleams
of light gladdened their eyes! To them belonged the oracles. They were
long the sole preservers of the precious Truth of God which they have
handed down to us. And if through their unbelief we have taken their
place, we cannot but recollect who occupied it for so many
centuries–and we cannot but look with extraordinary tenderness and
affection and earnest desire to that elder family whom the Lord loved
so long and towards whom, I think, His love still burns, as shall be
seen when the day comes in which He shall gather Israel again unto
Himself!

We shall view the prayer of the text in its reference to Israel.
"Return, we beseech You, O God of Hosts: look down from Heaven, and
behold, and visit this vine." The vine was peculiarly a type of
Palestine and the Jewish nation. When this Psalm was written, the
Gentiles were not in the Psalmist's mind, but only Israel. So let us
now speak of Israel and let us pray to God that He will return in
mercy, behold in pity and visit this vine and the vineyard which His
right hand planted.

I. First, let us reflect upon WHAT AN AMOUNT OF INTEREST SURROUNDS THIS
VINE–this chosen people.

Brethren, Israel has a history compared with which the annals of all
other nations are but poor and thin. Israel is the world's aristocracy
and her history is the roll call of priests and kings unto God. At the
very beginning, what interest attaches to the planting of this vine!
The Psalmist speaks of the Lord bringing the vine out of Egypt and
casting out the nations that He might find a trench wherein He might
place Israel's roots that she might strike deep, and take possession of
the soil. But what wonders God worked in the removal of Israel from the
soil of Goshen, wherein her vine seemed to have taken deep root, until
the wild boar of Egypt began to uproot her! Never can we forget what He
did at the Red Sea. Even at the very mention of the name, we feel as if
we could sing unto the Lord who triumphed gloriously and cast the horse
and his rider into the depths of the sea! What marvels He worked all
through the wilderness when He turned the Rock into a pool of water and
made refreshing streams to follow His chosen along the burning sand!
Neither can we forget the Jordan–our hearts begin to sing at the
mention of the name–What ailed you, O Jordan, that you were driven
back when the Lord's ark led the way through the depths of the river
and the priests stood still in the midst, while all the hosts of His
people passed over dry-shod? Neither can we fail to exult as we think
of the planting of the vine in Canaan. Saw you not the walls of Jericho
tottering in ruins at the sound of the ram's horns when Israel gave her
shout, for the

Lord was in the midst of His people? Therefore the sword of Joshua
smote the Canaanites till they were utterly destroyed! The sun stood
still upon Gibeon and the moon in the valley of Ajalon, because the
Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man, working marvelously with His
people, that He might settle them in the land which He gave unto their
fathers–the land which flowed with milk and honey!

When I think of such a planting, it seems to me that this vine can
never be given up to be utterly burned with fire after wonders as
these! It is not God's fashion to cast away a people for whom He has
done so much. The commencement of Israel's national history is by far
too good to close, as we fear it must, if we judge only according to
carnal reason. An era brighter and more glorious must surely dawn and
the Lord must bring again from Bashan, and lead up His chosen nation
from the depths of the seas. Once again He will make bare His arm, even
He that cut Rahab and wounded the dra-gon–and the whole earth shall
behold all Israel, both spiritual and national–singing in one joyous
song, the song of Moses the servant of God, and of the Lamb! The very
planting of the nation makes us feel the deepest possible interest in
its welfare. O God, behold and visit this vine, as the vineyard which
Your right hand has planted!

Let us reflect again upon the prosperity of Israel and the wide
influence which the nation exercised for centuries. I am keeping
closely to the Psalm, which is really my text, for we are told that
after the planting of the vine, "the hills were covered with the shadow
of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars. She sent out
her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river." No nation
has ever exercised such an influence upon the thought of the world as
the Jewish people have done. I grant you that some other nations
exercised greater influence upon the world's art and sculpture and the
like, for Israel eschewed much of art and science, not greatly to her
loss, especially since the reason for it was so greatly to her gain.
But the idea of one God, which the Lord had graciously written upon the
hearts of His elect people, though it took many an age to erase the
natural lines of idolatry which Nature had imprinted there–that idea
of the unity of the Godhead is a treasure handed to us by the seed of
Abraham! The grand Truths which were contained in type and shadow and
outward ordinance, and given to the chosen people of God, exercised a
far more powerful influence over the world than, perhaps, most of us
have ever dreamed! I feel certain that the religion of Zoroaster came
from the Jews. I believe that much of whatever is pure in Eastern
religions might be distinctly traced to the teachings of Moses, to
gleanings of the Israelite vintage which were carried to the nations
through their commerce and intercommunication– perhaps directly and
distinctly by the teachings of Jews who journeyed there as exiles in
captivity.

The earth had become corrupt even in father Abraham's time. And though,
here and there, there might have been found goodly individuals like the
Patriarch, Job, adhering to the simple worship of the one only God, yet
for the most part, the whole world was sunken in idolatry. But the
Light of God came to it and remains in it, gleaming strangely in the
darkness like flashes of lightning amidst the blackness of a tempest!
That light has always come, I believe, by the way of Israel! The
original light of tradition grew dimmer and dimmer and threatened to
die out, for in transmission from father to son its brightness was
sadly clouded with human error. But the Truth retained much of its
vitality and purity in the midst of Israel and from Israel it
influenced the rest of the nations. In the days of Solomon, how proudly
did the Temple stand upon its holy hill, beautiful for situation, the
joy of the whole earth, the one Pharos of the midnight sea of humanity!
That little country–we often forget what a very little district
Palestine occupied–was, nevertheless, the very queen among the
nations! From far-off Sheba they came to hear the wisdom of Solomon and
to other lands the rumor of his glory extended–and all his greatness
was connected with the worship of God, for she who came from Sheba,
came to hear all the wisdom of Solomon "concerning the Lord, his God."
That little land thus influenced all lands and transmitted far-off down
the centuries what was known of the ever-blessed God among the people!
To me it seems so sad that she that sat over against the treasury
should now be poor. That she that laid the daily showbread before the
Lord should now be famished. That she that piled the Temple and brought
the offering, should now turn away from the one only Sacrifice and
should these many days remain without priest or temple! Alas poor
Israel! Our hearts take the deepest interest in you and we pray the
Lord to look down and behold, and visit this vine, when we remember the
days of your glory and all the splendor of the Revelation of the Most
High in the midst of His people!

Nor does the interest become one particle the less when we come to the
time of Israel's decay. She would imitate the heathen and go aside to
false gods–nothing could cure her of it. She was chastened again and
again and, at last, it came to banishment and the people were
scattered. Alas for the tears that Judah and Israel shed! What ocean
could hold them all? How God's people were made to smart, and cry, and
groan! Let the waters of Babylon tell how salty they flowed

with Judah's griefs. How could they sing the Lord's song in that
strange land? What a history of woe has Israel's story been! And then,
when they were brought back cured of idolatry as, thank God, they most
effectually are, there came an equally mournful decay–for formalism,
the absence of all spiritual life–the mere observance of outward
ritual, came into the place of idolatry and the people in whom all the
nations of the earth were blessed had the Christ among them, but
refused Him! "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not." Woe
was the day! Speak of it with sevenfold sorrow. He came for whom they
long had waited–Israel's Hope–and they refused Him! Yes, they
crucified Him.

My tongue will not attempt to tell what came of it, when His blood was
on them and on their children. Earth never saw a more terrible sight
than the siege and destruction of Jerusalem! Then did they sell the
ancient people of God for a pair of shoes and the precious sons of
Zion, comparable to fine gold, were esteemed as earthen pitchers, the
work of the hands of the potter. The enemy plowed the holy place, sowed
it with salt, and the seed of Abraham were scattered to the four winds
of Heaven! Alas, the evil ceased not when the last stone was
overthrown, but wrath followed the fugitives. Through many, many
centuries Israel was persecuted–shame covers my face–persecuted by
those who called themselves Christians! The blood of Israel hangs in
great clots upon the skirts of Rome and will bring down upon that
thrice-accursed system the everlasting wrath of the Most High! Did they
not grievously oppress the Jews in Spain and every other Catholic
country–remorselessly hunting them down as if they were unfit to
live–torturing them in ways that it were impossible for us to
describe, lest your cheeks should blanch as you heard the horrible
story? The men that were of the same race as the Christ of God were so
hated by the professed followers of Jesus that no indignities were
thought to be great enough, and no severities to be fierce enough for
execution upon those they thought to be the execrable Jews!

Thank God, such persecution is now over–let us hope forever–at least
in the Western world. The race would have been stamped out, however, if
Rome's tender mercies could have worked their will. Go to the Ghetto,
today, in the Jews' quarter in Rome, and see the Church, as I have
done, in which a certain number of Jews were compelled to hear a
sermon, once in the year, leveled at their own race and faith, and over
the door of which is written what from such a quarter is a wanton
insult to them–"To Israel He says, All day long I have stretched forth
My hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people." Verily it would be
so eternally if the hands of Rome were the hands to be stretched
out–when she encouraged, if she did not command the racing of Jews in
the Corso, and the pouring of contempt upon them in the rudest fashion!
Israel would never worship images, saints and virgins! Blessed were
they as a nation for this thing, at least, that they utterly rejected
the idolatry of which Rome is shamelessly guilty! It were far better to
not be a Christian than to think Popery to be Christianity, for it is
one of the vilest forms of idolatry that ever came from the polluted
heart of man! Alas, poor Israel, what have you suffered! What tongue
can tell your woes? I feel compelled to apply to Israel the language
which Byron applied to Rome, when he called her "the Niobe of nations,"
and reckoned all sorrows beside hers but petty misery–

"What aire our griefs and sufferance? Come and see Jerusalem in heaps,
and plod your way O'er steps of broken thrones and temples."

Look, too, on a princely people crushed under persecution, laboring and
finding no rest. Princes were hanged up by their hands. The faces of
elders were not honored. Then was fulfilled Jeremiah's Lamentation,
"How is the gold become dim! How is the most fine gold changed! They
that did feed delicately, are desolate in the streets–they that were
brought up in scarlet, embrace dunghills."

But we will not end here, my Brothers and Sisters. The interest which
we feel with regard to Israel and which makes us pray, "Lord, visit
this vine," rises as we think of its future. I am no Prophet or
interpreter of the prophecies, but this much seems clear to me–that
the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of the Jews, will have dominion over
them and they shall be converted and shall acknowledge Him to be the
Messiah who was promised to their fathers–so does the New Testament
teach us as well as the Old! It seems to me that we may work for the
conversion of Israel with the absolute certainty that if we do not see
it, ourselves, yet it shall be seen, for the natural branches of the
olive, which for a while were cut off, shall be grafted in again, and
so all Israel shall be saved. The future of the Gentiles in the
fullness of its Glory can never be accomplished till, first of all, the
Jews shall be ingathered. You shall have no millennial day, or full
brightness of Messiah's Glory, until yonder, by Jordan's streams and
Judah's deserted hills, where once the Savior worked, and walked, and
preached, the song shall yet again arise of Hallelujah to the God of
Israel!

One more thought and then I leave this point of the interest we take in
Israel. We must forever take a special interest in the Jews because of
them came our Lord. He was so completely a Man that one forgets that He
was a Jew, and, perhaps, for the most part it is best that we should,
for He is more a Man than a Jew. But still, "He took not up the nature
of angels, but He took up the seed of Abraham." Jesus is the Son of
David. The Jews have a part in Him, after the flesh, which we have not.
And, amid all the privileges which we enjoy, we can well afford to let
them have everything that they can claim. And they can certainly prove
a special kinship to Him whom our soul loves. Oh, if it were for
nothing else but that our Savior was of the Jews, we ought to love them
and make them the subject of our prayers and of our earnest efforts!
Surely the mention of that will suffice and I need not say so much as
one solitary word more! Interest in the Jews, indeed, is a very wide
subject, and we have said enough for the present purpose.

II. NOW, SECONDLY, WHAT IS IT THAT THE JEWISH PEOPLE NEED? We have been
exhorted by all these

things to pray for this vine. What is it that is needed?

The answer of our text is, "Look down from Heaven, and behold, and
visit this vine." A visitation from God is the one thing necessary for
Israel. For what purpose should God visit the Jews, then? I say,
Brothers and Sisters, it is the one essential thing in order to give
them spiritual life. Our acquaintances with the interior of the Jewish
commonwealth at the present time is not very large, but some of us have
observed that there are two sorts of Israelites. Some are devout–
devout men with some of whom it has been our privilege to have hearty
fellowship in matters of common interest touching the things of God.
When we have spoken together of the Providence of God and of faith in
the Divine Mercy, we have been much of the same mind. In the late
debate brought on by Colenso, we were able, in comparing notes, to feel
the same zeal for the value of the Old Testament and for the Glory of
the ever-blessed God! Whether we were Christians or Jews, we were
equally zealous to repel the infidel assaults of the famous master of
arithmetic. We meet now and then with men whose sincerity and devotion
we could not doubt at all–would to God that their sincerity led them
to search the Scriptures and to examine the claims of our Lord Jesus!
Such men lament that many of their people seem to have no religion,
or–what is almost the same thing–to have nothing more than the
outward form. Their being of the Israelite race is distinctly
recognized and never for a moment held back–the Sabbath is almost
universally hallowed, for which let Israel put to shame many so-called
Christian lands! Much is done that is commendable, much which exhibits
high integrity and uprightness, but yet, to a large extent, the race is
sunk in worldliness and misled by superstition. Oh, that God would
visit the Jew and endow him with an enquiring and unprejudiced heart,
with longing after the God of his fathers, with a deeper reverence and
a truer zeal for the Glory of Jehovah!

The visitation of God may well be entreated that He would next grant
enlightenment to His people, taking away the veil which has been cast
over their eyes and enabling them to see the true Messenger of the
Covenant. There are thousands of Israelites today who only need to know
that Jesus is the Messiah and they would as gladly accept Him as any of
us have done. It seems to us so strange that they can read the 53rd
Chapter of Isaiah and so many other plain passages of the Prophets and
of the Psalms without seeing that the Man of Nazareth is the Christ of
God! Yet they do read, but the veil is on their hearts so that they do
not perceive Christ in their interpretations. Alas that the Son of
Righteousness should shine and Israel should be in darkness! With many
of the seed of Abraham there is an honest desire to receive whatever
can be shown to be the Truth of God. If the Lord will touch their eyes
and remove the scales–what an enlightenment on the whole nation would
follow! A nation would be born in a day! What joy for us, what honor to
God, what happiness to themselves if they might but be delivered from
their present alienation! O God, You alone can do this! We cannot. All
arguments seem to be in vain, but do You behold, and visit this vine!

When the spiritual life of the nation shall have been revived and there
shall be an enlightenment of the intellect, they will only need the
Spirit to work upon the heart. Even as the Holy Spirit has quickened
and regenerated us, so must it be with them, for there is no difference
between Jew and Gentile in this matter. The same regenerated work is
needed–the same enlightening of the Holy Spirit–and if the Lord will
do this, our hearts shall be exceedingly glad!

III. WHAT, THEN, CAN WE DO? We are great debtors to Israel, what can we
do for her?

Some people are always afraid of telling Christian people to do
anything. They mutter between their teeth, "The Lord will do His own
work," and they are afraid that they should be interfering with God's
prerogatives. Ah, my dear Brothers and Sisters, I am not afraid that
some of you will ever do the Lord's work, for you do not do your own!
That part which you cando is neglected! Do not be so mightily
frightened lest you should be too active! It is God's work to

visit Israel and gather out His people and He alone can do it–but He
works by means. What, then, would He have us

do?

I answer, the first thing we can do is to pray for Israel. You believe
in the power of prayer, do you not, my Brothers and Sisters? Why, some
of us can no more doubt the power of prayer than we can doubt the force
of a steam-engine or the influence of the law of gravity, because to us
the effects and results of prayer are everyday things! We are in the
habit of speaking with God about everything–and receiving replies
which to us are as distinct as if He had spoken to us with words. We
can speak boldly in prayer to God concerning Israel! No nation can be
nearer to God's heart than the Jews. We may be bold with the mighty
God. We may open our mouth wide, for He will fill it. We may plead with
Him urgently after this fashion–"Will you not glorify Yourself by the
salvation of the Jews? What could You do that would more signally
strike the whole world with awe than if you were to turn this wonderful
nation to the faith of Christ? You have taught them the unity of the
Godhead, you have burnt this Truth into their very souls–now teach
them the Deity of Your Son who is One with You! Bring them to rejoice
in the Triune God with heart and soul, and all lands shall hear of it
and say with wonder, 'Who are these?' Great God, were not these Your
messengers of old? When You needed heralds, did You not look to Israel?
You took James and John, and Peter and Paul. You will find such as
these among them, now, if You will call them–both boastful Peters and
persecuting Pauls–whom Your Grace can transform into mighty testifiers
for the name of Jesus.!"Let us pray to God to do this. We can pray!

The next thing we can do is to feel very kindly towards that race. I
know all that will be said about converted Jews, and I lament that
there should have been grave occasion given in many instances. But, for
my part, I have been glad of late to smart a little for the sake of my
Lord. I have said, "Well, it was a Jew that saved me and even if this
professed convert should have a hypocritical design upon my purse, I
had better be deceived by him that turn away an honest kinsmen of my
Lord." I do not marvel that there should be deceivers among the Jews,
for have not we plenty of such in our churches, who, for the sake of
loaves and fish and pelf, creep in among us, pretending to be followers
of Christ when their hearts know nothing about Him? In all ranks and
conditions of man, hypocrisy is sure to be found! But for all that, we
do not turn round and say, "The Gentiles are a bad lot. We will have
nothing more to do with them because two or three of them deceived us."
The Gentiles are always taking us in! We know they are and still we
have hope for them. And so must we always have hope towards Israel–and
instead of thinking bitterly and speaking bitterly, we must cultivate
kindness of spirit both to those who become Christians and to those who
remain in unbelief. I, for one, thank God that this land has now for
several years swept away the civil disabilities of the Jew. He is no
longer a stranger in the land, but he settles down in the midst of us
and exercises all the rights of citizenship. May the kindness of
feeling which has prompted this change–and it came, I think, mainly
from earnest Christians–lead the Israelites to think kindly of our

faith!

Another thing we can do, dear Friends, is to keep our own religion
pure. I marvel not that Jews are not Christians when I know what sort
of Christianity, for the most part, they have seen. When I have walked
through Rome and countries under Rome's sway–and have seen thousands
bow before the image of a woman carried through the streets–when I
have seen the churches crammed with people bowing down before pieces of
bone, hair and teeth of dead saints, and such like things–I have said
to myself, "If I were a worshipper of the One true God, I would look
with scorn upon those who bow before these cast clouts, moldy rags,
pieces of rotten timber and I know not what besides!" No, no, good Jew!
Join not with this idolatrous rabble! Remain a Jew rather than degrade
yourself with this superstition! If the Lord has taught you to know
that there is an unseen God who made the heavens and the earth, and who
alone is to be worshipped–if you have heard the voice of thunder which
says, 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one God,' stand you to that
and go not one inch beyond it, if the way before you invites you to the
worship of things that are seen, and the reverence of men who call
themselves priests–and the whispering out of every filthy thought into
a confessor's ear! No, no, no, Israel! You are brought very low, but
you are far too noble to become an adorer of crosses and wafers, and
pictures and relics!"

Even in our own land there is a good deal which one would not wish a
Jew to regard as Christianity. To my mind, baptismal regeneration is
about as glaring a piece of Popery as there is to be found in the
world! And they can hear that lie publicly taught in England! Grievous,
too, it is to my very heart that they may hear it among those who
profess a purer form of faith than that of which we have spoken. Try,
Brothers and Sisters, to keep Christ's religion as Christ taught it.
Purify it. Let it come back to its original form!

Labor also to be Christians in ordinary life. If a Jew says, "I would
like to see a Christian," do not let him see a person full of
superstitions. Let him see one who believes in the Triune God, who
tries to live according to the commands of God, and who, when he talks
about Jesus, lets you see the mind which dwelt in Jesus–the same mind
being in him. When once the Church of God shall bear a clear testimony
to the Truth of God both with lips and life, great hindrances will be
taken out of the way of Israel. I know you say, "Well, Jews ought to
know that we hold a very different faith from Romanists." I know that
you think so, but I am not able to perceive how the Jews are to learn
the distinction, for Papists are called Christians as much as we are!
Their religion is dominant in some countries–it is prominent in every
country. How is the Jew to know that it is not the religion of Christ?
As he thinks that it is so, he declares that he will have nothing to do
with it–and I, for one, cannot condemn him, but approve of his
resolve! I only hope that as the years roll on, we who worship God in
sincerity and have no confidence in the flesh, we who are saved by the
faith which saved Abraham, who is our father after the spirit though
not according to the flesh, that we, I say, may be able to bring this
purer faith more clearly to the knowledge of Israel and that God will
lead His ancient nation to be fellow-heirs with us! We must keep our
doctrine pure and hold it individually with clean hands and a pure
heart–or we have not done all that we can for Israel.

This being done, I will next say that we must each one evangelize with
all his might. Do this not among Jews, only, but among Gentiles, also.
Wherever you are, tell abroad the knowledge of Jesus Christ! Do not
live a single day, if opportunity serves you, without testifying
concerning the love of God which is revealed in the Cross of Calvary.
Your prayer should be for the whole Church of God, "Behold, and visit
this vine." And as a large number of God's elect ones are as yet hidden
in darkness, let us pray unto the Lord that He would visit this vine
and make these branches to spring out into the Light of God–that on
them, also, there may be rich clusters to His praise!

Brothers and Sisters, we are, ourselves, saved, are we not? Come,
before you go away, let the question be put to you, Are you saved? Are
you really Believers in Jesus? Is the Christ formed in you? Have you
realized that He is your Savior? Are you trusting Him now? Will you
live to Him? Are you consecrated to Him–spirit, soul and body? If you
are, that is the first thing. If you are not, I cannot ask you to pray
for Israel, or for anybody else till, first of all, God has put a cry
into your soul for yourselves. If you are saved, then let me ask myself
and you, "Are we doing all we might for the honor and love of Jesus?"
Sitting on these seats, might not many say, "We have not yet begun to
live for Christ as we ought"? May the Lord quicken you!

There was a young man here, one Thursday night, when I closed with some
such words as these, who derived lasting benefit from them. He was a
gentleman doing a large business, to whom it had never occurred that he
might preach Christ. It did occur to him that night–and he straightway
went to the town in which he lived and began to preach in the streets!
He is now the pastor of a large Church, though he still continues his
business–and his is an example to be imitated by many! I would to God
that some young man might be quickened to feel that he must do
something, for Israel perhaps, for Christ, certainly! And you, Sisters,
may you feel a Divine impulse upon you while you pray God to visit the
vine which He has planted! May He also visit you and make you fruitful
vines unto His praise! The Lord bless everyone of you, for Christ's
sake! Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM46.

To the ChiefMusician for the sons of Korah, A Song upon Alamoth.

This Psalm is often called "Martin Luther's Psalm." Whenever there was
any great trouble, Luther used to say, "Let us sing the 46th Psalm
together and then let the devil do his worst." This is the Psalm, too,
from which Mr. John Wesley preached in Hyde Park at the time of a great
earthquake. While the earth was shaking and there was a great storm,
Mr. Wesley preached from the second verse–"Therefore we will not fear,
though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into
the midst of the sea."

Verse 1. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in
trouble. All creatures have their places of refuge. "As for the stork,
the fir trees are her house. The high hills are a refuge for the wild
goats and the rocks for the conies." All

men also have their places of refuge, though some are "refuges of
lies." But God is our refuge and strength," the Omnipotence of Jehovah
is pledged for the defense and support of His people. "A very present
help in trouble"–One who is near at hand–always near, but nearest
when He is most needed. Not much entreaty is required to bring Him to
the aid of His people, for He is close at hand and close at heart, "a
very present help in trouble."

2. 3. Therefore will we not fear, though the earth be removed, and
though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the
waters thereof roar and are troubled, though the mountains shake with
the swelling thereof [See

Sermon #1950, Volume 33–EARTHQUAKE BUT NOT HEARTQUAKE.] Here we

have, you perceive, a mention of the greatest convulsions of Nature,
yet the Believer fears not! Doubtless, too, these verses are intended
to be a picture of the great convulsions that take place in the
Providential dealings of God. States and kingdoms that seem to be as
solid as the earth will one day be removed. Dynasties that seem as
fixed and firm as mountains may soon be swept away into the sea of
oblivion. We may have famine, war, pestilence and anarchy until the
whole earth shall seem to be like the sea in a great storm! Yes, hope
may fail with many and the stoutest hearts may shake at the swelling
thereof. Yet let the worst come to the worst, God's people are still
safe! As one old writer says, "Though God should, to use His words
concerning Jerusalem, wipe the earth as a man wipes a dish, wiping it
and turning it upside down, yes, though He should break it into a
thousand shivers, yet need not His people fear, for if He does not
protect them under Heaven, He will take them up to be with Him in
Heaven!" If Heaven and earth could be mingled together, and chaos could
return, yet as long as God is God, there is no use for the Believer to
fear!

3. Selah. We may well pause and renew our confidence in the God who has
never failed us, and who never will fail any who trust Him.

4. There is a river, the stream whereof shall make glad the city of
God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. Whatever river
may have been in the Psalmist's mind, it was the symbol of Sovereign
Grace flowing freshly and freely from the sacred Fountain of Eternal
Love to make glad the people of God! And now we have the Inspired Book,
we have the preached Word, we have the many precious promises, we have
the blessed Spirit, Himself, and all these make a glorious river, the
streams whereof "make glad the city of God, the holy place of the
tabernacle of the Most High."

5. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help
her, and that right early. The Hebrew expression is, "at the turning of
the morning." Our marginal reading gives it, "when the morning
appears." "God shall help her at the turning of the morning."At that
period when the night is the blackest, just before the light begins to
come, then shall God help His Church. Child of God, this promise is to
you, also! When the night gets thickest and the gloom is the heaviest,
then God shall help you "at the turning of the morning." He may tarry
for a while, but He will tarry no longer than is wise. You shall find,
in looking back upon God's dealings with you, that although He
sometimes seemed to be long in coming to your help and you cried out,
"Lord, how long?" yet, after all, He did help you and that "right
early," too!

6. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: He uttered His voice,
the earth melted. God has but to speak and His stoutest foe shall
dissolve like snow when the sun shines on it.

7-9. The LORD ofHosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.
Selah. Come, behold the work of the Lord, what desolation He has made
in the earth. He makes wars to cease unto the ends of the earth; He
breaks the bow, and cuts the spear in sunder; He burns the chariot in
the fire. [See Sermon #190, Volume 4–the desolation of the lord, the
consolation of his

SAINTS.] Here the Psalmist invites us to behold what God has

done in the past. He has desolated the desolaters and destroyed the
destroyers! War has been a terrible scourge to mankind, but our God is
Master even over war. When I look at the old ruined castles all over
our land, I cannot help saying to myself and others, too, "Come, behold
the works of the Lord, what desolations He has made in the earth," and
when I stumble upon some broken-down abbeys, or monasteries and Popish
cathedrals, I can but wish that there were more of them, that we might
see many such desolations which the Lord has made in the earth! He will
get the victory over all His foes and break all His adversaries in
pieces–however long He may wait before putting forth His great power
in judgment upon them!

10. Be still, and know that I am God—Here is the command and here is
the reason which will help us to obey it. Judge not the Lord hastily!
Murmur not at His Providential dealings with you! Be not hurrying and
scurrying here and there, but, "be still." In silence and in confidence
shall be your strength. "Be still, and know that I am God"–

10. I will be exalted among thee heathen, I will be exalted in the
earth. If God is willing to wait, you need not be impatient. His time
is the best time and He will be exalted in due time.

11. The LORD of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.
Selah.