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Jeremiah
Chapter Thirty-two
Jeremiah 32
Chapter Contents
Jeremiah buys a field. (1-15) The prophet's prayer.
(16-25) God declares that he will give up his people
but promises to restore
them. (26-44)
Commentary on Jeremiah 32:1-15
(Read Jeremiah 32:1-15)
Jeremiah
being in prison for his prophecy
purchased a
piece of ground. This was to signify
that though Jerusalem was besieged
and
the whole country likely to be laid waste
yet the time would come
when
houses
and fields
and vineyards
should be again possessed. It concerns
ministers to make it appear that they believe what they preach to others. And
it is good to manage even our worldly affairs in faith; to do common business
with reference to the providence and promise of God.
Commentary on Jeremiah 32:16-25
(Read Jeremiah 32:16-25)
Jeremiah adores the Lord and his infinite perfections.
When at any time we are perplexed about the methods of Providence
it is good
for us to look to first principles. Let us consider that God is the fountain of
all being
power
and life; that with him no difficulty is such as cannot be
overcome; that he is a God of boundless mercy; that he is a God of strict
justice; and that he directs every thing for the best. Jeremiah owns that God
was righteous in causing evil to come upon them. Whatever trouble we are in
personal or public
we may comfort ourselves that the Lord sees it
and knows
how to remedy it. We must not dispute God's will
but we may seek to know what
it means.
Commentary on Jeremiah 32:26-44
(Read Jeremiah 32:26-44)
God's answer discovers the purposes of his wrath against
that generation of the Jews
and the purposes of his grace concerning future
generations. It is sin
and nothing else
that ruins them. The restoration of
Judah and Jerusalem is promised. This people were now at length brought to
despair. But God gives hope of mercy which he had in store for them hereafter.
Doubtless the promises are sure to all believers. God will own them for his
and he will prove himself theirs. He will give them a heart to fear him. All
true Christians shall have a disposition to mutual love. Though they may have
different views about lesser things
they shall all be one in the great things
of God; in their views of the evil of sin
and the low estate of fallen man
the way of salvation through the Saviour
the nature of true holiness
the
vanity of the world
and the importance of eternal things. Whom God loves
he
loves to the end. We have no reason to distrust God's faithfulness and
constancy
but only our own hearts. He will settle them again in Canaan. These
promises shall surely be performed. Jeremiah's purchase was the pledge of many
a purchase that should be made after the captivity; and those inheritances are
but faint resemblances of the possessions in the heavenly Canaan
which are
kept for all who have God's fear in their hearts
and do not depart from him.
Let us then bear up under our trials
assured we shall obtain all the good he
has promised us.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Jeremiah》
Jeremiah 32
Verse 5
[5] And
he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon
and there shall he be until I visit him
saith the LORD: though ye fight with the Chaldeans
ye shall not prosper.
Until I visit him —
Perhaps in mercy; it is certain Zedekiah was not put to death
only carried to
Babylon
where some think he afterward found favour with the king of Babylon.
Verse 9
[9] And I bought the field of Hanameel my uncle's son
that was in Anathoth
and weighed him the money
even seventeen shekels of silver.
The money —
The price of land was strangely fallen at this time
when the enemy was
besieging the chief city of the country.
Verse 11
[11] So I
took the evidence of the purchase
both that which was sealed according to the
law and custom
and that which was open:
I took — It
is probable
that upon such sales among the Jews
two instruments were made
the one sealed up
to be kept by the purchaser
the other open
to be shewed to
the judges
and by them ratified.
Verse 12
[12] And
I gave the evidence of the purchase unto Baruch the son of Neriah
the son of
Maaseiah
in the sight of Hanameel mine uncle's son
and in the presence of the
witnesses that subscribed the book of the purchase
before all the Jews that
sat in the court of the prison.
Baruch —
This Baruch (chap. 46:4
26
) was a scribe
and an attendant upon
Jeremiah.
Witnesses — He
made this purchase with all the usual formalities; he signed and sealed it
before witnesses
and delivered it to Baruch to keep
in the presence of all
the Jews.
Verse 20
[20] Which hast set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt
even unto this day
and in Israel
and among other men; and hast made thee a name
as at this day;
Who hast set signs —
Who didst wonders of justice in the land of Egypt
such as are remembered even
to this day.
Verse 24
[24]
Behold the mounts
they are come unto the city to take it; and the city is
given into the hand of the Chaldeans
that fight against it
because of the
sword
and of the famine
and of the pestilence: and what thou hast spoken is
come to pass; and
behold
thou seest it.
The mounts —
Rather engines of war with which those nations used to batter walls
or to
shoot great stones into places besieged.
Verse 34
[34] But
they set their abominations in the house
which is called by my name
to defile
it.
Have set —
Their idols.
Verse 39
[39] And
I will give them one heart
and one way
that they may fear me for ever
for the
good of them
and of their children after them:
One heart — I
will give them union and concord
one mind and judgment.
One way —
They shall all worship me according
to the rule I have given them.
Verse 40
[40] And
I will make an everlasting covenant with them
that I will not turn away from
them
to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts
that they shall
not depart from me.
I will make —
This promise manifestly relates to those Jews that should receive the Lord
Jesus Christ
unless it be to be understood of a national conversion of the
Jews
not yet effected.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Jeremiah》
32 Chapter 32
Verses 1-44
Buy my field
I pray thee.
Jeremiah’s faith
I. Faith is here illustrated as resting exclusively upon the word of
God. All that Jeremiah did in this matter he did just because he had a command
from the Lord. Whilst he was in prison
God told him that his cousin should
come and offer him the redemption of a part at least of the family inheritance.
The man came
and he “knew that this was the Word of the Lord”; therefore he
bought the field. It is not to be supposed that he was rich. The probability is
that he may have had to get the money for the purchase from his friend Baruch. Neither
had he any expectation of himself obtaining any personal benefit from the
purchase
for he believed that the city would be given into the hands of the
Chaldeans
that the people would be taken for seventy years as exiles to
Babylon. This is the very nature of true faith; it does the thing
or it
receives the thing
it fears or it hopes
as the case may be wholly because God has
spoken. If it embraces a promise
it rests its hope upon the Word of the Lord.
If it is moved by fear
it is because God has denounced an impending
punishment. If it acts in a particular way
it follows exactly the path which
God has marked out. Resting as it does entirely upon the Word of God
it is
altogether independent of reason
although it does not refuse to listen to its voice.
Faith receives testimony; our faith in men leads us to receive the testimony of
men. We often receive that testimony although we have no other evidence
whatever of the facts we believe. Nay
we receive it although we have found the very persons whose
testimony we are now relying upon to have been
in some instances
at least
mistaken. Faith in men goes thus far; it must go thus far; we are compelled to
act in this way
or we should cut ourselves off from mankind and the activities
of life. But if this be so
if we find it necessary and reasonable to act in this way
receiving the testimony of men
shall we not receive the testimony of God? When
He speaks it is for us simply to
listen. How wondrously has God spoken! “In the beginning” “God
created the heavens
and the earth. Going on from that primary revelation
He has revealed more and
more of His truth; and in proportion as our minds rise
in proportion as our
moral sense is cultivated
in proportion as we get free from the degrading
power of evil which perverts our moral judgment
we find the revelation to be in accordance with
everything we might expect. He speaks to us of things which are far beyond the
reach of human knowledge and experience
testimony or deduction. He sets before
us His own dear Son incarnate in our nature
and tells us of the great purpose
for which He came.
II. This passage teaches us also that faith takes account of
difficulties and improbabilities only so far as to refer them to him. We must
pass on to a later portion of the chapter to illustrate this. When Jeremiah had
purchased the field
and subscribed the deeds and sealed them
and they were
deposited in the custody of Baruch in an earthen jar to be kept for a
considerable time
he seems to have experienced what we all know
some kind of
reaction Of feeling; and then
as if he almost felt that he had done something
that he was hardly warranted in doing
he goes and lays the matter before God
(verses 17-25). This must certainly have seemed strange to any person who did
not understand that it was God’s Word. That a man who was in prison should buy
an estate
believing as he did that before long the country would be in the
hands of the Chaldeans
who would recognise no title-deeds whatever; that he
should carefully go through the forms of Jewish law to acquire the estate
really appeared a most foolish thing. It seems as if those thoughts
so natural
to us
came back upon Jeremiah’s mind
and he began to think of the
difficulties and the probabilities of the case. You see that this is not a
prayer for a blessing upon what he had done; it is not a prayer that the matter
in which he had been engaged should be successful; but it is an utterance of
wavering and distracted feeling; and that wavering and distracted feeling is
rightly uttered to God. We all know perfectly well that faith as it exists in
us is not complete in its power. Sometimes we can look over
we might almost
say
the boundaries of our earthly horizon and see the gates of the heavenly
Jerusalem and the hills of the celestial city
but at other times the depths of
the valley of the shadow of death seem to hide it all from our view. Sometimes
we can hold firmly to the truth which God has been pleased to set before us
with unequivocal assertion
and with demonstration of power to our believing
heart; but at other times our grasp upon it seems to relax
and it appears
almost as if it would slip through our hands. When there is anything of this
what will a person who really has faith do
although that faith may not be in the
most perfect state and in the fullest exercise? He will take all his difficulty
to God. Do we find any difficulties about the way of salvation? Let us go and
ask God to throw light
as far as that light is necessary
upon the truths
whereby we are to be saved. Is there any question about my own connection with
or interest in
the work of Christ? Let me go and spread it before God
and ask
Him to make my salvation clear to me. God never said that there should be no
difficulty in the Christian’s path. God never told us that there should be
nothing hard to understand in the truth that the Christian has to believe
respecting Himself.
III. Again
we have this illustration of the nature and the power of
true faith:--it joins obedience prompt and full with reliance implicit and
abiding. Why does the inspired writer tell us the little particulars of the transaction? Would
it not have been enough to say
“I bought the field”? No
because the object
was to show that
in the full confidence that what God had said would come to
pass
Jeremiah had left nothing whatever undone. There was no flaw in the
document; all legal forms were complied with exactly; the two kinds of deeds
that were always used
the one sealed and the other open
were provided; the
earthen jar was obtained; the deeds were put in it and intrusted to a man of
rank and standing; the money was paid; and all was done in the presence of
witnesses
just as if Jeremiah had hoped to take possession of the little
estates the very next day. This shows that the obedience of faith will be
prompt and full and will omit nothing. Jeremiah never expected to get
possession of that estate personally. He himself spoke of seventy years as the
period of the captivity
and he did not therefore expect that he should ever be
put in possession of the little piece of land
the reversion to which he had
purchased. Faith does not bind its expectations to the present; it does not
limit them to a man’s own life here; it looks beyond. And the faith of a
Christian looks farther still than Jeremiah’s. It does not look merely to a
deliverance at the end of seventy years
and a possession by some of our
descendants or representatives at that time of a little spot in the earthly
Canaan. It looks to the close of this mortal life
to the day of resurrection
and to glory with the risen Saviour throughout eternity. (W. A. Salter.)
Jeremiah’s purchase
I. The reasons for this purchase.
1. We may perhaps suppose that kindness to a kinsman
as Matthew
Henry suggests
had something to do with it; for kindness is kinnedness
and it
is very hard if we cannot show kindness to our kith and kin when they are in
need. If Jeremiah has no need of the land
we may still infer
under the
circumstances of Jerusalem in a state of siege
that his cousin Hanameel has
great need of money. Some of us
perhaps
who maintain that business is
business
and should be conducted always on the strictest business principles
may think that as to this matter of kindness to a kinsman
about the most
inexpedient way of showing it is by mixing it with matters of business. As
nearest kinsman his was the right of redemption
and it was already his in
reversion in case of the death of his cousin; this cousin being
as we assume
in straits for want of money
and Jeremiah being a considerate
reasonable
and
kind-hearted man
concedes to his cousin’s proposal
buying the land for what
it is worth
and perhaps for something more. And if the opportunity should
occur to us of helping a needy relative in some such way--if with anything like
a reasonable prospect of success we can give him another chance
a new start in
life
helping him to help himself--then
looking at the example of Jeremiah
I
think we may all hear a voice speaking to us
and saying
“Go thou and do
likewise.”
2. We may suggest
as another reason for this purchase
Jeremiah’s
interest in future generations. Anathoth was one of the cities of the priests
and this field was ecclesiastical property. It might well be
therefore
that
unless Jeremiah bought it
it might in those confused times pass into other
hands
by which it would become alienated from its sacred purposes
and so the
law of Moses suffer violation. He was a Jew
and we know how the Jews looked on
to the future and backward to the past
linking the past to the present and the
present to the future
finding in the present a focus in which both past and
future met
and so in the nation’s unity finding its immortality. We know how
that great national anthem
that prayer of Moses the man of God
begins
“Lord
Thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations”; and we know how it
closes
“Let Thy work appear unto Thy servants
and Thy glory unto their
children
and establish Thou the work of our hands upon us
yea
the work of
our hands establish Thou it.” We have a more sure word of prophecy
we
anticipate a more glorious future
and we also know that even as to this life
the best that we can do for those who are to come after us is not by making
“purchases
” not buying fields or houses
not saving fortunes for our children
but by living godly
devout
Christ-like lives
shall we leave to them the best
inheritance.
3. Let us assume
again
that Jeremiah
magnifying his prophet’s
office
would have it made plain that he himself believed in his own
predictions. The land was indeed to be desolate for seventy years
to have its
Sabbaths
and to lie fallow; but after that time the people were to return from
their captivity
take joyful possession once more of houses
and fields
and
lands: and this particular piece of land
Jeremiah believed
would then revert
to its rightful owners
the priests and Levites. For ourselves
making no
pretension to the prophet’s office--that is
in the sense of foretelling--yet
let us take care that our practice shall not conflict with our theory
that we
practise what we preach
and so adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all
things. “Let your conversation be as becometh the gospel of Christ.”
4. Lastly
as summing up all
we may say that Jeremiah evidently
believed it to be the will of God. I marvel much how anyone calling himself a
Christian
can ever hesitate as to doing what he believes to be the will of
God
especially when the question is of something simple and easily done. I am
asked sometimes
Is baptism necessary to salvation? and I answer
No
a
thousand times
no. Salvation precedes baptism
and is in nowise a consequence
of it; but surely
if we once admit that it is the will of God
that we have
for it at once the example and precept of the Lord
that should be enough for
us.
II. Jeremiah’s doubts and difficulties as to this purchase. No sooner
was it completed than he seems to have been oppressed as with a burden
his
brain clouded
and his nervous system rendered irritable by it.
1. Perhaps he is beginning to doubt whether after all he had rightly
interpreted the vision
and the subsequent visits of Hanameel
as making it
quite certain that he was to accept his kinsman’s offer. He still thinks so
as
it would seem
upon the whole
but yet his mind is opening to a doubt
and he
is in sore perplexity of spirit.
2. It may be also that he is distressed at the thought that perhaps his
very confidence in the promises of God
and his wish to show that he believed
in his own predictions
may be turned against him. The sneering
who understand
so well the motives of others
may be saying
“Don’t tell me that this man is
so unselfish as to part with his money for a piece of land that somebody else
seventy years hence is to enjoy! He knows better than that
and fully expects
before very long to take possession of it himself”; and possibly
hearing such
things
he might be in the confused condition of Bunyan’s Christian in the
valley of the shadow of death
when the foul fiend whispered into his ear those
terrible thoughts which he could hardly distinguish from his own. There is
nothing at all unusual
moreover
in such an experience as this
that when a
man
acting by such light as he has
has done what seems to him a wise thing
and a good thing
there comes for a time a sort of morbid reaction
by which he
sinks into despondency and gloom. And herein lies the difference between those
who fall away and those who
enduring to the end
are saved: not that either is
exempt from doubts
conflicts
and temptations; but that in the one case these
are yielded to
and in the other
faith ultimately gains the victory over them.
III. How Jeremiah overcame and solved his doubts and difficulties. “I
prayed unto the Lord.” Whether or not he prayed to the Lord about his purchase
before he made it we are not told. Perhaps he did not. There are some things
that seem so plain to us as matters of duty and of daily habit
that there is
no need to pray for Divine direction concerning them. As the Lord said to Moses
when Israel’s duty was so plain
“Wherefore criest thou unto Me? Speak unto the
children of Israel
that they go forward.” But in any case we are sure that the
spirit of prayer
the continued lifting up of the heart to God
was in all that
Jeremiah had done. But when we find him bringing this matter of the “purchase”
specially before the Lord
seeking as he does for help and strength and grace
in weakness
perplexity
and trouble
we are encouraged by his example to bring
all our affairs to the throne of the heavenly grace
however commonplace
mechanical
and routine they may be. (J. W. Lance.)
A patriot’s faith in the
future
This was bravely
done
to make a purchase at such a time
when the enemy was seizing upon all.
That Roman is famous in history who adventured to purchase that field near Rome
wherein Hannibal had pitched his camp. But the Romans were nothing near so low
at that time as the Jews were at this. A striking parallel to this confidence
of Jeremiah
in the midst of near and present troubles
as to the ultimate
glory of his nation
is furnished in the recently published Memoir of Dante
Gabriel Rossetti
whoso father
Gabriel Rossetti
an Italian patriot
who sought asylum in this country
yet never lost faith in the future of his
native land. His biographer says: “When he died in 1854
the outlook seemed
exceedingly dark; yet heart and hope did not abate in him. The latest letter of
his which I have seen published was written in September or October 1853
and
contains this passage
equally strong-spirited and prophetic: ‘The Arpa
Evangelica . . . ought to find free circulation through all Italy. I do not
say the like of three other unpublished volumes
which all seethe with love of
country and hatred for tyrants. These await a better time--which will come
be
very sure of it. The present fatal period will pass
and serves to whet the
universal desire Let us look to the future. Our tribulations
dear Madam
will
not finish very soon
but finish they will at last. Reason has awakened in all
Europe
although her enemies are strong. We shall pass various years in this
state of degradation; then we shall rouse up. I assuredly shall not see it
for
day by day--nay
hour by hour
I expect the much-longed-for death; but you will
see it.’”
Into the ground to die
Whilst shut up in the
court of the prison
perhaps fastened by a chain that restrained his liberty
Jeremiah received a Divine intimation that his uncle would shortly come to him
with a request for him to purchase the family property at Anathoth. This
greatly startled him; because he had so clear a conviction
which he cherished
as divinely given
of the approaching overthrow of the kingdom
and the
consequent desolation of the land. He gave
however
no outward sign of his
perplexities; but when his uncle’s son entered the courtyard with his request
the prophet at once assented to the proposal
and purchased the property for
seventeen shekels (about £2). In addition to this
Jeremiah took care to have
the purchase recorded and witnessed with the same elaborate pains as if he were
at once to be entering on occupation. The two deeds of contract--the one sealed
with the more private details of price; the other open
and bearing the
signatures of witnesses--were deposited in the charge of Baruch
with the
injunction to put them in an earthen vessel and preserve them. They were
probably not opened again until the return from the captivity. But Jeremiah was
not a sharer in that glad scene. He did as God bade him
though the shadow of a
great darkness lay upon his soul
for which he could only find relief
as the
Lord on the Cross
in recourse to the Father. He fell into the ground to die
as the seed does
which holds at its heart a principle of life
that can only
express itself through death
and can only bless men when its sowing
amid the
depression and decay of autumn
has been complete.
I. Hours of midnight darkness. It is only in service that anything
reaches its fullest life. A bit of iron is condemned to solitude and
uselessness till it becomes part of a great machine. A man who lives a self-contained
life
of which the gratification of his own ambition and selfhood is the
supreme aim
never drinks the sweets of existence
nor attains his full
development. It is only when we live for God
and
in doing so
for man
that
we are able to appropriate the rarest blessedness of which our nature is
capable
or to unfold into all the proportions of full growth in Christ. In the
deepest sense
therefore
Jeremiah could never regret that he had given the
strength and measure of his days to the service of others. But none can give
themselves to the service of others except at bitter cost of much that this
world holds dear. This will explain the privations and sorrows to which
Jeremiah was subjected. Death wrought in him
that life might work in Israel
and in all who should read the Book of his prophecy.
1. He died to the dear ties of human love. “Thou shalt not take thee
a wife
neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place
” was early
said to him. What he held in his heart belonged to the race
and might not be poured forth
within the narrower circle of the home
of priestly temple-duty
or of the
little village of Anathoth.
2. He died to the goodwill of his fellows. None can be indifferent to
this. It is easy to do or suffer
when the bark of life is wafted on its way by
favouring breezes
or the air thrills with expressions of love and adulation.
Then a man is nerved to dare to do his best. It was his bitter lot to encounter
from the first an incessant stream of vituperation and dislike. “Woe is me
my
mother
” he cried sadly
“that thou hast borne me a man of strife and
contention to the whole earth. I have not lent on usury
neither have men lent
to me on usury; yet every one of them doth curse me.”
3. He died to the pride of national patriotism. No patriot allows
himself to despair of his country. However dark the louring storm clouds and
strong the adverse current
he believes that the ship of State will weather the
storm. He chokes back words of despondency and depression
lest they should breed
dismay. But Jeremiah was driven along an opposite course. A loftier patriotism
than his never hazarded itself in the last breach. His belief in Israel was
part of his belief in God. But he found himself compelled to speak in such a
fashion that the princes proposed
not without show of reason
to put him to
death
because he weakened the hands of the men of war.
4. He died to the sweets of personal liberty. A large portion of his
ministry was exerted from the precincts of a prison. Repeatedly we read of his
being shut up and not able to go forth.
5. He died
also
to the meaning he had been wont to place on his own
prophecies. Up to the moment when Jehovah bade him purchase the property of
Hanameel
he had never questioned the impending fate of Jerusalem. It was
certainly and inevitably to be destroyed by sword
famine
pestilence
and
fire. But now the Word of God
demanding an act of obedience
seemed to
indicate that the land was to remain under the cultivation of the families that
owned it.
II. Jeremiah’s behaviour. But amid it all he derived solace and
support in three main directions.
1. He prayed. Take this extract from his own diary: “Now
after I had
delivered the deed of the purchase unto Baruch
the son of Neriah
I prayed unto the Lord
saying
Ah
Lord God!” There is no help to the troubled soul like that which
comes through prayer.
2. He rested on the word of God. The soul of the prophet was
nourished and fed by the Divine word. “Thy words were found
” he cries
“and I
did eat them: and Thy words were unto me the joy and the rejoicing of my
heart.”
3. He faithfully kept to the path of duty. “And I bought the field.”
It does not always happen that our service to men will be met by rebuff
ill-will
and hard treatment; but when it does there should be no swerving
or
flinching
or drawing back. The fierce snow-laden blast
driving straight in
your teeth
is not so pleasant as the breath of summer
laden with the scent of
the heather; but if you can see the track
you must follow it. To be anywhere off
it
either right or
left
would be dangerous in the extreme. Such are the resorts of the soul in
its seasons of anguish.
III. Compensations. To all valleys there are mountains
to all depths
heights; for all midnight hours there are hours of sunrise; for Gethsemane
an
Olivet. We can never give up aught for God or man
without discovering that at
the moment of surrender He begins to repay as He foretold to the prophet; “For
brass I will bring gold
and for iron I will Bring silver
and for wood brass
and
for stones iron.” Nor does God keep these compensations for the new world
“where light and darkness fuse.” It were long to wait
if that were so. But
here and now we learn that there are compensations. The first movement from the selfish life may
strain and try us
the indifference of our fellows be hard to bear; hut God has
such things to reveal and give
as pass the wildest imaginings of the
self-centred soul. So Jeremiah found it. His compensations came. God became his
Comforter
and wiped
away his tears; and opened to him the vista of the
future
down whose long aisles he beheld his people planted again in their own
land. He saw men buying fields for money
and subscribing deeds and sealing
them
as he had done. There was compensation also in the confidence with which
Nebuchadnezzar treated him
and in the evident reliance which his decimated
people placed in his intercessions
as we shall see. So it will be with all who
fall into the ground to die. God will not forget or forsake them. The grave may
be dark and deep
the winter long
the frost keen and penetrating; but spring
will come
and the stone be rolled away; and the golden stalk shall wave in the
sunshine
bearing its crown of fruit; and men shall thrive on the bread
of our experience
the product of our tears
and sufferings
and prayers. (F.
B. Meyer
B. A.)
Verse 8
Then I knew that this was the Word of the Lord.
Missed opportunities
No person who understands
and still less he who values
life as a
sacred opportunity of doing something for the world before he dies
but has
often wished that he could overleap the bounds of the present and understand
what the result of his action shall be
so that
with the larger experience of
the future
he might go the better armed against the perplexing problems and
conditions of duty which beset
him in the present. If only we had the education which will come in the future
how we should be protected against the mistakes of the present! And thus we
feel a certain impatience against time. Now
the incident recorded in this
chapter suggests to us exactly that thought of the way in which time may rebuke
our rashness and rebuke also our dulness. The incident which is recorded is a
very simple one
but it is suggestive and significant. A certain sort of dream
as we might call it
passed through the mind of Jeremiah
then in close
imprisonment because of the jealous anger of the king. Whatever else he was
he
was a Jew at heart
and he had that capacity which was singularly
I suppose
possessed by the Jew--the tenacious love of the soil which gave him birth. It
was a joy for him to think that the land which was given by God to his
forefathers belonged in succession of family inheritance to his own kinsman of
that day; and the dream crossed his mind that perchance that moment might come
when he would have the opportunity of becoming the possessor of his ancestral
heritage. That was his thought. It came to him as a dream; he describes it
afterwards as the direction of the Word of the Lord coming to him. But it was
not
I imagine
realised as the Word of God at the first moment of its
approach: it was only a later circumstance an actual incident which occurred in
his life--which enabled him to see that the first suggested thought was
indeed
the Word of the Lord. Now
the first thought which naturally arises
from a thing like that is this. We may act upon our first impressions
our
impressions may be very strong
and they may be ready to link themselves with
our natural ambitions
but it is not every impression that is the word of
light
still less the Word of the Lord. Religion divides itself very often
if
we were to classify it
into two families or types. It has often been made the
subject of mere mental impressions. The presence of the Spirit
the
consciousness of a spirit working within
that has been emphasised to such a
degree that at last men
driven by their impulse or suggestion of some passing
impression
have committed deeds of violence and wrong which the common
conscience of humanity condemns. That is to say
early impressions
strong
impressions
even impressions which jump with the spirit of what we believe to
be right
impressions which wed themselves to our darling dreams
however much
they may justify themselves by the exercise of our imaginative conscience
are
not in themselves to be accepted as truly Divine suggestions. We must wait for
the light of other circumstances. Authority in religion is never on the one side
or the other; authority is never wholly within
nor yet wholly without. If it
is wholly within
it is open to the declaration of being a mere subjective
impression; if it is wholly without
it lays no weight upon the spiritual
nature of man
and receives no response from his conscience. But
when there
comes to us this which
on the one hand
links itself with our inner nature
and by its own commanding presence makes us feel that it is true
and brings to
it also the verifying evidence of providential opportunity--then duty leaps up
and can draw her sword
because she knows that she is not the victim of a
passing impression alone
but that two things
the law without and the law
within
have been combining within his life--then he may know that this also is
the Word of the Lord. But if
on the one side
an accident like this may be
taken to rebuke the rash impulsiveness of men who would act upon their own
subjective impressions
it also
and I think still more strikingly
witnesses against our
dulness
which fails to perceive the true significance of the incidents of life
as they occur. It was an impression on Jeremiah’s mind
and it was only
afterwards
when the light of that later circumstance of Hanameel’s visit
occurred
that he perceived its full significance. “Then I knew that this was
the Word of the Lord.” Now mark that this experience is very true in our
ordinary life. How often it happens that we have failed to realise the full
value of our opportunities till later circumstances flash new light on their
meaning! To take the simplest illustration which might come to our minds
you
are in the midst of a crowd; you are anxiously looking out because it is a crowd where many
of the celebrities of life are gathered; and after you have passed some one suddenly
says to you
“Did you see him?” and immediately there flashes upon you the
thought
you have been close to one whose name you have heard
whose works
perchance you have read
of whom you have had the greatest desire to have some
knowledge. Just then the after circumstance of the utterance of your friend
flashes upon you the true meaning of this; you have been close to that
greatness which you have worshipped
you have massed the opportunity. Or there
are incidents in your own life. Have you never had some friend who in early
life was your familiar companion? You played with him
studied the same tasks
with him; and now life has diverged
and he has risen to greatness
and we
remain where we were on the commonplace level of life. People meet us and say
“You knew him; tell me some incidents of his early life.” But now the dimness
of the past comes upon your memory
and all the anecdotes have dropped away;
the multitude of other affairs has obscured your recollection. But then
by the
light of this after greatness
you know you have been by the side of one who
was possessed of conspicuous genius
one of whom you would say
“Would that I
had husbanded those stories of the past; would that I had observed him
for his
life would have a further meaning to me had I been one who had noted carefully
the characteristics
the features of his talent
of his life.” In other words
later circumstances are constantly forcing upon us the dulness with which we
have confronted the incidents of life as they have occurred. And surely that is
the common witness of history. What is the history of all human progress? What
is the history of literary life? “Who killed John Keats?” has often been asked.
To the men of his day he was but a raw youth
full of a kind of rude desire for
poetic fame; but now we recognise the genius which lay there; we go back and
say how true it is that the men of their day failed to recognise the glory of
these men
have persecuted them
and let them starve
and afterwards have built
their monuments. It is the same in the history of our Lord. You are not
surprised that the same thing should be fulfilled in His life who was in all
points as we are--tempted
yet without sin. We say
“If we had lived in those
days our hand would not have been lifted up against that sacred life
we should
have torn the crown of thorns from His brow
we should have welcomed His
mission
we should have adored Him.” But the men of that day did not see the
beauty that they should desire Him. “Thou art a Samaritan and hast a devil
”
were the words with which He was greeted. John the Baptist pointed out their
dulness--“There standeth One among you Whom ye know not.” But we forget that
this may be true in us. Even in our midst Christ stands
and we fail to
recognise Him. Why is it we are perpetually visiting with our severe criticism
the dulness of the past
when we may be dull ourselves--dull to duty
dull to
opportunity
dull to the meaning of the age in which we are living
dull to the
very call of God
dull to the presence of Christ? Every duty
every opportunity
of kindness
every incident of our life
if we are alive to see it in its
brighter light
in its true significance
would never be deemed to be trivial
and insignificant at all. When we begin to see light
when the light shall
flash upon it
when the grave is opening upon us
this very flash of the
circumstance which we call death may shine so back upon the trivial incidents
of our life
that we shall realise for the first time that those commonplace
things
those duties which I shirked
those things from which I turned away
thinking them of no moment at all--those also were the Word of the Lord. May I
then
ask you to observe the application of that truth
that time reveals to us
our dulness in relation to certain aspects of our life?
1. First
the circumstances of the presence of God. We are often
disposed to say that our lot in this century is cast in what we may call
unfavourable circumstances for faith. Splendid miracles no longer happen. May
not the presence of God be as real amongst the ordinary conventional aspects of
our daily life--in the sun that rises and sets
in the harvests that are sown
and reaped? And may it not be also that the hour might come upon us when the
light from some new combination of circumstances might so flash upon our
present or our past life as to reveal to us “God was there indeed”?
2. Or take it with regard to what we may call the providential
circumstances of life. Have you never felt that your burden in life is a larger
one to bear than your neighbour’s? We think that others who go cheerily through
the world have less affliction than we; we wish we could change with them. But
suppose the Lord Almighty did meet you
who understands exactly the conditions
of flesh and blood
who knows those special conditions which you have inherited
through the long succession of your ancestors
if He were to come to you and
say
“I am about to bring upon you this sorrow you will lose pecuniarily
or
you shall have this illness
or that true one shall be swept from your side; I
ask you to bear for My sake
My child
this burden; and if that measure your
strength
I know exactly what you can bear; and I know also the sweet and the
glorious bounty of grace which shall come to you in the bearing of it.” Not one
amongst us with the face of God’s strength looking into ours
and the smile of
God encouraging us to patience and fortitude
would ever bear to shrink from
the burden; we would gird up the loins of our mature to bear whatever it
was--sorrow
bereavement
loss. But that which we would do if God so spake to
us is surely that which we might lucre the faith to do--seeing that later
circumstances may just flash upon us this revelation--“It was God
indeed
who
brought that burden upon me.” That loss
that bereavement
that sickness--were
brought by the loving hand of God
who sought to help you through the
discipline of life into a better and truer faith and spirit.
3. Lastly
I would ask you to see the light which that thought throws
upon the suggestions of duty--duty
stern daughter of the voice of God. If that
has any meaning
it has a claim upon your life and mine. But what I ask you to
observe is this. We never realise the splendour and the significance of the
duties which are laid upon us
when measured by our own small life; they seem
so trifling. Look for a moment at the prophet. That which he did might
from
one standpoint
be said to be merely the desire of a man to possess some landed
property
merely the wish of a man that he may be in the possession of his
ancestral heritage; but when the opportunity came he said
“This suggestion is
the Word of the Lord.” For his action was no longer a commercial action done
between himself and his kinsman; it became then a great action
typical
representative
manifesting to Israel the real attitude of strength with which
Israel should confront its dangers. Like the old Roman
it was the purchase of
the land while the enemy was in possession which gave dignity to his action.
The Roman by his action said
“Though the enemy be at the gates
I do not
despair of the welfare of the republic.” Jeremiah’s action said more: “I do not
believe that one rood of the sacred soil shall ever permanently be in the
possession of the enemies of God”; and it was the splendour therefore
the
significance
of the action which was flashed upon him at the moment when the
opportunity of the purchase came; and that which was once a dream is become a
reality. And he could therefore prove to the people the reality of his faith in
the hope and in the destiny of Israel. The meaning and the significance of that
action none of his countrymen could gainsay
because he was ready to venture
his money. That is the spirit of it. Every duty costs something: it costs some
trouble
some pains
some thought
some money. Duty
whatever is in your life
is not always an easy thing
unless your nature has been celestialised
and
duty has become a delight. But that
after all
belongs rather to the higher
levels of life than that commonly apportioned to humankind. Would duty be less
noble if duty were easy? Is it not precisely because the steep up which you climb is rocky;
because you must sometimes fall
and climb on hands and knees ere you can get
to the height where the light of God is shining; because it means the
expenditure of fame
money--whatever it is; because the duty is shirked--that
therefore the duty is noble? It does cost something; and the man who talks
glibly about duty
but is never ready to pay the price of his duty
to purchase
his duty by the laying down of some present price
either of money or of
time--that man
whatever else he may say
does not believe in the splendid
imperative of duty
he does not believe in the voice of God behind it. If I
want now to correct the dulness of my eyesight and be illumined by that light
which will enable me to perceive that the Divine light is there
which will
enable me to hear in every call
the voice of the Lord
what shall be my best means of achieving this? Let the
past illumine the present; go back on your life and observe it. You now can
perceive exactly where it was you missed your way
because you now know that
if you had done this or omitted to do that
if you had not been the victim of
that delusion
you would have been in a different position- You see now that
that voice at your side was indeed the voice of the Lord. Let the past illumine
the present. Do not treat duties as trivial and commonplace
because as your
present life illuminates your past life
and shows you how God’s voice has been
in it
so the future may illumine the duties which appeal to you to-day. We
often say that the dead are canonised in our memory. When they pass away with
their greatness
they seem to move from the crowd of men and march with stately
steps
and take their place in the great banquet-halls of those whom memory
holds illustrious and dear; and from out those banquet-halls they look down
with eyes brimming
with reproach
because we do not value them as we might. So our duties
canonised by
the light which the present throws upon them
march stately before us; they
take their place high above
and there are reproaches in their eyes; and the
future will have reproaches like this
if we do not perceive the voice of the
Lord at our side. The real thing which dims our eyes is the limited light we
bring
measuring all the incidents of life by self. Bring in the larger light.
Why
that old Roman brought in the larger light
when he saw in the purchase of
the land not his own private gain but the welfare of the republic. He saw his duty
in the larger light of the well-being of the men and women about him. Let in
the light of other men’s interests
let in the light of the welfare of those
about you
and then you cannot say that the duties are insignificant
then
their voice will be to you the voice of humanity’s need
and you will see a
dignity in obeying it. Look upon every action of your life
not in relation to
self or to the men and women about you
but in relation to God. Let in that
larger light. Then every action of yours has its transcendent significance;
then His Divine voice appeals to you; then you say
Every habit I contract
every word I speak
every opportunity I miss
may be a Divine opportunity
slighted
the Divine voice turned back upon.” (Bp. Boyd Carpenter.)
Verse 14
Take these evidences
. . . and put them in an earthen vessel.
Sealed and open evidences
I am going to make a parable
not to bring out what the
text teaches
but to use it parable-wise. When Jeremiah bought this piece of
land
it was transferred to him by two documents. The first was a title-deed
drawn up and signed by witnesses and then sealed up
not to be opened any more
unless required to settle a dispute. That was his real title-deed. Then there
was a counterpart of this transfer made
and signed by witnesses. This was not
rolled up
and not sealed; but left open
so that Jeremiah might refer to it
and that
when desired
the open deed might be read and examined by others.
Now
with regard to our redemption
our inheritance which Christ has bought for
us
at a price immense
we
too
have two sets of evidences. The one is sealed
up from all eyes but our own; in part
too
I might say that it is sealed up
from our own eyes. The other
the counterpart of that
equally valid
is open
to ourselves and open to others.
I. The Sealed
Evidences Of Our Faith
the evidences which are sealed
at least in a measure
from our fellow-men.
1. And
first
I would say
among the sealed evidences is this: the
Word of the Lord has come to us with power. If anyone asked himself
“Have I a
right to the covenant of grace
and to the ‘all things’ which are ours if we
are in that covenant? Have I a right to the purchased possession? Have I a
right to the Lord Jesus Christ
and all that comes to believers in Him?”--in
part
the answer must be
“Has the Word of the Lord come to you with power
not as the word
of man
but as it is in truth
the Word of God?” There is a mystic influence
a
Divine unction
which really goes with the Word of God
in many cases
so that
it enters the heart
sheds a radiance upon the understanding
pours a flood of
delightful peace and joy upon the soul
and affects the whole mental and
spiritual being m a way which nothing else does. You cannot explain this to
others; do you know it yourself? If so
that will be to you the sealed evidence
that the eternal heritage is yours. The Lord has given you the spiritual
perception of these things.
2. The next one of these
sealed evidences is this
if indeed this heavenly heritage is ours
we have a
living faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. “As many as received Him
to them gave
He power to become the sons of God
even to them that believe on His name.”
3. Another sealed evidence of our interest in Christ is that we have
life in Jesus. You have risen from the lower sphere of mere soulish life into
the higher condition of spiritual life
and now you consort with God
you speak
with Christ
you have become familiar with heavenly things
and are raised up
to sit in the heavenlies with Christ Jesus.
4. This leads me to the fourth evidence
which is that now we have
communion with God in prayer. The prophet Micah said
“My God will hear me
”
and if you can truly
from your soul
say the same
you have a blessed evidence
that you are an heir of heaven.
5. I rank very highly among the sealed evidences of our inheritance
the fact that we have the fear of God before our eyes. That holy awe of God
that
consciousness of His majestic presence
that dread of doing anything contrary
to His will
that tender
loving
filial fear
which love does not cast out
but rather nourishes and cherishes
he that has this holy fear is a child of
God.
6. Another evidence is this: we have secret supports in the time of
trouble. “Underneath are the everlasting arms”; you are sustained when enduring
awful pain
comforted under deep depression of spirit
strengthened for the
work for which in
yourself alone you are quite unequal
borne upward with holy joy in the midst
of cruel slander; surely that is enough evidence for you.
7. Another sealed evidence is the secret love which the child of God
has to all others of the children of God “We know that we have passed from
death unto life
because we love the brethren. As to the love we have to Jesus
We love Him
because He first loved us
” and our love to Him is one of the evidences of His
love to us. We also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
8. Those inward conflicts which you now have
that struggling in your
soul between right and wrong
the new man seeking to get the victory over the
old corrupt nature
all these are your sealed evidences. So
also
are the
victories which God gives you
when He treads evil passions beneath the feet of
the new-born Man-child
who is the image of Christ within you
when you conquer
yourself
when you subdue anger
when you go forth to do
by the strength of
God
what else your nature would shrink from; all these are blessed evidences
signed
and sealed
to be rolled up
and put away
to be seen by no eye but
your own
and the eye of the Most High.
II. The open
evidences of our faith.
1. The first of such evidences that we are the children of God must
be the open Word of God itself. I read the Bible
and I say
“Well
if this
Book be true
I am a saved man: if this is really a Divine revelation
then I
am saved.” Beloved
have you that open evidence of your salvation? That is the
best evidence in the whole world.
2. Next to that
the open evidence of our right to the inheritance is
a thorough change of life such as other people can see. Is it so with you? Has
there been a distinct crisis in your being? Have you been turned from darkness
unto light? Have you been brought from the power of Satan unto God?
3. Another open evidence is separation from the world. A man who is
really a child of God cannot
after his conversion
consort with his old
companions.
4. The next open evidence is found in union with the people of God
making them your companions
taking a delight in them.
5. One very clear open evidence is strict honesty
uprightness
and
integrity in business. Your word must be your bond
and you must sooner fail in
business than do the smallest thing that would be contrary to the strictest
integrity.
6. One very open evidence of a change of heart
and of our possession
of the inheritance
is a readiness to forgive.
7. Another open evidence is one which we often get
and do not like
that is
the opposition of the world. Thank God
Isaac
when Ishmael mocks you;
for it is a mark that you are of the true seed
and that Ishmael is not.
8. Another open evidence
and one that is very sweet
is a holy
patience in time of trouble
and especially in the hour of death.
III. The uses to
which we put these evidences.
1. One of them is that they often yield us comfort. It takes the
sting out of every trouble when we know that the heavenly inheritance is surely
ours.
2. Then again
these evidences answer the unjust charges of Satan
when he comes and says
“You are not a child of God.”
3. And above all things
I think that we ought to value these
evidences because they will be produced in court at the last day. That is the
most solemn thing of all. “I was an hungered and ye gave Me meat: I was
thirsty
and ye gave Me drink”: and so on. He produces this evidence of a work
of grace in their hearts
and says to them
“Come
ye blessed of My Father
”
&c. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Verse 17
Thou hast made the heaven and the earth.
Creation-an argument for faith
I would to God we had in the religion of these modern times
a more potent infusion of this heroic faith in God. When Edward Irving preached
that memorable sermon concerning the missionary
who he thought was bound to go
forth without purse or scrip
and trusting in his God alone
to preach the
Word
a howl went up to heaven against the man as a fanatic. They said he was
visionary
unpractical
mad
and all because he dared to preach a sermon full
of faith in God. If once again we could
like the world
be hanged upon nothing
but the simple power and providence of God
I am sure we should find it a
blessed and a safe way of living
glorious to God
and honourable to ourselves.
I. To stimulate
the evangelist. And who is the evangelist? Every man and woman who has tasted
that the Lord is gracious. Here is your encouragement: the work is God’s
and
your success is in the hand of Him who made the heaven and the earth.
1. Remember that the world was created from nothing. He spake and it
was done; He commanded
and it stood fast. The case of the sinner is a parallel
one. You say there is nothing in the sinner. Ay
then
there is room here for a
re-creating work; for the Eternal God to come
and with His outstretched arm to
create a new heart and a right spirit
and put His grace where there was none
before.
2. But you have none to help you or go forth in your work with you.
When God made the world--and the same God is with thee--He worked alone.
3. But you reply
“My sorrow lieth not so much in that I am alone
as
in the melancholy fact that I am very conscious of my own weakness
and of my
want of adaptation for my peculiar work. I am not sufficient for these things;
but rather I feel like Jonah
that I would flee into Tarshish
that I might
escape from the burden of the Lord against this Nineveh.” Ay
but cast thy
thoughts back again upon creation. The Eternal needed no instruments in
creation. He sayeth not by man’s strength
nor by human learning
and
eloquence
and talent. It is His strength
and not the strength or weakness of
the instruments to which we must look.
4. Dost thou still complain
and say--“Alas! it is little I can say!
When I speak
I can but utter a few plain words--true and earnest
but not
mighty. I have no power to plead with souls with the tears and the seraphic
zeal of a Whitfield. I can only tell the tale of mercy simply
and leave it
there.” Well
and did not God create all things by His naked word? At this day
is not the Gospel in itself the rod of Jehovah’s strength? Is it not the power
of God unto salvation to every one that believeth?
5. Another pleads
“You are not aware of the darkness of the district
in which I labour. I toil among a benighted
unintelligent
ignorant people. I
cannot expect to see fruit there
toil as I may.” Ah! brother
and while you
talk so you never will see any fruit
for God giveth not great things to
unbelieving men. But for the encouragement of thy faith
let me remind thee
that it is the God that made the heavens and the earth on whom thou hast to
lean.
6. “Ay
” saith one
“but the men among whom I labour are so confused
in their notions
they put darkness for light and light for darkness; their
moral sense is blunted; if I try to teach them
their ears are dull of hearing
and their hearts are given to slumber. Besides
they are full of vain janglings
and oppose themselves to the truth; I endure much contradiction of sinners
and
they will not receive the truth in the love of it.” Did not the Holy Spirit
brood with shadowing wings over the earth when it was chaos? Did He not bring
out order from confusion?
7. “Ah
” say you
“they are all so dead
so dead!” Ay
and remember
how the waters brought forth life abundantly; and how the earth brought forth
the creeping thing
and the cattle after its kind; and how
at last
man was
made out of the very dust of the earth.
8. See how fair and glorious this earth is now! Well might the
morning stars sing together
and the sons of God shout for joy! And dost thou
think that God cannot make as fair a heart in man
and make it bud and blossom
and teem with hallowed life?
II. To encourage
the inquirer. Many really desirous to be saved are full of doubts
and
difficulties
and questionings.
1. Your mind is so dark. “I cannot see Christ
” says one; “I feel
benighted; it is all darkness
thick as night with me.” Yes
but then there is
the question
Can God roll this night away? And the answer comes
He who said
“Let there be light
” and there was light
can certainly repeat the miracle.
2. Another of your doubts will arise from the fact that you feel so
weak. You cannot do what you would. You would leave sin
but still fall into
it; would lay hold on Christ
but cannot. Then comes the question
Can God do
it? And we answer
He who made the heavens and the earth without a helper
can
certainly Bare thee when thou canst not help thyself.
3. “Ay
” sayest thou again
“but I am in such an awful state of mind;
there is such a confusion within me; I cannot tell what is the matter with me;
I know not what I am; I cannot understand myself.” Was not the world just so of
old
and did not all the beauty of all lands rise out of this dire confusion?
4. There is more hope in thy case than there was in the creation of
the world
for in the creation there was nothing done beforehand. The plan was
drawn
no doubt
but no material was provided; no stores laid in to effect the
purpose. But in thy case the work is done already
beforehand. On the bloody
tree Christ has carried sin; in the grave He has vanquished death; in
resurrection He has rent for ever the bends of the grave; in ascension He has
opened heaven to all believers; and in His intercession He is pleading still
for them that trust Him.
5. Yet again
God has done something more in thee than there was done
before He made the world. Emptiness did not cry
“O God! create me.” Darkness
could not pray
O Lord give me light.” Confusion could not cry
“O God! ordain
me into order.” But see what He has done for you. He has taught you to cry
“Create in me a clean heart
O God
and renew a right spirit within me.”
6. It was in God’s power to make the world or not
just as He
pleased. No promise bound Him; no covenant made it imperative upon Him that His
arm should be outstretched. Sinner
the Lord is not bound to save thee except
from His own promise
and that promise is
“He that calleth upon the name of
the Lord shall be saved.” He cannot withhold saving thee if thou callest upon
Him.
7. It is certain that there is more room in your case for God to
glorify Himself than there was in the making of the world. In making the world
He glorified His wisdom and He magnified His power
but He could not show His
mercy.
III. To comfort
believers. You are greatly troubled
are you? It is a common lot with us all
And you have nothing on earth to trust to now
and are going to be cast on your God alone? Happy
trouble that drives thee to thy Father! Blessed storm that wrecks thee on the
Rock of Ages! Glorious billow that washes thee upon this heavenly shore! And
now thou hast nothing but thy God to trust to
what art thou going to do? To
fret? Oh
do not thus dishonour thy Lord! Show the world that thy God is worth
ton thousand worlds to thee. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The power of God
I. Look at the
power of God in what He has made. A little child can take a grain of wheat
and
drop it into the earth; by the aid of the earth
the air
the sun
the rain
and the dew
it grows and fills the carol wheat. By a lithe grinding at the
mill
the coarse and fine parts are separated
and you have flour. By a little
adding of water
and by baking
you have bread. You eat the bread
and it
becomes flesh
and blood
and bone. But suppose you had to do all this. Could
you make the grain of wheat? Could you make it grow when made? Could you make
it turn into blood
and bone
and flesh? What power of God is seen in every
grain of wheat! You can bring two drops of water together
and you might
by
great digging
and much hard work
turn the channel of the small brook
and
make the brook run in a different place; but could you make a basin of waters
ton thousand miles across its top
and so deep
that no man can measure it even
with the longest rope? Could you make such basins again and again
till all the
oceans on the earth were made? Could you dig great channels
some of them many
miles wide
and fill them all with waters
and thus make all those great rivers
which pour their waters on towards the great ocean
and which will thus run as
long as the world lasts? No
you cannot. No man can. But God can do all this!
Men can shoot a bird on the wing; they can subdue the horse and the elephant;
they can spear the fish
and crush the insect with the foot. But who has power to make the
smallest insect that creeps or flies
or the most tiny fish that swims? God can
do all this. Suppose you could see a chain held in the hand of God
which holds
every weed and flower
every insect and creature that lives
every mind that
thinks
whether in this or in any other world
would you not feel that the hand
of God was strong
to hold all up
every moment
from the morning of creation
to the end of all things? “He fainteth not
neither is He weary.” “There is
nothing too hard for the Lord.” Men are born and die; trees grow up and fall
away; nations grow and perish; but all the works of God continue as they were
from the beginning
because from age to age God remains the same
almighty in
power
unaltered
undiminished
untired
unceasing! What a being God is!
II. Look at the
power of god as he governs the world. God made the body
and the spirit in the
body
and knows just how to reach and guide the spirit. Herod and Pilate may
lay their plans just as will please themselves; and the wicked in hell may
curse and swear day and night for ever
if they wish; but God knows how to make
all this wickedness turn
so as to bring honour to His own name.
1. He can make great joy to come from great sorrows.
2. The power of God can keep His people when in danger.
3. The power of God is seen in turning the plans of Satan
the
greatest sinner
against himself.
III. Having proved
that god has almighty power i infer some things.
1. I infer that He can aid us to carry the
Bible to all people.
2. That the power of God gives us faith in His government.
3. That the power of God is terrible to wicked people. What an eye
God has! No darkness can hide from it: no cave shut it out!
4. That the power of God should make His people feel happy. (John
Todd
D. D.)
The Creator’s regard and provision for man
I see a mother that
as the twilight falls and the baby sleeps
and because it sleeps out of her arms
goes about gathering from the floor its
playthings
and carries them to the closet
and carries away the vestments that
have been cast down
and stirring the fire
sweeping up the hearth
winding the
clock
and gathering up dispersed books
she hums to herself low melodies as
she moves about the room
until the whole place is once again neat and clean
and in order. Why is it that the room is so precious to her? Is it because
there is such beautiful paper on the walls? because there is so goodly a carpet
on the floor? because the furniture in the room is so pleasing to the eye? All
these are nothing in her estimation except as servants of that little creature
of hers--the baby in the cradle. She says
“All these things serve my heart
while I rock my child.” The whole round globe is but a cradle
and our God
rocks it
and regards all things
even the world itself
as so many instruments
for the promotion of our welfare. When He makes the tempest
the pestilence
or
the storm
when He causes ages in their revolutions to change the world
it is
all to serve His own heart through His children--men when we are walking
through this world
we are not walking through long files of laws that have no
design; we are walking through a world that has natural laws
which we must
both know and observe; yet these must have their master
and Christ is He. And
all of these are made to be our servants because we are God’s children. (Christian Age.)
Verse 19
Great in counsel
and mighty in work.
The greatness of God’s wisdom
and the abundance of His power
I. Consider the
subject speculatively.
1. My first proofs shall be taken from the nature of God. The nature
of God proves that He is great in counsel. Consider the perfect knowledge that
He hath of all possible beings
as well as of all the beings which do actually
exist. The knowledge of all possible beings
diversified without end by the
same intelligence that imagines them: What designs
or
as our prophet
expresseth himself
What greatness of counsel doth it afford the Supreme Being?
But let us not lose ourselves in the world of possible beings; let us confine
our attention to real existences. I am willing even to reduce them to two
classes. Let each of you imagine
as far as his ability can reach
how great
the counsel of an intelligence must be
who perfectly knows all that can result
from the various arrangements of matter
and from the different modifications
of mind. The Supreme Being perfectly knows what must result from every
different arrangement of the parts of bodies infinitely small; and He perfectly
knows what must result from every different arrangement of the parts of bodies
infinitely great. What treasures of plans! What myriads of designs! or
to use
the language of my text
What greatness of counsel must this knowledge supply!
But God knows spirits also as perfectly as He knows bodies. If He knows all
that must result from the various arrangements of matter
He also knows all
that must result from the different modifications of mind. Human spirits
of
which we have but an imperfect knowledge
are thoroughly known to Him. He knows
the conceptions of our minds
the passions of our hearts
all our purposes
and
all our powers. But what is this object of the Divine knowledge? What is this
handful of mankind
in comparison of all the other spirits that compose the whole intelligent
world
of which we are only an inconsiderable part? God knows them as He knows
us; and He diversifies the counsels of His own wisdom according to the
different thoughts
deliberations
and wishes of these different spirits. We
have proved then
by considering the Divine perfections
that God is great in
counsel
and we shall endeavour to prove by the same method that He is mighty
in work. These two
wisdom and power
are not always united; yet it is on their
union that the happiness of intelligent beings depends. In God
the Supreme
Being
there is a perfect harmony of wisdom and power: The efficiency of His
will
and the extent of His knowledge are equal Carry your thoughts back into
those periods in which the Perfect Being existed alone. Sound reason must allow
that He hath so
existed. What could then have been the rule or model of beings which should in
future exist? The ideas of God were those models. And what could cause those
beings
that had only an ideal existence in the intelligence of God
actually
to exist out of it? The efficiency of His will was the cause. The will of the same Being then
whose
ideas had been the exemplars
or models
of the attributes of creatures
caused
their existence. The Supreme Being therefore
who is great in counsel
is
mighty in work. This being granted
consider now the ocean of God’s power
as
ye have already considered the greatness of His counsel. God not only knows
what motion of your brain will excite such or such an idea in your mind
but He
excites or prevents that idea as He pleaseth
because He produceth or preventeth
that motion of your brain as He pleaseth. God not only knows what objects will
excite certain passions within you
but He excites or diverts those passions as
He pleaseth. God not only knows what projects your passions will produce
when
they have gained an ascendency over you
but He inclines you to form
or not to
form
such projects
because
as it seems best to Him
He excites those
passions
or He curbs them.
2. Let us take another method (and here I allege the second proof of
the truth of my text
that is
the history of the world
or of the Church): Let
us take
I say
another method of proving that God
who is great in counsel
is
also mighty in work. What counsel can ye imagine too great for God to execute
or which He hath not really executed? Let the most fruitful imagination exert
its fertility to the utmost; let it make every possible effort to form plans
worthy of an infinite intelligence
it can invent nothing so difficult that God
hath not realised.
II. Consider the
greatness of God’s counsel
and the omnipotence of His working
in a practical
light. When we have proved that God is great in counsel
and mighty in work
in
my opinion
we have sufficiently shown
on the one hand
the extravagance of
those madmen who pretend to exercise wisdom and understanding
and counsel
against the Lord: and
on the other
the wisdom of those who
taking His laws
for the only rules of their conversation
commit their peace
their lives
and
their salvation
to the disposal of His providence. Only let us take care that
we do not flatter ourselves into an opinion that we possess this wisdom while
we are destitute of it: and let us take care
while we exclaim against the
extravagance of those madmen
that we do not imitate their dangerous examples.
But what! Is it possible to find
among beings who have the least spark of
reason
an individual mad enough to suppose himself wiser than that God who is
great in counsel
or
is there one who dare resist a God mighty in working? But
who then
ye will ask me
who are those men
who presumptuously think of
overcoming God by their superior knowledge and power? Who? It is that soldier
who
with a brutal courage
defies danger
affronts death
resolutely marches
amidst fires and flames
even though he hath taken no care to have an interest
in the Lord of hosts
or to commit his soul to His trust. Who? It is that
statesman
who
despising the suggestions of evangelical prudence
pursues
stratagems altogether worldly; who makes no scruple of committing what are
called State crimes; who
with a disdainful air
affects to pity us
when we
affirm that the most advantageous service that a wise legislator can perform
for society is to render the Deity propitious to it; that the happiest nations
are those whose God is the Lord. Who? It is that philosopher
who makes a
parade of I know not what stoical firmness; who conceits himself superior to
all the vicissitudes of life; who boasts of his tranquil expectation of death
yea
who affects to desire its approach
for the sake of enjoying the pleasure
of insulting his casuist
who hath ventured to foretell that he will be
terrified at it. Who? It is that voluptuary
who opposeth to all our
exhortations and threatenings
to the most affecting denunciations of
calamities from God in this life
and to the most awful descriptions of
judgment to come in the next
to all our representations of hell
of an
eternity spent in the most execrable company
and in the most excruciating
pain; who opposeth to all these the buzz of amusements
the hurry of company
gaming at home or diversions abroad. Let us abhor this disposition of mind; let
us entertain right notions of sin; let us consider him who commits it as a
madman
who hath taken it into his head that he hath more knowledge than God
the fountain of intelligence
more strength than He beneath whose power all the
creatures of the universe are compelled to bow. When we are tempted to sin
let
us remember what sin is. Let each of us ask himself
What can I
a miserable
man
mean? Do I mean to provoke the Lord to jealousy? Do I pretend to be
stronger than He? Can I resist His will? (J. Saurin.)
For Thine eyes are upon
the sons of men.--
Perfect observation and estimation of character
In the course of a discussion in a society of artists
a singular
fact was mentioned about a well-known painter. It is that he paints beyond the
“skin-deep” beauty and expression of his sitters
and where the character has
warranted it
he has brought out all of the latent beauty and portrayed almost
the very soul of the person. He sometimes has made enemies of his sitters
because of his conscientious efforts to portray character. There is the story
of a society beauty
who
when she received her portrait from this artist
took
it to her room
studied it for a while
recognised the fact that the artist had
laid bare her true character on the canvas
and in a moment of fury cut out the
face and destroyed it. She did not want that peculiar nature of hers staring
her in the face from the walls of her room. Yet an unerring portrait of
character is really being painted of every one
and will at last be exposed.
They have done nothing of all that Thou commandedst them to do.
Sins of omission
Omissions cannot be trivial
if we only reflect what an influence
they would have upon an ordinary commonwealth
if they were perpetrated as they
are in God’s commonwealth. If one person has a right to omit his duty
another
has and all have. Then the watchman would omit to guard the house
the
policeman would omit to arrest the thief
the judge would omit to sentence the
offender
the sheriff would omit to punish the culprit
the government would
omit to carry out its laws; then every occupation would cease
and the world
die of stagnation; the merchant would omit to attend to his calling
the
husband-man would omit to plough his land: where would the commonwealth be? The
kingdom would be out of joint; the machine would break down
for no cog of the wheel
would act upon its fellow. How would societies exist at all? And surely if this
is not to be tolerated in a society of men
much less in that great
commonwealth of which God is king. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Behold
I am the Lord
the God of all flesh: is there anything too
hard for Me?
“Is anything too hard for the Lord?”
This method of questioning the person to be instructed is
known to teachers as the Socratic method. Socrates was wont
not so much to
state a fact
as to ask a question and draw out thoughts from those whom he
taught. His method had long before been used by a far greater teacher. Putting
questions is Jehovah’s frequent method of instruction. Questions from the Lord
are very often the strongest affirmations. He would have us perceive their absolute
certainty. They are put in this particular form because He would have us think
over His great thought
and confirm it by our own reflections. The Lord shines
upon us in the question
and our answer to it is the reflection of His light.
I. Consider the
wonderful question of our text which the Lord put to the prophet
viewing it as
necessary.
1. It was needful to tell the prophet this
though he knew it. He
never doubted that the Lord is almighty
and yet it was needful for Jehovah
Himself to speak home this truth to his mind and heart. It is often necessary
for the Lord Himself to drive home a truth into the mind of His most faithful
servant. We learn much in many ways
but we learn nothing vitally and
practically till the Spirit of God becomes our schoolmaster. The God of truth
must teach us the truth of God or we shall never learn it.
2. It is necessary for us to be thus specially instructed
even
though we know a truth well enough to plead it in prayer
as Jeremiah did when
he cried
“There
is nothing too hard for Thee.” That man is no mean scholar in the classes of
Christ who has learned to handle scriptural truths when pleading with the Lord.
Oh
that we used more argument in prayer! Prayers are weak when they lack
pleadings.
3. It is necessary for God thus to reveal truth individually to each
of our hearts even though we may have acted on it. Jeremiah had acted on the
fact that nothing was too hard for God. After his obedience
he began to look
back on what he had done
and to be considerably bewildered
while trying to
make out how God would justify what he had done. The best of men are men at the
best. If the Lord lifts you up into the purity and dignity of a childlike
faith
yet you will have your moments when you will cry
Lord
speak to me
Thyself again
even though it be out of the whirlwind; and let me know that I
have done all these things according to Thy Word
and not after my own fancy.”
Even the practice of truth does not raise us above the need of having it again
and again laid home to the soul.
4. Another necessity for this arises out of further manifestations
with which we are to be favoured. God had caused Jeremiah to know His omnipotence
so far
but he was to see still more of it. Faith has led you into marvellous
places; but there are greater things before you
and the Lord presses truth
upon you that you may receive more of it.
II. Look at the
text regarding it as decisive.
1. For the argument is fetched from the Lord Himself. When we look to
God alone
and think
by the help of His Spirit
of who He is and what He must
be
then we realise that nothing can be too hard for Him. Meditate much upon
the Divine Father
Creator and Preserver; upon the Divine Son
the risen
Redeemer
who hath all power in heaven and in earth; upon the sacred Spirit
of whom the rushing
mighty mind in the tornado is but a faint symbol
and you will feel that here
is the source of all might.
2. But He means us also to see the argument as founded on His name
“I am Jehovah.” The name brings out the personality of God. It also signifies
self-existence. God does not exist because of His surroundings: He draws
nothing from without
His life is in Himself. All things were made by Him
and
He sustaineth all things by the Word of His power. The name of Jehovah reminds
us that He has within Himself sufficiency for all His will; He hath adequate power of
performance for all His purposes and decrees; Jehovah wills
and it is done.
Moreover
the name sets forth the truth that He is immutable: He is “I am that
I am.” Time does not affect Him
nor change come near Him. He is never less
than Jehovah; He cannot be more.
3. The argument is also founded on the Lord’s relation to man. “I am
the Lord
the God of all flesh.” How is the worm linked to the immortal! Happy
men who have such a God! Not that flesh and blood
as they are
can inherit the
kingdom of God
nor that corruption can dwell with incorruption; but for believers
in the Lord Jesus there is a resurrection which shall lift us into a body of a
nobler sort. The argument is that
since Jehovah is the God of all flesh
He
can effect His purposes by men
and work among them things which seem
impossible.
4. The argument is so great that it puts all other arguments out of
court. Is anything too hard for Jehovah? Come
Jeremiah
rake up your
difficulties; set in order the discouraging circumstances; call in your
friends
who all shako their heads at you
and point their fingers to their
brows
as much as to insinuate that you are a little gone from your senses; and
then
answer them all with this
“Nothing is too hard for Jehovah.” This clears
the deck of every doubt that would board your vessel. Blessed argument which answers
every difficulty
and sets faith upon a rock from which it cannot be removed!
“My soul
wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him.”
III. Applying it in
detail.
1. Apply this question to the justification of your obedience. If you
do what God bids you
the responsibility of your conduct lies with Him
and He
will bear you through. He will bring forth our judgment as the light
and our
righteousness as the noonday.
2. Apply this glorious truth to the sure fulfilment of all the Divine
promises. Consider a great one to begin with. This chapter evidently shows that
the Jews are one day to be converted and restored. They that crucified the Lord
of Glory shall look on Him whom they pierced
and shall mourn for Him. “Is
anything too hard for the Lord?”
3. Apply this to any case of great sin. Select any one whom you know
to be especially hard-hearted
and pray for him earnestly and hopefully.
4. Apply this to difficult truths. I will put before you a problem. If man acts
freely in his sinful actions how can predestination be a fact? If every man
acts after his own will
how
then
does God foreordain all things? I answer
“Is anything too hard for Jehovah?” The solving of this great problem
constrains me to worship the Lord; for He does solve it in actual history.
Consider another hard case--the hardest of all: human salvation. How can it be
possible for God to exercise the fulness of His mercy
and yet discharge the
necessities of His justice? All men and all angels put together would have made
but one fool in trying to solve that difficulty. The Lord has answered it. He
gave His Son to bear our sin. “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”
5. Bring hither your own little problems. You are always getting into
tangles and snarls. Prudent friends try to help you
but the tangle grows
worse. Bring your hard cases to one who is wiser than Solomon
and He will draw
out a clear thread for you.
IV. Treat the text
as using it with delight.
1. Use the text as a preventive of unbelieving sin. Do God’s work
thoroughly
heartily
intensely
and God will reward you in His grace.
2. Use it next for consolation in the time of trouble. Jehovah hath
delivered those who trust in Him
and He will yet deliver us.
3. Next
use the text as a window through which you look with expectation.
The Lard’s blessing is coming upon the Churches: look for it!
4. Let this text be a stimulus to you to engage in great enterprises.
Launch out into the deep. Fall back upon omnipotence
and then go forward in
the strength of it.
5. Let the text be a reason for adoration. O Thou to whom nothing is
hard
we adore Thee! We worship Thee with all our hearts
and this day we
believingly link our weakness with Thine omnipotence. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
God above us all
In one of his letters to John Sterling from Scotsbrig
Thomas Carlyle says
“One night
late
I rode through the village where I was
born. The old kirkyard tree
a huge old gnarled ash
was nestling itself softly
against the great twilight in the north. A star or two looked out
and the old
graves were all there
and my father and my sister; and God was above us all.”
What comfort in this for the soul bewildered by life’s sudden changes! He is
watching: He knows: He will not fail us. Above the graves where His saints are
sleeping
above the homesteads where His children are weeping
God is above us
all. (Quiver.)
Faith’s work
There are three particulars connected with the wording of the
text
to which it is desirable to direct attention. You observe the notice of
time
“Then came the Word of the Lord unto Jeremiah.” The context shows you
that this was in answer to Jeremiah’s prayer. In the next place
we notice that
Jehovah claims to be the “God of all flesh”; an expression which evidently
answers the question
whether the Scriptures of the Old Testament
such as this
with which we have to do
are confined to the Jewish people? Then
thirdly
we
observe the question
“Is there anything too hard for Me?” We have before us
then
Jeremiah as an example of faith--as one who possessed and exercised that faith
for which Abraham was so remarkable. Let us consider how faith deals with
mysteries. Jeremiah’s faith was tried by what was a great mystery to him upon
this occasion
in connection with God’s providential dealings. What use was
there in purchasing land which was in possession of the enemy? And yet God told
him to do it. Then
if God told him to do it
why give the whole of the land
into the possession of the enemy? Here was a mystery. Jeremiah’s faith had to
grapple with that mystery
and to persevere
as he did
in that holy
consistency by which he had an opportunity of testifying both to Israel and to
Israel s foes concerning the honour and the truth of the God of Israel. Now
we
too have
in the course of our lives
to meet with mysterious dispensations in
God’s providence. There are difficulties before us. There are two clear
convictions in our minds; first of all
we can have no doubt
as believers
that God directed us to pray
and heard our prayers; but then
on the other
hand
we can have no doubt that God is permitting
in His providence
these
difficulties that now perplex us. And these two plain facts coming together at
the same point of time do not harmonise with each other; but they come
as it
were
into collision
and they clash; and we say
“How can this be? How
mysterious this is
that it should be God’s will that I should seek Him in
prayer
and yet God’s will that
notwithstanding my prayer
there should be
this difficulty connected with this matter
or these circumstances should arise!”
It is a blessing when
under such circumstances
you are enabled still to hold
fast to the confidence of faith. Some persons may say
“Why does God permit
mystery?” An answer may be easily given. Bring common sense to bear upon this
question. How is it that a father deals with the children of the family of
which he is the head? There are many things which the father must necessarily
say and do
that must occasion perplexity to the children who listen to what he
says and observe what he does. Those children will have recourse to their
father again and again
to ask for an explanation of what they cannot
understand. Sometimes the parent will give the explanation
but at other times
the parent declines to explain; he knows that the subject is beyond the present
capacity and intelligence which his children possess; and
therefore
he points
them into the way of duty
but tells them to wait until they can more fully
understand before they ask anxiously for reasons to account for things that now
are difficult and perplexing to them; and their confidence in their father
their faith in their father s word
promotes the proper discipline of such a
well-regulated family. Now
we are all of us children with reference to our
Heavenly Father’s dealings with us. “Why do you say so much of faith?” some
people ask. The simple answer is
that the creature that is happy must be
dependent upon the Creator
and that dependence can only be felt or maintained
by the exercise of faith. God in Christ has manifested Himself in such a way
that we
His poor sinful creatures
may approach Him; and if we are enabled to
rest upon that Saviour who is almighty
whatever mysteries there be around us
or connected with our own experience
faith in the Lord Jesus--that feeling of
the soul which leads us to rest upon Him as our Saviour and Friend
though it
cannot solve the mysteries
will be contented to wait until time shall so bring
things to light
and eternity shall so manifest the purposes and counsels of
God
that the Saviour’s assurance shall be fulfilled. “What I do thou knowest
not now
but thou shalt know hereafter.” But now take the ease of
impossibilities
and see how faith deals with them. Jeremiah might have argued
“Why should I go and purchase this piece of land? it can never be mine; it is
impossible.” Now
how did Jeremiah’s faith deal with this? He simply did what
God told him; and he left the solution of the difficulty with God. Now
this
obedience of faith is that to which we need give attention. There can be no
difficulty about duty
though there may be difficulty about the reasons why God
calls us to that particular duty. We may have this plainly before us by an
illustration. I may say to my child
“Go and fetch me that book”; the child may
not know my reasons for asking him to fetch that book; it might be possible
that I could not explain my reasons to the child
or if I did explain them
that the child would only be puzzled
and his difficulty increased. It might be
utterly impossible for the child to understand why I asked him to do this
particular act of obedience; but there is no difficulty at all in the child
going and fetching the book. The path of duty is quite plain
but the reasons
in the parent’s mind for commanding the duty at a particular time might be
unintelligible and inexplicable. And so with reference to our position with
God; the path of duty which He calls us to tread is always plain to him that
seeks understanding and wisdom from Him. It is only when we begin to ask the
why and wherefore that difficulties spring up; when we ask
“Lord
why art Thou
doing this?” then we come into the presence of impossibilities. But when we
ask
“Lord
what wilt Thou have me to do?” then the path of duty lies before
us
and with our hearts set at liberty we run in the way of God’s commandments.
But now we have to consider the promise of faith in connection with the
difficulties of our daily experience; and here
too
the example of Jeremiah is
instructive. We have seen that he maintained the exercise of faith and resisted temptations
notwithstanding mysteries; that he went forward in the path of simple obedience
notwithstanding seeming impossibilities; but was he not severely exercised and
tried with all this mystery
and difficulty
and seeming impossibility?
Certainly he was. But faith led him to prayer. And this is the way in which
faith deals with difficulty--it takes men to God. (W. Cadman
M. A.)
The infinite capability of God
It is the glory of God
that there is nothing “too hard” for Him
but wrong. The fact of God’s infinite capability should lead us--
I. To render Him
supreme homage. Surely
before Him who worketh all things after the counsel of
His will
all should bow with profoundest reverence and awe.
II. To place in Him
unbounded confidence. Confide in Him--
1. To supply all wants. He can do “exceeding abundantly
” &c.
2. To fulfil all promises. There are wonderful promises--the
conversion of the whole world
the resurrection of the mighty dead. He is able
to fulfil them all; and He is” faithful that hath promised.”
III. To expect from
Him wonderful manifestations. He is always at work. He has done wonders
is
doing wonders
and will continue to do wonders through all ages. He “fainteth
not
neither is weary.” With such a God
what wonderful things await us! (Homilist.)
Verse 33
They have turned unto Me the back
and not the face
Human wickedness
I.
As
condemning Divine authority. To turn the back upon any one
not only indicates
an utter lack of interest in him
but a dislike. To turn the back upon God
means--
1. An ignorement of His existence. The language of wickedness is
“Depart from me
I desire not a knowledge of Thy ways.” The wicked are “without
God in the world.” They shut their eyes to the greatest fact of facts. God is
not in all their thoughts.
2. A repugnance to His presence. What a monstrous sight is this
man
turning his back on God.
II. As regardless
of Divine instruction. God is constantly teaching men early and late--teaching
them--
1. In the operations of nature.
2. In the events of their history.
3. In the monitions of their consciences.
4. In the declarations of His Word. (Homilist.)
Though I taught them
rising up early and teaching them
yet they have not hearkened to receive
instruction.
Disregard of God’s teaching
I. God’s merciful
instruction is given to man according to man’s capacity and present situation;
and is of that special and particular nature that no one need mistake it; and
is so simple and yet so full and impressive in itself that a child even may
comprehend it.
1. We have no cloudy pillar resting over our churches
no fire from
heaven blazing forth upon an altar of sacrifice
no voice of prophecy attended
with signs and wonders
no mysterious “Urim and Thummim” sparkling on the breastplate of a high
priest
nor do we hear the voice of God speaking to us audibly from the summit
of a mountain encircled with fire and with loud peals of thunder: but the Deity
nevertheless teaches us by means equally potent. We have gathered into one
source of Divine instruction the accumulated experience of many centuries--the
Bible
and this carries with it the evidence of its own Divinity. We have the Church with her
solemn sacraments
her public forms of worship
her large assemblies of
believers
and her glorious history of martyrs and confessors of the faith. We
have the Divine Spirit entering the hearts of the humble
and by the glory of
His light piercing the darkest abodes of ignorance
and leading the teachable
disciple of Christ into all truth. We have the providence of God showing us in
many ways how quickly the sands of life drop away
how uncertain and how frail it is
how like
the flower of the field we look for an instant bright and joyous
but the next
droop from the blight of disease
and crumble away into the ashes of the grave
God teaches us also through our own everyday feelings
and the very common
concerns of our daily existence
2. The words of Jeremiah express an earnestness in the Divine teaching.
God is spoken of as “rising up early and teaching them.” He is the first among
teachers. He is so desirous that His people should be guided by His counsels
that He will be with them in the earliest dawn of their existence
both
nationally as well as personally.
II. Man’s disregard
of the Divine instruction. “They have turned unto Me
” saith the Lord
“the back and
not the face”: and again
“they have not hearkened to receive instruction.” The Jews stand not
alone in this matter. We may see some such strange manifestations in our own
day. The same spirit of practical infidelity is abroad now
and the same
infatuation which makes the most sublime subjects of religion matters for scorn
and mockery
may be witnessed in our own land of freedom and enlightenment. We
are happy to say the good sense of society and the spread of intelligence keeps
this spirit down within narrow boundaries; but nevertheless it may be observed
publishing itself with the godless jest
with the boast of independence
and
with the mocking contempt of all which bears the stamp of religious profession.
(W. D. Horwood.)
I will give them one heart
and one way
that they may fear Me for
ever.
Whole-hearted religion
In reference to the heart
one of the earliest works of Divine
grace is to unite it in one. Strange to say
I should be equally truthful if I
said that one of the first works of grace is to break the heart; but so
paradoxical is man that when his heart is unbroken it is divided
and when his
heart is broken
then
for the first time
it is united; for a broken heart in
every fragment of it mourns over sin
and cries out for mercy. Every shattered
particle of a contrite spirit is united in one desire to be reconciled to God.
There is no union of the heart with itself till it is broken for sin and from
sin.
I. Unitedness of
the heart.
1. It is naturally divided. Sin is confusion
and at its entrance it
created a Babel
or a confusion
within the heart of mare The lusts crave for
that which the intellect condemns; the passions demand that which the reason
would deny; the will persists in that which the judgment would forego. To many
a man it is given to admire things that are excellent
and still to delight in
things which are abominable. His conscience bids him rise to a pure and noble
life
but his baser passions hold him down to that which is earthly and
sensual. Frequently
too
there is a very great division between a man’s inward
knowledge and his outward conduct. Men are often wise in the head and foolish
in the hand:
they know the right and do the wrong Man is a puzzle
and none
can put him together but He that made him at the first. He is a
self-contradiction
a house divided against itself
a mystery of iniquity
a
maze of folly
a mass of perversity
obstinacy
and contention.
2. If our heart be not whole and entire in following after God we
cannot meet with acceptance. God never did and never will receive the homage of
a divided heart. Alexander
when Darius proposed that the two great monarchs
should divide the world
replied that there was only room for one sun in the
heavens. What his ambition affirmed that God declareth from the necessity of
the case. Since one God fills all things there is no room for another. It is
idle to attempt to serve two such masters as holiness and iniquity. It was once
proposed to the Roman senate to set up the image of Christ in the Pantheon
among the gods
but when they were informed that He would not agree that any
worship should be mingled with His own
the senate straightway refused Him a
shrine. In this they acted in a manner consistent with itself; but those are altogether inexcusable
“who swear by the Lord and swear by Malcham.”
3. It must be united for sincerity: a divided heart is a false heart.
Declare that thou wilt serve Belial ever so little
and I know that thy service
of Christ is but Judas’ service--mercenary
temporary
traitorous.
4. Our heart must be united
next
for intensity of life. True
religion needs the soul to be ever at a fervent heat. None climb the hill
whereon the New Jerusalem is built except such as go on hands and knees
and
laying aside every weight give themselves wholly to the Divine ascent.
5. The heart must be united to be consecrated. Will God be served
with broken cups and cracked flagons
and shall His altars be polluted with
torn and mangled sacrifices?
6. We must have our heart united
or else none of the blessings
which
are to follow in covenant order can possibly reach us. For
look
“I
will give them one heart
” and then it follows
“one way”; no man will have a
consistent
uniform way while he has a divided heart
Read next
“That they
shall fear Me for ever”; but no man will fear God for ever unless fear has
taken possession of his whole heart. The convert may profess to follow the Lord
for awhile
but he will soon turn aside; he who does not begin with his whole
heart will soon tire of the race.
7. God will give His chosen this unified heart. “I will give them one
heart.” This the Lord does in part by enlightenment through the light of His
Holy Spirit. He shows us the worthlessness and deceptiveness of everything that
would attract our hearts away from Jesus and from our God; and when we see the
evil of the rival
we give our heart entirely to Him whom we worship. The Lord
works this also by a process more thorough still; for He weans us from all idolatrous loves.
II. If we have this
we may now advance to the second blessing of the covenant here mentioned
which
is consistency of walk. “I will give them one way.”
1. Without this unity there can be no truth in a man’s life. If he
spins by day
and unravels at night
he is acting out a falsehood.
2. We must have one walk
or else our life will make no progress. He
who travels in two opposite directions will find himself no forwarder.
3. We must choose and keep to one way
or we cannot attain to
usefulness. If a man speak for God to-day
and so lives to-morrow that he
virtually speaks for the devil
what power has he over those around him? How
can he lead who has no way of his own?
4. No person can come to any true personal assurance while his life
is of a double character. But if I know that I have one heart
and that my
heart belongs to my Lord
and that I have one way
a way of obedience to Him
then may I be assured that I am His. A plain way will make our condition plain.
This unity of way is a covenant blessing: it comes not of man
neither by man
but God gives it to His own elect as one of the choice favours of His grace. “I
will give them one heart and one way.”
III. Notice the next
covenant blessing
steadfastness of principle. “That they may fear Me for
ever.” Get the heart and the way right
and then the spiritual force of the
fear of God will abide in us in all days to come. Notice the basis of true
religion
--it is the fear of God: it is not said that they shall join a church
and make a profession
and speak holy words for ever; but that “They may fear
Me for ever.” When God has given us a true spiritual fear of Him it will abide
all tests. Outward religion depends upon the excitement which created it; but
the fear of the Lord lives on when all around it is frost-bitten. Persecution
comes
Christians are ridiculed in the workshop
they are pointed out in the
street
and an opprobrious name is hooted at them; now we shall know who are
God’s elect and who are not. Then
perhaps
comes a more serious test
the
trial of prosperity. A man grows rich
he rises into another class of society.
If he is not a real Christian he will forsake the Lord
but if he be a
true-born heir of the kingdom he will fear the Lord for ever
and consecrate
his substance to Him. A heart wholly given to God will stand the wear and tear
of life in all conditions
whether in honour or in contempt. With some of you
old age is creeping on; but I rejoice to know that your grace is not decaying.
Oh
what a mercy it is to have within us a fear of God
which is not to last
for a period of years
but for ever!
IV. Personal
blessedness. “For the good of them.” Where God gives us one heart and one way
and steadfast principle
it must be for our good in the highest sense. Tell me
who are the happiest Christians. They will be found to be whole-hearted
Christians. Plunge into the river of life; let body
soul
and spirit be
immersed into its floods
and you shall swim in joy unspeakable. Lose sight of
the shores of worldliness and you shall see God’s wonders in the deeps. In
intense devotion to the Lord
you will find the rare jewel
satisfaction.
V. The last is a
relative blessing. “And for their children after them.” Wholehearted Christians
are usually blessed with a posterity of a like kind. Be thorough and true
and
your family will respect your faith. The almost inevitable consequence of respect
in a child towards his parent is a desire to imitate him. It is not always so
but as a rule it is so: if the parents live unto God in a thorough
hearted
way
their sons and daughters aspire to the same thing. They see the beauty of
religion at home around the fireside
and their conscience being quickened they
are led to pray to God that they may have the like piety
so that when they
themselves commence a household they may enjoy the like happiness. (C. H.
Spurgeon.)
I will make an everlasting covenant with them
that I win not turn
away from them
to do them good.
The application of the covenant of grace
I. It is all of
grace. Its grand end seems to be
to glorify all God’s attributes
indeed
but
especially to manifest “the exceeding riches of His grace.”
1. God was under no necessity of making such a covenant. Man
as
fallen
guilty
and depraved
might most justly have been left in the
destruction into which his sins had brought him. He could have no claim upon
God for a second covenant
merely because he had ruined himself by his breach
of the first. God is indeed merciful and gracious
but He is not thereby laid
under any necessity to show His goodness in the way of saving sinners of the
human race
any more than He was obliged to save the angels who fell. Grace and
mercy are
and must be
absolutely free
and spontaneous
and self-moved. God
too
is infinitely independent of all His creatures--self-sufficient
yea
self-satisfied. Though all sinners had been left to perish
His happiness and
glory would not have been thereby diminished.
2. God is the party contracting in the covenant for both sides. God
the Father engages for the Godhead; and God the Son
as the God-man Mediator
engages for sinners. Moreover
it is an absolute covenant of the richest and
the freest promises; for
so far as we sinners are personally concerned
there
are no meritorious conditions or prerequisite qualifications.
3. If you consider the character of those persons to whom the
covenant is fulfilled
that they are not only all heinous sinners
but that
very often
they are the oldest and the vilest sinners that burden and pollute
God’s earth
who are brought to enjoy it; you will see another proof
that it
must be a covenant of the freest grace
since it embraces such hell-deserving
sinners. “It begins at Jerusalem.” “The publicans and harlots are brought into
the kingdom
” while
generally
“the scribes and Pharisees
” the decent
moral
respectable men and women
are left out. “Even so
Father
for so it seemeth
good in Thy sight.”
II. It is very kind
and beneficent. It is all about doing us good
especially by making us good
holy
and happy. Coming from God
the infinitely good one
“the author of every
good and perfect gift
” it is just one great promise of ceaseless and unmixed
love to us. It is just a constellation of blessings. Observe
too
their
certainty. Nothing will provoke God to turn away from thus doing His people
constant good; and even with regard to afflictions and temptations
they shall
be enabled to say
“It was good for us that we were afflicted.” You will
observe that there is no limitation upon the good here promised
and why should
we restrict? We must view it in its universal comprehensiveness. It includes
all good--good temporal
spiritual
and eternal--good for the body
the mind
and the soul--all true happiness in time
at death
and through eternity--grace
and glory--all the good that God can bestow
or that we can receive. It
includes good in three distinct periods of time. Good before our conversion--to
bring us into being--to preserve us alive notwithstanding all dangers--to
prevent our committing the unpardonable sin
or in any other way putting a
tombstone upon our souls
and sealing them over under the curse--and to bring
about an effectual calling at the appointed time. Good after conversion and
union to Christ
comprehending all the blessings of grace. And glory in
eternity. In the first period
eternal life is only coming certainly towards
them
and as yet they have no personal title to or enjoyment of it; during the
second period
they have the title
and a begun but still an imperfect
enjoyment; and during the last period they have both the perfect title and the
perfect enjoyment
and that for ever
too!
III. It is very full
and comprehensive. The three following ideas will illustrate its amplitude and
completeness.
1. First
you will observe that it not only provides for all on the
part of God
but that it also secures everything on the part of the sinner with
relation to his enjoyment of it
which
strictly speaking
is all that he has
to do with it. Hence
it is so suitable to our helpless spiritual condition
who
of ourselves
could do nothing but just sin on
and so deserve fresh
wrath
and the upbreaking of the covenant
if that were possible.
2. Again
you will notice that God here provides for the making of
this covenant with each and all of His people in the way of their being brought
to close with it. The application of it is as much God’s work and promise as is
the decreeing of it or the fulfilling of its conditions. “I will make
” and who
will or can prevent Him? Neither the devil
nor guilt
nor their own wicked and
unbelieving hearts shall.
3. Once more
you will observe that the line of this covenant runs
through all time. It is from everlasting to everlasting
like its parties--as
endless as the soul of the sinner on which its blessings are to be bestowed.
How ample then--how all-comprehensive is God’s covenant! There is no
redundancy
but there is no deficiency.
IV. It is personal
and particular. It is made or fulfilled with each and all of God’s people
individually and separately
and not merely with the whole Church as s corporate
body. The persons with whom it is actually made
are not all men without
exception. The countless heathen never so much as hear of its existence or
offer. It includes
then
only all God’s elect people--all those given to
Christ as Mediator by the Father
and accepted by Him as such--all Christ’s
mystical members--His spiritual seed--God’s true spiritual Israel. Their names
are all enrolled in the book of life
and engraven on Jesus’ breastplate. They
are constantly in
His eye
and in His breast
and so they are in His prayers
and in His working
and in His dying. “The Lord knoweth them that are His
” directly and
unerringly. We again can ascertain them only in so far as we can see this
covenant fulfilled to them
enjoyed by them
and exemplified (extracted as it
were) in their lives. But when we see the Lord thus doing good to any soul
and
putting His fear into any heart
then and there we see God’s seal and mark
and
behold His election realised in their sanctification.
V. It is very
holy. God
the maker of it
is holy in all His works
and peculiarly so here in
this
the glory of them all. Hence
we find Zecharias calling it (Luke 1:72)
“God’s holy covenant.” Two
observations will show its sanctity. First
it preserves unsullied
yea it
peculiarly displays the righteousness and holiness of God’s character and
government in at all saving sinners
only through the infinite and vicarious
sufferings
death
and obedience of the God-man Mediator
in their room
and on
their behalf. Secondly
it secures the personal holiness of all who are brought
into the covenant. God here engages to do them good
and especially in the way
of making them really and spiritually good. It gives to each a twofold
righteousness
corresponding to the twofold unrighteousness he inherited from
Adam--the imputed righteousness of Christ for justification
and the inwrought
righteousness of the Spirit for sanctification of heart and life; and it never
gives the one without the other.
VI. It is
everlasting. It would be comparatively valueless
if it could ever end. Oh
how
tantalising it would be to be stripped of the enjoyment of its blessings after
we had enjoyed them for a period
and so had just come to know their
incalculable value l Deprivation of such blessedness would be torture
exquisite just in proportion as we had tasted its sweetness. The reminiscence
and the contrast would then make the loss all the more agonising. But it is
“everlasting “--“a covenant of salt”--which can never fail
or change or
intermit
or end. It must be so; for you will remember that the condition of
the covenant has been already performed by Christ
and accepted by the Father.
Now
God will not--indeed
He cannot
--alter or reverse what has been already
done
for that is an impossibility. Moreover
the condition being the
infinitely perfect
unchangeable
and everlasting righteousness of Jesus
the
covenant founded thereon must be absolutely unalterable and eternal The very
holiness
justice
and truth of God are all pledged to Christ to secure its
permanency and everlasting continuance.
VII. Faith in
Christ is the only way of our being brought into the enjoyment of it. Faith is
just a receiving and resting upon Christ fist and upon all the promises as in
Him yea and amen to the glory of God. Nothing more is requisite in us. The
fidelity and omnipotence of the promises ensures their fulfilment to
the soul
that believes and rests on them. There is nothing left for us to do but thus just
to receive and rely upon these promises
and Christ in them
by the empty hand
of faith. And even this faith
and its act of closing with the covenant
is
here previously secured. It is included in the “good” to be done to us. Faith
is God’s gift--one of His promises and one of the operations of His Spirit.
Faith and repentance
and new obedience
are all blessings in the covenant
and
not conditions of it. At the very most
they are only conditions of connection
and of order in the enjoyment of its various and well-regulated blessings. (F.
Gillies.)
I will put My fear in
their hearts
that they shall not depart from Me.
Perseverance in holiness
I. The everlasting
covenant. “I will make an everlasting covenant with them.” In the previous
chapter
in the thirty-first verse
this covenant is called “a new covenant”;
and it is new in contrast with the former one which the Lord made with Israel
when He brought them out of Egypt. It is new as to the principle upon which it
is based. Brethren
take care to distinguish between the old and the new
covenants; for they must never be mingled. If salvation be of grace
it is not
of works
otherwise grace is no more grace; and if it be of works
it is not of
grace
otherwise work is no more work. The new covenant is all of grace
from
its first letter to its closing word; and we shall have to show you this as we
go on. It is an “everlasting” covenant
however: that is the point upon which
the text insists. The other covenant was of very short duration; but this is an
“everlasting covenant.”
1. The first reason why it is an everlasting covenant is
that it was
made with us in Christ Jesus. He is
both in His nature
and in His work
eternally qualified to stand before the living God. He stands in absolute
perfectness under every strain
and
therefore
the covenant stands in Him.
2. Next
the covenant cannot fail because the human side of it has
been fulfilled. The human side might be regarded as the weak side of it; but
when Jesus became the representative of man that side was sure. He has at this
hour fulfilled to the letter every stipulation upon that side of which He was
the surety. Since
then
that side of the covenant has been fulfilled which
appertains to man
there remaineth only God’s side of it to be fulfilled
which
consists of promises--unconditional promises
full of grace and truth. Will not
God be true to HIS engagements? Yes
verily. Even to the jots and tittles
all
shall be carried out.
3. Furthermore
the covenant must be everlasting
for it is founded
upon the free grace of God. Sovereign grace declares that He will have mercy
upon whom He will have mercy
and will have compassion on whom He will have
compassion. This basis of sovereignty cannot be shaken.
4. Again
in the covenant
everything that can be supposed to be a
condition is provided. If there be
anywhere in the Word of God
any act or
grace mentioned as though it were a condition of salvation
it is in another
Scripture described as a covenant gift
which will be bestowed upon the heirs
of salvation by Christ Jesus.
5. Moreover
the covenant must be everlasting
because it cannot be
superseded by anything more glorious. The moon gives way to the sun
and the
sun gives way to a lustre which shall exceed the light of seven days; but what
is to supersede the light of free grace and dying love
the glory of the love
which gave the Only-begotten that we might live through Him!
II. The unchanging
God of the covenant. “I will not turn away from them
to do them good.”
1. He will not turn away from doing them good
first
because He has
said so. That is enough. Jehovah speaks
and in His voice lies the end of all
controversy.
2. Still
let us remember that there is no valid reason why He should
turn away from them to do them good. You remind me of their unworthiness. Yes
but observe that when He began to do them good they were as unworthy as they
could possibly be. Moreover
there can be no reason in the faultiness of the
believer why the Lord should cease to do him good
seeing that He foresaw all
the evil that would be in us. He entered into a covenant that He would not turn
away from us
to do us good; and no circumstance has arisen
or can arise
which was unknown to Him when He thus pledged His Word of grace. Moreover
I
would have you remember that we are by God at this day viewed in the same light as ever. We
were undeserving objects upon whom He bestowed His mercy
out of no motive but
that which He drew from His own nature; and if we are undeserving still
His
grace is still the same. If it be so
that He still deals with us in the way of
grace
it is evident that He still views us as undeserving; and why should He
not do good towards us now as He did at the first? Moreover
remember that He
sees us now in Christ. Behold
He has put His people into the hands of His dear
Son. He sees us in Christ to have died
in Him to have been buried
and in Him
to have risen again. As the Lord Jesus Christ is well pleasing to the Father
so in Him are we well pleasing to the Father also; for our being in Him identifies
us with Him.
3. The Lord will not turn away from His people
from doing them good
because He has shown them so much kindness already; and all that He has done
would be lest if He did not go through with it. When He gave His Son
He gave
us a sure pledge that He meant to finish His work of love.
4. We feel sure that He will not cease to bless us
because we have
proved that even when He has hidden His face He has not turned away from doing
us good. When the Lord has turned away His face from His people
it has been to
do them good
by making them sick of self and eager for His love.
5. I close with this argument
that He has involved His honour in the
salvation of His people. H the Lord’s chosen and redeemed are cast away
where
is the glory of His redemption?
III. The persevering
people in the covenant. “I will put My fear in their hearts
that they shall
not depart from Me.” The salvation of those who are in covenant with God is
herein provided for by an absolute promise of the omnipotent God
which must be
carried out. It is plain
clear
unconditional
positive. “They shall not
depart from Me.”
1. It is not carried out by altering the effect of apostasy. If they
did depart from God
it would be fatal If the Holy Ghost has indeed regenerated
a soul
and yet that regeneration does not save it from total apostasy
what
can be done?
2. Neither does this perseverance of the saints come in by the
removal of temptation. No
the Lord does not take His people out of the world;
but He allows
them to fight the battle of life in the same field as others. He does not
remove us from the conflict
but “He giveth us the victory.”
3. This is affected by putting a Divine principle within their
hearts. The Lord saith
“I will put My fear in their hearts.” It would never be
found there if He did not put it there. What is this fear of God? It is
first
a holy awe and reverence of the great God. Taught of God
we come to see His
infinite greatness
and the fact that He is everywhere present with us; and
then
filled with a devout sense of His Godhead
we dare not sin. The words
“My fear
” also intend filial fear. God is our Father
and we feel the spirit
of adoption
whereby we cry
“Abba
Father.” There moves also in our hearts a
deep sense of grateful obligation. God is so good to me
how can I sin? He
loves me so
how can I vex Him? But if you ask
By what instrumentality does
God maintain this fear in the hearts of His people? I answer
It is the work of
the Spirit of God: but the Holy Spirit usually works by means. The fear of God
is kept alive in our hearts by the hearing of the Word; for faith cometh by hearing
and holy fear
cometh through faith. Be diligent
then
in hearing the Word. That fear is kept alive in our hearts
by reading the Scriptures; for as we feed on the Word
it breathes within us
that fear of God which is the beginning of wisdom. This fear of God is
maintained in us by the belief of revealed truth
and meditation thereon. Study
the doctrines of grace
and be instructed in the analogy of the faith. Know the
Gospel well and thoroughly
and this will bring fuel to the fire of the fear of
God in your hearts. Be much in private prayer; for that stirs up the fire
and
makes it burn more brilliantly. In fine
seek to live near to God
to abide in
Him; for as you abide in Him
and His Words abide in you
you shall bring forth
much fruit
and so shall you be His disciples. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Bible religion
The world abounds with religions. There is but one true religion
that of the Bible. It is sometimes spoken of as “trust” in God
sometimes as
“love” for God
sometimes “obedience” to God; here it is spoken of as the
“fear” of God. It is the fear of not pleasing in all things the object of the
affections. The fear of not coming up to the Divine idea of goodness.
I. As having its
seat in the heart. “Fear in their hearts” There is something in man’s spiritual
nature analogous to the heart in his physical organisation. The heart of the
body is the most vital of all its organs; it sends the life-blood through all
the parts. What in man’s spiritual nature is like his heart
and which the
Bible calls his “heart”? It is the chief liking of the soul. The chief liking
is the spring of human activity; it works and controls all the faculties of
man. Bible religion takes possession of this
inspires this
makes goodness and
God the chief objects of liking
so that the soul feels that God is its all in all.
1. Bible religion is in the heart
not merely in the intellect.
2. Not merely in the sentiments.
3. Not merely in occasional service.
II. As imparted by
God. How does He put this priceless principle into the heart? Not miraculously
not irrespective of man’s activities.
1. By the revelation of Himself to man.
2. By the ministry of His servants.
III. As a safeguard
against apostasy. IS it possible for man to depart from his Maker? In a sense
no. No more than from the atmosphere he breathes
no more than from himself.
But there is a solemn sense in which men can and do depart from Him. It is in
sympathy of aim. All unregenerate souls are far off from God
vagrants
ever
wandering
settling nowhere. To depart from Him is to depart from light
health
harmony
friendship
all in fact that makes life worth having. What can
prevent this
the chief of calamities? God s fear in the heart. This is that law of
moral attraction that will bind the soul for ever to God as its centre. (Homilist.)
I will plant them in this land assuredly with My whole heart and
with My whole soul
The whole-heartedness of God in blessing His people
I.
consider
our text for instruction.
1. God blesses His people heartily. “With My whole heart.” Notice
in
passing
that word “assuredly”; for it confirms the word as full of truth and
certainty. He is slow to wrath
but He is swift to mercy
for He delighteth in
it. When He deals out His grace to His people
then you see the loving God
for
“God is love”; and you see the living God
for He blesses you with His whole
soul.
2. He does this work of blessing His people thoughtfully
for it is
added
“and with My whole soul.” Not only the affections of God
speaking after
the manner of man
but the great mind and life of God is thrown into the work
of saving and blessing His people. His essence
His soul
is here at home. The
design argument
when brought to bear upon nature
proves the existence of God.
Much more when that argument is brought to bear upon the works of grace do we
see the Lord; for in the transactions of grace them is design in everything.
3. We notice
next
that if that be so
then He employs all His
resources to bless His elect. The Lord our God--I speak as a man
and with deep
reverence--is absorbed in doing good to His people: there is nothing that He is
there is nothing that He has
but what He will bring it to bear upon the design
upon which He has set His whole heart and His whole soul. Behold ye
what God
hath done for His people! He has given them His all: all the wisdom of His
providence shall be theirs while here
and all the glory of His heaven
hereafter. God has His abode in heaven; behold
He makes it the abode of His
chosen for ever. Angels are His courtiers--they shall be ministering spirits to
His elect. The throne of His Son they shall sit upon with Him. The victories of
God shall furnish them with palms
and the delight of God shall find them
harps. But stop
there is something more than all! It was little for God to
give earth and heaven
but He must needs give His Son
the express image of His
glory
His other self.
4. The Lord subordinates all other works to that of His love.
Everything
whether of creation or destruction
mercy or judgment
shall work
like the wheels of some vast machinery
to produce good to those who are the
people of the living God.
5. The Lord gives to His people and for His people without stint.
When He feeds His children
though once they would have been thankful to eat
the crumbs from His table
He sets them among princes
and gives them to eat of
the king’s meat. He lays eternity under contribution to provide for the needs
nay
for the desires
for the joys of His people.
6. Another point sets forth most plainly that the Lord blesses His
people with His whole heart and with His whole soul
for He perseveres in it.
Are you not surprised with the variety of His favours towards you? An old
writer says that “God’s flowers bloom double
” for He sends two blessings where
there seems but one; but I would say they are like the light: they are
sevenfold
even as in every ray from the sun we have seven colours blended in
harmony. What sevens and sevens of infinite love are contained in every beam of
mercy that comes to the redeemed!
7. As the Lord Perseveres in His work
so He succeeds in it. God is
determined to make something of His People
and He will.
8. God delights in all that He does for His own. We are happy when
God blesses us
but not so happy as God is. Our God has all the instincts of
motherhood and fatherhood blended in one; and when He looks upon His Church He calls
her “Hephzibah”--“My delight is in her.” He does not rejoice in the works of
His hands so much as in the works of His heart.
II. Consider the
text with the evidence. In order to prove that God doth thus bless us with His
whole heart and with His whole soul
I would remind you that the whole Trinity
is engaged in the blessing of the chosen.
1. First comes the Father. It was He that chose us--chose us
not
because He must choose us or none
but freely with “His whole heart.” Wisdom
from her throne determined the way in which God would lead His People
and
bless His people
and sanctify His people
and perfect His people.
2. In reference to the ever-blessed Son of God
whom we worship as
most truly God
we have the same truth to state. He loved us ages before He
came to earth am man.
3. I must not omit the Holy Spirit
“to whom be all honour and
glory.” When we were mad with sin
and ravenous after the pleasures of it
He
followed us
to check us in our headlong career
to beckon us to better things
to draw us thither
and to help us when we began to incline to the right. He
gave us life
and light
and liberty.
III. Consider the
inferences which flow from the text.
1. The first inference is one of consolation. Does God bless us with
His whole heart and with His whole soul? Oh
then
how happy we ought to be!
2. Another inference
and I have done: it is one of exhortation. Let us love our God
with our whole heart and with our whole soul. Trust Him for the past
the
present
and the future; trust Him completely
implicitly
unhesitatingly. (C.
H. Spurgeon.)
The enthusiasm of God
Who can but admire a man who speaks thus? Enthusiasm quickens
life. It is salt and light for common days. It makes earth flash with heaven.
But was it a man who said this? No. This voice came from heaven. Then of Cod.
Well may Calvin annotate my text
saying
“The words are indeed did some strong
and radiant angel thus avow himself? No. This is the voice singular.” God is
telling His people the great things He purposes to do for them
and He declares
He will accomplish all with His whole heart and with His whole soul. Here we
are brought face to face with the kindling fact that God is a God of
enthusiasm. In one sense
Calvin’s remark on the singularity of these words is
very pertinent. But surveying them from another view-point
the Divine
declaration is not “singular.” Enthusiasm is an impressive element of Bible
theology. Scripture gives us peeps into God’s nature. Only peeps. The open
vision would blind us. And assuredly we frequently behold in the Holy Book the
outflashing of the Divine enthusiasm. Isaiah uses the wonderful phrase
“The
zeal of the God of hosts.” It is God’s quenchless enthusiasm which is to
establish in triumph the ever-increasing kingdom and peace of Emmanuel. This
quality of God is one Isaiah delights in. Isaiah on the enthusiasm of God is a
stimulating study. He says of a wonderful and apparently impossible deliverance
of God’s people from their iron oppressor
“The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall
do this.” Courage
sad-hearted and foe-encircled brother! The enthusiasm of God
is pledged to thy deliverance! In another place the poet-theologian describes
God as a warrior
and cries
“He . . . was clad with zeal as a cloak.” Grand is
the vision of God as He appears in ruby-red robe of zeal. Ezekiel
“his feet on
earth
his soul floating amid the cherubim
” represents God’s enthusiasm in its
vengeful form when he declares how the wrath Divine shall bruise impenitent
transgressors
“and they shall know that I
the Lord
have spoken it in My
zeal
when I have accomplished My fury in them” If enthusiasm be a quality
which Old Testament theology ascribes to God
it is also emphatically
accredited to Him by the theology of the new covenant. It is revealed as an
outstanding feature of Him to have seen whom is to have seen the Father. “With
My whole heart and with My whole soul
” was the motto of His incarnate life.
Holy enthusiasm was the temper of His words and deeds. “The zeal of Thy house
will eat me up.” Thus our Lord fulfilled the scriptural ideal of enthusiasm as
He fulfilled all scriptural ideals. God in Christ is always a God of
enthusiasm. How intense He is! How He prays! The fervour of His prayers is
never chilled. How He meditates! His inexplorable thoughts breathe themselves
through eternity. The Christ of the New Testament is the Jehovah of the Old
Testament
in white-hot enthusiasm
as in everything
august
and gentle
and
lovely. Enthusiasm must surely be an essential of a true theology. One cannot
conceive of an impassionate God. An apathetic God would depress the universe.
An ancient Greek finely described enthusiasm as “a God within.” And such all
grand enthusiasm is
and must be evermore. How attractive is our God by reason
of His enthusiasm. Who would not love Him with his might who is ready to bless
with His whole heart and with His whole soul? Such a God allures us. Who are
they for whom God promises to labour so enthusiastically? Notice the
repetitions “them” in this verse. Equally recurrent is the “them” in the
previous verse. In verse 38 the “them” is indicated. It refers to “My people.”
God will do wonderfully for His people. He prizes His people beyond compare.
Nothing is too great for Him to do for those who are in His sight so lovely.
And no enthusiasm is too lavish to expend upon their interests. Is there
caprice in this wealthy enthusiasm over His people? By no means. God’s “people”
represent character. And God’s enthusiasm for character is shown in His
enthusiasm for His people. God’s enthusiasm is evoked by character. Our poor
unworthy enthusiasms are often pitifully raise directed. The zeal of God never
misses the true mark. God is enthusiastic to help men of character. See how in
the neighbourhood of this text He rains golden showers of promises upon such.
“I will not turn away from them
to do them good” (verse 40). “I will rejoice
over them to do them good” (verse 41). “I will plant them in this land” (verse
41). “I will bring upon them all the good that I have promised them” (verse
42). “And fields shall be bought in this land” (verse 43). The enthusiasm of
God runs forth in temporal helpfulness to men whose ways please Him. He cares
even for “fields” which belong to His people. Lay tide to heart
burdened
business man
if thou art one of God’s people! Consider this
depressed
agriculturist
who art a man of God! God makes your interests His own
interests. God is enthusiastic in respect of the creation and development of
character. How abundantly that can be demonstrated from the context! “I will give
them one heart
and one way
that they may fear Me for ever
for the good of them
and
of their children after them” (verse 39). “I will put My fear in their hearts
that they shall not depart from Me.” What do these golden words portend? That
with all His heart and with all His soul God will perfect the character of His
people. The fact is
nothing in man creates such enthusiasm on God’s part as
the instituting and enhancing of character. Your soul is that in you in which
God is most interested
and He is interested in everything about you. He is
enthusiastic in incomparable degree for your salvation. The supernatural
rectification of the will and of the being which we commonly call conversion
draws forth God’s intense enthusiasm. With His whole heart and with His whole
soul He proposes to develop the good He has already created. He pines to
perfect His servants. He has splendid ideals for them. He strongly yearns to
make their to-morrows better than their yesterdays. There are those whose
so-called enthusiasm is self-centred. Certain “intense” people are intensely
selfish. Some have ineffectual enthusiasms. No altruism irradiates them. Nobody
is anything bettered for them. They are “fruitless” fires. Not so the
enthusiasm of God. God’s zeal is to help
to bless
to enrich men. To illumine
what is dark in men. To raise what is low. To glorify what is sordid.
Temporally and spiritually beneficent is the enthusiasm of God. He delights to
help us. Nor can the strong years conquer His enthusiasm. In this
as in
respect of all the qualities of the Divine character
we are to be “imitators
of God
as beloved children.” An enthusiasm is contagious. Throbs thrill. The
awful peril is that we imitate evil enthusiasms. Souls of men
be admonished
against such devil-born enthusiasm. God’s enthusiasm is the true ideal for man.
“Be ye imitators of God.” Be ours enthusiasm for holy living. What a rebuke to
our tepidity is the enthusiasm of God! What is more remote from God than moral
and spiritual coldness? Oh
this Divine enthusiasm is the crying need of modern
religion! It is very instructive to study the Bible teaching concerning the
enthusiasm of God. It is even more impressive on the negative than on the
positive side. God has no spark of enthusiasm for much that man burns about.
What discordance there often is between God and man! This is apparent in the
objects of their respective enthusiasms. God has no enthusiasm for
self-centredness. God has no enthusiasm for worldliness. No matter what form it
assumes
He cares not for it. It is all “vanity” to Him. God has no enthusiasm
for indifferency. Some are zealous for nothing but apathy. They have dead
hearts
and there is no death so deadly as the death of the heart. Stoicism is
not sanctity. God is quick with sympathy. The omissions from the revealed
enthusiasms of God are intensely significant. Take heed lest thou art
enthusiastic where thy God is not. A God who
with His whole heart and with His
whole soul
seeks man’s highest good
is a God who constrains our devotion. He
attracts us. He captivates us. Were He a cold
unresponsive God
I should
shrink from Him. But being an enthusiastic God
my heart is His. Here is a
ground of trustfulness--the enthusiasm of God. Can I fear for the morrow when
this God is mine? Here is a ground of hope--the enthusiasm of God. All shall
always be well
seeing such a God is mine. Here is a ground of service--the
enthusiasm of God. Too much one cannot do for such a God. When He declares
“With My whole heart
and with My whole soul
” He prefixes another delectable
word
“assuredly.” The margin renders it “in truth
” or “in stability.” So the
good Lord assures us of the perpetuity of His kindly enthusiasm. It will never fail
His people. Whoever cools toward us
the enthusiastic God of grace will be
faithful and fervent still (D. T. Young.)
All the good that I have promised.
The religion
of the promise
(with Numbers 10:29):--Obeying a true instinct
the Church of Christ has from the beginning understood the whole story of the
transfer of the chosen people from the land of bondage to the land of promise
as possessing
over and above its historical value
the preciousness of a
divinely-planned allegory. For us
to-day
just as really as for them in days
of old
the stimulus continues to be simply this--a promise. Heaven cannot be
demonstrated. We merely take God’s Word for it. Not enough
in our times
is
said--soberly and intelligently said
I mean--about heaven. Very “many people
have the feeling that the old-fashioned heaven of their childhood’s thoughts
and hopes has been explained away by the progress ex discovery. It seems to
them as if heaven were pushed farther and farther off
just in proportion as
the telescope penetrates farther and farther into space. The gates of pearl
recede with the enlargement of the object-glass
and the search for tee
Paradise of God
like that for the earthly Eden
seems to become more hopeless
the more accurate our knowledge of the map. The primitive Christians found it
comparatively easy to think of heaven as a place just above the stars. To us
who have learned to think of the sun itself as but a star seen near at hand
and of the stars as suns
such localisation of the dwelling-place of the Most
Highest is far from easy. Another
and a very different reason for keeping
heaven
as it were
in the background
holding the mention of it in reserve
comes from those who believe that there is such a danger as that of cheapening
and vulgarising sacred things by too much fluency in talking about them. It
cannot be denied that there is a certain amount of reason for this
fastidiousness
some strength in this protest. An indulgent rhetoric may throw
open the gates with a freedom so careless as to make us wonder why there should
be any gates at all; and lips to which the common prose speech of the real
heaven would perhaps come hard
were they compelled to try it
can sing of
“Jerusalem the Golden
” and of the Paradise for which “tis weary waiting here”
with a glibness at which possibly the angels stand aghast. This is a second
reason
a very different reason from the first
but still a reason
for observing
reticence about heaven. And yet
m the face of both of these reasons
I think
it is a sad pity
our hearing so little as we do about the hope of heaven as a
motive power in human life. For after all that has been said
or can be said
these two facts remain indisputable; they stare us in the face: first
that
this life of ours
however we may account for it
does bear a certain
resemblance to a journey
in that the one is a movement through time
as the
other is a movement through space; secondly
that any journey which lacks a
destination is
and must of necessity be a dismal thing. Human nature being
what it is
we need the attractive power of something to look forward to
as we
say
to keep our strength and courage up to the living standard. Christians are
men with a hope
men who have been called to inherit a blessing. Nor is the Old
Testament lacking in this element of promise. It runs through the whole Bible.
What book anywhere can you point to so forward-looking as that Book? As we
watch the worthies of many generations pass in long procession onwards
from
the day when the promise was first given of the One who should come and bruise
the serpent’s head
down to the day when the aged Simeon in the Temple took the
Child Jesus into his arms and blessed Him
we seem to see upon every forehead a
glow of light. These men have a hope. They are looking for something
and they
look as those look who expect in due time to find. If this be true of the
general tone of the Old Testament Scriptures
doubly
trebly is it true of the
New Testament. The coming of Christ has only quickened and made more intense in
us that instinct of hope which the old prophecies of His coming first inspired.
For when He came
He brought in larger hopes
and opened to us far-reaching vistas
of promise
such as had never been dreamed of before. A solemn joy pervades the
atmosphere in which apostle and evangelist move before our eyes. They are as
men who
in the face of the wreck of earthly hopes
have yet no inclination to
tears
because there has been opened to them a vision of things unseen
and
granted to them a foretaste of the peace eternal. “The glory that shall be
revealed”; “the things eye hath not seen
” prepared for those who love God;
“the house not made with hands
” waiting for occupancy; “the crown of
righteousness
laid up”--you remember how prominent a place these hold in the
persuasive oratory of St. Paul. The complaint that the progress of human
knowledge has made it difficult to think and speak of heaven as believing men
used to think and speak of it
is a complaint to which we ought to return for a
few moments; for
from our leaving it as we did
the impression may have been
conveyed to some minds that the difficulty is insuperable. Let me observe
then
that while there is a certain grain of reasonableness in this argument
for silence with respect to heaven and the things of heaven
there is by no
means so much weight to be attached to it as many people seem to suppose. For
after all
when we come to think of it
this changed conception of what heaven
may be like is not traceable so much to any marvellous revolution that has come
over the whole character of human thought since you and I were children
as it
is to the changes which have taken place in our own several minds
and which
necessarily take place in every mind in its progress from infancy to maturity.
The really serious blow at old-time notions upon the subject was dealt long
before any of us were born
when the truth was established beyond serious
doubts that this planet is not the centre about which all else in the universe
revolves. But the explanation of our personal sense of grievance at being
robbed of the heaven we were used to believe in is to be sought in the familiar
saying
“When I was a child
I spake as a child
” &c. We instinctively
and
without knowing it
project this childish way of looking at things upon the whole thinking
world that was contemporary with our childhood
and infer from the change that
has come over our own mind that corresponding change has been going on in the
mind of the world at large. This fallacy is the more easily fallen into
because it is a fact that
if we go back far enough in the history of thought
we do find even the mature minds seeing things much as we ourselves saw them in
our early childhood. But let me try to strike closer home and meet the
difficulty in a more direct and helpful way. I do it by asking whether we ought
not to feel ashamed of ourselves
thus to talk about having been robbed of the
promise simply because the Father of heaven has been showing us
lust as fast
as our poor minds could bear the strain
to how immeasurable an area the
Fatherhood extends. Instead of repining because we cannot dwarf God’s universe
so as to make it fit perfectly the smallness of our notions
let us turn all
our energies to seeking to enlarge the capacity of our faith so that it shall
be able to hold more. What all this means is
that we are to believe better
things of God
not worse things. It may turn out
--who can tell?--that heaven
lies nearer to us than even in our childhood we ever ventured to suppose; that
it is not only nearer than the sky
but nearer than the clouds. The reality of
heaven
happily
is not dependent on the ability of our five senses to discover
its whereabouts. Doubtless a sixth or seventh sense might speedily reveal much
very much of which the five we now have take no notice. Be this as it may
the
reasonableness of our believing in Christ’s promise
that in the world whither
He went He would prepare a place for us
is in nowise impugned by anything that
the busy wit of man has yet found out
or is likely to find out. There is no
period of life from which we can afford to spare the presence of this heavenly
hope. We need it in youth
to give point and purpose and direction to the newly
launched life. We need it in middle life to help us cover patiently that long
stretch which parts youth from old age--the time of the fading out of illusions
in the dry light of experience; the time when we discover the extent of our
personal range
and the narrow limit of our possible achievement. Above all
shall we find such a hope the staff of old age
should the pilgrimage last so
long. But let us not imagine that we can postpone believing until then. Faith
is a habit of the soul
and old men would be the first to warn us against the
notion that it is a habit that may be acquired in a day. Those of us who are
wise will take up the matter now
at whatever point of age the word may happen
to have found us. (W. R. Huntington
D. D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》