William HuntingtonXXVI. The Wonderful Climax, or, the Chain of Heaven and Earth
THE day here spoken of does not appear to me to be the time of Christ's appearing, when the dayspring from on high visited us, to guide our feet into the way of peace. The ten tribes were then in captivity; and where they now are, seems to be a mystery. Nor is the day here spoken of the day in which the gospel was published to the Gentiles, when the apostles became "a tabernacle for the sun; which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race;" when their line went out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world, Psalm xix. 4, 5; Rom. x. 18. The day spoken of in my text is yet to come. For although some few of the ten tribes might be gathered in when the gospel was preached in and about the countries where the ten tribes were scattered, and a church elected together was founded, even in Babylon, 1 Peter. v. 13; yet, as a body, they have not been restored to the favour of God by the gospel; nor will they be until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in. "Then said God, Call his name Lo-ammi; for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God. Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered: and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel." Here we have the rejection of Israel with a Lo-ammi put upon them, which still continues; next we have the adoption of the Gentiles, formerly not a people, but now the sons of the living God; and, when the fullness of the Gentiles be come in, then the Deliverer goes forth out of Zion, and turns ungodliness from Jacob; and so Israel is saved at last. And to this agrees Isaiah: "And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth." At this time, says Hosea, the children of Judah and of Israel shall be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head; that is, they shall both unite, and embrace Christ Jesus and his gospel. "I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them: I the Lord have spoken it." Under this head they shall return to their own country; they shall come up out of the land; "for great shall be the day of Jezreel." This great day is the day spoken of in my text, in the which "I will hear, saith the Lord." "I will hear the heavens." The heavens are to intercede for Jezreel whenever this great day comes. And by the heavens being heard we are to understand the intercession of Christ; the Holy of holies, eternal in the heavens, is his sanctuary; into the most holy place he entered with his own blood; and there to this day his sacrifice and satisfaction abide a sweet-smelling savour to God. And it is with the abundance of his grace, and with the sweet savour of his grand oblations, that all our prayers are perfumed to this day, if they ever ascend with acceptance to God. Moreover, as Christ, in the days of his flesh, prayed for all his elect, so his prayers must be answered for them all. "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us." The many promises that are made to Christ and his seed are all yea and amen in him; and therefore must be fulfilled. The petitions put up by our High Priest in behalf of all his elect must be heard and answered. The sacrifice offered, the satisfaction made on their account, and the ransom price paid down for them, the whole of which being now in the presence of God for us, demands and calls for the eternal salvation of all the sheep, whether Jews or Gentiles, and that on the footing of truth and holiness, law and justice. And to this God promises the strictest attention, and enforces it with a repetition, "I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens." 1. The heavens are in the plural. And by these, in the next place, we are to understand the church, which is often so called, our high birth, doctrine, and worship, being all from above. Hence the gospel church is called a wonder in heaven, Rev. xii. 1. The ministry of the gospel is set forth by an angel flying in the midst of heaven, and preaching as he flies; and yet he preaches it to them that dwell on the earth, Rev. xiv. 6. The great red dragon, with its seven heads and ten horns, is called a wonder in heaven, Rev. xii. 13. In all which places the gospel church is meant. Now this is one of the heavens that is to pray for Jezreel whenever her day comes on. And this will be the bounden duty of the Gentile church; for the Jewish church prayed publicly for the Gentiles from age to age. Even Noah brought in Japheth in his predictions; Moses tells the Gentiles to rejoice with Gods people; Solomon puts up his prayer for us, I Kings, viii. 41-43; and the Jewish church prays for her little sister that had no breasts, and promises to preach to her, and to build her up, as soon as the Messiah should send out orders to call her, Song viii. 8, 9, which the Lord did, Matt. xxviii. 19; and which promise the Jews fulfilled when they sent their ministers to the Gentiles, and bore their charges themselves; "For his names sake they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles." Now the Jews are to be prayed for, when this great day comes on, by the Gentiles; for out of Gentile Zion deliverance is to go to Jacob; and the mercy of Christ is to go to them through the mercy of the Gentiles. "For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy." And when this great day of Jezreel comes, and the Gentile church has her bowels of mercy stirred up in behalf of the Jews, then shall the Jews, who first carried the gospel to the Gentiles, come to the Gentiles to receive the gospel back again. "Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie, behold I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee." But we must descend three times more before this great day of Jezreel and her cry comes on; for so says my text, "I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens." "And they shall hear the earth," &c. By the earth is meant Gods elect uncalled, unconverted, in their dead, carnal, earthly-minded state, being by sin earthly, sensual, devilish. Now this heap of earth is to cry, and the heavens are to hear the cry of the earth. But will such a dead lump of earth and sin ever cry to the heavens for help? No; they will not till they are compelled, and unless God smite them, and quicken them to feel the stroke; and this he promises shall be done by the King of kings, and Lords of lords; and, if mount Sinai trembled at the voice of God, it is no wonder if this animated clay should cry under his alarming stroke; for, "he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked." The person that is to smite the earth is the King of saints; the rod is his sceptre, the gospel, which is the ministration of the Spirit; his word is spirit, and it is life. With this rod of his mouth the earth is to be smitten, reproved, rebuked, scourged, and chastened; and to these it is the savour of life unto life; but to the unbelieving and wicked it is the savour of death unto death; "With the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked." The earth being smitten is to cry. This may be seen in Peter's audience; they being smitten, and the force of truth reaching the heart, they cried out, saying unto Peter, and the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Acts ii. 37. The poor jailer, when he was smitten, cries also, saying, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" You see what is meant by smiting the earth; and you have heard the cry of the earth when it is smitten. And here I must drop a few thoughts which have just come flying into my head. A little before this cry was made Christ was praying to the Father, and he was answering him by a voice from heaven. Soon after that the apostles were praying that signs and wonders might be done by the name of the holy child Jesus. And here is the earth crying out to the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?". Now my text says that the heavens shall hear the earth; and so they do. As soon as the earth cried out the heavens heard and answered. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the Holy Ghost as well as we; for the promise is to you, &c. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ," says Paul, "and thou shalt be saved, and all thy house; and he rejoiced, believing in God with all his house." Thus God hears the apostles, and the apostles hear the poor sinners crying out of the dust. There is one observation in my text which I would by no means overlook. There is no sort or class of men under heaven that feel their need so deeply as poor blind sinners, when first smitten and wounded by the word; and there is no sort of men that cry, in all my text, that have so many attending to the voice of supplication as that of the earth. All and every thing of God that has a voice, must attend when the earth begins to cry. God makes the most provision for them that are ready to perish. God hears the heavens; that cry comes from two quarters; but the cry of the earth has no less than five different voices answering to it; for so says my text. "The heavens shall hear the earth, and the earth shall hear the corn, the wine, and the oil." The high priest, the church, the corn, wine, and oil, are all to hear the earths cry. But then what voices can come from corn, wine, and oil? The corn most certainly has a voice. The death and resurrection of Christ is compared to corn sown, and springing up with much fruit. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." 2. By corn is meant the word of God, especially the promises, which are the words of life. "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn." That, says Paul, is spoken for our sakes no doubt. Treading out the corn is explaining the word of God, Deut. xxv. 4; 1 Cor. ix. 9. "Corn shall make the young men cheerful and new wine the maids." 3. The children of God are compared to wheat, and the children of the wicked one to tares, in our Lords parable. And again: "For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth." The death of Christ has an attracting voice to poor sinners. "And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me." The promises are God's alluring voice to sensible souls, who feel their need of mercy. Nor is there any state that the elect of God can be in, unto whom the promises of God are so innumerable, and to whom they speak so sweetly endearing and encouraging, as to awakened sinners, who tremble at the law, and are both poor and needy. The promise is to you, says Peter; and Paul brings forth the promises made to the Gentiles in his ministry: "And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord." Every true believer in Christ, whether weak or strong, has an ear to attend to the voice of awakened sinners. "And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee," Mark x. 49. And thus the crucifixion of Christ, the promises of life, and every living saint, have a voice of good news to the poor awakened sinner. There-fore let the earth hear the voice of the corn. II. the earth is to hear the wine. To wine the cleansing blood of Christ is compared; and it is set forth by this emblem in the Lords supper, and was by the Lord himself, who says, "My blood is drink indeed." And there is a voice in this; and it is called the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel, Heb. xii. 24. It speaks pardon and cleansing, reconciliation and friendship with the Lord, the abundance of peace and communion with God through Christ. And no voice so suitable as this to convinced and convicted sinner, when first awakened; and with this voice the apostles went forth. "And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem," Let the earth hear the voice of the wine. Again: by wine we are to understand the love of God in Christ Jesus. This is wine on the lees well refined. "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine." Now my text says, that he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth; and it is most certain that there is a voice that attends the rod. "Hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it." The wine hath her first voice to us in the rod. "As many as I love [there is the wine], I rebuke and chasten; be zealous therefore, and repent," Rev. iii. 12. III. The oil also has a voice to the earth. And by oil we are to understand the Holy Ghost; for with this oil of gladness was Christ anointed above all his fellows; and the Spirit speaks an invitation to all that feel their need. "The Spirit and the bride say, Come." Yea, the Spirit is held forth to all that Christ smites. "Turn you at my reproof; behold, I will pour out my Spirit unto you." Again: by oil we are to understand joy, for Christ gives us the oil of joy for mourning. Now the oil of joy has a voice; it has a voice to all mourners; for they that mourn shall be comforted. In the day of prosperity be joyful, in the day of adversity consider; God also has set the one over against the other." the voice of joy and comfort always speaks to the afflicted; he shall comfort all that mourn. "As ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation." And, last of all, These, all these, are to hear the voice of Jezreel, whenever Jezreel's great day shall come on. God himself will hear her in time to come. For, "as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers sake," Rom. xi. 28. Christ will hear Jezreel when the fullness of the Gentiles is come in. For, Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled;" but no longer. Then the Jews shall serve the Lord, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them, Jer. xxx. 9. The Gentile church shall hear Jezreel cry, and she shall obtain mercy through their mercy. Yea, the corn, the wine, and the oil, shall hear the cry of Jezreel. What a day must that be with the Jews when the Messiah, whom their fathers rejected and murdered, and whom their posterity ever since have despised and blasphemed; when these come to unite together, and to appoint by choice this covenant Head over them; when they join with the Gentiles in serving the Lord, and David their king, whom God will reveal to them; and that same Saviour, that has been loaded with so many blasphemies by them, shall with one heart receive him as the most blessed and only Saviour of them. And sure I am they shall never see the Lord Jesus as he is, nor shall they embrace him as their Messiah, until this time comes, and they are prepared to heap ten thousand blessings on him. "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." Hence I conclude, that the voice of God in his covenant, the voice of Christ in the promises, the voice of saints in their prayers, the voice of the atonement, and the voice of the Holy Spirit, will all attend to the cry; and speak to the comfort of Jezreel. |