We are here again on this another Sunday morning to do something which we have often done before. But, though this is an oft-repeated ordinance, it is one whose significance is renewing and ever refreshing. Repetition of some forms of human activities have a tendency to pall, and many human exercises, by the monotony of their nature, tire and weary the heart and mind, so that a change or a variation is welcomed wherever there is a possibility to take advantage of such a change. But whatever variations there may be in the usual every-day experience, our lives, the lives and activities of all the peoples and institutions we are acquainted with, follow the law of circulation and the ever-recurring cycle continues from day to day, from week to week, yea, from year to year, in much the same order. Life for some is circumscribed within a narrow circle, while others have a wider area. Those who have the wider area and more varied experiences within that area, find life’s activities demanding more attention. Some have enjoyment of the better and higher things of life, while others find all their time occupied making provision for necessary things. However, all—great or small, rich or poor—are bounded and circumscribed by the cycle of experience allotted to them.
If God and the thought of God and the things of God were by some adverse means to be taken away from us, then indeed, we would be most miserable of all people. We know how vain and ephemeral are all the things by which we are surrounded. The domain of man is again aptly defined for us in the words of Scripture (Ecclesiastes 1:4), “One generation passeth away and another generation cometh : but the earth abideth for ever.” In other words, all to death in this world hasteth ; riches vanish, beauty wasteth, yet within thy servant’s breast love is an undying guest.
All things pertaining to this mortal life are continually changing. Action and reaction is the law of our daily experience. Seasons of misfortune and evil are followed by seasons of successful achievement. When seasons of comparative good obtain, a time of reverses follow with unerring regularity.
It has been said, and we think with reasonable accuracy, that there is not a great or marked distinction, or line of demarcation between pain and pleasure, between joy and sorrow, and between relative good and relative evil. Perhaps it may be said that there is not much connection between such a line of thought and the impressions that are received or gathered from a study of a prophecy such as that of Isaiah.
In the testimony of Isaiah it is very striking how the history of God’s dealings with Israel have illustrated the oft-repeated lesson of how history is continually repeating itself. One fact stands out in prominence, which is how men and nations manifest the ever present trend of human nature to revert to processes of declension and corruption and decay. Universal history is, in the main, the history of the rise anti-development followed by the decline and decay of great empires and states. The history of Israel is no exception to this general rule. However, it is unlike them all in this respect, that the decline and decay of empires such as Assyria, Nineveh and Babylon, Greece and Rome, by reason of the forces that caused their corruption and oblivion, have passed off the stage of time for ever. The suppression and judgments visited upon Israel were because of her having forsaken the God of their fathers and learning the ways of those nations who know not the God of Abraham. Nevertheless, the fact, remains that the purpose of God is centred in and around the fortunes of this wonderful people, and though downfall and ruin overtook their national policy, yet out of the ashes of her ruins Israel shall arise to renewed and a more vigorous and glorious life, and complete the cycle of her destiny to the praise and glory of the Lord her God.
Israel’s heritage was and is an honourable and glorious one. Yet Israel’s responsibilities were grave, and the obligations assumed by her were exacting. If we allow our thoughts to revert backward to that memorable day when the nation as a collective unit entered into that solemn covenant, and with united voice declared, “All that the Lord hath spoken will we do and be obedient” (Exodus 24:7), and contemplate that assembly and the things done there we realise to some extent why the hand of God has been so heavily laid upon Israel.
It is a great and grand thing to have the God of Israel for a guardian and a friend, but it is also a fearful thing to fall into hands of that just and Holy One through breach of a solemn covenant entered into with Him by the children of men. Israel’s long night of sorrow and anguish and exile and wandering among the nations bears eloquent evidence to the fact that there is no escape from the consequences of turning away from the light and reverting backward into the ways of sin and rebellion and darkness and ignorance.
These were Israel’s sins, and in our readings from the prophets, especially those of the prophet Isaiah, we enter sympathetically into the sorrow and suffering and degradation that fell upon the chosen people because they forgot the Lord that brought them. Although He visited them in mercy by the ministration of His servants, yet the retrogression was not arrested until “the Lord covered the daughters of Zion with a cloud in His anger and cast down from heaven to earth the beauty of Israel” (Lamentations 2:1).
As to why there is this strong tendency on the part of man to revert to the ways of sin and evil, we have no explanation apart from the Scriptures. The very first event of history illustrates how God created man upright, but man sought out many inventions. In other words human nature does not willingly bring itself into conformity with the higher and nobler and purer influences of righteousness. All declensions from the path of holiness have had their inception on the part of those who have either failed to comprehend the fact that the service of God demands a complete sacrifice of the individual, or have failed to effect a genuine dedication to the high and holy calling of the gospel. God is a jealous God. Nothing short of a complete surrender to His will can win and retain His friendship. If we do not see these facts stand out in prominence as we read and study Bible history, then we have fallen far short of a realisation of our duties and obligations as sons and daughters of the Lord God of Israel.
This is the place and the time is now to take stock of our true position. Examine yourselves, says the apostle. Prove your own selves, see whether ye be in the faith. We may each one think that we have progressed very satisfactorily in the Truth. We can and may compare ourselves with some others and probably the results of the comparison may have a tendency to make us feel satisfied with our attainments, but our own estimate of ourselves will be of no consequence when the secrets of our very hearts are laid bare before Him with whom we have to do. “I am,” says Jesus, “He that searcheth the reins and the heart to give to everyone as his work shall be.”
Let us repeat here that humility and contriteness of heart are two of the outstanding virtues of the sons and daughters of God. Meekness and sympathetic interest in the welfare of fellow pilgrims has always been a marked feature of the peculiar people. For turn where we will, the outlook for the future is dark for the world that knows not God. The heavy hand of judgment is being laid upon the nations. The whirlwind roars on. Arrogance and madness has taken possession of the hearts of those who delight in war, and its latest scientific instruments of devastation and murderous cruelty. The people of God are carrying on in the face of many heart and soul discouraging difficulties. Sympathetic interest must reach out and contact the objects of its law. Eyes that are closed to the facts that there is sorrow and despondency and discouragement and blasted hopes will have a rude awakening someday soon. Therefore, we acknowledge the force of James’ admonition, “Be patient therefore brethren unto the coming of the Lord.” (James 5:7).
We take particular note of the manner in which these simple and outstanding virtues are so beautifully treated in the epistle of James. There is nothing cold and distant and reserved in the person who has these beautiful and ennobling qualities formed within. This is what we are trying to do in these days of waiting and watching for the consummation. It cannot be far away now. Let us therefore gird up the loins of our mind and renew our determination to press on. The way may not be easy, but a renewed effort and a courageous facing of the trials is half the battle. Let us, therefore, keep on for in the hour when ye least expect Him, the Son of man cometh. Also, let us deeply consider that the life we are striving for is a life illumined and quickened continually by the immediate presence and power of the Infinite God.
It is a life that shall flow on, an unebbing tide, higher, stronger, farther on with each heave of the restless wave. Never turning back to gain increased momentum, but with resistless, uninterrupted, undiminished volume, filling all eternity with the beauty and the gladness of its perfection. And this, says John, “is life eternal, to know the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom He hath sent.”
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One