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2 Kings Chapter
Twenty
2 Kings 20
Chapter Contents
Hezekiah's sickness, His recovery in answer to prayer.
(1-11) Hezekiah shows his treasures to the ambassadors from Babylon, His death.
(12-21)
Commentary on 2 Kings 20:1-11
(Read 2 Kings 20:1-11)
Hezekiah was sick unto death, in the same year in which
the king of Assyria besieged Jerusalem. A warning to prepare for death was
brought to Hezekiah by Isaiah. Prayer is one of the best preparations for
death, because by it we fetch in strength and grace from God, to enable us to
finish well. He wept sorely: some gather from hence that he was unwilling to
die; it is in the nature of man to dread the separation of soul and body. There
was also something peculiar in Hezekiah's case; he was now in the midst of his
usefulness. Let Hezekiah's prayer, see Isaiah 38. interpret his tears; in that is nothing which is
like his having been under that fear of death, which has bondage or torment.
Hezekiah's piety made his sick-bed easy. "O Lord, remember now;" he
does not speak as if God needed to be put in mind of any thing by us; nor, as
if the reward might be demanded as due; it is Christ's righteousness only that
is the purchase of mercy and grace. Hezekiah does not pray, Lord, spare me;
but, Lord, remember me; whether I live or die, let me be thine. God always
hears the prayers of the broken in heart, and will give health, length of days,
and temporal deliverances, as much and as long as is truly good for them. Means
were to be used for Hezekiah's recovery; yet, considering to what a height the
disease was come, and how suddenly it was checked, the cure was miraculous. It
is our duty, when sick, to use such means as are proper to help nature, else we
do not trust God, but tempt him. For the confirmation of his faith, the shadow
of the sun was carried back, and the light was continued longer than usual, in
a miraculous manner. This work of wonder shows the power of God in heaven as
well as on earth, the great notice he takes of prayer, and the great favour he
bears to his chosen.
Commentary on 2 Kings 20:12-21
(Read 2 Kings 20:12-21)
The king of Babylon was at this time independent of the
king of Assyria, though shortly after subdued by him. Hezekiah showed his
treasures and armour, and other proofs of his wealth and power. This was the
effect of pride and ostentation, and departing from simple reliance on God. He
also seems to have missed the opportunity of speaking to the Chaldeans, about
Him who had wrought the miracles which excited their attention, and of pointing
out to them the absurdity and evil of idolatry. What is more common than to
show our friends our houses and possessions? But if we do this in the pride of
ours hearts, to gain applause from men, not giving praise to God, it becomes
sin in us, as it did in Hezekiah. We may expect vexation from every object with
which we are unduly pleased. Isaiah, who had often been Hezekiah's comforter,
is now is reprover. The blessed Spirit is both, John 16:7,8. Ministers must be both, as there is
occasion. Hezekiah allowed the justice of the sentence, and God's goodness in
the respite. Yet the prospect respecting his family and nation must have given
him many painful feelings. Hezekiah was indeed humbled for the pride of his
heart. And blessed are the dead who die in the Lord; for they rest from their
labours, and their works do follow them.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on 2 Kings》
2 Kings 20
Verse 1
[1] In
those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz
came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order;
for thou shalt die, and not live.
Those days — In
the year of the Assyrian invasion.
Set, … —
Make thy will, and settle the affairs of thy family and kingdom.
Not live —
Such threatenings, though absolutely expressed, have often secret conditions.
Verse 2
[2] Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the LORD, saying,
Turned his face — As
he lay in his bed. He could not retire to his closet, but he retired as well as
he could, turned from the company, to converse with God.
Verse 3
[3] I
beseech thee, O LORD, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and
with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And
Hezekiah wept sore.
In truth —
Sincerely with an honest mind. I am not conscious to myself of any gross
exorbitances, for which thou usest to shorten mens days.
Wept —
For that horror of death which is and was common to men, especially, in the
times of the Old Testament, when the grace of God in Christ was not so fully
manifested, as now it is: and, for the distracted condition in which the church
and state were then likely to be left, through the uncertainty of the
succession to the crown.
Verse 4
[4] And
it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word
of the LORD came to him, saying,
Court — Of
the king's palace. This is noted to shew God's great readiness to hear the
prayers of his children.
Verse 5
[5] Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the
LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy
tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the
house of the LORD.
God of, … — I
am mindful of my promise made to David and his house, and will make it good in
thy person.
Shalt go — To
give me solemn praise for this mercy.
Verse 6
[6] And
I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city
out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine
own sake, and for my servant David's sake.
Fifteen years — We
have not an instance of any other, who was told before-hand just how long, he
should live. God has wisely kept us at uncertainties, that we may be always
ready.
Verse 10
[10] And
Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees:
nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees.
Go down — In
an instant: for that motion of the sun is natural for the kind of it, though
miraculous for the swiftness of it; but the other would be both ways
miraculous.
Verse 11
[11] And
Isaiah the prophet cried unto the LORD: and he brought the shadow ten degrees
backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz.
Degrees —
These degrees were lines in the dial: but whether each of these lines or
degrees noted an hour, or half an hour, or a quarter of an hour, is uncertain.
But the sun itself went back, and the shadow with it. This miracle was noted by
the Babylonians, who, having understood that it was done for Hezekiah's sake,
sent to enquire into the truth and manner of it, 2 Chronicles 32:31.
Of Ahaz —
Which Ahaz had made in the king's palace. This dial he mentions, because the
truth of the miracle might be best and soonest discovered there, this dial
possibly being visible out of the king's chamber, and the degrees being most
distinct and conspicuous in it.
Verse 12
[12] At
that time Berodachbaladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters
and a present unto Hezekiah: for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick.
Berodach-baladan — He
seems to have been the king of Assyria's vice-roy in Babylon, and upon that
terrible slaughter in the Assyrian host, and the death of Sennacherib, and the
differences among his sons, to have usurped absolute sovereignty over Babylon.
And either himself or his son destroyed the Assyrian monarchy, and translated
the empire to Babylon.
Sent —
Partly, for the reasons mentioned, 2 Chronicles 32:31, and partly, to assure
himself of the assistance of Hezekiah against the Assyrians, their common
enemy.
Verse 13
[13] And
Hezekiah hearkened unto them, and shewed them all the house of his precious
things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment,
and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures: there
was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them
not.
His treasures —
For though his country had lately been harassed by the Assyrians, yet he had
reserved all his treasures and precious things, which he and his fathers had
gathered in Jerusalem. Besides, he had considerable spoils out of the Assyrian
camp. Also he had many presents sent to him, 2 Chronicles 32:23.
Shewed —
Which he did through pride of heart, 2 Chronicles 32:25,26, being lifted up by the
great honour which God had done him, in working such glorious miracles for his
sake, and by the great respects rendered to him from divers princes, and now by
this great Babylonian monarch. So hard a matter is it even for a good man to be
high and humble.
Verse 17
[17]
Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy
fathers have laid up in store unto this day, shall be carried into Babylon:
nothing shall be left, saith the LORD.
Behold —
This judgment is denounced against him for his pride; for his ingratitude,
whereby he took that honour to himself which he should have given entirely to
God; and for his carnal confidence in that league which he had now made with
the king of Babylon, by which, it is probable, he thought his mountain to be so
strong, that it could not be removed.
Verse 18
[18] And
of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take
away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.
Thy sons — Of
thy grand-children.
Eunuchs —
They shall be servants to that heathen monarch, whereby both their bodies will
be subject to slavery, and their souls exposed to the peril of idolatry, and
all sorts of wickedness.
Verse 19
[19] Then
said Hezekiah unto Isaiah, Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken.
And he said, Is it not good, if peace and truth be in my days?
Good is, … — I
heartily submit to this sentence, as being both just, and merciful. True
penitents, when they are under divine rebukes, call them not only just, but
good. Not only submit to, but accept of the punishment of their iniquity. So
Hezekiah did, and by this it appeared, he was indeed humbled for the pride of
his heart.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on 2 Kings》
20 Chapter 20
Verses 1-19
In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death.
The blessing of sickness
A Christian man of intense business enterprise and activity was
laid aside by sickness. He who never would intermit his labours was compelled
to a dead halt. His restless limbs were stretched motionless on the bed. He was
so weak that he could scarcely lift his hand. Speaking to a friend of the
contrast between his condition now and when he had been driving his immense
business he said, “Now I am growing. I have been running my soul thin by my
activity. Now I am growing in the knowledge of myself and of some things which
most intimately concern me.” Blessed, then, is sickness, or sorrow, or any
experience that compels us to stop, that takes the work out of our hands for a
little season, that empties our hearts of their thousand cares, and turns them
toward God to be taught of Him. Death:--The account leads us to consider death
in three aspects.
I. As consciously
approaching. Mark here three things--
1. When he became conscious of its approach.
2. How he become conscious of its approach. It needs no Isaiah, or
any other prophet, to deliver this message to man. It comes to him from all
history, from every graveyard, from every funeral procession, as well as from
the inexorable law of decay working ever in his constitution.
3. How he felt in the consciousness of its approach.
II. As temporarily
arrested. Five things are to be observed here--
1. The primary Author of its arrest.
2. The secondary means of its arrest.
3. The extraordinary sign of its arrest.
4. The exact extension of its arrest.
5. The mental inefficiency of its arrest.
What spiritual good did these additional fifteen years accomplish
for the king? They might have done much, they ought to have done much.
III. As ultimately
triumphant. “And Hezekiah slept with his fathers.” The end of the fifteen years
came, and he meets with the common destiny of all. The unconquered conqueror is
not to be defrauded of his prey, however long delayed. (David Thomas,
D. D.)
.
Hezekiah’s prayer answered
The prayer of Hezekiah thus signally answered gives us instruction
upon several points, of which this is--
1. To love life is a duty. Of course, Hezekiah’s anxiety to live does
not prove this. Good men are not so good that we can be sure of the rectitude
of all their desires. They may be over-anxious to live, as they may be too
ready to die. Luther and Whitefield erred upon the side of over-willingness to
die. But the fact that God respected Hezekiah’s wish to live proves that his
wish was dutiful and right. His love of life was not weakness; it was not self-will; it
was not the mere wish for a longer experience of accustomed pleasure. Had it
been any of these, his prayer would have been unheard. He sought for life
because life was worth living; he had a motive for life. It was for him a great
opportunity. Nothing in the New Testament reverses or modifies the teaching of
the Old Testament, that long life is a blessing, a gift of God, a mark of
Divine favour. It is said of the godly man: “Because he hath set his love upon
Me, therefore will I deliver him. With long life will I satisfy him, and show
him My salvation.” When queenly Wisdom stretches forth her hands to give
rewards to her loving and loyal subjects, “Length of days is in her right
hand,” as her most excellent gift. There is in the Bible no pessimistic
philosophy of life. It is true that the Bible dwells much upon the shortness of
life. Death is a fact which it will not let us forget. But Scriptural
reflections upon the littleness of life and the nearness of its end are not
intended to lessen our love of life, or to make us look upon it as unimportant.
Their purpose is to counteract such views. They teach us to “number our days
that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” Long life is not too long for the
full accomplishment of life’s great end. There is nothing in the approach of
age which ought to lessen the love of life, if life’s powers remain. The good
workman glances now and then at the sun sinking in the west as day declines,
only that he may set a higher value upon the remaining minutes, because they
are few. He wishes for a full day, and the lengthening shadows set him the more
zealously about remaining tasks. The biographers of Lyman Beecher have said of
him: “He was so hungry to do the work of Him that sent him that he really
seemed sometimes to have little appetite for heaven. Thus, after he was seventy
years old, one of
his children congratulated him that his labours were nearly over, and that he
would soon be at rest. To his son’s surprise the old man replied quickly, ‘I
don’t thank my children for sending me to heaven till God does.’” In the
lecture-room of Plymouth Church, when very near the end of his life, he said,
“If God should tell me that I might choose . . . that is, if God said it was His will that I should
choose, whether to die and go to heaven, or to begin my life over again, I
would enlist again in a minute.” We are not called upon to love life less
because power fails, and we must lay aside accustomed tasks. Let us not measure
life by the strength with which we pursue an earthly career. The refining of
character may go on better when life’s active powers decline. As we ponder the
prayer of Hezekiah, a second thought arises:
II. Submission to
the will of God in regard to the term of life is a moderate wish to live as
long as we can. It is easy to mistake the true nature of resignation, and to
give it a meaning which it should not have. Submission to God’s will is not the
suspension of personal will-power. It is not the absence of choice or preference. Holiness
is not passivity. Richard Baxter once wrote:--
Lord it belongs not to my care
Whether I live or die.
Perhaps an utterance
which is poetic, or at least metrical, ought not to be judged by prosaic rules;
but as an unguarded statement its sentiment is false. It ought to have been a
part of his care to live long and well. In so doing he would have been
submissive to the will of God. There are means to be used to keep life and
health. We ought to use them not unconcernedly, but with a strong wish to live.
This is resignation to God’s will. In “desiring life,” and “loving” many days
that he might see good, Hezekiah did not feel that he was disobedient or
un-submissive.
III. Hezekiah’s plea
that he had lived a good life was an argument that prevailed with God. It is
worthy of remark that the prayers recorded in the Old Testament are full of
argument. Men approach God with reasons. They tell Him why He should grant
their requests. Evidently they think Divine wisdom “easy to be entreated.” They
recount mercies past as a reason for expecting renewed favours. They speak of
His goodness. Of their great needs they make a plea. By the littleness and
brevity of life they lay claim to mercy. So Hezekiah did not hesitate to find
in his past life reasons for its continuance. Evidently he did not think that
goodness makes the term of life shorter, or more uncertain. “Whom the gods love
die young,” is not a Christian proverb, but its sentiment is to be found in
many sayings current among us. Now there are saintly souls living upon the
earth “of whom the world” is “not worthy.” But so much the greater the world’s
need of their saintly lives. And God has great consideration for the world’s
need. The answer to Hezekiah’s prayer suggests a fourth consideration:
IV. The good physician
has no controversy with the earthly physician in the wise use of means. Isaiah
practised the art of healing. He followed the best medical knowledge of his
time. He caused the attendants to take a lump of figs and place it upon the
sore, and Hezekiah recovered. He applied a well-known and useful remedy. No
doubt there are persons who would be better satisfied with the record of this
case of healing if the lump of figs had been left out. They fear that every
case of healing claimed by science must be surrendered by religion, and that,
when other means are efficacious, prayer is obviously of no avail. They make
haste to conclude that, if the lump of figs healed Hezekiah, then God did not.
The inspired record is not solicitous about entrenching religion against the
attacks of science. If religion should say that prayer worked the healing, and
that means were of no use: and if science should say that the lump of figs
wrought the cure, and that prayer was of no avail--both would be right in what
they asserted, and no less would both be wrong in what they refused to admit.
Had Isaiah known that the remedy would have cured without prayer, his delay in
using it would have been inexcusable. Had he known that prayer would have been
as efficacious without the remedy, he had no sufficient reason for making use
of the lump of
figs at last. The healing was wrought by the Lord of Life; and not less by Him
that He chose to work through the ordinary appointed means.
V. The best
results of Hezekiah’s prayer are unrecorded. We find a hint of them in the
broken sentences of Isaiah’s page. “What shall I say: He hath both spoken unto
me and Himself hath done it. I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness
of my soul. The Lord was ready to save me; therefore will we sing my songs to
the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord.” He
walked before the Lord in solemn gladness. In those remaining years God was
nearer to him than before. He knew the tenderness of God, who had heard his
prayers and had seen his tears. He knew the grace of God, for by His favour he
walked in newness of life. He knew the power of God, whose high prerogative it
was to turn backward or forward at His will the dial of his life. How great,
the power of prayer, which still appeals to the heart of God and persuades Him
to make known His way “upon earth,” His “saving health among all nations.” And
how infinite the grace of God, who in time past for this chosen servant turned
backward for an hour the shadow of the sun, but who, in these last days, has
set for ever in the spiritual heavens, above the horizon and within the field
of vision for those who look in faith, the blessed “sign of the Son of Man.” (Monday
Club Sermons.)
Attachment to life
The young man, till thirty, never feels practically that he is
mortal. He knows it, indeed, and, if need were, he could preach a homily on the
fragility of life; but he brings it not home to himself, any more than in a hot
June we can appropriate to our imagination the freezing days of December. But
now, shall I confess a truth? I feel these audits but too powerfully; I begin
to count the probabilities of my duration, and to grudge at the expenditure of
moments and shortest periods like miser’s farthings. In proportion as the years
both lessen and shorten I set more count upon their periods, and would fain lay
my ineffectual finger upon the spoke of the great wheel. I am not content to
pass away “like a weaver’s shuttle.” Those metaphors solace me not, nor sweeten
the unpalatable draught of mortality. I care not to be carried with the tide
that smoothly bears human life to eternity, and rebel at the inevitable course
of destiny. I am in love with this green earth, the face of town and country,
the unspeakable rural solitudes, and the sweet security of streets. I would set
up my tabernacle here; I am content to stand still at the age to which I am
arrived, to be no younger, no richer, no handsomer. I do not want to be weaned
by age, or drop, like mellow fruit, as they say, into the grave! Any alteration
on this earth of mine, in diet or in lodging, puzzles and discomposes me. My
household goods plant a terribly fixed foot, and are not rooted up without
blood. They do not willingly seek Lavinian shores. A new state of being
staggers me; sun and sky, and breezes and solitary walks, and summer holidays,
and the greenness of fields, and the juices of meats and fishes, and society,
and the cheerful glass, and candlelight, and firelight conversations, and jests
and irony--do not these things go out with life? Can a ghost laugh, or shake
his gaunt sides when you are pleasant with him? (Charles Lamb.)
Set thine house in order;
for thou shalt die, and not live.
A house and a soul compared: or the Christian’s preparation for
death
Hezekiah was in the meridian of life, and probably as yet had made
no arrangement in regard to the succession to the throne. This message was to
this effect--“Give charge concerning thine house. If you have any direction to
give in regard to the succession to the crown, or in regard to domestic and
private arrangements, let it be done soon” I shall, however, take this message
in the secondary or more Important sense, and then, I need not remind you, that
by the expression “thine house” we are to understand his inner man--the state of
his soul before God. I think that this object is most likely to be attained by
drawing the analogy.
I. I would observe
that it is necessary for the preservation of a house, that it be built upon a
good foundation, and not upon a sandy soil; so is it equally necessary that the
foundation upon which the believer places the eternal interest of his soul be
built upon the best of all foundations, even Jesus Christ; “for other
foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” Consider
what it is to build upon Him. To have our foundation on Jesus Christ is not to
hope that we may attain heaven and happiness by a partial conformity with the
will of the Saviour, whilst we are at the same time devoting ourselves to the
pleasures of the world; it is to feel that we are vile, worthless, and polluted
creatures of the earth, whose very best action in itself has the nature of sin;
it is to be so assured that our works can have no part in obtaining salvation
as to strip us of all self-confidence and conceit, and lead us to place our
whole dependence on the finished work, and the all-sufficient righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ.
II. But I observe,
that after a house is erected, however well and costly it may be built, it
requires to be kept in good order, and in constant repair. So it is with the
soul, wonderful in its origin, for it was made by God; and majestic even in its
ruins, through the fall of man.: “redeemed not with corruptible things, such as
with silver and gold, but with the precious blood of the adorable Saviour.”
III. I observe, that
light is essential to a house. The clearer the glass of which the windows are
composed, and the less obstruction there is, the sooner will be discovered the
slightest particle of dust, and every flaw in the dwelling. So it is with the
soul; the clearer the light of the Holy Spirit shines into the conscience the
more accurately will sin be detected; that which was thought a trifling and
innocent thing before, through the illumination of the Holy Spirit will appear
in its true light, as defiled and destructive.
IV. No habitation
would be complete unless supplied
with water; to cleanse and purify it, as also to refresh its
inhabitants, and to administer to their comforts. And how can the soul
thirsting after the water of life be satisfied without a fresh and daily supply
from the Fountain of living waters, even that water which Christ has given
him--a well springing up unto everlasting life.
V. I would observe
that much of the comfort of a household depends on everything being regulated
by judicious and careful management. So it is with the soul. “Let everything be
done decently and in order,” is the apostle’s injunction; and of how much more
importance is it, that the spiritual exercises of the child of God should be
under the control of a wise and well directed judgment.
VI. I would observe
that in the ancient mansions of the great, the hall was appropriated to the
armoury, which was kept clean, bright, and ready for the master’s use. This
reminds us of the Christian’s armour: his weapons are not carnal, but
spiritual; not weak, but mighty through God to the pulling down the strongholds
of Satan; nevertheless, they must not only be keep bright, but constantly worn.
VII. I would remark that in a house there is a necessity for fire. In the same
manner in the soul there ought to be a flame of holy love, a zeal for God’s
truth. (J. R. Starey.)
Set thy house in order-A New Year’s sermon
There are two points which it is here proper to consider.
1. What views and feelings naturally possess a man who is conscious
that his end is near. If his mind has an ordinary share of sensibility, he will
dismiss his worldly cares and turn his thoughts to the contemplation of
eternity. He is no longer interested in a world he is so soon to leave. The
calculations and pursuits of men, their joys, their griefs, their
disappointments, their success, their hurry, their hopes, their fears, an
appear as idle as the sports of children. The world is lighter to him than a
feather. Neither losses nor disappointments nor prosperity has power to affect
him. You see him not pressing from business, to business in a rage to be rich.
You see him not stretching after preferment. His pride is reduced. You see him
no longer assuming haughty airs, no longer fretted at every supposed neglect.
Meekness and gentleness mark his deportment. No longer can unbelief or the
world hide a prospect of death or seduce his thoughts from God. He looks death
in the face. He turns his anxious eye to explore eternal objects. He raises an
earnest look to heaven. He ardently betakes himself to prayer and to reading
his Bible. All his anxiety is to prepare for his approaching fate. You all
perceive that these are rational exercises for a dying man; why then not for
you? It is to dying men that I am speaking. I can say to you all, “As the Lord
liveth,” and “as your soul liveth, there is but a step between you and death.”
II. Let us consider
what measures a man will naturally take to set his house in order, who, with
proper views, is conscious that his end is near.
1. It would be natural for him, as an honest man, to wish to settle
all his accounts. This might be necessary to secure his creditors and to
prevent insolvency.
2. A dying man, in setting his house in order, would be desirous to
dispatch all important, unfinished business, which could not be accomplished by
others after his death. So do you.
3. It is common for dying Christians to call their families around
them and impart to them their final counsel. Thus do ye.
4. It is customary for men, when setting their house in order, to
make their wills. I have no advice to give as to the dispositon of your worldly
estate. But I solemnly charge you to bequeath to God your immortal souls with
all their faculties, and your bodies, to sleep in His arms, in expectation of a
joyful resurrection.
5. It is not uncommon for people, when they view their end
approaching, to prepare their shroud, and make every provision for their
funeral obsequies, that nothing may be left to be done in the distress and
confusion of the mournful day. (E. D. Griffin, D. D.)
The house in order
I would like to know that your Christian work is in order, that
you would leave things so that others could carry them on. Have I ever told you
about the obituary notice--though it was only a sort of passing paragraph in
the newspaper--of a fisherman on the New Zealand coast? They told of how his
body had been found in the bush; how his boat, drawn up to the shore, was near
to him. This significant sentence followed, “His nets were set.” I remember the
thrill that went through me when I read it first. “His nets were set.” He had
gone out to his daily duty, put his nets in order--not left them in a tangled
heap on the shore, needing washing or mending or both. They were set, and his
successor had but to draw them in presently and secure the spoil of the sea.
Are your nets set? If you were to pass away during this week, would it be your
fault that the work could not be continued? Do your duty to the last. Do it
thoroughly, do it patiently, do it perfectly, that it may be said of you, as of
Whitefield, Wesley, M’Cheyne, and a thousand others, that you virtually died in
harness.
All
that remains for me
Is
but to love and sing,
And
wait until the angels come
To
bear me to their King.
I want your house to be in order, your business to be in order,
your church and Christian work to be in order, and I want most of all for all
my hearers that their hearts
shall be in order. (Thomas Spurgeon.)
Verses 1-19
In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death.
The blessing of sickness
A Christian man of intense business enterprise and activity was
laid aside by sickness. He who never would intermit his labours was compelled
to a dead halt. His restless limbs were stretched motionless on the bed. He was
so weak that he could scarcely lift his hand. Speaking to a friend of the
contrast between his condition now and when he had been driving his immense
business he said, “Now I am growing. I have been running my soul thin by my
activity. Now I am growing in the knowledge of myself and of some things which
most intimately concern me.” Blessed, then, is sickness, or sorrow, or any
experience that compels us to stop, that takes the work out of our hands for a
little season, that empties our hearts of their thousand cares, and turns them
toward God to be taught of Him. Death:--The account leads us to consider death
in three aspects.
I. As consciously
approaching. Mark here three things--
1. When he became conscious of its approach.
2. How he become conscious of its approach. It needs no Isaiah, or
any other prophet, to deliver this message to man. It comes to him from all
history, from every graveyard, from every funeral procession, as well as from
the inexorable law of decay working ever in his constitution.
3. How he felt in the consciousness of its approach.
II. As temporarily
arrested. Five things are to be observed here--
1. The primary Author of its arrest.
2. The secondary means of its arrest.
3. The extraordinary sign of its arrest.
4. The exact extension of its arrest.
5. The mental inefficiency of its arrest.
What spiritual good did these additional fifteen years accomplish
for the king? They might have done much, they ought to have done much.
III. As ultimately
triumphant. “And Hezekiah slept with his fathers.” The end of the fifteen years
came, and he meets with the common destiny of all. The unconquered conqueror is
not to be defrauded of his prey, however long delayed. (David Thomas,
D. D.)
.
Hezekiah’s prayer answered
The prayer of Hezekiah thus signally answered gives us instruction
upon several points, of which this is--
1. To love life is a duty. Of course, Hezekiah’s anxiety to live does
not prove this. Good men are not so good that we can be sure of the rectitude
of all their desires. They may be over-anxious to live, as they may be too
ready to die. Luther and Whitefield erred upon the side of over-willingness to
die. But the fact that God respected Hezekiah’s wish to live proves that his
wish was dutiful and right. His love of life was not weakness; it was not self-will; it
was not the mere wish for a longer experience of accustomed pleasure. Had it
been any of these, his prayer would have been unheard. He sought for life
because life was worth living; he had a motive for life. It was for him a great
opportunity. Nothing in the New Testament reverses or modifies the teaching of
the Old Testament, that long life is a blessing, a gift of God, a mark of
Divine favour. It is said of the godly man: “Because he hath set his love upon
Me, therefore will I deliver him. With long life will I satisfy him, and show
him My salvation.” When queenly Wisdom stretches forth her hands to give
rewards to her loving and loyal subjects, “Length of days is in her right
hand,” as her most excellent gift. There is in the Bible no pessimistic
philosophy of life. It is true that the Bible dwells much upon the shortness of
life. Death is a fact which it will not let us forget. But Scriptural
reflections upon the littleness of life and the nearness of its end are not
intended to lessen our love of life, or to make us look upon it as unimportant.
Their purpose is to counteract such views. They teach us to “number our days
that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” Long life is not too long for the
full accomplishment of life’s great end. There is nothing in the approach of
age which ought to lessen the love of life, if life’s powers remain. The good
workman glances now and then at the sun sinking in the west as day declines,
only that he may set a higher value upon the remaining minutes, because they
are few. He wishes for a full day, and the lengthening shadows set him the more
zealously about remaining tasks. The biographers of Lyman Beecher have said of
him: “He was so hungry to do the work of Him that sent him that he really
seemed sometimes to have little appetite for heaven. Thus, after he was seventy
years old, one of
his children congratulated him that his labours were nearly over, and that he
would soon be at rest. To his son’s surprise the old man replied quickly, ‘I
don’t thank my children for sending me to heaven till God does.’” In the
lecture-room of Plymouth Church, when very near the end of his life, he said,
“If God should tell me that I might choose . . . that is, if God said it was His will that I
should choose, whether to die and go to heaven, or to begin my life over again,
I would enlist again in a minute.” We are not called upon to love life less
because power fails, and we must lay aside accustomed tasks. Let us not measure
life by the strength with which we pursue an earthly career. The refining of
character may go on better when life’s active powers decline. As we ponder the
prayer of Hezekiah, a second thought arises:
II. Submission to
the will of God in regard to the term of life is a moderate wish to live as
long as we can. It is easy to mistake the true nature of resignation, and to
give it a meaning which it should not have. Submission to God’s will is not the
suspension of personal will-power. It is not the absence of choice or preference. Holiness
is not passivity. Richard Baxter once wrote:--
Lord it belongs not to my care
Whether I live or die.
Perhaps an utterance
which is poetic, or at least metrical, ought not to be judged by prosaic rules;
but as an unguarded statement its sentiment is false. It ought to have been a
part of his care to live long and well. In so doing he would have been
submissive to the will of God. There are means to be used to keep life and health.
We ought to use them not unconcernedly, but with a strong wish to live. This is
resignation to God’s will. In “desiring life,” and “loving” many days that he
might see good, Hezekiah did not feel that he was disobedient or un-submissive.
III. Hezekiah’s plea
that he had lived a good life was an argument that prevailed with God. It is
worthy of remark that the prayers recorded in the Old Testament are full of
argument. Men approach God with reasons. They tell Him why He should grant
their requests. Evidently they think Divine wisdom “easy to be entreated.” They
recount mercies past as a reason for expecting renewed favours. They speak of
His goodness. Of their great needs they make a plea. By the littleness and
brevity of life they lay claim to mercy. So Hezekiah did not hesitate to find
in his past life reasons for its continuance. Evidently he did not think that
goodness makes the term of life shorter, or more uncertain. “Whom the gods love
die young,” is not a Christian proverb, but its sentiment is to be found in
many sayings current among us. Now there are saintly souls living upon the
earth “of whom the world” is “not worthy.” But so much the greater the world’s
need of their saintly lives. And God has great consideration for the world’s
need. The answer to Hezekiah’s prayer suggests a fourth consideration:
IV. The good
physician has no controversy with the earthly physician in the wise use of
means. Isaiah practised the art of healing. He followed the best medical
knowledge of his time. He caused the attendants to take a lump of figs and
place it upon the sore, and Hezekiah recovered. He applied a well-known and
useful remedy. No doubt there are persons who would be better satisfied with
the record of this case of healing if the lump of figs had been left out. They
fear that every case of healing claimed by science must be surrendered by
religion, and that, when other means are efficacious, prayer is obviously of no
avail. They make haste to conclude that, if the lump of figs healed Hezekiah,
then God did not. The inspired record is not solicitous about entrenching
religion against the attacks of science. If religion should say that prayer
worked the healing, and that means were of no use: and if science should say
that the lump of figs wrought the cure, and that prayer was of no avail--both
would be right in what they asserted, and no less would both be wrong in what
they refused to admit. Had Isaiah known that the remedy would have cured
without prayer, his delay in using it would have been inexcusable. Had he known
that prayer would have been as efficacious without the remedy, he had no
sufficient reason for making use of the lump of figs at last. The healing was
wrought by the Lord of Life; and not less by Him that He chose to work through
the ordinary appointed means.
V. The best
results of Hezekiah’s prayer are unrecorded. We find a hint of them in the
broken sentences of Isaiah’s page. “What shall I say: He hath both spoken unto
me and Himself hath done it. I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness
of my soul. The Lord was ready to save me; therefore will we sing my songs to
the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord.” He
walked before the Lord in solemn gladness. In those remaining years God was
nearer to him than before. He knew the tenderness of God, who had heard his
prayers and had seen his tears. He knew the grace of God, for by His favour he
walked in newness of life. He knew the power of God, whose high prerogative it
was to turn backward or forward at His will the dial of his life. How great,
the power of prayer, which still appeals to the heart of God and persuades Him
to make known His way “upon earth,” His “saving health among all nations.” And
how infinite the grace of God, who in time past for this chosen servant turned
backward for an hour the shadow of the sun, but who, in these last days, has
set for ever in the spiritual heavens, above the horizon and within the field
of vision for those who look in faith, the blessed “sign of the Son of Man.” (Monday
Club Sermons.)
Attachment to life
The young man, till thirty, never feels practically that he is
mortal. He knows it, indeed, and, if need were, he could preach a homily on the
fragility of life; but he brings it not home to himself, any more than in a hot
June we can appropriate to our imagination the freezing days of December. But
now, shall I confess a truth? I feel these audits but too powerfully; I begin
to count the probabilities of my duration, and to grudge at the expenditure of
moments and shortest periods like miser’s farthings. In proportion as the years
both lessen and shorten I set more count upon their periods, and would fain lay
my ineffectual finger upon the spoke of the great wheel. I am not content to
pass away “like a weaver’s shuttle.” Those metaphors solace me not, nor sweeten
the unpalatable draught of mortality. I care not to be carried with the tide
that smoothly bears human life to eternity, and rebel at the inevitable course
of destiny. I am in love with this green earth, the face of town and country,
the unspeakable rural solitudes, and the sweet security of streets. I would set
up my tabernacle here; I am content to stand still at the age to which I am
arrived, to be no younger, no richer, no handsomer. I do not want to be weaned
by age, or drop, like mellow fruit, as they say, into the grave! Any alteration
on this earth of mine, in diet or in lodging, puzzles and discomposes me. My
household goods plant a terribly fixed foot, and are not rooted up without
blood. They do not willingly seek Lavinian shores. A new state of being
staggers me; sun and sky, and breezes and solitary walks, and summer holidays,
and the greenness of fields, and the juices of meats and fishes, and society,
and the cheerful glass, and candlelight, and firelight conversations, and jests
and irony--do not these things go out with life? Can a ghost laugh, or shake
his gaunt sides when you are pleasant with him? (Charles Lamb.)
Set thine house in order;
for thou shalt die, and not live.
A house and a soul compared: or the Christian’s preparation for
death
Hezekiah was in the meridian of life, and probably as yet had made
no arrangement in regard to the succession to the throne. This message was to
this effect--“Give charge concerning thine house. If you have any direction to
give in regard to the succession to the crown, or in regard to domestic and
private arrangements, let it be done soon” I shall, however, take this message
in the secondary or more Important sense, and then, I need not remind you, that
by the expression “thine house” we are to understand his inner man--the state
of his soul before God. I think that this object is most likely to be attained
by drawing the analogy.
I. I would observe
that it is necessary for the preservation of a house, that it be built upon a
good foundation, and not upon a sandy soil; so is it equally necessary that the
foundation upon which the believer places the eternal interest of his soul be
built upon the best of all foundations, even Jesus Christ; “for other
foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” Consider
what it is to build upon Him. To have our foundation on Jesus Christ is not to
hope that we may attain heaven and happiness by a partial conformity with the
will of the Saviour, whilst we are at the same time devoting ourselves to the
pleasures of the world; it is to feel that we are vile, worthless, and polluted
creatures of the earth, whose very best action in itself has the nature of sin;
it is to be so assured that our works can have no part in obtaining salvation
as to strip us of all self-confidence and conceit, and lead us to place our
whole dependence on the finished work, and the all-sufficient righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ.
II. But I observe,
that after a house is erected, however well and costly it may be built, it
requires to be kept in good order, and in constant repair. So it is with the
soul, wonderful in its origin, for it was made by God; and majestic even in its
ruins, through the fall of man.: “redeemed not with corruptible things, such as
with silver and gold, but with the precious blood of the adorable Saviour.”
III. I observe, that
light is essential to a house. The clearer the glass of which the windows are
composed, and the less obstruction there is, the sooner will be discovered the
slightest particle of dust, and every flaw in the dwelling. So it is with the
soul; the clearer the light of the Holy Spirit shines into the conscience the
more accurately will sin be detected; that which was thought a trifling and innocent
thing before, through the illumination of the Holy Spirit will appear in its
true light, as defiled and destructive.
IV. No habitation
would be complete unless supplied
with water; to cleanse and purify it, as also to refresh its
inhabitants, and to administer to their comforts. And how can the soul
thirsting after the water of life be satisfied without a fresh and daily supply
from the Fountain of living waters, even that water which Christ has given
him--a well springing up unto everlasting life.
V. I would observe
that much of the comfort of a household depends on everything being regulated
by judicious and careful management. So it is with the soul. “Let everything be
done decently and in order,” is the apostle’s injunction; and of how much more
importance is it, that the spiritual exercises of the child of God should be
under the control of a wise and well directed judgment.
VI. I would observe
that in the ancient mansions of the great, the hall was appropriated to the
armoury, which was kept clean, bright, and ready for the master’s use. This
reminds us of the Christian’s armour: his weapons are not carnal, but
spiritual; not weak, but mighty through God to the pulling down the strongholds
of Satan; nevertheless, they must not only be keep bright, but constantly worn.
VII. I would remark that in a house there is a necessity for fire. In the same
manner in the soul there ought to be a flame of holy love, a zeal for God’s
truth. (J. R. Starey.)
Set thy house in order-A New Year’s sermon
There are two points which it is here proper to consider.
1. What views and feelings naturally possess a man who is conscious
that his end is near. If his mind has an ordinary share of sensibility, he will
dismiss his worldly cares and turn his thoughts to the contemplation of
eternity. He is no longer interested in a world he is so soon to leave. The
calculations and pursuits of men, their joys, their griefs, their
disappointments, their success, their hurry, their hopes, their fears, an
appear as idle as the sports of children. The world is lighter to him than a
feather. Neither losses nor disappointments nor prosperity has power to affect
him. You see him not pressing from business, to business in a rage to be rich.
You see him not stretching after preferment. His pride is reduced. You see him
no longer assuming haughty airs, no longer fretted at every supposed neglect.
Meekness and gentleness mark his deportment. No longer can unbelief or the
world hide a prospect of death or seduce his thoughts from God. He looks death
in the face. He turns his anxious eye to explore eternal objects. He raises an
earnest look to heaven. He ardently betakes himself to prayer and to reading
his Bible. All his anxiety is to prepare for his approaching fate. You all
perceive that these are rational exercises for a dying man; why then not for
you? It is to dying men that I am speaking. I can say to you all, “As the Lord
liveth,” and “as your soul liveth, there is but a step between you and death.”
II. Let us consider
what measures a man will naturally take to set his house in order, who, with
proper views, is conscious that his end is near.
1. It would be natural for him, as an honest man, to wish to settle
all his accounts. This might be necessary to secure his creditors and to
prevent insolvency.
2. A dying man, in setting his house in order, would be desirous to
dispatch all important, unfinished business, which could not be accomplished by
others after his death. So do you.
3. It is common for dying Christians to call their families around
them and impart to them their final counsel. Thus do ye.
4. It is customary for men, when setting their house in order, to
make their wills. I have no advice to give as to the dispositon of your worldly
estate. But I solemnly charge you to bequeath to God your immortal souls with
all their faculties, and your bodies, to sleep in His arms, in expectation of a
joyful resurrection.
5. It is not uncommon for people, when they view their end
approaching, to prepare their shroud, and make every provision for their
funeral obsequies, that nothing may be left to be done in the distress and
confusion of the mournful day. (E. D. Griffin, D. D.)
The house in order
I would like to know that your Christian work is in order, that
you would leave things so that others could carry them on. Have I ever told you
about the obituary notice--though it was only a sort of passing paragraph in
the newspaper--of a fisherman on the New Zealand coast? They told of how his
body had been found in the bush; how his boat, drawn up to the shore, was near
to him. This significant sentence followed, “His nets were set.” I remember the
thrill that went through me when I read it first. “His nets were set.” He had
gone out to his daily duty, put his nets in order--not left them in a tangled heap
on the shore, needing washing or mending or both. They were set, and his
successor had but to draw them in presently and secure the spoil of the sea.
Are your nets set? If you were to pass away during this week, would it be your
fault that the work could not be continued? Do your duty to the last. Do it
thoroughly, do it patiently, do it perfectly, that it may be said of you, as of
Whitefield, Wesley, M’Cheyne, and a thousand others, that you virtually died in
harness.
All
that remains for me
Is
but to love and sing,
And
wait until the angels come
To
bear me to their King.
I want your house to be in order, your business to be in order,
your church and Christian work to be in order, and I want most of all for all
my hearers that their hearts
shall be in order. (Thomas Spurgeon.)
Verse 11
He brought the shadow ten degrees backward.
The sundial of Ahaz
Here is the first timepiece of which the world has any knowledge.
But it was a watch that did not tick and a clock that did not strike. It was a
sundial. Ahaz the king invented it. Between the hours given to statecraft and
the cares of office he invented something by which he could tell the time of
day. This sundial may have been a great column, and when the shadow of that
column reached one point it was nine o’clock a.m., and when it reached another
point it was three o’clock p.m., and all the hours and half-hours were so
measured. Or it may have been a flight of stairs such as may now be found in
Hindustan and other old countries, and when the shadow reached one step it was
ten o’clock a.m., or another step it was four o’clock p.m., and likewise other
hours may have been indicated. We are told that Hezekiah the king was dying of
a boil. It must have been one of the worst kind of carbuncles, a boil without
any central core and sometimes deathful. A fig was put upon it as a poultice.
Hezekiah did not want to die then. His son, who was to take the kingdom, had
not yet been born, and Hezekiah’s death would have been the death of the
nation. So he prays for recovery, and is told he will get well. But he wants
some miraculous sign to make him sure of it. He has the choice of having the
shadow on the sundial of Ahaz advance or retreat. He replied it would not be so
wonderful to have the sun go down, for it always does go down sooner or later.
He asks that it go backward. In other words, let the day, instead of going on
toward sundown, turn and go toward sunrise. While looking at the sundial of
Hezekiah, and we find the shadow retreating, we ought to learn that God
controls the shadows. We are all ready to acknowledge His management of the
sunshine. We stand in the glow of a bright morning and we say in our feelings,
if not with so many words, “This life is from God, this warmth is from God.”
But suppose the day is
dark? You have to light the gas at noon. The sun does not show himself all day
long. There is nothing but shadow. How slow we are to realise that the storm is
from God and the darkness from God and the chill from God. I cannot look for
one moment on that retrograde shadow on Ahaz’s dial without learning that God
controls the shadows, and that lesson we need all to learn. But I want to show
you how the shadows might be turned back.
1. First, by going much among the young people. Remain young. Better
than arnica for your stiff joints and catnip tea for your sleepless nights will
be a large dose of youthful companionship. Set back the clock of human life.
Make the shadow of the sundial of Ahaz retreat ten degrees. People make
themselves old by always talking about being old and wishing for the good old
days, which were never as good as these days.
2. Set back your clocks also by entering on new and absorbing
Christian work. In our desire to inspire the young we have in our essays had
much to say about what
has been accomplished by the young: of Romulus, who founded Rome when he was
twenty years of age; of Cortes, who had conquered Mexico at thirty years; of
Pitt, who was Prime Minister of England at twenty-four years; of Raphael, who
died at thirty-seven years; of Calvin, who wrote his Institutes at
twenty-six; of Melancthon, who took a learned professor’s chair at twenty-one
years; of Luther, who had conquered Germany for the Reformation by the time he
was thirty-five years. And it is all very well for us to show how early in life
one can do very great things for God and the welfare of the world, but some of
the mightiest work for God has been done by septuagenarians and octogenarians
and nonagenarians Indeed, there is work which none but such can do. They
preserve the equipoise of Senates, of religious denominations, of reformatory
movements. Young men for action, old men for counsel. Instead of any of you
beginning to fold up your energies, arouse anew your energies.
3. But while looking at this sundial of Ahaz, and I see the shadow of
it move, I notice that it went back toward the sunrise instead of forward
toward the sunset--toward the morning instead of toward the night. I have seen
day break over Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn, over the heights of Lebanon, over
Mount Washington, over the Sierra Nevadas, and mid-Atlantic, the morning after
a departed storm when the billows were liquid Alps and liquid Sierra Nevadas,
but the sunrise of the soul is more effulgent and more transporting. It bathes
all the heights of the soul and illumines all the depths of the soul and whelms
all the faculties, all the aspirations, all the ambitions, all the hopes with a
light that sickness cannot eclipse or death extinguish or eternity do anything
but augment and magnify. I preach the sunrise. As I look at that retrograde
movement of the shadow on Ahaz’s dial, I remember that it was a sign that
Hezekiah was going to get well, and he got well. So I have to tell all you who
are, by the grace of God, having your day turned from decline toward night to
ascend toward morning, that you are going to get well, well of all your sins,
well of all your sorrows, well of all your earthly distresses. Sunrise!
Sunrise! But not like one of those mornings after you have gone to bed late, or
did not sleep well, and you get up chilled and yawning, and the morning bath is
a repulsion, and you feel like saying to the morning sun shining into your
window: “I do not see what you find to smile about; your brightness is to me a
mockery.” But the inrush of the next world will be a morning after a sound
sleep, a sleep that nothing can disturb, and you will rise, the sunshine in
your faces, and in your first morning in heaven you will wade down into the sea
of glass mingled with fire, the foam on fire with a splendour you never saw on
earth, and the rolling waves are doxologies, and the rocks of that shore are
golden and the pebbles of that beach are pearl, and the skies that arch the scene
are a commingling of all the colours that St. John saw on the wall of heaven,
the crimson and the blue and the saffron and the orange and the purple and the
gold and the green wrought on those skies in shape of garlands, of banners, of
ladders, of chariots, of crowns, of thrones. What a sunrise! Do you not feel
its warmth on your faces? Scoville M’Collum, the dying boy of our Sunday
school, uttered what shall be the peroration of this sermon, “Throw back the
shutters and let the sun in!” And so the shadow of Ahaz’s sundial turns from
sunset to sunrise. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)
Fifteen years extension of life
In the autumn of 1799, when the well-known Rev. T. Charles, of
Bala, was dangerously ill, and his life was despaired of, very earnest prayers
for his recovery were offered up in his chapel. Several members prayed on the
occasion; and one member was much noticed at the time for the very urgent and
importunate manner with which he prayed. Alluding to the fifteen years added to
Hezekiah’s life, he, with unusual fervency, entreated the Almighty to spare his
pastor’s life for at least fifteen years. He several times repeated the
following words, with such melting importunity that all present were greatly
affected:--“Fifteen years more, O Lord; we beseech Thee to add fifteen years
more to the life of Thy servant. And wilt Thou not, O our God, give fifteen
years more for the sake of Thy Church and Thy cause?” Mr. Charles was restored
to health. He heard of this prayer, and it made a deep impression on his mind.
He was more than ever industrious in every good work, establishing Sabbath
schools, originating the Bible Society, and doing great good, not only in
Wales, but in Scotland and Ireland as well. The last time he was in South Wales
he was asked when he would be back again. His answer was, “Probably never. My
fifteen years are nearly up.” And it is remarkable that his death occurred just
at the termination of the fifteen years.
Making more of life
If you have a bar of gold and want to double its value, you may do
so, no doubt, by doubling its length, but you may also do so by doubling its
thickness, and in certain circumstances this may be more serviceable. Now life,
in the same way, may be increased in value, not by being prolonged, but by
being deepened. If two men live a year, but one of them puts into every day
twice as much work and enjoyment and usefulness as the other, his life is of
course far more valuable than the other. This is what Christ does. He deepens
our lives. I well remember a friend of my own who had gone a great length,
living what is called a fast life, and exploring, as he thought at the time,
all the heights and depths of existence, but on whom God had mercy. I remember
him saying to me with great earnestness, on one occasion, that he would not
give one day of his changed life for all the years of pleasure that he had
previously enjoyed. And that is the tone in which all true Christians are
disposed to talk when they are contrasting their old lives with the new. Among
men of the world it is a common enough question whether life is worth living,
but among true and hearty Christians there is no such question possible. God
makes their life golden, He deepens it, and that is what He means when in our
text He says, “I am come to give life, and to give more abundantly. (Stalker.)
Verse 12-13
Berodach-baladan . . . sent letters and a present unto
Hezekiah.
Hezekiah and the ambassadors, or vainglory rebuked
Who among us would not have shown the strangers over our house, and
our garden, and our library, and have pointed out to them any little treasures
and curiosities which we might happen to possess? And what if Hezekiah was
somewhat proud of his wealth? Was it not a most natural pride that he who was a
monarch of so small a territory should nevertheless be able, by economy and
good government, to accumulate so large and varied a treasure? Did it not show
that he was prudent and thrifty; and might he not commend himself as an example
to the Babylonian ambassadors, as showing what these virtues had done for him?
Exactly so; this is just as man seeth; but God seeth after another sort: “Man
looketh at the outward appearance, but God looketh at the heart.” Things are
not to God as they seem to us. Actions which apparently and upon the surface,
and even, so far as human judgment can go, may appear to be either indifferent
or even laudable, may seem to God to be so hateful that His anger may burn
against them. We look upon a needle, and to our naked eye it is as smooth as
glass, but when we put it under the microscope it appears at once to be as
rough as an unmanufactured bar of iron. It is much after this manner with our actions.
Yet another reflection which strikes one at the very first blush of this
affair, namely, that God has a different rule for judging His children’s doings
from that which He applies to the actions of strangers. I can believe that if
Hezekiah had sent his ambassadors to Berodach-baladan, that heathen monarch
might have shown the Jewish ambassadors over all his treasures without any sort
of sin; God would not have been provoked to anger, nor would a prophet have
uttered so much as a word of remonstrance or of threatening: but Hezekiah is not
like Berodach-baladan, and must not do as the Babylonians may do. Baladan is
but a serf in God’s kingdom, and Hezekiah is a prince; the one is an alien, and
the other is a dear and much cherished child. We have all different modes of
dealing with men according to their relation to us. If a stranger should speak
against you in the street you Would not feel it, you would scarce be angry even
though the statement might be libellous; but if it were the wife of your bosom
it would sting you to the heart, or if your child should slander you it would
cut you to the quick. We remark then that the act of Hezekiah here recorded is
not upon the surface a sinful one, but that the sin is to be found, not so much
in the action itself as in his motives, of which we cannot be judges, but which
God very accurately judged, and very strictly condemned: and, again, we remark
that this sin of Hezekiah might not have been sin in others at all, that even
with the same motive is done by others it might not have so provoked God; but
seeing that Hezekiah, above even most of the scriptural saints, was favoured
with singular interpositions of providence, and distinguished honours from
God’s hand, he should have been more careful. His sin, if little in others,
became great in him, because of his being so beloved of God.
I. In order to
bring out what Hezekiah’s offence was, it will be best for me to begin by
describing his circumstances and state at the time of the transaction.
1. We may remark that he had received very singular favours. Sennacherib
had invaded the land with a host reckoned to be invincible, and probably it was
invincible by all the known
means of warfare of that age: but when he came near Jerusalem he was not able
even so much as to cast a mound against it. This was a memorable deliverance
from a foe so gigantic as to be compared to Leviathan, into whose jaw the Lord
thrust a hook, and led him back to the place from whence he came. Beside this,
the king had been restored from a sickness pronounced to be mortal.
2. In addition to all this the Lord gave Hezekiah an unusual run of
prosperity. Hezekiah was in all respects a prosperous monarch; the man whom the
King of kings delighted to honour. This great prosperity was a great
temptation, far more difficult to endure than Rabshakeh’s letter, and all the
ills which invasion brought upon the land. Many serpents lurk among the flowers
of prosperity; high places are dangerous places; it is not easy to carry a full
cup with a steady hand.
3. We must not forget that Hezekiah, at this time, had become
singularly conspicuous. To be favoured as he was might have been endurable, if
he could have lived in retirement; but he was set as upon a pinnacle, since all
the nations round about must have heard of the destruction of Sennacherib’s host.
4. Hezekiah had remarkable opportunities for usefulness. How much he
might have done to honour the God of Israel! He ought to have made the courts
of princes ring with the name of Jehovah. He should have placed himself in the
rear of the picture, and have filled the earth with his testimony to the glory
of his God. How well he might have exclaimed, in the language of triumphant
exultation, “Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? Where are the gods of
Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?” Which of these delivered the nations from
Sennacherib? Which of these could raise up their, votaries from mortal
sickness? Which of these could say to the sun’s shadow, Go thou back upon the
dial of Ahaz? But Jehovah ruleth over all; He is King in heaven above, and in
the earth beneath.
5. He, above all men, was under obligation to have loved his God and
to have devoted himself wholly to Him. All life is sacred to the Giver of Life,
and should be devoted to Him; but life supernaturally prolonged should have
been in an especial manner dedicated to God. We must not too hastily condemn
Hezekiah. It is for God to condemn but not for us, for I am persuaded had we
been in Hezekiah’s place we should have done the same. Observe now wherein his
loftiness would find food. Here he might have said to himself, “Within my
dominions the greatest of armies has been destroyed and the mightiest of
princes has been humbled. He whose name was a sound of terror in every land
came into my country, and he melted away like the snow before the sun. Great
art thou, O Hezekiah! great is thy land, for thy land has devoured Sennacherib,
and put an end to the havoc of the destroyer.” Remember also that he had this
to try him above everything else--he had the certainty of living fifteen years.
I have already given you a hint of the danger of such certainty. Mortals as we
are, in danger of dying at any moment, yet we grow secure; but give us fifteen
years certain, and I know not that heaven above would be high enough for our
heads, or whether the whole world would be large enough to contain the swellings of our
pride. We should be sure to grow vaingloriously great if the check of constant
mortality were removed. Then when Hezekiah surveyed his stores, he would see
much to puff him up, for worldly possessions are to men what gas is to a
balloon. Ah, those who know anything about possessions, about broad acres, gold
and silver, and works of art, and precious things, and so on, know what a
tendency there is to puff up the owners thereof,
6. To complete our description of the circumstances, it appears that
at this time God left His servant in a measure, to try him. “Howbeit in the
business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to
inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that
He might know all that was in his heart.”
II. We must now
turn to consider the occurrence itself and the sin which arose out of it.
Babylon, a province of Assyria, had thrown off the Assyrian yoke, and
Berodach-baladan was naturally anxious to obtain allies in order that his
little kingdom might grow strong enough to preserve itself from the Assyrians.
He had seen with great pleasure that the Assyrian army had been destroyed in
Hezekiah’s country, and very probably, not recognising the miracle, he thought
that Hezekiah had defeated the host, and so he sent his ambassadors with a view
to make a treaty of alliance with so great a prince. The ambassadors arrived.
Now in this case the duty of Hezekiah was very clear. He ought to have received
the ambassadors with due courtesy as becomes their office, and he should have
regarded their coming as an opportunity to bear testimony to the idolatrous
Babylonians of the true God of Israel. He should have explained to them that
the wonders which had been wrought were wrought by the only living and
true God, and then he might have said, in answer to Isaiah’s question, “What
have they seen in thine house?” “I have told them of the mighty acts of
Jehovah, I have published abroad His great fame, and I have sent them back to
their country to tell abroad that the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.” He should
have been very cautious with these men. They were idolaters, and therefore not
fit company for the worshippers of Jehovah. We may perceive wherein his sin was
found. I think it lay in five particulars.
1. It is evident from the passage in Isaiah 39:1-8, that he was greatly
delighted with their company. It is said, “Hezekiah was glad of them.” In this
chapter it is said, “He hearkened unto them.” He was very pleased to see them.
It is an ill sign when a Christian takes great solace in the company of the
worldling, more especially when that worldling is profane. The Babylonians were
wicked idolaters, it was ill for the lover of Jehovah to press them to his
bosom. He should have felt towards them, “As for your gods, I loathe them, for
I worship the God that made heaven and earth, neither can I receive you into
close familiarity, because you are no lovers of the Lord my God.” Courtesy is
due from the Christian to all men, but the unholy intimacy which allows a
believer to receive an unregenerate person as his bosom friend is a sin.
2. The next sin which he committed was that he evidently leaned to their
alliance. Now Hezekiah was the king of a little territory, almost as
insignificant as a German principality, and his true strength would have been
to have leaned upon his God, and to have made no show whatever of military
power. It was by God that he had been defended, why should not he still rest
upon the invisible Jehovah? But no, he thinks, “If I could associate with the
Babylonians, they are a rising people, it will be well for me.” Mark this--God
takes it hard of His people when they leave His arm for an arm of flesh.
3. His next sin was, his unholy silence concerning his God. He does
not appear to have said a word to them about Jehovah. Would it have been
polite? Etiquette, nowadays, often demands of a Christian that he should not
intrude his religion upon company. Out on such etiquette! But nowadays, if one
cares about fashion, one must be gagged in all companies. You must not intrude,
nor be positive in your opinions, if you would have the good word of
fashionable people. Meanwhile, mark that Hezekiah sadly made up for his silence
about his God by loudly boasting about himself. If he had little to say of his
God, he had much to say about his spices, his armour, and his gold and silver;
and I dare say he took them to see the conduit and the pool which he had made,
and the various other wonders of engineering which he had carried out. Ah,
etiquette lets us talk of men, but about our God we must be silent.
4. Surely also his sin lay in his putting himself on a level with
these Babylonians. Suppose he had gone to see them, what would they have shown
him? Why, they would have shown him their spicery, their armoury, their gold
and their silver. Now, they come to see him, and he is a worshipper of the
invisible God, and he glories in just the same treasures as those in which they
also trusted. May you and I shun this sin of Hezekiah, and not try to match
ourselves with sinners as to the joys of this present life. If they say, “Here
are my treasures,” let us tell them about the “city which hath foundations, whose
builder and maker is God,” and say, “Our treasure is above.” Let us imitate the
noble Roman lady who, when her friend showed her all her trinkets, waited till
her two fair boys came home from school, and then pointed to them, and said,
“These are my jewels.” Do you, when you hear the worldling vaunting his happiness,
drop in a gentle word, and say, “I too have my earthly comforts, for which I am
grateful; but my best delights are not here; they spring neither from corn, nor wine, nor
oil; nor could spices, and gold, and music render them to be. My heart is in
heaven, my heart is not here; 1 have set my soul upon things above; Jesus is my
joy, and His love is my delight. You tell me of what you love; permit me to
tell you of what I love.” The Lord takes it hard on the part of His people if
they are ashamed of the blessings which He gives them, and if they never boast
in the Cross of Christ they have good cause to be ashamed of themselves.
III. The third
matter, the punishment and the pardon. We may generally find a man’s sin
written in his punishment. We sow the thorns, and then God flogs us with them.
Our sins are the mothers of our sorrows. Judgments being therefore threatened,
Hezekiah and the people humbled themselves. If you and I would escape chastisement,
we must humble ourselves. Yet although God removed the punishment as far as
Hezekiah was concerned, He did not remove the consequences. You see the
consequences of showing the Babylonians the treasures were just these: they
would be sure to go back and tell their king, “That little prince has a vast
store of spice and armour, and all sorts of precious things; we must before
long pick a quarrel with him, and despoil his rich hive. We must bring these
choice treasures to Babylon; they will repay us for the toils of war.” That was
the certain result of Hezekiah’s folly; and though God did forget the sin and
promise to remove the punishment from Hezekiah, yet He did not avert the
consequences from another generation. So with us. Many a sin which the believer
has committed God has pardoned, but the consequences come all the same. You may
have the guilt forgiven, but you cannot undo the sin; there it remains, and our
children and our children’s children may have to smart for sins which God has
forgiven to us. A spendthrift may be forgiven for his profligacy, but he sends
a stream of poverty down to the next generation.
IV. Gather up the
lessons of this narrative. The lessons which come uppermost are just these.
1. See, then, what is in every man’s heart. O God, teach us to know
our hearts, and help us, while we remember how black they are, never to be
proud.
2. In the next place, tremble at anything that is likely to bring out
this evil of your heart. Riches and worldly company are the two cankers that
eat out the very life of godliness. Christian, be aware of them!
3. Should we not be taught by this narrative to cry out every day
against vainglory! Ah, it is not those standing in prominent spheres who are
alone in danger of it, but all others.
4. And then supposing that you should have given way to it, see the
sorrow which it will bring you; and if you would escape that sorrow, imitate
Hezekiah, and humble yourself.
5. Lastly, let us cry to God never to leave us. “Lord, take not Thy
Holy Spirit from us! withdraw not from us Thy restraining grace!” (C. H.
Spurgeon.)
Royal congratulations and national ostentation
Hezekiah at one time had trouble on trouble. In the days when his
capital was besieged he was stricken down, not by the weapons of the enemy, but
by the hand of disease. He felt it a great denial to be unable to go forth and
lead his people. The prophet told him that he would have to die. Life was
sweet. Usefulness was sweeter still. He prayed and wept. His prayer was heard.
As an assurance of the Divine working a sign was given; time was recalled, and
the shadow of the dial was put back. Hezekiah recovered. The Assyrian army
raised the siege. The king went up to the temple to show his gratitude, and
then life went on smoothly until we hear of a royal congratulating embassage
being sent to him from Berodach-baladan. Those of kingly rank often show a
ceremonial courtesy when there is little real kindliness. It looks well before
the people. Still, courtesy helps to smooth the wheels of state as well as of
life. Unmeaning courtesy should not obtain among Christians. A warm recognition
after a service will often deepen the impression of a sermon, but a cold and
off-hand salute can easily help to erase it. In Some circles the repressive is
exercised with such effect that it would need the force of a Vesuvius to break
through it. In such circles the minutiae of etiquette will be watched, but the
loving and hearty confidence will be wanting. Berodach-baladan sent a present
to back up kingly congratulations. This was in conformity with the practice of
the East. The King of Babylon wished really to bribe Hezekiah into forming an
affiance with him. He wanted to strengthen himself against Sargon, the Assyrian
king. He did not despise the help which a small kingdom and insignificant army
could give in case of the breaking out of hostilities. Judah had been as a
bulwark to check the advance of Sennacherib, and might serve the same purpose
against his successor. Judah was a sort of Switzerland in Asia Minor. Moreover,
Judah was evidently under the protection of the God of heaven. In all this
Berodach-baladan may have been honestly desirous to testify his regard; and
although after events showed that Babylon was not to be trusted, it was under
another king, who arose and knew not the man whom his predecessor had honoured.
The embassy sent was one that must have cost Babylon a considerable amount, but
it was able to accomplish its purpose. It might have been repulsed by the king
of these strange people who sought to keep themselves from association with
other nations; but, instead, the special embassy was welcomed. Hezekiah
welcomed the men from Chaldea. He was delighted that a king who was accounted
as one of the mightiest of the Gentile monarchs had recognised him. Moreover, he
saw himself growing in importance. He was gaining prestige, and that is close
akin to power. His little nation was beginning to rank with extensive empires.
When vanity is appealed to, we are easily led away in a wrong direction. Men
are more easily led wrong by these whom they suppose to be above them in rank.
The proud lead to pride.
1. See how flattered vanity betrayed a man into foolish openness and
ostentation. Hezekiah showed the ambassadors “all his treasures.” He had little
to show immediately after the tribute levied by the Assyrian king had been
paid, but somehow he had great treasures to exhibit to the Babylonians. His
regalia, his armoury, his magazine, his stables, his treasures of gold in safe
keeping, his spicery and unguents for luxury, everything he laid open. Had he
had a great army or fleet he would have had a grand review. He only showed his
treasures. Eyes feasted. Minds meditated. Greed was fostered. Folly was sneered
at. Glances full of meaning must have passed from prince to prince. Interpret
those glances. They mean: How well these things would look in Babylon; how they
would help to swell the revenues of our master; how they would pay the cost of
some war. Into what evil will pride betray us! It is a spring-board at one time
and a stumbling-mock at another, we are a subject to its assaults. Our
possessions, our powers, our position, our acquirements, our friends, our
nationality, may all lead to pride. We must be watchful. We must not be
ostentatious. At the same time, we are not to withhold showing friends that
which may interest them, or which may help to cultivate in them a love of the
beautiful, or gratify an exquisite taste. If we have pictures or albums, coins
and curios, we may show them, but to display and point out evidences of wealth
is as despicable as it is foolish. In much ostentation there is a hidden
contempt for those who cannot succeed in gaining that which we have acquired.
We worship our own skill and power. We forget that “time and chance happeneth
to all.” Pride makes us idolaters of self on the one hand, and despisers of our
fellows on the other. The proudest of the proud are often those who have least
to be proud of, but who are the “accident of an accident.”
2. Further, we see that pride led Hezekiah to miss a grand
opportunity of glorifying God. Here were heathens in his presence. He might
have spoken of what wonders God had wrought for him: of the deliverance
effected, of the health restored. He might have led them up to the temple to
see the purity of the Divine worship. He might have told them of the laws of
Moses and of their beneficent tendencies; of the traditions, history, and
sacred proverbs his scribes had copied out. Nothing of the kind did he. He let
slip a chance that came but seldom, and thus neglected to glorify his God.
Alas! many have imitated him.
3. Searching questions as to proud action were soon put. The prophet
comes. With what authority he speaks. How faithfully he probes the king’s
conscience. The royal sinner winces. He is not pleased at the prophet’s
interference in state affairs. What could Isaiah know of state and diplomatic
reasons? Those who carry on all sorts of subtle arrangements and negotiations
are not always pleased to have to “place the papers on the table,” or to submit
the results and the processes to the critical eye of the public. Isaiah was one
of the public. He represented the public and God. He questioned boldly the
king. He has no fear to check him, and he has no favour to ask. Noble Isaiah!
Welt is it for the king that he has thee to speak boldly to him, to lead him
back to God and right principles when most in danger of wandering therefrom!
Thou wert a greater treasure than all he had exhibited to his Babylonish
visitors, hut he had not brought thee forth to view.
4. Retribution was threatened. A Nemesis must follow pride. We are
sure to have vexation from that through which the heart has been unduly lifted
up. The very nation with which Judah, in the person of its king, had been
dallying would be the cause of its overthrow. Babylon must always ruin those
who bask in the delights of Babylon. The love of the world must bring bitter
regret to those who neglect God. Years go over. Another king is reigning. There
is terror on the walls, in the streets, and houses of Jerusalem. The tents of
an enemy were whitening the hills around. Babylonian battering-rams were
drawing near to the walls. Fires were being made at the gates to destroy them.
Hosts like locusts were swarming all over the surrounding country. The land
could not bear them. Famine stared the people in the face. They looked around
for help. None came. Egypt was a “broken reed piercing the hand.” Weeks dragged
slowly by, and the sufferings of the besieged were daily intensified. At length
a breach was made in the wall. Armed men innumerable rushed through. The people
were butchered. The king was taken. His sons were seized and slain before his
eyes. Then his own organs of vision were wantonly put out. The temple was
desecrated and the palaces destroyed. Sacred vessels were piled in heaps and
then fastened on camels and horses for transit to Babylon. The weapons in which
he had trusted were broken up, and the objects of his pride were made the sign
of his humiliation. The prophet foretold all this. Hezekiah shuddered, but was
compelled to confess the justice of his retribution. He could only say, “Good
is the word which the Lord hath spoken.” God’s justice must be praised as well
as His mercy. Hezekiah did not imagine retribution would come so surely and
swiftly. Individuals make up the nation, therefore let us watch against
pride--the pride that drove our first parents from Paradise, that drove a
Pharaoh to be engulfed by the waves of the sea, that drove a Saul from his
kingdom. (F. Hastings.)
Dangerous love of display
A visitor to London during the Queen’s Jubilee testified that the
diamonds worn by the women of the American colonies outblazed those of the
royal family and the wealthiest of the English nobility. This growing love of
display is one of the danger-signals of our time. To provide these women with
such diamonds many a man stakes his soul in desperate gambling transactions in
and out of Wall Street. The feverish desire which men often show for great and
sudden riches is not infrequently at the bottom of the desire of some foolish
women to outshine other women. If he succeeds, she wears the diamonds; if he
fails, there is another account of a suicide in the morning paper. (L. A.
Banks.)
Verse 19-20
Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken.
The peace
The text is susceptible of two propositions. First, that peace is
a blessing only on a basis of truth. “He said, Is it not good if peace and truth be in my
days?” Secondly, that the godliest celebration of peace is to resume the social
and religious benefactions interrupted by war. Hezekiah’s “might” was diverted
to the construction of “the pool and the conduit of water” for the relief of
his people.
I. That peace
without truth is not the peace of God is capable of abundant evidence and
illustration. As in a religious sense there may be “a cry of Peace, peace,
where there is no peace,” except the unnatural stillness of a moral
stupefaction, a stifling of the voice of conscience, and a compromise of
principle with “the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience,” and
under whose influence, when the “strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods
are in peace,” such as it is--but it is at the best only the torpor of sordid
subjection to spiritual bondage, the tranquillity of a dungeon, or the
quiescence of a corpse, dead in its trespasses and sins--so in the political
moralities of nations there may be a peace that has no truth in it, neither in
the reality of its foundation, the assurance of its continuance, nor the
uprightness of its conditions. That is a peace at the expense of truth which is
not true to the eternal and inalienable principles of international
rights--which is bought by the ignoble subsidy of subjection to wrong and
injustice, or which consents to spare itself the possible cost and sacrifice of
a generous intervention on behalf of the weak against the strong--which ignores
the great plea of national brotherhoods, and asks with the first fratricide, “Am
I my brother’s keeper?” and which entails upon itself the malediction written
against those who were “not grieved with the afflictions of Joseph.” That is a
peace without truth which “looks every man to his own things, and not every man
to the things of others also”; and if this maxim be a canon binding on any one
man in reference to any other man, it is equally binding on any one nation in
reference to any other nation.
II. Our second
deduction from the text is, that the godliest celebration of peace is to resume
the social and religious benefactions interrupted by the war. Hezekiah so
improved even a period of respite. “He made a pool, and a conduit, and brought
water into the city.” If God condescended to put twice on record the mere
municipal zeal of this pious prince; if, the pool, the conduit and the water
are counted worthy of a place in the compendious annals of Inspiration, we may be
sure the activities of Christian benevolence in the same direction will meet
with His gracious approval. It is a miserable mistake to suppose, that
Christianity has nothing to do with the common tenements, the daily vulgar
wants and homespun miseries of our fellow-men. It stirs our sympathy to listen
to the recital of the far-off dark places of the earth and their habitations of
cruelty; but it is not so easy to extort a sigh over the dark back lanes and
more noisome and cruel abodes in the next street behind us. There are no
Hezekiah’s pools, except in fever-brewing abominations of the cesspool, nor
other conduit except the constant exhalations of disease and death from the
sluggish gutter, nor better homes than the vile hovels where in guilt and
penury alike seek a covert to sin, and suffer and die. If the bitter mass of
gratuitous suffering and mortality arising from a defective commissariat in the
Crimea should drag into reluctant notice the amount of misery dally endured
from a similar neglect of sanitary provisions in the crowded courts and alleys
of the metropolis, the poor battalions will not have perished in vain. They
will have incidentally achieved an involuntary victory on behalf of their
fellow-citizens, attended perhaps with more comfort than glory, but none the
less precious for the public welfare. Oh! there is more hope of the Gospel
gaining audience of the wild Indian in the cheerful freedom of his native
forests, than of its penetrating the gross darkness of the denizens alongside
the Thames, or the purlieus of the city. If we would speak with any hope of
evangelising effect of “the pool of Siloam,” and of “the Fountain of living
waters,” we must first tread in Hezekiah’s footsteps, provide the pool and the
conduit of sanitary necessities, the possibilities of popular decency and
comfort, the practicableness of a family hearth and home, the humble means of health
and cleanliness, of light and air and water, freely as God bestows them, and
fully as a seasonable adoption of remedial agents would supply them. Such a
celebration of the peace abroad would afford the happiest prospect of more
peace at home, and co-operate with city missionaries and ministers of religion
with the most hopeful pledges of success, in their more directly spiritual
efforts for the evangelisation of our fellow-citizens. (J. B. Owen, M. A.)
Submission
“Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto
him: therefore there was wrath upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem.” The
prophet was sent to say to him, “Behold the days come that all that is in thy
house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be
carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the Lord. And of thy sons
which shall issue from thee--shall they take away, and they shall be eunuchs in
the palace of the king of Babylon.” This was the humiliating and distressing
message to which the penitent king made the reply in our text, “Good is the
word of the Lord which thou bass spoken.” Shall I call your attention to the
holiness and happiness of such a temper, and to the universal obligation on
mankind to offer this homage to their God and King? In doing this I will,
I. Explain
precisely what the temper is. It is a temper of universal and absolute
submission to the will of God. There is a forced submission--a yielding because
we cannot help it; but this is not the thing required. There is an acquiescence
in the will of God when that will sends prosperity; but this is only a
consenting that another should make us happy. The only true submission is that
hearty acquiescence in the will of God which arises from supreme love to him.
The reason why the wicked do not submit, is that they love themselves and their
own enjoyments most. While such a temper continues, they must of course value
their own gratification more than the Divine pleasure, and approve of the will
of God only so far as that will is tributary to them. This selfishness is the
root and core of all rebellion. When our own wishes and interests are less dear
to us than that universal interest which is wrapt up in the Divine will, what
can tempt us to unsubmission? what is there for us to oppose to that will? what
interest have we to maintain against the wishes of God? But so certain as we
love another interest better than that which the Divine will protects, we shall
set up that interest against God, and resist whenever he lays his finger upon
it. True submission then is the necessary effect of supreme love to God, and
can arise from no other principle. This submission is to be distinguished from
that morbid inactivity and aversion to care which, retiring from exertion,
leaves God to be the only agent in the universe--which puts off burdens upon
Him just as the indolent shift them off upon each other--which, instead of
exerting a dependent agency with an eye fixed upon an overruling providence,
leaves God to perform both His part and ours. That may be called submission to
a providential dispensation, which really is indolence shrinking from an effort
to change the posture of affairs. It is an essential part of God’s plan, and
for His glory, that creatures should obtain good by their own activity;
otherwise there would be no use for their immortal powers. This activity He has
therefore enjoined. “Not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the
Lord,” is the Christian’s motto.
II. I am to dwell a
little on the holiness and happiness of such a temper, and the universal
obligation on mankind to exercise it. To love the righteous will of God, in
which are balanced all the interests of the universe--which is perfectly wise
and benevolent and right--to love that will better than our own interests, and
to subject our interests and wishes to that; must be holy if any thing is
holy--must be pure and sublime benevolence. How generous and noble is the
temper. How infinitely superior to the littleness and meanness of a selfish
spirit. And it is precisely what God commands. If then holiness consists in
obeying God, it consists in rendering him that supreme love which will produce
the submission in question. What can be holiness, what can be goodness, if it
is not subjection to the will of eternal wisdom and benevolence? This
submission to the will of God, so far as it operates, necessarily excludes all
evil passions and conduct. For instance, it excludes all discontent. For one
who knows that the providence of God is universal, and extends to the most minute
events, and who is willing that the will of the Lord in all things should be
done, and delights in that will more than in anything which that will can take
away; what ground can there be for discontentment? If events are crossing to
his feelings, still His supreme desire is gratified, for the will of the Lord
is done; and though He may suffer he would by no means change a single
circumstance about which the Divine will has been clearly expressed. But when
the pleasure of God is known, a particle of discontentment evinces a want of
submission. With proper resignation, we shall feel, under any cross event, that
we have nothing to do, in mind or body, but to use the means which God has
appointed to remove or support the evil. In looking forward into the wide
expanse of futurity, or in contemplating the issue of any particular event, the
Christian knows that nothing can happen but what the will of God appoints.
While that will engages his supreme regard, how can he be anxious? It follows
of course that submission will exclude every complaining word, every, angry, or
bitter word, every impatient word. Submission will cure every inordinate desire
after wealth, honour, pleasure, friends, ease, or whatever else we regard. An
inordinate desire is an unsubmissive desire. Submission is an effectual cure of all
envious feelings towards our neighbour. It follows of course that submission
will exclude every falsehood, and I may add, every transgression. The
temptation to transgress is a desire for some object which we cannot obtain
without going counter to a Divine precept. Where the object is placed in this
predicament by the providence of God, it is plain that submission to providence
take away all motives to transgress. I add finally, that submission, so far as
it extends, must quench every evil passion, and thus extinguish the inward fire
from which all outward eruptions proceed. If it suppresses every inordinate
desire, every feeling of discontent, all distrust of God, every motion of
impatience. Thus the holiness of this temper appears. And its happiness is no
less evident. Submission to God, as we have seen, excludes all those
uncomfortable passions which make the wicked like the troubled sea when it
cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. It clears away everything that
can agitate or corrode the mind. And as its very life-blood consists in supreme
delight in the will of God, it has always the happiness of knowing that its
dearest object is safe--that the ground of its highest exultation and joy is
secure--that the will of infinite wisdom and benevolence will in all things be done. And
in respect to the universal obligation, who can doubt that this is precisely
the temper in which all moral agents ought to unite? The very definition of
moral agents is, that they are under obligation to feel and do right and to
avoid wrong. But in the temper under consideration, all the right feelings in
the universe are involved, and by it all the wrong feelings in the universe are
excluded. If you revolt from these conclusions, you must go back to the full
admission that all men are under indispensable obligations to yield unlimited
submission to God. Is he not our rightful King, and are we not His subjects? Is
not His will perfect? Has not the Creator and Proprietor of all things a right
to govern His own world according to His own pleasure? This is the religion Of
the Old Testament and the New. Under the severest trials this resignation has
all along been exemplified in the history of the Church. “The Lord gave and the
Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord,” said Job when all his
children and possessions were destroyed. “Shall we receive good at the hand of
the Lord, and shall we not receive evil?” was his language when covered with
one tormenting ulcer from head to foot. In more general and common matters, the
same acknowledgment of God and the same resignation to His will have all along
been exemplified. A general acquiescence and joy in His government have always
distinguished His true servants. All down the ages they have sung, “The Lord
reigneth, let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof.” (E.
D. Griffith, D. D.)
Resignation in affliction
The Fram, which went in search of the North Pole, escaped
many of the perils that injured other expeditionary vessels, because her
commander built her wide at the decks and narrowing her down to the keel, so
that she did not withstand the ice, but yielded to its pressure. The cruel
masses could not get a grip of the wisely constructed craft. The pressure, so
far from crushing her, lifted her clean out of the ice, and she rode
triumphantly on the floes. How many of our life troubles which if faced resentfully,
sullenly, proudly, threaten to grind us to powder; but meet them meekly,
resignedly, recognising in them God’s wiser will for us than we for ourselves,
and they will in the end lift us upward and bear us onward towards the eternal
Light. (H. O. Mackey.)
Unshaken faith
The Rev. Dr. Campbell Morgan tells the following pathetic story
concerning Commander Booth-Tucker, who lost his wife in a railway accident last
autumn. “A few weeks ago,” he, says, “in a city of Nebraska, I was holding
meetings. There came to that city my dear friend Commander Booth-Tucker. It was
the city of Omaha. I shall never forget my talk with him there. I said to him,
‘Commander, the passing of your beloved wife was one of the things that I
freely confess I cannot understand.’ He looked at me across the breakfast
table, his eyes wet with tears, and yet his face radiant with that light which
never shone on sea or land, and he said to me, ‘Dear man, do you not know that
the Cross can only be preached by tragedy?’ Then he told me this incident:
‘When I and my wife were last in Chicago I was trying to lead a sceptic to
Christ in a meeting. At last the sceptic said, with a cold glittering eye and a
sarcastic voice, ‘It is all very well. You mean well; but I lost my faith in
God when my wife was taken out of my home. It is all very well; but if that
beautiful woman at your side lay dead and cold by you, how would you believe in
God?’ Within one month she had been taken through the awful tragedy of a
railway accident, and the Commander went back to Chicago, and, in the hearing
of a vast multitude, said, ‘Here, in the midst of the crowd, standing by the
side of my dead wife as I take her to burial, I want to say that I still
believe in Him,
and love Him, and know Him.’” (C. L. M’Cleery.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》