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AMAZIAH’S CONFLICT BETWEEN DUTY AND INTEREST
IT is humiliating to reflect, that move attention was often paid to the messengers of the Most High by ungodly men under the Jewish dispensation, than is generally paid to them even by the godly in the present day. At one time we read of a whole army stopped and disbanded by one single declaration of a prophet [Note: 1Ki_12:21-24.]. At another time, a great national reformation was effected by the very same means [Note: 2Ch_15:8-15.]. In like manner, when Amaziah king of Judah was going with an army of four hundred thousand men against the Edomites, one word from a man of God prevailed on him to dismiss one fourth of their number, because, as being idolaters, they were under the displeasure of the Most High. He was indeed concerned about the subsidy which he had paid them for their assistance: but that only serves to shew more strongly what implicit obedience he was disposed to pay to the commands of God, when he could so easily be induced to sacrifice his temporal interests, and to release from their obligations so large a portion of his army. The difficulty however which he started, and the solution of that difficulty by the prophet, deserve particular attention. Let us consider,
I. The difficulty started—
Amaziah had hired one hundred thousand Israelites as auxiliaries in this war, and had paid the money for their equipment; and, when he was required to discharge them, he naturally concluded that he should lose all that he had advanced. Hence he expressed to the prophet the difficulty that was in his mind. Now,
This is a common difficulty in the minds of men—
[Circumstances of necessity will sometimes arise, where duty and interest appear to clash with each other. Sometimes they actually exist, as in the instance before us; and sometimes they are only apprehended as likely to exist. It sometimes happens that a person has been placed by his parents in a line of business where he cannot get a livelihood without continually violating the laws of the land and the dictates of his conscience. What is to be done in such a case? His property is embarked; and cannot be disposed of without a considerable loss. And shall that be done? Shall such a sacrifice be made to God? It is desirable indeed to maintain a conscience void of offence; but is it to be done at such an expense?
It sometimes happens also that a person is educated for the ministry, with certain expectation of preferment: but when the time for his ordination arrives, he finds no disposition for the holy employment, no real determination to give himself wholly to the service of the sanctuary. What then shall he do? To go to God with a lie in his right hand, and profess that he is moved by the Holy Ghost to take on himself that sacred function, when he is moved only by the temporal advantages annexed to it, is very painful: and to contract a responsibility for the souls of hundreds and of thousands, when he has scarcely any concern about his own, appears to him a very dangerous step. But what must be done? He has been educated for it: he finds it difficult to turn to any other line: and, above all, the provision designed for him will be lost: and how can these difficulties be surmounted?
When the evils are in prospect only, their operation is exactly the same. One man feels that it is his duty to become a faithful follower of Christ. But his parents will be offended; his friends will be alienated: his prospects in life will be destroyed: and how can he endure to make such sacrifices as these? A few pence he would readily lose; but the loss of so many talents would be ruinous; and he knows not how to combat evils of such magnitude as this.]
But the difficulty referred to would be no difficulty, if only we viewed things in their true light—
[If we should suppose an angel sent down to sojourn for a time on earth, would he find any hesitation whether to prefer his interest or his duty? Nor did the Apostle Paul hesitate even when life itself was at stake: “I am ready,” says he, “not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the Lord’s sake.” Nor should we find any difficulty if we formed a proper estimate of things around us. Should we regard our temporal interests, if we reflected on the extreme emptiness and vanity of every thing here below? Should we hesitate in our choice of evils, if we considered the impossibility of ever being acknowledged by Christ, without forsaking all, even life itself, for him? Above all, would we suffer the whole world to stand in competition with Christ, if we considered what wonderful things he has done and suffered for us? — — — Verily, the loss of all things compared with the loss of his favour, would be only as a feather in a scale against a talent of lead; and, like Paul, we should “count all things but loss, that we might win Christ;” and instead of repining at the injuries sustained, should regard them rather as grounds of mutual congratulation; saying with St. Paul, “If I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all: for the same cause also do ye joy and rejoice with me [Note: Php_2:17-18.].”]
But we cannot suggest a better view of this matter than that which is contained in our text; in which we have,
II. The difficulty solved—
We are contented that men should lean to the side of interest, if only they will consider wherein their true interest consists. If God cannot do more for them than the world can, let them seek the world; or, if he cannot compensate all that they can lose or suffer for him, let them seek the world. But we fear not to say, whatever be the sacrifice which they make for him, “The Lord is able to give thee much more than this;”
1. In this world—
[It is a certain truth, that God does often recompense the services or sufferings of his people even with worldly prosperity: “Godliness hath in this respect the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come [Note: 1Ti_4:8.].” This very consideration is urged by God himself as a motive to charity [Note: Pro_3:9-10.]: and our text suggests it as an argument for submitting cheerfully to losses in the path of duty. And it is curious to observe, that the loss sustained by Amaziah in obedience to God’s command, was not only recompensed by present victory, but was restored in a three-fold proportion to his grandson Jotham; the same sum being paid to him for three successive years by the Ammonites, which Amaziah his grandfather sacrificed to the Lord on this occasion [Note: ver. 11. with 2Ch_27:5.]. But it is not three, or thirty-fold that we are to expect, but “an hundred-fold” of whatever we sacrifice for the Lord [Note: Mar_10:29-30.]: and is not this an ample compensation?
It is true, the Israelites whom he dismissed on this occasion did him great injury in their return home [Note: ver. 13.]: and this might almost seem to contradict the promise in our text: but we apprehend that this very circumstance was permitted by God, on purpose to shew Amaziah how great a ruin he had been delivered from; since these Israelites were not hearty in his cause, and would have turned against him when once they saw the Edomites prevail, and would thus have utterly completed his destruction. Other reasons might be assigned for this dispensation: it might be supposed to be a punishment on Amaziah for hesitating to obey the divine mandate, and for placing his interest in competition with his duty: or it might be intended to guard him against the idolatry into which he was about to fall, by suffering the most idolatrous part of his own dominions to participate in the judgments inflicted on the Edomites. But we apprehend, that the reason first assigned, is that which was more immediately in the mind of God, when he permitted to dark and mysterious a judgment to fall on one who was obedient to his command, yea to arise, as it were, out of that very obedience.
But, waving all consideration of temporal recompence, God can infinitely more than counterbalance all temporal losses by the richer effusion of his Spirit on the soul. If he suffer us to be deprived of earthly wealth, are we any losers, if he communicate to us a proportionable increase of spiritual riches? Cannot he, by the consolations of his Spirit, raise us far above all temporal distresses, and, by opening a prospect beyond the grave, make us to rejoice and glory in all the sufferings that can be inflicted on us here? Behold the Apostle Paul, how he “took pleasure in infirmities, and reproaches, and necessities, and persecutions, and distresses, for Christ’s sake,” because they tended to his spiritual welfare [Note: 2Co_12:10.]: and others, his companions, “took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, knowing that they had in heaven a better and an enduring substance [Note: Heb_10:34.].” Thus may we expect it to be with us in this world: “if our afflictions abound, so shall also our consolation abound by Christ;” and the very sense of having sought the glory of God will make every pain a pleasure, and every loss a gain.]
2. In the world to come—
[“If we suffer with Christ, we shall also reign with him:” and who can declare the full import of that promise? Truly, the reward that awaits the faithful followers of Christ hereafter, no words can express, no imagination can conceive. It will be in vain to attempt any description of the glory and felicity of heaven: but I will ask, Whether one single plaudit from our Judge will not overbalance all that we can either do or suffer in a hundred years? How indignant shall we be in that day, to think that we permitted the things of time and sense to warp our judgment, or embarrass our practice! One glimpse of the Saviour’s glory will repay whole years of trouble: and no sooner shall we be received into his bosom, than we shall adore him for every trial that weaned us from the world, and for every loss that facilitated our progress towards the heavenly kingdom. Let us only take eternity into our estimate, and we shall instantly say with the Apostle, “I reckon (I compute) that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us [Note: Rom_8:18.].”]
Address,
1. Those who are yet undecided in the course they shall take—
[Strongly as we have condemned the conduct of Amaziah for hesitating between the calls of interest and of duty, we yet will venture to propose him as an example, changing only the object of your concern. Are you tempted to violate a duty, or to draw back from suffering, ask yourselves immediately, ‘But what shall I do for the favour of my God? what shall I do for the peace of my conscience? what shall I do for the salvation of my soul? How can I bear the loss of all these?’ Let, I say, your hesitation be on this side: let the consideration of your eternal interests rise in your mind as instinctively and forcibly, as that of temporal interests does in the mind of a worldling: and then we shall have no fear but that your obedience to God’s word will be prompt, uniform, and unreserved. You will “buy the truth” at any price, “and never sell it” for a thousand worlds.]
2. Those who have been enabled to give up all for Christ—
[Whatever you may have lost or suffered, have you ever for a moment repented of the sacrifices you have made? No: if your hearts are right with God, you will feel yourselves indebted to God in proportion to the losses you have sustained for him; seeing that the privilege of suffering for him is an inestimable gift [Note: Php_1:29.], and the highest honour that can be conferred upon a child of man [Note: Act_5:41. 1Pe_4:12-14.]. Go on then, Beloved, “strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might:” and let it be seen in you, that “a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things that he possesseth,” but that “in God’s favour is life;” and that, with “his love shed abroad in your heart,” “though you have nothing, you are yet possessing all things [Note: 2Co_6:10.].”]