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GLORIOUS PROSPECTS OF THE GOSPEL CHURCH
AS the planting of the Jews in Canaan was accompanied with the slaughter of the Canaanites, so in every age the establishment of God’s Church on earth is represented as immediately connected with, and in a measure consequent upon, the judgments inflicted on her enemies. This appears, as in many other places, so especially from the words of our text; which are a continuation of the prophecy contained in the preceding chapter, or rather, a transition from one part of the subject to another part of the same subject. In the foregoing chapter, the destruction of the Edomites was predicted, as introductory to the enlargement of the Redeemer’s kingdom. But the devastation of their country by Nebuchadnezzar did not by any means correspond with the strong expressions used to describe it; nor did the reformation under Hezekiah at all answer to the exalted terms in which the prosperity of Zion is set forth. The true sense of the passage must be found in events yet future. Edom is here considered as a type of all the Church’s enemies, which at some future period will be fearfully destroyed; and then will the Church be enlarged and prosper, in a way that has never yet been seen upon earth. “For them,” that is, for those judgments before spoken of, “will the wilderness and the solitary place be glad,” because they will open a way for the accomplishment of God’s gracious designs towards his Church and people.
The words, as thus explained, lead us naturally to contemplate,
I. The state of persons and places unenlightened by the Gospel—
Whatever advantages any place may possess, it is, if destitute of the Gospel, a dreary wilderness—
[Let us suppose a place in point of beauty and fertility like Paradise itself; let it be the seat of arts and sciences, the emporium of commerce, the centre of civilized and polished society; let it abound with every thing that can amuse the mind, or gratify the taste; still, What is it without the Gospel? What does it afford that can nourish an immortal soul? No heavenly manna is found there: no wells of salvation are open to the thirsty traveller; none are at hand to point out the way to life: its only produce is thorns and briers, which entangle, and impede, and wound us, every step we take; and on every side are snares and temptations, which, like noxious animals, lie in wait for us, ever ready to accomplish our eternal ruin. The cities of Athens and of Rome must in this respect be viewed on a level with the most desolate spots upon the globe: for, whatever they might furnish for the edification or comfort of the carnal mind, they would afford no nutriment to him who was perishing for lack of spiritual food.]
The same observations we must make in relation to the souls of men—
[Whatever strength of intellect a man may possess, or however deeply he may be versed in every branch of human learning; whatever amiable qualities he may have to distinquish him from others; yea, whatever actual enjoyment he may receive from the riches, the honours, the pleasures of the world; yet is his soul “a wilderness,” “a solitude,” “a desert:” God is not there: the fruits of the Spirit are not found there: no heavenly consolations are ever tasted by him: he is without a track, with a guide, without a shelter in the day of trouble, and without any other prospect than that of falling a prey to enemies, or perishing with hunger. The unenlightened soul is compared by Jeremiah, not to a desert merely, but to “a heath in a desert, where no good ever comes [Note: Jer_17:5-6.].” O that those who fancy themselves “rich and increased with goods, and in need of nothing, were made sensible, how wretched they are, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked [Note: Rev_3:17.]!”]
Let us turn from this humiliating contemplation, to consider,
II. The state to which they are brought by the Gospel—
Beautiful is the description given by the prophet of the change that is wrought by the Gospel of Christ. The souls of men assume altogether a new aspect. In them is found,
The beauty of the rose—
[Where there was but lately no appearance of life, now there arise a holy desire after God, a delight in heavenly exercises, a love to all the people of the Lord, and an ambition to resemble God in righteousness and true holiness. First, but a blossom appears; but gradually the rising foliage bursts from its confinement, and expands itself to the eyes of all, diffusing fragrance all around it. The believer, blessed in himself, makes the very place of his residence a blessing; according to that description given of him by the Prophet Ezekiel; “I will make them, and the places round about my hill, a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessings [Note: Eze_34:26.].” Thus by the power of his Gospel “the Lord comforts Zion! he comforts all her waste places; he makes her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord: joy and gladness are found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody [Note: Isa_51:3.].”]
The stability of the cedar—
[The woods of Lebanon were proverbially grand: its cedars and its pines grew up to heaven, and defied all the storms with which they could be assailed. This was “the glory of Lebanon:” and this glory shall be given to all who are “rooted and grounded in the Lord.” Weak as the beginnings of grace are in the believer’s soul, he shall “shoot forth his roots as Lebanon,” and become “a tree of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that HE may be glorified [Note: Isa_61:3.].” Storms and tempests will beat upon him; but they shall only cause him to take deeper root, and to evince more clearly, in the sight of all men, that “God’s strength is perfected in his people’s weakness [Note: 2Co_12:9.].” In like manner shall the Church at large be kept;, and “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”]
The fruitfulness of the richest pastures—
[Carmel and Sharon were famous for their pasturage and flocks: such excellency shall be seen wherever the Gospel is preached with life and power, How precious are the ordinances made! What pastures are laid open in the word of God! How strengthening and refreshing does that feast become, which the Lord Jesus Christ has prepared for us at his table! The souls, thus richly fed, “grow up as calves of the stall:” the trees, thus watered by “the river of God,” abound in all manner of fruits, even in “the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ to the praise and glory of God.” Contemplate every “fruit of the Spirit [Note: Gal_5:22-23.];” and that is what is produced by “every plant which God’s right hand hath planted.”]
Unutterable joy as the result of all—
[The expressions in our text fitly characterize the state of those who are brought out of darkness into the marvellous light of the Gospel: they “are glad, and rejoice, and blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing.” Let any one who has ever beheld a desert brought by cultivation to a fruitful field, and seen it “standing so thick with corn as to laugh and sing;” let him contemplate it awhile; and he will have a faint image, though a very faint one, of “a wilderness” place or person that is “made to blossom as the rose.” O that we might behold the picture realised in this place, and that every one amongst us might have the image of it in his own soul!]
But it is necessary that we should draw your attention to,
III. That particular view of the Gospel by which these effects are wrought—
It is not by a mutilated and perverted Gospel that these effects are produced, but by a simple exhibition of Christ crucified, and of the perfections of God as united and harmonizing in the work of Redemption.
To this it is uniformly ascribed in the word of God—
[Look at the prophets, and you will find it is “the glory of the Lord” that they speak of, as revealed to men by the Gospel, and as seen by men in order to their conversion [Note: Psa_102:16. Isa_60:1-2; Isa_40:5 and Psa_97:6. Hab_2:14.] — — — Look at the Apostles, and the same truth is attested by them all; insomuch that they all “determined to know nothing in their ministrations, but Jesus Christ and him crucified:” the one object which they sought by all possible means to attain, was, so to preach, that “God might shine into his people’s hearts, to give them the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ [Note: 2Co_4:6.]:” and till they saw “Christ formed in them,” they were satisfied with no change however great, no profession however confident [Note: Gal_4:19.]. The commission given to them all, was to “say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God [Note: Isa_40:9.]!” and this they all fulfilled, saying to their people from time to time, “Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world [Note: Joh_1:29.]!”]
To this also must the effect be traced in the experience of all—
[Who that hears a perverted Gospel, is ever brought effectually to God by it? We may represent the Gospel as a kind of remedial law, that supersedes the necessity of perfect obedience, and requires only sincere obedience in its stead; or we may represent the Gospel as proposing a salvation partly by Christ’s righteousness, and partly by our own; but we shall never see such effects produced as are described in our text. Let this matter be scrutinized; and the more it is scrutinized, the more the truth of it will be confirmed. It is notorious, that in some persons, and some places, a great change is wrought: and it will be found to be owing to this one thing, that “Christ is preached,” and he is received into the heart as “All in all [Note: Col_3:11.].” The people are made to “see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God;” and therefore do they rejoice, and consecrate themselves to the service of their God and Saviour. Hence also is their stability; for they would rather die a thousand deaths, than renounce their hope in Him; and hence also their fertility, for they think they can never do enough for him, who has done and suffered such things for them. And this is expressly declared by the Apostle: “We, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord [Note: 2Co_3:18.].”]
Observe,
1. What encouragement is here for those who minister in holy things—
[Ministers, especially when invited to labour among un-enlightened heathens, are apt to draw back, under an idea that they can never hope to reap a crop in such a soil. But if God has promised that “the wilderness shall rejoice and blossom as the rose,” why should we despond? Is not his word as quick and powerful as ever? and can he not, by whomsoever, or to whomsoever it is delivered, make it “sharper than any two-edged sword,” so that it shall be “the power of God to the salvation of men?” Only let “his Spirit be poured out from on high, and the wilderness shall be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest [Note: Isa_32:15.].” Though the corn be but an handful, and cast on the summit of a barren mountain, its produce shall be great, and your harvest sure [Note: Psa_72:16. Here would be the place to enlarge, if it were a Mission or a Visitation Sermon.].]
2. What encouragement also for those who are dejected on account of the state of their own souls—
[When all your grounds of dejection are stated, they amount to no more than this, that your hearts are a very “desert.” But “God’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, nor is his ear heavy that he cannot hear.” Possibly you may feel additional ground of despondency, because you have backslidden from the Lord, and therefore fear that he will give you up to final impenitence. If so, then plead with him that promise which is made to persons in your very condition; and rest assured, that he will fulfil it to you, if you trust in him [Note: Hos_14:4-7.]. You may wait long, as the husbandman does, for the fruit of your labour; but you shall not wait in vain [Note: Jam_5:7-8.].]