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STREAMS IN THE DESERT
THOUGH the truths which we have to proclaim lie in a very small compass, yet do they admit of an endless diversity of illustration; so that, though old and well known, they appear ever new. The figure under which the Gospel is here set forth is indeed frequently used in the Holy Scriptures: and well it may be, since it is peculiarly adapted to bring home to our very senses, as it were, the nature and operation of the Gospel, and to display its energy visibly before our eyes. We can conceive of a desert converted into a fertile garden; and we can form some idea of the multitudes who were healed of all manner of diseases by our blessed Lord. And under these images is the Gospel here exhibited to our view. In the words before us, we are led to contemplate,
I. Its miraculous establishment—
A desert is but too just a picture of the world at large—
[In this country we have a very faint notion of a desert. In some parts of the world there are large tracts of country perfectly sterile, consisting only of burning sands, in which nothing will grow; and these are infested with all manner of noxious animals. Now certainly this appears, at first sight, to be a very exaggerated representation of human nature: and doubtless it would be so, if we took into the account only man’s conduct towards his fellow-man. For it must be confessed, and we bless God for it, that man is not so fallen, but that there yet remain within him many traits of his original worth and excellency. Benevolence, integrity, a sense of honour, a feeling of compassion, are by no means eradicated from every breast; though, through the violence of temptation, they do not operate so extensively or so uniformly as they ought; and in many persons, through habits of wickedness, they are almost wholly effaced. But towards God there remains in us nothing that is truly and properly good. We are in this respect all upon a level: we all, without exception, are alike alienated from the life of God, without one spiritual affection towards him. To please him, to serve him, to honour him, we have no purpose, no desire whatever. Self has altogether usurped his throne, and is the only object of our solicitude: and if only self may be advanced and gratified, we are content to forget God, and to live “without him in the world.” Thus, considering a desert to be a place destitute of all good, and full of all evil, we may, so far as our state before God is concerned, consider it as a just picture of our fallen condition.]
But by the Gospel a wonderful change is effected in us—
[Conceive of such a desert, as has been described, being, by the almighty power of God, filled at once with springs and rivers, and verdant hills and valleys: conceive of it as freed from all its venomous inhabitants, and covered with flocks and herds for the use of man: and then you will have some idea of what is wrought by the Gospel, wherever it is established. Let the day of Pentecost serve as a specimen. Certainly, if ever there were incarnate fiends, such were the great mass of those who put our blessed Lord to death. But see the change wrought on thousands of them in one hour! It would be deemed incredible, if we did not know that such was really the fact: “the Holy Spirit then poured out,” in confirmation of the Apostle’s word, “turned at once the wilderness into a fruitful field, so that the fruitful field might be counted for a forest [Note: Isa_32:15.].” What takes place at this day, upon a smaller scale, is not so visible, or so well authenticated, as that to which we have referred; but it is altogether of the same character: for when once “the waters break out in the wilderness, and the streams in the desert, the parched ground becomes a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water; and in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, there is grass with reeds and rushes;” vegetation and beauty supplying the place of sterile deformity.
It is scarcely necessary to observe, that this must be the work of God. It far exceeds the power of man. It was the work of Omnipotence in the apostolic age: and, as such, it is here promised to be extended over the face of the whole earth. Jerusalem was indeed the primary seat of this glorious change: but it is to be extended, as the Lord hath said: “Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God [Note: Isa_52:9-10.].”]
In accordance with this change, will be found,
II. Its characteristic benefits—
At the introduction of Christianity, many glorious miracles were wrought by our blessed Lord, in confirmation of his word. These were predicted in the passage before us; and to these did our blessed Lord appeal, in proof of his divine mission. “John sent two of his disciples to him, to inquire, Art thou He that should come; or do we look for another? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Go, and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them [Note: Mat_11:2-5.].” But it is in a spiritual sense, chiefly, that these blessed effects are to be wrought. In a general, view these have been already described: but now we must notice them under a different image, and with a more minute attention to circumstances.
In all our faculties, and in all our powers, we are fallen—
[It is worthy of observation, that, for the elucidation of this point, St. Paul collects a number of unconnected passages from the Old Testament, and strings them, as it were, all together, in order that, by their accumulated weight, they may bear down all opposition to his argument; which is, to prove that “men are all gone out of the way, and that there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” “Their mouth,” says he, “is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: their feet are swift to shed blood [Note: Rom_3:12-15.].” Thus, in my text, it is intimated, that men’s eyes are by nature shut against the light of divine truth; that their ears are deaf to the voice of God in his word; that their feet never move in the service of their God; and that their tongues are never employed in his praise. A very little acquaintance with what is passing in the world around us, or in our own hearts, will suffice to confirm this melancholy description: so true is it, that all of us, even every child of man, are “gone back; they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one [Note: Psa_53:3.].”]
But in all these respects, through the Gospel of Christ, we are renewed—
[By the preached Gospel, when accompanied with the Spirit of God, “the eyes of the blind are opened;” so that, with different measures of clearness, they “see the things that are invisible” to mortal eyes, even the evil of sin, the beauty of holiness, and “the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” By it, too, “the ears of the deaf are unstopped; so that they hear “the small still voice” of God to them, whispering peace to their souls, and “saying unto them, This is the way; walk ye in it.” By it, also, “the feet of the lame man are made to leap as an hart;” so that they not only walk, but “run in the way of God’s commandments with enlarged hearts.” Lastly, by it is “the tongue of the dumb made to sing the praises of Jehovah,” and to anticipate, amidst all the troubles of this earthly state, the felicity of heaven.
Now this is not a poetic fiction, but a plain and undeniable reality. This is the state of men wherever the Gospel of Christ produces its proper and legitimate effects. It is not among the rich only or the poor, the old or the young, that it operates in this way, but in persons of every age and every class. Wherever it is preached, “with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven,” there it is “quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword,” and becomes to multitudes the power of God to the salvation of their souls. The miracles wrought by our blessed Lord were but a shadow of what is wrought, and shall be wrought, by the preached Gospel: and, I thank God, there are millions this day upon earth who can bear witness to this blessed truth, that, in their own actual experience, they are become altogether “new creatures; old things having passed away, and all things being become new.”]
Observe then, from hence,
1. What little reason any person has to despond—
[Can any one conceive himself to be in a worse state than that of a desert, destitute of all good, and filled with every thing that is of the most malignant quality? Or, if he take humanity for his standard, can he conceive of himself as in a more deplorable condition than one blind, and deaf, and lame, and dumb? Yet these are the maladies which the Gospel is sent especially to relieve. It does not merely suffice for these things; but it is the prescribed remedy, which never did, nor ever can, fail. Instead therefore of being discouraged by any sense that we have of our own extreme want and wretchedness, we should take occasion, from our very necessities, to glorify God, and to enlarge our expectations of relief from him; assured, that “his strength shall be made perfect in our weakness,” and his grace be magnified in our unworthiness.]
2. What glorious prospects are before us—
[We believe that these wonderful changes shall take place in God’s appointed time, and that “all the kingdoms of the world shall become the kingdom of the Lord and of his Christ.” The change from the dreary barrenness of winter to the verdure and fertility of spring, is pleasing to the sight: but, oh! what is it to see a place, where Christ was neither known nor thought of, filled with persons displaying in their souls all the wonderful operations of his grace! And what must it be, to behold those scenes spreading from city to city, from kingdom to kingdom, till “the whole earth is full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea!” Well, certain it is, that this blessed period is fast approaching; and that “God will comfort, not Zion only, but all the waste places of the earth; making her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; so that in every place shall joy and gladness be found, and nothing be heard but thanksgiving and the voice of melody [Note: Isa_51:3.].” Let us look forward to this time; yea, let us help it forward to the utmost of our power: and if, but in a single instance, the blind, or deaf, or lame, or dumb, receive the relief which they stand in need of, we shall have no reason to complain that we have run in vain, or laboured in vain [Note: If this were a Mission Sermon, it would be proper to open this part more fully.].]
3. What ground for gratitude has every believing soul—
[Who is it that has made you to differ from others? Who is it that has healed the maladies of your souls, or that has made “your wilderness soul to blossom as the rose?” This, as we have before said, is the work of God, and of God alone: “He that hath wrought us to the self-same thing, is God.” And is this no call for gratitude? Look at heathen lauds, and see their people bowing down to stocks and stones. Or look nearer home, and see the multitudes around you as unaffected with the Gospel as if it had never visited this highly-favoured country. Perhaps your nearest and dearest relatives are at this moment, in respect of spiritual things, as barren as the most dreary desert, and as destitute of perception as if they had never possessed the organs of sight and hearing. Learn to pity and to pray for them, whilst your souls are transported with joy and gratitude for the mercies vouchsafed to you. And now shew, by your fruits, what a change has been wrought within you, and, by the devotion of all your faculties to God, the healing virtue which you have received.]