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GOD’S CONTROVERSY WITH HIS PEOPLE
WHENEVER we call on men to serve the Lord, they have some excuses to offer, either for the deferring of their duty, or for the neglecting of it altogether. They will complain that the things required of them are too strict; that, by reason of the weakness of human nature, they are impracticable; or, at all events, that, under their present circumstances, it were better to postpone the observance of them. In these excuses, they do not intend directly to reflect on God: but, in reality, they do cast the blame of their iniquities on him: on him, I say, as a Lawgiver, that he has required too much of us; or on him as a Creator, in that he has formed us incapable of obeying his will: or on him as a Governor, who, in his providence, has assigned us a lot which does not admit of our fulfilling his commands. On these grounds God has a controversy with us; and appeals to the whole creation that he is greatly wronged by us. The whole process of his appeal is here stated.
We have here,
I. The court summoned—
[Sometimes God makes his appeal both to heaven and earth: “Hear, O heavens! and give ear, O earth; for the Lord speaketh [Note: Isa_1:2.].” At other times he calls to the earth alone, as in the passage before us: “Hear ye, O mountains, and ye strong foundations of the earth!” But what amazing condescension is here, that he should summon his own creatures, to sit, as it were, in judgment upon him! He has a right to do whatsoever he shall please: and to presume to question any thing that he does, is the height of impiety. Has not “a potter power over the clay, to make of the same lump a vessel unto honour or unto dishonour,” as he shall see fit? Or has the “clay any right to say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus [Note: Rom_9:20-21.]?” If the Maker choose to mar the vessel the very instant he has formed it, he has a perfect right to do so: nor would the vessel have any reason to complain. So has God exactly the same right over us [Note: Jer_18:6.]. He has not injured us, because he did not make us of the highest rank of created intelligences: nor would he have done us any injury, if he had made us devoid of reason, like the beasts? If, when he endued us with reason, he had again bereaved us of it; or if he were at this moment to deprive us of all the advantages we enjoy; we should have no ground of accusation against him: he has “a right to do what he will with his own [Note: Mat_20:15,];” nor is he called to “give an account to us of any of his matters [Note: Job_33:13.].” But when we arraign his conduct, he is willing to have his cause tried before a tribunal of his own creatures, and to place sinners themselves upon the seat of judgment. His permission, yea, his entreaty, to them is, “Judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard [Note: Isa_5:3.].”]
Viewing now the court assembled, let us hear,
II. The pleadings opened—
[Here is evidently an accusation implied; namely, God has both injured us, and even “wearied” us, by his oppressive conduct: and to this the Almighty, standing as a defendant before the court, answers, by challenging inquiry; and, with conscious rectitude, he says, in the face of his accusers, “Testify against me.” Declare wherein I have injured you: “declare it, that ye may be justified [Note: Isa_43:26.].”
Have I injured you by any undue strictness in my laws? Point out one that could have been dispensed with, or one that could have been lowered. They are all reducible to love: they require nothing, but that you should “love God with all your heart and mind and soul and strength; and, that you should “love your neighbour as yourselves.” Wherein could any abatement have been made? Point out, in any one particular, wherein these requirements are too strict; or whether they be not, in every respect, “holy and just and good [Note: Rom_7:12.].”
‘Have I injured you at all in my providential dealings? You may not be so elevated in rank and affluence as others: but the human race is a body; and the body cannot be all eye, or all ear: it must have hands and feet; and every member must have its proper office: every member, too, must seek its happiness in the good of the whole; and be as willing to contribute, in its place, to the welfare of the rest, as to have its own welfare furthered by the rest. But it may be, that you have been peculiarly afflicted, in mind, or body, or estate. Be it so: but have you been afflicted beyond your deserts? “Can a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins [Note: Lam_3:39.]?” Hadst thou had thy desert, thou wouldst long since have been “in hell, without so much as one drop of water to cool thy tongue:” and thy sufferings are infinitely short of that; yea, and are mitigated also by numberless consolations. And art thou aware of all the ends for which these afflictions are sent? What, if they have been sent to call thee to repentance, and ultimately to save thy soul? Thou shouldst, then, be rather adoring me for them with the liveliest gratitude, than be complaining of them as injuries wantonly inflicted on thee.
‘Perhaps it is of the sanctions of my law that thou complainest: they disquiet thee; they appal thee; the dread of them makes thy life a burthen to thee. But what less than heaven wouldst thou appoint for the reward of my faithful servants? or what less than hell for the punishment of those who rebel against me? The object both of the reward and of the punishment is the same—to make thee flee from sin, the only true source of misery; and to make thee follow after righteousness, which is a certain prelude to glory. Both sanctions are intended equally for good: the one, to operate on thy hopes; the other, on thy fears: and both together to secure thine everlasting happiness. But it is of the threatening only that thou complainest: thou thinkest it hard that such a punishment as death, eternal death, should be annexed to one transgression of my law. But I have told thee, that “the wages of sin is death [Note: Rom_6:23. ὀ ø þ í é á , the provisions given to the soldiery.].” The provisions which were the payment of a Roman soldier were surely no very extravagant remuneration for his services: nor is eternal punishment an undue recompence for sin: the penal evil of damnation does not in the least exceed the moral evil of sin. Only let it be considered what sin is, and against whom it is committed, and its turpitude and malignity will be found perfectly to justify the judgments denounced against it.
If there be any other matter which mine accuser has to lay to my charge, let him bring it forth: I am prepared “to plead with him:” let him “testify against me;” and let the court, before which we stand, judge between us.’]
The charges being thus, for want of an explicit statement on the part of the accuser, inquired into, let us attend to,
III. The replication made—
[As far as relates to a vindication of Jehovah, in reference to some particular points, an answer has been provided in the allegations themselves: and, as nothing more specific is stated as the ground of complaint against him, all further vindication of him is waved: and now the complaints on his side must be brought forward. This is done in another part of Scripture, where the very complaints which are preferred against God are retorted by him on his accusers. “Thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel. Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt-offerings; neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices. I have not (as thou pretendest) caused thee to serve with an offering, or wearied thee with incense; but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, and wearied me with thine iniquities [Note: Isa_43:22-24.]” Thus, also, in the passage before us, God prefers his charge against his accusers: “I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. O my people, remember now what Balak, king of Moab, consulted; and what Balaam, the son of Beor, answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know the righteousness of the Lord [Note: ver. 4, 5.]:” that is, ‘Call to mind the mercies I have vouchsafed to you, from the time I brought you out of Egypt, till your entrance into Canaan; and then say, whether you have cause to complain of me as acting unkindly towards you; or whether I have not rather reason to complain of you, for your base ingratitude, and your multiplied transgressions against me?’ To the same effect may God well reply against us. ‘You complain of me as acting oppressively towards you. Look at the redemption which I have vouchsafed unto you; and not by power only, but by price, even the precious blood of my only dear Son;— a redemption, too, not from a mere temporal bondage, but from sin and Satan, death and hell. Look also at the counsels which your great adversary, the Devil, has given, and at the efforts which he has made for your destruction; and see how I have preserved you in the midst of all; “from Shittim,” where the counsels were given, “to Gilgal,” in the very land of your inheritance. Look at these things, and then say, whether thine accusations against me are just; and whether there be any terms too strong wherein to state thy baseness and impiety?]
To this reply nothing is added. The truths contained in it being undeniable, not a word is spoken by way of rejoinder: the righteousness of Jehovah is admitted; and, by the consent of all parties, we have,
IV. The cause adjudged—
[As in the case before us, so in all cases “will God be justified when he speaketh, and be clear when he is judged [Note: Rom_3:4.].” Brethren, you may now offer your complaints as you please; and, whilst God is not permitted to be heard, you may have it all your own way: ‘You are quite as good as you need to be; and God is unreasonable in expecting you to be better. The denunciations of his wrath are a mere fallacy: they will never be executed: he would be unjust, if he were to proceed in accordance with them: you have nothing to fear: you act in a very rational and justifiable way, whilst you live to yourselves and to the world, rather than unto him: and whatever he may have said to the contrary, “you shall have peace, though you walk after the imagination of your own hearts [Note: Deu_29:19.],” and trample under foot his holy laws.’ Of all this you may he confident, whilst God is not heard: but let him be heard, and even you yourselves shall be judges in your own cause. Let him be heard, and not one of you will have a syllable to offer in your own defence, and much less in crimination of your God. If the man that had not on the wedding-garment was silent (was muzzled, as the word means [Note: Mat_22:12.],) much more will you, if you will bring your matters to a trial here; and, at all events, when standing before the judgment-seat of Christ. Indeed I am persuaded, that the cause between you and your God is already adjudged, even in your own consciences: for, where is there one of you who will venture seriously to arraign the conduct of his God, and not acknowledge, that “God’s ways are equal, and that it is his own ways only that are unequal [Note: Eze_18:25; Eze_18:29.]?”]
Conceiving then the cause terminated, I will offer a few words,
1. In a way of candid appeal—
[Is there one amongst us that will still persist in “charging God foolishly [Note: Job_1:22.]?” When God asks, “What iniquity have ye found in me, that ye have gone far from me [Note: Jer_2:5.]?” will any of you venture to accuse him as the cause of your miscarriages? When he further asks, “Have I been a wilderness to Israel? a land of darkness? Wherefore say my people, We are lords; we will come no more unto thee [Note: Jer_2:31.]?” will any one amongst you dare to maintain the charge that is here supposed? No: you all know that the fault is altogether in yourselves. You know, that God is worthy to be loved and served; and that to consecrate yourselves to him is “a reasonable service [Note: Rom_12:1.].” You know well, that you can neither substantiate your own accusations against him, nor rebut his accusations against you. I will, therefore, proceed to address you,]
2. In a way of salutary advice—
[Offer not excuses now, which will not avail you in the day of judgment. That time is quickly coming: and then God will be heard, whether ye desire it or not. You will not then have to make your cause good against a man like yourselves, but against the Omniscient and Almighty God. Cease, then, to determine from your own statements alone. Let God be heard speaking to you in his word. Try your case fairly, according to that book which you have in your hands, and by which you will be judged in the last day [Note: Joh_12:48.]. Be candid in weighing both sides of the question, and in giving “judgment according to truth.” Then you will surely acknowledge, that by the law you are justly condemned; and that “God is true, though every man be made a liar [Note: Rom_3:4.].” But need you, on that account, despair? No. “If you have sinned, you have an advocate with the Father, even our Lord Jesus Christ; who is also the propitiation for your sins [Note: l Joh_2:1.].” Put your cause into his hands; and though condemned by the law, you shall be acquitted by the Gospel: for through this Saviour you shall have all your past “iniquities blotted out,” and a righteousness given to you that shall be perfectly commensurate with all the demands of law and justice [Note: Rom_3:21-22.]. Then, in the presence of the whole assembled universe, shall you stand approved; and “God himself be just in justifying” and rewarding you [Note: Rom_3:25-26.]. To that day, so terrible to the impenitent and unbelieving sinner, you may look forward with confidence and joy: for though guilty in yourselves, you shall be “accepted in the Beloved [Note: Eph_1:6.];” and, though in yourselves deserving of the heaviest condemnation, you shall receive “a crown of righteousness that fadeth not away.”]