Part 13

The first woman was called Eve—that is, Life—because she was the mother of all living—the mother of him who is the life of the world. This was fulfilled four thousand years afterward in one of her daughters, a virgin, who brought forth a son, whose name is Jesus, Emmanuel, the Living God, the true God, and eternal Life. He is the Lord of life, and the life of all that believe. “Because I live, ye shall live also.” With the flame of one candle you may light many others, and the light of all is the same. Christ is the source whence all his people derive their light, the great central luminary of his church. “In him was life, and the life was the light of men.”

When the prophet stood in the valley of dry bones and prophesied, there was a wonderful agitation, and the bones came together, and formed themselves into skeletons, and sinews and flesh covered them, and each form was enclosed with a skin; but they were still dead, and it was not till the breath of God blew upon them, and kindled the flame of life within them, that they “stood up an exceeding great army.” So Christ is the resurrection and life alike of the soul and of the body. “He that believeth on him, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” He is the bread and the water of life. “He that cometh unto him, shall never hunger; and he that believeth on him, shall never thirst.” “He that hath the Son, hath life; and he that hath not the Son, hath not life.” “We are dead; and our life is hid with Christ in God; when Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory.”

IV. The Living Redeemer of Job was to appear in this world. “He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.”

A woman who is travelling, and has no money to bear her expenses, obtains credit on her husband’s account, who afterward passes that way, and discharges the obligation. So ancient saints went home to glory on credit: and in the fulness of time, Christ came and paid their debt; not by installments, but all at once; and the virtue of his own offering went up to the gate of Eden, and down to the end of the world. As on both sides of the altar of burnt-offering, were pipes, conveying the blood into the basins, till they were full; so the great altar on Calvary communicates with past generations, and generations yet to come; and the saving merit of the one sacrifice runs back to Abel and to Adam, and forward to the last believer.

Whom do I see in the garden yonder, in such agony of soul, prostrate in prayer, and sweating great drops of blood? Job’s Living Redeemer. Why is his heart thus wrung with anguish? Is there a dark register of sins in his conscience, like the fiery handwriting of God upon the wall? No, he has not a single crime to confess. He has done no iniquity, neither is guile found in his mouth. Why then does he suffer? He is bearing our griefs, carrying our sorrows, and receiving the chastisement of our peace. Behold him on the mountain, “wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities.” “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” “He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter; and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.” “Who shall declare his generation?” Who shall give us his pedigree, his history, his character? Will none of the angels of heaven make the air of Calvary ring with the sufferer’s name? Behold! the darkened sun and quaking earth proclaim him God! Hark! he speaks—“I am the true God, and eternal life. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning of the Creator’s way, or ever the earth was. When there was no depths, nor fountains of water; before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth; while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there; when he set a compass upon the deep; when he established the clouds above; when he strengthened the foundations of the deep; when he gave the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment; when he established the foundations of the earth; then I was by him, as one brought up with him; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; rejoicing in the habitable parts of his earth, and my delights were with the sons of men; and therefore I am here, hanging on the cross to-day!”

V. Job’s Living Redeemer was to deliver him from the power of death.

Job anticipated the coming of “the last enemy,” who should give his flesh to be food for worms. The Sabeans had taken away the oxen and the asses, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword. The fire had fallen from heaven, and burnt up the sheep and the shepherds. The Chaldeans had robbed him of his camels, and murdered his domestics. The whirlwind had killed his sons and his daughters in the house of their feasting. His body was covered with putrid ulcers, from head to foot. His best friends turned against him, and even his wife tempted him to “curse God and die.” But amid all his calamities, he saw another enemy, ready to assail his body, and drag it away to the tomb, and reduce it to dust and ashes. At the same time, his faith beheld the Messiah swallowing up death in victory. He saw the Son of Mary in the house of Jairus, where the lion had just slain his victim; and on the street of Nain, where he was taking the prey to his den; and at the grave in Bethany, where he was banqueting with worms in the joy of victory. Death could not stand before the Prince of Life. The spoiler yielded up his spoil. Christ sailed on the open channel like a man of war, delivering the hapless captives of the great pirate Death, to the astonishment and joy of the people, from Samaria to the borders of Tyre and Sidon. But on a certain day, ever to be remembered, as he drew near the ramparts of Sinai, all its batteries were opened upon him. He stood in the fire all night, and fought till he sweat great drops of blood. He threw himself between his friends and the fort, and sustained the shock of its heaviest artillery, which played upon him without intermission, especially the old cannon of Eden—“Dying thou shalt die”—until three o’clock in the afternoon of the next day, when he received a shot in the heart, and, crying, “It is finished!” gave up the ghost. The whole creation trembled when he fell, and was swallowed up in the horrible abyss. But on the morning of the third day, the earth was seized with new spasms, and he that was dead came forth to be the life of his people; and the cable of faith, the anchor of hope, and the sails of love, ascended with him from the deep, never to go down again. He is alive for evermore, and has the keys of hell and of death.

VI. Job speaks of the period of Messiah’s advent, under the term of “the latter day.” This may refer, either to the end of the Jewish dispensation, or to the end of the world.

Christ has already once appeared on earth, fulfilled the types and shadows, made an end of sins, and brought in everlasting righteousness; “and to them that look for him, he shall appear the second time, without a sin-offering, unto salvation.” “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them as the shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats.” Then shall God have finished his work in mount Zion, and the trumpets of the gospel shall cease to sound, and the great net shall be taken up from the sea, and the laborers in the vineyard shall receive their wages, and the tares shall be cast into the unquenchable fire.

Wonderful shall be the glory and the terror of that day; “when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with his mighty angels, in flaming fire; taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that believe.” What a glorious army shall attend him down the sky—myriads of his saints, and all the celestial powers and principalities! “Fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.” His throne shall be “like a fiery flame, and his wheels like a burning furnace.” He “shall descend with a shout, and the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God.” The sound of the trumpet on Sinai was long and loud, and “exceeding terrible;” but how much more powerful shall be the voice of “the last trumpet,” penetrating the cold ear of death, and awaking into immortality the dust of the grave! Then the Messiah shall not appear “as a root out of dry ground;” but shall stand forth before heaven and earth “in the glory of the Father, and of his holy angels;” in addition to the glory of his own person as God-man, and the glory of his work as Mediator. Before him, “the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burned up;” and death and hell shall deliver up their dead; and all men shall stand and receive their sentence from him who was an infant in Bethlehem—“a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief”—condemned by Pilate, mocked by the multitude, and nailed upon the cross. This is Job’s living Redeemer, the resurrection and life of all who believe.

VII. Our text contains Job’s confession of faith. It is brief, but very comprehensive, and may be called an epitome of the gospel. Here we have the Divinity and the humanity of Christ, his work of redemption, his victory over death and hell, his second advent, and the resurrection of the dead.

The Athenians mocked when they heard of the resurrection of the dead; and the Sadducees greatly erred on this subject, “not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God,” and many of the Corinthians imbibed the same poison of unbelief. But the patriarch of Uz thought it not “a thing incredible that God should raise the dead.” He firmly believed the doctrine, and gave it a prominent place in his confession. He knew that God is able to watch and preserve the dust of his saints; has his eye upon every particle, throughout all the periods of time; and through the Divine Mediator, “will raise it up at the last day.” This doctrine was to him a great consolation in his unparalleled afflictions. “Though my skin,” says he, “is a tissue of disease and corruption—yea, though my body sink into the earth, and be eaten up of the worms, and my very reins be consumed within me—yet in my flesh, in this same body, reorganized, reanimated, and made immortal from the tomb, I shall see God—shall see him for myself, with these self-same eyes.”

Yes, brethren; the souls and bodies of all the human race shall be reunited; and with our own eyes, we shall see the judge of quick and dead, with his fan in his hand, thoroughly purging his floor, gathering the wheat into his garner, and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire. In that day, the tares and the wheat shall be for ever separated, and there shall be no more foolish virgins among the wise. “For we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that we may receive the things done in the body, according to that we have done, whether it be good or evil.”

How vast the difference between Messiah’s first and second advents! When he “tabernacled and dwelt among us,” he appeared “in the form of a servant;” but when he shall come again, he shall come as a judge, and “sit upon the throne of his glory;” and “all that are in their graves shall hear his voice, and come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” “For the Son of man shall send forth his angels; and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them that do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall he weeping and gnashing of teeth; then shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun in the kingdom of their Father.”

VIII. I call your attention to one other topic suggested by the text—the confidence with which Job speaks of his interest in the living Redeemer. “For I know that my Redeemer liveth.” It was not a mere conjecture. There was no doubt in the case. The patriarch had reached the assurance of faith; and so perfectly satisfied was he of the fact, that he expressed an intense desire that his words might be recorded on the most durable materials, that they might be read by generations to come.

How may we acquire the same confidence? What is the evidence of our interest in Job’s living Redeemer? The nature and effects of the change which has taken place in our hearts. You that “were sometime darkness, are now light in the Lord;” have been “called out of darkness into his marvellous light;” and can say—“One thing I know, that whereas I was once blind, now I see.” “The carnal mind is enmity against God;” but those that are born of the Spirit love God; and love and hatred are not so much alike, that you cannot tell by which principle you are governed. While the strong man armed kept the palace, his goods were in peace; but when a stronger than he came and cast him out, there was a warfare commenced between the old man and the new. You were formerly dead in trespasses and sins; but are now alive to God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. You were once destitute of faith in the Redeemer; but now you believe in him, and rely upon his righteousness alone, as the ground of your acceptance and salvation. How can you experience such a transformation, and know nothing of the matter? As well might the sick, when Christ healed them—as well might the blind, when Christ opened their eyes—as well might the dead, when Christ raised them to second life from the bed, the bier, or the grave—have been ignorant of the mighty change.

In the word of God, we have the testimony of many who had obtained the assurance of faith. “I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand upon the earth at the latter day”—was the testimony of Job. “The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, and the horn of my salvation, in whom I will trust”—was the testimony of David. “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall be joyful in God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation; he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness”—was the testimony of Isaiah. “I know in whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day”—was the testimony of the apostle Paul. “We know that we are of God; we know that we have passed from death unto life; we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is”—was the testimony of John, “the beloved disciple.”

“These things,” saith the apostle, “have I written unto you that believe in the name of the Son of God, that ye might know that ye have eternal life.” This is the design of God, in revealing his will to the church. We may—we should know that we have eternal life. “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself.” But this assurance of faith is not a mere imagination of the brain. It is not founded on a vague notion of your being one of the elect, without any other evidence. It is not founded on a voice from heaven, bidding you be of good cheer, and go in peace, because your sins are forgiven you. It is founded on the fruits of the Spirit, and the testimony of Divine Revelation. True believers are “created anew in Christ Jesus, unto good works;” evincing the reality of their love to God by keeping his commandments.

Let us, therefore, give all diligence to make our calling and election sure. Let us examine ourselves, whether we are in the faith. Let us compare our religion with the precepts of the Bible, and the example of ancient saints. But as our hearts are so wicked and deceitful, let us not trust them, but pray to God for the aid of his Holy Spirit, in this important work of self-examination. Behold “the Sweet Singer of Israel,” praying—“Search me, O God, and try me; prove me, and know my heart.” The Holy Spirit has given you a rule by which you are to examine yourselves; and he works in you a conformity to that rule, and bears witness with your spirits that you are the children of God. In proportion to his operation upon the heart, will be the assurance of faith; and in proportion to the assurance of faith, will be your spiritual comfort and joy. The Lord grant us that “faith which worketh by love, and purifieth the heart!”

Are you stript of property, bereft of children, afflicted in body, forsaken of friends, persecuted and insulted by relatives? Think of Job, and of Job’s living Redeemer! Imitate the patriarch’s patience and confidence amid all the troubles and conflicts of life! Go your way until the end; for ye shall rest, and stand in your several lots at last!

SERMON VII. MESSIAH’S KINGDOM.

“_And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom_, _which shall never be destroyed_: _and the kingdom shall not be left to other people_, _but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms_, _and it shall stand for ever_. _Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands_, _and that it brake in pieces the iron_, _the brass_, _the clay_, _the silver_, _and the gold_; _the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter_; _and the dream is certain_, _and the interpretation thereof sure_.”—Dan. ii. 44, 45.

IN these words we have a prophetic description of the kingdom of Christ, as the fifth empire that should arise after the date of this prophecy. The wonderful image which so troubled the king of Babylon in his dream, and occasioned him so much solicitude when he awoke, denoted four of the great empires of the world. The head of gold represented the Babylonian empire; the breasts and arms of silver, the Medo-Persian empire; the belly and thighs of brass, the Grecian empire, under Alexander the Great; the legs and feet of iron, the Roman empire in its strength and glory; and the ten toes of mingled iron and clay, the same empire in its divided and enfeebled state. The last circumstance was intended to denote the same thing as the ten horns on the head of the Beast in the book of Revelation. As iron is firm and strong, and able to bruise and break all materials of a softer quality; so the Roman empire once crushed beneath its power all other kingdoms, and dictated laws to the world. As the beast with iron teeth trampled and rent to pieces all that came in its way; so the Roman tyrant, like a lion among the lambs of the flock, tore and devoured the followers of the meek and lowly Jesus.

The kingdom of Christ is represented under the figure of “a stone cut out of the mountain without hands:” that is, without human agency—without any wisdom or power of man, but by the Spirit of God; smiting the feet of the image, and shattering it into fragments; then becoming a great mountain, and filling the whole earth. In the history of Christianity we have the counterpart of the emblem. Messiah appeared in the form of a servant; born of a poor virgin, in the despised town of Bethlehem; lived a life of poverty, persecution, and various sorrow, from the manger to the tree; died the most painful and ignominious of deaths, even the accursed death of the cross; but rose from the dead on the predicted morning, the morning of the third day; commissioned his apostles, the fishermen of Galilee, to “go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature;” ascended on high, and sent down the Holy Spirit, the promised Comforter, to give energy and efficacy to the word, to prove its divinity, and convince and save mankind. The apostles immediately commenced their work; persevered in the divine employment; were prospered by the power of God; and the stone, rolling forth from Mount Zion, and raising a dust which darkened the very heavens, smote the feet and legs of the image, until it shook, and the earth trembled around it; and that stone is still rolling on, and shall crush and demolish the image, and grind it to powder, and scatter it to the winds of heaven; and shall increase, till it becomes a great mountain, and fills the whole earth for ever.

In speaking of the accomplishment of this prophecy, we will notice—its certainty, its attendant glory, and the nearness of its approach.

I. The certainty of the accomplishment of this prophecy is founded, _first_, on the Father’s promise to the Son, made on the express condition of his pouring out his soul unto death. “I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thy hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles, to open the blind eyes, to bring forth the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house.” Christ’s universal dominion is the promised reward of his sufferings, and the Father speaks as if he intended to raise his wages. “Thus saith the Lord; It is a light thing that thou shouldst be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the preserved of Israel; I will also give thee for a light of the gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the ends of the earth.” “Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” Such is the promise. All nations shall come and worship before him. All that the Father hath given shall come unto him, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against them.

The certainty of Messiah’s universal dominion is founded, _secondly_, on his perfect qualification to accomplish the work which the Father hath given him to do. “No one knoweth the Father,” in all the perfection of his nature, all the wisdom of his counsels, and all the immutability of his purposes, “but the Son; and no one knoweth the Son, but the Father,” as he alone is of the same essence, and exhibits the same attributes. Christ is “God manifest in the flesh;” “the brightness of the Father’s glory, and the express image of his person.” None but a divine person could give, and none but a divine person could receive, such a privilege as is here promised. None but a divine person could be competent to the eternal redemption of countless millions of the human race. Christ “is the true God, and Eternal Life”—“the Faithful Witness, the First Begotten from the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth”—“the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, the First and the Last”—“the Root and the Offspring of David, and the Bright and Morning Star”—“Over all, God, blessed for ever.” These are Messiah’s titles, which evince his equality to the work which he has undertaken—the salvation of the world, and the subjugation of all things unto himself. He is able, not only to set up his kingdom, but also to establish it for ever. It shall never be destroyed, nor left to other people; but shall break in pieces and destroy all other kingdoms, and the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdom of our God and of his Christ.