NATIONAL PEACE THE GIFT OF GOD
(A Thanksgiving Sermon.)
Isaiah 26:12. Lord, Thou wilt ordain peace for us: for Thou hast wrought all our work in us.
The joyfulness of the occasion. Peace a greater blessing than mere victory; for he that celebrates victory celebrates an event which has been produced by an incalculable measure of human suffering. Let us consider—
I. What there is in the restoration of peace, generally considered, to excite our gratitude.
1. The effusion of human blood is stayed, and all the suffering inseparable from war.
2. The injurious effects of war on human character afford another reason for thanksgiving on the return of peace. War renders men callous to human misery. The sacredness of human life is forgotten. Wars lead to intestine dissensions, and embitter and perpetuate national animosities.
II. What there is in the particular circumstances of this country to warrant us in considering the blessing as of special and particular value.
1. The triumph of which this peace is the result is the triumph of a righteous cause. Peace is often the result of the superiority acquired by the aggressor. The cause of right does not always at once prevail. Unoffending natives are conquered, or obliged to submissions contrary to their rights and interests, and then peace follows; peace dictated, not argued. There is peace, but not the spirit of peace.
2. We have preserved our national honour. Our victory has not been purchased by any alliance of which we have cause to be ashamed.
3. Peace does not find us, as it finds many nations, with our houses desolated and our cities destroyed by fire.
4. It was seasonable. We had put forth our utmost strength. Had we not succeeded at the moment we should have fallen to rise no more as a nation of the first order.
5. It may be considered an indication of the Divine approbation. On this subject we would not be presumptuous, but it may at least be affirmed that the happy change in our affairs, which has ultimately led to peace, followed, and, in some instances, immediately followed, certain acts of national reformation (e.g., the emancipation of the slaves) and acknowledgment of God which, from the condescending assurance of His Word, we know must have been acceptable to Him.
6. It will increase our means of promoting the kingdom of Christ in the world, and thus establish our national prosperity by continuing to us the blessing of God.
III. The reasons of our thankful acknowledgment of God on this occasion. He is the giver of the blessing of peace. Text. This is a most important principle, and if our hearts be not firmly grounded in it, our thanksgiving is a mockery; for why do we thank Him if we ascribe the work to second causes? He that excludes God from the world of providence might as well exclude Him from the world of nature. He who can attribute the events which are daily taking place in society, and especially such events as are connected with the celebration of this day, to mere human agency, is not less an Atheist than the man who ascribes the birth and being of the fair system of the universe to chance or the dance of atoms.
CONCLUSION.—The proper expression of our thankfulness for this great blessing will be to do our utmost in the diffusion of the Gospel, that the final reign of the Prince of Peace may commence, and “quietness and assurance for ever” become the lot of man.—Richard Watson: Works, vol. ii. pp. 20–40.
HOLINESS ACCOMPLISHED, PEACE ORDAINED
Isaiah 26:12. Lord, Thou wilt ordain peace for us: for Thou also hast wrought all our works in us.
Rather, “for us.” The Church acknowledges that all her deliverances and successes have been accomplished for her; and on what God has done for her in the past, she rightly bases her expectation as to what God will do for her in the future. He who was able to deliver His people from their bondage in Babylon, would secure peace for them when He had restored them to their own land. But, then, of all the works that God accomplishes for His people, some of the most important are precisely those which He accomplishes in them. So we may profitably meditate on our text as it stands.
I. THE CHRISTIAN’S CONDITION.
1. A divine work has been accomplished for him. “Thou,” &c. Throughout, the New Testament teaches us that the Christian is a man, not who has delivered himself, but who has been delivered; not a hero who broke the chains by which he was bound, but a poor slave of sin who was set free and uplifted to true manhood (Philippians 2:13; Ephesians 2:10); everything is ascribed to the Spirit—the life, the good works, the comforts of the Christian (John 3:5; Galatians 5:16; Galatians 5:22; Acts 9:31).
2. As the operation is divine, so is it internal in its effects. We should never overlook what God has done for us in His kind and tender providence (Psalms 23:6). But the greatest of all God’s works for us is redemption by the blood of the cross. This was accomplished long ago (John 19:30). Nothing can now be added to it, but you are mistaken if you suppose that His work for you is to supersede His work in you. If your sins are not subdued as well as pardoned, you will never be able to serve and enjoy God. Unless you have a meetness for heaven, as well as a title to it, you will never be at home there. The salvation that is promised and accomplished is internal (John 4:14; Ezekiel 11:19-20; Psalms 51:10).
3. The operation is manifold in its influence. “All our works.” How much needs to be done in man! Conscience is to be awakened, purified, pacified; the understanding is to be enlightened; the judgment is to be informed; the will is to be subdued; the affections to be spiritualised; the world is to be dethroned in the heart, and holy principles implanted there. There needs the continuing act of a performing God from the hour of the first conviction of sin to the resurrection of the body unto eternal life (Philippians 1:6).
4. His divine work is acknowledged. “Thou hast wrought,” &c. Much remains to be done in us, but much has been accomplished in every believer, and it should be acknowledged. Humility well becomes us, but gratitude becomes us equally (Psalms 66:16).
II. HIS FUTURE EXPECTATION.
“Lord, Thou wilt ordain peace for us.”
1. There is an appointment or ordination. To ordain is an act of authority and power. You may wish and promise a thing, but the monarch ordains, and what he ordains is supported by all the resources of the realm, and will be accomplished. Much more shall God’s counsel stand and His pleasure be done.
2. What is the blessing He will ordain? “Peace!” Peace temporal (Proverbs 16:7). Peace spiritual [1075]
[1075] See outlines on Isaiah 26:3.—This peace of the Christian often fluctuates. It has various degrees. Some have comparatively little of it, arising from constitutional malady, from ignorance, or as a correction for sin, but it commonly increases in death. It is therefore compared to a river which meanders and fertilises as it goes, but becomes wider and deeper as it approximates to the sea; so the peace of God’s people generally increases as they get nearer eternity.—Jay.
III. THE DEPENDENCE OF THE EXPECTATION ON THE CONDITION.
“Thou wilt … for Thou hast.” The expectations of God’s people are based—
1. On the experience of God’s people in all generations (Psalms 22:4).
2. On their own experience of His faithfulness and mercy (Psalms 116:1-2) [1078]William Jay: Sunday Evening Sermons, &c., pp. 306–312.
[1078] When a friend has always been kind, we think it base and unworthy not to suppose that he is ready to succour and help. But here we have the advantage: Men may be weak and unable to help, but God is almighty; men may change their mind, but with Him is “no shadow of turning.” Remember what God has done, view it as a pledge, a beginning, an earnest foretaste of what He will do. Has He not shown you the evil of sin, the beauty of holiness, and the preciousness of a Saviour? If He had a mind to destroy you, would He have shown you such things as these? Nay, He will ordain everything for your welfare.—Jay
H. E. I. 2363–2377, 2791.
MAN’S HOLINESS, GOD’S WORKMANSHIP
Isaiah 26:12. Thou also hast wrought all our works in us.
It is not all men who could speak these words to God; the wicked and the worldly-minded could not use such language without blasphemy. It is the godly, and they only, who can dare to use the language of our text, and even they must do so with a certain limitation. Nothing that is evil in any of God’s people is in any way His work. It is only their good works of which it can be truly said, “God wrought them;” and of these it may be said, God wrought not some only, but all of them.
I. THE DOCTRINE WHICH OUR TEXT CONTAINS. Man is by nature a creature so depraved that he is “unto every good work reprobate.” God looks into his heart, and seeing evil motives even in his best performances, pronounces “all his righteousnesses ‘filthy rags.’ ” Where things are not done to please God, He is displeased. No matter what show the unregenerate make before their fellow-sinners, God turns away His face from them, and counts them even “dead in trespasses and sins,” whilst men, perhaps, are holding them in admiration (Article xiii.; Luke 16:15; Romans 8:7-8). When, therefore, a man does begin to please God, it is because God hath “wrought him for this self-same thing” by the mighty working of His power (Ephesians 2:4-5; Philippians 2:13). In these passages, the earliest beginning of any good work in us is ascribed wholly to the Lord (Article x.) The Holy Spirit is the author of all good in man from first to last. “From Him all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed.” Repentance is His Work. “Godly sorrow” is no natural emotion (Acts 5:31; Acts 11:18; 2 Timothy 2:25). So also is faith (1 Corinthians 12:3). So, again, is all holiness of heart and life (Ephesians 2:10; Proverbs 16:1; Galatians 5:22-23). All excellences in man are “fruits of the Spirit.” Such is the doctrine of our text. Consider,—
II. THE FEELINGS WHICH GOD’S PEOPLE OUGHT TO ENTERTAIN WHEN THEY REFLECT UPON IT. Is it true that God hath wrought all our works in us? What a ground there is here, then,—1, for humility. Surely “boasting is excluded.” Pride is an absurdity (1 Corinthians 4:7; 1 Corinthians 15:10.) 2, for thankfulness. Solomon was full of wonder and amazement that God should condescend to come and dwell within his costly temple. Should not the Lord’s people be still more gratefully amazed that He should make a temple of their hearts! 3, for encouragement (Philippians 1:6). Let the believer look at the very construction of our text, let him read it in connection with the words which go before, and he will see what a comfortable argument is drawn from it: “Lord, Thou wilt ordain peace for us, for Thou also hast wrought all our works in us.” The presence of His grace within our bosoms is a token of the favour which He means to show us. He who put oil into our lamp and set it burning, and then said, “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven,” will never omit to feed the celestial flame.—A. Roberts, M.A.: Plain Sermons, Second Series, vol. i. 21–30.