THE WORM AND THE MOUNTAIN
Isaiah 41:14-15. Fear not, thou worm Jacob, &c.
Though I have read to you only these verses, the treasury of truth upon which I intend to draw now is the whole paragraph in which they occur (Isaiah 41:10-16). In it the prophet comforts the Church by the promises wherewith he had been comforted by God. Before the captivity of God’s people commences, he furnishes them with that which will cheer them while it lasts. In his prophetic vision he sees them in a prostrate and most depressed condition—like a worm trodden under foot in Babylon. But he puts before them the support of their expiring hope, in the assurance of God’s favour. His argument is, that He who redeemed their fathers from Egyptian slavery would redeem them from Chaldean bondage. Mighty as their oppressors were, let them not fear; fast as their chains were riveted, let them not be dismayed; weak and defenceless as they were, let them not despair; for though the mountain threatened to crush the worm, the worm should be strengthened to thresh the mountain. The truths and promises in this paragraph are the heritage of God’s people in all ages, and on them they may, and should, lay hold in every season of threatening and trouble.
I. A VERY UNEQUAL CONTEST.
The worm is called upon to thresh the mountain! Yea, not one mountain only, but many of them—“mountains.” A hopeless encounter, a mad attempt! But the suggestions of sense and the reasonings of faith are widely different; “to do the greatest things and to suffer the hardest is all one to true faith.” We may apply this representation variously—
1. To the efforts needful to establish the kingdom of God in the world. The agency intrusted with the task often seems altogether inadequate. Was it not so when Moses stood before Pharaoh, and when the power and despotism of ancient Egypt seemed ready to destroy the infant Church; when Elijah stood on Carmel, all the power of Ahab and Jezebel, their court, and the priests of Baal against him—one man against a world in arms; when the first disciples went forth to proclaim a crucified Saviour, with all the power of Judaism and all the arms and wealth of the ancient Roman empire against them; when Luther, a poor monk, challenged the Vatican, and stood solitary before the emperor and cardinals, saying, “Here stand I alone for the truth; God help me!” In each case, who would not have expected that the mountain would crush the worm? But in each case the worm prevailed. If we look at the obstacles still in the way—Heathenism, Mahometanism, Popery, Infidelity, and all the forms of vice—they seem most formidable; but the “worm” shall thresh all the mountains! The corn of the Jews was threshed by drawing over it a sharp instrument—a cart with wheels encircled with iron spikes, thus cutting the straw very small, while the corn escaped through interstices left for the purpose. As complete shall be the breaking down of all the obstacles to the Saviour’s glory by the Christian Church, weak as she is in herself.
2. To the cares and calamities of life. We are here in a state of exile, like that of the Jews in Babylon; and we often need encouragement. The frequent repetition of the charge, “Fear not,” implies that there is much to fear. The greatness of the consolation offered proves the greatness of the impending danger. Fear is incident to our nature, for we are weak creatures; to our character, for we are guilty creatures; to our condition and circumstances, for we are the suffering inhabitants of a guilty world. And though it is true that our hopes are greater than our fears, it is equally true that our faith is never so firm as not to be exposed to waverings, and our hope is never so strong as to be altogether above distrust. The path to heaven lies through an enemy’s country; it is strait, narrow, and intricate; there are many turnings, windings, and bypaths in which pilgrims may be drawn aside, and, like Christian in the Valley of the Shadow of Death, we are not always favoured with daylight. We pursue it beset by trials and afflictions, and we are often confronted by mountains of care and sorrow, of disappointment and danger. But we need not fear any of them. The worm shall thresh the mountains. See also another great promise in which great perils are implied (Isaiah 43:2).
3. To the Christian conflict—the struggle which the Christian has to sustain against the evil of his own heart, the seductive influences of the world, and the artifices and wiles of the powers of darkness (Ephesians 6:12; H. E. I. 1059–1062).
II. AN ANIMATING PROMISE.
“Fear not, thou worm Jacob. True, thou art a worm—weak and low in thine own eyes, small and contemptible in the eyes of others; but thou shalt be strengthened for the warfare and successful in the conflict; for I, the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, engage myself on thy side, and will be answerable for the result.” In view of this promise there can be no doubt that grace, though weak, shall be victorious.
Great consolation is to be derived—
1. From the near relation which God sustains to His people. “Thy Redeemer,” &c.
2. From the perpetual presence of God with His Church. “I will hold thee,” &c.
3. From the manner in which He adapts the instrumentality He employs to the end He proposes. “I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth.”
4. From the way in which He identifies His glory with our success.
In order to enjoy the consolation of this promise—
1. There must be in us a well-founded hope of acceptance and reconciliation with God.
2. We must seek to possess the character to which this and all such promises are made.
3. We must be much in the exercise of that faith which honours God in all His attributes.
4. We must cultivate the expectation of nothing less than final triumph for the cause of God, and for the individual believer, the recipient of His mercy. The history of the past proves that this expectation is reasonable. How often the worm has threshed the mountain! The captives were delivered from their captivity. The Apostles triumphed over the Roman empire. Luther and his associates did accomplish the Reformation. That which has been is that which shall be; in the future there will be still greater victories for the Church of God.—Samuel Thodey.
CHEER FOR THE CHURCH OF GOD
Isaiah 41:14-16. Fear not, thou worm Jacob, &c.
The first reference of these words may be to the dejected feeling of the Jews in the captivity of Babylon, and they were recorded in order to encourage them in their low condition; but to understand them as referring only to the temporal state of the Jews in Babylon and their deliverance from their captivity would be nothing better than to reduce this sublime inspired record to the level of the writings of Josephus or any other uninspired Jewish historian. The chief and the ultimate reference of the words is evidently to the condition of the spiritual Church in the various ages of the world. Taking the verses in this sense, we are led to consider—
I. THE WEAKNESS OF THE CHURCH.
“Thou worm Jacob.” A worm is a weak and despised thing.
1. The Church of God in itself is weak and helpless. Its most useful and godly members have described themselves as “worms” (Psalms 22:6). It has generally been made up of such persons as the world looked upon with contempt (1 Corinthians 1:26-28.)
2. It has always been despised by the ungodly. The apostles of Christ were regarded by the world as “the filth of the world and the off-scouring of all things,” and eminently godly people have been treated thus in every age.
II. THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH. The weak and despised worm is to be converted into “a new, sharp, threshing instrument having teeth.” The Orientals used to thresh their corn with heavy rollers with sharp iron teeth, which separated the corn from the ears, and cut the straw to be fodder for the cattle. The Church is compared here to such a powerful machine.
1. The holiness of God’s people makes them strong and effective to do good (Matthew 5:16; Philippians 2:15).
2. Their activity and devotedness make them like sharp threshing instruments.
3. Their prayers also have in all ages produced wonderful effects.
III. THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE CHURCH. “Thou shalt thresh the mountains,” &c. By the mountains and the hills we are to understand the sinful habits of mankind, such as their commercial frauds, their warlike dispositions, their drunkenness, their lasciviousness, &c., and all the false religions which prevail throughout the world. All these formidable obstructions are to be removed through the instrumentality of God’s people.
IV. THE JOY OF THE CHURCH.
“Thou shalt rejoice in the Lord,” when all the mountains and the hills shall be removed and made as chaff.
1. The temporal condition of the world will be happy and glorious.
2. Its spiritual condition will be heavenly. It will then be the days of heaven upon earth.
3. And the Church will attribute all the glory to the Holy One of Israel, and not to itself.—Thomas Rees, D.D.
Supposed to be an interval of twelve or fourteen years between the first part of the book and that part beginning at chap. 40. The prophet is fast growing an old man. In mind he throws himself into the future, and places himself in the midst of the Jews in Babylon. He supposes their captivity to be nearing its end; but, to the heart yearning so painfully after Jerusalem, it seems without termination. To cheer them, this and the preceding chapter ring with rallying-cries, repeated again and again: “Fear not;” “Be not dismayed.” The text is a remarkable assurance that though their difficulties be as “mountains,” Jacob should rise and “beat them small.”
I. GOD’S OWN RECOGNITION OF THE FEEBLENESS OF HIS PEOPLE.
“Fear not, thou worm Jacob and ye men of Israel,” or “few men of Israel.” It is His epithet, as well as flung at them by their conquerors; but it is not used in their spirit. It is only when the insect of a man struggles defiantly against his Maker that God says in ineffable contempt, “Let the potsherds,” &c. This is a pitiful remembrance of their weakness. Illustrates His infinite condescension. In deigning to ally Himself to men, in inviting us to share His thoughts and counsels, He has not overrated the worth of the creature He receives to such high dignity. Marvellous that He who has in His majesty and glory from everlasting stood alone, and must be for ever the solitary God, without an equal in His universe, welcomes to His heart those who are impotent as a “worm” (Job 25:5-6).
II. GOD’S RECOGNITION OF THE HUGE DIFFICULTIES IN THE WAY OF HIS PEOPLE.
He speaks of them as “mountains,” “hills.” Babylon, with its strong walls, vast army, the desert reaching away weary miles between His people and their country; all is gauged exactly. For them to try and overcome would be like a worm attempting to attack the mountains.
III. CONSIDER THE “WORM” AS THE “MOUNTAIN THRESHER”.
“Thou shalt thresh the mountains,” &c. In the previous chapter God is represented leading His people in their victorious march through the wilderness. A way was to be prepared that He might march right royally before His people (Isaiah 40:3-5). See the instance of Semiramis on her march to Ecbatanæ.
Behold the worm attempting the impossible and accomplishing it! The handful of Israelites were omnipotent with Jehovah at their back. Invested with God’s strength, the “worm” should conquer all difficulties.
The main idea is the completeness of the conquest of hindrances. No words better convey a conception of the thoroughness with which the work should be done: “Mountains threshed small” and “hills made as chaff.”
1. The application of this promise to the followers of Christ personally. The Christian is to be a “mountain thresher” in his own heart and life. “Sin shall not have dominion over you.”
2. Its application to Christian labour in general. This promise is the inspiration of the Church in what the world deems idiotic tasks affecting the conversion of the heathen. Sin is not always to be the “mountain.” “A new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness” are to arise. You cannot crush goodness out of the world now. (See the failure of Julian, Voltaire, and others.)
3. The application of this promise to any particular neighbourhood. God is jealous of the mountain Sin rising everywhere. If there is any piety in any given locality, though it is as insignificant as a “worm,” it is strong enough with God to save that neighbourhood.—S. Shrimpton.