GOD’S PROMISE TO HIS AGED SERVANTS
Isaiah 46:4. And even to your old age I am He, &c.
The design of this chapter is to caution the Israelites against the idolatry of the Babylonians, and to prevent their fears of any mischief which idol-gods could do. For this purpose, Isaiah describes the desolation Cyrus should bring upon Babylon, and foretells that he should carry captive their gods, who would be insufficient to help either their worshippers or themselves. And then God calls upon His people to consider whether He was such a god as these (Isaiah 46:4-5). He reminds them of what He had already done for them in their formation and their support; that He had shown all the care and tenderness of a parent to them; and assures them that He would continue His care of them. But our text may have been particularly designed to comfort God’s aged servants, who should live till near or quite to the end of the captivity; those whose eyes saw the ruin of the first and the dedication of the second temple (Ezra 3:12). To comfort and animate their hearts who expected to die in a strange land, and were greatly distressed at the remembrance of Zion, God encourages them still to hope in Him. To God’s ancient saints to-day we may lawfully apply the same promise.
I. GOD’S PROMISE TO HIS AGED SAINTS.
1. God promises to support them under their burdens, and carry them through their difficulties. “I will carry you.” The word signifies to sustain any pressure, or bear any burden. It intimates God’s readiness to help them, when they seem likely to be overborne and pressed down. How many are the burdens of old age from without! From the world, which still hangs too much about them. Sometimes their circumstances are such, that they cannot get rid of its cares and hurries. Their fellow-creatures are often a burden to them. Those with whom they are obliged to have dealings are apt to take advantage of their decays to deceive them. Some in whom they place confidence disappoint them. Some from whom they have good reason to expect assistance, ungratefully forsake them. This is the most grievous burden, and would be too heavy for them to bear, were it not that “the eternal God is their refuge, and underneath them are His everlasting arms.” Nay, events that in the vigour of life would have given them little concern now hang as a heavy weight upon them (Ecclesiastes 12:5). Every little thing is ready to overset them, but God will carry them by supporting their spirits, and putting strength into them, so that they shall not faint and sink (Deuteronomy 33:25).
2. He will comfort them under all their infirmities and sorrows. “I will bear.” The word sometimes signifies, as the former did, to support and sustain; but more frequently, to exalt or elevate. It may denote lifting up the soul in joy or comfort; and so it may be considered as an advance upon the former thought. The aged need the fulfilment of this promise. The infirmities of nature come upon them apace; the senses grow weak; the active powers decay: they need the help of others almost as much as they did in their infancy. Often the faculties of the soul languish. Their relish for company, business, and pleasure is gone (2 Samuel 19:35; P. D. 103, 113). Nay, they find their thoughts confused, their affection for divine things flags, and they cannot serve God with such fixedness of heart, such warmth of zeal and love as they have done. What they hear and read quickly slips away; and their minds are no longer easily impressed with divine truths. In these melancholy circumstances, God will bear and lift up their souls. He sometimes in a most wonderful manner strengthens the powers of the mind. Under the infirmities of nature, He will afford them the consolations of religion; elevate their minds above the trifles of earth and sense; strengthen their faith in His promises; and enlighten the eyes of their understandings, to see the glorious inheritance of the saints, and their own title to and qualification for it (2 Corinthians 4:16).
3. God will deliver them out of all their fears and tribulations. “Even I will carry you, and will deliver you.” Many of God’s aged servants, through the languor of their spirits or weakness of their faith, are continually distressed with anxious fears of poverty, of increasing afflictions, of the temptations peculiar to old age, of apostacy in their last days, of death. But the Lord will deliver them from all their fears, will strengthen their hearts, and will make them desire to depart and be with Christ (H. E. I,. 322, 1602, 1642, 1643). And at length He will give them an everlasting release from everything painful and distressing (H. E. I. 1629).
II. REASONS WHY THEY SHOULD CONFIDE IN THIS PROMISE.
1. He is your Maker. “I have made,” saith He, “and I will bear.” GOD formed your bodies and souls. Why, but to communicate happiness to you, that you might serve Him on earth and be for ever with Him? He who freely gave you your life, will surely grant you every needful good (Matthew 6:25). God made you: must He not therefore be a very wise Being? Must He not know all your needs, distresses, and fears? God made you: must He not therefore be a very powerful Being? Is there any evil so great that He cannot deliver you from it, any good so valuable that He cannot confer it upon you? (Isaiah 26:4).
2. He hath been careful of you and kind to you hitherto. This is intimated in the text, which is a promise of continued care and favour; and it is plainly expressed in the preceding verse. Have you not reason to acknowledge, with aged Jacob, that the God of your fathers has fed you “all your life long” to this day, and redeemed you from evil? What stronger argument can there be to encourage your faith in His promises, than your long experience of His goodness? To distrust Him will be peculiarly unreasonable, and highly ungrateful. Holy men of old thought it a very substantial reason to exercise faith in God, that they had long experienced His care (Psalms 76:7-8; 2 Timothy 4:18). Hath God carried you sixty or seventy years, and will He cease His care and withdraw His kindness? How unreasonable such a conclusion! God hath been an old friend to you, a tried friend, and you may be assured He will never leave nor forsake you; especially when you consider—
3. He is an unchangeable God. “I am He”—an expressive word elsewhere rendered “the same” (Psalms 102:27). “I am He that I was of old to the saints in former generations, and will continue the same through every succeeding age, and not like the idols of the heathen, that were made yesterday, and are destroyed to-morrow.” This renders God the proper object of our trust. Creatures change, but He is the same. When men grow old they often find that their friends forsake them; their old acquaintance look shy on them; their children sometimes turn their backs upon them; the world is almost weary of them, and wisheth them gone. But their God remains the same powerful, wise, and gracious Being, whose affection for His aged servants does not lessen. It was a remarkable saying of Cardinal Wolsey, at the close of his life, “If I had served my God as long and as faithfully as I have served my prince, He would not have cast me off in my old age.” The unchangeableness of God adds the strongest security to His promises and covenant, and is a sufficient encouragement to His people to hope in Him, whatever changes and alterations there may be in the world about them (Psalms 89:34; Psalms 48:14).
III. CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS.
1. How unreasonable and unbecoming is it for aged saints to sink under their burdens and infirmities! Be they ever so many and great, you have the promise of God to depend upon, that He “will bear, and carry, and deliver” you. We have seen that it is a sure promise. Therefore, instead of fretting and complaining in the midst of trial, plead it, and it will be fulfilled to you.
2. Aged saints are under great obligations to God, and should be faithful unto death. To Him you are under innumerable obligations as your creator, preserver, and benefactor. Therefore proceed vigorously in His service, and let not your infirmities be made an excuse for negligence and sloth (P. D. 2598). Labour to maintain the seriousness and spirituality of your devotions. Let your hoary heads never be spotted with any sin. If God gives you ability for active services, abound in them, for death is at hand. If you cannot do this, adorn and recommend religion by patience and resignation to His will, and by quietly waiting for His salvation. Glorify Him by calm faith in the final hour. I heartily wish your souls and mine may then be in the same frame as that of a pious Scotch minister, who, being asked by a friend during his last illness whether he thought himself dying, answered, “Really, friend, I care not whether I am or not; for if I die, I shall be with God, and if I live, He will be with me.”
3. Young persons should choose God as the guide of their youth, if they desire that He should be the support and comfort of their age. If this great choice is not made in youth, it probably never will be made (H. E. I, 1457, 1458).—Job Orton, S. T. P: Practical Works, vol. i. pp. 373–382.
These words were addressed to God’s ancient people in view of the time when Babylon would be brought to ruin. Bel and Nebo, its gods, would be carried away, unable to defend themselves. In contrast to them Jehovah, who had, like a mother, carried His people, would continue to carry them, through all the duration of their existence. To the end it would be as it had been from the beginning (Deuteronomy 32:11-12). The words were spoken to the nation, but they contain a truth equally precious to every individual; and in this view we will consider them. We will notice
I. THE APPREHENSIONS THEY CONTEMPLATE. They are those incident to old age and its prospect. While no one can be certain that he will reach old age, no reflecting man can fail to think sometimes of the possibility that he may. At such times we remember several things, as that it is a period
1. When a man’s pecuniary resources are likely to be diminished. Where an inheritance has been derived from ancestors, and where successful commercial enterprise has realised wealth, it is not so. Where it is possible to provide for old age, it is dutiful. But in the majority of cases, it is impossible. The family swallows up all. The decline of power to perform customary work means diminished income. This is the case of the labouring poor, and of many widows. Yet old age is the period of life when there is diminished ability to endure privation. The elasticity of youth rises above a change of circumstances; old age sinks under it. There is then a tendency also to greater anxiety about worldly comfort and sufficiency.
2. When friendship is less available than in youth. If poverty comes with it, it is too often found that “the world forsakes whom fortune leaves.” Most of the friends of earlier days have gone whence there is no return; and there is neither equal disposition nor opportunity to make new ones. The old man feels himself becoming less important to the community. In private life he often becomes less capable of affording happiness. He may be garrulous; but it is about things not of present interest. Thus he is in danger of sinking into neglect; perhaps he is too sensitive, and fancies himself neglected and forsaken when it is not really the case.
3. When the physical powers fall into decay. It is not necessarily so with the intellectual and spiritual powers, which are often most vigorous in advanced life. But the body is like a house, it falls into ruin after a number of years. Its powers decline. Its capacity for action lessens. The enjoyment of existence departs.
4. It is the period nearest to the hour of death. True, death is also near the young; only to them he does not show himself so plainly. But he cannot be far from the old. Death stands before them; a dark enemy who must be faced; a dread moment when, amidst unknown suffering, all that has made life interesting must be left behind.
These gloomy anticipations crowd upon the contemplation of old age. Happy is it for those who in full faith can pray: “Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth.” To God the words of our text direct us. Notice
II. THE ANTIDOTE THEY ADMINISTER. “Even to your old age I am He: and even to hoar hairs will I carry you.” They encouraged the exiled Jews to put their trust in the Lord. They may encourage us in the like manner in spite of the presence or the gloomy prospect of old age. He will be our God. He will lead and carry us through life to old age; and in old age will relieve the darkness by the brightness of His presence, the sufficiency of His power, and the tenderness of His love. The text reminds us of
1. His permanent existence. “To your old age I am He.” His life runs through all ages and generations. The care of earthly parents gradually dies away as their children reach maturity. Parents usually die before their children. Should they survive until their children become old, they are themselves cast on the care of their children. However great his solicitude, no parent can guarantee that his own life will continue as long as his children need his care. But our heavenly Father will continue to exist through our lives and beyond. He can undertake the charge of His children to the end of their lives.
2. His enduring ability. “I will carry.… I will bear.” The help rendered by any man may be discontinued from loss of ability. Human promises must be conditional on the continuance of ability. But God’s ability suffers no diminution. You cannot survive His power to help.
3. His unchanging purpose. God says, “I will.” It is a purpose formed in infinite wisdom. It will be executed with unfailing faithfulness. He will not change His mind as men sometimes do. The purpose is formed in the tenderness of unchanging love. Who can measure the duration of the mother’s love for the child she has carried in her womb? Long as life lasts, it is in her deepest heart. Even though he go astray, and others cast him off, the mother will not give him up. This is the love with which the Lord here says He follows His children, notwithstanding their numerous follies and faults (Isaiah 46:3). May we not regard this declaration as a sufficient antidote to the apprehensions we are apt to entertain in prospect of the various anxieties and inconveniences of advancing years?
You who are advanced in life can bear testimony to the Lord’s faithful love, which has attended all your days. Have we not heard the aged speak in terms of satisfaction and thankfulness, notwithstanding the trials they have experienced in their life journey? (Psalms 71:6; Psalms 71:15). See that you honour God to the end by trusting yourselves to His disposal.
You who are young, make the Lord your confidence from your earliest days. Friends, health, business capacity, opportunities may fail. Lean on One who is independent of changes. Make Him your friend. Say to-day, “My Father, Thou shalt be the guide of my youth.”—J. Rawlinson.
The words “I am He” mean “I am still the same: I will not alter. My love will not grow cold, my care for you will still continue.” The God of our youth and manhood will be the God of our old age, losing none of the tenderness with which He has guided us through previous stages. What a consoling promise! Though originally made to Israel, and applied to them in a national sense, each believer can make it his own (2 Corinthians 1:20); and it is good for us, not only to rest on such a promise as we pass into the future, but to mark its fulfilment in our past experience, and in the experience of others who at life’s close have borne testimony to the continued goodness, the sustaining power, the unfailing faithfulness of Him whom they trusted and served.
I. THE PERIOD OVER WHICH GOD’S CARE EXTENDS.—“Even to your old age,” “to hoar hairs.” God engages to be our life-long Friend. He will tend us all the way from infancy to old age, and then He will not forsake us. This golden thread of divine care runs through the whole web of our life, brightening its most sombre colours.
God engages,
1. To be our Friend to old age. Some of us may think we can dispense with His help on the way to old age, though when we reach it, with enfeebled powers and diminished comforts, we may be glad to have recourse to His help. But God’s promise is larger than our poor thoughts. He takes us up in His supporting arms as soon as we draw our first breath, and never leaves us, if we do not leave Him, until we have drawn our last.
2. To be our Friend in old age. Having conducted us to this period, He will not cast us off (Psalms 71:9; Psalms 71:18). Old age is often a time of feebleness and neglect, with few friendships and enjoyments, but with His presence and support we may be peaceful, serene, useful in it. Instead of being repulsive, as we often see it, it may be beautiful, attractive, and honourable in us (Leviticus 19:32; Proverbs 16:31). It is pitiable to see an old man who has missed the object of life. “To pass out of the world in the world’s debt; to have consumed much and produced nothing; to have sat down at the feast and gone away without paying his reckoning, is not, to put it in the mildest way, a satisfactory transaction” (Earl of Derby). Such a spectacle is not uncommon; but, even then, a change may come. “God can put a fresh kernel into an old and worn-out husk.” The sun of God’s favour may shine on the declining days of a life spent in the darkness of unbelief, but such a case does not fall within the scope of this promise. Only those whom God has guided to old age can count with certainty on His support and blessing in old age. Many an aged saint can testify to the continued goodness of God. Is old age a second childhood? God is a tender parent, unwearied in His attention. Is it a time of diminished comforts? One great comfort is still left, all the more soothing when others are gone. Is the old man lonely, like the last leaf which the storm has left clinging to the tree? The life-long Friend still remains, “when other helpers fail and comforts flee.” And the result is that the aged believer is often a “grand old man” still bringing forth fruit, counselling others from his ripe experience, cheered by happy memories and glowing hopes, not frowning on the happiness of others, contented, trustful, loving, kind.
“On he moves to meet his latter end,
Angels around befriending virtue’s friend:
Sinks to the grave with unperceived decay,
While resignation gently slopes the way.
And, all his prospects brightening to the last,
His heaven commences ere the world be past.”
—Goldsmith.
II. THE NATURE OF THE CARE WHICH GOD EXERCISES OVER US, expressed in the words “carry,” “bear,” “deliver,” which stand in contrast to what is said (Isaiah 46:1-2) of the idol-gods of the Chaldeans. Idolaters carry their gods, but our God carries us. Images are borne about in procession, or are packed up and laid on beasts of burden—a withering exposure of the folly of idol-worship (Isaiah 46:7). The same may be said of creature confidences. Earthly possessions, instead of a help, often become a burden and a snare. Trust in man is often met by faithlessness. Sinful pleasure proves a clog and a hindrance. Unable to support or deliver, these gods become burdens, drags, encumbrances which must be supported.
But these words express the character of God’s care for us. He is both father and mother to us (Psalms 103:13; Isaiah 66:13; Psalms 27:10). Expressive and tender though the image is, it does not fully exhibit His affection. Not only does He nurse us in infancy and childhood, but even to old age (Psalms 48:14).
What deliverances, too, He works for us, from accident and sickness, from the burden of sin and the onset of temptation! How marvellous have been His patience with us and His providential care! He will preserve us in old age, and deliver us from death. To the Christian pilgrim old age will be a Beulah land whence he can descry the shining glories of the heavenly city.
III. THE ARGUMENT BY WHICH GOD ENCOURAGES US TO EXPECT HIS CONTINUED CARE. “I have made, and I will bear.” As the Creator of our bodies and the Father of our spirits, God acknowledges His obligation to guide and care for us. Does an earthly father love his child, and shall not the Universal Parent care for the children whom His hand hath formed? The argument becomes stronger when addressed to those whom God has created anew in Christ (Psalms 56:13; Psalms 138:8; Philippians 1:6). Behold, then, how gracious is our God! Not only does He assure us of His tender support all through life, but He also condescends to give us a strong reason for counting upon it.
In conclusion—
1. On this promise God rests His claim to our undivided trust. If He engages to do all this, ought we not to give Him the entire confidence of our hearts, abandoning every refuge of lies? There is everything to invite our firm reliance (2 Timothy 1:12; 2 Timothy 4:18).
2. There is a call here for gratitude. God has brought some of you well on in your journey to old age, and will you not acknowledge His goodness? and you who have reached old age, are you not thankful for the mercies of the past?
3. The subject inspires us with hope. At whatever stage we stand in the pilgrimage of life, here is a voice of encouragement.—William Guthrie, M.A.
Old age most wish to attain, but those who reach it are generally disposed to complain about it. Very various are the circumstances and feelings in this period of life, but, with all who attain it, it is the time when their “strength faileth;” and with numbers it is a time of gloom and sadness, of labour and sorrow. Caleb could say, “Now, lo! I am fourscore,” &c. But how few can adopt this language!
I. Old age has its peculiar afflictions.
1. Physical deterioration (Ecclesiastes 12:1, &c.)
2. It is usually embittered by the recollection of many distressing bereavements.
3. How utterly forsaken and destitute are some of the aged!
4. Poverty is a frequent accompaniment of old age.—Such a termination of human life, when viewed apart from religion, is cheerless and melancholy. Religion, the best companion of our youth, is the only effectual support of the aged.
II. Old age has its peculiar duties. The foundation must be laid in those great principles of religion, “repentance towards God, and faith,” &c. Until then you cannot possess a Christian character, nor can you experience the supports and consolations connected with it. Have you repented, &c.? If you have received the remission of sins, &c., let your mind be directed to those duties which arise from the peculiarity of your present circumstances.
1. Daily familiarise yourself to the thought of your approaching end.
2. Endeavour in the midst of your trials to cultivate a thankful disposition.
3. Guard against the temptations incident to your condition.
4. Earnestly seek after an increasing meetness for future and eternal glory.
III. Old age, when connected with piety, admits of many consolations. Consider—
1. That there is nothing peculiar in the afflictions which you endure, or which need prevent the enjoyment of internal peace and comfort.
2. If old age has its afflictions, it has also its immunities. If the circle of your enjoyment is contracted, you have less to ensnare your affections, and draw you away from God, &c.
3. You have the promise of effectual support and of complete deliverance.
4. The nearness of salvation should reconcile you to affliction and death.
5. How blessed is your condition contrasted with that of the aged transgressor!—T. H. Walker: Companion for the Afflicted, pp. 309–335.
THE GOD OF THE AGED
Isaiah 46:4. Even to your old age I am He, &c.
I. The doctrine of the text I hold to be the constancy of God’s love, its perpetuity, and its unchangeable nature. God declares that He is not simply the God of the young saint or the middle-aged saint, but that He is the God of the saints in all their ages from the cradle to the tomb. “Even to old age I am He;” or, as Lowth beautifully and more properly translates it, “Even to old age I am the same, and even to hoary hairs will I carry you.”
1. That God Himself is unchanged when we come to old age, surely I have no need to prove. Abundant testimonies of Scripture declare Him to be immutable. If we need proofs, we might look even abroad on nature, and we should from nature guess that God would not change during the short period of our mortal life.
Had God changed, we should need—
(1.) A new Bible. But the Bible which the child readeth is the Bible of the grey head.
(2.) A new form of worship.
That God is still unchanged, we learn from the sweet experience of all the saints. They testify that the God of their youth is the God of their later years. They put their trust in Him because they have not yet marked a single alteration in Him.
2. Not only is God the same in His nature, He is the same in His dealings; He will carry, deliver, and bear us the same as He used to do. God’s promises are not made to ages, but to people, to persons, and to men.
II. Consider the time of old age as a special period, needing manifestations of the constancy of divine love.
1. Old age is a time of peculiar memory. In fact, it is the age of memory. What a peculiar memory the old man has! How many joys he can remember, &c. And yet, looking back upon all, he can say, “Even to old age He is the same,” &c. How frequently has he been forced to exclaim, “Though friends have departed, yet there is a Friend who sticketh closer than a brother; on Him I still trust, and to Him I still commit my soul.”
2. Of peculiar hope. The old saint hath few hopes of the future in this world; they are gathered up into a small space; and he can tell you, in a few words, what constitutes all his expectation and desire. But he has one hope, and that is the very same which he had when he first trusted in Christ; it is a hope of an inheritance that is “undefiled, that fadeth not away,” &c.
3. Of peculiar solicitude. An old man is not anxious about many things, as we are, for he hath not so many things for which to concern himself. But
(1.) he hath more solicitude about his bodily frame. He fears every now and then that the pitcher will be “broken at the cistern;” for “the noise of the grinders is low.” But in this peculiar solicitude you have another proof of divine faithfulness; for now that you have little pleasure in the flesh, do you not find that God is just the same; and that, though the days are come when you can say, “I have no pleasure in them,” yet the days are not come when you can say, “I have no pleasure in Him?”
(2.) There is another solicitude—a failure of mind. They forget much which they would wish to remember; but still they find that their God is just the same; that His goodness does not depend on their memory; that the sweetness of His grace does not depend upon their palate.
(3.) The chief solicitude of old age is death. Young men may die soon. Old men must die. His one solicitude now is, to examine himself whether he is in the faith. But God’s faithfulness is the same; for if he be nearer death, he has the sweet satisfaction that he is nearer heaven; and if he has more need to examine himself than ever, he has also more evidence whereby to examine himself.
4. Of peculiar blessedness. The old man has a good experience to talk about. He has peculiar fellowship with Christ. There are peculiar communings, openings of the gates of paradise, visions of glory, just as you come near to it. The nearer you get to the bright light of the celestial city, the clearer shall be the air. But all this only proves that Christ is the same; because, when there are fewer earthly joys, He gives more spiritual ones.
5. Of peculiar duties.
(1.) Testimony. I remember hearing the late Mr. Jay. I fancy that if I had heard the sermon preached by a young man, I should not have thought so much of it; but there appeared such a depth in it because it came from an old man, standing on the borders of the grave; it was like an echo of the past, coming to me, to let me hear my God’s faithfulness, that I might trust for the future. Testimony is the duty of old men and women; they should labour whenever they can to bear testimony to God’s faithfulness, and to declare that now also, when they are old and grey-headed, their God forsakes them not.
(2.) Comforting the young believer. No one is more qualified than kind-hearted old men to convert the young; when the young Christian comes to them, they say, “Do not fear: I have gone through the waters, and they have not overflown me,” &c.
(3.) Warning. The warnings of the old have great effect; and it is their peculiar work to guide the imprudent, and warn the unwary.
APPLICATION.—
1. What a precious thought, young men and women, is contained in this text! Here is a safe investment. A rock may be dissolved, and if I build a house on that it may be destroyed; but if I build on Christ, my happiness is secure for ever. How blessed it is to begin in the early morning to love and serve God! The best old Christians are those who were once young Christians.
2. You middleaged men are plunged in the midst of business, and you are sometimes supposing what will become of you in your old age. But is there no promise of God to you that you suppose about to-morrows? Middle-aged man, give thy present years to Him.
3. Venerable fathers in the faith, and mothers in Israel, take these words for your joy. Do not let the young people catch you indulging in melancholy, but go about cheerful and happy, and they will think how blessed it is to be a Christian, for so will you prove to them—to a demonstration, that even to old age God is with you, and that when your strength faileth He is still your preservation.—C. H. Spurgeon: Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, No. 81–82.
“Even to your old age, I am He.” That is, “I am the same; I remain unchangeable, with the same tenderness, affection, and care.” The proper study of man is God. Though apart from a divine revelation we may acquire some knowledge of His character and perfections, His full-orbed character is only to be found in the revelation He has been pleased to make of Himself in His Word. All things, &c., change; but God is ever the same. “I am He, the same yesterday,” &c.
I. THE IMMUTABILITY OF GOD. He is subject to no change whatever in His manner of being, His perfections, purposes, promises, or threatenings. Whatever He was millions of ages before the worlds were made, He is now; and what He is now, He will be for ever. That He is thus unchangeable is clear from—
1. Reason;
2. Nature;
3. Moral government;
4. The repeated and explicit declarations of Holy Scripture (H. E. I. 2254, 2256, 2324, 2341).
II. SOME OF THE PRACTICAL LESSONS WHICH THIS DOCTRINE TEACHES.
1. It furnishes encouragement to prayer. The Atheist makes another use of this doctrine, and infers from it that it must be in vain to pray, because our petitions can produce no change in the divine mind. But this inference is as repugnant to sound reasoning as it is to the precepts of the Bible, and the spirit of piety (H. E. I. 2255, 3750–3753). If the Lord were fickle like earthly monarchs, then, indeed, it would be vain to pray, for He might grant a petition one day, and deny it another, or He might change His purposes and plans altogether. But if a prince promised to confer some great benefit upon a certain condition, and you knew his promise to be unchangeable, what man in the world would think of saying, “It is no use to seek the benefit, because it depends upon the fulfilment of a prescribed condition?”
2. It encourages our personal confidence in God, amidst all the changes and decays of this mortal state. We cannot trust a changeable being. God is worthy our utmost confidence, for He is immutable (Isaiah 26:4). [1465]
[1465] His people always need His protection and care, and He will never leave nor forsake them (Hebrews 13:5). He who is the God of infancy and childhood will be the God of age. “The second childhood of man will find Him no less certainly a protector than the first.” “Man travelling upon the road espies some great castle; sometimes it seems to be nigh, another time afar off; now on this hand, anon on that; now before, by and by behind; when all the while it standeth still unmoved. So a man that goes in a boat by water thinks the shore moveth, whereas it is not the shore but the boat that passeth away. Thus it is with God: sometimes He seemeth to be angry with the sons of men, another time to be well pleased; now to be at hand, anon at a distance; now showing the light of His countenance, by and by hiding His face in displeasure; yet He is not changed at all. It is we, not He, that is changed. He is immutable in His nature, in His counsels, and in all His promises.”—Beveridge.
3. It should stimulate us to seek freedom from all fickleness—a steadiness of principle, purpose, action (Psalms 57:7; Psalms 108:1).
4. It infallibly secures the punishment of the finally impenitent. Every threatening as well as every promise must be fulfilled.
“Faithful in Thy promises,
And in Thy threatenings too.”
—Alfred Tucker.
THE LORD’S CARE OF HIS PEOPLE
Isaiah 46:4. And even to your old age, &c.
What a consolatory declaration—sufficient to silence all our fears, and to afford us quietness and peace for ever.
I. THE OBJECTS OF THE DIVINE CARE.
1. The whole creation. God is ever present and ever active, and all the operations of nature are the manifestations of His living care (Psalms 104:10-28; Matthew 10:29; Luke 12:24, &c.)
2. More especially man—made in His image, formed for eternal existence, and endowed with capacities of eternal enjoyment. Even those who are unthankful and evil (Matthew 6:4-5).
3. In a yet more special sense His own believing people (1 Timothy 4:10). These He calls His “beloved,” &c. None are overlooked or neglected. Remember your individual interest in the special care of your Heavenly Father.
II. THE DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DIVINE CARE.
1. It is most tender. “I will carry you, and I will bear.” Surpasses the tenderness of a fond mother for her helpless infant (chap. Isaiah 49:15).
2. Active and effectual. “I will deliver.” He will accomplish that which concerneth us (chap. Isaiah 14:24). His care is not an idle sentiment, but an operative principle, and being connected with almighty power, cannot exert itself in vain, but accomplishes with infinite ease all its purposes. Human care is often inefficient, for want of power, but with God to will is to perform, &c.
3. Unwearied. “Even to your old age,” &c. Surpasses that of the most tender parent, which naturally dies away as the child reaches manhood. God’s people are always the objects of His tender solicitude. Age does not make them less dependent, and experience only teaches them more and more their need of His sustaining grace. Human care is variable according to our changing circumstances and situations, but God’s care is constant under all circumstances: affliction, temptation, &c.
III. THE GROUNDS AND ASSURANCES OF THE DIVINE CARE.
1. The relations He sustains to us. He is our
(1.) Creator. “I have made you,” and (chap. Isaiah 44:2). Whatever motive induced Him to create us, still induces Him to care for us.
(2.) Proprietor. He cares for His own lawful possession.
(3.) Father. He cares for us with infinitely more concern than the very best earthly father.
(4.) Redeemer (chap. Isaiah 41:14, &c.) The former arguments apply with double force. What greater proof can there be of His care? The cross is its measure.
2. The teaching and promises of His Word (Psalms 103:13; 2 Samuel 23:5; Isaiah 49:15; Hebrews 6:17-18, &c.)
3. The experience of His people (Deuteronomy 32:7). Could we ask those who inhabit the celestial mansions, ‘doth God care for His people?’ they would all reply, with loud and grateful rapture, ‘He doth care for His people,’ &c. Those who are now on the way to heaven can testify to God’s loving care. This is the most obvious and impressive evidence.
CONCLUSION.—
1. The wonderful condescension of God (Psalms 113:5-6).
2. The obligations that rest upon us to love and serve Him who thus cares for us.
3. The privilege of casting all our “care”—anxieties—“upon Him who careth for us” (1 Peter 5:7; Philippians 4:6-7). This is the universal heart’sease—the only cure for care [1468]Alfred Tucker.
[1468] “Does my heavenly Father really care for me?” The words came from a lady sitting by an open window; her brow bore the trace of care and sadness; her eyes were suffused with tears. Within two years death had thrice entered the home circle. The husband and two children, whose smiles made home happy, were sleeping in the graveyard near by. As her bereavement, her loneliness, her blighted prospects, recurred to her mind, she exclaimed, almost with a spirit that questioned its Maker’s goodness, “Does my heavenly Father really care for me!” A servant girl, who perhaps scarcely knew she was doing anything for the Master, passed by the window singing:—
“Though waves and storms go o’er my head;
Though strength and health and friends be gone;
Though joys be withered all and dead;
Though every comfort be withdrawn—
On this my steadfast soul relies,
Father, Thy mercy never dies.”
The cadences of those beautiful words, borne on the still summer air, found an echo in that stricken soul. She rose from her reverie of sadness, wiped away the falling tears, and looking not toward the silent tomb where bodies were crumbling to dust, but to the spirit-land whither her loved ones had gone, she said, with a faith she had never before known: “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.”
THE HUMAN CRY AND THE DIVINE RESPONSE
Psalms 71:18. Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not.
Isaiah 46:4. Even to your old age, I am He; and even to your hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.
I. THE CRY OF THE AGED SAINT IN TIME OF DISTRESS (Psalms 71:18).
1. Aged saints are sometimes in distress. The Psalmist was, and others often are. Secular embarrassment, personal or family affliction, spiritual trials, &c.
2. Such distress has a tendency to weaken their confidence in God. To be God-forsaken implies utter loneliness, helplessness, friendlessness, hopelessness, agony.
II. THE RESPONSE OF THE COVENANT-KEEPING GOD (Isaiah 46:4). This promise to Israel is especially applicable to every aged Israelite.
1. The purport of this gracious promise.—God’s perpetual presence with His people (Hebrews 13:5). He will never abandon them to the caprice or malice of their enemies, or leave them to be the sport of circumstances. He will ever succour them under their trials. The promise guarantees God’s constant presence. To direct by His wisdom; to protect by His power; to comfort, strengthen, and sustain by His Spirit; to supply all need by His all-sufficiency; to support in death by His rod and staff (Psalms 23:4).
2. The security of this glorious promise.
(1.) The character of God—Almighty, Faithful, &c.
(2.) The mediation of Christ. “If God forgets His people, He must forget His own Son who stands continually before Him as a lamb newly slain, pleading, “Father, remember my people.”
(3.) The promises of His Word. “I will.” Tried and proved in the experience of His people.
Learn: Contentment with the allotments of providence. Confidence in God (Hebrews 13:5). Courage in view of death (Psalms 23:4).—Alfred Tucker.
OLD AGE TRANSFORMED
Isaiah 46:4. And even to your old age, &c.
I. Long life is promised as a blessing (Exodus 20:12, &c.) Desired by most men, yet shrunk from by many of these in their meditative hours. Why? Because they see that to most people old age means—
1. Diminished strength of body and of mind.
2. Physical infirmities and pains.
3. Increased needs, and yet diminished resources.
4. Increasing incapacity for enjoying the pleasures that remain to them (2 Samuel 19:35).
5. The children who were their joy then causes of anxiety and sorrow (Genesis 42; Leviticus 10:1-3; 2 Samuel 15:30; 2 Samuel 18:33).
6. Solitude continually increasing.
7. Exclusion from the services of the sanctuary (Psalms 42:4).
8. Diminished capability for usefulness.
9. A feeling that those round about them would be glad to get rid of them.—In a word, TIME AGAINST THEM, more and more! So it may be with us, if we reach it.
II. How are we to strip old age of these terrors, and transform it into a pleasant evening of life?
1. A life of usefulness will go far towards it. But it is not safe to trust to this exclusively and too confidently. Men are ungrateful. They are also mortal. The generation we can now serve is passing away, and that which will then be round about us may know nothing of us.
2. A life of financial success will not accomplish it. The wealthy aged are apt to be haunted and irritated by consideration.
3. God only can enable us to accomplish it. It can be done only by laying hold of the promise of the text.—What a great promise this is? In it God engages to be our friend—
(1.) until we have grown old; and
(2.) when we have grown old.—Its fulfilment means the securing for us—
(1.) The circumstances most needful for our true welfare.
(2.) All the inward dispositions that will make us conquerors over our circumstances.
(3.) The happiness that comes from ability to glorify God—in a different way, but as really as now.—This is a great promise, but God can fulfil it (Jeremiah 32:19). And He will do it. Note the facts of which we are reminded, in order to help us to trust in Him.
(1.) He made us, and having done this will not be likely to forget us, as children do the top they have made with great eagerness and glee.
(2.) He has cared for us ever since He did make us: “Borne by Me from the birth, carried by Me from the womb!” And in His friendship there is no fickleness (James 1:17).
Make the friendship of God now (H. E. I. 1457, 1458, 4246). Never let it go. So if old age is reached by you, you will find that you have indeed solved the problem of transforming it into a season of true blessedness.
THE CHRISTIAN’S OLD AGE
Isaiah 46:4. And even to your old age, &c.
A life devoted to the service of God is a treasure of bliss, as abundant as the wants of the soul, as enduring as its immortality. The aged Christian must be happy,
I. In contemplation of his past conduct and influence. While there is here and there a page of sorrow in his history, it is contemplated as a whole with gladness. It contains the record of long years of allegiance and service—of many a purpose which had its origin in a love that embraced both God and man; of many a scheme of usefulness, &c. Happy the man!
II. In the contemplation of the blessings which have marked his history. Blessings both of providence and grace.
III. In the contemplation of his life’s history, because of the lessons it has served to teach. Life is a school, and experience is a teacher. He has learned by a thousand proofs that “all things work together for good,” &c.
IV. In the continued possession of his life’s chief good. Not so is it with the ungodly. But that which the godly man chose many years ago as the chief portion of his soul, is still the light and joy of his being. Even amid the infirmities of age, his cup of happiness must be full.
“Age is not all decay; it is the ripening, the swelling of the fresh life within, that withers and bursts the husk.”—G. Macdonald.
V. In the near prospect of realising his life’s brightest hopes. Not so the aged transgressor. To the Christian the brightest and happiest period in his history.
Aged disciple of Jesus! be profoundly grateful.—J. Guernsey: The American National Preacher.
THE ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF GOD
(Sermon to the Young.)
Isaiah 46:4. And even to your old age I am He, &c.
This is one of the promises of God. A minister in the last century collected all the promises of Scripture, and published them in a book by themselves, so that the Christian might consult them at all times and in all states. A wise thing to do.
The promise of the text will show you, if you live to be old, how God will be your friend in that needful time, if you put yourself in the way of the promise. “What do you mean by putting ourselves in the way of the promise?” This. If you are children of God through Jesus Christ, all His promises are your inheritance and estate. His promises are made to His friends; His threats to His enemies. If a man forgets God, and disobeys Him all his lifetime, it would be foolish to suppose that God intended His promises for him; it would be encouraging him in his sin, and others who are like him. Let us proceed with the text by way of question and answer.
I. What has God done for us already? He tells us, “I have made you.” He seems to mention it with pleasure, then let me think of it with gratitude. Is my body fearfully and wonderfully made? Have I not an intellectual part, which distinguishes me from the brute creation? Have I not a soul which shall never die? You are paying attention, but it is not your bodies which are doing this. The inhabitant within peeps out at the windows of your body, sees and hears, is collecting knowledge on which it may live and be happy when the house of the body totters with age, and is crumbling into dust. The Psalmist says, “He has made me and fashioned me;” He has made me what is called a man. But there is a higher sense of the expression, “I have made.” Has He made you a new man? (2 Corinthians 5:17). Have you had a second birth? (John 3:3). This second creation far exceeds the first; it is the best of God’s works,—the creation of a Christian out of a mere man.
II. What will God do for us in future? He says, “I will bear, I will carry, I will deliver you.” This implies weakness and inability in us, support and assistance from Him. Did you ever see a little child hanging upon its mother’s gown, crying to be carried, and the cry answered with a kind word and many a kiss? It is thus God bears and carries His children in their journey, when fatigued with trials.—God delivers us in trouble. A state of trouble is a state of trial. It is mentioned to the honour of Job in his great affliction, that in all this he sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. God delivers us also by trouble (Psalms 119:67).
III. How long will God bear, carry, and deliver us? To old age and hoary hairs. The Scripture calls age the needful time, and the evil days, when the heart shall say, “I have no pleasure in them.” Then we are naturally deprived of many who took an early interest in our welfare. Where are the father, the mother, the friends, whose counsels guided our youth? They are gone, and we must soon follow them. Then, in our loneliness, we shall need the friendship of God. If you would have it then, you must seek it now, in your childhood, and live in it in your youth and your manhood. Cardinal Wolsey, the Minister of Henry VIII., was deserted and disgraced by the king in his old age. In the agony of his mind the Cardinal exclaimed, “Had I but served my God with half the zeal I have served my king, He would not have forsaken me in my old age.” Serve God now, in the place of your service; and if you live to be old, He will perform to you the promise of the text; even to hoary hairs He will carry you, He will deliver you.—George Clark, M.A.: Sermons, pp. 415–423.
LESSONS OF THE CLOSE OF THE YEAR
Isaiah 46:4. Even to your old age, &c.
The end of the year brings home to us the fact that we are getting older.
I. Acknowledge the fact of advancing age. Not, if you can help it, in casting off the duties you owe to the world and the Church. Not by getting hard, gloomy, uninterested. Still, with a heart as young as ever, and even younger, look the fact of advancing age in the face. It is cowardly and unwise to blindfold yourself before a fact, however unpleasant it may be.
II. Provide for advancing age. Men do so in many respects. They insure, &c. These are well, but they are externals. Now, old age is driven more and more in upon itself. Clearly, then, the mind and heart and conscience should be prepared. It is well to have pleasant guests in the house, when we must stay almost wholly within doors.
III. Ask all proffered comforters and guides if they will stay by you in old age. “Even to,” &c. There is no use for a pilot who will not conduct you to port; of a guide who will leave you at the most critical part of your journey. Business, pleasure, &c., do not meet that essential condition. God does, and He alone. He “made, and will bear.” He redeemed, and will lead to perfect rest and joy.
IV. To those who are already old. Remember that old age is near the confines of another world. Prepare!—The Homiletical Library, vol. i. p. 319.