THE RIGHT USE OF THE HISTORY OF GOD’S DEALINGS WITH HIS PEOPLE
Isaiah 48:20-21. Go forth from Babylon! Flee ye from the Chaldeans! With the voice of joy tell this, &c.
Isaiah had prophesied that his fellow-countrymen would be led captive into Babylon; but he was able to look forward to the termination of their captivity, and could speak thus confidently because he knew—1, that God, who was about to consign them for a time, and for corrective purposes, into bondage, also purposed to deliver them therefrom; and 2, that every purpose which God has formed is certain to be accomplished. Assured of these facts, there rises before his prophetic vision two others:—
1. He sees the gates of the prison-city thrown open; yea, the prison-city itself falling; and, standing in spirit before them, he bids them flee from the peril involved in its destruction, into the freedom which the mighty change had once more rendered possible for them. “Go forth from Babylon! Flee ye from the Chaldeans!”
2. He sees the flight accomplished, the pilgrimage from the land of captivity completed safely, and his fellow-countrymen settled down peaceably in the good land promised to their fathers, and he exhorts them to proclaim to the whole world what God has done for them, “With the voice of joy,” &c.
His exhortations are in themselves prophecies of what would happen to them, and the terms of those predictions as to what God would do for His people in the future were suggested by the history of what God had done for them in the past. Those prophecies must not be too literally interpreted; there is no record that God wrought any such miracles for His people during their march from Babylon homewards. What Isaiah wished to impress upon them was, that God would do everything necessary to perfect His deliverance of them, and to sustain them throughout it; and he did this in terms which reminded them how in all the trials through which their fathers had passed they had found God able to deliver them. How terrible was the difficulty to which he refers, and how marvellous the deliverance therefrom (Exodus 17:1-6; Numbers 20:1-11).
Isaiah was enabled thus to instruct and cheer them, because he knew how to make a right use of the history of God’s dealings with His people. He remembered that that history is more than a history; that it is also a revelation and a prophecy—a revelation of what God will always be found to be; a prophecy of what He will always do for His people.
I. The use that Isaiah made of that history, we also ought to make. Two ways of reading the Bible—with a literary interest, with a personal interest. Geology—what it means to an earnest student; what it means to the intelligent owner of a vast estate. With like personal interests we should read the Bible, remembering that God is un changeable, and that the laws on which He has made human welfare and happiness to depend are the same in every age. Reading the Bible thus,
1. we shall love it more and more, for the fullness of its treasures will become more and more clear to us (H. E. I. 613).
2. Fears suggested to us by the difficulties of the Christian pilgrimage, and that otherwise might greatly trouble us, will be driven away; for the history will convey to us the prophetic assurance that in every stage of our pilgrim age, and in every emergency that may arise therein, the grace of God will prove sufficient for us.
II. We are reminded also of our duty in regard to our own experience of God’s dealings with His people. Isaiah here teaches that it would be the duty of redeemed “Jacob “to make known to the whole world what God had done for them. This is the duty of God’s redeemed ones in every age; collectively, and hence the necessity of mission work of various kinds; individually. Let us not forget this (Psalms 66:16).
1. Gratitude should move us to do this.
2. Compassion for our fellow-men should teach us to do this.
Heaven will be eternally the realm of song, because there the redeemed of the Lord will never grow weary of making known what He has done for them. “Go forth from Babylon! Flee ye from the Chaldeans! With the voice of joy tell this,” &c.
WATER FROM THE ROCK
Isaiah 48:21, and Exodus 17:6.
Narrate the instructive fact recorded in Exodus 17
This wonderful fact suggests—
I. That human life has its great emergencies. Abraham, Jacob, David, Paul, &c. So with us. Christianity does not exempt us from the sorest trials. Sooner or later, every Christian has his Rephidim in his way to Canaan. Secular misfortunes, family trials, personal spiritual conflicts, &c. Such emergencies are needful for the testing of our principles, and the maintenance and increase of our spiritual vigour.
“We need as much the cross we bear,
As air we breathe, or light we see:
It draws us to Thy side in prayer,
It binds us to our strength in Thee.”
II. That deliverance often comes from most unlikely and unexpected sources. Water from a flinty rock. Redemption from the carpenter’s son at Nazareth. The promulgation of the gospel by fishermen and tentmakers, and in modern times by Carey, the shoemaker; Williams and Thomas, the blacksmiths; and Moffat, the gardener, &c. [1489]
[1489] “God can bring good to His people from the most unlikely sources. Nothing seemed more unlikely to yield water than the barren rock of Horeb. So God often brings refreshing streams of comfort to His people out of hard circumstances. Paul and Silas could sing in the dungeon, and their imprisonment was made the means of adding to their converts in Philippi. The lot of John in Patmos seemed hard and dreary indeed, but at the bidding of Christ, streams of living water gushed forth there, which refreshed the soul of the Apostle at the time, and have followed the Church until the present. Out of the sufferings of the martyrs came joy to themselves and blessings to their descendants. Above all, out of the hard circumstances of the crucified Lord of glory, God has brought forth waters of everlasting life.”
Learn: To confide in God in the greatest emergency. He can help you, whatever it is—however dire. He has promised to support and deliver. Let your trust be determined, heroic, constant.—Alfred Tucker.
I. THE SOURCE OF THE WATERS.
1. Its durability and unchangeableness. It was a rock, and one of peculiar solidity and strength. Time has not been able either to destroy or materially alter it. So the Rock of Ages (Hebrews 13:8).
2. It was chosen by God Himself. So Jesus is a Saviour of His appointment.
3. It was opened according to Divine appointment by the hand of man. It was a smitten rock. So Jesus “gave His back to the smiters.” And man gave the blow.
II. THE STREAM THAT FLOWED FROM THE ROCK.
1. It saved Israel from perishing. This was its chief use. And it saved them when nothing else could save them. So with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
2. It did more than save. Enabling them to wash away the defilement of the desert, it cleansed the Israelites. Sin pollutes while it destroys. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin, because by it He obtained for His church the gift of the Holy Ghost.
3. It refreshed them. Their strength was so renewed that they rose up, and after fighting a whole day with the Amalekites, they overcame them, and passed on with fresh vigour to Canaan. In like manner the waters of life refresh the people of God.—C. Bradley.
This fact reminds us that Jehovah is the God of providence, working even miracles for the accomplishment of His purposes; while the great Apostle of the Gentiles directs us to Jehovah as the God of grace, when, pointing to it, he exclaims, “that rock was Christ.” View the occurrence—
I. As a seasonable, providential interposition.
1. A period of great distress; myriads of men and women and much cattle without water.
2. An instance of the omnipotence of God—a flinty rock yields water at His command.
3. Encouragement to hope in God, though we see no prospect or way of supply.
II. As an illustration of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1. The rock is an emblem of Christ, in solidity, strength, shelter, and duration.
2. The smiting of the rock prefigures Christ’s sufferings. He was stricken, smitten of God, that He might bear our sins and carry our sorrows. The body of Christ was indeed smitten, His soul was made an offering for sin.
3. The waters that flowed from the smitten rock represent the benefits we derive from Christ’s atoning sacrifice. How suitable was this supply, how abundant, how lasting! Let there be grateful remembrance of the smitten rock, vigorous prosecution of our journey; we drink to be refreshed and press on. Invite, and bring, our children and friends. Come sinner, thou!
“See from the Rock a fountain rise!
For you in healing streams it rolls;
Money ye need not bring, nor price,
Ye labouring, burdened, sin-sick souls.
Nothing ye in exchange shall give,
Leave all you have and are behind;
Frankly the gift of God receive,
Pardon and peace in Jesus find.”
—John Hirst: The New Evangelist, p. 185.