I will make with them a covenant of peace.
God’s covenant with His people, and their assured safety in the wilderness
I. The King’s charter. Observe, the text does not say, “We will make a covenant with one another,” God and man; it says, “I will make them a covenant”; originating in the electing love of God.
II. The exercise of the royal prerogative--“I will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land.” Satan cares not how many churches or chapels are built, provided the things of the King’s charter are never talked of. But, says Jehovah, “I will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land.” Hell’s powers are vanquished. Who is He that said, “He spoiled principalities and powers, and made a show of them openly”? Who is He that is said to have “destroyed death, and him that bad the power of death, that is, the devil, and thereby delivered them, who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage”? Who is he of whom it was predicted, that He should “bruise the serpent’s head”? Even the second Person in the glorious Trinity, who in this covenant of peace became Himself the peace of the Church.
III. The position, which this King’s dominion occupies in His world in “the wilderness.” What is “the wilderness”? A place haunted by every description of evil beast; a place uncultivated, trackless, and dangerous. If you can picture to yourselves, for a moment, what that wilderness was to the tribes of Israel literally, you may draw the inference, and a very fair one, that just such the world through which we pass is to a believer spiritually. It is a wilderness; but God has a Church in it, and that is the mercy. Of Christ it is said, that He was “with His Church in the wilderness.” He had, then, His Church in the wilderness, His spiritual family; and so He has now,--a Church, a little flock, an encamped land, a chosen family, brought out of Egypt by miracles of grace, and travelling towards Canaan, the constant object of His love. Such is the portion of the Church--in the wilderness.
IV. The precious promise of tranquillity. Though the Church may occupy a position so frightful, so fearful, so alarming as that I have described, the text says, “they shall dwell safely.” What protection! And they shall “sleep too”; that is, they shall rest. Mark these two things
1. In these woods, solemn as they are,--and really they are more affecting than any language can describe,--they are encompassed with Deity--with all the attributes of Deity--encompassed with angelic guardians--encompassed, as we read in the Psalms, by the Angel of the Lord. Jesus encircles His Church with His own perfections and attributes. He guarantees her security in the wilderness; and this accounts for her dwelling safely.
2. Mark one thing more; they were “to see the salvation of God.” If you get a fair sight of it you will “stand still.” Faith’s telescope will not bear much shaking about; and if you have a fair view of the salvation of God you will “stand still.” He works best when we do nothing; He displays His glory most when we most feel our need of it. He shines abroad, and even “rides upon heaven for help” when we cannot crawl on earth to ask for it. (J. Irons.)
Peace possible under all circumstances
If you have Christ in your heart, then life is possible, peace is possible, joy is possible, under all circumstances and in all places. Everything which the soul can desire it possesses. You will be like men that live in a beleaguered castle, and in the courtyard a sparkling spring, fed from some source high up in the mountains, and finding its way in there by underground channels which no besiegers can ever touch. (A. Maclaren.)
I will make them and the places round about My hill a blessing.
God’s gracious engagements with His Church
I. The description given of God’s Church. “My hill.”
1. The term denotes--
(1) Elevation. World is sunk, fallen, degraded. The Church is raised out of it, exalted, etc.
(2) Firmness and stability. Not an erection upon sand, endangered by every storm, etc., but upon the towering hill that has withstood the blasts of centuries.
(3) Visibility. It is a hill to be visible to all in every direction, its top pointing towards the skies.
(4) Healthfulness and purity. The mountain air pure, balmy, bracing the system, etc. Here souls are matured for the healthy regions of the celestial paradise.
2. But this is described as God’s hill.
(1) The Lord founded it.
(2) The place of His Divine residence.
(3) The scene of His glories (Psalms 27:4).
(4) The object of His especial love.
II. The promises made to it. “I will cause the shower to come down,” etc.
1. The promise is general. Protection, provision, comfort, and prosperity, all included.
2. The promise includes abundance. “Showers of blessings.” Bounty of God infinite (2 Kings 4:1; Malachi 3:10).
3. The blessings are to be seasonable. “Shower in his season.” Not before necessary, not when it is too late; but at the crisis of need, etc. (Psalms 107:1-43.)
4. The blessings are to promote a happy influence on all around. The Church is to spread the savour of grace through the whole earth.
Application--
1. Do we dwell in the Lord’s holy hill? (See Psalms 15:1-5.)
2. Congratulate the children of Zion. Let them be joyful, etc.
3. Invite sinners all around to come and join themselves to the people of the Lord, etc. (J. Burns, D. D.)
The hill of Zion
I. An interesting place. The most interesting in the whole universe, and connected with the most pleasing, delightful, affecting associations. Consider wherein the Church resembles Mount Zion.
1. In point of elevation and grandeur. Believers are raised up together with Christ, and made to sit together with Him in heavenly places. They follow out sublime designs far above this world; and they are animated by lofty aspirations.
2. A mountain is an object of visibility and attraction. So is the Church; it stands not in a valley, but on a hill, visible, and calculated to excite attention. It is also an object of attraction. It occupies a conspicuous place, and millions have been attracted by it and drawn. It points upward to the skies.
3. A mountain is a place of strength and stability. So is the Church. It is not founded upon the sand. Century after century has passed away; empires have arisen and fallen in close succession; but this Hill of Zion remains in all its strength and glory.
II. An encouraging promise.
1. Its nature. “A blessing.” In this everything is included. It is not nominal, but real, solid, and substantial. The blessing God gives is suitable, sweet, sufficient, free, and lasting. It includes protection from evil, enjoyment of good, peace, prosperity.
2. Its abundance. “Showers of blessings.” This is like the Great Master. Ask as a sinner, He gives like God;--not a scanty portion, not drops, but showers (Deuteronomy 32:2; Psalms 72:6; Malachi 3:10; Romans 10:12). Think of the infinitude of God, and of the infinity of His love--and think of His power!--He is able to do exceedingly abundantly.
3. Its seasonableness. “And I will cause the shower to come down in his season.” We do not know the time when deliverance will come;--often out in our judgment of things, and imagine that all things are against us. Providence is like a piece of machinery, the wheels of which are to our view perplexing, and which we cannot understand.
4. Its extent. “I will make them,” etc. Oh! to be made a blessing! What an honour!--to be a blessing to the Church, to the cause of God, and to the generation in which we live. (E. Temple.)
The Church of Christ
I. Christ’s Church is to be a blessing. The object of God, in choosing a people before all worlds, was not only to save that people, but through them to confer essential benefits upon the whole human race. The Gospel was sent that it might first bless those that embrace it, and then expand, so as to make them a blessing to the whole human race.
1. Here is divinity. It is God the everlasting Jehovah speaking: He says, “I will make them a blessing.”
(1) God makes His people a blessing by helping them. What can we do without God’s help? We want God’s aid in every position; and once give us that assistance, and there is no telling with how little labour we may become a blessing.
(2) But there is constraint here. “I will make them a blessing.” I will give them to be a blessing; I will constrain them to be a blessing.
2. The personality of the blessing. “I will make them a blessing.” “I will make each member of the Church a blessing.” God never makes useless things; He has no superfluous workmanship. I care not what you are; you have somewhat to do. And oh! may God show you what it is, and then make you do it, by the wondrous compulsion of His providence and His grace.
3. The development of Gospel blessing. “I will make them a blessing”; but it does not end there. “And the places round about My hill.” Religion is an expansive thing. When it begins in the heart, at first it is like a tiny grain of mustard seed, but it gradually increases, and becomes a great tree, so that the birds of the air lodge in the branches thereof. A man cannot be religious to himself. What are the places round about our hill? I think they are, first, our agencies; secondly, our neighbourhood; thirdly, the churches adjacent to us.
II. God’s people are not only to be a blessing, but they are to be blessed.
1. Is it not sovereign, Divine mercy, for who can say “I will give them showers” except God?
2. It is needed grace. What would the ground do without showers? You may break the clods, you may sow your seeds, but what can you do without the rain! Ah! you may prepare your barn, and sharpen your sickles; but your sickles will be rusted before you have any wheat, unless there are showers. They are needed. So is the Divine blessing.
3. It is plenteous grace. It does not say, “I will send them drops,” but “showers.” “It seldom rains, but it pours.” So it is with grace. If God gives a blessing, He usually gives it in such a measure that there is not room enough to receive it.
4. It is seasonable grace. “I will give them the shower in its season.” There is nothing like seasonable grace. There are fruits, you know, that are best in their season, and they are not good at any other time; and there are graces that are good in their season, but we do not always require them. A person vexes and irritates me; I want grace just at that time to be patient. I have not got it, and I get angry; ten minutes after I am ever so patient; but I have not had grace in its season.
5. Here is a varied blessing. “I will give thee showers of blessing.” The word is in the plural. All kinds of blessings God will send. The rain is all of one kind when it comes; but grace is not all of one kind, or it does not produce the same effect. God sends showers of blessings. If He gives comforting grace, He will also give converting grace; if He makes the trumpet blow for the bankrupt sinner, He will also make it sound a shout of joy for the sinner that is pardoned and forgiven. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
There shall be showers of blessing.--
Showers of blessing
The word “blessing” belongs strictly to the vocabulary of religion. In prayer there is no petition which a Christian man so naturally offers for himself as that God should bless him, and when he is thinking affectionately of others, he naturally asks God to bless them. Even as he takes his daily bread, he invokes on it a blessing. What does it mean? Take the simplest case of all--that to which I have just alluded. Why, when we are about to partake of food, do we ask a blessing on it? It is an acknowledgment that, in addition to the natural property of food to sustain the bodily strength, there is needed a certain superintendence and favour of heaven to maintain the health of the body, and that Divine wisdom and strength are necessary to make a good use of health when we have it. In the same way when, in the morning, we ask God to bless the work of our hands during the day, as in Scripture He often promises to do to those who ask Him, it is an acknowledgment that, along with our skilful planning, and our conscientious performance, there is necessary a something else which we cannot define but which we refer to God, to give us good success. Men of the world call it good luck, but men of God and the Word of God call it God’s blessing. Even in temporal things there is a large element of unspeakable value for which there is no true and reverent name except the blessing of God. But it is in the spiritual domain that this word has its true scope. If in religion there is any reality at all, then it is the grandest of realities. It is not only an essence which can sweeten and enhance all the elements of life, but it is in itself so valuable that he who possesses it is rich though he be stripped of all the other possessions which are the accepted badges of happiness. It is the pearl of great price, which a man may well sell all he has to buy. It is the blessing of God, and we have only in silent and lowly awe to take it when it comes.
I. The copiousness of God’s blessing. “There shall be showers of blessing.” If the blessing of God is so essential to human welfare, it may be asked why so few are possessors of a thing so precious? It is not because it is difficult to get at. If the will and love of God could have free course there would be showers of blessing. The obstacle which hinders is in ourselves. Have you never, when enjoying any of the simple pleasures of nature, reflected with surprise on how little they are taken advantage of? There is not in nature a sublimer sight than the rising of the sun. There is no other which can suffuse the mind with deeper peace, yet multitudes live and die without ever seeing this great sight once; and the average man does not see it a score of times in a lifetime. The blessing of God is like this. It is so near, and yet it is so far on account of our negligence. What a peace, for example, is bred, and what a cool, firm grasp on life is given by the practice of spending a short time with God in prayer, and in the study of His Word, before beginning the work of the day. Yet how few cultivate this source of blessing. We are not straitened in God: we are straitened in our own hearts.
II. Its timeliness. “I will cause the shower to come down in his season.” This refers to the well-known fact that in Palestine rain fell only at certain seasons of the year. It was of the utmost consequence that at these seasons it should not fail. If it did not come, the drought meant loss or even ruin to the husbandman; but if it came copiously, it caused the fields to rejoice with abundant crops and made glad the heart of the husbandman. No doubt our text refers, in the first place, to this temporal blessing, but it has also a wider scope; blessing of every kind may be said to come in its season. God is not, indeed, bound to times and seasons, and sometimes His blessings come when they are least expected, resembling, in this respect, the sudden showers of rain to which we are accustomed in our own variable climate. But, as a rule, the blessing comes in the time of need, when the hearts of men are sighing and crying for it. Are you expecting a blessing today? Is your heart longing for it? Then this is a promise for you: “I will cause the shower to come down in his season.” You may be very near a great blessing which would change your spiritual existence from an invalid, backsliding condition into a life of joy, of power, and unfaltering progress. I once asked a friend why a mutual friend of ours, though a man of many accomplishments, did not succeed in the pulpit. “Well,” said he, giving a slight crack of finger and thumb, “he just wants that.” Yes, that was exactly it. It is this something extra, this little more, that makes everything exceptional and excellent. And many of us are just needing this to make us holy, happy, creditable Christians. Why should you not be baptized with power?
III. The diffusiveness of God’s blessing. “I will make them and the places round about My hill a blessing.” The happiness of some people is rather to be pitied than envied, because they are made happy by such questionable things. But blessedness is derived from a pure as well as an inexhaustible source. Yet this is not the best result of the blessing of God--that those on whom it falls are themselves blessed. It is a far nobler thing which is promised in our text, “I will make them a blessing”--they shall be the means of making others blessed. From of old this has been the noble prerogative of the people of God. In Christianity this element has come to the very front. What is it to be a Christian? Is it to be blessed? is it to be filled with the peace, the joy, the life, the power of God? No, it is to be so filled with these that the vessel runs over, and all that are round about get the benefit. This is a text to try our Christianity by. Has the sound of the Gospel not only reached us, but sounded out from us, as a testimony which has arrested and awakened others? It is a severe test. But some can stand it. There are Christian souls which move through the world surrounded with a halo of blessing. There are Christian homes which radiate happiness. There are Christian congregations which you cannot enter without feeling that the power of God is there, and streams of blessing flow out from them over the city, the country, and the world. (J. Stalker, D. D.)
Showers of blessing
I. This communication is needed by the world.
1. Contemplate the vast portion of the world, which is still destitute of the presence and the power of true religion.
2. Contemplate the tardiness with which true religion is now advancing among men.
II. This communication is promised by God.
1. The promise of God defines the nature of this communication. It consists in the influences of the Holy Spirit, made to affect the hearts and the consciences of men by the truth, which the Gospel embodies and displays.
2. The promise of God has also defined its extent. There are to be “showers”--impartations commensurate with the existing need, and designed absolutely and entirely to extinguish and terminate that need.
3. The purpose of God has also defined its results. “There shall be showers of blessing.”
III. This communication, which is needed by the world, and which is promised by God, must be sought by the Church.
1. The Church must seek for this communication by the removal of worldly confortuity.
2. The Church must seek for this communication by the cultivation of union and fraternal love.
3. The Church must seek this communication by the employment of vigorous and zealous exertions, in the practical distribution of the truth, which has been affirmed to be the instrument, through which the Spirit of God is to descend in blessing upon the world.
4. The Church must seek for this communication by the offering of fervent and importunate prayer. (J. Parsons, M. A.)
Showers of blessing,
This blessed promise may be claimed by--
I. The believer.
1. In the joy of the morning. “Songs in the night,” but blessings for the morning. A blessing is added strength.
2. In the heat of the noonday. As a reminder of Providence, and a remembrancer of the God who promised that the “sun shall not smite thee by day,” these cooling showers shall come.
3. In the weary evening. Do doubts assail, do fears annoy? Do sorrows gather, do tempests rise? There shall be showers of blessing, and “dewy eve” will be a time of surcease from grief and labour, turmoil and care, and He will give “His beloved sleep.”
4. In the desolate night. After all friends have gone, after even friendly twilight has withdrawn herself, in that “dark and lonely hour,” they shall fall upon him to season his meditations or perchance to lull to repose his wearied and inflamed orbs.
5. Ever, there shall be showers of blessing for the believer.
II. The backslider.
1. In the hour of thoughtfulness. When he considers his relations to God, and how strained they are.
2. In the hour of remembrance. The blessed “Remembrancer,” the good Spirit of Truth, will bring forsaken joys, discarded delights, and vanished experiences to his memory.
3. In the hour of penitence. Is it not recorded that “God resisteth the proud but giveth grace to the humble”? and humility is twin sister to penitence.
4. In the hour of return. When the prodigal son returned, the tears which bedewed the cheeks of reconciled father and repentant son were indeed showers of blessing.
III. The sinner. Blessed showers will come when--
1. He feels his need.
2. Loathes himself.
3. Cries to God.
4. Trusts in the Saviour. (J. B. Esenwein.)
Showers of blessing
I. All temporal and spiritual blessings, like showers, descend from above.
1. “Showers” am abundant. The great Creator does not give the rain stingily, but opens the windows of heaven, and pears down His blessings upon the dry and thirsty land. So spiritual blessings come upon the thirsty and longing hearts of men.
2. “Showers” are repeated and continued; for season after season descend the early and the latter rain, and by repeated showers the earth brings forth and buds, and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater. So in the history of the Church, and of every individual believing soul, there has been given grace for grace, that there might be progress from strength to strength in the journey Zionward.
3. “Showers” are gratuitous; they come down freely from the clouds, without money and without price. We could not purchase them, for the silver and the gold belong to God, as well as the cattle upon a thousand hills. So all spiritual blessings are free; indeed, they are priceless, as well as peerless.
4. “Showers” are suitable; as they fall upon the earth they make it soft, and drop fatness into the soil, and become the occasion of beauty and bountifulness. So the blessings that crown our lives are suitable to our needs and adapted to minister to our well-being and joy. Especially is this true of spiritual blessings.
5. “Showers” are gentle. How softly, as a rule, they fall, feeding the roots of the mightiest trees, and yet not wounding the leaves or blossoms of the tiniest flowers. How gently our temporal blessings come to us, how softly the light streams over the earth to gladden our eyes, and how gently the tide of health flows into our system, to make us strong and fit for our ever-recurring toils of life. And the blessings that refresh our spirits and revive our faith, they fall gently upon us while we pray and praise, and nestle upon our hearts while we engage in Christian work and worship.
II. Temporal and spiritual blessings, like showers, require the cooperation of man; or the design with which they descend from above will be frustrated. We must cooperate with Providence in the temporal blessings sent us, or they will not answer the end designed. The human and the Divine must work hand in hand. This is equally true of the Church and of individual souls. God sends down “showers of blessing,” but there must be preparation for them and cooperation with them; then the wilderness and solitary place shall be glad, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. Showers come when the land is thirsty, and when the vapours from the earth have ascended and formed themselves into thick clouds; and “showers of blessing” will come upon us when our hearts are thirsty, and cry out for the living God; when our prayer-like clouds of incense have ascended to Heaven for the downcoming of the Holy Ghost. (F. W. Brown.)
Showers of blessing
1. Here is sovereign mercy--“I will give them the shower in its season.”
2. Is it not sovereign, Divine mercy?--for who can say, “I will give them showers,” except God? There is only one voice which can speak to the clouds, and bid them beget the rain. “Who sendeth down the rain upon the earth? Do not I, the Lord?” So, grace is the gift of God, and is not to be created by man.
3. It is also needed grace. What would the ground do without showers? You may break the clods, you may sow your seeds, but what can you do without the rain? As absolutely needful is the Divine blessing. In vain you labour, until God the plenteous shower bestows, and sends salvation down.
4. Then it is plenteous grace. “There shall be showers.” It does not say, “I will send them drops,” but “showers.” So it is with grace. If God gives a blessing, He usually gives it in such a measure that there is not room enough to receive it. Plenteous grace! Ah! we want plenteous grace to keep us humble, to make us prayerful, to make us holy; plenteous grace to make us zealous, to preserve us through this fife, and at last to land us in heaven. We cannot do without saturating showers of grace.
5. Again, it is seasonable grace. “I will cause the shower to come down in his season.” What is thy season this morning? Is it the season of drought? Then that is the season for showers. Is it a season of great heaviness and black clouds? Then that is the season for showers. “As thy days, so shall thy strength be.”
6. And here is a varied blessing. “I will give thee showers of blessing.” The word is in the plural. All kinds of blessings God will send. All God’s blessings go together, like links in a golden chain. If He gives converting grace, He will also give comforting grace. He will send “showers of blessing.” Look up today, O parched plant, and open thy leaves and flowers for a heavenly watering! (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Showers of blessing sent from God
I. The blessings bestowed on the peculiar people of God are blessings of unspeakable value.
1. Their origin, and the glory and the grace of their author (James 1:17; Ephesians 1:3).
2. The price paid for their purchase (1 Peter 1:18-19; 2 Corinthians 8:9).
3. Our indispensable need of them (Revelation 3:17).
4. The peculiar and transcendent happiness which the possession of them ensures (Revelation 3:18; Psalms 4:7; Philippians 4:7; 1 Corinthians 2:9).
II. The precious blessings bestowed on the people of God are incalculably numerous.
1. Can you calculate the number of showers that fall to refresh, to fructify, and to bless the earth, in the course of the revolving seasons? nay, I will ask further, can you calculate the number of drops of which each shower is composed? Then may you calculate the number of blessings bestowed on the people of God.
2. Can you tell how numerous, or, rather, innumerable, the wants of God’s people are?
III. The blessings peculiar to God’s people are all most opportunely bestowed. “I will cause the shower to come down in his season.” To the young, to the middle-aged, and to the old, they come just as their various and peculiar circumstances render necessary. To the poor, to the afflicted, to the tempted, and to the dying, how seasonable are the supplies of all those blessings especially requisite for them! The promise in each individual case is fully and happily realised (Deuteronomy 33:25).
IV. The blessings bestowed on God’s people are all the result of Divine agency.
1. Who but the blessed God could have devised that wondrous plan of grace, by which the blessings of the everlasting covenant are secured to His people? (Romans 3:24-26; Romans 11:33.)
2. Who but a Divine person could have paid the price by which these blessings have been purchased? (Romans 8:3; Romans 8:34; John 1:1, compared with verse 14.)
3. The actual application of these blessings, too, is all of God (Philippians 2:13). Who gives the new heart? (Ezekiel 36:26.) Who gives pardon? (Isaiah 43:25.) Who sanctifies them? (Exodus 31:13; 1 Thessalonians 5:23.) Who completes the work of their redemption? (Philippians 1:6; Revelation 3:21.)
Application--
1. It is no presumption to expect great and manifold blessings from the great and manifold grace of God (Revelation 3:21).
2. What a happy people must the people of God be! (Deuteronomy 33:29.)
3. To God alone we should ascribe the glory and praise of all our blessings (Psalms 115:1).
4. We should be encouraged, from the receipt of common mercies, to expect special blessings from God.
5. The wickedest of men may yet be blessed of God (Isaiah 55:1-3). (A. Thomson, D. D.)
Conditions necessary for showers
An Irish gentleman remarked in my hearing that he had always noticed that when it rained there were clouds about, and so all the air was in right order for the descent of rain. We have noticed the same, and it so happens that the clouds and general constitution of the atmosphere have much to do with the value of moisture for the herbs. It is no good watering them in the sun, the circumstances do not benefit them. So with revivals. Certain things done under certain circumstances become abundantly useful, but if you have not similar circumstances, you may use the same machinery, but mischief instead of good will follow. Begin yourself with the Master, and then go outward to His service, but plans of action must be secondary. (C. H. Spurgeon.)