There it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.
A promise of mercy
I. A promise of mercy to israel.
1. The Lord in judgment remembers mercy. When God threatens most dreadfully, yet He promises most graciously.
2. It is usual when we are in prosperity to forget all threatenings, and when we are in adversity to forget all promises.
3. God in the midst of His auger, knows those that trust in Him.
4. Not only when God threatens judgments, but when judgments are actually upon us, let us sanctify God’s name in looking up to the promises.
II. To whom did this promise refer? It was not a promise to any that then lived, it was to be fulfilled in future ages; yet it is introduced by the prophet as a comfort to the people of God then living. Gracious hearts are comforted with the promises of God made to the Church, though not to be fulfilled in their days.
III. What was this promise? That Israel-should be a multitude. The Lord remembers His promises, though made a long time since, so long ago as the time of Abraham. Observe--
1. There is nothing lost in being willing, as Abraham was, to lose for God.
2. When we are willing to lose for God, then is the time when God will renew and confirm His covenant with us. Note--
(1) God has a time to bring in abundance of people to the profession of the faith.
(2) Although God defers fulfilling His promise for a time, yet at last He does it gloriously.
(3) We should greatly rejoice in multitudes joining the Church. (Jeremiah Burroughs.)
The destiny of the race
We shall take Israel for mankind, and use the text to illustrate the destiny of the race.
I. The race is destined to an indefinite increase in the number of good men. “The number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered or measured.” The good, the spiritual Israel, have been comparatively few in all ages, though perhaps there is a larger number now than in any preceding period. But the time will come when they shall be innumerable. What mean such passages as these? “He shall have dominion item sea to sea, from the rivers to the end of the earth.” Again, “All kings shall fall down before Him.” Again, “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ.” Numerous as the sand on the sea shore! A Jewish Rabbi regards the good as the sand, not only in relation to number, but for usefulness. As the sand keeps the sea from breaking in and drowning the world, so the saints keep the world from being drowned by the waves of eternal retribution. This is true. Were it not for the good the world would not stand long. But it is to represent number not protection, that the figure is employed. Do you say that to all appearances such an increase is impossible? When God promised to Abraham that his seed should be as the stars of heaven and the sand upon the shore, what could seem more improbable than the fulfilment? Do not judge from appearances. Trust God’s Word; it will come to pass. There is a glorious future for the world.
II. The race is destined to a transcendent privilege. “And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not My people, there shall it be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.”
1. They are destined to a general conversion to God. From not being His people they are to become His people. The places of the earth now populated with the enemies of God will one day be crowded with His friends.
2. They are destined to a general adoption into the family of God. “Ye are the sons of the living God.” They shall be endowed and animated with the true Spirit, the spirit of reverence and adoring love. “The living God.” The world has abounded with dead gods; there is but one “living” God.
III. The race is destined to a common leadership.
1. This leadership shall unite the most hostile. “Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together.” Great and long enduring was the hostility existing between these people. The time will come when all antipathies existing amongst peoples shall be destroyed. “Ephraim shall not envy Judah: they shall be of one heart and one mind.”
2. This leadership shall be by common appointment. They shall “appoint themselves one head.” Their leader will not be forced upon them contrary to their consent, nor will He force Himself. Who is the leader? Christ. He is the Leader of the people. He is the Commander-in-Chief, the Captain of our salvation. All shall unite in Him.
3. This leadership will be glorious. As Moses led the Jews out of the wilderness, as Cyrus delivered them from Babylon, Christ will lead them out of Egyptian darkness and Babylonian corruption. (Homilist.)
Sons of the living God
It was the special sin of Israel, the source of all his other sins, that he had left the living God, to serve idols. In the times of the Gospel, not only should he own God as his God, but he should have the greatest of all gifts, that the living God, the Fountain of all life, of the life of nature, of grace, of glory, should be his Father, should communicate to him that life, which He has and is. For He who is Life, imparts life. God doth not only pour into the souls of His elect, grace and faith, hope and love, or all the manifold gifts of His Spirit, but He, the living God, maketh them to be His living sons, by His Spirit dwelling in them, by whom He adopteth them as His sons, through whom He giveth them grace. For by His Spirit He adopteth them as sons God not only accounteth us, but maketh us His sons. He maketh us sons, not outwardly, but inwardly; not by inward grace alone, but by His Spirit. God is our Father, not by nature, but by grace. He giveth us of His substance, of His nature, although not by nature; not united with us (as it is personally, with His Son), but dwelling in us, and making us partakers of the Divine nature. Sons of the living God must be living by Him and to Him, by His life, yea, through Himself living in them. (E. B. Pusey, D. D.)
Old Testament prediction
“Fossil sunlight,” is what Herschel named anthracite coal. The vast stores of sunlight poured out upon the globe during the old geological ages were consolidated and packed away in the bowels of the earth because this busy twentieth century, with its myriads of railways and ocean steamers and manufactories, would need it. And have you thought how large a proportion of the Old Testament is prediction? And is it, therefore, of no use to the practical working Church of to-day? Nay. This vast profusion of prophetic light falling upon the minds of Isaiah and Ezekiel and Jeremiah and David, and the minor prophets, and treasured up in their inspired pages, may soon be needed. And they who are delving in these mines of eschatology, instead of being engaged in an aimless and profitless toil, may be providing the Church with the needed warmth for that predicted time when “ iniquity shall abound, and the love of many wax cold.” (A. J. Gordon, D. D.)