I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem
The watchman’s call
The prosperity of the kingdom of Jesus Christ, which teaches the Gentile world through Hebrew channels, depends on two conditions--watchfulness and prayer.
To the latter of these subjects this discourse will be devoted. Let us dwell on importunity in prayer. “And give Him no rest.”
I. THIS IS A CALL TO THE INDIVIDUAL CHRISTIAN, and to a particular duty. Personal devotion will largely relate to matters affecting the individual and the family, but it must not stop there. The Christian must not forget that he is a member of the great Catholic Church, and must bear its burdens on his spirit to God in prayer.
II. THE CHURCH ALSO MUST MEET ON SPECIAL OCCASIONS TO PRAY FOR A LARGER OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY GHOST.
III. BY A FEW CONSIDERATIONS WE WILL ENDEAVOUR TO ENFORCE THE DUTY.
1. One is the fact that God has promised to meet us on the ground of earnest and constant prayer.
2. The history of importunate prayer is full of marvels.
3. If we survey the situation of the Church, and call to mind the responsibility which rests upon it, our own souls would be moved to greater earnestness. Precious souls are perishing around us; the Cross of Calvary, the love of God, the traditions of the Church, conscience, humanity, the judgment, heaven, hell, beseech us to rescue the perishing. There is but one power that will make the Church of Christ equal to every task which the Master has set before it--earnest prayer.
4. Importunate prayer ends in praise. Jerusalem will be established, and will become the praise--the glory--of the earth.
5. Although prayer in all its aspects is the inheritance of every Christian, yet every Christian is not a watchman. Therefore a word to Church leaders will be in place. Let them look round and survey the state of the Church. (T. Davies, M. A.)
The saints’ importunity for Zion’s prosperity
It is a truth which holds good, both in Scripture and experience, that the care of Zion lies at the bottom of all God’s powerful actings among the sons of men. All that He is and does, in the methods of His common and extraordinary providence, is for the sake of His Church, which is the principal cause and interest; He has in the world.
I. WHAT ARE THOSE SHAKINGS TO WHICH THE CAUSE AND CHURCH OF CHRIST ARE EXPOSED IN THE EARTH?
1. There are shakings to which the cause of Christ is exposed, which arise from outward violence (Psalms 2:2).
2. There are shakings which arise from inward decays A building will shake and totter and grow ruinous, without any outward violence, if the foundation is undermined ‘; or if the pins and fastenings, whereby it is held together, decay. This is the ease(l) When Gospel-truth is perverted or denied.
(2) When Gospel-holiness is neglected.
(3) When love is not cultivated.
II. WHEN MAY GOD BE SAID SO TO ESTABLISH HIS CHURCH AS TO MAKE IT A PRAISE IN THE EARTH? To make up this praise and renown there are four or five things. As--
1. Abundance of light and knowledge.
2. High degrees of holiness.
3. Abundance of peace (Psalms 72:7).
4. A. multitude of converts.
5. A rich supply of all temporal good things.
Men’s natures shall be changed; their corrupt lusts and passions shall be subdued; and all their riches, honour, and power shall be employed for the support of Christ’s cause and kingdom.
III. THE DUTY OF SUCH AS MAKE ANY PROFESSION OF CHRIST WITH REFERENCE TO THIS GREAT AND GLORIOUS DAY. “Ye that make,” etc.
1. This day of Zion’s establishment and praise should be uppermost in our thoughts. That which has no place in our thoughts and affections will have very little in our prayers. The Church of old deprecated this as an abominable sin; (Psalms 137:5-6).
2. It should be continually in our prayers.
3. Prayer for Zion’s establishment must be with a holy importunity and constancy. It is not the work of one day, but of every day; the blessing prayed for has every other blessing and mercy in the bowels of 2:4. Zion’s friends are called to pray and work. The former branch of the verse commands action: “I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem. It is hypocrisy to ask in private what you would not be glad to do in public. Your time, gifts, substance and lives are God’s.” (J. Hill.)
Spiritual patriotism
We propose to put this illustration of Jewish patriotism into another frame. For in the New Testament Jerusalem stands metaphorically for the Church of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 12:22; Gal 9:26). The rebuilding of the Jewish capital will thus signify in Gospel speech the establishment of the Christian Church.
I. A CALL TO SPIRITUAL PATRIOTISM. All through the second part of Isaiah Jerusalem is idealized, for Jerusalem, as the city actually was, presented small occasions for felicitation. But the Jerusalem “the Servant of the Lord” saw was the world’s centre--the capital of all the nations! It was “the city of the Great King,” and while the power and glory of other nations lay in their armies, their wealth, their population, their culture, the glory of Jerusalem was her religion. Now, what Jerusalem was to “the Servant of the Lord” the Christian Church is to the Christian; he is a fellow-citizen with the saints, bound, therefore, to be a spiritual, patriot. Only the Christian Church is not limited to one nation. Above all, the Church is a spiritual metropolis among the world powers, a heavenly fatherland on earthly soil, an eternal State established amidst temporal surroundings. Thus the love of a Jew for Jerusalem comes to represent the solicitude of a Christian for the Church. The Jew never forgot his fatherland.
II. THE OUTCOME OF SPIRITUAL PATRIOTISM IN WATCHFULNESS AND PRAYER. Patriotism is hers set forth under two similes.
1. Spiritual patriots are to be sentinels. “I have set watchmen upon thy walls,
2. Jerusalem. The godly life is ever a campaign, and spiritual men are “men with an eye,” as Carlyle phrases it. When others cry, “Peace, peace,” it is often their painful duty to be nonconformists to a general delusion and to sound an alarm. And how great a result may be produced by the faithfulness of even one man! On a dark night in December 1602, when the inhabitants of Geneva, lulled by peaceful professions, slept, but never dreamed of danger, a daring attempt known in history as the “Escalade” was made by their foes. The Savoyards scaled the walls, and would have admitted their comrades but for the discharge of the musket of one of the sentries. He fell a martyr, but the crack of his piece brought the citizens from their beds, and the city was saved, while Beza, then eighty years of age, returned to God public thanksgiving, announcing the 124 th Psalm for singing. There is work for our sentinels to-day.
3. But spiritual patriots are also “the Lord’s remembrancers. The old State appointment is our illustration. In the Book of Esther the work of the remembrancer comes out in the chronicles which were read before the king on the occasion of his attack of insomnia; and the office, in a modified form, is known to us to-day in connection with our city councils. But there are elect souls who are the Lord’s remembrancers. It may be that not every Christian has leisure of heart for this full consecration, for these remembrancers are such as make the progress of God’s kingdom their prime solicitude. Eli could bear to hear of the ruin of his ,house in the death of his sons, but died on learning of the capture of God’s ark. This is the highest style of patriotism. General Wolfe, in shattered health, led the handful of English that took Quebec from the French. Stricken down just as victory was assured, yet stimulated by the cry, “They run,” he could just inquire who ran, and when told it was the French, forgetful of his own interests, he gasped, “I die happy,” and closed his eyes. Shall spiritual patriots show less devotion? It is theirs to exercise unbounded faith in the Divine the text lies in its emphasis of urgent and perpetual prayer. Take ye no rest, and give Him no rest. This is the Old Testament anticipation of the parable of the importunate widow. When a lady appealed to the great Protector for the release of her husband, Cromwell preserved a stolid demeanour so long as the wife confined herself to the proprieties of measured speech, but directly she burst into tears her plea was granted. Prayer is the wireless telegraphy which unites heaven and earth; if only each heart be a “receiver ‘ it shall never lack a message from on high, and there is always a great “receiver” there in the heart of our God.
III. FOR THE TRIUMPH OF THIS SPIRITUAL PATRIOTISM “THE SERVANT OF THE LORD.” RENDERS HIMSELF RESPONSIBLE. The prayers of the Church and the purpose of Jesus Christ run in parallel lines when the prayer-spirit is deep and real; or better, our prayer and His purpose are two streams that run into one channel with united force. True prayer is not the attempt to wring benediction from an unwilling hand. God is not in danger of forgetting His pledges only His pledges can scarcely take effect in spiritual benediction till the Church is ready to claim her own. There are millions of money in Chancery with no one to claim it; there is boundless grace in God waiting to be appropriated by man. While our prayers co-operate with God’s purpose never may we forget that all real prayer has its origin in God: it is the Divine purpose struggling for expression in the human heart. This brings us to our point of rest. “The Servant of the Lord” has rendered Himself responsible for His Church. The proof lies in His Cross, in His intercession, in the wonderful providence by which His Church has been preserved from extinction all along the ages, notwithstanding that she has lived all the while in the midst of foes. While we leave the responsibility of final issues with our Lord, we may share the glory and the joy of being “workers together” with Him. How clearly this comes out “ this connection! For Zion’s sake, says He, will I not hold my peace.” “I have set watchmen upon thy walls or, they shall never hold their peace.” “I will not rest.” “Take ye no rest.” The Christ-spirit is thus the Christian spirit; the work of Christ is continued by His Church. Now look at the magnificent result anticipated! The Church is to become God’s city of light (verse 1). The ideal is developed in the Revelation (Revelation 21:23-24). Whatever light stands for, whether revelation, or brightness, or beauty, or safety, or purity, all these are to find their home and sphere in Christ’s Church. The Church of Christ is to be first a guiding light to men--but afterwards she is to be as a sunrise to the nations (Isaiah 9:2). For the Church is to be at once the expositor of God’s righteousness and the channel of God’s salvation. (J. T. Briscoe.)
No rest for God or His people
In its present position, Jerusalem is at once a witness for God and a type of man--a witness to God’s truth and justice, and a type of man’s sin and sorrow. Prayer to God is enjoined as a means to secure the renovation and blessing of the temporal Jerusalem; and prayer is still one of the mightiest forces which can be brought to bear on the waste places and ruined magnificence of man’s spiritual nature.
I. A CHARACTER WE MUST ENDEAVOUR TO DESERVE. The prophet describes God’s servants as those who “make mention of the Lord,” or, in other words, are “the Lord’s rembrancers.” Not that they had need to remind Him of their needs or His fulness, but that their business was to bring Him to the remembrance of those about them.
II. If we are thus to be the Lord’s remembrancers THERE IS A DANGER WE MUST SEEK TO AVOID. This is, the danger of keeping silence, of withholding our testimony, or giving it half-heartedly and in a perfunctory manner. There are not a few roads which end at this habitation of “silence.
1. Doubt.
2. Despair, whether it be despair of ourselves or of others. Hopefulness is as necessary as faithfulness.
3. We shall “keep silence” if we grow weary in well-doing; if patience gives place to fretfulness, and love of ease cries out against the practice of self- denial; if the crown is longed for while the cross is shunned, and the reaping is desired while the sowing is neglected.
III. In connection with all this, THERE IS A DUTY WE MUST FAITHFULLY PERFORM. “Give Him no rest.” No rest for the servant, and no rest for the Master. Surely this means: “Be earnest in supplication.”
IV. A RESULT IN WHICH WE MUST STEADFASTLY BELIEVE. We are to be “remembrancers” and “pleaders” till He establish, and “till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.” That He will do these great things we are devoutly to believe; that He may do them we are earnestly to pray. The early verses of our chapter draw a picture already seen by the prophetic eye. Righteousness, bright as the light going forth with salvation, clear as the burning lamp. The new name given to betoken the new nature. The joy of wedding festivity celebrating the union of the once forsaken city- with her new-found Lord and King. Glowing picture this; yet to be fully realized in the capital of the Holy Land, and yet to be spiritually realized in the fulness of blessing which shall crown all faithful labour, and be the answer to every earnest prayer. (W. J. Mayers.)
The Lord’s rembrancers
(R.V.):--It is hardly possible not to linger a little over this curious appellation, “the Lord’s remembrancers,” given in the margin of the Authorised Version, and in the text of the Revised. Several interpretations of it have been suggested. The original word itself has both the ordinary meaning of one who reminds another, and a technical meaning 2 Samuel 20:24) akin to, though not identical with, that of the English word. By some it is applied to the angels, who are also supposed to be the “watchmen upon the walls, referred to in the preceding clause. But such an explanation lifts the passage entirely out of the sphere of human privilege and duty, and introduces into it allusions to matters about which very little is known. There may be in it a special reference to prophets, whose functions would naturally include that of leading the people in their supplications to God, as well as that of warning them of danger and inciting them to effort. But there is no need to confine the term to officials of any kind. The entire New Testament is a sufficient authority for applying it to all true Christians. If, indeed, there be truth in the tradition, in Judaism itself it was recognized in part of the sacrificial ritual that every man could be and ought to be the Lord’s remembrancer. Psalms 44:1-26. describes some of the marvellous things done by Jehovah for Israel in the past, and the forsaken and oppressed condition of Israel in the present; and one of its closing verses is said to have been regularly sung for long in the temple worship--the one in which Jehovah’s rembrancers, after having reminded Him of their need and of His promised help, call upon Him: “Awake, why sleepest Thou, O Lord? Arise, cast us not off for ever.” John Hyrcanus is reputed to have abolished this custom, in spleen at the refusal of the Pharisees to let him reign in peace, or possibly, according to a more charitable conjecture, under the feeling that the idea of awakening and reminding Jehovah involves a defect of faith. The psalm, however, is entirely true to human nature. For when men are tempted to imagine themselves forsaken of God and begirt inextricably by perils, it is an immense stimulus and encouragement of faith to remind God of their needs and of His promises, of their present reliance upon Him, and even (for Scripture warrants it elsewhere) of the way in which His faithfulness and honour are concerned in their protection and deliverance. Jacob prayed in that way, when he trembled at the thought of his brother’s probable rage, pleading God’s actual words of promise: “O God of my fathers, the Lord which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee:.. . Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother:.. . for (again) Thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea. Two rembrancings, and between them a little prayer; and of course the result was that, when Esau came, instead of pouring his rough followers upon the struggling and indefensible caravan, he fell on his brother’s “neck and kissed him.” David was surprised and almost staggered in unbelief at the prospect of greatness and renown which the prophet Nathan opened up to him, but he recovered and fed his faith by reminding Himself and his God of the promise, and prayed, “Now, O Lord God, the word that Thou hast spoken concerning Thy,, servant and concerning his house, establish it for ever, and do as Thou hast said. In this very prophecy Israel first of all reminds Jehovah of what He has been wont to do, anti what needs to be done now: “Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. The result is seen in vision at once: “Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion;” and so all the watchmen lift up their voices: “Break forth unto joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord hath comforted His people, He hath redeemed Jerusalem: the Lord hath made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. We shall never suffer much prolonged doubt as to our own establishment or the Church’s, if we will only duly remember and exercise our high vocation, to remind God of our perils and needs and of His promised grace and help. (R. W. Moss.)
Watchers
Not watchmen (lit. “lookers out”) as in Isaiah 52:8; Isaiah 56:10, but as in Isaiah 21:11; Song of Solomon 5:7, lit. “keepers,’ those who guard the city, especially dining the night. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)
Three kinds of ministers
The ministers of the temple of truth, it has been said, are of three kinds: first, those stationed at the gate of the temple to constrain the passers-by to come in; secondly, those whose function is to accompany inside all who have been persuaded to enter, and display and explain to them the treasures and secrets of the place; and, thirdly, those whose duty is to patrol round the temple, keeping watch and ward and defending the shrine from the attacks of enemies. We are only speaking very roughly if we say that the first of these three functions is that of the
Preacher, the second that of the Teacher, and the third that of the
Controversialist. (J. Stalker, D. D.)