Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come.
A revival of the Church, and symptoms which precede it
I. There is a favourable time to promote the revival of the Church.
1. The source to which the Church must look for a revival. The Lord alone can revive the Church, and add to her such as shall be saved (Psalms 80:1-3; Psalms 85:6; Isaiah 51:3; Habakkuk 3:2; Zechariah 4:6).
2. The nature of that revival which the Church may expect. The words “mercy” and “favour” suggest--
(1) Deliverance.
(2) Union. There may be unity of effort with a great variety of name, method, and form. The union of which God is the Author is frequently spoken of in the Bible (Psalms 133:1-3.; John 13:34-35; John 17:21).
(3) Prosperity. The conversion of sinners.
3. The time when the revival of the Church may be expected. The deliverance of the Jews from their captivity was foretold (Isaiah 14:1-2; Jeremiah 25:11-12; Jeremiah 32:36-39). How wonderfully Jehovah brought about the deliverance of His people from Babylon at the set time! He influenced Cyrus and Darius, heathen princes, to forward it. He raised up Ezra and Nehemiah, etc.
II. The revival of the Church is always preceded by certain infallible signs.
1. Solemn humiliation before God. Before the Jews were delivered from the Babylonish captivity, they were humbled before God on account of their transgressions. The nation was ashamed and cured of its idolatry, and never since then has it bent its knees at an idol’s shrine (Ezra 9:6-7; Ezra 10:1; Daniel 9:7-11). Is there this spirit of humiliation before God in modern churches?
2. Special, importunate, believing prayer. What beautiful instructions and examples we have in the Bible of the value of such prayer (Isaiah 62:1; Ezekiel 36:37; Luke 11:5-10).
3. Affection for the ordinances of God’s house. They loved the very stones, and even the dust of their dilapidated Zion (Psalms 137:5-6). So it is in a revival of religion. When God is about to visit His people in mercy, everything in regard to the Church is loved.
4. Activity and self-denying efforts in God’s cause. The Jews showed their love to Jerusalem in a practical manner (Nehemiah 4:6). They work despite the scorn of their foes. Let these signs exist in any Church, and the fruit will soon appear. She shall increase in purity and influence. (J. Wileman.)
Religious revival
Zion is in captivity; but the psalmist is confident that God will deliver and revive His people.
I. Grounds for expecting a revival.
1. God’s unchangeable character (verse 12).
2. God’s memory (verse 12).
3. God’s mercy (verse 13).
4. God’s purpose (verse 13).
II. Signs of approaching revival.
1. The Church’s increased attention to all that pertains to its welfare and success (verse 14).
2. Its affectionate desire for such a revival (verse 14).
3. Its compassionate concern on account of prevailing desolations (verse 14).
4. Its manifest pleasure in service (verse 14).
III. The effects of such revival.
1. The ungodly shall fear the Lord (verse 15).
2. The great of earth will recognize our God, abiding in and working through His Church. (Anon.)
The set time to favour Zion
I. whenever God afflicts His Church He has good reasons for doing so.
1. The purification of the Church. Before the last great persecution, under Diocletian, the Church had sunk into a state of declension from the truth and vital piety through the continuance of a long season of comparative tranquillity. The same remarks will apply even to a yet earlier persecution, under Decius. During this last calamity Cyprian, of Carthage, bore the following testimony:--“It must be owned and confessed that this calamity has happened to us because of our sins. Christ, our Lord, fulfilled the will of His Father, but we neglect the will of Christ. Our main study is to get money and to raise estates. We follow after pride; we are at leisure for nothing but emulation and quarrelling, and have neglected the simplicity of the faith. We have renounced the world in words only, and not in deed.”
2. The trial and development of the graces of the saints. Adversity tries the mettle of our faith. It shows whether or not we are really walking under the influence of that principle which is the substance of things hoped for--the evidence of things not seen. It tests the quality of our zeal, demonstrating whether it be the mere result of the excitement produced by a crowd, or whether it has its foundation sufficiently deep in principle and affection to sustain it in being and activity when it has to work, as did Elijah, almost alone; whether it be like the flower, which blooms in summer and dies in winter; or like the hardy evergreen, which lifts its head and wears its foliage amid the severest cold. Every Christian grace is, more or less, tried, and the whole character of the man of God is tested by adversity--just as the qualities of the ship are proved by the fury of the billows on which she rides, and the might of the tempest with which she is assailed. And as a time of adversity tries, so it strengthens and matures the virtues of the Church. It imparts a robustness to the faith of believers, and an energy to their patience and zeal. It brings them into frequent and protracted communion with their God, and imparts an agonizing earnestness to their addresses to the throne of grace.
3. The display of the Divine power to deliver. It is manifest that if the Church had no trials, she could have no deliverances. God permits her to be led into straits, that He may show her how He can save, and that the recollection of past deliverances may fortify her mind against all future difficulties.
II. God has a set time for the deliverance of the Church.
1. This time is unalterably fixed by the Divine wisdom and mercy.
2. It is selected as being most conducive to the Divine glory. He commonly selects the time when He sees that “the power of His people is gone, and that there is none shut up nor left “ for their deliverance. Then the creature can arrogate none of the praise to himself, and it is evident that all the honour must be laid at the feet of the Almighty. The pride of all human glorying “is stained,” and “the Lord alone is exalted.”
3. The arrival of this time is promoted by the whole course of Providence. How admirably does the history of the Reformation in Europe in the sixteenth century illustrate this sentiment. The rising up of such men as Luther, Melanchthon, Zuingle, Calvin, Knox, and their coadjutors, and their appearance almost simultaneously upon the theatre of Europe; the extraordinary political convulsions of the times, which repeatedly served to divert the attention of the enemies of the Church from their designs upon her; the conversion to the faith of some of the potentates of Germany, and other countries, who screened most opportunely the lives of the reformers from the fury of the papists; the recent invention of the art of printing; and the revival of literature under the auspices of Erasmus, all served to aid in shaking the ponderous pillars of the papal power! The pages of general ecclesiastical history, and of particular religious communities, abound with examples of a similar character, proving that the course of Providence, and the riches of universal nature, are ever subservient to the Mediator’s sceptre.
III. The near approach of the time to favour zion is always indicated by certain infallible signs. It is preceded by--
1. The sanctification to the Church of her trials. When God’s design in the affliction of His Church is answered, the chastisement ceases.
2. The prevalence of great affection for the ordinances and people of God. One principal evidence that the Lord was about to restore the Jews to their native land, was the ardour of their reviving affection for the city and Temple of their God.
3. Faith in the Divine promises. Faith is to God’s mercies what the tone of the digestive organs is to the aliment of which we partake. It enables us so to receive them as to convert them into nourishment for our spiritual life; whereas without faith they would only produce sluggishness and disease. (John Stock.)
Zion’s prosperity
I. The nature of the prosperity of the Christian Church. We do not conceive it necessarily to be a sign of a church’s prosperity when the congregation is large or rich, or the minister eloquent. We must consider for what purposes the Church was formed; and if it be not accomplishing that particular object, it is not prospering. The Church is established for two objects: first, for bringing God’s wandering sheep back to the fold of Christ; and, secondly, for fostering those sheep that are brought within the fold.
II. The necessity for tee prosperity of the Church. I trust that some of you have a regard for the Church’s prosperity; if not, you ought to have. Let me remind you why; even selfish as we may be, we ought to care for the success of the Church.
1. For our own sakes. If we do not, by Divine grace, live and labour for our fellow-creatures, their decline will have a deleterious influence upon our own piety.
2. Your families, too, are deeply interested in the prosperity of the Church. What is good for the parent is good for the child, and what is good for the child is good for the parent.
3. Also, for the sake of the neighbourhood in which you live, labour for God, seeking His blessing, that your Church may prosper.
4. Again, for the sake of our nation, seek the prosperity of Zion. If we are to be a prosperous nation, we shall not accomplish that result by our commerce, or by the force of arms, but by our Christianity. The flag of old England is nailed to the mast, not by our sailors, but by our God. But, most of all, we want to see the Church prosper for Christ’s sake.
III. The only means of revival in God’s Church. What is it? We may hear of some great evangelist going through the land; surely he will revive the Churches. We will hold a convocation of the clergy, and they shall devise means of reviving the Churches. Not so thinks the psalmist; he says, “Thou shalt arise,” as if God had nothing to do but to arise, and then His Church would arise, too; for, when God arises, Zion begins to prosper. How easy are the methods by which God accomplishes His great works!
IV. The signs that God’s Church is being blessed (verse 14). What are the “stones” of Zion?
1. The Church of God is built of living stones,--that is, the children of God; and it is a good sign when God’s servants take pleasure in one another, and “favour the dust,”--that is, not the ministers, nor the deacons, but the poor members.
2. The next translation we will give of this word “stones” is, the doctrines of the Bible. You say, “I do not see so much in doctrines, after all.” Then you will not see much prosperity. I love so much what I believe to be true, that I would fight for every grain of it; not for the “stones” only, but for the very “dust thereof.” I hold that we ought not to say that any truth is non-essential; it may be non-essential to salvation, but it is essential for something else.
3. The stones of Christ’s Church are the ordinances, and God’s people ought to take care that they love her “stones,” and favour her “dust.”
4. It is a good sign of the Church’s prosperity when the ministry of the Word and the prayer-meeting are well attended;--especially the latter. If you say, “It is only a prayer-meeting,” even that is the “dust “ of Zion, and God’s people “take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof,”--the little services as well as the great services. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Zion’s ruin and Zion’s hope
I. Zion’s state of ruin and desolation.
1. The enemies of vital godliness triumph.
2. Iniquity abounds, and the love of many cools.
3. Worldliness.
4. Sorrow.
5. Darkness. Zion is under a cloud. The world asks: “Where is thy God?”
II. Zion’s friends.
1. They love its ruins and dust.
2. The very mournful state of Zion produced a gracious effect upon the hearts of its friends.
III. Zion’s hope.
1. Zion’s hope is in God.
2. God’s time to work deliverance is when His people are ready.
3. God’s time, yea, God’s set time, has come, when hopeful signs appear among God’s people.
It would be presumption to expect God to work for us if we were inactive. The love of God’s people for Zion prompts their prayers; their knowledge of God inspires hope. (E. Compton.)