The Patriarchs Part 6

Be Thou still our strength and s.h.i.+eld!"

This may well be our confidence in the faith of such truth. But to these general thoughts on the covenants and their signs, I might add, the token given to Noah has a beautiful significancy. The bow, as it were, rode triumphant on the cloud. It rolled away the stone and sat upon it.

Its form and bearing were those of a conqueror. It said to the cloud, "Hitherto shalt thou come and no further, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed." It gave the angel of death his measure, and said to him, "It is enough, stay now thine hand."

And all this lives in the divine remembrance. The earth and the covenant that secures it are there. "The bow shall be in the cloud, and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between G.o.d and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth."

Accordingly this promise to the earth is remembered, the bow in the cloud is looked at, through every stage and variety of the dispensational actings of the Lord.

It was remembered, of course, all the time the Lord had His seat in Zion, for then the glory made _the earth_ its residence. The Lord then dwelt between the cherubim, in the temple at Jerusalem, in the land of Israel. But when the throne of the Lord leaves that city, and the sanctuary loses the glory, because abominations had grieved and disturbed it, the throne and the glory are accompanied by the rainbow to heaven. Ezek. i. 28. Though the earth then ceased, for a while, to be the dwelling-place of G.o.d, still it was before Him in counsel. He would be mindful of it, as the object of His faithful care, according to the promise.8

8 Just like the throne of David. That throne is for the present in the dust--the crown of Judah is cast down--but the promise of the Lord to it is remembered, as is His promise to the earth. This a.n.a.logy Scripture giveth us in Jer. x.x.xiii. Dishonoured now or made the sport of the wicked, the promises to the earth and to David's throne are still in full remembrance, and, in their season, will be accomplished.

And therefore when heaven is opened to our view, we see the faithful and remembered bow encompa.s.sing the throne. Rev. iv. And further still. The rainbow is seen when the Lord is presented as coming down for the direct, immediate execution of judgment. The mighty angel, the divine executor of the day of the Lord, comes down to the earth clothed with a cloud, the symbol of judgment, and the fearful vessel of wrath. Gen. ix.

14; Rev. i. 7. But even then the rainbow is with Him (Rev. x.); as much as to tell us, that to the end, and at the end, G.o.d remembers His promise to the earth, and will debate with judgment. The cloud is to descend, it is true--"They shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven." The judgment must sit--the books must be opened--the vials must be emptied; but it is only to take out of the kingdom them that offend--to destroy them that destroy the earth. The cloud, as it executes its commission, must stay itself at the beginning of the bow.

The _day_ of the Lord, or the judgment, must give place to the _presence_ of the Lord, or the refreshment and restoration. Time shall be no longer, the mighty angel may cry; the present course of things may cease again, as once it did in the days of Noah; but the bow s.h.i.+nes, in the eye of the Lord, as brightly as ever, and His promise lives in His heart. The earth is still beloved, for Noah's sake, as Israel is for the fathers' sake--that true Noah, in whom (but in whom alone) all the promises of G.o.d are yea and amen; and of whom it shall be said, in all its fulness and truth, "This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed."

This earth of ours, given to the children of men, therefore outlives the judgment. It stands the shock of the descent of the mighty angel, though clothed with a cloud, planting his right foot on the sea, and his left on the earth, and crying aloud, as when a lion roareth. Rev. x.

And what is it reserved for? For more than the bow had promised it. It is not only preserved--with its seed time and harvest, its summer and winter, its day and night, its cold and heat--but it is to be delivered into "the liberty of the glory of the children of G.o.d." This is more than had been promised.

Such was the token, and such will be its acknowledgment--such was the pledge, and such will be its redemption. Beautiful mystery! The covenant, with its blood and its sign! G.o.d's promise, with the sacrifice of the Son as its foundation, and the presence of the Spirit as its witness!

But here this thought occurs to me: Are we, beloved, to stand before such ways and revelations of G.o.d in the same calmness in which they are delivered to us? Is that the thing that becomes us? The Queen of Sheba did not stand before the glories of Solomon in the same way that Solomon himself dwelt among them. Solomon was at home in the midst of them. They were all his own. It was _his_ wisdom, and _his_ house that he had built. The meat of the table, and the sitting of the servants, with their apparel, were all _his_. The ascent by which he went into the house of G.o.d was his. But the Queen of Sheba, from the distant south, was but introduced to it all. Fitting it was that he should be at ease there; and fitting it was that she should be all rapture. So with the book of G.o.d and the disciple. All the profound and precious mysteries which the Spirit is unfolding there are His own--the thoughts and counsels of the divine mind. There is no effort to produce effect in the communication of them; the tale of the wonders of grace and glory is told artlessly. But is the soul, introduced to them, to be, in like manner, unmoved? Such an one may rather gaze with more of rapture than she who came from the uttermost parts of the earth, for "a greater than Solomon is here."

And it is more of this Sheba-rapture we want. We too easily afford to talk of G.o.d's things as though there were no more preciousness and excellency in them than our hearts could measure; but as secret after secret comes forth from the wisdom of the greater than Solomon, surely our souls should say, "Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom."

Endowed and blessed, enriched and honoured--instructed too, and ordained as "the power" under G.o.d, and with all this, at ease, in conscious safety, "no evil or enemy occurrent," Noah is seated in the new world. A new trial of man, under new circ.u.mstances, was proceeding; and, as with Adam in Eden, nothing is left undone on G.o.d's part. The oxen and fatlings were killed, and all things were ready. But where is man's sufficiency? If Adam failed before him, and lost the garden; if Israel failed after him, and lost their land of milk and honey; it may be said to Noah, "Lovest thou me more than these?" In Christ, and in Him only, are unfailing fidelity and strength. And Noah, like the rest, fails, and the virgin soil of the new world is quickly tarnished by the very first foot that trod it.

"And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard, and drank of the vine, and was drunken, and he was uncovered within the tent."

Noah himself is put to shame; the very first man, the Adam of this new system, begins the history of this second apostasy, like his first father.

The "little fire" is thus kindled; but it is for "a greater matter."

Noah is put to shame; but Ham, his son, glories in the shame. That was a terrible advance in the progress of evil. "Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without."

It was a terrible advance in evil; this was not simply the being "overtaken in a fault," but "rejoicing in iniquity." The common moral sense rejects this--"Shem and j.a.pheth took a garment, laid it on their shoulders, went backwards, and covered the nakedness of their father."

And the saint himself is soon restored. Noah awakens from his wine. He that was overtaken recovers himself, through the Spirit, and the grace of G.o.d gives him a great triumph--a very precious and glorious triumph indeed, for the restored one judges his judge, and condemns his accuser--"Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren." This is something more than recovery--it is triumphant recovery. Even the apostle's fine word, "Who shall lay anything to the charge of G.o.d's elect?" scarcely measures it; for that is only the silencing of the accuser, while this is turning back on the pursuer.

"Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall rise....

Then she that is mine enemy shall be trodden down as the mire of the streets."

Here, however, we may stand for a moment--the rich and interesting prospects of the Spirit of prophecy here spread themselves out before us.

This curse upon Canaan is part of Noah's prophecy. Noah, in spirit, looked out from the renewed earth, but antic.i.p.ated the return of corruption and violence, though the grace of G.o.d were to have its witness in the midst of it. In detail, he saw that one branch of the human family (now about to re-people the earth) was to be distinguished by the revelation and presence of G.o.d among them; another by their success and advancement in the world--a people to be enlarged and made honourable in the earth; another, by the constant, unchanging token, in their flesh, of degradation and servitude. His prophecy contemplated, as we may say, the Asiatic, the European, and the African man; or, the Hebrew in the East, with whom was to be the sanctuary of G.o.d--the Gentile of the West, who was, under the hand or providence of G.o.d, to make himself great in borders beyond his own--and the slave of the South, who might know a change of masters, but who was to be a slave still.

Short is the notice of the world's history, but just and perfect as far as it goes, and enough to answer the purpose of the Spirit in Noah, who was taking his son Ham for his text.

The three prophecies, which we get in these earliest times, that of Enoch, that of Lamech, and this of Noah, all touching the earth and its history, though respecting different stages or parts of that history, together present a very perfect outline of the whole thing. We must take them in this order--Noah's, Enoch's, Lamech's.

Noah's prophecy has been accomplis.h.i.+ng from of old, and is still getting its seal and witness in all the changes of the world's solemn and interesting story. Enoch's (Jude 14), which spoke of judgment, will have its answer, its full answer, when the present course of things is closing, and the day of the Lord comes to convince the unG.o.dly. Lamech's (Genesis v. 29), which spoke of rest, will be made good afterwards, when, "the day of the Lord" having fulfilled the judgment, "the presence of the Lord" will bring its rest.i.tution and refres.h.i.+ng.

The present and the future of the world's history, the varied good and evil of the present, and the judgment and the glory that are to share the future, are thus sketched before us in these prophecies. It is easy to discern these things, and to give these early patriarchal oracles their order and character.

It is Noah's, however, that I must look at more particularly, as what we have more properly to do with here. It was delivered on the discovery of the evil of his son Ham, and the onward course of evil is then detailed to its close and maturity, ere we leave these chapters.

We have already watched the infant springing of it in Noah himself, and the advanced form of it in Ham. Its further growth is next to be seen in the builders of Babel, some hundred years after the flood. And an awful exhibition it is.

At the birth-time of this new world, Noah's altar was raised, witnessing faith and wors.h.i.+p--but now the city and the tower are reared, witnessing defiance of G.o.d and the affected independency of man. And the answer of heaven to these things is just as different. Noah's altar brought down words and tokens of peace and security--the cry of the city and the tower now bring down judgment. Corruption here, and vengeance from on high, mark the scene, instead of wors.h.i.+p here, and blessing from G.o.d.

Then it was, that the Lord hung the bright token of His covenant in the heavens, but now He is sending abroad over the earth the witnesses of His righteous anger.

But this is not all. The tower is over-topped, high and proud as it was.

The builders may be scattered, but their principles survive. Judgment does not cure. All the apostate mind that quickened that proud and rebellious confederacy, gathers itself rapidly for its perfect work and display in one man. For soon after the scattering (it may be about thirty years) Nimrod, a grandson of Ham, plants his standard on the very spot which had witnessed the judgment of G.o.d. The beginning of his kingdom was Babel. x. 10. He unfurls his banner in the very face of Him "to whom vengeance belongs," and cries, "Where is the G.o.d of judgment?"

He was as the fool of Ps. xiv.--"The fool hath said in his heart, There is no G.o.d." He begins to be a mighty one in the earth. "Before the Lord he hunted." In defiance of G.o.d he sought conquest and power. He added house to house and field to field, in the desire to be lord alone. Erech and Accad and Calneh are mother-cities, and mighty Nineveh with Rehoboth and Calah, and that great city Resen, are but colonies in the system of this vaunting apostate. He had no heart for any portion which G.o.d could give him. He undertook to provide for himself, to be the maker of his own fortune, that his dignity and honour should proceed from himself.

And such an one is the man of the world to this day. His intellect or his industry, his skill or his courage, makes him what he is, and provides him what he cares for. Such was this distinguished apostate, this earliest representative and type of that one who, in closing days, is to do according to his will, and fill the measure of man's iniquity.

It is a serious sight for the watching and observance of our souls. Are we, beloved, waiting for other and purer scenes? and are our hearts upon such enjoyments as G.o.d can sanction, and Jesus share with us?

These chapters properly close with this--these scenes of evil and proud rebellion pa.s.s from before us, with a faint and distant view of the call of another heavenly stranger apart from the world. But all that is the dawn of another era in the ways of G.o.d, and our present subject only looks at it in the distance.

The second part of the book of Genesis, I may say, ends here. It presents a complete, distinct action, suitably following what had preceded it, and as suitably (were it my purpose to show it) introducing what is to follow it.

In this portion, Gen. vi.-xi., the scene is laid in the earth. The heavenly family have already been before us, Gen. i.-v., and their course ended in the translation of Enoch; now the scene is laid in the earth again, as at the beginning in the garden of Eden.

The contents of this little volume, which I have now closed, might be given in the following order:

vi.-viii. These chapters present the sin and judgment of the earth, with the election, faith, and deliverance of the saints in the midst of it all, and out of it all.

ix. This chapter shows us the new condition of man in the new world, endowed and enriched there by the G.o.d of heaven and earth, secured in the covenant mercy, and made the representative and executor of divine authority.

x. xi. These chapters unfold great portions of the history of the new world, the springs, workings, progress, and maturity of evil, leaving or rendering the earth such a place as that the Lord must again, a second time, retire from it (at least for the present) and bring out from it, also a second time, a people to be heavenly strangers in the midst of it, like the antediluvian saints.

Heaven and earth have thus, in their season, been rehearsing the mystery, till together, in coming days, the days of the glory, they shall display it, when "at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of G.o.d the Father."

"The land shall not be sold for ever," says the Lord; "for the land is mine." Lev. xxv. 23. Man has a term of years granted him, in which it is left in his power to disturb the divine order. For forty-nine years in Israel disturbing traffic might go on, but in the fiftieth year the Lord a.s.serted His right, and restored all things according to His own mind; for it was a time of "refres.h.i.+ng" and of "rest.i.tution" as from His own "presence."

Bright and happy expectation! "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof," is the proclamation of Psalm xxiv. And then the challenge goes forth, "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?"--that is, Who shall take the government of this earth and its fulness? And the answer is made by another challenge to the city gates, to lift up their heads to the Lord of hosts, the King of glory; a fervent form of words whereby to convey the truth, that the Lord, as in strength and victory, the Lord as Redeemer and Avenger, should take the government. As again in Rev. v. a like proclamation is heard, "Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?" And the answer from every region is this, "The Lamb that was slain, the Lion of the tribe of Judah." He who sat on the throne gave that answer by letting the Book pa.s.s from His hand into the hand of the Lamb. The living creatures and crowned elders joined in that answer by singing their song over the prospect of their reign over the earth. The hosts of angels add to it, by ascribing all wisdom and strength and honour and faculty of dominion unto the Lamb--and every creature in heaven, on earth, under the earth and in the seas, in their order and measure, join in uttering this same answer. The t.i.tle of the Lamb to take dominion in the earth is thus owned and verified in the very place where alone all lords.h.i.+p or office could be rightly attested--the presence of the throne in heaven.

And so it is. The n.o.bleman has now gone into the distant country to get for himself a kingdom. Jesus, who refused all power from the G.o.d of this world (Matt. iv.), or from the desire of the mult.i.tude (John vi.), takes it from G.o.d, as He owns in Psalm lxii. that to Him it belongs. And in due season He will return, and those who have owned Him in the day of His rejection shall s.h.i.+ne with Him in the day of His glory; those who have served Him now shall take another city with Him then.

In the prospect of such a day, Paul says to Timothy, "Keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: which in His time He shall show, who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords." And in the like prospect the same dear apostle could say of himself, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing."

May the Lord give our poor hearts--for they need it much--more of the like spirit of faith and power of hope! Amen.

ABRAHAM.