Part 7 (1/2)
And it came to pa.s.s that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the a.s.syrians an hundred and eighty five thousand: and when they arose in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.-- 2 KINGS xix. 35.
You heard read in the first lesson last Sunday afternoon, the threats of the king of a.s.syria against Jerusalem, and his defiance of the true Lord whose temple stood there. In the first lesson for this morning's service, you heard of king Hezekiah's fear and perplexity; of the Lord's answer to him by Isaiah, and of the great and wonderful destruction of the a.s.syrian army, of which my text tells you. Of course you have a right to ask: ”This which happened in a foreign country more than two thousand years ago, what has it to do with us?”
And, of course, my preaching about it will be of no use whatsoever, unless I can show you what it has to do with us; what lesson we English here, in the year 1851, are to draw, from the help which G.o.d sent the Jews.
But to find out that, we must hear the whole story. Before we can find out why G.o.d drove the a.s.syrians out of Judaea, we must find out, it seems to me, why He sent them, or allowed them to come into Judaea; and to find out that, we must first see how the Jews were behaving in those times, and what sort of state their country was in; and we must find out, too, what sort of a man this great king of a.s.syria was, and what sort of thoughts were in his heart.
Now, by the favour of G.o.d, we can find out this. You will see, in the first thirty-seven chapters of Isaiah's prophecies, a full account of the ways of the Jews in that time, and the reasons why G.o.d allowed so fearful a danger to come upon them. The whole first thirty-five chapters belong to each other, and are, so to speak, a spiritual history of the Jews, and the a.s.syrians, and all the nations round them, for many years. A spiritual history--that is, not merely a history of what they did, but of what they were, what was in their inmost hearts, and thoughts, and spirits; a spiritual history--that is, not merely of what they thought they were doing, but of what G.o.d saw that they were doing--a history of G.o.d's mind about them all.
Isaiah had G.o.d's spirit on him; and so he saw what was going on round him in the same light in which G.o.d saw it, and hated it, or praised it, only according as it was good, and according to the good Spirit of G.o.d, or bad, and contrary to that Spirit. So Isaiah's history of his own nation, and the nations around him, was very unlike what they would have written for themselves; just as I am afraid he would write a very different history of England now, from what we should write, if we were set to do it. Now what Isaiah thought of the doings of his countrymen, the Jews, I must tell you in another sermon, next Sunday. It will be enough this morning to speak of the king of a.s.syria.
These kings of a.s.syria thought themselves the greatest and strongest beings in the world; they thought that their might was right, and that they might conquer, and ravage, and plunder and oppress every country round them for thousands of miles, without being punished.
They thought that they could overcome the true G.o.d of Judaea, as they had conquered the empty idols and false G.o.ds of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Iva. But Isaiah saw that they were wrong. He told his countrymen: ”These a.s.syrian kings are strong, but there is a stronger King than they, Jehovah the Lord of all the earth. It is He who sent them to punish nation after nation, Sennacherib is the rod of Jehovah's anger; but he is a fool after all; for all his cunning, for all his armies, he is a fool rus.h.i.+ng on his ruin. He may take Tyre, Damascus, Babylon, Egypt itself, and cast their G.o.ds into the fire, for they are no G.o.ds, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone; but let him once try his strength against the real living G.o.d; let the axe once begin to boast itself against Him that hews therewith; and he will find out that there is one stronger than he, one who has been using him as a 'tool, and who will crush him like a moth the moment he rebels. His father destroyed Samaria and her idols, but he shall not destroy Jerusalem. He may ravage Ephraim, and punish the gluttony and drunkenness, and oppression of the great landlords of Bashan; he may bring misery and desolation through the length and breadth of the land: there is reason, and reason but too good for that: but Jerusalem, the place where G.o.d's honour dwells, the temple without idols, which is the sign that Jehovah is a living G.o.d, against it he shall not cast up a bank, or shoot an arrow into it.'
”I know,” said Isaiah, ”what he is saying of himself, this proud king of a.s.syria: but this is what G.o.d says of him, that he is only a puppet, a tool in the hand of G.o.d, to punish these wicked nations whom he is conquering one by one, and us Jews among the rest. He, this proud king of a.s.syria, thinks that he is the chosen favourite of the sun, and the moon, and the stars, whom, in his folly, he wors.h.i.+ps as G.o.ds. He will find out who is the real Lord of the earth; he will find out that this great world is ruled by that very G.o.d of Israel whom he despises. He will find that there is something in this earth, of which he fancies himself lord and master, which is too strong for him, which will obey G.o.d, and not him. G.o.d rules the earth, and G.o.d rules Tophet, and the great fire-kingdoms which boil and blaze for ever in the bowels of the earth, and burst up from time to time in earthquakes and burning mountains; and G.o.d has ordained that they shall conquer this proud king of a.s.syria, though we Jews are too weak and cowardly, and split up into parties by our wickedness, to make a stand against him.” ...
This great eruption or breaking out of burning mountains, which would destroy the king of a.s.syria's army, was to happen, Isaiah says, close to Jerusalem, nay, it was to shake Jerusalem itself. Jerusalem was to be brought to great misery by everlasting burnings, as well as by being besieged by the a.s.syrians; and yet the very shaking of the earth and eruption of fire which was nearly to destroy it, was to be the cause of its deliverance. So Isaiah prophesied, and we cannot doubt his words came true. For this may explain to us the way in which the king of a.s.syria's army was destroyed. The text says, that when they encamped near Jerusalem the messenger of the Lord went out, and slew in one night one hundred and eighty thousand of them, who were all found dead in the morning. How they were killed we cannot exactly tell, most likely by a stream of poisonous vapour, such as often comes forth out of the ground during earthquakes and eruptions of burning mountains, and kills all men and animals who breathe it.
That this was the way that this great army was destroyed, I have little doubt, not only on account of what Isaiah says in his prophecies of G.o.d's ”sending a blast” upon the king of a.s.syria, but because it was just like the old lesson which G.o.d had been teaching the Jews all along, that the earth and all in it was His property, and obeyed Him. For what could teach them that more strongly than to see that the earthquakes and burning mountains, of all things on earth the most awful and most murderous, the very things against which man has no defence, obeyed G.o.d; burst forth when He chose, and did His work as He willed? For man can conquer almost everything in the world except these burning mountains and earthquakes. He can sail over the raging sea in his s.h.i.+ps; he can till the most barren soils; he can provide against famine, rain, and cold, ay, against the thunder itself: but the earthquakes alone are too strong for him.
Against them no cunning or strength of man is of any use. Without warning, they make the solid ground under his feet heave, and reel, and sink, hurling down whole towns in a moment, and burying the inhabitants under the ruins, as an earthquake did in Italy only a month ago. Or they pour forth streams of fire, clouds of dust, brimstone, and poisonous vapour, destroying for miles around the woods and crops, farms and cities, and burying them deep in ashes, as they have done again and again, both in Italy and Iceland, and in South America, even during the last few years. How can man stand against them? What greater warning or lesson to him than they, that G.o.d is stronger than man; that the earth is not man's property, and will not obey him, but only the G.o.d who made it? Now that was just what G.o.d intended to teach the Jews all along; that the earth and heaven belonged to Him and obeyed Him; that they were not to wors.h.i.+p the sun and stars, as the a.s.syrians and Canaanites did, nor the earth and the rivers as the Egyptians did: but to wors.h.i.+p the G.o.d who made sun and stars, earth and rivers, and to put their trust in Him to guide all heaven and earth aright; and to make all things, sun, earth, and weather, ay, and the very burning mountains and earthquakes, work together for good for them if they loved G.o.d.
Therefore it was that G.o.d gave His law to Moses on the burning mountain of Sinai, amid thunders, and lightnings, and earthquakes, to show them that the lightnings and the mountains obeyed Him.
Therefore it was that the earthquake opened the ground and swallowed up Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, who rebelled against Moses. Therefore it was that G.o.d once used an earthquake and eruption to preserve David from his enemies, as we read in the eighteenth Psalm. And all through David's Psalms we find how well he had learnt this great lesson which G.o.d had taught him. Again and again we find verses which show that he knew well enough who was the Lord of all the earth.
In Isaiah's time, it seems, G.o.d taught the Jews once more the same thing. He taught them, and the proud king of a.s.syria, once and for all, that He was indeed the Lord--Lord of all nations, and King of kings, and also Lord of the earth, and all that therein is. He taught it to the poor oppressed Jews by that miraculous deliverance.
He taught it to the cruel invading king by that miraculous destruction. Just in the height of his glory, after he had conquered almost every nation in the east, and overcome the whole of Judaea, except that one small city of Jerusalem, Sennacherib's great army was swept away, he neither knew how nor why, in a single night, and utterly disheartened and abashed, he returned to his own land; and even there he found that the G.o.d of Israel had followed him--that the idols whom he wors.h.i.+pped could not save him from the wrath of that G.o.d to whom a.s.syria, just as much as Jerusalem, belonged. For as he was wors.h.i.+pping in the house of Nisroch his G.o.d, his two sons smote him with the sword, and there was an end of all his pride and conquests... . Now Nisroch was the name of a star--the star which we call the planet Saturn; and the a.s.syrians fancied in their folly, that whosoever wors.h.i.+pped any particular star, that star would protect and help him... . But, alas for the king of a.s.syria, there was One above who had made the stars, and from whose vengeance the stars could not save him; and so even while he was wors.h.i.+pping, and praying to, this favourite star of his which could not hear him, he fell dead, a murdered man, and found out too late how true were the great words of Isaiah when he prophesied against him.
Yes, my friends, this is the lesson which the Jews had to learn, and which the king of a.s.syria had to learn, and which we have to learn also; and which G.o.d will, in His great mercy, teach us over and over again by bitter trials whensoever we forget it; that The Lord is King; that He is near us, living for ever, all-wise, all-powerful, all-loving; that those who really trust in Him shall never be confounded; that those who trust in themselves are trying their paltry strength against the G.o.d who made heaven and earth, and will surely find out their own weakness, just when they fancy themselves most successful. So it was in Hezekiah's time; so it is now, hard as it may be to us to believe it. The Lord Jehovah, Jesus Christ, who saved Jerusalem from the a.s.syrians, He still is King, let the earth be never so unquiet. And all men, or governments, or doctrines, or ways of thinking and behaving, which are contrary to His will, or even pretend that they can do without Him, will as surely come to nought as that great and terrible king of a.s.syria. Though man be too weak to put them down, Christ is not. Though man neglect to put them down, Christ will not. If man dare not fight on the Lord's side against sin and evil, the Lord's earth will fight for Him. Storm and tempest, blight and famine, earthquakes and burning mountains, will do His work, if nothing else will. As He said Himself, if man stops praising Him, the very stones will cry out, and own Him as their King. Not that the blessed Lord is proud, or selfish, or revengeful; G.o.d forbid! He is boundless pity, and love, and mercy. But it is just because He is perfect love and pity that He hates sin, which makes all the misery upon earth. He hates it, and he fights against it for ever; lovingly at first, that He may lead sinners to repentance; for He wills the death of none, but rather that all should come to repentance. But if a man will not turn, He will whet his sword; and then woe to the sinner. Let him be as great as the king of a.s.syria, he must down. For the Lord will have none guide His world but Himself, because none but He will ever guide it on the right path. Yes--but what a glorious thought, that He will guide it, and us, on that right path. Oh blessed news for all who are in sorrow and perplexity! Whatsoever it is that ails you--and who is there, young or old, rich or poor, who has not their secret ailments at heart?--whatsoever ails you, whatsoever terrifies you, whatsoever tempts you, trust in the same Lord who delivered Jerusalem from the a.s.syrians, and He will deliver you. He will never suffer you to be tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation also make a way for you to escape, that you may be able to bear it. This has been His loving way from the beginning, and this will be His way until the day when He wipes away tears from all eyes.
XX--PROFESSION AND PRACTICE
Though they say, ”The Lord liveth,” surely they swear falsely.-- JEREMIAH v. 2.
I spoke last Sunday morning of the wonderful way in which the Lord delivered the Jews from the a.s.syrian army, and I promised to try and explain to you this morning, the reason why the Lord allowed the a.s.syrians to come into Judaea, and ravage the whole country except the one small city of Jerusalem.
My text is taken from the first lesson, from the book of the prophet Jeremiah. And it, I think, will explain the reason to us.
For though Jeremiah lived more than a hundred years after Isaiah, yet he had much the same message from G.o.d to give, and much the same sins round him to rebuke. For the Jews were always, as the Bible calls them, ”a backsliding people;” and, as the years ran on, and they began to forget their great deliverance from the a.s.syrians, they slid back into the very same wrong state of mind in which they were in Isaiah's time, and for which G.o.d punished them by that terrible invasion.
Now, what was this?
One very remarkable thing strikes us at once. That when the a.s.syrians came into Judaea, the Jews were NOT given up to wors.h.i.+pping false G.o.ds. On the contrary, we find, both from the book of Kings and the book of Chronicles, that a great reform in religion had taken place among them a few years before. Their king Hezekiah, in the very first year of his reign, removed the high places, and cut down the groves (which are said to have been carved idols meant to represent the stars of heaven), and even broke in pieces the brazen serpent which Moses had made, because the Jews had begun to wors.h.i.+p it for an idol. He trusted in the Lord G.o.d, and obeyed Him, more than any king of Judah. He restored the wors.h.i.+p of the true G.o.d in the temple, according to the law of Moses, with such pomp and glory as had never been seen since Solomon's time. And not only did he turn to the true G.o.d, but his people also. From the account which we find in Chronicles, they seemed to have joined him in the good work.
They offered sin-offerings as a token of the wickedness of which they have been guilty, in leaving the true G.o.d for idols; and all other kinds of offerings freely and willingly. ”And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people that G.o.d had prepared the people. Moreover, Hezekiah called all the men in Judaea up to Jerusalem, to keep the pa.s.sover according to the law of Moses,” which they had neglected to do for many years, and the people answered his call and ”came, and kept the feast at Jerusalem seven days, with joy and great gladness, offering peace-offerings, and making confession to the G.o.d of their fathers.
So there was great joy in Jerusalem; for since the time of Solomon there was not the like in Jerusalem. Then the priests and the Levites arose, and blessed the people, and their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to the Lord's holy dwelling, even to heaven.”
And when it was all finished, the people went out of their own accord, and destroyed utterly all the idols, and high places, and altars throughout the land, and returned to their houses in peace.
Now does not all this sound very satisfactory and excellent? What better state of mind could people be in? What a wonderful reform, and spread of true religion! The only thing like it, that we know, is the wonderful reform and spread of religion in England in the last sixty years, after all the unG.o.dliness and wickedness that went on from the year 1660 to the time of the French war; the building of churches, the founding of schools, the spread of Bibles, and tracts, and the wonderful increase of gospel preachers, so that every old man will tell you, that religion is talked about and written about now, a thousand times more than when he was a boy. Indeed, unless a man makes a profession of some sort of religion or other, nowadays, he can hardly hope to rise in the world, so religious are we English become.
Now let us hear what Isaiah thought of all that wonderful spread of true religion in his time; and then, perhaps, we may see what he would think of ours now, if he were alive. His opinion is sure to be the right one. His rules can never fail, for he was an inspired prophet, and saw things as they are, as G.o.d sees them; and therefore his rules will hold good for ever. Let us see what they were.