A prophet stricken dumb.
This is something abnormal, almost monstrous. A prophet is a speaker by calling. His mission is to use his voice. Something is strangely amiss if he is to be driven to silence. The occurrence, the causes, and the consequences of such a phenomenon must be of exceptional importance.
I. THE FACT. The prophet's tongue is to cleave to the roof of his mouth. If he would speak, he shall not be able to do so. Then, as before the time of Samuel, the word of the Lord must be "rare" (1 Samuel 3:1). Divine messages cease.
1. No light. The sun is eclipsed. At noon it is night. Truth sinks into obscurity. Heaven ceases to have a meaning. Man is left to earth alone.
2. No guiding hand. Left in the dark, people may plunge into quagmires of error or fall into pits of destruction; there is no warning to keep them safe.
3. No commanding voice. Now the people feel free to choose their own course.
4. No consolation nor message of grace. The prophets were not all Cassandra,, nor was every message a prediction of judgment. These men were the consolers of the sorrowful. They bore Messianic messages of hope. Now their words are hushed. If the black thundercloud is dispelled, so also is the rainbow that spanned it.
II. THE CAUSE.
1. By the power of God. It is God who paralyzes the tongue of his servant. This is no matter of wilful reticence or sullen silence on the part of the prophet. If God sends a message, he can also withhold one. Revelation is not extorted from heaven by cunning sorcery. It is freely vouchsafed by the will of God, and if he chooses to hide it, no skill or might of man can extract it. The lips of the prophet from whom God has withheld a message are as surely sealed to all new Divine revelation as the lips of a corpse. The dead can tell no secrets, the uninspired prophet can make no revelation.
2. On account of man's sin. This is a judicial act. God does not work in caprice. But neither does he act with mechanical uniformity. He will not waste his gracious words forever. Christ warned his disciples not to cast their pearls before swine. How many have heard the gospel so often and heeded it not, that they may well feel they deserve to be shut out from hearing it any more! Why should the sower cast his seed by the wayside again, only to be trodden underfoot or stolen by the wild birds?
III. THE PURPOSE. There must be an object in this cessation of prophecy, and that object must be more than the mere economy of effort. God has positive ends in view in all that he does, for he is ever advancing to larger good, and never simply withdrawing from fruitless fields as though frustrated and confined to a smaller area. At first the cessstion of prophecy may be accepted as a relief from inconvenient admonition. It used to remind men of ugly facts—of sins committed and duties neglected. Now they are free from its annoying insistence. But presently other effects may be seen.
1. To show the value of what was neglected. Though we may not recognize the fact, the presence of a Divine voice is a great boon—it is light and counsel and help. Men may learn to value it when they have lost it. We do not know how precious our friends were till they are taken from us. Perhaps we were sometimes irritated by what they said. Oh that we could have them back now that we have learnt their value! But it is too late.
2. To speak by silence. Many words have tailed. Silence itself may be eloquent. The very cessation of prophecy may provoke reflection on the old messages.
3. To spare the aggravation of guilt. The more words of warning are unheeded, the worse is the guilt of the rejection.