The wrath of outraged goodness.
"A wounded spirit who can bear?" Even God will not bear it forevermore. A "base contempt of covenant mercies," exemplified here, may go too far. The limit of intelligent forbearance will be passed, and the pent-up vials of wrath restrained will be poured forth.
I. THE CRUSHER. "Behold, I will press you down as the cart presses that is filled with sheaves" (Keil). This is a strong figure. God, in his retributive action, is compared not only to a cart, but to a heavily loaded one, which crushes all it passes over. His stroke, when it falls, will be heavy in proportion as, in mercy, it has been long suspended. His love had long been spurned, and now at last it is turned into righteous hatred. Unspeakable goodness disregarded persistently will now give place to thick disasters. His power had been insanely dared, and Israel would now discover whether they had an arm like his. "On whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder." How indignant love can be that has suffered persistent outrage! How stern goodness becomes when it finds itself thrown away on inappreciation and contempt! How overwhelming Omnipotence is, which nevertheless endures defiance from worms of the dust so long! How terrible God will be as a Foe where he will not be accepted as a Friend (Psalms 18:26; Proverbs 1:24-28)!
II. THE CRUSHED. These are not the nation in general, but each class in particular—the strong, the courageous, the swift, the fighter, the runner, and the rider alike. None shall escape. God's wrath, like his love, is distinctive—rests not on masses, but on individuals. And, answering to this, the judgments which execute his wrath are elaborated in detail They are no more necessary than reluctant, no more reluctant than sure, no more sure than thorough.
"The mills of God grind slowly,
But they grind exceeding small."
It is noticeable, too, that of those who fall in the sweep of God's sword, it is the best protected who are emphasized. Nothing is said of the weak and timid and slow. Their destruction might be taken for granted. But, lest any should cherish a hope of escape under any circumstances, the persons to whom such hope would be most natural are doomed by name. An occasion of remaining in sin is, with many wicked, the stealthy hope that somehow or other they will escape at last (Isaiah 28:15). Perhaps they have no definite expectation, no theory even, on the subject. They know the Word of God to be decisive, and feel the chances are against them. But they cajole the judgment into negligently making the wish the father to the thought, and go down to death the half-conscious victims of a make believe. The gospel to such wants heralding with a Saviour's warning cry, "How can ye escape the damnation of hell?"
III. THE CRUSHING. A variety of figures combine to illustrate this.
1. It cannot be resisted. "The strong one will not fortify his strength," etc. There are no arms we can use against God. They are suited to a material, not a spiritual, foe. There is no strength to be put in competition with his. The bare thought of a struggle is the climax of all absurdity. "Let the potsherds strive with the potsherds of the earth."
2. It cannot be faced. "The courageous one among the heroes will flee away." Man has strength, and confidence in it, for a struggle with fellow man. But his strength leaves him in God's presence (John 7:44). He cannot even attempt resistance. "He falls at his feet like one dead."
3. It cannot be escaped. "The flight will be lost to the swift." To fly from Omnipresence is as inconceivable as to fight against Omnipotence. Darkness cannot hide, nor distance separate, from God. We live in his presence. We sin in his presence. We die in his presence. Even the destruction from his presence as gracious (2 Thessalonians 1:9) is destruction in his presence as filling heaven and earth.
HOMILIES BY J.R. THOMSON