Religious persecutors.
"Then she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is the Lord thy God? mine eyes shall behold her: now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets." "And may mine enemy see it, and shame cover her who hath said to me, Where is Jehovah thy God? Mine eyes will see it; now will she be for a treading down like mire in the streets" (Delitzsch). "Although, for example, God had given up his nation to the power of its enemies, the nations of the world, on account of its sins, so that they accomplished the will of God by destroying the kingdoms of Israel and Judah and carrying away the people into exile; yet they grew proud of their own might in so doing, and did not recognize themselves as instruments of punishment in the hand of the Lord, but attributed their victories to the power of their own arm, and even amidst the destruction of Israel with scornful defiance of the living God. Thus they violated the rights of Israel, so that the Lord was obliged to conduct the contest of his people with the heathen, and secure the rights of Israel by the overthrow of the heathen power of the world" (ibid.). The words present to us a few thoughts concerning
I. THEIR HUMILIATING VISION. "Then she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her." "See" what? The deliverance, the exaltation which God wrought for the victims. Few things are more painful to a malign nature than to witness the prosperity and happiness of the object of its intense aversion. Every beam of delight in the hated one falls as fire on the soul nerves of the hater. Witness Haman and Mordecai. It is destined that every ungodly persecutor shall witness one day the happiness of the godly whom he has tormented. The songs of the martyr shall fall on the ears of the human demons that forged his chains, kindled his fires, and tortured him when living. "There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out." Another thing in the passage presented to us concerning religious persecutors is—
II. THEIR TAUNTING SPIRIT. "Where is the Lord thy God?" Scorn is one of the leading dements in the soul of the persecutor. "My tears," said David, "have been my food day and night, while mine enemies continually say, Where is now thy God?" Again, "Mine enemies reproach, saying daily unto me, Where is thy God?" Again, "Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God?" How this taunting spirit was shown in those who persecuted and put to death the Son of God! "They that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, and saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross" (Matthew 27:40). The taunting spirit is generally malific. It is fiendish, has in it the venom of hell. The taunting spirit is generally haughty. "Proud and haughty scorner is his name" (Proverbs 21:24). The taunting spirit is generally ignorant. He who deals in ridicule generally lacks the power of information and argument.
III. THEIR UTTER RUIN. "Now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets." There is a God that judges on the earth, and his retributive forces are ever on the heels of crime. The blood of martyrs cries to heaven, and stirs these forces to action. "How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" (Revelation 6:10).
"Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones
Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold;
Ev'n them who kept thy truth so pure of old,
When all our fathers worshipped stocks and stones,
Forget not: in thy book record their groans
Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold
Slain by the bloody Piedmontese that rolled
Mother with infant down the rooks. Their moans
The vales redoubled to the hills, and they
To heaven. Their martyr'd blood and ashes sow
O'er all th' Italian fields, where still doth sway
The triple tyrant; that from these may grow
A hundredfold, who, having learned thy way,
Early may fly the Babylonian woe."
(Milton.)
D.T.
The good time coming.
"In the day that thy walls are to be built, in that day shall the decree be far removed. In that day also he shall come even to thee from Assyria, and from the fortified cities, and from the fortress even to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain." The prophet here speaks in the name of Israel, and seems to exult in the expectation of the full restoration of Jerusalem. Her walls would be rebuilt, and her scattered citizens would be gathered unto her from Assyria to Egypt, from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain. "The most natural construction," says Henderson, "is that the decree of God respecting the political changes that were to take place was not to be confined to Babylon, but was to be extended to all the countries round about Judaea, in consequence of which great numbers would become proselytes to the Jewish faith?" The words may be used to illustrate two things concerning the good time coming.
I. IT WILL BE A TIME FOR REBUILDING THE RUINED. "In the day that thy walls are to be built." The walls of Jerusalem are referred to—the walls of fortification, protection; these are to be rebuilt. Daniel said that they were to be rebuilt in troublesome times (Daniel 9:25). There is, however, a more important rebuilding than this—a rebuilding that is going on, and will go on; until the great, moral city shall be complete.
1. The human soul is a building. It is a temple, a "spiritual house" reared as a residence for the Eternal, a home for the Holy Ghost to dwell in. It is "a city whose Builder and Maker is God."
2. The human soul is a building in ruins. The walls are broken down; its columns, arches, roof, rooms, all in ruins.
3. The human soul is a building to be rebuilt. Christ is to be the Foundationstone, etc. "Ye are built together for a habitation of God through the Spirit" (Ephesians 2:22). This rebuilding is going on according to a plan of the great moral Architect; is being worked out by agents that know nothing of the plan. It will be completed one day; the topstone will be brought forth one day, with shouts of "Grace, grace!" (Zechariah 4:7). This new Jerusalem established on earth, what a magnificent city it will be! The words may be used to illustrate another thing concerning the good time coming.
II. IT WILL BE A TIME FOR REGATHERING THE SCATTERED. "In that day also he shall come even to thee from Assyria, and from the fortified cities, and from the fortresses even to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain." "All," says an old writer, "that belong to the land of Israel, whithersoever dispersed and however distressed, far and wide over the face of the whole earth, shall come flocking to it again. He shall come even to thee, having liberty to return and a heart to return from Assyria, whither the ten tribes were carried away, though it lay remote from the fortified cities and from the fortress—those strongholds in which they thought they had them fast; for when God's time comes, though Pharaoh will not let the people go, God will fetch them out with a high hand. They shall come from all the remote parts, from sea to sea, and mountain to mountain, not turning back for fear of your discouragements, but they shall go from strength to strength, till they come to Zion" The human family, which Heaven intended to live as one grand brotherhood, has been riven into moral sections, antagonistic to each other, and scattered all over the world. The time will come when they shall be gathered together, not, of course, in a local sense, but in a spiritual—in unity of sentiment, sympathy, aim, soul. All shall be one in Christ. They will be gathered in spirit together from the four winds of heaven.
CONCLUSION. Haste this good time! May the chariot wheels of Providence revolve with greater speed!
"One song employs all nations; and all cry,
'Worthy the Lamb, for he was slain for us!'
The dwellers in the vales and on the rocks
Shout to each other, and the mountain tops
From distant mountains catch the flying joy;
Till, nation after nation taught the strain,
Earth rolls the rapturous Hosanna round."
(Cowper.) ― D.T.