Isaiah 52:1 Awake, awake; put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city… The Zion of Old Testament Scripture is the Christian Church of the New. We have here, therefore, a commanding summons to clothe ourselves, as Churches of Christ, with the strength which is especially our own: "Put on thy strength, O Zion." I. IS WHAT THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH CONSISTS. Not, as we are too apt to imagine, in wealth, in territory, in buildings, in material defences of any kind: all this is the strength of the world, but not of the Church. Its strength is in: 1. Steadfastness in truth and holiness. The reed by the river-side, shaken with every ripple of the water, bent with every breath of the breeze, is the type of weakness; the massive granite rock, against which the waves of centuries have dashed, but which remains unmoved from base to summit, is the type of strength. Jesus Christ wants his Church to be strong, in that it stands fast (1) in the truth (Ephesians 4:14; 1 Corinthians 16:3; Philippians 1:27): (2) in spiritual freedom (Galatians 5:1); (3) in holiness. The very success of the Church has occasioned danger here. There is much less of gross iniquity in modern society than in past times. The distinction between the people of God and the enemies of his truth is not so apparent. The spirit of worldliness does not show itself in such malignant forms. Evil, by "losing all its grossness," has lost half its hideousness, and is therefore more seductive and successful than it was. The Church needs to be peculiarly strong in holiness to repel the insidious attacks of our day on its purity. 2. Fruitfulness. The strength of the fruit-bearing tree is in bearing much and good fruit. Herein is God glorified in us, as a Church, that we "bear much fruit." What fruits does a strong Church bear? Those of pure and gentle thoughts, of kind and generous feelings, of true and helpful words, of upright and honourable deeds, of acceptable and spiritual worship. 3. Usefulness. The strongest object we know of is the sun; and its strength is found in radiating life-giving light and heat, century after century: it is the strength of ceaseless, unmeasurable beneficence. To this strength Christ is calling his people. They are to be clothed with and to exercise this benign and blessed power; they are to be distributing on every hand, to instruct the ignorant, to comfort the sorrowful, to guide the perplexed, to reclaim the fallen, to bring into the kingdom of God them that are afar off. II. THE WAY TO SECURE IT. Physical strength cannot, indeed, be assumed at will; but it can be attained by a sick man arousing himself from his lethargy, sloth, and folly, and adopting the measures which minister to bodily well-being. Let the spiritually feeble: 1. Take due spiritual nourishment. The Bread of life, the Water of life, invigorating privileges, are within our reach. 2. Take due spiritual exercise. To him that hath is given, and the man who labours imperfectly at first will gain strength and skill as he puts out his power; every effort to do good is so much strength gained for future usefulness as well as so much power put forth in present activity. 3. Seek the inspiring influences which come from God: "They that wait on him shall renew their strength." - C. Parallel Verses KJV: Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. |
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