Isaiah 51:17 Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which have drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury… Such a cup is sooner or later placed in all our hands. Some may ask us, indeed, if Christianity is not a religion of joy? Yes! But it is not a religion of hilarity. The Christian life is the reproduction of the Master's image in the world! And as He was the Man of Sorrows, so beneath all there will be tribulation in our hearts, even when we share the legacy of the Master's joy! The cup must be taken. The red wine is poured out by the good hand, and the child with bowed knee and bruised heart says, "Even so, Father, for so it seemeth good in Thy sight." Good in the sight which sees the end from the beginning, which culminates in the ultimate issues of glory and reward. I. THE CONSTITUTION OF THE PRESENT LIFE CREATES A SPIRIT OF TREMBLING. We are in a world of instability and uncertainty. Tremendous possibilities are involved in our daily lives. Health is so soon undermined. Disaster so suddenly comes. This life needs indeed a Brother and a Saviour. There must be with the Christian an element of sobriety in all human joys. II. THE ALL-SURROUNDING PRESENCE OF TEMPTATION CREATES A SPIRIT OF TREMBLING. Vain self-confidence is contemptible. III. THE LAW OF DEPENDENCE ON OTHERS CREATES A SPIRIT OF TREMBLING. 1. Illness comes, and we are dependent on the wisdom of the physician and the watchfulness of the nurse; great risk comes, and we are dependent on the command of the captain and the sobriety of the crew; or we need the safety of the wisest jurisprudence, and we are dependent on the carefulness of the lawyer and the skill of the counsel. 2. Or we have to take care of others. Wives and children who may presently be alone in the world — alone where there is such eager competition and self-concern, such neglect of the weakest and the neediest; and we must leave our simple savings to directors or to others who may mismanage our affairs, or to trustees who may be false to their trust. And who shall say that this is not to many anxious parents a "cup of trembling"! 3. Then we are citizens — men who have vast interest in all that appertains to the life and honour of the fatherland; and all these, representatively, we have to leave in the hands of men, who may through pride or ambition risk the nation s highest weal. 4. Then we are living souls, dependent on the great law of moral influence around us to a much greater extent than we think. And we cannot altogether escape from the contagion of the fashion of this present world. IV. THE NEAR APPROACH OF THE GREAT ACCOUNT CREATES A SPIRIT OF TREMBLING. Have you ever thought how nearness affects you? Disease in a near city — in your city — m your street — next door to your house! Have you ever thought how even the judgment of earth, as it comes nearer and nearer, affects the indifference of the criminal? But I am supposing that we are Christians. We have an account to render of life's stewardship. Into each of our hands God has placed the cup of personality, responsibility and accountability; and now, after a long time, "the Lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth with them." This is no mere figure of speech. V. THE SEASON OF SUBMISSION TO THE DIVINE WILL CREATES A SPIRIT OF TREMBLING. We can in no sense ever feel this as Christ our Lord and Master did. But though in this He stands alone, His whole earthly history was a spectacle of submission. Every man must bear his own burden, must drink his own cup. But Christ's comfort is ours! With trembling heart we seek the quiet pavilion of our Father. Better anything than a God-emptied life. Christ our Brother and Saviour alone can succour us in hours of submission. (W. M. Statham.) Parallel Verses KJV: Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out. |
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