On the day that the LORD gives you rest from your pain and torment, and from the hard labor into which you were forced, Sermons
The Lord shall give thee rest. The word " rest summarizes God's deliverances, and God's protections, and God's provisions, for his captive people. Assurbanipal boasts that he made his Arabian prisoners carry heavy burdens and build brickwork. And the wearied Hebrews in Egypt were promised the Lord's rest in Canaan. Treating the topic in a comprehensive manner, we may say that the rest which God provides for his creatures must be like himself, and it must be adapted to the deepest and best in them. I. WHAT GOD'S REST IS. It must stand related to character, not to mere attributes, nor to mere conditions. God must, indeed, be thought of as feeling the differences of outward conditions; the varied states of his creatures do move him to pity, sympathy, anger, or grief. In all their affliction he is afflicted." But he is always at rest, because the changes in circumstances never imperil the basis-principles of his character. "Justice and judgment are always the habitation of his throne." We are "restless unquiet sprites," as Keble calls us, not because we are in the midst of variable conditions and circumstances, or because these affect our feeling, but because the varying circumstances put in peril the principles of our character. God has eternal rest, because if "the elements melted with fervent heat, the earth and all therein were burned up," God would never question the perfect fatness and righteousness of his rule. Or we may put it in this way. Rest comes from the dominion of one faculty in us; under that dominion all the various powers of our nature fall into order, take their place, keep the peace, and secure for us rest. War may be a thing of the soul as well as of the circumstances, and the inward war consists in the conflict of motives. Mind, and will, and judgment, and affections are out of harmony, and make the war in the soul. But we can conceive of nothing like this in God. He is at rest because in his Divine nature, which is the true after which we are imaged, there is the order and harmony that follow upon the rule of the highest faculty. And what, for God, may we think is the highest faculty? This surely is the fullest revelation of God - "God is love." Ruling love secures rest. And if, for God, the highest is "love," what is the highest for man? Surely it must be "trust." Then the rest of God is the rest of character and of love; and the rest for man is the rest of character and of trust - of that character which grows up out of the root "trust." But, treating the subject in another way, we may see what is involved in saying that God's rest, as provided for man, must be adapted to man, to the deepest and best in him. Rest is the great longing of every heart. All men everywhere have this for their supreme quest. 1. Man, as man, is ever seeking rest. It is his "good time coming." 2. Man, as a sinner, is ever seeking rest. 3. Man, as redeemed, is ever seeking rest. God's rest for man is a glorious whole, beginning within us, in the faith we set on God, spreading through all the forces of our being its hallowing influence, and bringing the quietness and peace of settled, centered character; reaching even to the circumstances in which we are placed, modifying them, bringing them into its obedience, and so growing from the rest of the soul to the sublime, eternal, all-embracing rest of heaven. II. WHO MAY WIN THE LORD'S REST? It is very easy to say that, since it is the rest of faith, only believers win it. But we have come to talk about "faith" and "believing" in such a way that they are rather magical words to conjure with, than deep, full, rich expressions whose divinest meanings we grasp and use. Are believers only those who accept a particular creed, and have a common intellectual conception of the "plan of salvation?" Or is the true believer the man who possesses the spirit of trust; whose heart leans on God; whose loving reliances are on the heavenly Father? Surely the faith that saves is the yielding of the self to God; it is the heart's grasp of the righteousness and mercy which are revealed in Jesus Christ. This we can all win, and this is the Lord's rest. III. How FAR MAY THIS REST BE A PRESENT CONSCIOUS POSSESSION? It is a mistaken notion that all the facts and processes of the religious life must come into conscious recognition. Our Lord taught us that the growth of souls was like that of the plants. It goes on secretly, no man knoweth how; no man can trace all the processes of change from seed to blade, from blade to ear, from ear to full corn in the ear. Rest may be ours, and we may not think about it. It will never be won merely by seeking for it. It will be won by doing our duty, by simple obedience, by living in the grace of Christ, by perseverance in well-doing, by "holding fast the profession of our faith without wavering." Be "steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord," and it will be plain to others that you have reached the Lord's rest; and it may be that sometimes the joy of that rest will come into your own consciousness, and you wilt feel that "peace passing understanding" which is the foretaste of the "sweet rest of heaven." - R.T. The Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow. I. SORROW IS THE COMMON LOT. Though nobody is always sorrowful, there is in every life many a time when the mind is sore and the heart bruised. Yet people with a sore heart often sing; they find relief in breathing a hymn of prayerful trust. How beautiful is a good man under affliction! A child is often sore in mind because he is not understood and has not the heart-felt sympathy of those who direct him, Women also are sorrowful. Though a man be (n the most fortunate state of life he will have something to bruise his heart. I have heard of a lady whose husband was the worship of both her mind and heart; and when he was killed in a railway accident, her grief was so terrible that in a moment she seemed ten years older. A short time afterwards, she lost her children, and later on, through the failure of a bank, her fortune disappeared; but she endured these misfortunes with calmness, and her minister once asked, "How is it that you can bear up so well after the loss of your children and your money?" She replied, "In the death of my husband the greatest wound came the first." It is unwise to meet sorrow halfway. But there is one sorrow that we should seek and cultivate; it is the sorrow that we are not more godly. There is another sorrow which is worth having; it is that pain of heart which feels for the man or woman who is wounded in the conflict of life. In the ancient world, sorrow was considered to be God's curse, but the early Christians saw that God meant it as a sacred discipline: and therefore when sorrow came to them, they called it "tribulatio," using the word and image to set forth an elevating truth, namely, the separation of the evil in them from the good. II. Let us notice ONE OR TWO PERSONAL SORROWS IN WHICH SOME OF YOU ARE MORE OR LESS CONCERNED. 1. If you are sore in mind because you have done wrong, let your first thought be one of gratitude, that God can and does forgive your sins. 2. Many good people are sore in mind through a physical or temporal trouble. What is more unpleasant than to hear a cart wheel screeching every time it turns? So, you have in your lot something like a screeching wheel, and every move makes you feel the affliction. But the oil of Divine grace will cure it. III. THE CROWN OF SORROW IS TRUSTING GOD. "In all thy ways acknowledge Him," etc. IV. Let us learn THE OBJECT OF SORROW. It is to teach us to be patient and kindly. If you put roses into a cracked pot of commonest clay, it will breathe forth perfume; and from the most prickly plant, the thorn, we gather the sweetest flowers, So if the peace of God perfume your sorrowing heart, the thorns and briars of your affliction shall make your life bright with the flowers of godliness and charity. Bear your sorrow with true courage and sublime cheerfulness, not only for your own sake, but for our sake who look on you; for we wish to learn the way to bear our pain. () Let me tell you of a man who went home one day, and sitting down in his armchair, put his hand on his brow as if in great trouble. His little child went up to him, saying, "Father, what's the matter?" Looking down upon her with eyes of despair, he replied, "Ah, little Mary, I'm ruined!" She said, "Ruined, father, what's that?" He answered, "Why, my child, I'm like a man in a boat on the sea, and during a storm the boat has upset, and he is east on a desolate island." She climbed on his knee, stroking his face, and after awhile, exclaimed. "Well but, father, you know, you have only lost the boat; you haven't lost yourself, have you?" With tears in his eyes, he said, "Ah, no, thank God! I have only lost the boat; my heart and my life remain!" Then she asked, "Father, what's the name of the island?" He replied, "That is the worst of it Mary." "I don't know." She said, "But, father, I know; yea, I know the name of the island you are on; why, father, it is a nice island!" The wretched man tried to smile, and drawing the dear little face to his breast, said, "Mary, dear, tell me the name of the island!" She replied, "Oh, father, don't you know? you are dull tonight! why, father, the name of the island is God!" The sorrowful man was very, still, and little Mary looking up in his face, put her arms round his neck, saying, "Poor father, what makes you cry? Why don't you go upstairs and tell God about it?" Then he gently lifted the dear child down, and went to tell out his heart's sorrow to God. It is true his business had fallen but a Divine hand upheld him. () () Christians who give up their special religious work because they are in sorrow, may be likened to rusty nails in a bag under the counter of the ironmonger's shop; while the man who keeps on doing his best, believing that God is with him, is a man in a sure place, ready to bear all the weight that is hung on it.()
People Ahaz, Isaiah, Jacob, Lucifer, SaraphPlaces Babylon, Lebanon, Philistia, ZionTopics Bondage, Cruel, Enslaved, Fear, Gives, Giving, Grief, Harsh, Pain, Pass, Relief, Rest, Serve, Served, Service, Sharp, Sorrow, Suffering, Travail, Trouble, Turmoil, Wast, Wherein, YokeOutline 1. God's merciful restoration of Israel
3. Their triumphant exultation over Babel
24. God's purpose against Assyria
29. Philistia is threatened
Dictionary of Bible Themes Isaiah 14:3 5057 rest, physical Isaiah 14:3-4 8792 oppression, God's attitude
8816 ridicule, nature of Isaiah 14:3-6 8739 evil, examples of Isaiah 14:3-23 4215 Babylon Library The victory of Life (Preached at the Chapel Royal. )
ISAIAH xxxviii. 18, 19. The grave cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise thee. I may seem to have taken a strange text on which to speak,--a mournful, a seemingly hopeless text. Why I have chosen it, I trust that you will see presently; certainly not that I may make you hopeless about death. Meanwhile, let us consider it; for it is in the Bible, and, like all words in the Bible, was written …
Charles Kingsley—The Water of Life and Other SermonsThe Life and Death of Mr. Badman,
Presented to the World in a Familiar Dialogue Between Mr. Wiseman and Mr. Attentive. By John Bunyan ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. The life of Badman is a very interesting description, a true and lively portraiture, of the demoralized classes of the trading community in the reign of King Charles II; a subject which naturally led the author to use expressions familiar among such persons, but which are now either obsolete or considered as vulgar. In fact it is the only work proceeding from the prolific …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3 The First Trumpet.
The first trumpet of the seventh seal begins from the final disturbance and overthrow of the Roman idolarchy at the close of the sixth seal; and as it was to bring the first plague on the empire, now beginning to fall, it lays waste the third part of the earth, with a horrible storm of hail mingled with fire and blood; that is, it depopulates the territory and people of the Roman world, (viz. the basis and ground of its universal polity) with a terrible and bloody irruption of the northern nations, …
Joseph Mede—A Key to the Apocalypse The Evil of Sin visible in the Fall of Angels and Men.
1 When the great Builder arch'd the skies, And form'd all nature with a word, The joyful cherubs tun'd his praise, And every bending throne ador'd. 2 High in the midst of all the throng, Satan, a tall archangel, sat, Amongst the morning stars he sung [1] Till sin destroy'd his heavenly state. 3 ['Twas sin that hurl'd him from his throne, Grov'ling in fire the rebel lies: "How art thou sunk in darkness down, "Son of the morning, from the skies!" [2] 4 And thus our two first parents stood Till sin …
Isaac Watts—Hymns and Spiritual Songs Epistle xviii. To John, Bishop.
To John, Bishop. Gregory to John, Bishop of Constantinople [1586] . At the time when your Fraternity was advanced to Sacerdotal dignity, you remember what peace and concord of the churches you found. But, with what daring or with what swelling of pride I know not, you have attempted to seize upon a new name, whereby the hearts of all your brethren might have come to take offence. I wonder exceedingly at this, since I remember how thou wouldest fain have fled from the episcopal office rather than …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great Epistle xxi. To Constantina Augusta .
To Constantina Augusta [1593] . Gregory to Constantina, &c. Almighty God, who holds in His right hand the heart of your Piety, both protects us through you and prepares for you rewards of eternal remuneration for temporal deeds. For I have learnt from the letters of the deacon Sabinianus my responsalis with what justice your Serenity is interested in the cause of the blessed Prince of the apostles Peter against certain persons who are proudly humble and feignedly kind. And I trust in the bounty …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great That the Ruler Should Be, through Humility, a Companion of Good Livers, But, through the Zeal of Righteousness, Rigid against the vices of Evildoers.
The ruler should be, through humility, a companion of good livers, and, through the zeal of righteousness, rigid against the vices of evil-doers; so that in nothing he prefer himself to the good, and yet, when the fault of the bad requires it, he be at once conscious of the power of his priority; to the end that, while among his subordinates who live well he waives his rank and accounts them as his equals, he may not fear to execute the laws of rectitude towards the perverse. For, as I remember to …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great The Doctrine of Satan.
I. HIS EXISTENCE AND PERSONALITY. 1. EXISTENCE. 2. PERSONALITY. II. HIS PLACE AND POWER. 1. A MIGHTY ANGEL. 2. PRINCE OF POWER OF THE AIR. 3. GOD OF THIS WORLD. 4. HEAD OF KINGDOM OF DARKNESS. 5. SOVEREIGN OVER DEATH. III. HIS CHARACTER. 1. ADVERSARY. 2. DIABOLOS. 3. WICKED ONE. 4. TEMPTER. IV. OUR ATTITUDE TOWARDS SATAN. 1. LIMITED POWER OF SATAN. 2. RESIST HIM. V. HIS DESTINY. 1. A CONQUERED ENEMY. 2. UNDER ETERNAL CURSE. VI. DEMONS. THE DOCTRINE OF SATAN. Throughout the Scriptures Satan is set …
Rev. William Evans—The Great Doctrines of the Bible The Disciple, -- Master, Some People Say that the Comfort and Joy that Believers Experience...
The Disciple,--Master, some people say that the comfort and joy that believers experience are simply the outcome of their own thoughts and ideas. Is this true? The Master,--1. That comfort and abiding peace which believers have within themselves is due to My presence in their hearts, and to the life-giving influence of the fullness of the Holy Spirit. As for those who say that this spiritual joy is the result only of the thoughts of the heart, they are like a foolish man who was blind from his birth, …
Sadhu Sundar Singh—At The Master's Feet The Power of God
The next attribute is God's power. Job 9:19. If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong.' In this chapter is a magnificent description of God's power. Lo, he is strong.' The Hebrew word for strong signifies a conquering, prevailing strength. He is strong.' The superlative degree is intended here; viz., He is most strong. He is called El-shaddai, God almighty. Gen 17:7. His almightiness lies in this, that he can do whatever is feasible. Divines distinguish between authority and power. God has both. …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity Sargon of Assyria (722-705 B. C. )
SARGON AS A WARRIOR AND AS A BUILDER. The origin of Sargon II.: the revolt of Babylon, Merodach-baladan and Elam--The kingdom of Elam from the time of the first Babylonian empire; the conquest's of Shutruh-nalkunta I.; the princes of Malamir--The first encounter of Assyria and Elam, the battle of Durilu (721 B.C.)--Revolt of Syria, Iaubidi of Hamath and Hannon of Gaza--Bocchoris and the XXIVth Egyptian dynasty; the first encounter of Assyria with Egypt, the battle of Raphia (720 B.C.). Urartu …
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 7 Use to be Made of the Doctrine of Providence.
Sections. 1. Summary of the doctrine of Divine Providence. 1. It embraces the future and the past. 2. It works by means, without means, and against means. 3. Mankind, and particularly the Church, the object of special care. 4. The mode of administration usually secret, but always just. This last point more fully considered. 2. The profane denial that the world is governed by the secret counsel of God, refuted by passages of Scripture. Salutary counsel. 3. This doctrine, as to the secret counsel of …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion The Holy War,
MADE BY SHADDAI UPON DIABOLUS, FOR THE REGAINING OF THE METROPOLIS OF THE WORLD; OR, THE LOSING AND TAKING AGAIN OF THE TOWN OF MANSOUL. THE AUTHOR OF 'THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS.' 'I have used similitudes.'--Hosea 12:10. London: Printed for Dorman Newman, at the King's Arms in the Poultry; and Benjamin Alsop, at the Angel and Bible in the Poultry, 1682. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. Bunyan's account of the Holy War is indeed an extraordinary book, manifesting a degree of genius, research, and spiritual …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3 Covenanting According to the Purposes of God.
Since every revealed purpose of God, implying that obedience to his law will be given, is a demand of that obedience, the announcement of his Covenant, as in his sovereignty decreed, claims, not less effectively than an explicit law, the fulfilment of its duties. A representation of a system of things pre-determined in order that the obligations of the Covenant might be discharged; various exhibitions of the Covenant as ordained; and a description of the children of the Covenant as predestinated …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting Opposition to Messiah in Vain
He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision. T he extent and efficacy [effects] of the depravity of mankind cannot be fully estimated by the conduct of heathens destitute of divine revelation. We may say of the Gospel, in one sense, what the Apostle says of the Law, It entered that sin might abound (Romans 5:20) . It afforded occasion for displaying the alienation of the heart of man from the blessed God, in the strongest light. The sensuality, oppression and …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2 Isaiah
CHAPTERS I-XXXIX Isaiah is the most regal of the prophets. His words and thoughts are those of a man whose eyes had seen the King, vi. 5. The times in which he lived were big with political problems, which he met as a statesman who saw the large meaning of events, and as a prophet who read a divine purpose in history. Unlike his younger contemporary Micah, he was, in all probability, an aristocrat; and during his long ministry (740-701 B.C., possibly, but not probably later) he bore testimony, as …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links Isaiah 14:3 NIV
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