When the LORD restored the captives of Zion, we were like dreamers. Sermons
I. THE DREAM. It was a delightful one. 1. There are many of quite another kind - dreams full of trouble, terror, and distress. Many such are recorded in Scripture (Genesis 40.; Daniel 2.; Job 7:14; Matthew 27:19). 2. But this was full of joy and rapture. So unexpected, so wonderful, was Israel's redemption from exile. They could hardly realize how blessed they were. For it was a reality, not a dream. More often the daylight destroys our dreams; but this joy remained. 3. And their joy was irrepressible. (Ver. 2.) How sadly little of such joy do we see in the redeemed people of the Lord today! If they had not been redeemed at all, they could scarcely be more sad. 4. Their joy compelled the confession of God's goodness to them on the part of heathen nations'. A glad Church is ever a conquering Church. A realized redemption will be rejoiced in by the redeemed themselves, and recognized by others yet waiting to be redeemed. The world wants still to see a joyful witness-bearing Church. When such Church is seen, then, perhaps, the millennium will have come. But let each consciously redeemed soul bear its testimony here and now, not waiting for others. It is what ought to be. II. THE DREAM MODIFIED BY THE DAYLIGHT. (Ver. 4.) For: 1. The company of exiles who lead come back were but as a handful, as a tiny rill, the wonder of which was that it did not dry up, there was so little of it. Such rills generally did dry up, as the bare water-courses proved. And the company of those returned from Babylon, they were, oh, so few; the great majority were in exile still, and they themselves were threatened with all manner of opposition (Ezra 4:11-24). 2. Hence there rose up the prayer, "Turn again our captivity," etc.; that is, "Bring back our exiles, O Lord, in such strength and numbers, that it shall be with us as with the slender stream when, by the melting of the mountain snows, its waters are swollen into a full, rapid, mighty torrent, bearing all before it; let there be such an increase for us, thy people." And is not this the very prayer the Church needs today? for the com-puny of God's faithful people, are not they in this desert world but as a handful, a little flock, a tiny rill? Let us each say our "Amen." III. BUT REALIZED AGAIN BY FAITH IN THE PROMISES OF GOD. (Vers. 5, 6.) It might be amid drenching rains the sower went forth to cast into the ground his handful of seed, but the promises of God to such as he never failed, and in due time the glad harvest was given. So the devout psalmist looked now on himself and his little company of fellow-exiles, no longer as a tiny rill ready to be dried up and perish, but as the sower's handful of seed which amid much toil he sowed; but sustained by the sure confidence that the harvest would make amends for all. And for the Christian worker today, the lonely missionary in China, India, Central Africa, and elsewhere; ah! with what tears these servants of God often go forth! But they bear the precious seed, precious in itself, precious in their own experience of its power; and they, too, are sustained, as all true workers for God must be, by the faith that "doubtless," without any possibility of failure, they shall come again to God who sent them forth, bringing with joy the rich results of their present toil and prayer. Let us pray for such sowers let us be such ourselves. - S.C.
The Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity: but peace shall be upon Israel 1. In the time of trial, there will sundry be found hypocrites, counterfeit dealers, misbelievers, who will shift for themselves, and turn aside from the obedience of faith, by their own crooked courses.2. God will decipher hypocrites, who do not trust God, or do not adhere to the obedience of faith in time of trouble and trial, and will put them as corn-pliers with the wicked, in the same reckoning with His open enemies. 3. To look upon the judgments of God, pursuing backsliding misbelievers in time of persecution, should be a strong motive to make professors constant in the obedience of faith, on all hazards in time of trial: for the punishment of the wily misbeliever is set down here to teach men to be honest and stout in the faith and obedience of God. 4, Whatsoever trouble the Lord's people shall be put unto in the time of trial, they shall still remain in God's favour and grace; and when the Lord hath purged His Church in some measure, by winnowing corrupt hypocrites out from among His people, the Church shall be restored to her peace. (D. Dickson.) Peace shall be upon Israel. Theirs is a peace which the world can neither give nor take away. Tumult there may be without, but there is tranquillity within; and probably not the less so because there is tumult without. The music in a room does not fall with less pleasure on the ear, and less move the soul with its wondrous harmonies, because at times, during a pause, you hear the wind raging outside, and the rain rattling against the windowpanes. What can disturb him upon whom the Divine countenance is shining, and who pillows his head on the bosom of Jesus! If there be wars and rumours of wars in the world, it is not the fault of the Christian. He has been at the foot of the Cross, and he has learned there, that he who loves God must love his brother also. "Receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved," he has no apprehensions as to its stability. He has no feeling except of pity to the poor victims, who are involved in fields of slaughter, in the shakings of nations, and the revolutions of empires. Their roots shall be as rottenness, and their blossoms shall go up as dust, who would dim the starry brightness of the Redeemer's glory, and keep back the world's regeneration. Peace shall be his at death. The Christian knows in whom he has believed. No unknown Redeemer stands beside his bed. No unknown hands are thrown around him. And there shall be peace in heaven. No jarring discords are there; but the delightful anthems of gratitude, which burst almost unconsciously from the hearts of the redeemed. How pleasant the murmurs of the crystal river of life, which glides so gently between its green banks! How softly the wind breathes, as it stirs the branches of the tree of life, distilling odorous dews! How sublime the repose of that magnificent city of our God!(N. McMichael.). When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion. Homilist. : —I. A POLITICAL FACT, EMBLEMATIC OF MORAL RESTORATION. The political fact here celebrated is the return of the Jews from Babylonian thraldom, through the interposition of Cyrus. 1. The political restoration was great. It was a restoration from exile, bondage, and destitution of religious privileges. And are not souls in their unregenerate state exiles alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, slaves "carnally sold under sin," destitute of true religion, without God and without hope in the world? 2. It was Divine. Who else can effect the salvation of the soul? II. A HUMAN EXPERIENCE COMMON TO MOST MEN. 1. A great difficulty to realize at once a great and unexpected event (ver. 1). There is mercy in this. Could we fully realize such events as they occur, our nervous systems would be shattered, our mental powers would be paralyzed. Thank God for this dreaming faculty, a faculty which weakens the force of terrible events. 2. The irrepressibility of strong emotions (ver. 2). There are emotions to which souls are susceptible that cannot always be suppressed; they are electric, and must break in thunder and flash in lightning. These emotions are useful, they clarify the atmosphere and bring in the sunny and serene. 3. The inspiring force of success (ver. 2). 4. Love for others increasing with increased blessings (ver. 4). He who practically appreciates the blessings he receives from Heaven will desire that others may participate in the same. He who is good will do good, he who is truly pious will be philanthropic. 5. True happiness comes out of suffering (ver. 5).(1) It comes out of the sufferings of others. How much of the enjoyments of the men of this age have come out of the sorrows and tears of the men of past generations!(2) It comes out of the sufferings of ourselves. Godly repentance is the essential condition of spiritual enjoyment. "Through much tribulation," etc. 6. Genuine work for others, however painful, will be prosperous (ver. 6).(1) Philanthropic acts are seeds. There is a germinic life in every noble act, a life capable of indefinite multiplication.(2) The sowing of these seeds is often very painful. "Sow in tears." Parents, ministers, missionaries, all will attest this.(3) However painful, their harvest will reward the sower amply. They will yield "sheaves." They fall into the soil of human souls, and this soil is fecundant and imperishable. (Homilist.) I. OUR STATE BY NATURE.1. Captivity to sin. 2. Captivity to the law. II. OUR DELIVERANCE. The regenerating Spirit does not create in us new faculties. He rather purifies the old. He gives a right tendency and direction to those which already exist, and causing the wandering affections to flow in their proper channel. One immediate result of this Divine work is that of our being "turned again" unto God. III. THE EMOTIONS BY WHICH THIS DELIVERANCE IS ACCOMPANIED. 1. The emotions which are produced in the bosom of those whose "captivity is turned again."(1) Surprise. To feel that sin which had hitherto exercised so powerful a sway over our hearts, and found us at all times so easy a prey, has now "no more dominion over us"; is not this matter of surprise? To find that Satan, that cruel taskmaster, who had so long led us captive at will, has lost his tyrant-power, and is now beaten down beneath our feet; is not this matter of surprise?(2) Joy. Because Satan is foiled. Because the soul is saved. Because the glory of God is secured.(3) Praise. 2. The emotion which is produced in the mind of those who merely observe this deliverance. (John Gaskin, M. A.) : —I. THE CAPTIVITY OF ZION. 1. A degraded state. 2. A wretched state. 3. A guilty state. 4. A helpless state. II. DELIVERANCE FROM CAPTIVITY. 1. Cyrus was a type of Christ, the great spiritual Deliverer; and if we are ever brought out of our spiritual bondage we must be content to owe our liberty to Him alone. 2. This deliverance is openly proclaimed and freely offered. 3. None are excluded. III. THE FEELINGS WITH WHICH THEY RECEIVED THE TIDINGS OF THIS DELIVERANCE. 1. Joy. 2. Manifested in praise. 3. Prayer. (R. Davies, M. A.) : — Luther refers to the great and universal captivity of men under hell and the devil, and says it was a small matter for the Jews to be delivered from their bondage compared to our deliverance from these enemies. Sure I am that when the Lord so suddenly and wonderfully, and beyond their expectation, turned their captivity and took them home, our friends were, on that morning,. "like men that dreamed," even those who had good understanding of the promises. To be delivered in the awful moment of death from sin, and sorrow, and pain, to enter in at the gates of the city with the sound of trumpets in their ears, must have seemed to them a too blessed dream. We know the men and women of whom we speak, and we know something of how happy they must be now. Loyal as they were to us and home, we know their roots were struck deep in another homo than ours. While they sat with silent harps by the rivers of Babylon, they thought of the sweetness, the beauty and blessedness of that far-off city. We saw them as if they were in a dream, and we could not hide from ourselves how ripe they were to have their captivity turned. Neither can all the sorceries and incantations of the great Babylon so intoxicate and seduce us, but that we shall take our places with them. Can it be that they have forgotten us? Are they so full of joy and so happy that this world and those they loved before never come into their minds? No, we cannot believe it. They have not forgotten us. They are now priests to God, and sometimes we can almost read our own names on their breastplates. As often as the High Priest says, "Father, I wish that they may be with Me where I am," we may hear them cry, Amen. While they were yet on this earth, when they saw a new sight, or read a new book, or heard a good sermon, have we not their letters at home where they write, "I thought all the time of you. I did not half enjoy them because you were not there. I must stand on that hill-top, see that gallery, read that new book again with you"? And as they walk the streets of the New Jerusalem this night thinking of us, they ask, How long shall it be? When shall it be? They think how our hearts will swell at the sound of the trumpets; and as they walk by the living waters, they cry, O that they were hero to share my cup! Too literal critics find an enigmatical contradiction between the beginning and, the end of this psalm; but there is no enigma here. The hands of the redeemed trembled on the harp-strings when they thought of those they had left behind. It was not for those who pined in their captivity for whom they feared, but for those who prospered. John Calvin says that Daniel raised his banner in Babylon that believers might hold themselves in readiness to return. Paul has given us a banner with words inscribed in blood and gold, "for our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory," and as it waves in the wind, we see on the reverse scroll (2 Corinthians 5:1).(A. Whyfe, D. D.) People Psalmist, SolomonPlaces JerusalemTopics Ascents, Captive, Captives, Captivity, Change, Degrees, Dream, Dreamed, Dreamers, Fate, Fortunes, Gt, Lt, Ones, Restored, Returned, Song, Turning, Zion, Zion'sOutline 1. The church celebrating her incredible return out of captivity4. Prays for and prophesies the good success thereof Dictionary of Bible Themes Psalm 126:1 6738 rescue 7271 Zion, as symbol Library The Lost Silver PieceBut, my dear friends, the three parables recorded in this chapter are not repetitions; they all declare the same main truth, but each one reveals a different phase of it. The three parables are three sides of a vast pyramid of gospel doctrine, but there is a distinct inscription upon each. Not only in the similitude, but also in the teaching covered by the similitude, there is variety, progress, enlargement, discrimination. We have only need to read attentively to discover that in this trinity of … Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871 The Scattering of the People The Seed Growing Secretly. The Comforts Belonging to Mourners Death Swallowed up in victory Of the Necessity of Divine Influences to Produce Regeneration in the Soul. Introduction. Chapter i. --The Life and Writings of St. Hilary of Poitiers. 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