ISRAEL’S HOPE ENCOURAGED – CHAPTER 4 – John Bunyan
HOW HOPE IS MADE A DUTY BY THE WORD
HAVING thus briefly touched upon those three things that are contained in the matter of the exhortation, I now come to speak a word to the MANNER of phrases, by which the exhortation is presented to us. “Let Israel hope.”
He doth not say, Israel hath hoped, Israel did hope, Israel can hope, but “Let Israel hope in the Lord.” “Let” is a word very copious, and sometimes signifies this, and sometimes that, even according as the nature or reason of the thing under debate, or to be expressed, will with truth and advantage bear. Let him hope. 1. Sometimes “let,” is equivalent to a command. “Let every soul be subject to the higher powers;” this is a command. “Let all things be done decently and in order;” this also is a command. So here, “Let Israel hope;” this also is a command, and so enjoins a duty upon Israel. For why, since they seek for mercy, should they not have it?
Now a command lays a very strong obligation upon a man to do this or any other duty. God commandeth all men every where to repent, but Israel only to hope in mercy. Now take the exhortation, and convert it into a commandment, and it showeth us, (1.) In what good earnest God offers his mercy to his Israel. He commands them to hope in him, as he is and will be so to them. (2.) It supposes an impediment in Israel, as to the faculty of receiving or hoping in God for mercy. ‘We that would have God to be merciful, we that cry and pray to him to show us mercy, have yet that weakness and impediment in our faith, which greatly hindereth us from a steadfast hoping in the Lord for mercy, (3.) It suggesteth also, that Israel sins, if he hopeth not in God. God would not that all should attempt to hope; because they have no faith.
For he is for having them first believe, knowing that it is vain to think of hoping, until they have believed. But Israel has believed, and therefore God has commanded them to hope, and they sin, if they obey him not in this, as in all other duties. He commands thee, I say, since thou hast believed in his Son, to hope; that is, to expect to see his face in the next world with joy and comfort. This is hoping, this is thy duty, this God commands thee. 2. As this word “let” is sometimes equivalent to a command, so it is expressed sometimes also to show a grant, leave, or license, to do a thing.
Such are these that follow, “Let us come boldly to the throne of grace; “Let us draw near with a true heart;” “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering.” Here also this manner of expressing the thing may be taken in the same sense, namely, to show that Israel has a grant, a license to trust in the Lord. And, Oh! what a privilege is this! but who believes it? And yet as truly as God has granted to Jacob, to Israel, repentance unto life, and by that means has made him fly for refuge, to lay hold of Christ set before him as a justifier; so has he granted him leave and license to trust in him for ever and to hope for his favor in the next world.
And if you take the word in this sense, namely, for a grant, leave, or license, to hope in God, then, (1.) This shows how liberal God is of himself and things to Israel. Let Israel hope in me, trust to me, expect good things at my hand; I give him leave and license to do it. Let him live in a full expectation of being with me, and. with my Son in glory; I give him leave to do so; he has license from me to do so. (2.) Understand the word thus, and it shows us with what boldness and confidence God would have us to hope in him. They that have leave and license to do a thing, may do it with confidence and boldness, without misgivings and reluctance of mind. This is our privilege; we may live in a full assurance of hope unto the end; we may hope perfectly to the end; we have leave, license, and a grant to do it.
Understand the word thus, and it also shows you how muddy, how dark those of Israel are, and how little they are acquainted with the goodness of their God, who stand shrinking at his door like beggars, and dare not in a godly sort be bold with this mercy. Wherefore standest thou thus with thy ‘ifs,’ and thy ‘O buts,’ O thou poor benighted Israelite? Wherefore puttest thou thy hand in thy bosom, as being afraid to touch the hem of the garment of the Lord? Thou hast a leave, a grant, a license to hope for good to come. Thy Lord himself has given it to thee, saying, “Let Israel hope in the Lord.” 3. This word “let” is also sometimes used by way of rebuke: “Let her alone, for her soul is vexed;” “Let her alone; why trouble ye her?” “Refrain from these men, and let them alone.” And it may also so be taken here. But if so, then it implies, that God in this exhortation re-buketh those evil instruments, those fallen angels, with all others that attempt to hinder us in the exercise of this duty. As Boaz said to his servants, when Ruth was to glean in the field, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and reproach her not.” We have indeed those that continually endeavor to hinder us of living in the assurance of hope, as to being with God and with Christ in glory; but here is a rebuke for such. “Let Israel hope in the Lord.” And it shows us, (1.) That what suggestions come from Satan to make us, that are Israelites, to doubt, come not for that end, by virtue of any commission that he hath from God; God has rebuked him in the text, and you may see it also elsewhere. These temptations, therefore are rather forged of malice, and of despite to our faith and hope and so should be accounted by us. (2.) This shows us also, that we should take heed of crediting that which comes unto us to hinder our hope in the Lord; lest we take part with Satan, while God rebuketh him, and countenance that which fights against the grace of God in us. (3.) It shows us also, that as faith, so hope, cannot be maintained but with great difficulty; and that we should endeavor to maintain it, and hope through every difficulty. 4. This word “let” is sometimes used by way of request or entreaty. “I pray thee let Tamar, my sister, come; “Let it be granted to the Jews to do,” etc.
And if it be so to be taken here, or if in the best sense this interpretation of it may here be admitted, the consideration thereof is amazing; for then it is all one as if God, by the mouth of his servant, the penman of this Psalm, did entreat us to hope in him. And why this may not be implied here, as well as expressed elsewhere, I know not. “God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.” Why should God beseech us to be reconciled to him but that we might hope in him? And if it be thus taken here, it shows, (1.) The great condescension of God in that he doth not only hold out to us the advantages of hoping in God, but desire that we should hope, that we might indeed be partakers of those advantages. (2.) It teaches us also humility; and that always in the acts of faith and hope, we should mix blushing and shame, with our joy and rejoicing.
Kiss the ground, sinner; put thy mouth in the dust, if so there may be hope! 5. And lastly, This word is used sometimes by way of caution: “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed, lest he fall:” “Let us fear, therefore, lest a promise being left us of entering into rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.” And if it should be so taken here then, (1.) This shows us the evil of despair; and that we at times are incident to it. Our daily weakness our fresh guilt, our often decays, our aptness to forget the goodness of God, are direct tendencies unto this evil, of which we should be aware; for it robs God of his glory, and us of our comfort, and gratifies none but the devil and unbelief. (2.) It showeth us that despair is a fall, a falling down from our liberty.
Our liberty is to hope; it is our portion from God; for he hath said that himself will be the hope of his people. To do the contrary is, therefore, a falling from God, a departing from God through an evil heart of unbelief. It is the greatest folly in the world for an Israelite to despair. “Why sayst thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God? Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not? There is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and even to them that have no might, he in-creaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon (that hope in) the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”
Now we come to those inferences that do naturally flow from this exhortation: and they are in number four. 1. That hope (and the exercise of it)is as necessary in its place, as faith and the exercise of it. All will grant that there is need of a daily exercise of faith; and we are bid to hope unto the end, because hope is the grace that relieveth the soul when dark and weary. Hope is the cordial to the faint and sinking spirit. Hope calls upon the soul, not to forget how far it is arrived in its progress toward heaven. Hope will point and show it the gate afar off; and therefore it is called the hope of salvation.
Hope exerciseth itself upon God, by those mistakes that the soul hath formerly been guilty of, with reference to the judgment that it hath made of God, and of his dealing with it. And this is an excellent virtue. “I said once,” says the church, “that my hope was perished from the Lord,” (but was deceived.) “This I recall to mind, therefore have I hope.” That is, ‘Why, if I give way to such distrusting thoughts, may I not be wrong again? Therefore will I hope.’ This virtue is that which belongs to this grace only; for this and this is it that can turn unbelief and doubts to advantage. “I said in my haste,” said David, “I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless (I was mistaken) thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee.” And what use doth he make of this?
Why, an exhortation to all good men to hope, and to take advantage to hope from the same mistakes. ‘I think I am cast off from God,’ says the soul. ‘So thou thoughtest before,’ says memory; ‘but thou wast mistaken then, and why not the like again? and therefore will I hope. When I had concluded that God would never come near me more, yet after that he came to me again; and as I was then, so I am now; therefore will I hope.’
True hope, in the right exercise of it upon God, makes no stick at weakness or darkness, but rather worketh up the soul to some stay, by these.
Abraham’s hope wrought by his weakness. And so Paul, “When I am weak, then I am strong; — I will then most gladly rejoice in mine infirmities.” But this cannot be done where there is no hope, nor but by hope; for it is hope and the exercise of it, that can say, ‘Now I expect that God should bring good out of all this.’ And as for the dark, it is its element to act in that: “For hope which is seen is not hope.” But we must hope for that we see not. So David, “Why art thou east down, O my soul? Hope thou in God.” Christians have no reason to mistrust the goodness of God because of their weakness, etc. “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see.” By believing there means hoping to see, as the exhortation drawn from thence doth import.
Hope will make use of our calling, to support the soul, and to help it, by that, to exercise itself in a way of expectation of good from God. Hence the apostle prays for the Ephesians, that they may be made to see what is the hope of their calling; that is, what good that is which by their calling, they have ground to hope is laid up in heaven, and to be brought unto them at the appearance of Jesus Christ.
For thus the soul, by this grace of hope, will reason about this matter. ‘God has called me; surely it is to a feast. God has called me to the fellowship of his Son; sure it is that I may be with him in the next world. God has given me the spirit of faith and prayer; surely it is that I might hope for what I believe is, and wait for what I pray for. God has given me some tastes already; surely it is to encourage me to hope that he purposeth to bring me into the rich fruition of the whole.
Hope will exercise itself upon God by those breakings wherewith he breaketh his people for their sins. “The valley of Achor” must be given “for a door of hope.” ‘The valley of Achor;’ what is that? Why, the place where Achan was stoned for his wickedness, and the place where all Israel was afflicted for the same. I say, hope can gather by this, that God has a love to the soul; for when God hateth a man, he chastiseth him not for his trespasses. “If ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.” Hence Moses tells Israel, that when the hand of God was upon them for their sins, they should consider in their heart, that as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord their God chastened them. And why thus consider, but that a door might be opened for hope to exercise itself upon God, by this? This is that also that is intended in Paul to the Corinthians, “When we are judged we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.” Is not here a door of hope? And why a door of hope but that by it, God’s people, when afflicted, should go out by it from despair by hope? But it is to be inferred, 2. That the exercise of ‘ hope upon God is very delightful to him. Else he would not have commanded and granted us a liberty to hope, and have rebuked those that would hinder. “Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him; upon them that hope in his mercy; to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.”
That God is much delighted in the exercise of this grace, is evident, because of the preparation that he has made for this grace, wherewith to exercise itself. “For whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures’, might have hope.”
Mark; the whole history of the Bible, with the relation of the wonderful works of God with his people from the beginning of the world, was written for this very purpose, that we, by considering and comparing, by patience and comfort of them, might have hope. The Bible is the scaffold or stage that God has builded, for Hope to play his part upon in this world. It is, therefore, a thing very delightful to God, to see hope rightly giving its color before him; hence he is said to laugh at the trial of the innocent. Why at his trial? Because his trial puts him upon the exercise of hope. For then, indeed, there is work for hope, when trials are sharp upon us.
But why is God so delighted in the exercise of this grace of hope?
Because first, Hope is a head grace and governing. There are several lusts in the soul that cannot be mastered, if hope be not in exercise; especially if the soul be in great and sore trials. There are peevishness and impatience, there are fear and despair, there are doubting and misconstruing of God’s present hand; and all these become masters, if Hope be not stirring; nor can any grace besides, put a stop to their tumultuous raging in the soul. But now hope in God makes them all hush; takes away the occasion of their working, and lays the soul at the foot of God. “Surely,” says the Psalmist, “I have behaved and quieted myself as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child.” But how came he to bring his soul into so good a temper? Why, that is gathered by the exhortation following. “Let Israel hope in the Lord, henceforth and for ever.” It was by hoping in the Lord that he quieted. his soul, and all its unruly, sinful passions.
As hope quasheth and quieteth sinful passions, so it putteth into order some graces that cannot be put into order without it: as patience, meekness, silence, and long-suffering, and the like. These are all in a day of trial out of place, order, and exercise, where hope forbeareth to work.
I never saw a distrusting man, a patient man, a quiet man, a silent man, and a meek man under the hand of God, except he was dead in sin at the same time. But we are not now talking of such. But now let a man hope in the Lord, he presently concludes, ‘this affliction is for my good, a sign God loves me, and that which will work out for me a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;’ and so it puts the graces of the soul into order.
Wherefore, patience, by which a man is bid to possess or keep his soul under the cross, is called ‘the patience of hope.’ So in another place, when he would have the church patient in tribulation, and continue instant in prayer, he bids them rejoice in hope, knowing that the other could not be done without it.
God takes much delight in the exercise of hope, because it wisely construeth all God’s dispensations, at present, towards it for the best. “When he hath tried me, I shall come forth like gold.” This is the language of hope. ‘God (saith the soul) is doing me good, making me better, refining my inward man.‘ Take a professor that is without hope, and either he suffereth affliction of pride and ostentation, or else he picks a quarrel with God and throws up all. For he thinks that God is about to undo him; but hope con-strueth all to the best, and admits no such unruly passions to carry the man away.
Therefore hope makes the man, be the trials what they will, to keep still close to the way and path of God. “My foot,” said hoping Job, “hath held his steps; his way have I kept, and not declined. Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips.” And again, says the church, “Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way; though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death.” But how came they thus patiently to endure? Why, they by hope put patience and prayer into exercise. They knew that their God was as it were but asleep, and that in his time he would arise for their help; and when he did arise he would certainly deliver. Thus is this psalm applied by Paul. 3. There is also inferred from this exhortation, that the hope of those that are not Israelites indeed, is not esteemed of God. “Let Israel hope.” The words are exclusive, shutting out the rest. He doth not say, let Amalek hope; let Babylon or the Babylonians hope; but even in and by this exhortation shutteth out both the rest and their hope from his acceptance.
This being concluded, it follows, that some may hope and not be the better for their hope. “The hypocrite’s hope shall perish:” “Their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost:” “For what is the hope of the hypocrite?”
Again, “The hope of the unjust man perisheth.”
There is a hope that perisheth, both it and he that hoped with it together.
The reasons are, Because first, it floweth not from faith and experience, but rather from conceit and presumption. Hope, as I have told you, if it be right, cometh of faith, and is brought forth by experience: but the hope now under consideration is alone, and has no right original, and, therefore, is not regarded. It is not the hope of God, but the hope of man; that is, it is not the hope of God’s working, but the hope that standeth in natural abilities. “thou washest away the things that grow out of the dust of the earth; and thou destroyest the hope of man.” Whatsoever in religious matters is but of a carnal and earthly existence, must be washed away, when the overflowing scourge shall at the end pass over the world.
Because again, the Lord ‘s mercy is not the object of it. The worldly man makes gold, or an arm of flesh his hope; that is, the object of it, and so he despiseth God. Or if he be a religious hypocrite, his hope terminates in his own doings: he trusteth, or hopeth in himself, that he is righteous. All these things are abhorred of God; nor can he, with honor to his name, or in a compliance with his own eternal designs, give any countenance to such a hope as this.
This hope, moreover, has no good effect on the heart and mind of him that hath it. It purifieth not the soul; it only holds fast a lie, and keeps a man in a circuit, at an infinite distance from waiting upon God.
This hope, indeed, busieth all the powers of the soul about things that are of the world, or about those false objects on which it is pitched; even as the spider diligently worketh in her web (unto which also this hope is compared) in vain. This hope will bring that man that has it, and exercises it, to heaven, when Leviathan is pulled out of the sea with a hook, or when his jaw is bored through with a thorn! But as he that thinks to do this, hopeth in vain; so even so will the hope of the other be as unsuccessful. “So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite’s hope shall perish: whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider’s web. He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand; he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure.” This is the hope that is not esteemed of God, nor the persons that have it, preferred by him a whit before their own dung. 4. There is also inferred from these words, that Israel himself is subject to swerve in his soul about the object of hope. For this text is to him, as a command and grant., so an instruction by which he is to be informed, how and upon whom to set his hope. That Israel is apt to swerve as to the object of his hope is evident, for that so much ado is made by the prophets to keep him upon his God; in that so many laws and statutes are made to direct him to set his hope in God; and also by his own confession. The fears also and the murmurings and the faintings that attend the godly in this life, do put. the truth of this inference out of doubt.
It is true, the apostle said, that he had the sentence of death in himself, that he might not trust or hope in himself, but in God that raiseth the dead. But this was a high pitch. Israel is not always here: there are many things that hinder.
The imperfection of our graces is one. There is no grace perfected in the godly. Now, it is incident to things defective, to be wanting in their course.
Faith is not perfect; and hence, the sensible Christian feels what follows.
Love is not perfect; and we see what follows. And so of Hope, and every other grace; their imperfection makes them stagger.
Israel is not yet beyond temptations. There is a deal to attend him with temptations; and he has a soul so disabled by sin, that at all times he cannot fix on God that made him, but is apt to be turned aside to lying vanities: the very thing that Jonah was ensnared with.
The promising helps that seem to be in other things, are great hindrances to a steady fixing, by hope, on God. There are good frames of hear, enlargements in duties, with other the like, that have, through the darkness and the legality of our spirits, been great hindrances to Israel. Not that their natural tendency is to turn us aside; but our corrupt reason getting the upper hand, and bearing the sway in judgment, perverts our minds and consciences to the making of wrong conclusions upon them.
Besides, as the mind and conscience by reason is oft deluded to draw these wrong conclusions upon our good frames of heart, to the removing of our hope from the right object unto them; so by like reason, are we turned by unwholesome doctrines, and a carnal understanding of the word, to the very same thing. Cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water, Israel, even God’s people, are apt to make unto themselves, to the forsaking of their God!