MARVELOUS! MARVELOUS! – Charles Spurgeon
MARVELOUS! MARVELOUS!
“Thus says the LORD of hosts: If it is marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, will it also be marvelous in My eyes? says the LORD of hosts.” Zechariah 8:6.
God sent His servant Zechariah with a promise that Jerusalem should be rebuilt and that it would enjoy a time of great peace and prosperity. Instead of men being slain in battle in the prime of their days, old men and old women were to dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, “every man with his staff in his hand for very age.” And whereas war had often cut off the women and children, the promise further added, “The streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.” Everything was to be prosperous in the land around, so as to bring plenty into the city—“For the seed shall be prosperous; the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things.” It was a sweet assurance, and it ought to have made them very happy, but it did not.
When this gracious promise came, it startled the people, for it seemed past belief. The unbelievers did not say point-blank, “This promise is not true,” but deep in their hearts, they thought as much. It is not the general habit of unbelief among God’s people to give a flat contradiction to His promises. We are hardly honest enough to our own thoughts to express them with deliberate plainness of speech. Even unbelief loves to wear some cobweb covering or other so that its naked deformity may not appear. Our reverence for the Lord will not permit us to distinctly call Him a liar, but it comes to much the same thing, for in our hearts we deny the truthfulness of His word.
The remnant of Israel said, “How can this thing be? In these days, in these troublous days, in these threatening days, how can Jerusalem be made to prosper? Former hopes have been disappointed. We see no better signs of the times, and no doubt, if our hopes are now raised, they will again be disappointed. How can the city rise from its ashes? We can hardly think it possible. At any rate, it will be marvelous, extremely difficult, exceedingly unlikely, indeed, impossible.” They did not say at once, “It will not be,” but they said, “It will be a marvelous thing,” by which they meant that it was not in the least likely.
You who carry Bibles with you which have the marginal readings will notice that in the margin there is the word “difficult,” and the text may be read thus, “Thus says the Lord of hosts: If it is difficult in your eyes, should it also be difficult in My eyes?” This is the only instance in which the word “difficult” occurs in our version of the Bible, and in this case, it is only to be found in the margin. There is too much of God in the Bible for difficulties to live in it. I would be very glad if I could always put the word “difficult” into the margin of my life, and never let it stand in the substance of it. I wish my faith would banish it. Difficulty does crop up now and then through unbelief, but where God manifests Himself, difficulty vanishes. Leave it in the margin, brothers and sisters! Leave it in the margin. Let it not be read in the annals of your actual life. A brave self-reliance blots the word “difficult” out of its dictionary, and a full God-reliance may much more safely do so. If God is for us, all things can be accomplished. Things impossible with men are possible with God.
The remnant of Israel said, “It will be difficult,” and then they softened the words a little, saying, “It will be marvelous in our eyes.” Still, it came to this: that they did not believe the word of the Lord. They could not conceive how the promise could be fulfilled, and therefore, because it surpassed their conception, they supposed that the Lord was equally baffled and perplexed. Because the restored prosperity of Jerusalem would be a great wonder, they doubted if it could ever be accomplished. Yet, blessed be the name of the Lord, it was accomplished, for “though we believe not, He abides faithful; He cannot deny Himself.”
It certainly was a marvelous thing that Jerusalem, after having been so dreadfully destroyed, should again lift up its head and enjoy a little period of sunlight. But we are called upon to believe in even greater wonders—wonders of a spiritual kind, which are more difficult to believe than material miracles. I am going to talk about what, to every intelligent and awakened mind, will be the greatest wonder of all, namely, the possibility of our salvation by faith in Christ Jesus.
Satan will assail you who are saved, and you who are seeking to be saved, and he will aim a blow at your faith. If he does not dare to tell you in his own native tongue of point-blank lying that the promise which the gospel makes to the believer is false, yet he will lead you to think it highly improbable, too good to be true, too wonderful ever to happen, in a word, he will make it appear marvelous in your eyes, and he will hint that it is incredible.
So this morning, I am first going to speak upon Carnal Reasoning, how it runs. Secondly, I will offer a correction to that reasoning by pointing out an untruth which lies at the bottom of it. And thirdly, I will try, in conclusion, to dwell upon the truth of the matter and see if we cannot enjoy some right reasoning. O blessed Spirit of grace, teach our reason right reason at this hour and make us to perceive all things in the light of the truth!
I. CARNAL REASONING
The Jews of those days said, “It is difficult; it will never be performed. It is marvelous in our eyes; it will never happen.” This kind of speech comes from men as soon as they begin to think about their souls and desire the salvation of the Lord. We inform them in God’s name that whoever repents of sin and confesses it, and believes in Jesus Christ, shall receive immediate pardon, and this good news surprises them, as well it may. Straightaway the old serpent begins to hiss out a doubt, and they ask, “How can it be? Can a man receive in one moment forgiveness for 50 years of sin? How can his conscience be cleared by the simple act of believing in Christ? How can the record of a life of evil be blotted out at once?” Assuredly, it does not seem possible to a troubled mind. Reason decides that it must be very difficult. Common sense assents that it is a marvelous affair altogether, and the poor awakened hearts conclude that the promise of full, free, and present forgiveness cannot be true. Thus they push the promise of God concerning pardon to one side as a good thing which is quite past belief.
Then comes the blessing of renewal of heart, such as God speaks of in the covenant promise, “A new heart also will I give them, and a right spirit will I put within them.” Our hearer understands that upon his believing in Jesus he is born again and becomes a new creature, with new likes and new hates, an entirely altered being. But understanding the promise is one thing, and believing it is another. A new heart the awakened one desires, but he considers it too great a marvel. He asks, “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Can I, who have been accustomed to do evil, learn to do well? It will be marvelous indeed if such a sinner as I should be turned into a saint, if such a rebel as I should become a loyal subject of King Jesus! Such a conversion will be most extraordinary. I do not think it can be carried out.” He knows that he cannot subdue his own stubborn will nor conquer his own unruly passions, and therefore he concludes that the thing is impossible and not to be looked for. Thus another choice covenant promise is thrown to one side by unbelief, and the man sits down in self-created despair, under the persuasion that a new birth for him would be too marvelous a thing to expect.
Even if the awakened soul proceeds as far as believing in the first two blessings, unbelief comes to him in another way, for this thief is sure to meet the traveler to Zion again and again. The Lord has promised that the righteous shall hold onto His way, and he that has clean hands shall wax stronger and stronger. And Christ has declared that the living water which He gives shall be no transient gift, but shall be in a man a well of water springing up into everlasting life. “Oh, but,” says the tempted one, “how can I hope to persevere to the end? I shall be one of these days tempted so strongly that I shall be carried off my feet. What with indwelling sin and a cunning tempter, and a world full of evil, I cannot hope to endure to the end. I shall one day fall by the hand of the enemy. Do you assure me that the righteous shall hold onto their way? Then it will be marvelous, it must be so difficult that I fear it is improbable, if not impossible.” Thus unbelief pushes to one side another covenant blessing.
Further on, there comes to the man who has been helped to persevere for a while the promise that he shall ultimately be presented faultless before the presence of God with exceeding joy. This promise is assailed in the same manner. The serpent of unbelief leaves its slimy trail upon everything. We are told that a day shall come when the believer shall be without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, made meet to dwell with the angels in light, yes, and to dwell with God Himself forever. And straightaway the soul is tempted to think this wonderful effect of grace to be impossible. When we remember how often we have been worsted by the enemy, how frail, how fallible we are, and how fierce and subtle is our adversary, we dare not hope that we shall see him utterly defeated and his power broken to pieces. We dwell upon the fact that it will be very marvelous, indeed the more we think of it, the more marvelous it becomes in our eyes. And alas, unbelief leaps upon the back of our wonder, and we judge that the blessing can never be ours. Thus another promised blessing is thrown under the table.
In fact, each mercy of God’s covenant is looked at, wondered at, and then renounced, not because it is undesirable, but because it is so good, so rich, and so full. O wretched unbelief which makes the excellence of the favor into a reason for refusing it! Help us, O Holy Spirit, to believe our Lord, and to reason no more in this evil fashion!
II. CORRECTING CARNAL REASONING
First, let us note that when, because the blessing promised is marvelous, we therefore doubt the promise of God concerning it, we must have forgotten God. “If it is marvelous in your eyes, says the Lord of hosts, is it therefore marvelous in My eyes?” God Himself puts it so, and there is but one answer to the question.
My text is a very singular one, for it is hedged in with the name of the Lord, and with a double, “thus says the Lord of hosts.” It begins with, “Thus says the Lord of hosts,” and it finishes up with, “says the Lord of hosts,” as if twice to bring to our memory that God is, and that God has made a promise, and that this Promiser is Jehovah the great and powerful, the Lord of all, who has countless armies at His beck and call. This unbelief forgets and hence her error.
To come to our one subject, that of your own salvation, you hear the promise of eternal life in Christ Jesus, and your mind replies, “It is marvelous, it is difficult.” Do you not see that you are looking at it as if you had made the promise? From that standpoint, it would be indeed difficult, even impossible. But whose promise is it? It is not yours but God’s. Is anything too hard for the Lord? Do look at it in that light. It is a marvelous promise for you to receive, but the God who spoke it knew what He was saying, and He knew that He had the power to perform it.
And remember, next, that God does not look to you to fulfill His promises. Do not fall into such a foolish thought. If you make a promise, it is your own business to carry it out, is it not? And if God makes a promise that He will save a sinner, whose work is it to save that sinner? Why, it is the work of the God who made the promise.
III. RIGHT REASONING
I invite anyone here who is troubled with doubts about the promise of God to follow me in a few simple considerations. First, it is quite clear that for our salvation, marvels must be worked. It will be a wonder in all ages for any one of us to attain to glory. It will need the omnipotence of God to renew, preserve, and perfect us.
It is a rule with regard to miracles that God is very economical with them. In the Romish Church you have miracles in abundance, such as they are, but they are for the most part needless parades of power. When St. Denis, after his head was cut off, picked it up in his hands and walked a thousand miles with it, the dear man might as well have saved himself and his head the unsightly pilgrimage.
The God of the Scriptures has no hand in such miracles; they are not of the same order as those which are worked by His right hand. Our Lord never uses a miracle where the same thing could be done by the ordinary processes of nature. But whenever a miracle is requisite, a miracle is forthcoming—there is no stint of power, though there is no wasteful display of it.
If omnipotence must make bare His arm, it shall be bared. The Lord led His people Israel to the Red Sea, and when there was no ordinary way for the people of God to escape, the mighty depths yawned before them, and a road was opened through the heart of the sea. So it shall be with you. If to forgive your sin needs a miracle of grace, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the miracle of grace is done.
Marvelous things are the rule with God. Look at a butterfly from your garden. If a man carefully fashions a needle, it appears to be exquisitely smooth and polished. God is as great in the little as in the great. Since all nature teems with marvels, why put aside a promise of God because it involves a marvel? Is such conduct reasonable?
Let us, brothers and sisters, enlarge our minds. If we begin to doubt the promises of God, let us look to His power and trust in His greatness. Believe the promise all the more because it is so wonderful, and therefore so honoring to the Lord.
God bless you. Amen.