THE LORD NO MORE ANGRY WITH HIS PEOPLE – Charles Spurgeon
THE LORD NO MORE ANGRY WITH HIS PEOPLE
“For this is as the waters of Noah unto Me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you.” Isaiah 54:9.
Introduction
Before any person could feel himself safe in applying such a word as this to himself, he would naturally read the chapter and study the connection in which it stands to see whether it would be a wresting of Scripture for any private Believer to understand it as being spoken by God to himself. Doing this, you will very soon be satisfied that every true Believer has his just portion here. Observe the closing words of the chapter—“This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord”—not of Jews or Gentiles as such, but of the servants of the Lord, be they of what race they may. It is not written that this was their heritage in some past dispensation, or shall be their heritage in some brighter era yet to come, but “This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord.” Each one, therefore, may conclude that if he or she is a servant of the Lord this is his own heritage. But how are we to know these servants of the Lord? What is the distinguishing mark set upon them? The next words tell us this—“And their righteousness is of Me, says the Lord.” If there is anyone among us whose righteousness is his own, worked out by himself, he is excluded from this heritage—but whoever in our number has learned personally and for himself to call the Lord Jesus, “The Lord Our Righteousness,” he may claim the blessings of this chapter as his own. Without committing a spiritual robbery, everyone who is justified in Christ Jesus may feel that every sentence in this chapter belongs to him. “This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord.” Am I a servant of the Lord? Do I serve Him out of love? The Prophet further adds, “And their righteousness is of Me, says the Lord.” Have I a righteousness that is Divine in its origin and character? If so, then, my Soul, come boldly to the Master’s table and whatever dainties the Lord may heap thereon, feed upon them freely—for this is the children’s meat which the heavenly Father has here set before them—and they will be guilty of no presumption if they take it all to themselves and feast to the fullest! May the Holy Spirit work in us this holy liberty!
What Men Have the Most to Fear
In trying to deal with the text in a somewhat superficial manner—for it would be impossible, in the short time we have this evening, to explore its depths—we shall notice two things. First, what men have the most cause to fear and secondly, what the saints need never fear.
All men who are unsaved ought, with fear and trembling, to dread the wrath of God—the wrath present and the wrath to come. The text speaks of the Lord’s being angry, as of an evil to be feared. Man has cause to be afraid of the rebuke of God which is named in our text—that stern rebuke of the Holy One which is the prelude to the lifting up of His unsheathed sword and the destruction of His adversaries. God’s anger and rebuke make up the utmost form of terror and if men were not maddened by sin they would confess that it is so. God’s wrath is matter for fear, because, dear Friends, to be in union with God is necessary to the happiness of the creature. To have God for its enemy is for the creature to be removed from its foundation and placed where it cannot abide. The whole universe stands because God’s power supports it—only because it is so far in unison with the will of God does it exist in order, peacefulness and joy. Take God away from the world and the world would become dark, dreary, desolate and dead. No, I correct myself—there would be no world! This great sun, the moon and stars would all subside into their native nothing, even as a moment’s foam melts back into the wave that bears it and is gone forever. In the same way, an intelligent being, a spiritual nature without its Creator, is lost—lost as a sheep which has strayed from the shepherd—lost to all that renders life worth having. It were better for such a creature that it had never had an existence, for the wrath of God, when it goes forth in the form of a rebuke upon a thoughtful man, is as a sevenfold plague! God’s rebuke on any creature is a withering thing, but on an intelligent being it is Hell! Some have felt it to a fearful degree in this life. Remember Cain, who went forth from the Presence of God a marked man. Who among us would like to have known his dread—living in fear that whoever should find him would kill him—a man accursed of the Most High and marked among his fellow men? We read of Pashur, in the days of Jeremiah, who had the rebuke of God dwelling upon him so that he became a terror to himself. Remember the words of the Lord in the book of Deuteronomy, where the Lord threatens His erring people—“And among these nations shall you find no ease, neither shall the sole of your feet have rest: but the Lord shall give you there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind: and your life shall hang in doubt before you; and you shall fear day and night, and shall have no assurance of your life.” What a rebuke is this! The voice of God had gone forth against him and his soul trembled! Think of that proud mortal who heard God’s voice of rebuke in the midst of his revelry and mirth—that God-defying monarch, Belshazzar, whose knees knocked together and the joints of his loins were loosed because he had seen the handwriting of God upon the wall. The rebuke of God burns up a man’s spirit. It turns his moisture into the drought of summer and withers him like a flower broken off at the stalk—or like the hay that has fallen in the sun beneath the scythe! Oh, if such a calamity should ever come upon us, we shall have reason, indeed, to say, “Who knows the power of Your anger? Even according to Your fear, so is Your wrath”! This wrath of God is to be feared, my Brothers and Sisters, all the more because there is no escaping from it. A man who is under the wrath of a monarch can escape to another kingdom. A man who has incurred the anger of the most mighty enemy can find, somewhere in this great world, a nook where he can conceal himself from his relentless pursuer. But he that has exposed himself to the wrath of God cannot save himself from the Almighty hand. Though you hide yourself on the top of Carmel, yet there the Omniscient eye shall see you! And though you fly to the clefts of the rock, like the eagle, yet God will find you out! There is no escaping from His Presence. Even though the beams of the morning sun should lend us wings, He would arrive before His fugitive. There is no place, even should we dive beneath Hell’s profoundest wave, where He could not reach us. It was said, in the days of the Caesars, that the whole world was but one great prison for those who were the enemies of the emperor. It is so. Earth, itself, and Heaven and Hell are but one vast dungeon for the man who is the object of the wrath of God and against whom the sentence of doom has gone forth from the eternal lips. A rebuke that withers! A rebuke from which there is no escape! Well may sinners who deserve it admire the long-suffering which invites to mercy and tremble lest the word of wrath should take its place and pursue them to the death!
What the Saints Need Never Fear
There is this, also, to be dreaded in the wrath of God, that, as there is no escape from it, so there is no cure for it. Nothing can possibly give a man ease or safety when the rebuke of God has gone forth against him. He may be surrounded with temporal comforts, but his riches will only mock his inner poverty. Friends may utter words of cheer, but miserable comforters shall they all be— “When HE shuts up in long despair, Who can remove the iron bar?” If God speaks the word in wrath, none can reverse the sentence. He shuts and no man opens. Instead of the mercies of this life becoming any comfort to him, when a man has the wrath of God resting upon him, it is written, “I will curse all your blessings.” Oh, terrible words! When the curse follows a man in his basket and in his store, in the fruit of his body and in the object of his life—follows him to his bed, to his board, to his work and to his rest—O wretched being! It were better for him that a millstone were hung about his neck and he were cast into the sea. Blessed God! We thank You that You have not yet so spoken against us, but have left us yet on praying ground and pleading terms with You, and sent us once again the voice of inviting Mercy, saying, “Turn you, turn you, why will you die, O house of Israel?” Had Your rebuke gone forth against us, we had been utterly consumed with terrors! Worse still, my Brethren, the rebuke of God, if we live and die impenitent, is one against which we cannot harden ourselves. We cannot gather strength to endure when God strikes at the heart and dries up the spirit. There are some pains of the body which, at first, are so tormenting that patience, while suffering from them, seems impossible. But after a certain season the nerves grow dull, or, at any rate, blunts the edge of pain, or the faintness of the flesh comes to the assistance of the sufferer. But it is not so with the wrath of God. No shield can ward off the arrows of Almighty Justice.
The Lord knows how to smite a man, not merely in hand, or foot, or head, but in the heart. The arrows of God stick fast in the man’s inner self—they wound his spirit—and “a wounded spirit, who can bear?” Some of those who have been the most impudent braggarts against God have whined like cowards, and cried out—or, as the Prophet puts it, “howled upon their beds”—when He has but touched them with His finger! They cursed God until it came to dying and then they changed their tune to one of cowardly fear. How often have atheists turned into trembling confessors when eternity has been in view! They could say once, “Who is the Lord that we should serve Him?” But, when they saw death approaching and sin pursued their soul with furies, they cried and entreated the Lord that He would have mercy. He knows, O you stout-hearted ones! He knows how to find out the joints in what you think to be your invulnerable harness! He can pierce you so that you can no longer stand up against Him! He can break the point of your spear and turn the edge of your sword—and then you will lie at the mercy of the God whom your sins have provoked! Beware how you dash yourselves upon the bosses of His shield, for you will only slay yourselves. In vain do you boast yourselves, for by strength shall no man prevail.
Conclusion
Oh, the wrath to come! The lapse of years shall never help a man to harden himself against the punishment of sin which will forever be “the wrath to come.” Hell shall be as intolerable when it has been borne a thousand years as it was when first the soul was cast there! Throughout eternity there will be no relief to condemned spirits from the burden of their sinfulness, for as they will cling to sin, so will sin cling to them! No drop of consolation will fall into the cup of eternal woe—the impenitent shall drink forever of the wine of the wrath of God.
Let us remember the great hope for the saints—God will not be angry with us. He has sworn an oath and He will keep it. When we are in Christ, all of God’s dealings with us are rooted in His mercy and love. May we live without fear, trusting in God’s promises, knowing that He will never rebuke us in wrath. Rejoice in His love, and share it with others, for He has sworn to keep us forever in His care.