The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to
preach good tidings to the meek; He has sent me to bind up the
broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening
of the prison to them that are bound.—ISAIAH lxi. 1.
MY friends, I do entreat those of you who wish to get any real good from
this sermon, to listen to me carefully all through it. Not that I have
to complain of you in general for not attending to me. I thank God, and
thank you, that you do listen to what is said in this pulpit. But there
are many people who have a bad trick of minding the preacher carefully
enough for a minute or two, and then letting their wits wander, and think
about something else; and then if any word in the sermon strikes them,
waking up suddenly, and thinking again for a little, and then letting
their thoughts run wild again; and so on. Whereby it happens that they
only recollect a few scraps of the sermon, a word here, and a sentence
there, and get into their heads all sorts of mistakes and false notions
about the preacher’s meaning.
That is not right; that is not worthy of reasonable grown men: that is
only pardonable in little scatter-brained children. Men and women should
listen steadily, reverently throughout; so, and so only, will they be
able to judge of the message which the preacher brings them. Listen to
me, therefore, all through this sermon, and may God give you grace to
understand it and lay it to heart, for it is the good news of the kingdom
of God.
You recollect, I hope, that I have often told you, that the Lord Jesus
Christ’s words would never pass away; that His prophecies are continually
coming true, and being fulfilled over and over again. Now this text is
not one of His prophecies, but it is a prophecy about Him; one which He
fulfilled, and which He has been fulfilling again and again. He is
fulfilling it, as I believe, more than ever, now in these very days.
If you will look at the 61st chapter of Isaiah, you will find this
prophecy; and you will find, too, what will surprise you at first, that
Isaiah was speaking of himself. He says, “That the Spirit of the Lord
was upon _him_”—Isaiah—“because the Lord had appointed _him_ to preach
good tidings to the meek, to bind up the broken-hearted, and deliverance
to the captives, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” Isaiah must
have spoken truly about himself. He could not have meant to tell a
falsehood, to say a thing was true of himself which was only true of
Jesus, who did not come till 800 years afterwards. And he did speak the
truth: you cannot read his prophecies without seeing that the Spirit of
the Lord was indeed upon him; that the words which he spoke must have
comforted all those who were sorrowing for their sins and the sins of the
nation in their time. We know, for a fact, that his prophecies came
true; that the Jewish captives were delivered and brought back out of
Judæa to Jerusalem again, and that Jerusalem was rebuilt as Isaiah
prophesied, and the Jewish nation raised to far greater holiness, and
prosperity, and happiness than it had ever been in before. And yet 800
years afterwards the Lord took those very same words to Himself, and
said, that _He_ fulfilled them. He read them aloud once in a Jewish
synagogue, out of the book of the prophet Isaiah; and then told the
congregation, “This day is the Scripture fulfilled in your ears.” And
again, as we read in the Gospel for this day, when John the Baptist sent
to ask Him if He was really the Christ, He made use of another prophecy
of Isaiah, and told John’s disciples that He _was_ the Christ, because He
was fulfilling that prophecy; because He _was_ making the deaf hear, and
the blind see, and preaching the gospel to the poor. Now, how is that?
Could Isaiah be right in applying those words to himself, and yet Christ
be right in applying them to Himself? Can a prophecy be fulfilled twice
over?
No doubt it can, my friends, and two hundred times over. No prophecy of
Scripture is of private interpretation, says St. Peter. That is, it does
not apply to any one private, particular thing that is to happen. Every
prophecy of Scripture goes on fulfilling itself more and more, as time
rolls on and the world grows older. St. Peter tells us the reason why.
No prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation; because it does
not come from the will of man, from any invention or discovery of poor
short-sighted human beings, who can only judge by what they see around
them in their own times: but holy men of old spoke as they were moved by
the Holy Spirit. And who is the Holy Spirit? The Spirit of God; the
everlasting Spirit; the Spirit who cannot change, for He _is_ God. The
Spirit who searcheth the deep things of God, and teaches them to men.
And what are the deep things of God? They are eternal as God is.
Eternal laws; everlasting rules which cannot alter. That is the meaning
of it all. The Spirit of God is the Spirit which teaches men the laws of
God; the unchangeable rules and ordinances by which He governs all heaven
and earth, and men, and nations; the laws which come into force, not once
only, but always; the laws of God which are working round us now, just as
much as they were eighteen hundred years ago, just as much as they were
in Isaiah’s time. Therefore it is, that I said that these old Jewish
prophecies, which were inspired by the Holy Spirit, are coming true now,
and will keep on coming true, time after time, in their proper place and
order, and whensoever the times are fit for them, even to the end of the
world.
But again, we read that the Spirit of God takes of the things of Christ,
and shows them unto us. And what are the things of Christ? They must be
eternal things, unchangeable things, for Christ is unchangeable—Jesus
Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. He is over all, God
blessed for ever. To Him all power is given in heaven and earth. He
reigns, and He will reign. Do you think He is less a Saviour now, than
He was when He spoke those things to John’s disciples? Do you think He
is less able to hear and to help than He was in John’s time? Do you
think He used to care about people’s bodies then, but that He only cares
about their souls now? Do you think that He is less compassionate, and
less merciful, as well as less powerful, than He was when He made the
blind see, and the lame walk, and the deaf hear, in Judæa of old?
Less powerful! less compassionate! One would have expected that Christ
was _more_ powerful, _more_ compassionate, if that were possible. At
least one would expect that His power and compassion would show itself
more and more, and make itself felt more and more, year by year, and age
by age; more and more healing disease; more and more comforting sorrow;
more and still more casting out cunning and evil spirits, till He had put
all under His feet. He Himself said it should be so. He always spoke of
His own kingdom as a thing which was to grow and increase by laws of its
own, men knew not how, but He knew. Like seed cast into the ground, His
kingdom was, He said, at first the smallest of all seeds; but it was to
grow, and take root, and spread into a mighty tree, He said, till the
very birds in the air lodged in the branches of it; and David’s words
should be fulfilled, “Thou, Lord, shalt save both man and beast.” And
does not St. Paul speak of His kingdom in the same way, as a kingdom
which should grow? that He was to reign till He had put all enemies under
His feet? that He would deliver at last the whole creation? the earth on
which we stand, the dumb animals around us? For, as St. Paul says, the
whole creation is groaning in labour-pangs, waiting to be raised into a
higher state. And it shall be raised. The whole creation shall be set
free into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
What does that mean? How can I tell you?
This I can tell you, that it cannot mean that Jesus Christ was merciful
enough to heal people’s bodies at first, but that He has given up doing
it now, and will never do it again. “Well, but,” some would say, “what
does all this come to? You are merely telling us what we knew
before—that if any of us are cured from disease, or raised up from a sick
bed, it is all the Lord’s doing.” If you do believe that, really, my
friends, happy are you! Many of you, I think, do believe it. The poor
are more inclined to believe it, I think, than the rich. But even in the
mouths of the poor one often hears words which make one suspect that they
do _not_ believe it. I am very much afraid that a great many have got
into the trick of saying that it was God’s mercy that they were cured,
and that it pleased the Lord to raise them up from a sick bed, very much
as a piece of cant. They say the words by rote, because they have been
accustomed to hear them said by others, without thinking of the meaning
of them; just as, on the other hand, a great many people curse and swear
without thinking of the awful oaths they use. Ay, and often enough the
very same persons will say that it was the Lord’s mercy they were cured
of their sickness; and then, if they get into a passion, pray the very
same Lord to do that to the bodies and souls of their neighbours which it
is a shame to speak of here. Out of the same mouth proceed blessings and
cursings: showing that whether or not they are in earnest in cursing,
they are not earnest in blessing.
Again: If people really believed that it was the Lord Jesus Christ who
cured their sicknesses for them, they would behave, when they got well,
more as the Lord Jesus Christ would wish them to behave. They would show
forth their thankfulness not only with their lips, but in their lives.
You who believe—you who say—that Christ has cured your sicknesses, show
your faith by your works. Live like those who are alive again from the
dead; who are not your own, but bought with a price, and bound to work
for God with your bodies and your spirits, which are His—then, and then
only, can either God or man believe you.
Again: There is a third reason which makes one suspect that people do not
mean what they say about this matter. I think too many say, “It has
pleased God,” merely as an empty form of words, when all they mean is,
“What must be, must, and it cannot be helped.” Else, why do they say,
“It has pleased the Lord to send me sickness?” What is the use of
saying, “It has pleased the Lord to cure me,” when you say in the same
breath, “It has pleased the Lord to make me ill?” I know you will say
that, “Of course, whatever happens must be the Lord’s will; if it did not
please Him it would not happen.” I do not care for such words; I will
have nothing to do with them. I will neither entangle you nor myself in
those endless disputings and questions about freewill and necessity,
which never yet have come to any conclusion, and never will, because they
are too deep for poor short-sighted human beings like us. “To the law
and to the testimony,” say I. I will hold to the words of the Bible;
what it says, I will say; what it does not say I will not say, to please
any man’s system of doctrines. And I say from the Bible that we have no
more right to say, “It has pleased the Lord to make me sick,” than, “It
has pleased the Lord to make me a sinner.” Scripture everywhere speaks
of sickness as a real evil and a curse—a breaking of the health, and
order, and strength, and harmony of God’s creation. It speaks of madmen
as possessed with evil spirits; did _that_ please God? The woman who was
bowed with a spirit of infirmity, and could not lift herself up—did our
Lord say that it had pleased God to make her a wretched cripple? No; he
spoke of her as this daughter of Israel, whom Satan had bound, and not
God, this eighteen years; and that was His reason for healing her, even
on the sabbath-day, because her disease was not the work of God, but of
the cruel, disordering, destroying evil spirit which is at enmity with
God. That was why Christ cured her. And _that_—for this is the point I
have been coming to, step by step—that was the reason why, when John the
Baptist sent to ask if Jesus was the Christ, our Lord answered: “Go and
show John again those things which ye do see and hear: the blind receive
their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf
hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to
them.”
Do not be in a hurry, my friends, and suppose that our Lord meant merely:
“Tell John what wonderful miracles I am working.” If He had meant that
why would He have put in as the last proof that He was the Christ, that
He was preaching the gospel to the poor? What wonderful miracle was
there in _that_? No: it was as if He had said: “Go and tell John that I
am the Christ, because I am the great physician, the healer and deliverer
of body and soul: one who will and can cure the loathsome diseases, the
uselessness, the misery, the ignorance of the poorest and meanest.” He
has proved Himself the Christ by showing not only His boundless power,
but His boundless love and mercy; and _that_, not only to men’s souls,
but to their bodies also. To prove Himself the Christ by wonderful and
astonishing miracles was exactly what He would not do. He refused, when
the Scribes and Pharisees came and asked of Him a sign from heaven to
prove that He was Christ—wanting Him, I suppose, to bring some
apparition, or fiery comet, or great voice out of the sky, to astonish
them with His power; He told them peremptorily that He would give them no
such thing: and yet He said that His mighty works did prove Him to be
Christ; He pronounced woe against Chorazin and Bethsaida for not
believing Him on account of His mighty works: He told the Scribes and
Pharisees that they ought to believe on Him merely for His works’ sake.
And why would they not believe on Him? Just because they could not see
that God’s power was shown more in healing and delivering sufferers, than
in astonishing and destroying. They could not see that God’s perfect
likeness shone out in Christ—that He was the express image of the Father,
just because He went about doing good, and healing all manner of
sicknesses and all manner of infirmities among the people. But so it is,
my friends! Jesus is the Saviour, the deliverer, the great physician,
the healer of soul and body. Not a pang is felt or a tear shed on earth,
but He sorrows over it. Not a human being on earth dies young, but He,
as I believe, sorrows over it. What it is which prevents Him healing
every sickness, soothing every sorrow, wiping away every tear _now_, we
cannot tell. But this we can tell, that it is His will that none should
perish. This we _can_ tell; that He is willing as ever to heal the sick,
to cleanse the leper, to cast out devils, to teach the ignorant, to bind
up the broken-hearted. This we _can_ tell; that He will go on doing so
more and more, year by year, and age by age. This we _can_ tell, from
Scripture, that Christ is stronger than the devil. This we can tell;
that Christ, and all good men, the spirits of just men made perfect, the
wise and the great in God’s sight, who have left us their books, their
sayings, their writings, as precious health-giving heirlooms—have been
fighting, and are fighting, and will fight to the end against the devil,
and sin, and oppression, and misery, and disease, and everything which
spoils and darkens the face of God’s good earth. And this we _can_ tell;
that they will conquer at the last, because Christ is stronger than the
devil; good is stronger than evil; light is stronger than darkness; God’s
Spirit, the giver of life, and health, and order, is stronger than all
the evil customs, and ignorance, and carelessness, and cruelty, and
superstition, which makes miserable the lives and, as far as we can see,
destroys the souls of thousands. Yes, I say, Christ’s kingdom is a
kingdom of health and deliverance for body and soul; and it will conquer,
and it will spread, and it will grow, till the nations of the world have
become the kingdoms of God and of His Christ. Christ reigns, and Christ
will reign till He has put all His enemies under His feet; and the last
of His enemies which shall be destroyed is _Death_. Death is His enemy.
He has conquered death by rising from the dead. And the day will come
when death will be no more—when sickness and sorrow shall be unknown, and
God shall wipe away tears from all eyes. I say it again—never forget
it—Christ is King, and His kingdom is a kingdom of health, and life, and
deliverance from all evil. It always has been so, from the first time
our Lord cured the leper in Galilee; it will be so to the end of the
world. And, therefore—to come back to the very place from which I
started at the beginning of my sermon—therefore, whenever one of the days
of the Lord is at hand, whenever God’s kingdom makes a great step
forward, this same prophecy in our text is fulfilled in some striking and
wonderful way. And I say it is fulfilled now in these days more than it
ever has been. Christ is healing the sick, cleansing the leper, giving
sight to the blind, raising the dead, and preaching the gospel to the
poor, seven times more in these days in which we live than He did when He
walked upon earth in Judæa.
Do you doubt my words? At all events you confess that the cure of all
diseases comes from Christ. Then consider, I beseech you, how many more
diseases are cured now than were formerly. One may say that the
knowledge of medicine is not one hundred years old. Nothing, my friends,
makes me feel more strongly what a wonderful and blessed time we live in,
and how Christ is showing forth mighty works among us, than this same
sudden miraculous improvement in the art of healing, which has taken
place within the memory of man. Any country doctor now knows more, thank
God, or ought to know, than the greatest London physicians did two
generations ago. New cures for deafness, blindness, lameness, every
disease that flesh is heir to, are being discovered year by year. Oh, my
friends! you little know what Christ is doing among you, for your bodies
as well as for your souls. There is not a parish in England now in which
the poorest as well as the richest are not cured yearly of diseases,
which, if they had lived a hundred years ago, would have killed them
without hope or help. And then, when one looks at these great and
blessed plans for what is called sanitary reform, at the sickness and the
misery which has been done away with already by attending to them, even
though they have only just begun to be put in practice—our hearts must be
hard indeed if we do not feel that Christ is revealing to us the gifts of
healing far more bountifully and mercifully than even He did to the first
apostles.
But you will say, perhaps, the dead are not raised in these days. Oh, my
friends! which shows Christ’s mercy most, to raise those who are already
dead, or to save those alive who are about to die? Those in this church
who have read history know as well as I, how in our forefathers’ time
people died in England by thousands of diseases which are scarcely ever
deadly now; ay, of diseases which have now actually vanished out of the
land, before the new light of medicine and of civilisation which Christ
has revealed to us in these days. For one child who lived and grew up in
old times, two live and grow up now. In London alone there are not half
as many deaths in proportion to the number of people as there were a
hundred years ago. And is not that a mightier work of Christ’s power and
love than if He had raised a few dead persons to life?
And now for the last part of our Lord’s witness about Himself. To the
poor the gospel is preached. Oh! my friends, is not _that_ coming true
in our days as it never came true before? Look back only fifty years,
and consider the difference between the doctrines which were preached to
the poor and the doctrines which are preached to them now. Look round
you and see how everywhere earnest and godly ministers have sprung up, of
all sects and opinions, as well as of the Church of England, not only to
preach the gospel in the pulpit, but to carry it to the sick bedside of
the lonely cottage, to the prison, and to those fearful sties, worse than
prisons, where in our great cities the heathen poor live crowded
together. Look at the teaching which the poor man can get now, compared
to what he used to—the sermons, the Bibles, the tracts, the lending
libraries, the schools—just consider the hundreds of thousands of pounds
which are subscribed every year to educate the children of the poor, and
then say whether Christ is not working a mighty work among us in these
days. I know that not half as much is done as ought to be done in that
way; not half as much as will be done; and what is done will have to be
done better than it has been done yet; but still, can anyone in this
church who is fifty years old deny that there is a most enormous and
blessed improvement which is growing and spreading every year? Can
anyone deny that the gospel is preached to the poor now in a way that it
never was before within the memory of man?
Now, recollect that this is an Advent sermon—a sermon which proclaims to
you that Christ is _come_; yes, He is come—come never to leave mankind
again! Christ reigns over the earth, and will reign for ever. At
certain great and important times in the world’s history, like this
present time, times which He Himself calls “days of the Lord,” He shows
forth His power, and the mightiness and mercy of His kingdom, more than
at others. But still He is always with us; we have no need to run up and
down to look for Christ: to say, Who shall ascend into heaven to bring
Him down? Who shall descend into the deep to bring Him up? For the
kingdom of God, as He told us Himself, is among us, and within us. Yes,
within us. All these wonderful improvements and discoveries, all things
beneficial to men which are found out year by year, though they seem to
be of men’s invention, are really of Christ’s revealing, the fruits of
the kingdom of God within us, of the Spirit of God, who is teaching men,
though they too often will not believe it; though they disclaim God’s
Spirit and take all the glory to themselves. Truly Christ is among us;
and our eyes are held, and we see Him not. That is our English sin—the
sin of unbelief, the root of every other sin. Christ works among us, and
we will not own Him. Truly, Jesus Christ may well say of us English at
this day, There were ten cleansed, but where are the nine? How few are
there, who return to give glory to God! Oh, consider what I say; the
kingdom of God is among us now; its blessings are growing richer, fuller
among us every day. Beware, lest if we refuse to acknowledge that
kingdom and Christ the King of it, it be taken away from us, and given to
some other nation, who will bring forth the fruits of it, fellow-help and
brotherly kindness, purity and sobriety, and all the fruits of the Spirit
of God.
IV.
A PREPARATION FOR CHRISTMAS.