v. 4. _What could have been done more to my vineyard that I
have not done in it?_
In a subsequent verse God condescends to explain what is here meant
by His "vineyard," so that there might be no doubt as to the scope
and import of the passage (ver. 7). God has done everything which
could be done for the spiritual culture of His ancient Church (vers.
3, 4). This assertion that "as much had been done as could be done"
is very affecting and startling. And if this could be said of the
Jewish vineyard, what shall be said of the Christian?
There is a peculiar argument thus suggested, which, wrought out, will
show that men are inexcusable in persisting in their unbelief, since
nothing more could have been done to win them to the side of
righteousness and to turn them to God. Notice carefully _the variety
of the arguments addressed in Scripture to the thoughtless and
obdurate._ At one time they are attacked with terrors, the picture
being set before them of Divine wrath; at another they are acted on
by the loving-kindness of God, and allured by the free mercies of the
Gospel. In the text it is not precisely either the one or the other
of these methods. There is nothing alleged but the greatness of what
has been done for us--a greatness such that nothing more can be done,
consistently, at least, with that moral accountableness which must
regulate the amount of influence which God brings to bear on men. If
this be so, if we are not convinced and renewed under the existing
instrumentality, there is nothing that can avert from us utter
destruction.
But is this so? Review the means provided and proffered for our
rescue, and let us see whether any of us can be other than silent. If
we were arguing with a man who disbelieved the existence of God, we
should probably reason up from the creation to the Creator. Our
adversary might challenge us to prove that nothing short of Infinite
Power could have built and furnished the planet. It may be allowed
that certain results lie beyond human agency, and yet disputed
whether they need such an agency as we strictly call Divine. We do
not, therefore, maintain that the evidences in creation are the
strongest which can be conceived. Hence we should not perhaps feel
warranted in saying to the atheist, "What more could have been done
to produce belief in you if you resist all these tokens of God in
Nature?" But if we cannot say to the atheist, when pointing to the
surrounding creation, "What more could have been done that has not
been done for your conviction?" we can ply the worldly-minded with
this question when pointing to the scheme of salvation through
Christ. We deny that the worldly-minded can appeal from what God has
done on their behalf to a yet mightier interference which imagination
can picture. It is the property of redemption, if not of creation,
that it leaves no room for imagination. Those who turn with
indifference from the proffers of the Gospel are just in the position
of the atheist who should remain such after God had set before him
the highest possible demonstration of Himself. It is not, we think,
too bold a thing to say that, in redeeming us, God exhausted
Himself--_He gave Himself._ And we may not argue that, resisting what
has been granted, you demonstrate that you cannot be overcome, and
thus your condemnation is sealed by the incontrovertible truth
involved in the question of the text?
Looked at more in detail, the argument is--+I. As much has been done
as could have been done, because of the Agency through which man's
redemption was effected.+ In looking at the cross, considering our
sins as laid on the Being who hangs there in weakness and ignominy,
the overcoming thought is, that this Being is none other than the
Everlasting God, and that however He seem mastered by the powers of
wickedness, He could by a single word, uttered from the altar on
which He immolates Himself, scatter the universe into nothing, and
call up an assemblage of new worlds and new creatures.--_What a
condemning force this throws into the question of the text!_ If it
give an unmeasured stupendousness to the work of our redemption, that
He who undertook, carried on, and completed that work was "the
brightness of the Father's glory and the express image of His
person," then surely what has been done for the "vineyard" proclaims
us ruined if we bring not forth such fruits as God requires at our
hands.--_If the extent of what has been done may be given in evidence
that if it prove ineffectual there remains nothing more to be tried,
what say you to the justice of the question? what to the condemnation
under which it leaves the worldly-minded and rebellious?_
+II. As much has been done as could have been done, regard being had
to the completeness and fulness of the work, as well as to the
greatness of its Author.+ We might have been sure beforehand that
what the Divine Agent undertook would be thoroughly effected. The
sins of the whole race were laid on Christ. There is consequently
nothing in our own guiltiness to make us hesitate as to the
possibility of _forgiveness._ The penalties of a violated law have
been actually discharged.
The scheme of redemption provides also for our _acceptance,_ so that
happiness may be obtained. If it met our necessities only in part,
there might be excuse for refusing it our attention. When you add to
the unsearchable riches of grace in Christ _the continued and earnest
agency of the Holy Spirit,_ have you a word to plead against the
remonstrance of God in the text?
+III. We are bound to regard the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the grand
revelation of future punishment and reward.+ Until the Redeemer
appeared and brought more direct tidings from the invisible world,
the sanctions of eternity were scarcely, if at all, brought to bear
on the occupations of time. So imperfect had been the foregoing
knowledge regarding the immortality of the soul that Paul declared of
Christ that He "abolished death, and brought life and immortality to
light by the Gospel." Much of what has been done for the "vineyard"
consists in the greatness of the reward which the Gospel promises to
righteousness, and the greatness of the punishment which it denounces
on impenitence.
It was not redemption from mere temporary evil that Christ effected.
Redemption does not make men immortal, but, finding them so, it sheds
its influence throughout their unlimited existence, wringing the
curse from its every instant, and leaving a blessing in its stead.
The Gospel sets before us an array of motives, concerning which it is
no boldness to say, that, if ineffectual, it is because we are
immovable; if heaven fails to attract, hell to alarm--the heaven and
the hell opened to us by the revelation of Scripture--it can only be
because of a set determination to continue in sin. _What more could
have been done for the vineyard?_ If you are waiting to be forced,
you are waiting to be ruined. "Seek the Lord while He may be found;
call on Him while He is near."--_Henry Melvill, B.D.: Golden
Lectures,_ pp. 485-492.