xxi. 11. _Watchman, what of the night?_
Some calamity or sad moral condition is foreseen by the prophet.
Moral evil is fitly compared to darkness. The term "night" is used to
express error and sin. This was a time of darkness. The burden of
Dumah was: "Watchman, what of the night?" What is the prospect? Are
there any signs of coming day?
The world in its moral history had been for the most part in
darkness. It commenced with a bright and sinless morning; but this
was succeeded by a time of dark clouds and desolating storms. After
the Deluge the world started anew from another head. The new world,
however, differed but little from the old. Then God called Abraham,
and made his seed His chosen people, through whom He might accomplish
His beneficent designs. Outside of Judea there was not much to dispel
the darkness. Greece furnished a Socrates and a Plato; but because of
her vices and crimes Greece soon went down to ruin. The once
magnificent empires Egypt, Assyria, Greece, and Rome were alike
involved in the moral night of error and sin. We may inquire, as the
voice out of Seir did, "Watchman, what of the night?" What prospect
is there for this sin-darkened world? And we may respond in the words
of the prophet: "The morning cometh." The morning cometh; but also
the night--a night whose duration we may not be able to tell.
+I. How will this inquiry apply to Isaiah's time?+ It was indeed for
the chosen people a time of darkness. But the day is about to break!
The breathings of better things come like the morning air. "The
morning cometh," but also the night--the morning to the sad-hearted
Jews, but the night to others--to the Idumeans, who had long
cherished unfriendly feelings to the Jews, and appear to have
rejoiced in their sorrow. The voice from Dumah was probably a
sneering taunt, "Where is now your God in whom ye trusted?"
Isaiah had a grander vision and saw another morning. The long night
of the olden dispensation still lingered, but the prophet saw the
breaking day, and told of the advent of One who was to be the light
and glory of the world (ix. 6, 7, lx. 2, 3, 20). The vision which
Isaiah saw we also are permitted to see. To him it was the Saviour to
come, to teach, to suffer, to scatter the darkness; to us it is the
Saviour who _has_ come, and taught, and suffered, and died, and rose
again, and whose glorious light has not only gilded the
mountain-tops, but is spreading over all the whole land. And there
are signs which will not fail that his grandest visions will be
realised.
+II. How will this inquiry apply to our own times?+ 1. What mysteries
has science unveiled! How great the historical and geographical
research of our day! How successful our time has been in bringing
unity out of the variety of the universe and harmony out of its
apparent discord! 2. Ours has been a time of moral progress. Slavery
has been abolished from our realm. A great work has been done for the
arrest of intemperance. The cause of missions has grown into large
proportions. 3. The religious progress of the world is remarkable.
Religious liberty is rapidly spreading. There is encouraging advance
in the social or loving element. In the Church the working element is
growing. Never has the giving element assumed such proportions. Amid
this varied growth there is a strong tendency towards Christian
unity. The enemy is vigilant; it is yet the night of battle, of
temptation, and of peril, but the morning surely cometh.
+III. How will this inquiry apply to ourselves personally?+ 1. _There
is a night of scepticism,_ or partial scepticism, in which some are
involved. There are two classes of sceptics: some are sceptics
because they want to be so; some are honest doubters, as Thomas the
disciple was--constitutionally a doubter, but honest withal. And
therefore he did not turn away from the light, and "My Lord and my
God!" exclaimed the enlightened, convinced, and believing Thomas. To
the earnest and sincere inquirer the response must be, "The morning
cometh;" if thou art willing to be convinced, thou art not far from
the kingdom of God. If thou shouldst reject Jesus, whither wilt thou
go for a refuge and for a guide? 2. _There is a night of
worldliness._ Many are living for selfish gratification and for this
life only. For the worldly the morning waiteth. Behold, Christ stands
at the door and knocks! His is the light and the life of men; with
His entrance into the heart the morning cometh. 3. _There is the
night of penitential sorrow._ When the morning cometh to the awakened
sinner, the light is sometimes, as with Saul of Tarsus, a blinding,
as well as revealing light. To him--the sorrowing, praying, believing
penitent--the morning came. And so it ever is. 4. _There is the night
of suffering._ There never comes an hour in this world when suffering
is unknown. Count it all joy, if it must needs be that ye shall
suffer. 5. _There is the night of weariness and disappointment._ The
Christian worker, toil-worn, may sometimes inquire, "Watchman, what
of the night?" He has wrongly hoped, it may be, at the same time to
carry the seed-basket, to put in the sickle, and to bring his sheaves
with him. Learn to labour faithfully and to wait. The Son of God is
come!
CONCLUSION.--Fail not to remember that while the morning cometh for
all who willingly hear and obey the Gospel, the night also cometh for
the disobedient and unbelieving. Come, ye who wander in the darkness,
while yet there is room, to Him who is the bright and morning star,
the sun of righteousness, the light and life of the world, and for
you there will come a morning which will be the beginning of a
blissful, glorious, and never-ending day.--_D. D. Currie: Christian
World Pulpit,_ vol. vi. pp. 213-215.