“I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.”—Isaiah 62:6-7.
In the opening verses of this chapter our Lord declares that he will not rest till his purpose of grace is accomplished. “For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest.” His soul is set upon the perfection of his church. There is never a moment when the heart of Christ ceases to beat high with desire for the salvation of his redeemed. From the dreadful work of making atonement he stayed not his hand, but set his face like a flint towards it, till he could say, “It is finished”: and now the following work of the out-gathering of his chosen he carries on with quenchless zeal, never staying his divine intercession, never withholding his hands from wielding that “all power” which is given him in heaven and in earth.
Mark well, beloved, how he would have his people to be in tune with himself! He will have no rest till salvation work is done; and he would not have us take rest; but he would have us stirred with passionate desire, and fired with holy zeal for the accomplishment of the divine plan of grace. Till he holds his peace he will not allow us to be silent. You that have the Revised Version will be struck with the more literal and forcible rendering of our text—”Ye that are the Lord’s remembrancers, take ye no rest, and give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.” A restless Savior calls upon his people to be restless, and to make the Lord himself restless—to give him no rest till his chosen city is in full splendor, his chosen church complete and glorious. Ah! when the three unite, the Son, the people whom he has redeemed, and the Lord who worketh all things, then shall the golden age have come!
Learn from this fact a valuable lesson, that Christ’s determination to perform a work, his decree that so it shall be, is no argument for our idleness, but is the best plea and encouragement for our endeavors. “If it is to be,” cries one, “I need not do anything.” Nay, friend, thou arguest slothfully. On the contrary, the earnest heart will reason itself into immediate and confident action. If it were not to be, to what purpose my zeal? Even if I do not know whether it is to be or not to be, if I think it desirable, I will labor for it with anxiety; but if I am assured that the Lord has appointed it, I labor with might and main, feeling a holy confidence in doing the work of the Lord. Since he wills it, we will it; and so it shall be. Predestination, when rightly understood, never leads to sloth: it has frequently, in human history, been of tremendous force for the production of the most daring and determined action, and it shall be so again. Deus vult,” God wills it, is a grand cry to produce a crusade. God wills it, therefore it shall be. Like thunderbolts flung from an almighty hand, believers crash through every difficulty under the irrepressible impulse of fulfilling a divine purpose. Oh, that our meditations at this time may bring us all to this resolve, that we will not rest, and we will give God no rest, till his decree is fulfilled, and till he has established and made Jerusalem a praise in the earth!
I. In my text I see three things, which I will mention one by one. The first is RESPONSIBLE OFFICE—I have set watchmen upon thy walls;” Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence,” or, as your margin and the Revised Version have it, “Ye that are the Lord’s remembrancers.” Here are three responsible offices—watchmen set upon the walls, speakers who never hold their peace, and remembrancers who cease not to plead with their Lord.
May the Holy Spirit help us while we think of the Lord’s people as watchmen! In times of war every fortified city had upon its walls certain watchmen, so placed as to see eye to eye: that is to say, the eye of one sentinel reached to the eye of another, and so they encompassed the city round about. Whoever passed that way by day or night, they challenged him; and if he turned out to be a foe, they gave an alarm, and straightway men-at-arms came forth from the guard-room, and the city was protected against surprise. God’s people, and especially the stronger, the more instructed, and the most experienced of them, should act as watchmen upon the walls, for Christ’s sake.
Observe what manner of watchmen we ought to be. It is written, “I have set watchmen.” We are under divine command. In the old Roman days, when a sentry was placed in his position by his centurion, he never thought of quitting his post. Rocks might roam, but not the sentinels of the empire. There was found in Pompeii, among the ashes, a sentry, standing in his place with his javelin in his hand: he had not flinched amid the deadly shower which fell from the volcano and buried the city. His centurion, in the name of the emperor, had set him there, and there he stood. How steadfast and immovable ought these to be, whom the Lord himself has set in their place in connection with his church! It is Jehovah who says, “I have set watchmen upon thy walls.” By a divine arrangement, and by a sacred command, saints are set in their positions, and they must stand fast, and, having done all, must still stand; for they have received their charge from the King himself.
These watchmen guarded the city of cities, thy walls, O Jerusalem.” The legionary who guarded old Rome felt that, if he did not fight for his native city, he would be base indeed. If we are set to guard the church of God, what shall I say to him who sleeps at his post, or proves a traitor? If you do not throw your whole strength into the guarding of such a cause as this, what will arouse you? Know ye not that the church is purchased by the blood of Christ; that it is God’s peculiar heritage? “The Lord’s portion is his people.” O shepherds, watch well the sheep that cost your Lord so dear. “Feed the flock of God which he hath purchased with his own blood.” If we do not guard the truth of God once for all delivered to the saints, we are something worse than traitors. No word has yet been invented which can set forth the perfidy of the man who betrays the cause of Christ and of the gospel; he is the murderer of souls. God has set us to guard his own city, and we must not slumber. Let the other cities go, if go they must; but as for thee, Salem, city of peace, and city of God, if I forget thee, let my right hand forget her cunning: if I count thee not beyond my chiefest joy, let me be in sorrow for ever! See, brethren, your responsible office: watchmen of God’s setting, watchmen on the walls of God’s own city!
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
