“As soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.”–Isaiah 66:8.
Israel had fallen into the lowest condition, but an inward yearning of
heart was felt in the midst of God’s people for the return of the divine
blessing; and no sooner had this anxious desire become intense, than
God heard the voice of its cry, and the blessing came. It was so at the
time of the restoration of the captives from Babylon, and it was most
evidently so in the days of our Lord. A faithful company had continued
still to expect the coming of the Lord’s anointed messenger; they
waited till he should suddenly come in his temple; the twelve tribes,
represented by an elect remnant, cried day and night unto the Most
High, and when at last their prayers reached the fulness of vehemence,
and their anxiety wrought in them the deepest agony of spirit, then the
Messiah came; the light of the gentiles, and the glory of Israel. Then
began the age of blessedness in which the barren woman did keep
house and become the joyful mother of children. The Holy Ghost was
given, and multitudes were born to the church of God, yea we may say,
a nation was born in a day. The wilderness and the solitary place were
glad for them, and the desert rejoiced and blossomed as the rose. We
are not, however, about to enter into the particular application of our
text as Isaiah uttered it: the great declarations of revelation are
applicable to all cases, and, once true, they stand fast for ever and ever.
Earnestly desiring that God may give a large spiritual blessing to his
church this morning, through the subject to which my mind has been
directed, I shall first ask you to note that in order to the obtaining of an
increase to the church, there must be travail, and that, secondly, this
travail is frequently followed by surprising results. I shall then have to
show why both the travail and the result are desirable, and pronounce
woe on those who stand back and hinder it, and a blessing on such as
shall be moved by God’s own Spirit to travail for souls.
I. It is clear from the text, “As soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth
her children,” that THERE MUST BE THE TRAVAIL before there
will be the spiritual birth.
Let me first establish this fact from history. Before there has fallen a
great benediction upon God’s people, it has been preceded by great
searchings of heart. Israel was so oppressed in Egypt, that it would
have been very easy, and almost a natural thing, for the people to
become so utterly crushed in spirit as to submit to be hereditary bond-
slaves, making the best they could of their miserable lot; but God
would not have it so; he meant to bring them out “with a high hand and
an outstretched arm.” Before, however, he began to work, he made
them begin to cry. Their sighs and cries came up into the ears of God,
and he stretched out his hand to deliver them. Doubtless, many a heart-
rending appeal was made to heaven by mothers when their babes were
torn from their breasts to be cast into the river. With what bitterness did
they ask God to look upon his poor people Israel, and avenge them of
their oppressors. The young men bowed under the cruel yoke and
groaned, while hoary sires, smarting under ignominious lashes from the
taskmaster, sighed and wept before the God of Israel. The whole nation
cried, “O God visit us; God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob,
remember thy covenant, and deliver us.” This travail brought its result;
for the Lord smote the field of Zoan with mighty plagues, and forth
from under the bondage of the sons of Misraim, the children of Israel
marched with joy.
As we shall not have time to narrate many instances, let us take a long
leap in history to the days of David. The era of the son of Jesse was
evidently a time of religious revival. God was honored and his service
maintained in the midst of Judea’s land in the days of the royal bard;
but it is clear to readers of the Scriptures that David was the subject of
spiritual throes and pangs of the most intense kind. His bosom throbbed
and heaved like that of a man made fit to be the leader of a great
revival. What yearnings he had! He thirsted after God, after the living
God! What petitions he poured forth that God would visit Zion, and
make the vine which he had planted to flourish once again. Even when
his own sins pressed heavily upon him, he could not end his personal
confession without entreating the Lord to build the walls of Jerusalem,
and to do good in his good pleasure unto Zion. Now, David was only
the mouth of hundreds of others, who with equal fervency cried unto
God that the blessing might rest upon his people. There was much soul-
travail in Israel and Judah, and the result was that the Lord was
glorified, and true religion flourished.
Remember also the days of Josiah, the king. You know well now the
book of the law was found neglected in the temple, and when it was
brought before the king, he rent his clothes, for he saw that the nation
had revolted, and that wrath must come upon it to the uttermost. The
young king’s heart, which was tender, for he feared God, was ready to
break with anguish to think of the misery that would come upon his
people on account of their sins. Then there came a glorious reformation
which purged the land of idols, and caused the passover to be observed
as never before. Travails of heart among the godly produced the
delightful change.
It was the same with the work of Nehemiah. His book begins with a
description of the travail of his heart. He was a patriot, a man of
nervous, excitable temperament, and keen sensibility for God’s honor,
and when his soul had felt great bitterness and longing, then he arose to
build, and a blessing rested on his efforts.
In the early dawn of Christian history, there was a preparation of the
church before it received an increase. Look at the obedient disciples
sitting in the upper room, waiting with anxious hope; every heart there
had been ploughed with anguish by the death of the Lord, each one was
intent to receive the promised boon of the Spirit. There, with one heart
and one mind, they tarried, but not without wrestling prayer, and so the
Comforter was given, and three thousand souls were given also.
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
