2 Kings 20:19

“The word of the LORD you have spoken is good,” Hezekiah replied. For he thought, “Will there not be peace and truth in my lifetime?”

[Day of Thanksgiving for Peace in 1816.]

By many it is thought that a knowledge of futurity would contribute to their happiness; but we are persuaded that it would prove only a source of misery. The good that would be foreseen would lose more than half its zest, while the evil that was anticipated would embitter the remainder of their days. It was as a punishment, and not as a favor, that an insight into futurity was given to King Hezekiah. He had displeased the Lord by his prideful conduct towards the ambassadors of the king of Babylon; and God sent him word what calamities should befall both his family and nation through the instrumentality of that monarch. This judgment however was tempered with mercy; the execution of it being deferred to a generation yet unborn. Hence the judgment was submitted to with pious resignation, “The word of the LORD you have spoken is good. For he thought: Will there not be peace and truth in my lifetime?”

It is not our intention to enter any further into the Jewish history than just to fix the precise import of our text. The text is applicable to all people in every age, and particularly so to this present season. We shall therefore take occasion from it to show,

I. What blessings God is now conferring upon us.

What we are to understand by “peace and truth” will be best seen by a reference to the preceding context.

God had declared that the king of Babylon would invade Judea, and take all the wealth of Hezekiah for a prey, and carry captive his children, and entirely destroy the whole Jewish polity. But, inasmuch as these judgments should be deferred, Hezekiah, instead of beholding the subjugation and captivity of his children, would have “peace;” and, instead of seeing the abolition of the temple worship, would have “truth” continued to him.

Now these are the very blessings for which we are peculiarly called to render thankfulness to God on this day.

“Peace” is now happily once more restored; and such a peace as places our country in a state of greater security than it has ever enjoyed since it became a nation.

“Truth,” also, with an undisturbed enjoyment of all religious ordinances, is now secured to us. We are no longer in danger of having the churches of our God converted into barracks for a licentious soldiery, or magazines for the implements of war. No longer have we any reason to fear lest a victorious enemy should deprive us of our religious liberty, or a yoke of superstition be imposed upon us as the only worship tolerated in the land. Blessed be God! we enjoy the Gospel in all its purity; and every man throughout the whole land is permitted to serve his God in the way that seems to him to be most agreeable to the Divine commands.

Such blessings being now insured to us, let us consider,

II. In what light our blessings should be viewed.

The continuance of them to Hezekiah was deemed by him a mercy, a great and undeniable mercy, “Will there not be peace and truth in my lifetime?” To us then is the possession of them,

1. A rich mercy.

How rich a mercy “peace” is, we who have never had our country the seat of war, are but ill qualified to judge. It is our happiness indeed that we cannot judge of it; since it can only be known by an experience of those calamities which war brings in its train.

Nor can we adequately conceive how much we are indebted to God for the possession of “truth.” To estimate this aright, we should behold all the degrading superstitions of heathen nations, and see what self-tormenting methods they practice for the obtaining of peace with their senseless deities of wood and stone. We should see also how the far greater part of those who call themselves Christians are blinded by ceremonies of man’s invention, and debarred the use of those sacred oracles which are “able to make them wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”

Before we can rightly estimate the value of the Savior, through whom the vilest of sinners find access to God, and obtain all the blessings of grace and glory—we must go up to Heaven and behold the felicity of the saints made perfect; and go down to Hell to behold the miseries of the damned! “For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins! Colossians 1:13-14.”

2. An undeserved mercy.

Hezekiah felt that he might justly have been deprived of these blessings, and been made to experience in his own person all the calamities which were denounced against him in his posterity. And what was Hezekiah’s fault? It was that when the ambassadors came to congratulate him on his recovery from a dangerous illness, he neglected to commend to them the God of Israel, by whom their souls, and the souls of their countrymen, might be saved; and sought rather to aggrandize himself by an ostentatious display of his own wealth and power!

Now we are far from wishing to extenuate his guilt; it was surely exceeding great; and the pride of his heart merited from God the severest chastisement! 2 Chronicles 32:25-26.

But what was Hezekiah’s guilt when compared with ours? We scarcely hear on any occasion the glory of our successes ascribed to God; nor do we find one in a thousand who relies truly and simply on God for a continuance of them. Self-glorying, and confidence in an arm of flesh, are the leading features of our whole people; so that we might justly have been left to experience defeats answerable to all our victories.

And how is the “truth” improved among us? As, on the one hand, there is not a nation under Heaven where truth shines with purer luster, so neither, on the other hand, is there a nation under Heaven where truth is treated with greater contempt. And as to those who profess to value it, how little are its fair and beauteous lineaments visible in their hearts and lives! Well indeed might our mis-improvement of the light have long since provoked God to “take away his lampstand from us;” and it is a most unmerited mercy that “the glorious Gospel of the blessed God” is yet continued to us!

3. A mercy that may well reconcile us to all events connected with it.

We are not to suppose that Hezekiah was indifferent about the welfare of his posterity; it was nothing but his sense of the greatness of the mercy given to him, that led him to acquiesce so meekly in the sentence as it was denounced against him. The prospect of the calamities that would come on his posterity was surely a source of bitter anguish to his mind; but it was a great matter that he had obtained a respite, and that the judgment was not inflicted instantly upon him. This favor therefore he acknowledged as a mercy, which might well compose and tranquillize his mind.

Now it is certain that the blessings which we enjoy are far from coming without alloy. They will, it is to be feared, prove in the outcome a source of misery to many. The peace, which leads to the disbanding of so many thousand troops, will leave multitudes in a state unfavorable to their best interests. Many will find it difficult to return to the employment of honest industry; yes perhaps may find it difficult even to get employment; and many who in the scenes of war have been accustomed to blood and pillage, may bring home with them a disposition to exercise among their brethren the same evil habits which they deemed allowable among their enemies. Thus our domestic security may be invaded, and the perpetrators of these crimes be subjected to an untimely death by the hands of the public executioner. This is an evil felt at the termination of every war; yet must it by no means indispose us to acknowledge the blessings of peace.

The very truth of God also, even the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, brings on many, through their rejection of it, a heavier condemnation. It would have been good for many, if they had never heard the Gospel! Yes good, if Jesus Christ had never come into the world to save our ruined race. It was declared at the very time that he did come, that “he was set for the fall, as well as for the rising again, of many in Israel, Luke 2:34.” And that, though he should be “a sanctuary to some, he should prove to others a stumbling stone and a rock offence, Isaiah 8:14.Thus does the Gospel itself, that greatest gift of God to mankind, “become to some a savor of life unto life, but to others a savor of death unto death! 2 Corinthians 2:16.”

Still however we must not allow these things to diminish our value for the Gospel. If some abuse their food to intemperance, we must not therefore be unthankful for our food; nor if men abuse the Gospel, must we impute it to any defect in the Gospel, but to the depravity of their own hearts, which turns the blessing into a curse! We say then, that whatever evils may be accidentally connected with the blessings we have received, even though those evils should fall upon our own children—it befits us to adore and magnify our God that those blessings are not withheld from us, but that we are privileged to possess them in our days. “How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? Hebrews 10:29.”

4. A mercy which should be gratefully and diligently improved.

A state of peace, and a quiet enjoyment of Gospel ordinances, is extremely favorable for the attainment of vital godliness. So it proved to the Christian Church in its infant state, Acts 9:31; and so it will be to us. Do we ask: In what way we should improve the present occasion? We answer: In the way that David and Solomon improved their circumstances, when God had favored them with the blessings which are now conferred on us. David bethought: What can I do for God? I will build him a house that shall be worthy of his divine Majesty, 2 Samuel 7:1-2. Solomon also adopted precisely the same resolution under the same circumstances, 1 Kings 5:4-5. The same holy zeal should now inflame our hearts. We are not indeed called to build for the Lord a house of wood and stone, but a house of “living stones,” that shall be “a habitation of God through the Spirit” to all eternity!

O see what myriads of stones there are lying in the quarry of corrupt nature, that through your instrumentality may be formed and fashioned to build the temple of the Lord. Look at the blind obdurate sons of Abraham, and see what may be done to bring them to the knowledge of that Savior whom they have crucified. Look at the Gentile world, all lying in darkness and the shadow of death; and see what may be done for the enlightening of their minds, and for the saving of their souls alive. To employ our time, and property, and talents according as God shall give us opportunity—in such works, will be the best return that we can make to God for the light and peace that we enjoy. If we exert ourselves diligently in these labors of love, truly we shall have reason to all eternity to say, “The word of the LORD you have spoken is good. Will there not be peace and truth in my lifetime?”

Charles Simeon

2 Kings 20:19

“The word of the LORD you have spoken is good,” Hezekiah replied.

If of active virtues it may be said, that they are more fascinating and beautiful in the eyes of men; of passive virtues it may be said, that an equal degree of divine grace is displayed in them. It is as much an effect of divine grace to suffer patiently the will of God, as it is to perform it diligently. Accordingly we find, that most of the eminent saints of old were as remarkable for a meek submission to the divine disposals, as for a zealous execution of the divine commands. Aaron, Leviticus 10:3; Eli, 1 Samuel 3:18; Job, Job 1:21; David, Psalm 39:9; and many others, are recorded as bright examples of the passive graces; and the history of Hezekiah, as contained in the words before us, furnishes us with an admirable specimen of pious resignation.

I. We shall consider Hezekiah’s resignation as an act of piety.

The judgments denounced against his family and kingdom were of the most distressing nature.

All the wealth that he possessed, together with the holy city and temple, were to be delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans; and his sons, whom he would beget, should be made eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. To a monarch, what could be more distressing than the overthrow of his whole kingdom? To a pious monarch, what more grievous than the destruction of God’s temple, and the triumph of idolatry over the true religion? And to a monarch that was a parent, what more terrible than such degradation and misery as were denounced against his offspring?

Some may think that these judgments were not very afflictive, because they were not to affect the king himself, but only to attach upon his descendants; but we apprehend that any personal affliction whatever would have been esteemed light, in comparison with the calamities here threatened. See 2 Samuel 24:17.

Yet the tidings of these judgments were received with the most perfect submission.

What could any man say more? Hezekiah justified in the strongest terms the denunciations that had been delivered. Though he was taken entirely off his guard, and had not the smallest expectation of any such message from the Lord—yet, on the delivery of it, he bowed at once, and “accepted it as the punishment of his iniquity, Leviticus 26:41.” As grievous as the chastisement was, he approved of it as coming from the hands of a righteous God, and declared it to be not only just, but “good.”

Instead of murmuring against God for the severity of his judgments, he instantly expressed his gratitude for the mercy blended with them.

He was informed that in his days the nation should enjoy “peace;” and that “truth” should triumph over the idolatry and wickedness which had overrun the land. These considerations, independent of his own personal welfare, were consolatory to his mind; because, if God had been “extreme to mark what had been done amiss,” he might have justly executed his threatened judgments instantly, without any intervention of grace and mercy. On these mitigated circumstances Hezekiah fixed his mind; and, while he acknowledged the equity of the judgments in their fullest extent, he more especially adored the goodness of God in suspending them for so long a period, “Is it not good, if peace and truth be in my days?” The prospect of the prevalence of true religion, though but for a season, was cheering to him; and he “accounted the patience of God to be salvation.”

If, as an act of piety, we admire his resignation, much more shall we do so,

II. If we consider Hezekiah’s resignation as a lesson of instruction.

Truly in this view the history before us is very important. From it we learn many valuable lessons:

1. We learn that pride, however light and venial it may appear in our eyes, is most offensive in the sight of God!

It was pride which led Hezekiah to display before the Babylonish ambassadors all the monuments of his wealth and power; he felt an undue delight in the things themselves, as though they of themselves could make us happy. And next, he relied on them as inducements to the king of Babylon to court his alliance. According to the common estimation of men, there would be no great evil in this conduct; but God regarded as a very heinous sin, the indulgence of such vain conceits; and marked the extent of his displeasure by the severity of his judgments.

Do not let anyone then imagine that an inordinate attachment to earthly things, or a vain confidence in them, is a light offence before God. Whatever we are or have that distinguishes us from our fellow-creatures, it is given us by the Lord; and, instead of engrossing our affections, it should lead us to him in thankfulness and praise. If we take glory to ourselves for our possession of it, we provoke him to jealousy, and excite his indignation against us.

How highly did God resent the pride of Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel 4:29-33; and of Herod, Acts 12:22-23. And shall we escape, if we “provoke the Lord to jealousy?” Let us be thankful for what we possess; but let our affections center in God alone!

2. We learn that just views of sin will lead us to justify God in all the judgments that are denounced against sinners.

We are ready to think that the punishment inflicted on Hezekiah was more severe than the occasion required; but he did not think so, because he saw his sin in all its malignity! In like manner, when the everlasting displeasure of God is denounced against sinners, the proud heart of man is ready to rise up against God, and to say, that it would not be just to inflict eternal punishment for the sins of time, especially if those sins have not been of the most flagrant kind.

But a just view of our demerit silences at once all those rebellious murmurs. We then say with David, “You are justified in your saying, and will be clear when you judge.” It is remarkable, that the man who was cast out for not having on the wedding garment, is represented as not having one word to utter in arrest of judgment, “he was speechless! Matthew 22:12.” Just so will it be with all at the last day, yes and with all in this life also, who are made sensible of their iniquities. Under the deepest of earthly afflictions they will say, “Why should any living man complain when punished for his sins? Lamentations 3:39.” No, “I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him.” Under the apprehension of his eternal displeasure also, they will cry, “I have sinned against Heaven, and before you, and am no more worthy to be called your son.”

“What has happened to us is a result of our evil deeds and our great guilt, and yet, our God, you have punished us less than our sins have deserved! Ezra 9:13.”

Let us beg of God then to give us an insight into our own wickedness; that under all circumstances we may approve of God as “doing all things well.”

3. We learn that a humble mind will be more thankful for the mitigating circumstances of an affliction, than querulous about the affliction itself.

We greatly admire this in the history before us. And who does not see what sweet composure such conduct is calculated to bring into the mind? The generality of people are ready to fix on every circumstance that can aggravate their affliction; and hence they make themselves far more miserable than they would otherwise be. But if, like Hezekiah, they looked on the brighter side of their troubles, and noticed the mercies with which they were blended, they would be comparatively happy under them. Even self-love might dictate such a line of conduct, if we were actuated by no better motive; for, if once we saw how much more afflictive our circumstances might have been, and how much heavier judgments we have merited—we would feel gratitude rise up in our bosoms, and “bless our God, no less when he takes away, than when he gives!” We should confess it to be “of the Lord’s mercies that we are not utterly consumed.”

Charles Simeon

2 Kings 20:2-3

Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, “Remember, O LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

As “clouds return after rain,” so do troubles follow each other frequently in rapid succession. Great was the affliction of Hezekiah at the time of Sennacherib’s invasion; and no sooner was he delivered from that, than he was attacked with a deadly malady, and had a message from the Lord that he must die!

Under this new trouble he betook himself, as he had done also on the former occasion, to fervent prayer; and in this prayer he made a most solemn appeal to God, an appeal which needs to be well considered.

We will notice,

I. The occasion of Hezekiah’s prayer.

A message had been sent him from the Lord to set his house in order, and to prepare for speedy death.

Now this would be a solemn warning to any man: “This is what the LORD says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die! You will not recover.”

There is in every man an instinctive dread of death; and more especially to those who regard it in its true light. Who can think of going to the tribunal of a just and holy God to give an account of all that he has done in the body, whether good or evil, and to receive from God a sentence of everlasting happiness or misery—and not tremble at such a prospect?

This thought is as crucial to the prince as the peasant; and though many people treat it as fit only to be regarded by the poor, or by the sick and aged—yet, when the hour of death draws near, all feel its momentous importance! Or, if any are hardened enough to disregard it then, their delusion ceases the very instant that death has executed on them its commission!

But it was peculiarly distressing to Hezekiah.

He had begun a great and glorious reformation, and had fondly hoped to see it completed in the land. Besides, he had many plans for the temporal prosperity of his subjects; which now he had no prospect of carrying into execution. To relinquish all these projects was painful in the extreme. It evidently was not the mere fear of death that stimulated him to pray; nor does he appear to have entertained any doubt about the safety of his own soul. It was for God, and for the Jewish nation, that he felt concerned; and doubtless, in proportion to his zeal for God, and the love he bore to man, would be his grief at the tidings of such a premature and unseasonable termination of his life; nor do we wonder that under such circumstances he should “make supplication to his God with strong crying and tears.”

Yet, until it is explained, we shall not easily account for,

II. The appeal of Hezekiah’s prayer.

It does at first sight appear like the Pharisaic boast, “I thank you, O God, that I am not as other men.” But, in truth, it was a plea, with which his prayer was enforced; a plea, like that of David, “Preserve my soul, for I am holy, Psalm 86:2.” In this appeal he humbly declared before God.

1. The use which he had hitherto made of life.

From the first moment of his coming to the throne, he had set himself to suppress idolatry, and to reform the nation. Of this he had the testimony of his own conscience; and this gave him much comfort in his soul, 2 Corinthians 1:12; together with confidence in urging his petitions before God, 1 John 3:21-22.

But there was in this plea a reference to an express promise made to David—a promise, the accomplishment of which Hezekiah was now particularly authorized to ask, and to expect God had assured David that “if his children should walk before him in truth, there should not fail to be one of them to sit upon the throne of Israel, 1 Kings 2:4.” But Hezekiah had walked before God in truth, and yet was about to die without leaving any child to succeed him in his throne. Manasseh was not born until three years afterwards. Compare 2 Kings 20:6 with 21:1. This under any circumstances would have been a great affliction; but it was peculiarly afflictive, now that Hezekiah was in the midst of all his plans for the welfare of the nation, and had no prospect of a successor who would carry them on.

Hence there was a propriety in this appeal, far beyond what has been generally supposed; for if we have complied with any conditions on which a promise is suspended, we may justly urge it with God as a plea for the accomplishment of his promise.

2. The end for which he desired a continuance of life.

His desire was, not that he might have a protracted enjoyment of earthly things, but that he might have further opportunities of serving God. This appears from the thanksgiving which he uttered on his recovery, Isaiah 38:18-19. This was a legitimate ground of desiring life. Paul, though he “desired to depart and to be with Christ, which was far better,” yet was willing to stay a longer time here below, because it was “needful for the Church of Christ.”

What better plea then could be urged than this? ‘O my God, you have put me into a situation wherein I can serve you to great advantage; and you know I have no desire but to advance your glory in the world. O do not take me away, until I have been enabled to render you all the service of which you have made me capable!’ Such was David’s plea, Psalm 30:8-9; and it may well be urged by all who desire to fulfill the true ends of life.

Address:

1. To those who are in health and strength.

Who can tell, how soon the message may be sent to you, “Put your house in order, because you are going to die! You will not recover.” You may be in the prime of life as Hezekiah was, for he was only forty years of age. Or, like him, you may possess great wealth and honor; or may be engaged in pursuits of vast utility to the world. But death will not spare us on any of these accounts, if it has received its commission to cut us down.

What if the message were now delivered unto you: “You are going to die! You will not recover!” Are you ready to face the final judgement? Can you appeal to the heart-searching God that you have walked as in his presence, and endeavored with sincerity of heart to approve yourselves to him? Has the doing of his will in all things been the one object of your life? Above all, inquire whether Christ has been precious to you? And whether you have lived by faith in him? And whether you have truly devoted yourselves to him?

2. Those who have recovered from sickness, or have escaped any particular danger.

Why has God spared or restored you, but that you might live henceforth to his glory? Perhaps under the apprehension of death, you determined with yourselves that you would give yourselves up to God. Now then remember the vows that are upon you. God heard your prayer, and the prayers of others for you, that it might be seen whether you would serve him or not. O beware how you abuse his patience towards you; beware how you make use of life only to “add sin to sin,” and to “treasure up wrath against the day of wrath.”

There is a great work lying before you, and but little time to do it in. To have the text realized in you, to have it realized in all its parts; and to have such an evidence of it in your heart and life, as to be able to appeal to God respecting it—this is no easy matter; nor is it a work that ought to be deferred one single moment.

Consider that you are still as much exposed to death as ever. Though restored, you have no promise of life for fifteen years to come—no, nor for fifteen days or hours. Improve then the present hour, “Walk not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time,” that at whatever hour the heavenly Bridegroom may arrive, you may be found ready, and be counted worthy to sit down with him at his marriage-feast in Heaven!

Charles Simeon

2 Kings 19:30-31

“Once more a remnant of the house of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above. For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.”

Great and mighty conquerors have at all times been ready to ascribe their success to their own wisdom and prowess; but in no case have they been anything more than the sword which God has used for the effecting of his own purposes! Isaiah 10:5; Isaiah 10:15. And when God has accomplished by them his own designs, he frequently punishes their pride and cruelty by some signal judgments.

Thus he acted towards the boasting and blasphemous Sennacherib. He raised up that monarch to subdue mighty kingdoms, to lead into captivity the ten tribes of Israel, and to inflict a heavy chastisement on the two remaining tribes of Judah and Benjamin. But, when the victorious monarch arrogated to himself all the glory of his conquests, and poured contempt upon Jehovah, whose instrument he was, God “put a hook in his nose and a bridle in his jaws,” and turned him back with shame and ignominy; assuring at the same time his oppressed people, that, notwithstanding their present weakness, they would speedily be delivered from their insulting foe, and again be raised to stability and honor.

The words which we have now read are a part of the answer given from the Lord to the supplications of Hezekiah; and we shall find it profitable to consider,

I. The promise contained in them.

The tribes of Judah and Benjamin were reduced to the lowest state of desperation. But God had yet mercy in store for them; and promised, that he would once more establish them in peace and prosperity, so that, instead of being shut up, as now they were, they should be at liberty to return to their own possessions; and, instead of being reduced in number, they should multiply and fill the land.

This seems to be the primary meaning of the words; but they undoubtedly contain a promise of spiritual prosperity to that nation in the Apostolic age.

The terms in which the promise is expressed, are taken from the preceding verse; wherein it is declared, for their comfort, that the desolation which Sennacherib’s army had occasioned, should not issue in a famine; but that sufficient grain should spring up, from what had been spilled in the fields, to support them this year, and the year following (which was the sabbatic year); and that in the third year they should be supported by the labors of husbandry, as in former times. From thence God takes occasion to say, that the remnant which should escape the present desolations, should at a future period be a source of comfort and benefit to the whole world.

That this is the true meaning of the words, appears from similar expressions used by the Prophet Isaiah, and quoted by Paul in the very sense here affixed to them. Compare Isaiah 10:21-22 with Romans 9:27. In preserving a remnant, it was God’s intention that they should be witnesses for him to every nation under Heaven; and that by the ministration of his Gospel they should “blossom, and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit, Isaiah 27:6.” The events which took place in the Apostolic age, when the Apostles and others went forth to publish the glad tidings of salvation, precisely corresponded with this prophecy; they went from Jerusalem, and diffused the knowledge of the crucified Savior throughout the earth.

Let us attend to,

II. The instruction to be derived from it.

We may particularly learn from hence,

1. The interest which God takes in his redeemed people.

Not only from the time that these words were spoken, but even before the foundation of the world, God had an eye to his chosen people, to deliver them from their spiritual enemies, that they might “walk in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of their life.” On his Jewish Church he yet looks, in order to “engraft them yet again on their own olive-tree,” when the appointed period for their restoration shall arrive. And on the least and lowest of his people at this day, does he still cast an eye of love and pity; he “has thoughts of love and peace towards them,” and “is not willing that one of his little ones should perish.” If enemies assault them, he considers himself as struck through them, Acts 9:4; he feels as if the apple of his eye were touched, Zechariah 2:8; he regards them as “his first-fruits,” which if any dared to alienate and consume, he did it at the peril of his own soul! Jeremiah 2:3.

2. The efficacy of believing prayer.

Low indeed was the state of the nation at that time; it seemed as if there was no possibility of escape for them from their conquering enemies. But behold, how speedily and effectually prayer prevailed! Isaiah lifted up his voice to God in prayer, verse 4; Hezekiah also spread before the Lord the letter that Rabshakeh had sent him, verse 14-19; and scarcely had the pious monarch finished his prayer, before the prophet was sent to him from the Lord, with assurances of immediate and complete deliverance! verse 20. That very night was an angel sent from Heaven to destroy a hundred and eighty-five thousand of the Assyrian army. Thus shall all God’s enemies, and ours, perish, if only we cry unto God for help.

We may even now adopt the exulting language which God ordered Hezekiah to use in reference to the Assyrian monarch, “The virgin, the daughter of Israel, has shaken her head at you.” Only spread all your needs and difficulties before the Lord, and there is no lust, no spiritual enemy, that shall stand before you; but “Satan himself shall be bruised under your feet shortly.”

“The zeal of the Lord Almighty is pledged to perform this” for all his believing people. You may therefore go to him and plead, ” Where are your zeal and your might? Your tenderness and compassion are withheld from us! Isaiah 63:15.” And his answer to you shall speedily arrive, “I will rejoice over you to do you good, and I will plant you in the heavenly land with my whole heart and with my whole soul! Jeremiah 32:41.” Only believe in him; and “according to your faith it shall be unto you.”

Charles Simeon

2 Kings 18:4

“Hezekiah removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.)”

We too often see the children of godly parents turning aside from the principles in which they have been educated, and deserting the paths which parental piety has marked out for them. Here we behold a youth, whose father was branded with a special mark of infamy on account of his numerous and aggravated impieties—shining with a brighter luster than any other of the kings of Judah! verse 5, 6. No sooner did Hezekiah come to the throne of his father, than he set himself to counteract all the evil which his father had done. At the early age of twenty-five Hezekiah commenced a reformation, which, for the time at least, was attended with the happiest effects. “Hezekiah removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made.” It seems that the veneration in which that memorial of God’s mercy had been held, had degenerated into the grossest superstition. Where the bronze serpent had been preserved for so long a period, we are not informed. Had it been placed within the sanctuary, with the pot of manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, being concealed from the view both of the people and the priests—it would not have become an object of idolatrous regard. But it is not to be wondered at, that, when idols of every kind were multiplied in the land, this, which as a memorial of God’s mercy was really entitled to most affectionate respect, should have divine honors paid to it.

The use which was made of it by the Jewish people naturally leads me to show: How prone men are to superstition; while the zeal of Hezekiah in destroying it, will properly afford me an occasion yet further to show how earnestly we ought, all of us according to our ability, to counteract the superstition that is around us!

Observe then,

I. How prone men are to superstition.

Superstition, I am aware, may exist, without being carried to the extent in which it prevailed among the Jews at this time. But the same ingredients are found in superstition, whatever is the degree in which it prevails. In the instance before us its component parts are manifest. The Jews carried their veneration of the bronze serpent to a very culpable excess; they assigned to it a sanctity which it did not possess. They ascribed to it a glory which it did not merit. They expected from it a benefit, which it could not confer. Now, whether our superstition has respect to a visible creature, or only to a figment of the brain, its essential qualities are the same; and man in his fallen state is prone to it.

Superstition prevailed, and still prevails, universally among the heathen.

What were, or are, the Deities of the heathen, but men, who on account of some exploits in former days have been canonized, or mere creatures of the imagination invested with divine attributes? The philosophers of Greece and Rome knew of no other gods than these; and in that respect were scarcely more rational than any other of the heathen, whether in ancient or modern times.

Among the Jews also superstition ever did, and still does, prevail to an awful extent.

Scarcely had they been brought out of Egypt before they made a golden calf, and worshiped it as their god, Acts 7:41. Through their whole abode in the wilderness they bowed down to Moloch and Remphan, the gods of the heathen that were around them Acts 7:42-43. After their settlement in Canaan the Jews evinced the same propensity continually. The greatest mercies which God gave to them were abused to this end.

Was the law given the Jews from Mount Sinai? They rested in it for justification, instead of using it as “a ministration of condemnation,” and a rule of life.

Was the temple of God among the Jews? In that they trusted as a security against their enemies, saying, as Micah superstitiously did when he had secured a Levite for his priest, “Now know I that the Lord will do me good, seeing I have a Levite for my priest, Judges 17:13; Jeremiah 7:4.”

The Jews had the badge of circumcision, but they thought that would suffice, though they knew nothing of the true circumcision of the heart. To this present hour the dispersed of Israel have no juster views of God and of religion, than those had in former days, of whom it is said, that, trusting in their own righteousness, they would not submit to the righteousness of God. Even the doctrines of man’s invention had, and still have, a greater authority over them than the commands of God!

And what is Popery but a mass of superstition altogether? What is the worship of the Virgin Mary, and of saints, and relics? What are all the masses, the pilgrimages, and the penances that are prescribed among them as means of expiating their sins? What is their confession of sins to a priest, their priestly absolution, their worshiping of the consecrated wafer, and their administration of extreme unction?

Some, I trust, there are, who are enabled to look simply to Christ through all the mists that are cast around him; but those who regard the dogmas of popery as the only ground of their eternal hopes, are as far from God and truth as either Jews or heathens!

Would to God that the Protestant world were blameless in relation to this matter!

The Gospel light which we enjoy ought long since to have dispelled the clouds of popish superstition; but among the generality there still remains a most astonishing blindness respecting the Gospel of Christ.

How many are there who imagine that repentance has in itself a power to wash away their sins!

How many regard the Lord’s Supper, not as a mere commemorative ordinance in and through which divine blessings are dispensed, but as a sacrificial act, that expiates their guilt, and insures their forgiveness!

Baptism, in like manner, is supposed by many to take away our sins—yes, and to renew our natures also! Those who deny this, are represented as denying the sacramental character of the ordinance.

Thus do many among ourselves run into the very same absurdity as the Jews did in relation to the bronze serpent. God once conveyed bodily health by a sight of the bronze serpent. Just so, God now conveys spiritual health in and through the ordinance of baptism [Editor’s note: We find Simeon’s Anglicanism expressed in this section to be unbiblical]. But the serpent did not heal all, but those only who looked to it by faith; nor did it heal them by any power of its own, but only as appointed of God to be a medium of communication from him to them. When the Jews ascribed the honor to the bronze serpent, and looked to it for future benefits, they erred. And precisely in the same manner do they err, who ascribe power to baptism as an act, instead of looking simply to God for his blessing on the use of it as an instituted ordinance, and a medium of communication with God. As reasonably might any person ascribe the refreshing water which he drinks to the pipe which conveys it to him, as imagine that the mere act of baptism can justify and sanctify his soul. There is a fountain to which the stream must be traced; and, if we allow our views to terminate on anything short of that, we are guilty of the grossest superstition!

In a word, there is in every man by nature a tendency to this fatal evil, and a readiness to rob God of his glory, by giving to the creature that honor which is due to him alone! Such is the proneness of man to superstition; and from Hezekiah’s conduct, we learn,

II. How earnestly we should endeavor to counteract superstition.

We should counteract superstition,

1. We should counteract superstition, in ourselves.

There is a great deal of this evil remaining in the heart, even after we are truly converted unto God. To view God in everything; to ascribe everything, evil as well as good, to God, Amos 3:6; to give him the glory of everything; and to depend wholly and entirely upon him for everything, is an attainment to which we are not soon brought; we gain it for the most part by a long and painful discipline.

There is a measure of creature-confidence and creature-dependence cleaving to us to the end. And though we are purged from it—yet is there a tendency to return to it, and a necessity to be constantly on our guard against it. Whence is that confidence which some derive from dreams, or visions, or other conceits of their own? Whence is that stress which they lay on the Word of God coming to their minds in this or that particular way? It all arises from a propensity inherent in fallen man to rest in something besides God.

The Word of God is our only legitimate ground of either hope or fear. The manner of its being applied to the mind does not alter one jot or tittle of it. The promises are not a whit more sure because they are presented with force to our minds, nor the threatenings less sure because we are strongly impressed with the idea that they shall never be fulfilled in us. And the only effect of attending to our own feelings in relation to these things is, to generate a presumptuous confidence in some, and groundless apprehensions in others. They all draw the mind away from God; and must be guarded against as superstitious vanities; and “all who trust in such vanities, shall have vanity for their recompense.”

2. We should counteract superstition, in others.

Were superstition only a harmless delusion, then we might leave men to themselves; but when we consider how great an evil it is, and how strenuously the pious Hezekiah opposed it—then we should all use our utmost efforts to counteract it in the world. Whether we view the dishonor which it does to God, or the evil which it entails on man, we cannot but see, that we should tread in Hezekiah’s steps respecting it. That it robs God of his glory, is obvious; because it ascribes to the creature what is due to Him alone. And it is most injurious to man, because while it disappoints his hopes, it actually robs him of all the blessings which the Gospel itself provides.

What did Paul say to those who relied on circumcision as securing or confirming to them the benefits of the Gospel? Did he say, “If you are circumcised, your circumcision shall profit you nothing?” No, but “If you are circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing, Galatians 5:2.”

Just so must we say in reference to superstition of every kind; it not only fails to procure the benefits it aspires to, but actually deprives us of the benefits we might otherwise obtain. It would be well if those who superstitiously regard divine ordinances, whether baptism, or the Lord’s Supper, or any other ordinance, as possessing any inherent virtue in themselves, and as imparting virtue by any power of their own, would contemplate their guilt and danger while under the influence of such delusions; for to those who against better light adhere to them, as necessarily conveying justification and sanctification and salvation, “Christ himself will become of no effect;” they are fallen from grace; and, as far as respects them, “Christ has died in vain! Galatians 5:4 with Galatians 2:21.”

Well I know that to some these opinions will appear harsh; but fidelity to God and man requires, that, if even an angel from Heaven should countenance such an error, he should be Anathema! Galatians 1:8-9. And if in opposing such errors anyone think that we manifest too much zeal, then what would such a one have said to Hezekiah? ‘What! don’t you know that that serpent was appointed as an ordinance by God himself? Don’t you know how many thousands were healed by it? And do you dare to break it in pieces, and to degrade it with such an appellation as “Nehushtan [a bronze thing]”? I am shocked at your impiety. But what would Hezekiah have said? ‘It is not as an ordinance of God that I degrade it, but as idolatrously substituted in God’s place, as a ground of hope, and as a source of good.’

So I say of baptism and of the Lord’s supper; ‘In their proper and appointed use they cannot be too highly valued; but, if abused to purposes for which they were not given, and looked to as containing in themselves, and conveying of themselves, salvation to man, they are desecrated, and may justly be called Nehushtan.’

So Paul said in relation to circumcision, which corresponds with the Christian ordinance of baptism. When some abused it as a ground of hope, he would not acknowledge them as the people of God. He indignantly denominates them “the circumcision,” declaring that they only were the circumcision who sought their salvation in God alone. And if any are offended with this doctrine, we refer them to Hezekiah; we refer them to Paul. It is too weighty a matter to be trifled with, seeing that it is of vital importance to every soul of man.

Let us learn, then, from hence,

1. How to use God’s ordinances.

We should be thankful for them; we should honor them; we should look to God in them, and expect from God through them the communications of his grace and peace. They are to be reverenced, but not idolized. They are to be used as means, but not rested in as an end. No one is to imagine himself the better, merely because he has attended on any ordinances; for he may eat his own condemnation at the supper of the Lord, and have the word which is ministered unto him “a savor only of death.”

We must look, not to ordinances, but to God in them; and just so much as we obtain from God in them, are we benefitted by them.

This present ordinance for instance—what are you the better for it, if you have not held communion with God himself in your devotions? And what benefit will you receive from the word now delivered, if it does not come to you in demonstration of the Spirit and of power? Bear this in mind, both before you come up to the house of God, and when you depart from it; and then you will find the ordinances to be blessings indeed. But, if you “sacrifice to your own net, and burn incense to your own dragnet, Habakkuk 1:16,” then your coming here will be in vain, and our labor also will be in vain.

2. How to regard the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

Methinks these Jews, though so blind and sinful, may well rise up in judgment against the generality of the professing Christian world. The serpent which they worshiped had never done anything for them; the people whom it had healed, had lived eight hundred years before; and it prevailed only to prolong for a season their physical life; and no benefit had accrued from it to any child of man since the day that it was erected in the camp. Yet they honored it, and “offered incense to it.”

But the Lord Jesus Christ has been healing immortal souls; and that from the foundation of the world to this present hour; and so healed them, that they should live forever! This too he has done, by voluntarily leaving his Father’s bosom, and assuming our nature, and dying on the cross under the load of all our sins, and drinking to the very dregs that cup of bitterness which must otherwise have been put into our hands to drink forever!

Yet how many days and months and years have been spent by most of us without ever offering to him the incense of our prayers and praise! Yes, notwithstanding he is erected for the healing of us, and is at this moment empowered to bestow on us all the blessings that we can need for body or for soul, for time or for eternity—how little is he adored and magnified by us! May we not well be ashamed when we reflect on this? May we not be confounded when we compare our treatment of him, with the conduct of the Jews towards the senseless shadowy representation of him? Yes indeed; we have reason to blush and be confounded before him!

Let us then repent of all our ingratitude towards him. Let us remember that there is no fear of honoring him too much, since He is God, as well as man; and not the medium of communication only, but the true and proper source of all blessings to our souls. Then shall our communion with him be sweet; and “the golden oil shall flow through the golden pipes, Zechariah 4:11-14,” of his ordinances, from Him the fountain of it, to the enriching of our souls with all spiritual blessings, and to the everlasting glory of his great and glorious name.

Charles Simeon

2 Kings 17:33

“They feared the LORD, but they also served their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought.”

The views which men in general have of religion are extremely indistinct. Hence arises the necessity of unfolding religion to them in every possible way. Sometimes we attempt it by a clear exposition of its principles from the declarations of the Inspired Volume. Sometimes we bring forth the examples of the Apostles, and show what their views of religion were. On the present occasion, I will proceed in a way of contrast, so that the difference between true religion and false religion may the more fully appear.

The people of whom my text speaks were the inhabitants of Samaria. When the king of Assyria had subdued the ten tribes of Israel, he took away the inhabitants, and dispersed them throughout his own dominions, and sent a number of his own subjects to occupy and cultivate the land of Samaria. These people, coming from different parts of the Assyrian Empire, took with them their own gods, whom they had severally been accustomed to worship. But, after a season, the lions of the forests multiplied, and caused such destruction among them, that they could not but regard it as a token of God’s displeasure, for not being worshiped and served in a way conformable to his own appointed ordinances. The people stated this to the king of Assyria; and requested that one of the priests who had been taken from the land, should be sent back to Samaria, in order to instruct them how Jehovah, whom they supposed to be a local Deity, and the God of that particular land, was to be worshiped.

This request was complied with; a priest was sent to them; a number of others were appointed to officiate with him under his direction; and thus the people united the worship of Jehovah with that of their own idols; or, as my text expresses it, “feared the Lord, and served their own gods, verse 24-41.” And in this state they continued even to the time of our blessed Lord; who said to the Samaritan woman, “You worship what you do not know, John 4:22.”

Now, this will afford me an opportunity of showing what true religion is, by contrasting:

I. The Mongrel Samaritan Standard of Religion.

From the history of the Samaritans, as contained in the chapter before us, it will be seen what their religion was. It had:

self-delight for its object,

external religious forms for its essence,

and custom for its origin.

It had self-delight for its object; for every one worshiped his own gods; as it is said, “Every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high-places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities where they dwelt, verse 29-31.” If they added Jehovah to them, it was from fear of his vengeance, “They feared the Lord, and served their own gods;” fearing him by constraint, and serving them by choice. They had a general idea that it was well to acknowledge some God; and with that they were satisfied.

It had external religious forms for its essence, “They made unto themselves, of the lowest of the people, priests of the high-places, who sacrificed for them in the houses of the high-places verse 32.” While the priests were at their posts, and performing their accustomed round of services, all was well. Respecting religion as a personal concern between them individually and the God whom they served, they knew nothing. It was with them a mere official matter; and if it was performed with regularity by the appointed officers, they felt no need, no cause for self-reproach.

It had custom or tradition for its origin, “They feared the Lord, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations who had carried Israel away captive from thence, Unto this day they do after the former manners, verse 33, 34.” “So these nations feared the Lord, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children’s children; as did their fathers, so did they unto this day, verse 41.” None of them inquired whether their views were right or wrong; they took for granted that the religion which they had received from their forefathers was right; and, if they only conformed themselves to that, they had nothing to fear.

And what is the religion which prevails among us?

Truly, we might almost conceive ourselves to be in Samaria, rather than in Britain, where the light of the Gospel so clearly shines. For what is the object which the generality of us aim at, even in religion? Is it not merely to have within our own bosoms a foundation for self-applause? As to any real delight in holy exercises, we do not pretend to it. To read the Word of God with a devout application of it to our own particular case; to commune with God in secret, and pour out our souls before him in praise and thanksgiving; these are not really the employments we desire; as for enjoying his presence, and receiving communications from him in answer to our prayers, we scarcely contemplate such a thing as attainable by us; if we do our duty, as we call it, that is all that we are concerned about; that satisfies our conscience; and we neither desire nor think of anything beyond.

In perfect accordance with these views are all our services. We come to the house of God; we follow the minister in the different parts of the service, standing, sitting, kneeling, as occasion requires, and making our responses at the places assigned to us. We then attend to his discourse with interest or indifference, as it may happen; and then congratulate ourselves as having performed a duty, though the soul has not been really engaged in a single word that has been uttered either by the minister or ourselves. Samaritan-like, we devolve almost the whole service on the minister; and, if he have discharged his office with regularity and decorum—we conclude that we have done all that was required of us.

If it were asked of us, Why we professed the Christian faith at all—the greater part of us would have no better reason than that by which the Samaritans were influenced, “We follow the religion of our forefathers.” We are Christians, in fact, for the very same reasons that Muhammadans or Pagans profess the beliefs maintained respectively by them. We have taken our religion upon trust from those who have gone before us, without ever having examined it for ourselves; and it is owing to the circumstance of our having been born in a Christian land, and not to any conviction of the truth and excellency of our religion, that we are Protestants and not Papists; or Christians and not Heathens.

The God of Scripture is professedly the object of our worship. But the gods whom we really worship, and by choice, are the pleasures, and riches, and honors, of this vain world! On them our heart is fixed. To them is our time and money are devoted. If we but attain our real gods to the extent of our desires, we bless ourselves as having gained the objects most worthy of our pursuit!

But now, in opposition to all this, let us notice:

II. The standard proposed to us in the Bible.

This, also, is fully set forth in the chapter before us.

1. The standard of Scripture has God alone for its object.

“You shall not fear other gods, nor how yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them; but to the Lord; him shall you fear, and him shall you worship, and to him shall you sacrifice, verse 35, 36.” In the first and great commandment that is given us, of loving God with all our heart and mind and soul and strength, there is no alienation admitted, no participation with any creature upon earth. “God is a jealous God,” and must have our whole hearts. “If our heart is divided, we shall,” as the prophet warns us, assuredly “be found faulty, Hosea 10:2.”

Now then, if there be anyone thing under Heaven that is not truly and entirely subordinated to God, we have not yet taken so much as one step in true religion. We may have some fear of God; but while there is any other God in the universe that we serve, or that stands in competition with him—we are yet mongrel Samaritans in heart, “having the form of godliness, but not any of its power, 2 Timothy 3:5.”

2. The standard of Scripture has the covenant of grace altogether for its foundation.

“The covenant that I have made with you, you shall not forget, verse 38.” We have no hope whatever before God, but as founded on that everlasting covenant which the Father entered into with his dear Son, as the head and representative of his elect people, Zechariah 6:13; Hebrews 13:20.

In ourselves we were reduced to a footing with the fallen angels, and had in ourselves no more claim on God than they. By the first covenant we were all condemned, Galatians 3:10. But God has made a new covenant with us, “ordered in all things and sure, 2 Samuel 23:5;” and has “confirmed that covenant with an oath, Hebrews 6:17-18;” and according to the tenor of that covenant, shall saving mercy be given unto us, Hebrews 8:8-12. But who knows anything about that covenant?

Who even thinks of it, or has any more respect unto it than if it never had existed? The utmost that people in general know about religion is, that they need to repent; and that, if they repent, they shall obtain mercy. But under what considerations, and by what distinct means, mercy shall be accorded to them—they know nothing. They do not see everything as springing from the sovereign grace of God, and given to Christ for us, and received from Christ through the exercise of faith. Truly, so miserably defective are the most of us in the knowledge of these things, that the mongrel Samaritans themselves had almost as good a discernment of them as we!

3. The standard of Scripture has the work of redemption for its great influential motive.

“You shall fear the Lord, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched-out arm, verse 36.” Throughout all the Old Testament, the deliverance from Egypt is urged as the chief incentive to serve and glorify God. Yet what was that, in comparison with the redemption given to us through the blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? This is the substance, of which the redemption from Egypt was the mere shadow. And it is from the consideration of this stupendous work that we are exhorted to “yield up ourselves as living sacrifices to the Lord, Romans 12:1.” It is “because Christ has bought us with a price, that we are called to glorify him with our bodies and our spirits, which are his, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 1 Peter 1:17-19.”

See the saints in Heaven; even there are they actuated in all their services by a sense of redeeming love! Revelation 5:9-10. Much more are we on earth induced by this wonderful mystery to “live to Him, who died for us, and rose again, Romans 14:7-9.”

4. The standard of Scripture has holiness—real and universal holiness, for its end.

Not even the salvation of men from perdition is so much the end of all religion, as the saving of them from sin. It was in the latter view, rather than the former, that the very name of Jesus was given to our blessed Lord, Matthew 1:21. He came to redeem us from all iniquity, and to purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous for good works, Titus 2:14.”

This also, like all the foregoing characters of true religion, is specified in the passage before us, “The statutes, and the ordinances, and the law, and the commandment, which he wrote for you—you shall observe to obey for evermore, verse 37.” And to this agrees the testimony of Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he has visited and redeemed his people, and has raised up a horn of salvation for us; that, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, we might serve him without fear, in righteousness and holiness before him, all the days of our life, Luke 1:67-69; Luke 1:74-75.”

Now, from hence we may see how far we are possessed of true religion; for, if we desire not holiness as our chief aim, and as that which alone can render Heaven itself desirable, we have yet to learn what are the first principles of true religion. Satan himself would gladly be restored to his original happiness in Heaven; but he has no desire to be “renewed in the spirit of his mind, and to be created anew, after the divine image, in righteousness and true holiness, Ephesians 4:23-24.”

These are exclusively the desires of a Christian mind; and in every regenerate soul under Heaven are they paramount and predominant. There is not a Christian in the universe who does not desire to become “holy, as God himself is holy,” and “perfect, even as his Father in Heaven is perfect.”

And now, by way of improvement,

1. I call you to humiliation.

Methinks the Prophet Isaiah furnishes me with the most appropriate address that can possibly be delivered to you, “Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel and who come forth from the seed of Judah; you who swear allegiance by the name of the Lord and make mention of the God of Israel—but not in truth and sincerity, nor in righteousness, Isaiah 48:1.” (Amplified version)

Here your Christian profession is acknowledged; and here, alas! is your Christian practice described. For who among us has devoted himself to God with that entireness of heart and life which the very name of Christian implies? I must indeed warn you, that “you cannot serve two masters, who are so opposed to each other as God and the world are. To whichever of them you adhere, you must, of necessity, despise the other; you cannot serve God and mammon! Matthew 6:24.”

This is the warning of our Lord Jesus Christ himself, who will confirm it by His judgment at the last day. Let a sense of this humble you in the dust; and remember that if ever you would serve God acceptably—then every rival must be put away, and he alone must reign in your heart.

2. I call you to decision.

What is the determination which I desire you all to form? It is that which the Prophet Micah so well inculcates, “All people will walk every one in the name of his God; and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God, forever and ever! Micah 4:5.” Yes, “walk in the name of your incarnate God,” whose name you bear; and let it be seen “whose you are, and whom you serve.” Do this at all events, without compromising the matter, or “halting between two opinions.” “If Baal is God—then follow him! But if the Lord is God—then follow Him 1 Kings 18:21.” Yes, and “follow him fully too, Joshua 14:8-9;” and if you are called to bear a cross for him, do not wait until it is laid upon you by necessity; but “take it up willingly, and follow him, Luke 9:23;” “follow him outside the camp, bearing his reproach, Hebrews 13:13;” and, whatever be the cross laid upon you, rejoice, and “glory in it, for his sake, Acts 5:41.”

This is the Bible standard. Do not attempt to lower it. Aspire after a full conformity to it. Your Lord well deserves this at your hands. It was not by measure that he expressed love to you. There was nothing which he did not forego for you; nothing which he did not sustain for you. Walk then, in his steps; and have no other standard than this, to “love him as he has loved you,” and to serve him as he has served you. Whatever he did for your salvation, that be ready to do for his honor. And whatever attainments you have made, still endeavor to advance, “walking on” with ever-increasing zeal, “forgetting what is behind, and pressing forward to that which is ahead, until the prize of your high calling is awarded to you, Philippians 3:13-14,” and you rest forever in the bosom of your God.

Charles Simeon

2 Kings 13:18-19

Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and the king took them. Elisha told him, “Strike the ground.” He struck it three times and stopped. The man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times.”

In this passage is recorded a conversation between King Joash and the Prophet Elisha. The prophet was dying; and the king, who had utterly neglected him before, now went to visit him, and was full of concern about the loss, which both he and all his people would sustain; the king even wept over him, and most pathetically exclaimed, “O my father, my father, the chariots of Israel, and the horsemen thereof! This is the same expression as Elisha himself had used in reference to Elijah, 2 Kings 2:12.

The people of Israel were forbidden to multiply chariots and horses, that they might look to God alone as their strength. And they were now so reduced by Hazael king of Syria, that they had only ten chariots and fifty horsemen left; verse 7. But if they had attended to Elisha, they would not have needed any such protectors, because God himself would have defended them. This truth the king now acknowledged, feeling that he was about to lose the best support of his kingdom.”

Thus it is that the servants of the Lord are too generally treated; they are neglected and despised in their life; but, when they are no longer able to benefit the world, their loss is deeply felt.

On this occasion God put fresh honor upon his servant, and made him a messenger of glad tidings to the king. These tidings were conveyed under two symbolical representations; the shooting of an arrow towards Syria, and the smiting of a bundle of arrows upon the ground. But it seems that the king, though apprised of God’s gracious intentions towards him, was not by any means either so enlarged in his expectations, or so ardent in his desires, as he should have been. He was lukewarm; and by his lukewarmness he both displeased the prophet, and deprived himself of a great measure of that mercy which God had designed to bestow upon him.

Now this subject affords us a fit occasion to consider,

I. What messages of mercy God has sent to us.

Innumerable are the intimations which God has given us of a glorious deliverance from all our spiritual enemies; they have been given:

1. By significant emblems.

What was the preservation of Noah and his family in the ark, but a representation to us of that deliverance which shall be given to all who are found in Christ? All the rest of the world shall perish; but they shall be “saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation, 1 Peter 3:20-21.”

What were the deliverances of God’s people from Egypt and Babylon, but typical exhibitions of that redemption which God has given to us in Christ Jesus? In this light they are uniformly set forth in the holy Scriptures; and from them we learn never to despair, Isaiah 40:4-5.

What were all the miracles of our Lord, but so many emblems of the spiritual blessings which shall be imparted unto us by the Gospel, Isaiah 35:5-6; John 9:39.

Above all, what was the resurrection of our blessed Lord, but a pledge, yes, a shadowy representation also, of that restoration to a new and spiritual life, of which all shall partake who believe in Christ! Compare Ephesians 1:19-22 with Ephesians 2:4-7.

2. By express promises.

Where shall we begin, or where shall we end—our enumeration of the “exceeding great and precious promises” which are given us in the Gospel? Though we should confine ourselves to the precise idea of the text, and contemplate the promises solely as relating to our deliverance from spiritual enemies, we might easily collect passages almost without number:

Sin, Romans 6:14.

Satan, Romans 16:20.

Death, 1 Corinthians 3:22.

Hell, John 3:15-16.

Or all in one, Luke 4:18!

These promises are made, like that in our text, even to the most unworthy of mankind.

3. By the declarations and examples of dying saints.

Behold Jacob on his dying bed, Genesis 49:18.

Or the aged Simeon with Jesus in his arms, Luke 2:29.

Or Paul, in daily expectation of martyrdom—how bright his prospects, how heavenly his thoughts! 2 Timothy 4:7-8.

In such passages as these we see death entirely disarmed of its sting, and the triumphs of Heaven, as it were, begun. But we need not go back to the days of old; we may hear for ourselves precisely similar declarations, if we will frequent the chambers of sick and dying saints. In all such instances, the departing saints bring the matter home to our own feelings, and “put, as it were, their hands upon ours,” to teach us how to shoot, and to encourage our efforts. See verse 16. God himself instructs us, what we also may expect from him in a dying hour.

Amidst so many gracious intimations from God, we should inquire,

II. Why it is that we profit so little by them?

The fault is in ourselves alone, just as it was in the king of Israel.

1. Our desires for holiness are faint.

We do not long for the blessings of redemption as we ought to; we should “pant after them, as the deer after the water-brooks, Psalm 42:1-2; Psalm 63:1-2; Psalm 84:2.” But instead of this, we are satisfied with low attainments; and, if we can, as it were, just get within the door of mercy, we have no ambition either to glorify God on earth, or to obtain an augmented weight of glory in Heaven. The people of this world put us utterly to shame; they are never satisfied; the more they obtain—the more their desires are enlarged. O that it were thus with us; and that we were determined “never to be satisfied, until we awake after the perfect image of our God! Psalm 17:15.”

2. Our expectations for holiness are low.

We do not actually deny the truth of God in his promises; but we do not view them in their breadth and length, and depth and height.

God says to us, “Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it!” But we have no enlargement in prayer. “We are not straitened in him; but we are straitened in our own affections.”

God tells us, that “according to our faith it shall be unto us;” but we, instead of raising our expectations in proportion to the ability of the Giver, are ever limiting his power and grace; and on every occasion we ask: Can he do this thing? or Will he do it for me? This is a fault even among eminent saints.

It was for this that Jesus reproved the sisters of Lazarus; he had told them that their brother would rise again; and, when he went to the grave to raise him, they thought that the circumstance of his having been dead four days was an insurmountable obstacle to his restoration to life. But Jesus replied, “Did I not say unto you, that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God?”

This reproof most justly belongs to us. If when we attended the gospel ordinances, or read the Word of God, or opened our mouths in prayer—we really expected such manifestations of God’s power and love as he has given us reason to expect—then what might we not obtain at his hands? But God does not perform, and, if we may so speak, cannot perform, all that he would for us, because of our unbelief, Matthew 13:58 with Mark 6:5.

3. Our exertions for holiness are languid.

When we come into the divine presence, the arrows are, as it were, put into our hands; but we are content with striking twice or thrice. We do not “stir up ourselves to lay hold on God!” We do not wrestle with him, and determine not to let him go, until he has bestowed a blessing on our souls. We should “give him no rest,” until he has manifested to us the acceptance of our prayers. But we perform all our duties in so cold a way as rather to offend God by our lukewarmness, than to please him by our zeal.

The prophet was justly displeased with Joash for not showing greater ardor in the cause of Israel, “You should have smitten,” says he, “five or six times; then had you smitten Syria, until you had consumed it; whereas now you shall smite Syria but thrice.” This prediction was exactly verified, “Joash defeated them only three times, verse 25.”

Just so, do we find it in our own experience. We gain some victories, it is true; but they are only small and partial, because we do not fight with all our might.

Advice.

1. Improve the opportunities which God affords you by his ministers.

Elisha ministered for above sixty years; yet Joash never availed himself of his instructions, until they were about to be forever withdrawn. And is it not so wherever the faithful servants of God are sent? The generality, especially of the great and opulent, disregard their warnings, and despise their messages of mercy. O that it might not be found so in this place! If God has sent you the light, learn to walk in the light while you have it; lest darkness come upon you, and “the word which ought to be a savor of life, becomes unto you a savor of death!”

2. Do not trifle with the spiritual impressions which are at any time upon your minds.

Joash once appeared to be in a hopeful way; but he soon lost his good impressions, and died, as he had lived, an enemy of God!

Just so, are there not found among us many whose “goodness is as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passes away?” Under the ordinances perhaps, or in a time of sickness, or under the prospect of some painful bereavement, you have been affected, and been made willing to obey the voice of God’s prophets. But you have soon forgotten all your vows, and “returned like the dog to his vomit, and with the sow that is washed to her wallowing in the mire!” Truly if this is the case with you, “your latter end will be worse than your beginning; for it would have been better never to have known the way of righteousness, than after having known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto you!”

Charles Simeon

2 Kings 10:30-31

The LORD said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in accomplishing what is right in my eyes and have done to the house of Ahab all I had in mind to do, your descendants will sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.”

Yet Jehu was not careful to keep the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam, which he had caused Israel to commit!

We can scarcely conceive any stronger proof of God’s willingness to reward his people, than that which he has given us in rewarding people whose services were merely external, without any real love to him in their hearts. If we were to judge from the honor put upon Jehu, we would be ready to suppose he was, if not a blameless—yet, on the whole, a pious character; but on a review of his history, our admiration must be fixed, not on him, but on that infinitely gracious and condescending Being, who was pleased to remunerate such services as his. Let us consider:

I. The character of Jehu.

Here was a mixture, not uncommon in the world. Let us notice,

1. What Jehu did for God.

Being appointed of God to the office of avenging upon Ahab the blood of Naboth and of the prophets, he addressed himself to the work without delay. In the space of a few hours he destroyed Jehoram, with his mother Jezebel, and then instantly set himself to complete the work he had so prosperously begun. It is worthy of observation, that in extirpating the family of Ahab, he succeeded by the very same means which Jezebel had used for the destruction of Naboth. He sent letters to the great men of Samaria, to whose care the seventy sons of Ahab were entrusted, and required of them to cut off their heads in one single night, and send them to him at Jezreel; and these elders, many of whom had surely concurred in the shedding of Naboth’s blood at the command of Jezebel, now, at the command of Jehu, became traitors to their king, and murderers of all his family!

But, besides cutting off the posterity of Ahab, he proceeded also to execute judgment on all the worshipers of Baal. By a stratagem deeply laid, but not according with truth or godliness, he succeeded against these also in one day; and entirely banished, as it were, the worship of Baal from the land, burning all his images with fire, and making his very temple a sink of all impurity.

In this conduct he gained the approbation of Jehonadab, whose pious character and zealous cooperation strengthened and encouraged him in this arduous undertaking. From God himself too, he obtained a decided testimony of approbation, together with a rich reward; for he alone of all the kings of Israel had the kingdom continued to his posterity of the fourth generation, or for so long a period of years.

Thus, it must be confessed, Jehu appears to have been a distinguished servant of the Lord; though, alas! he was but partial in that obedience which God rendered.

2. What Jehu omitted to do.

Against Ahab, whom it was his interest to destroy, and Baal, whom he had no wish to preserve—he executed vengeance with zeal. But against the calves of Dan and Bethel, which policy required him to preserve, he raised not up his hand. Nor indeed did he make the law of God the rule of his conduct, “he took no heed to walk according to that;” much less did he aim at it “with all his heart.” No! he both indulged in himself, and tolerated in others, much that was contrary to the divine will; and thus he manifested, that, notwithstanding all his outward obedience, his heart was not right in the sight of God! Such was his character, externally good, but internally depraved!

Let us proceed to notice,

II. The lessons to be deduced from it.

Such characters as these are very instructive. They teach us:

1. That we may perform many external duties, and yet have no vital principle of religion within us.

The actions of Jehu, as to the matter of them, were good; and therefore they were rewarded. But in their motive and principle they were bad; and therefore God afterwards visited them with a severe punishment, Hosea 1:4. This shows, that notwithstanding all he did for the Lord, he had not within him any principle of true piety.

And thus it is with multitudes among ourselves; they are zealous against open vice and profaneness, yes active too in many works of benevolence—and yet appear evidently to be destitute of vital godliness; they have never been truly humbled before God, never fled to Christ for refuge, never given themselves up to God as his redeemed people! How much is it to be regretted that such people, who by their external facade have gained the admiration and love of the most pious characters, and even received a recompense from the Lord also—should yet, for lack of a root of grace in them, never bring forth fruit unto perfection, and never obtain happiness in the eternal world!

Like the rich youth in the Gospel, or Nicodemus, or Paul in his unconverted state—they are zealous towards God to a certain extent, but without a new and spiritual birth must forever perish! O that all who have a zeal for God in the performance of outward duties, would carefully examine the principles by which they are actuated, and never be satisfied with any action which has not a sense of redeeming love for its moving cause!

2. That we may profess much zeal for God, and yet have a radical alienation of heart from him.

Jehu certainly professed to be actuated by a regard for God’s honor, “Come and see my zeal for the Lord,” said he; and when the different events had taken place, he made reflections upon them as accomplishing the divine predictions. Yet his flagrant neglect of other duties stamped him as a hypocrite in the sight of God.

And is it not thus with many who make a profession of religion in the present day? They think themselves to be zealous for God, and wish to be thought so by others; but they are manifestly under the dominion of:

some reigning lusts,

some evil tempers,

some hidden abominations!

They will sacrifice the refuse to the Lord, and such things as they care but little about; but they will retain the choicest of the flocks, and the sins which are more intimately connected with their pleasures or their interests. Let professors of religion who are so ardent in talking about their favorite topics, or in attending on the ordinances of religion, inquire:

Whether the Word of God is really loved in their hearts;

whether they are aspiring after an entire conformity to its commands;

and whether they are longing to “stand perfect and complete in all the will of God?”

Sad will it be to be numbered among those of whom James speaks, who seem to be religious, and yet, by their unbridled tongues, and unsubdued tempers—show that they “deceive their own selves, and that their religion is vain! James 1:26.”

3. That if ever we would be accepted by God hereafter—then we must have our hearts right with him now.

This is required of every human being, Deuteronomy 10:12-13; Deuteronomy 18:13. Absolute perfection indeed is not to be expected; but Christian obedience must be attained; nor without it will any conformity to outward rights, or any profession of Christian principles, avail us before God, Acts 8:21. But how shall this state of mind be attained? It must be sought by prayer to God, who has promised to give us his Holy Spirit, and by the mighty working of that Spirit to bring us to a radical conformity to his will, Ezekiel 36:26-27. Plead then with God that blessed promise; yes, give him no rest until he accomplishes it in your souls. Then shall your heart be made right with God, as God’s is with you; and with infinite condescension will he “take you up to sit with him in the chariot” of his love, and on the throne of his glory! verse 15.

Charles Simeon

2 Kings 10:16

Jehu said, “Come with me and see my zeal for the LORD.”

Ungodly men, though they will not follow the example of the godly, are glad to have their sanction and approbation in what they do. Jehu was indeed acting at this time under a divine commission. The work in which he was engaged was that of extirpating the whole house and family of Ahab; and as terrible as it was, he did right to execute it, because he acted under a divine command, 2 Kings 9:7-9. But his spirit in executing the work was far from right. He was too much under the influence of pride and ambition. This appears from his address to Jehonadab, in the words before us. Jehonadab was a holy man, and had considerable influence in the state; and, knowing that Jehu was fulfilling the will of God, he went to meet him, and to testify his approbation of his proceedings. And Jehu, glad to have the sanction of such a man, took him up into his chariot, saying, “Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord.”

Now, as this zeal was partly good, and partly evil, I propose to show,

I. When our zeal is such as will bear God’s inspection.

“It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, Galatians 4:18.”

1. We may be assured that our zeal is good, when it proceeds from a principle of love.

Love is properly the principle from which all our actions should flow. There are, indeed, far different principles from which our zeal may spring. We may he led on by a party spirit, which will operate to the production of great efforts in the support of any cause. Or we may he actuated by a natural forwardness of disposition, which urges men to prosecute with ardor whatever they undertake. A self-righteous hope of commending themselves to God, also, will stimulate some to incredible exertions in any cause in which they are embarked. But that which alone gives the stamp of piety to our services, is love. We should act from a sense of the unbounded obligations which we owe to God, both as our Creator and Redeemer. “Our souls should be altogether constrained by the love of Christ, to live to him, 2 Corinthians 5:14-15;” and so far as we are actuated by that principle, we have reason to hope and to believe that our zeal is genuine, and that our services are pleasing and acceptable to God.

2. We may be assured that our zeal is good, when it is regulated by the written Word.

As our zeal may spring from an unworthy motive—so it may be exercised in an unhallowed way. It must be bounded by the occasion that calls it forth; neither exceeding it, nor falling short of it. Joshua erred in making a league with the Gibeonites, whom he was commissioned to destroy, Joshua 11:18-20; but Saul also erred, when, “from his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah, he sought to slay the Gibeonites, 2 Samuel 21:1-6.”

There is an intemperate zeal that is highly criminal. Such was that of Simeon and Levi, who slew the Shechemites, because by the prince of that city their sister had been defiled Genesis 34:25-31. They had just ground for displeasure; but their mode of manifesting their displeasure was cruel in the extreme, and brought upon them God’s merited indignation, Genesis 49:5-7. Not that the mere circumstance of slaying their fellow creatures when they were incapable of resistance was wrong, provided they had received a divine commission to do so; for Joshua did right in extirpating the Canaanites; as did the tribe of Levi also, when they went through the camp of Israel, every one of them slaying even his nearest relatives, if he found them worshiping the golden calf! Exodus 32:25-29; Deuteronomy 33:8-11.

The Word of God is the standard by which every act must be regulated.

It is not sufficient that we intend to please God; for James and John thought to please their divine Master by calling fire from Heaven to consume a Samaritan village. James and John were told by their Lord, that “they knew not what spirit they were of Luke 9:53-55.”

Paul also thought he was serving God aright, when he haled men and women to prison and to death for their attachment to Christ.

Paul condemns himself afterwards as an injurious and blaspheming persecutor! Acts 8:3; Acts 26:9; 1 Timothy 1:13.

If we are able to show a Scriptural command for what we do, then our zeal in doing it is good.

3. We may be assured that our zeal is good, when it is tempered with discretion.

There are conflicting duties, which, as far as possible, should be made to harmonize; and neither of them should be violated without necessity. To obey the civil magistrate is the duty of all; but when his injunctions militate against the paramount authority of God, they must be disregarded, whatever are the dangers to which our disobedience may subject us. The appeal, “Whether it be right to hearken unto you more than unto God, you judge, Acts 4:19,” carried its own evidence along with it. Of course, there is need of much discrimination in this matter.

The Pharisees acted well in showing a regard for the Sabbath, and a zeal for the due observance of it; but they erred grievously, when they accused our blessed Lord as violating it by working miracles on that day; for they should have known that “God preferred mercy before sacrifice,” and, consequently, that acts of mercy and necessity superseded the obligation of a merely positive command, Matthew 12:2-7.

Even where a duty is plain, it is proper for us to consider whether we are the people to perform it. To preach the Gospel is a most important duty; but to engage in that service uncalled, and unsent, is not by any means expedient or right; for even our blessed Lord “glorified not himself to be made a high priest, but waited for the call” of his heavenly Father, Hebrews 5:4-6.

So again, we must attend to the time and manner of executing what we conceive to be a lawful act; and not abuse our liberty by exercising it in a way that may prove offensive to others, 1 Corinthians 8:10-13.

In a word, our zeal must be wisely regulated; it should be able to rise to any occasion that may call for it, Acts 21:13; but it should be under due control; nor should it ever be satisfied with a conviction that a thing is “lawful,” without considering also whether, and how far, it is “expedient, 1 Corinthians 6:12.”

We think, then, that a zeal flowing from such a source, and regulated by such a standard, and exercised in such a way—will bear inspection; and that, so far as we give the invitation for the purpose of self-inquiry, and not of self-applause, we may say, not to man only, but even to God himself, “Come, and see my zeal for the Lord.”

But there are occasions when our zeal is blameworthy.

II. When our zeal evidently manifests itself to be delusive and vain.

1. Our zeal is altogether vain and unacceptable to God, when it is proud and ostentatious.

Such was the zeal of Jehu on this occasion. Raised to kingly power, and successful beyond his most hopeful expectations, he was elated with pride, and desirous of having his prowess admired and extolled. Hence his conduct, which, as conformable to a divine command, was made the ground of a reward—was, on account of the base mixture of pride and cruelty with which it was pursued, visited with signal punishment! Compare verse 20 with Hosea 1:4.

Pride and ostentation will mar and vitiate the best actions that we can possibly perform! The giving of alms, or the waiting upon God with fasting and prayer, are acceptable services—if performed aright. But when made occasions for advancing ourselves in the estimation of men—they are hateful and contemptible in the sight of God, and will bring with them no other recompense than that which we vainly seek! Matthew 6:1-5.” The declaration of God in relation to such things is plain and express, “It is not honorable to seek one’s own honor, Proverbs 25:27.” Therefore “let another man praise you, and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips, Proverbs 27:2.”

To this, then, we must carefully attend; for if, while professing to serve the Lord, our motive is ostentation, then be the service what it may, God will say, “Who has required this at your hands? Isaiah 1:11-12.” Yes, it will be no better, in his sight, than “the cutting off a dog’s neck, or the offering of swine’s blood! Isaiah 66:3.”

Matthew 6:5, “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.”

2. Our zeal is altogether vain and unacceptable to God, when it is partial.

In this respect, also, Jehu’s zeal notoriously failed. He was sent to punish Ahab’s wickedness; and yet himself joined in the idolatry which he was ordered to abolish, verse 29, and indulged in all the sins which he was commissioned to correct, verse 31. Zeal, if pure, will extend to every part of our duty; it has respect to God’s will; and therefore will operate in reference to all his commands; to those which require self-denial, no less than to those which may administer to our personal gratification. Zeal will be in the soul what the soul is in the body; its operation will be uniform and abiding. Whether our actions be public or private, and whether our duties be of an active or passive kind, it will stimulate us to approve ourselves to the heart-searching God; and, if it fails of this, at least in our endeavors, it is evidently not such as has God for its author, nor such as God will ultimately approve.

3. Our zeal is altogether vain and unacceptable to God, when it is transient.

The stony-ground hearers manifest a great degree of zeal for a season, “they readily with joy receive the word; but, having no root in themselves, they believe only for a while, and in time of temptation fall away! Luke 8:13.” But it is not sufficient for any man to “run well for a season only, Galatians 5:6.” “We must endure unto the end, if ever we would be saved, Matthew 10:22.” We are “not to look back, after having once put our hand to the plough, Luke 9:62.” “We are never to be weary in well-doing;” “never, under any circumstances, to faint.”

On this our future remuneration altogether depends, Galatians 6:9. “The man who draws back, draws back unto perdition, Hebrews 10:38-39,” and he whose zeal will not carry him to the last extremity, even to the enduring of the most cruel death—will fail of obtaining the approbation of his God! Luke 17:33.

I must, therefore, guard you against ever relaxing in your zeal even for a moment. Whatever your attainments are, and whatever you may have done or suffered in the service of your God, you must “forget the things that are behind, and reach forward unto that which is before, and press on for the prize of your high calling,” until you have actually finished your course, and obtained the crown which is to be awarded to you, Philippians 3:13-14.

In conclusion, let me say to every individual among you.

1. Have a zeal for God.

God is not to be served with lukewarmness, Revelation 3:15-16. He requires the heart, the whole heart, Proverbs 23:26; Hosea 10:2; and surely he is worthy of it; and his service well deserves it. See what zeal men display in the pursuits of this world:

the student, for knowledge;

the merchant, for his gains;

the soldier, for honor.

And will you be behind any one of them? Does our blessed Lord and Savior deserve less at your hands, than this vain and perishing world can do? The burnt-offerings, you know, were wholly consumed upon God’s altar; they were wholly God’s; and the priests had no part in them. Such offerings are you to be; and to be devoted thus exclusively to God is “your reasonable service! Romans 12:1.” Give yourselves up, then, entirely to God; and “whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might! Ecclesiastes 9:10.”

2. Let “your zeal be according to knowledge”.

Ignorant zeal will only deceive and ruin you, as it did the Pharisees of old, Romans 10:2-3. There is a great deal of zeal in religion; hence come the penances and pilgrimages of the Papists; and hence come the accursed cruelties of the Inquisition? Who does not know the persecutions that Christianity has sustained from heathens; or the miseries that Popery, under the name of Christianity, has inflicted on those who would not yield to its abominations? In all these things, the agents “have imagined that they did to God an acceptable service, John 16:2.”

Nor can I deny that even good men have sometimes been betrayed into a very erroneous line of conduct, from a mistaken notion that they were serving God, while anathematizing those who differed from them in some matters of subordinate importance. But do not be satisfied, brethren, even though Jehonadab himself be embarked in the same cause with you.

It is not by man’s judgment or example that you are to stand or fall, but by the judgment of your God, according to his written word. Endeavor, then, to have your mind and spirit regulated by the only standard of right and wrong. And especially be on your guard against a fiery zeal. “The zeal of our blessed Lord was such as even consumed him, John 2:17;” But remember, it was himself that it consumed, not others. Yes, when he himself suffered from the blind zeal of others, he prayed for them, even for his very murderer! Luke 23:34. “Be then followers of him.” “Let it be your food and your drink to do the will of God yourselves! John 4:34.” But, with respect to others, let all your efforts be “to save, and not to destroy, them Luke 9:56;” to “win them” by love, Proverbs 11:30, and not constrain them by force, Luke 14:23.

Charles Simeon

2 Kings 9:36

They went back and told Jehu, who said, “This is the word of the LORD that he spoke through his servant Elijah the Tishbite: On the plot of ground at Jezreel dogs will devour Jezebel’s flesh!”

From nothing does the unbeliever receive more solid grounds of fear, than from the facts recorded in the sacred history. In those facts there is undeniable evidence that there is a God who “orders all things after the counsel of his own will,” and who is particularly “known by the judgments which he executes.” In confirmation of this truth we will show:

I. How God’s Word was accomplished in the history before us.

We lay no stress on the fulfillment of what was spoken to Jehu, because the declaration made to him was the immediate cause of his adopting measures for the attainment of the kingship.

But the accomplishment of God’s Word in the death of Jehoram and of Jezebel was independent of any human purposes whatever. The fate that awaited Ahab and Jezebel had long before been announced by the Prophet Elijah; though on account of Ahab’s repentance, the evil denounced against him had been deferred, and the fulfillment of the threatening had been reserved for his children.

Now it was particularly specified by Elijah to Ahab, that “where dogs had licked the blood of Naboth, they should lick his blood;” and that “dogs should eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel, 1 Kings 21:19; 1 Kings 21:23.”

Behold then how exactly these prophecies were accomplished! Jehoram was at Jezreel; but how did he get there? He had gone there to be healed of the wounds which the Syrians had given him. But why did he not flee from thence, when he saw that Jehu detained the messengers that were sent to ascertain the reason of his approach? He was altogether infatuated; for instead of fleeing, both “he and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot, to meet Jehu,” and they actually “met him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite! 1 Kings 21:21.” Here Jehu drew his bow against Jehoram, and smote him through the heart. And so remarkable was this accomplishment of the prophet’s prediction, that Jehu himself was struck with astonishment at it, and ordered that the corpse should be there exposed to public view, in order that the justice of God, in so requiting the injury done to Naboth, might be manifest to all! Note1 Kings 21:26.

The same infatuation seized Jezebel also; for she, when she knew that her son Jehoram was dead, instead of fleeing, or consulting her own safety by submission, insulted Jehu, and was, by his order, thrown out of the window by her own servants, in the very place where God had foretold that death should come upon her!

Jehu after some hours thought that as Jezebel, though an accursed woman, was a king’s daughter—it was not right to leave her dead body exposed in the streets; and therefore he gave orders that she should be taken up and buried. But, behold, when they came to look for her, nothing of her remained but her scull and her feet, and the palms of her hands; for the dogs had devoured her; and this singular accomplishment of God’s Word respecting her, brought again to Jehu’s recollection the prediction of Elijah, so minutely verified, not only without any design on his part, but even contrary to his design! verse 36, 37.

An attentive survey of such facts as these is of the greatest use; it convinces us that every Word of God must be fulfilled in its season, and that “sooner shall Heaven and earth pass away, than one jot or tittle of it should fail!”

From beholding the Word of God thus verified in them, let us proceed to notice,

II. How the Word of God shall be accomplished sooner or later in the history of us all.

As our subject leads us almost exclusively to speak of those who are liable to the Divine threatenings, we shall comprehend them under two classes:

1. Those who make no profession of religion.

These may differ widely from each other with respect to their external conduct; but in the habit of their minds as alienated from God, and averse to heavenly pursuits—they are all alike: unregenerate, unsanctified, unhumbled! They do not fear God, “he is not in all their thoughts;” “they proceed from evil to evil, because they know not God.” We again say, that they do not all commit the same iniquities; but they all live as without God in the world. And is not this agreeable to what Paul has spoken of the natural man Romans 3:10-18; Romans 8:7. Yes truly, his Word is fulfilled in every child of Adam. Thus it is with them in this world.

Next, let us see how it is with them in the eternal world. They die each at his appointed time, and go into the presence of their God; but in him they find an angry and an avenging Judge! From his presence are they driven to reap the just recompense for their deeds. They would not, while living, regard his threatenings; and therefore they are left to experience the accomplishment of them to all eternity.

And is not this precisely according to what the Psalmist has forewarned them of, Psalm 9:17. Has not Paul also again and again guarded them against deluding themselves with vain expectations of a different end, 1 Corinthians 6:9; Galatians 6:7-8. Yes! in all of them will there be scope for precisely the same observation as Jehu made respecting Joram, and Jezebel, “This is the word of the Lord, which he spoke by his servants the prophets!”

2. Those who walk unworthy of their profession.

Mark the different people who decline from the ways of God; there is the same variety found among them as among the carnal and ungodly world; each has his separate pursuit, and each his separate infirmity. But in this all agree; that, whatever be their besetting sin, they are led captive by it more and more; the earthly, the sensual, the devilish, become more and more enslaved by their respective lusts and passions, from the time that they depart from God! And what is this but an accomplishment of that word of Solomon, “The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways! Proverbs 14:14.”

Follow them also into the eternal world; and there also you will find that verified, “It had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them! 2 Peter 2:21.” They “have been heaping up treasures indeed for the last days;” but they are found to be treasures of wrath, agreeably to that declaration of Elihu, “The hypocrites in heart heap up wrath! Job 36:13. The separation predicted by our Lord takes place; nor do the privileges they enjoyed in this world avail anything for the altering of the sentence passed against them! Matthew 7:21-23.

Observe now from hence,

1. The folly of neglecting the Holy Scriptures!

These contain the whole revealed will of God; and according to these we shall be judged in the last day. What folly is it then not to study them, and to find out beforehand what shall then assuredly come to pass! O let us search them! Let us bear in mind whose word is there contained! Let us not rest one single hour in a state that is there condemned.

2. The evil and danger of unbelief.

Unbelief “scoffs at the Word of God,” as though it never should come to pass. But can we point out any one declaration of God that has failed of accomplishment? As Paul says in reference to the Jews, so may we in reference to the whole world, “What if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God of no effect? Romans 5:3.” Did not God’s Word “take hold of them” at the different periods of their history? Compare Zechariah 1:6 with Daniel 9:11-13. Yes, and in us also shall they be fulfilled in their season; nor shall one iota of them ever fall to the ground. The infidels shall “know before long, whose word shall stand, whether God’s or theirs! Jeremiah 44:28.”

3. The truth and faithfulness of all God’s promises.

If the threatenings of God are sure—then so also are the promises. Nor shall any one of them fail the person who trusts in them. Let us remember, that “in Christ Jesus they are all yes and Amen.” Let us lay hold on Christ, and all the promises are ours. We may plead them at the throne of grace; we may rely upon them; we may expect the accomplishment of them; and in that great day, when all the ungodly shall be banished from the presence of God—we shall have them fulfilled to us in their utmost extent, being put into complete possession of our promised inheritance.

Charles Simeon