Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1873
“And when Gideon had come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his companion and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it thatit fell, and overturned it, that the tentlay along. And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else sa ve the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: for into his hand has God delivered Midian, and all the host.” Judges 7:13,14.
THE Midianites were devastating the land of Israel. These wandering tribes purposely kept away during the times of plowing and sowing and allowed the helpless inhabitants to dream that they would be able to gather in a harvest. But no sooner did there come to be anything eatable by man or beast, than these Bedouin hordes came up like locusts and devoured everything! Imagine a country like Israel which had, at one time, been powerful, so greatly reduced as to be unable to keep off these desert rangers! They were brought so low that the cities and villages were empty and the inhabitants were hidden in the hills, in the watercourses and in the huge caverns of the rocks. God had forsaken them for their sins and, therefore, their own manhood had forsaken them and they hid themselves from enemies, whom, in better days, they had despised.
In her extremity, the guilty nation began to cry to Jehovah, her God, and the answer was not long delayed. An angel came to Gideon and announced to him that the Lord had delivered Midian into his hands and that he should smite them as one man. Gideon was a man of great faith—his name shines among the heroes of great faith in the 11th Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews—and you and I will do well if we attain to the same rank in the peerage of faith as he did. But for all that, the best of men are men at the best—and men of strong faith are often men of strong conflicts—and so it was with Gideon. This man’s great faith and great weakness of faith both showed themselves in a desire for signs. Once assure him that God is with him, and Gideon has no fear but hastens to the battle, bravest of the brave!
With a handful of men, he is quite prepared to go against a host of adversaries, but he pines for a sign. Again and again he asks for it. The anxious question seems to be constantly recurring to him, “Is the Lord with us? If the Lord is with us, where are all His miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?” Therefore his frequent prayer is, “If now I have found Grace in Your sight, show me a sign.” He began with this, and this ill beginning colored his whole career. I have known many persons like this son of Joash—they say, “Let me but know that God is with me and my fear is gone.” But their repeated question is, “Is the Lord with me? Is Jesus mine and am I His? Let me but know that I am a true Believer and I am sure that I shall not perish, for God will not forsake His own— but then, am I a Believer? Have I the marks and evidences of a child of God?”
Hence the practice of severe self-examination and therefore,, also, the weakening habit of craving for tokens and feelings. How many are crying, “We see not our signs,” when they ought to say, “But we see Jesus!”? How many are praying, “Show me a token for good,” when the Lord Jesus has given Himself for them and has, thereby, given the best token of His Grace?
So it happened to Gideon, that the Lord, knowing his hunger for signs and yet knowing the sincerity of his faith, bade him, on the night of the great battle which was to rout Midian, go down as a spy into the camp with his servant. And there Gideon would receive a token for good which would effectually quiet all his fears.
I picture Gideon and his attendant creeping down the hill in the stillness of the night when the camp was steeped in slumber. It was about the end of the first watch, when they were soon to change sentinels. The two brave men, with stealthy footsteps, drew near the pickets and even passed them. From long habit they had learned to make no more sound with their footsteps than if they had been cats. As they move along, they come near to a couple of men who are talking, together, and they listen to their conversation. Whether they were inside the tent, lying on their beds, or whether they were sitting by the campfire whiling away the last half-hour of their weary watch, we do not know. But there they were and Gideon remained breathless to hear their talk. One of them told his companion that he had dreamed a dream and he began the telling of it. Then the other ventured an interpretation and Gideon must have been awe-stricken when he heard his own name mentioned and his own success foretold!
Do you not see him with streaming eyes and clasped hands silently worshipping God? His assurance overflows and, motioning to his servant, they steal away through the shadows and quietly ascend the hill to the place where the little band of three hundred lay in hiding. They look down upon the sleeping camp and Gideon cries, “The Lord has delivered into your hands the hosts of Midian.” Obedient to their leader, they descend with their trumpets and with torches covered with pitchers. At a signal they break the pitchers, display the lights, sound the trumpets and shout, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon.” Imagining that a vast army is upon them, the tribes of the desert run for their lives and, in the darkness, fall foul of one another. Midian is scattered! Israel is free!