Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 3028
“The glory of the LORRD shall be your rereward.” Isaiah 58:8.
THE Church of God is an army marching through an enemy’s territory. She can never reckon upon a moment’s peace. If she were of the world, the world would love its own, but because true saints are not of the world, but Christ has chosen them out of the world, therefore the world hates them. As the Amalekites suddenly fell upon the children of Israel, unprovoked and without giving any warning of their hostile intention, so, not only in times of persecution, but in these apparently softer days when the world does not use the stake and the sword, at all seasons the world is ready to pounce upon the Church of God and to call in its grand ally, the devil, to overthrow and destroy, as far as possible, the militant hosts of Israel!
Every Christian, then, must be a soldier and take his share in the battles of the Cross. We must not look upon our life as being a pleasure-journey through a friendly land, but as a march—a march through the very midst of foes who will dispute every foot of our way!
Now, if we thus view the Church of God as an army, it is consolatory to know that we have a vanguard—My righteousness shall go before you.” We take our Lord Jesus Christ to be “the Lord our righteousness.” He is the Forerunner and He has gone before us, even through the River of Death and up to the skies, that He may prepare a place for all those who have enlisted under His standard.
Our text, however, speaks not of the vanguard, but of the “rereward.” There is always danger there, and it is comforting to the saints to behold so glorious a shield borne in their rear by so mighty an arm—“The Glory of the Lord shall be your rereward.”
It is but little I have to say to you this evening, but may God make that little profitable to you! We will, first of all, dwell upon the rereward and enquire what it is which is here intended. And, secondly, we will try to show how the Glory of the Lord brings up the rear andprotects the saints on every side.
I. In the first place, WHAT MAY WE UNDERSTAND BY THE REREWARD?
Taking the text to refer to the Church of God as a body, we remark that there are always some who bring up the rear. God has never left His Church without men to stand in the front. A few choice men have always been raised up by God and they have led the way, both in testimony and in suffering. The race of the Prophets will never be extinct. “The scepter,” in this sense, will not depart from the members of the Church until Christ shall come a second time. The teacher shall not be taken out of his place, nor the candlestick be removed, nor the Bread of Life be taken away. But the mass of the Church are rather like the body of the army marching on and fighting well—but not attaining unto the first three mighties.
We have, moreover, in the Church of Christ, a considerable proportion of those who are always behind. Some of those are here tonight. You feel yourselves to belong to the rear because you are so weak in faith. It is a blessed thing to enjoy full assurance of faith and yet, no doubt, there are thousands in the fold of Jesus who never reach this attainment. It is a great pity that they should not reach it, for they miss much happiness and much usefulness. But still—
“Thousands in the fold of Jesus,
This attainment never could boast.
To His name eternal praises,
None of these shall ever be lost.
Deeply engraved
On His hands, their names remain.”
There are some who, from their natural constitution and other circumstances, are very apt to despond. Like Mr. Fearing, they not only go through the Slough of Despond, but, as Bunyan says, they carry a slough of despond about with them! They are little in faith, but they are great at foreseeing evil. They are always expecting some dreadful ill and they cower down before a shadow. I thank God that those of you who have faith but as a grain of mustard seed, shall not be left to fall away—the Glory of the Lord shall gather you up with the rest of the saints! The stragglers, the wounded, the halt, the lame—though these cannot march with the rest as we desire, though, like Mr. Ready-to-Halt, they have to go on crutches—yet the Glory of the Lord shall be their shelter and protection.
Then there are some of you who are not exactly weak in the faith but, in your humble estimate of yourselves, you put yourselves in the rear. “I am very poor,” says one, “it is but little that I can ever give. Even if I gave two mites, as the widow did, I might almost give all my substance in so doing. I am obscure, too, for I have no talent. I cannot preach. I can scarcely pray in the Prayer Meeting to edification. I hope I love the Lord and that I am one of the stones in the walls of His Church, but I am quite a hidden one.” Ah, well! Poor though you are, despised and forgotten, the Glory of the Lord shall secure your safety! It was said of the tribe of Dan, “They shall go hindmost with their standards,” and there must be some to be in the rear! So, while the rich may rejoice in what God has given to them, yet you, in your contentment with your lot, may be thankful for your poverty and bless the name of the Lord that though you may be in the rear, you are yet in the army—and you shall soon—as much as those in the van, have your full share of the spoil!