Filth and Blood Purged by the Spirit

Next Part Filth and Blood Purged by the Spirit 2

"When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning. And the Lord will create upon every dwelling-place of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night– for upon all the glory shall be a defense." Isaiah 4:4, 5

First, direct your attention to the washing away of the filth of the daughters of Zion; and to the purging of the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.

Secondly, what will be the effect and result of that work of the Lord, both individually and collectively that he will create upon every dwelling-place of Mount Zion, and upon herassemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night.

Thirdly, how the Lord will guard and defend his own gracious work, so that "upon all the glory shall be a defense."

I. The washing away of the filth of the daughters of Zion; and to the purging of the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by thespirit of burning.

A. Whom, then, are we to understand by "the daughters of Zion?" Spiritually viewed, we may understand by the expression, first, godly women; at least, all who profess to have come to that Mount Zion, the city of the living God, of which the literal Zion was a type and figure, by which act of faith they become, at least in profession, citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem and daughters of the spiritual Zion. The reason why the Lord speaks so specifically of "the daughters of Zion" in our text, seems to be because in the preceding chapter he had so sharply reproved and also given a long and graphic description of the pride, luxury, love of dress and admiration which characterized those daughters; for having denounced their haughtiness, wantonness, and mincing gestures, the prophet goes on to describe their specific articles of dress, such as their "changeable suits of apparel," their "mantles, and wimples, and crisping pins, their glasses and fine linen, their hoods and veils." Is it not remarkable that the Lord the Spirit should have given us such a catalogue of the wardrobe of these Hebrew women, such a specific description of the dress and personal ornaments of the daughters of Zion of old? Had the Spirit no mind or meaning in this minute and graphic description beyond rebuking the then daughters of Zion, and warning them of that awful change which would come upon them thus denounced? "Instead of smelling of sweet perfume, there will be a stench. They will wear ropes for sashes, and their well-set hair will fall out. They will wear rough sackcloth instead of rich robes. Their beauty will be gone. Only shame will be left to them." (Isa. 3:24.)

Does it not show what notice the Lord takes of the daughters of Zion, even as regards their outward apparel? For bear in mind, that though we have no reason to believe that "the daughters of Zion," thus rebuked and forewarned by the prophet, were themselves personally partakers of faith and holiness, yet they stand in the word of God as typical representatives of women professing godliness; for as daughters of the literal Zion, they figuratively represent to each successive age the daughters of the spiritual Zion. If it be not so, the word of God does not speak to us now, and is become a dead letter as to any present or personal reproof, admonition, or instruction.

But let us take heed lest if we make the rebukes and reproofs of God in the prophetic word of old a dead letter now, we do not make the promises in the same prophetic word a dead letter also now. I would, then, have all women who profess godliness to bear in mind that the Lord takes special notice of their apparel, yes even of their "well-set hair," now so conspicuous in the fashion of the day, when woman's most becoming and modest natural covering (l Cor. 11:15) is made so much the occasion of open-faced display, vanity, and pride. Referring, then, to what he had thus spoken of the daughters of Zion in describing their apparel and the change that would come upon them, when, either from famine in the siege of Jerusalem, or from their fair locks being shorn off as captive slaves, "instead of well-set hair there would be baldness," and the scarcity of men, as being cut off by war, should be so great that, over-stepping the modesty of their sex, seven women should contend for the possession of one man, even if they provided their own food and clothing– having thus described, I say, both the pride and the downfall of the daughters of Zion, the Lord declares in our text that a day will come when he will wash away the filth of these daughters.

Now, assume for a moment that the Lord will one day in the literal Zion wash away the filth of its daughters, must not, according to this view, an interval of hundreds, if not of two or three thousand years, separate the two chapters? This however need be no objection, as many similar instances occur in the prophetic page. But assume again that these daughters of Zion are typical representatives of women professing godliness in all ages– then both chapters alike speak to them, the one to reprove and rebuke all inconsistencies in dress and demeanor, and the other to declare how the Lord will wash away and purge their filth contracted thereby. For this filth is inward filth. There is no reference to anything seen by the eye of man either as regards the person or the dress. The literal daughters of Zion were not defective in outward cleanliness. Their "changeable suits of apparel" were ever fresh and new, and their "fine linen" was doubtless as clean as it was fine. But the Lord looked at their hearts, and the motives of their gaudy attire. There he saw pride, luxury, love of dress and admiration– woman's chief besetting sins; and all this was in his eyes so much filth. Is it not so sometimes in yours? Perhaps you come out some Sunday morning in a new dress of which you feel vain and proud. But as you step along, admiring yourself and your new dress, you see on the other side of the way one of those degraded beings of your own sex that infest our streets, flaunting along in her new finery, proud and defiant, and you view her and her finery with disgust and contempt. Why? Because under all this finery you see the filth of her filthy profession; and the finer she is, the filthier she is. Thus you see that even in your eyes finery may be filth. And how do you differ from her except in outward conduct? Do you not see then, how, in God's pure and holy eyes, all your finery may be filth?

But as I do not wish to be too hard upon the women, I may say, that we of the other sex have our hidden filth to as great or worse degree than they. In us there are many secret and powerful lusts, much hypocrisy, self-righteousness, pride, and various other sinful and sensual abominations, of which every heart is conscious into which the true light has shined, and by which they are made manifest and reproved, according to those words of the apostle– "But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light– for whatever does make manifest is light." (Eph. 5:13.)

B. But we read also in our text of "the blood of Jerusalem," which is to be purged as well as the filth of the daughters of Zion, which is to be washed away. I shall consider this point presently; but viewing Jerusalem in a spiritual sense as the heavenly Jerusalem, which is above, and the mother of us all, we may interpret these daughters of Zion as indicating gospel churches, which are, as it were, the spiritual offspring of our heavenly mother. Now gospel churches often contract filth from sheer neglect, and for lack of what I may call a thorough good washing and cleansing. We find from the book of Chronicles, that during the reign of king Ahaz, the house of the Lord was shut up; and as that reign lasted sixteen years, so long probably was the sanctuary closed. Now the sanctuary being deserted and neglected, and its doors closed during that long period of time, it necessarily contracted a great deal of filth. If you were to shut up a house for sixteen years, or even one room in it, and were to go back at the end of the sixteen years, you would find that house or room, full of dust, dirt, and filth. If we leave our bodies unwashed, they contract filth, leave our streets uncleansed, they contract filth.

The first work, therefore, of Hezekiah, when he succeeded to the throne of Ahaz his father, was to open and repair the doors of the temple, and the next to cleanse the filth. "In the very first month of the first year of his reign, Hezekiah reopened the doors of the Temple of the Lord and repaired them. He summoned the priests and Levites to meet him at the courtyard east of the Temple. He said to them, 'Listen to me, you Levites! Purify yourselves, and purify the Temple of the Lord, the God of your ancestors. Remove all the filthiness out of the holy place.' " (2 Chron. 29:3-5.) This command was faithfully obeyed– "And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord, to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the Lord into the court of the house of the Lord. And the Levites took it, to carry it out abroad into the brook Kidron." (2 Chron. 29:16.)

Now as it was with the temple of old when neglected, so it is with the soul individually, and so with the churches, the daughters of Zion collectively. Neglect produces filth. As the house or room neglected gathers filth, so the soul uncleansed, unpurged, gathers filth; so a church, as a daughter of Zion, neglected, uncleansed, gathers filth. The apostle, therefore, gives a solemn warning to the churches on this head– "See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son." (Heb. 12:15, 16.)

But apart from these more glaring cases, there may be in a church a party spirit; there may be secret jealousies, surmises, and heart-burnings; there may be unkind thoughts, or unkind words, and various divisions– all which in the sight of God is so much filth. The apostle feared he might find this state of strife and division at Corinth, when he would come again to see them. "For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as you would not; lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults." (2 Cor. 12:20.)

We read of "filthiness of the spirit" as well as "of the flesh," the one being of the mind, and the other of the body; and we have to be cleansed from both, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (2 Cor. 7:1.) Now just as a cleanly person views filth with detestation, and is never satisfied except that filth is removed, whether from his person or from his house; so in a spiritual sense all sin in the sight of God is filth; and as the cleanly person cannot bear the presence of filth, either on his person, his furniture, or his house; so a holy God cannot bear to see filth springing from neglect in the souls of his people individually, or the filth that gathers in churches from not being properly cleansed away and purged.

C. But our text speaks also of the "blood of Jerusalem," which has to be purged away, as well as the filth of the daughters of Zion to be washed out. The "blood of Jerusalem" seems to indicate guilt of conscience. "Deliver me from blood-guiltiness," cried David, "O God of my salvation." (Psalm. 51:14.) Jerusalem was stained with the blood of the prophets, and especially with the blood of our gracious Lord, who there suffered, dying in the city which God had selected for his own special habitation. We know from what we sometimes read or hear, that the guilt of having shed man's blood, has lain with such weight on the conscience as to compel murderers, under its agonizing pressure, to come and surrender themselves into the hands of justice.

But it is not necessary to have shed man's blood to bring the conscience under a sense of blood-guiltiness. There are murderous thoughts and killing words as well as murderous actions; a slaying of men's characters without touching their persons; a dealing harshly and cruelly in thought, if not in action, with those who offend us, all which things produce great guilt, what we may call "blood-guiltiness," when laid upon the conscience.

Having thus given you a general idea of what seems to be indicated by the filth of the daughters of Zion and the blood of Jerusalem, I shall now go on to show how it is washed away and purged; and I shall show first, how it is "purged."

D. It is PURGED "by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning." The word "purged" meant in our language, when the Bible was translated, more than 200 years ago, to purify or cleanse. The word is not used in that sense now, and we have, therefore, lost somewhat of its peculiar meaning according to the mind of our excellent translators. Thus, when we read what our Lord says of the vine, that the Father "purges it," he means that he cleanses it, as we read in the next verse, "Now you are clean," that is already cleansed, "through the word which I have spoken unto you." But it is also a remarkable circumstance that the word in the original translated "purged" in our text, occurs only three or four times in the Hebrew, and, except in one place, is always applied to the washing or cleansing of the burnt offering. It occurs, for instance, in the description of the lavers which Solomon built in the Temple– "He made also ten lavers, and put five on the right hand, and five on the left, to wash in them such things as they offered for the burnt offerings they washed in them; but the sea was for the priests to wash in." (2 Chron. 4:6.) In this passage the word "washed," as used of the offering, is different from that which is used to signify the washing of the persons of the priests. There is something significant in this as showing that the washing and the purging have a connection with sacrifice and the burnt offering. We may gather, also, from it that there must be a washing and a purging before the burnt offering can be accepted.

But let me now apply this in a spiritual and experimental sense. When God is pleased to begin a work of grace upon a sinner's soul, he sets up a throne of judgment in the conscience. This is "laying judgment to the line and righteousness to the plummet," (Isa. 28:17.) This is the light of God enlightening the mind, and the voice of God whereby he speaks to the soul through the power of his word, which thus becomes "a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Now, no sooner does the light of life visit the soul, and the word of truth brings conviction to the heart, than there comes with it the spirit of judgment; for the Holy Spirit is now at work in the heart and conscience and, as the Spirit of judgment, he sits in judgment upon everything that comes before him, so as to pass a sentence of condemnation, as God's viceregent, upon every sin that is thus detected and brought to light.

Now this spirit of judgment is very unmerciful in its detection of all evil, very implacable in its judgment upon it, for, being armed with the sentence of a fiery law, as I shall presently show, it spares no sin, brings all its hidden filth and guilt to light, and passes sentence of condemnation upon it. But this spirit of judgment does not cleanse the conscience from the guilt of the sins and transgressions which it brings to light, discovers, and judges. I shall presently show how that is done. But it purges the filth by passing a sentence of condemnation upon it. Take the figure of a cleanly person changing his abode and coming to dwell in a dirty, filthy house. The former inhabitant was so used to its filthy condition that he did not even see it, much less hate it or make any attempt to get rid of it. But the newcomer sees in a moment the filth of the house, and the spirit of cleanliness in him, if I may use such an expression, at once condemns it and cannot rest until it is got rid of.

Similarly, the spirit of judgment, set up in the heart of one quickened into divine life, sees and detects the horrid filth that has been accumulated by innumerable sins and crimes, and passes at once a sentence of condemnation upon them all. It is in grace as in my figure, or as in the case of the leprous house. The priest went in to see the house. He was bidden to come and look, and by that searching look "he finds bright green or reddish streaks on the walls of the house and the contamination appears to go deeper than the wall's surface," was detected and judged before the house could be scraped and cleansed. So the spirit of judgment detects and condemns filth, and in this sense purges it before it is washed away.

But this spirit of judgment is attended with and followed by "the spirit of burning." This spirit of burning is the anger of God manifested in a holy law, for in that, as a revelation of his holiness, "God is a consuming fire;" and it is therefore said that "from his right hand went a fiery law for them." As, then, the spirit of judgment sitting upon the seat of conscience, arraigns before it all our secret sins, and passes sentence of condemnation upon them, the fiery law, as a spirit of burning, follows upon it, so as to burn up all our strength, wisdom, and righteousness. Thus, what the spirit of judgment condemns, the spirit of burning sets on fire, and in that sense consumes the filth, for it is not able to stand before its devouring flame.

But "the spirit of judgment" is not confined to the work of the law upon the conscience, nor to the way in which God acts in bringing his people in guilty before him in his first dealings upon the soul. There is "the spirit of judgment" in the gospel in a spiritual conscience as there is the spirit of judgment in the law in a legal conscience. And as there is "the spirit of burning" that follows up the spirit of judgment in a fiery law, so there is the spirit of burning in a holy indignation kindled by the fire of the gospel. Be not surprised at this, for wherever the Spirit of truth in a living conscience, as a spirit of judgment, meets with and detects sin, he condemns it and flames forth against it. We have seen how it does so under the law; now see how it does so under the gospel. When the apostle speaks of the effect of godly sorrow, he says– "See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter." (2 Cor. 7:11.) This earnestness, eagerness, indignation, alarm, longing, and concern, were all produced by the flaming forth of the spirit of judgment under the gospel as attending godly sorrow for sin.

Now, if you watch the movements of the blessed Spirit upon your heart, which I hope you do– for if he is not operating upon your mind with some degree of divine power, you are gathering filth; all kind of dirt is lying undetected in your carnal mind– but if you are watching the movements of the Spirit of God upon your soul as the spirit of judgment, you will see that he brings to light and passes sentence of disapprobation and condemnation on everything which is manifested to you as sinful. Your pride, your hypocrisy, your self-righteousness, your vanity, your conceit, your self-esteem, your love of the world and the spirit of it, with every evil which is detected and brought to light the spirit of judgment sits upon it and passes in your conscience a sentence of condemnation upon it. And if the sins which you thus see and feel are brought to light, and are condemned by the Spirit of truth in you as a Spirit of judgment, it will be followed up by the spirit of burning, so that you will feel a holy indignation against yourself on account of your sins. This is that indignation, that zeal, that revenge, of which I have just spoken; and mingled with them, will be that "jealousy" of which we read that "the coals thereof are coals of fire which has a most vehement flame." (Song 8:6.) This flame of holy jealousy kindled as a fire from off God's altar, as a spirit of burning, will at times rise so high that you will feel as if you would gladly have all your sins and corruptions wholly reduced to ashes, and the power and strength of sin so burnt up and destroyed, as if by a holy flame, as never to revive again.

E. But now let me show how this applies, not only to the daughters of Zion viewed individually, but to them also as viewed collectively. You will recollect that I spoke of the filth of the daughters of Zion as applicable to churches, and that this filth consisted, not only in inconsistent conduct and matters which bring outward reproach both upon the individual and the cause of truth, but also in party-spirit, jealousies, surmises, suspicions, divisions, discords, and various other things whereby churches become inwardly filthy before God. Now this filth has to be purged, as our Lord spoke of the branches of the vine. Usually speaking, it is by his servants that the great Husbandman purges the fruitful branches; for I have already shown you that it is by his word the purging and cleansing are effected, of which word his servants are the ministers. To them, therefore, is given "the spirit of judgment," according to those words– "In that day the Lord Almighty will himself be Israel's crowning glory. He will be the pride and joy of the remnant of his people. He will give a longing for justice to their judges. He will give great courage to their warriors who stand at the gates." (Isa. 28:5, 6.)

Observe the connection of those words with our text. "In that day the Lord Almighty will himself be Israel's crowning glory. He will be the pride and joy of the remnant of his people." Is that not almost the same as "In that day shall the Branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious for them that are escaped of Israel?" But it is in that same day that he is to be "a Spirit of judgment to him that sits in judgment." It is the Lord's servant who sits in judgment with the word of God in his heart and mouth, whereby he tries both the conduct and the spirit of the church of which the Holy Spirit has made him the overseer. And thus instrumentally, as the Lord gives him a spirit of judgment, and speaks in and by him, he purges the filth of the church by the power of the word in his mouth.

The voice of the true servant of God will always meet with an echo in the heart of God's people. They listen to his word as the word of God, for he is mouth for God to them as his minister and messenger. "For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth– for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts." (Mal. 2:7.) He is therefore endowed, among other things, with a spirit of judgment, that he may purge the churches from their filth; for as he will not flatter nor fawn, so he will not speak either rashly or harshly, but with judgment and wisdom. Now, as the word of admonition, instruction, or reproof comes with power from his mouth into their heart, the spirit of judgment accompanies the word, and carries on this purging work in the real children of God– for these are the branches that bear fruit, and they only are purged, for the unfruitful branches are not purged but taken away. "Every branch in me that bears no fruit, he takes away– and every branch that bears fruit, he purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now you are clean through the word." Thus, by the word of the Lord, the soul is cleansed; for with the word of the Lord goes forth the spirit of judgment. But with that spirit of judgment, and following close upon it, is the spirit of burning in a holy indignation and fiery zeal against that filth which is thus discovered.

Now if an individual, through slothful neglect, or if a church stores up all this filth, harbors all this sin, shuts up rooms to rot and fester with all the dirt and filth accumulated in them undisturbed, there is no manifested presence of God. The Branch of the Lord is not beautiful and glorious, the fruit of the earth is not excellent and lovely, nor does the Lord create upon such a dwelling-place in Mount Zion the cloud and smoke by day, or the shining of a flaming fire by night. Take the case which I read this morning of the sanctuary which had been left to its filth for sixteen years. The first thing to be done before the Lord came back to that sanctuary, before any sacrifice was offered, before any part of the temple worship could be performed, was to purge the filth. The Levites and the priests set to work, and they purged it and carried it to the brook Kidron– sweet figure how our guilt and filth are washed away by the blood of the Lamb. But if individuals harbor filth, and if churches, instead of judging themselves and having a holy indignation and zeal against everything contrary to God and godliness, nurture and indulge a spirit of strife and division, as this filth is not purged, so it is not washed away.

F. But this leads me to "the washing away of the filth of the daughters of Zion." I quoted just now a passage from the Chronicles in which a distinction was made between washing the body of the priests and the washing of such things as they offered for the burnt offering; and I remarked that there was a difference in the original between the two words rendered "wash." We have a similar difference in our text, in which two similar things are spoken of, that is, washing and purging. If you will turn to Lev. 1 you will see that the priest was directed to wash the inner parts and the legs of the burnt offering with water. (Lev. 1:9.) Now, this was typical of the washing of regeneration, which washes, by its sanctifying influence, those inward parts in which God desires truth, and the life, conduct, and conversation represented by washing the legs.

But there is a washing distinct from this washing of water by the word, that is, that washing of which the church sings in that glorious anthem– "Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood." (Rev. 1:5.) This is, also, the washing of which the Apostle speaks– "And such were some of you– but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." (1 Cor. 6:11.) You may observe there how the Apostle brings together the washing and the purging. "You are washed," that is, in atoning Blood; "you are sanctified," that is, by the Spirit of judgment and the Spirit of burning; "you are justified," that is, by the glorious righteousness of the Son of God.

II. But I must now pass on to my second point, which was to show the Effect and Result of this washing away of the filth, and this purging of the blood, by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning.

"And the Lord will create upon every dwelling-place of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night."

Here the Lord speaks of what he will do when he has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning.

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