Following on to Know the Lord

Next Part Following on to Know the Lord 2

"Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord--His going forth is prepared as the morning; and He shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth." (Hosea 6:3)

Before I enter into the spiritual meaning of these words it will be necessary to see the connection of the passage with what precedes it. There is no more fruitful parent of error than to take detached portions of God's Word, separated from their connection. Only so far as light is cast upon the Word of God by the blessed Spirit, and we in that light see its spiritual meaning, are we able to arrive at any right understanding of it; but that meaning will not be one distorted from the connection, nor one wrested from the place that it occupies, as a link torn from a complete chain, but will, for the most part, be in harmony with the context.

The words of the text are the language of Ephraim; but they are the language of Ephraim 'under particular circumstances, and as passing through a particular experience'. They are not a promise thrown down for anybody to pick up; they are not words to be taken at random into everybody's lips. Nor are they a promise addressed generally to the Church of God; but they set forth an experience of a peculiar nature; and therefore only so far as we have some acquaintance with that experience are the words suitable to us.

We will, then, with God's blessing, look back a little at this and the preceding chapter (for they are both closely connected), and endeavor, with God's help, to trace out what was the experience of Ephraim at the time that he uttered these words; and then we shall perhaps more clearly see the difference between the language of faith and the language of presumption.

1. In the twelfth verse of the preceding chapter, the Lord says--"Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness." This casts a light on the dealings of God with Ephraim. Ephraim had wrapped himself up in a robe; he had covered himself with a garment, but not of God's Spirit. Now the Lord threatens that He "will be unto Ephraim as a moth." That is, He will fret this garment; He will (to use a familiar expression) make holes in it; it shall not be a complete garment to cover him, but it shall be moth-eaten and rotten, so that, dropping to pieces bit by bit, it could neither cover his nakedness nor shield him from God's all-searching eye. We find the Psalmist, in (Psalm 39:11), making use of the same figure, and a very striking one it is. "When You correct man for iniquity with rebukes, You make his beauty to consume away like a moth," or as it is in the old version, preserved in the Common Prayer Book, "like as it were a moth fretting a garment."

These words then show us just where Ephraim was in soul experience. Ephraim does not represent one destitute of spiritual light and life, but a quickened vessel of mercy, and yet one who, for lack of the moth and the rottenness, was wrapping himself up in a garment, not of God's giving, nor of the Spirit's application, that is, not the glorious robe of Christ's imputed righteousness cast around him by the Spirit of God.

Now I firmly believe that there are many people who have the fear of God in their hearts who are wrapping themselves up in a covering which is not of God's Spirit, and therefore, as the prophet speaks, "add sin to sin" (Isaiah 30:1). Not having been led into a deep acquaintance with the spirituality of God's law, not having had all their refuges of lies broken up, they wrap themselves up in a covering which is not of God's Spirit; and they fancy that this garment in which they are wrapped up is the robe of Christ's imputed righteousness, merely because they believe in the doctrine of Christ's righteousness. But that cutting expression, "a covering, but not of My Spirit," shows that there is something more to be known than the bare doctrine of Christ's righteousness, and that the very doctrine itself becomes a lying refuge, when the 'mere letter of truth' is sheltered in, and the Holy Spirit does not experimentally make it known to the soul.

The Lord, then, seeing precisely where Ephraim was, says, "I will be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness." That is, just in the same way as when a man takes out of his chest or wardrobe a garment which he has laid up there perhaps for months, and when he holds this garment up to the light he finds that the moth has been there, has laid its eggs and fretted it, made holes in it, and absolutely spoiled it; so Ephraim, after having laid up his garment in his wardrobe, the Bible, and with great inward satisfaction having often looked upon it, when the hour of temptation and distress comes, and he would bring out this robe to wear, finds it all rent and torn, fretted and spoiled. The rents in Ephraim's covering were not seen until it was brought out to the light; but when beheld in the light of God's countenance, the moth-holes were visible, and it was found to be all dropping to pieces.

2. "And to the house of Judah as rottenness." That is, when Judah comes to put a strain upon the prop on which he leans, it breaks. That is the idea of rottenness. The old cable will do very well until there is a strain put upon it--but then, if it is rotten, it breaks asunder, and the vessel falls upon the rocks. Thus the Lord says, "I will be to Judah as rottenness;" not "rottenness;" that cannot be, for that would imply corruption; but, "I will do the same thing spiritually that rottenness is naturally. I will make all his props to be to him as rotten; I will so spoil them in his experience, that, as Bildad speaks (Job 8:15), he shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand; he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure."

3. But what is the effect of "the moth" and the "rottenness?" Will it at once cure Ephraim of his idolatries, and turn him to the stronghold as a prisoner of hope? No; not yet. "When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb--yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound." Ephraim will not then turn to the Lord. No; He is the last to whom he will go. He has a sickness, but the Assyrian shall be his physician; he sees his wound, but King Jareb shall be his surgeon--but it shall be all in vain, for the first cannot cure, and the second cannot heal.

And has not this been in a measure our case? When our false religion gave way, when the moth fretted our garments, and rottenness decayed our props, was there not a secret leaning on an arm of flesh, a going to the Assyrian, a sending to King Jareb, a looking to the creature in some shape or another to bring ease and peace? But the wound could not be healed; there was no balm to be found from the creature; the moth had so fretted the garment that there was no patching it up again; the prop had become so rotten that it was no longer able to bear any weight.

4. But the Lord does not mean to leave Ephraim either to self-righteousness or to despair. He, therefore, says, "I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah--I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue him." Here the Lord speaks of Himself as being a lion unto Ephraim--that is, just as a lion tears a man to pieces, so will the Lord spiritually tear Ephraim. "I will rip you to pieces like a bear whose cubs have been taken away. I will tear you apart and devour you like a hungry lion." (Hos 13:8).

But what was this dealing with the Lord upon their souls for? Was it to destroy them? to rend them actually to pieces, so that none could deliver? This was not His object; it was to tear away everything that stood in the way of His grace, or that was substituted for His grace--to tear away false hopes, and rotten props, and creature expectations, so as to leave nothing, absolutely nothing, on which the creature could hang for support.

5. Now as long as the Lord is thus entering into controversy with Ephraim, there is in Ephraim's mind little else but murmuring, repining, fretting, rebellion, dissatisfaction, despondency, almost despair. And with all that, he cannot really pour out his soul before God, nor can he find or feel any nearness of access to a throne of grace.

But the Lord, secretly, in His own time and way, pours into Ephraim's soul the Spirit of grace and supplications; "He goes and returns to His place," until Ephraim is brought to his right mind; until rebellion is, in some measure, lulled in Ephraim's soul; until these waves are in some degree calmed, and he is brought to that spot spoken of in (Lev 26:41), "to accept of the punishment of his iniquity," to own that the Lord is righteous, and that He would be just if He sent him to hell.

6. Being thus divinely wrought upon, a blessed change takes place. Ephraim's heart now begins to work before the Lord; his affections melt, his soul is softened, his spirit meekened. He is no longer struggling like a wild bull in a net; nor kicking like a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke; he is no longer full of inward rebellion; but by the secret work of God in his soul, he is humbled and quieted, so as to lie low at God's footstool. "He acknowledges his offence, and seeks His face."

A change, which he could never have wrought himself, comes over him; and, under the meekening operations of the Holy Spirit in his soul, he is brought to repentance and confession. He draws near, therefore, with these words in his mouth--"Come, and let us return unto the Lord--for He has torn, and He will heal us; He has smitten, and He will bind us up."

7. But what language is this of Ephraim? Is it the language of 'mere creature-faith'? Is it the language of daring presumption? Is it the language of free-will? No, none of these; it is the language of spiritual faith, the Lord having kindled in Ephraim's soul a measure of divine faith, whereby he is enabled to return. "Come," he says (as the prodigal said, 'I will arise and go to my father'), "come, let us return." Here is his soul going out after the Lord; he is no longer laboring under rebellion and fretfulness; but a meekness and a quietness have been produced in his spirit. The Beloved has put in His hand by the hole of the door, and Ephraim's affections are moved for Him (Song 5:4). The stony heart has become a heart of flesh; and his pride, stubbornness, and rebellion having all melted away, he cries, "Come, and let us return to the Lord." It is with Ephraim now as it is with the Church as described in (Hosea 2:7), when she says with melting heart and weeping eyes, "I will go and return to my first Husband; for then was it better with me than now."

In this language, then, of Ephraim we see the return of affection, living desires kindled, faith communicated and drawn into exercise, godly sorrow at work in the soul, the breathing and going forth of prayer and supplication from the heart. O what a different feeling this is from rebellion and self-pity! And, depend upon it, friends, until the soul is thus meekened, softened, and brought down by the work of the Spirit upon it, there will be no saying with living faith, "Come, and let us return to the Lord, for He has torn, and He will heal us." It is, therefore, not the daring language of presumption, but the accents of living faith, "He has torn our souls with conviction; He has smitten with sorrow of heart; from Him came the wound, and from the same hand must come the remedy."

8. "After two days will He revive us; in the third day will He raise us up, and we shall live in His sight." In this mention of Ephraim's being raised up on the third day, there is doubtless an allusion to the resurrection of Jesus--Ephraim's covenant Head; for it is only in consequence, their union with their Head, that the members are quickened from their death in sin, are revived in their bondage (Ezra 9:8; Psalm 85:6), and will be raised up at the last day. "Your dead men shall live; together with My dead body shall they arise" (Isaiah 26:19). Thus Ephraim speaks in the language of faith--"After two days" (a definite time for an indefinite one) "will He revive us"--that is, out of all our darkness and bondage; "in the third day will He raise us up" by the power of Christ's resurrection, and, as thus rising with Jesus, "we shall live in His sight." Faith was here at work. The Lord gave to Ephraim this sweet confidence, and wrought in his soul a powerful persuasion of coming deliverance.

Now it is absolutely necessary to take all these things into connection with the text in order to understand its meaning. The language here employed by Ephraim is not such as can be taken into any mere professor's mouth. It is that "fruit of the lips" which the Lord specially "created" (Isaiah 57:19) and the root from which this special fruit sprang was the experience that has been described. "Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord," is not then a general declaration which anybody may claim, but the special language of faith in a living soul, and of that only as having passed through such an experience as has been described.

Having thus cleared our way a little, we come to the text. "Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord--His going forth is prepared as the morning; and He shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth."

1. We gather, then, from these words, that there is such a thing in soul experience as "a following on to know the Lord," and indeed there is no obtaining the blessings which are laid up for the righteous, unless there is this following on. "To know the Lord" is the desire of every living soul; that is, to know Him by His own divine manifestations, by the gracious revelation of--His grace, His love, His presence, and His glory. And whatever measure of knowledge a child of God may have of the Lord, it will always seem in his mind to be an imperfect and deficient knowledge. The blessed apostle Paul, who had been in the third heavens, seemed still comparatively to know Him not, and therefore says, "That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection;" as though all his knowledge of Christ was but as a drop compared with the ocean--as though all his experience was but as a single ray compared with the body of light and heat that dwells in the sun.

"To know the Lord" is to know experimentally and spiritually the power of Jesus' blood and righteousness; to know our eternal union with Him; to know Him so as to be led by the Spirit into soul communion with Him, that we may talk with Him as a man talks with his friend; to know Him so that the secrets of His heart should be revealed to us, and we enter by faith into the length and breadth and depth and height of the love of Christ which passes knowledge; to know Him so as to drink into His Spirit, and to have His image stamped by the Holy Spirit upon our souls; to know Him as coming down into our hearts out of His glorious sanctuary, filling our souls with His presence and His love; to know Him as formed in us the hope of glory, making our bodies His temple, dwelling in us, breathing Himself into us, speaking in us, moving as it were every affection of our heart and every faculty of our soul.

Thus to know the Lord is the sum and substance of vital godliness. And, as "to know the Lord" implies, as well as comprehends, the knowledge of Jehovah in His Trinity of Persons and Unity of essence, well may we say that, to know Jehovah the Father in His eternal love, to know Jehovah the Son in His redeeming blood, and to know Jehovah the Spirit in His divine operations and blessed teaching, is the foretaste of bliss below; and to know and see God as He is, is the consummation of bliss above.

But the expression "follow on," implies that there are many difficulties, obstacles, and hindrances in a man's way, which keep him back from "knowing the Lord." We will look at a few of these.

Next Part Following on to Know the Lord 2

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