The Northern Iron and the Steel

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"Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel?" Jeremiah 15:12

Some people object very much to the use of figures in preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. They say that the truths of the gospel need no such illustration; that the use of natural figures tends rather to carnalize and debase such glorious subjects than to cast any light upon them; and that they are sufficiently clear in themselves not to need any such borrowed illumination. I admit that when figures are strained, or inappropriate, or too frequently employed, they may have this tendency. But that is their abuse, not their use. We are not allowed to argue against a thing because men abuse it. Thus I consider that the temperate use of appropriate figures tends much to explain and open up the word of God and the experience of the saints.

Two things, at any rate, to my mind, are clear. First, that figures cast a great light upon truths which otherwise would not be so clearly set forth; that they make an impression upon the mind, and are for the most part very retentively remembered. Secondly, it is, to my mind, perfectly clear that the blessed Spirit has made great use of figures in the word of truth. The language of the prophets is highly figurative. And need I mention the example of the blessed Lord Himself, who spoke much in figures, and without a parable which is but another figure scarcely opened His lips?

We have a figure before us, and that figure in the mouth of Jehovah Himself, addressed to His servant Jeremiah under peculiar circumstances.

In considering the words of the text I shall, with God's blessing endeavor–

I. First to show their literal meaning, and their applicability to the case to which they were addressed; and,

II. Secondly, their spiritual and experimental signification in a wider point of view, as comprehending the whole family of God. The Lord give the blessing!

I. Their literal meaning. Jeremiah, we must bear in mind, was at this time in a state of peculiar distress. The Lord had called him to the prophetic office, had put words into his mouth, and had endued him with great faithfulness to deliver a message that He Himself had given him. The discharge, the faithful discharge, of his prophetical office brought upon him great persecution. He cries out, in the very bitterness and anguish of his soul, "What sadness is mine, my mother. Oh, that I had died at birth! I am hated everywhere I go. I am neither a lender who has threatened to foreclose nor a borrower who refuses to pay—yet they all curse me." Jeremiah 15:10. His tender feelings sank beneath the weight of this universal enmity.

But there was more than this. The Lord delayed to appear, and hid His gracious countenance from him; and thus the corruption of his heart being stirred up, the passion and rebellion of his carnal mind burst forth into that unbecoming language, "Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? Will You be altogether unto me as a liar, and as the waters that fail?" His whole bosom was one troubled sea of sorrow, and here we see the heavings and boilings of its restless waves. But how does the Lord meet this case? What are the words that He makes use of in order to pour oil upon these troubled waters? He says, "Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel?" As though He argued thus with him – 'Though your persecutions, troubles, afflictions and all the heavings of your tempest-tossed bosom are to you as strong, as hard, and as invincible as iron, yet shall they break that which is stronger? Is not My almighty power, My eternal love, and My delivering hand as much stronger than the iron hand of persecution which has gone out against you, and the iron sorrows which you have to endure, as the northern iron and the steel are stronger than the common metal?'

And that this is the spiritual meaning of the words is evident from what we read in the 20th verse Jer 15:20 – "I will make you unto this people a fenced bronze wall – and they shall fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you – for I am with you to save you and to deliver you, says the Lord." As though the Lord had said– "Yes, you shall have an iron yoke to bear; you shall have iron persecutions to suffer; they shall fight against you as iron fights against iron; but they shall not prevail against you. I will make you a fenced bronze wall. I am with you, to save you and deliver you, says the Lord." And could a more sweet and suitable promise be found? The Lord did not diminish the reality of Jeremiah's trouble. The Lord told him plainly that the trials and exercises which he had to pass through would be to him as strong, as hard, and as invincible as iron. But at the same time, he assured him that there was a stronger power, which should be put forth in living exercise to deliver him out of these things, to conquer them in him, and conquer for him.

II. Their spiritual and experimental signification in a wider point of view, as comprehending the whole family of God. And this leads me to the second branch of my subject, on which I shall, with God's blessing, more particularly dwell; and I shall therefore enlarge the words by endeavoring to show, as far as the Lord shall enable me, how suitable they are not merely to Jeremiah's case, but to the Lord's people generally, and to those cases and states in which God's family continually find themselves.

This, then, will be the leading feature, if God enable, of our discourse– to show, first, how the trials and exercises of the Lord's family are to them as "iron;" and secondly, how the Lord's power, and strength, and help, are as "the northern iron and the steel," that effectually and invincibly overcome them.

1. How the trials and exercises of the Lord's family are to them as "iron." The Lord's people are an afflicted people. This is God's own testimony concerning them – "Chosen," says He, "in the furnace of affliction." A "third part" are to "pass through the fire." He leaves in the midst of them "an afflicted and poor people"; and it is they, and they alone, who shall "trust in the name of the Lord." The afflictions that the Lord's people have to pass through are not meant to be light ones. The Lord lays no light burdens on His people's shoulders. His purpose is to bring them to a certain point, to work a certain work in their souls--to reduce them to that helplessness, weakness and powerlessness in which His strength is made manifest.

Thus, when the Lord would select a figure aptly to describe the afflictions of His people, He fixes on the metal– iron; and thus compares them with the hardest, the strongest, the firmest, the most unyielding and the most tenacious of all metals.

A. Some of the Lord's people have to pass through deep and severe trials in providence; and these to them are often of an "iron" nature. Those trials in providence which do not weigh heavily, which do not press deeply, which are not felt to be of a nature that we cannot of ourselves overcome, are not iron trials. But those afflictions that the Lord brings upon His people, against which they find their own exertions cannot prevail, which baffle all human wisdom, laugh at creature strength, and defeat every power in man to remove or overcome, may well be compared to that hard, unbending, unyielding, tenacious metal– "iron."

B. Others of the Lord's people have deep and severe trials in grace. All the chosen family do not pass through the same degree of cutting afflictions in providence; but in grace none of them are exempt from trials. Are we not to suffer with Christ that we may reign with Him? to die with Him that we may live with Him? Are we not predestinated to be conformed to His likeness? And is not that likeness a suffering likeness? Are we not to be crucified with Christ here, that we may see Him as He is hereafter? Who, then, is to escape the cross? Who is to pass through life without heavy spiritual trials? Illegitimate children– not sons.

Bastards may escape the rod,
Sunk in earthly vain delight;
But the true-born child of God
Cannot, would not, if he might.

Thus the Lord's people though there are degrees, doubtless, of spiritual--as there are gradations of temporal suffering--have to pass through an appointed measure of spiritual griefs, exercises and sorrows. And these to them are to be as "iron." If they are but wood, which I can snap asunder with my hands, they are not such trials as the Lord Himself sends. If I have burdens, which I can myself remove; if I have trials, from which I can deliver myself; if I have temptations, out of which I can rescue my own soul, I have clear evidence that I am not walking in that path of tribulation in which the Lord's people walk. If I can exercise faith upon Christ; if I can take God at His word; if I can believe every promise; and thus shift every burden when I please and how I please, I may be sure of this, that God has never tied that burden round my shoulders--has never laid that affliction upon my heart--and that His hand is not in that trouble. But when our trials are of such a nature that to us they are as "iron;" as unable for us to bend or break as the iron pillar that supports that gallery– then we have some evidence that these trials are of the Lord's appointment, and that the blessed Spirit has traced out our case here when He compares the trials we have to pass through to this firm, yielding, and unbending metal.

Child of God, has not this been the heaviest part of your trial, the keenest edge of the cutting affliction, that you could not, by any creature exertions, remove it from yourself? But this very thing that so often tries your mind is the very proof that it comes from God – for when the Lord binds, none can loose; when the Lord shuts, none can open. When the Lord puts a man into a trial, none but the Lord's hand can deliver. So that the keen edge of the trial that has so often pierced your heart; the heavy burden that has so often weighed down your shoulders--that you could not deliver yourself--this very circumstance that has caused so many sighs and cries to go up out of your heart, and filled you at times with sorrow, is a proof that the affliction is from God.

C. Some of the Lord's people have to suffer under great burdens of guilt. The law is applied to their conscience in its spirituality, breadth, condemnation, and curse; and this is to them indeed an "iron" yoke, which they cannot bend or break. Convictions that we can remove, and burdens of guilt that we can throw aside as a porter deposits his load upon a bulk– that is not the application of God's law to the conscience, that is not the opening up of the spirituality of the commandment to the soul. It is not of God if we can remove it, or any man remove it for us. But is not this one of the most keen and cutting things in the spirituality of God's law applied to the conscience, that we cannot remove the guilt, cannot take away the curse, cannot ease ourselves of the burden, though it sinks into the heart and presses the soul down? Yet this very mark proves that it is of God, because it is of the nature of "iron."

D. Some of the Lord's people have to pass through keen and cutting temptations. Satan is allowed to harass them from time to time with his fiery darts; he is permitted to work upon the evils of their fallen nature, and allowed to stir up the corruption of that depraved heart which they carry in their bosom. And these temptations they feel utterly unable to remove. When fiery darts are shot into your mind, can you remove them? When blasphemous imaginations are stirred up in your carnal heart, can you get away from them? When Satan presents to your mind everything hateful and everything horrible, can you bid him depart, or drive these thoughts away? If we could, how happy would we be. But we cannot break or bend these temptations; they are to us as "iron."

E. Again. How many of the Lord's family are entangled in secret snares known only to themselves! And how they cry, sigh and groan under these snares that Satan is laying perpetually for their feet! How often they are entangled with besetting lusts! How often cast down by the pride of their hearts! How often overcome by the covetousness of their depraved nature! How continually entangled in one snare or another that they meet with in their path! But can they deliver themselves? It would not be an "iron" snare if they could break it. It would be such green strings as Samson told Delilah would bind him fast--mere tow, that bursts asunder when it sees the flame. If you and I are entangled in any snare, and we can break it, and escape out of it, would that be a snare to us? No – the very nature of a snare is to have a firm hold round the neck of the unhappy animal that is caught in it. It is the "iron" of the snare, the wire, that destroys the hapless animal that runs into it. And have not you and I found sometimes our snares to be as inextricable by creature power as the poor hare that is caught in the wire of the poacher? Yes, as unable to deliver ourselves, and requiring the hands of another to loose that snare from our necks.

F. Others of the Lord's people are held in bondage because they have not clear manifestations of the Lord's love to them. They are not able to cry, "Abba Father," they cannot see their names in the book of life; they have not felt the testimony of the Spirit of God; they have not received the sweet sheddings abroad of dying love; they have not had the pardon of their sins clearly made manifest to their conscience. And they have a feeling sense in their own consciences that these things are indispensable to salvation; that they must have them brought into their hearts by the power of God, or die in their sins. Are not these "iron" trials to some of the Lord's living family? Do not these things often bow their minds, burden their hearts, and distress their conscience, because they cannot come out into the liberty of the gospel, because they cannot rejoice in the Lord as their salvation, because they cannot call God with an unwavering confidence, "Father."

But if they had no trials in this matter; if there were no sharp and keen exercises connected with these feelings in their heart; if they caused no burden, brought no distress, were not some times round their necks like a yoke, it would be no trial to them at all. But it is because these convictions of their short-comings, of their unbelief and helplessness are so keen, and so weighty, that they have in them the nature of the rigid, unyielding, unbending metal– "iron."

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