Isaiah 10:3

THE DAY OF VISITATION

Isaiah 10:3. And what will ye do in the day of visitation, &c.

These questions were addressed to men who were living lives of ungodliness, and who were rich and strong in the results of their iniquity. To such men I put the same questions. Do not resent them; answer them, at least to yourselves. All the warnings of the Bible are warnings of true and intelligent friendship, all its threatenings “are but the hoarse voice of God’s love, crying, Do thyself no harm!” (H. E. I., 604, 605). Let self-love, which has been your governing motive all through life, move you to consider, before it is too late, what you will do in “the day of visitation.” It will not always be with you as it is to-day.

1. There will probably come to you a “day of visitation” in the shape of AFFLICTION. You have known little of it, but, if life be prolonged, it will certainly come to you (Job 5:7; H. E. I., 47). In how many forms it may come upon you! Broken health—blasted reputation—poverty—bereavement: these things may come upon you singly, or in various combinations, or all together. Men quite as strong as you have been overtaken and overthrown by them (H. E. I., 3991, 4403–4406, 4975–4989). What will you do in the day of visitation and desolation? To whom will you flee for help? To man? You will then find what worldly friendship is worth (H. E. I., 2106–2112, 2131–2137). To God? But will He then hear you? He does not necessarily listen to men merely because they are in trouble (Judges 10:14; Jeremiah 7:16; Proverbs 1:26). It is the penitent’s suppliant only that God will hear and answer, and your very pain and terror may incapacitate you for the exercise of genuine repentance; that consists, not in dread of the consequences of sin, but in disgust of sin itself. As your friend I counsel you (Job 22:21). It is a mean and miserable thing to have recourse to God only when in trouble (H. E. I., 3877–3879).

II. But if your lot be different from that of all other men, and no day of sorrow ever dawns upon you, there will come to you a “day of visitation” in the shape of DEATH. That is certain! What will you do then? To whom and to what will you flee for help? Friends, wealth—what will be their power or value then? And “to whom will you leave your glory?” For you will have to leave it (Psalms 49:16; Ecclesiastes 5:15; 1 Timothy 6:7). And when you have left it, what will become of you! Prepare for that which is at once so inevitable and so momentous (H. E. I., 1562–1566).

III. But that is not all. Beyond, there is a supreme “day of visitation,” the DAY OF JUDGMENT (H. E. I. 3054, 3055, 3061; P. D. 2100, 2103, 2106, 2107). You will be in that countless multitude which will stand before the “great white throne.” And you will not be overlooked or forgotten then; you will be judged according to the records in “the books” that will then be opened (Romans 14:12). Help—who can then render it to you? Your “glory”—it will have disappeared, or it may reappear as your shame. None of the things which secure for your consideration now will have a shadow of importance then. Do I speak to you as a foe or as a friend when I urge you to prepare for this inevitable meeting with God? (H. E. I., 3062–3066). The time to prepare is now. The way to prepare, you know; put into practice that which you have been taught. Then all these days of visitation will be transformed and stripped of their terrors. In the day of sorrow you will have a Friend who will know how to comfort you; in the day of death that Friend will be with you, upholding you in all that may be involved in that profound mystery; in the day of judgment that Friend will be the occupant of the throne, and He will speak to you, not words that will blast you for ever, but words that will fill you with eternal joy.