Isaiah 29:8

THE FUTILITY OF FIGHTING AGAINST MOUNT ZION
(Missionary Sermon.)

Isaiah 29:8. So shall the multitude of the nations be that fight against Mount Zion.

Nothing tends to inspirit exertion in any great enterprise so much as the certain prospect of success. Hope is the spur of action, the very life of enterprise. Hence to encourage the fearful and animate the brave in the culture of their own piety, and especially in their efforts to extend the kingdom of the Redeemer, there are given in God’s Word the amplest promises of Divine help and assurances of ultimate success. But for “the sure word of prophecy,” the servants of God would long since have trembled for the ark of the Lord, and have despaired of the salvation of the race. But delays to us are not delays with God. Long ago He has declared, “Yet have I set my King on my holy hill of Zion.” “But we see not as yet all things put under Him.” The foot of His Providence falls too soft for mortal ear to mark. While He walks on the great ocean of human affairs as Jesus walked on the Galilean sea, His footsteps leave no traces behind. But yet He never stands still. “My Father worketh hitherto.” His progress is certain. In reference to the spread of His gospel it may be said, “In such an hour as ye think not the Son of man shall come.” At His approach all opposition is fruitless, all resistance vain. Every obstacle shall vanish, as a dream is forgotten when the dreamer awaketh.
This passage suggests—

I. The number and might of the enemies of the gospel. It is always unwise to underrate the forces of the enemy. Injury has been done to the cause of missions by this action. Good men in the ardour of their zeal seemed to speak as though heathendom was to be won by one new crusade, and that the walls of Satan’s kingdom would fall flat at a single blast of their rams’ horns. But Scripture takes opposite ground, and intimates that there must be a continuous and persistent struggle. Our Great General does not conquer in a single campaign; He goes forth “conquering and to conquer.” These numerous and powerful enemies of Christ’s kingdom arise from our own corrupt nature; from the peculiar circumstances of the heathen world; from every class of society, and are perpetually set in motion by the powers of darkness. Though they are “the multitude of all the nations,” they have one prince, “the prince of the powers of darkness.” To prevent our forming exaggerated pictures of success, let us remember:

1. That the original enmity of the human heart is always and everywhere the same. Every sinful passion of the human heart starts up an armed enemy against Christ and His truth. If at home, after centuries of Christian work, the obstacles to the gospel are so great, how much more formidable must they be in Pagan lands!

2. The power of Satan is at all times the same. And if here he rules supreme in the children of disobedience, what must his power be in those heathen lands where he is so strongly entrenched in superstition, idolatry and prejudices, crimes and passions of men confederated with him since Adam fell!

3. The world at large, in its spirit and pursuits, is decidedly hostile. Even in our own country, how few can be looked upon as the genuine disciples of Christ, the true soldiers of the cross! How mighty the forces sent out even here against the Lord and against His anointed! This part of the earth is still in the hands of the wicked.

II. The utter futility and certain overthrow of their projects.

1. Their schemes are fallacious and visionary. “It shall be as when a hungry man dreameth.” What more delusive than a dream!

2. Their disappointment is certain. The history of the past is against them. Past history has verified the words of the Master, “And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” The prophecy of the future, the course of Providence, the covenant of grace, the very progress of civilisation, but more than all the very existence of God, is against them. “The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice.”

III. The glory that shall arise from thence to Zion’s King (Psalms 72:10; Psalms 72:15). His wisdom will baffle all their designs, His power crush every hostile force, and His kingdom rise on the ruin of their dark confederacies (1 Corinthians 15:25).—Samuel Thodey.