The Biblical Illustrator
Psalms 110:7
He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head.
Refreshment through suffering
The words place before us two pictures. The one is that of want, and the other is that of its supply. He that drinks of the brook is he who needs its refreshment. He lifts up his head, when he has drunk of the running stream: it was drooping before; he had been faintly pursuing his object, but now he goes on his way with head erect, and with elastic tread.
I. The similarity between the features of nature and of grace.
II. The meaning of the text as spoken by David. In some of his sharp encounters with Saul, in some of those hot persecutions which he suffered in such number, there might have been some occasion in which the taste of water was the renovation of his strength; or perhaps he had special reference to the river Jordan, or the brook of Siloa, and coupled them with the holy city, and thought of them as typical streams, and looked at their waters, when tasted, as declaring that the city was nigh at hand, and that he that should drink it would be approaching its shining gates.
III. The application of the words to Christ. When we first read them, we deem them to speak of the refreshment of exhausted nature; and perhaps, in their primary application they do so. But surely the life of the Son of Man was not one of refreshment or relaxation, at least to Himself. We must remember, then, that water has another meaning, and it is that of distress and the overwhelming of the soul. And was this His refreshment? How could it be so?
1. Because it was the greatest of actions, the crucifixion of self in man.
2. Because it was the performance of the Father’s will, and, through this, the way of the redemption of the world. To these waters Jesus stooped down; of these He drank, and after drinking them, He lifted up His head, where now He sits above the clouds in the exaltation of the highest heaven.
IV. The application of the words to ourselves.
1. We must be partners in the fortune of our Head: what He endured, that,--it is a law of our union with Him--we must look to endure also; if His bark went through stormy seas, so surely must ours.
2. We are suffering now, and our reign is not until hereafter. But while we suffer we recruit; we derive immortal vigour from mortal woe; we live through our very death. (C. E. Kennaway, M.A.)
The brook by the way
We march with a Captain who makes common cause with the humblest. The contrast in this verse between a splendid destiny and the simplest life was never so true of any as of Him (Galatians 4:4; Hebrews 4:15).
1. See how true this is of the lowest part of human life, the life of the body. For thirty years Jesus lived the frugal and simple life of a carpenter’s son in a quiet village among the hills of Galilee. His first recorded temptation was to break His fellowship with us by claiming miraculous supplies, at least of bread; but this help, which He gave to others, He would not Himself employ.
2. Observe, however, that He does drink. You will not find one innocent pleasure, which came “in the way” to Jesus, and which He sourly or wilfully refused. He would leave a feast at once, if called by Jairus to a sick-bed; but He would not refuse the feast of His friends in Bethany, though He knew that He was reproached for eating and drinking. How does His example affect us? We may have to refuse pleasures because we are weak, because temptations must be avoided. Or, like St. Paul, we may deny ourselves for our weak brother’s sake, which is an honour, and a Christ-like thing; but the rule, apart from special cases, is that the best and truest life is such as welcomes and is refreshed by all simple pleasures.
3. It is still more wonderful to think of the spiritual life of Jesus nourished by the same means of grace which are available for us all. As if we saw Him rise from the throne of heaven to stoop by our waysides and drink from the rills of earth, so should our heart burn within us, when we observe our Master’s constant use of the very means of grace which men neglect. Our prayers are formal, and easily interrupted; but He once rose up a long while before day, and again continued all night in prayer. We easily absolve ourselves from public worship; but He was careful to frequent the synagogues, and attended the festivals in Jerusalem. We neglect the Supper of our Lord, concerning which He said, “Do this in remembrance of Me”; but with desire He desired to eat the Passover with His disciples. We rely on our own judgment and conscience, and but few of us feel it a duty to instruct our conscience and keep it sensitive by a constant study of God’s Word, which is as a lamp to the feet. But He was never at a loss for spiritual guidance from the Old Testament, saying, in every emergency, “It is written.” It is surely a bitter reproach to us every one, that a stranger who watched our Master and His followers might easily suppose that He it was who needed help most, that we could better afford to dispense with it. The brooks which refreshed Him on His march are not dried up; neither are they, like Solomon’s fountain, sealed. (C. A. Chadwick, D.D.)
Christ invigorated in the prosecution of His redemptive work
I. Christ in the prosecution of His redemptive work is refreshed and invigorated because He drinks from the inexhaustible fountain of His own love. He still prosecutes His work of mercy, because “He drinks of the brook in the way--the brook of His eternal inexhaustible love!”
II. Christ may he said to drink of the brook in the way, because of the perfectly righteous work in which He is engaged. “All His victories are righteous in their end, and in their means.” The consciousness of the rectitude of His entire work is a “brook from which He drinks in the way.”
III. The joy in prospect of the final salvation of all the subjects of His kingdom is another “brook from which He drinks in the way.”
IV. Christ may be said to “drink of the brook in the way,” from the certainty He has of a final victory over all His foes. “He must reign.” All enemies shall be vanquished. Christ is “expecting” this. (John Lewis, B.A.)
Refreshment supplied by the way
The promises are fruits laid up to ripen in time to come, and as most fruits become ripest and sweetest in the winter, so have we found that God’s promises have a peculiar mellowness in our times of distress and affliction, such a sweetness as we did not perceive in the summer days of our prosperity. The train which starts from London to go to the North continues to traverse the distance day by day--how is it supplied with water? Why, there are trenches between the rails in several different places, and from these the engine drinks as it rushes along its iron pathway; it is supplied as it runs. That is just what our Heavenly Father has done for you. You are just like an engine on the road to heaven, and between here and heaven there are many stores of grace awaiting you; you will take up fresh water without slacking your speed, and so will be able to keep on to your journey’s end. To use another illustration, when the Eastern nations used to trade across the desert in the olden times, in Solomon’s days for instance, there were stations built, wells sunk, and provisions stored at convenient halting-places, so that the caravans might pause and take in fresh provisions. The caravans reached their journey’s end because the long way was broken up by a series of resting-places. Now, the promises are resting-places for us between here and heaven. There is a long line of them at well-ordered intervals, and as we journey through this desert world we shall be constantly coming, first to one, and then another, and then another, and another, and so we shall find fresh provision stored up, that we may not fail. The manna will fall daily till we come to Canaan. (C. H. Spurgeon.).