THE DIVINE METHOD

Micah 4.

1. The Choice

In the fifth chapter of the prophecy there is a vivid portrayal of the method of the Divine intervention. The chosen time is manifestly an hour of crisis for the nation. Judah's foes are gathered round her, the city is besieged, her king is smitten. She has been given up to the sufferings of her travail. The chosen method is one which is entirely unexpected. In this respect, no less than in that of the time, human calculations are set at naught. God can achieve His purpose without Jerusalem; He can dispense with Jerusalem's King. An insignificant village is the quarter from which He raises up the instrument of His choice. But thou, Bethlehem Ephrathah, which art little to be among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall one come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth are of old, from everlasting.

The words unto me express the two ideas, chosen and called by me, and ready for my will and purpose. Here is the secret of success in the service of God. His method requires one who will do His will and act as His servant. It matters not who he is in respect of man's judgment, or whence he comes: the only requisites are the call of God and the obedience of man. Of such an one it is said, his goings forth are from of old, from everlasting. The words remind us of the description of the wisdom of God, given in Prov. viii. 22 ff.; and they find their fullest meaning in the Eternal Person of the Word, who was made flesh. Indeed, this whole chapter of the prophecy demands Jesus Christ for the complete fulfilment of its wonderful message. But there was a primary and incomplete fulfilment in the person of King Hezekiah, who was of the seed of David. The reference to the Assyrian invasion requires this.1 There is also a sense in which the comfort of the words is available as a ground of confidence for every chosen instrument of God. The goings forth from of old, from everlasting refer, in this subordinate sense, to the eternal plan and counsel of God. Thus, when the call came to Jeremiah, he was encouraged by the message that before he was born he had been known, sanctified, and appointed by the Lord a prophet unto the nations.2 A similar idea underlies the message of the Servant of the Lord in the Book of Isaiah: the Lord hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.... The Lord formed me from the womb to be his servant.3 We meet with it again in St. Paul's conception of God having separated him from the time of his birth.4

But it is not only in connection with the call to ministry that this confidence may be enjoyed. The eternal purpose of God is set before us also in respect of the call to salvation, as a ground of assurance for all believers. Thus St. Paul speaks of God's grace as having been given to us from eternity, the Incarnation being the manifestation in time of the eternal gift.5 St. Paul thanks God that He has chosen believers from the beginning unto salvation;6 and he carries his thoughts about the work of grace back to the foreknowledge of God.7 This is the practical comfort of the revealed truth of Predestination. Grace manifesting itself in the call whether to ministry or to salvation, and experienced through the response of the surrendered will, is the evidence of eternal purpose. Of all such it can be said that their goings forth are from of old, from everlasting. This is the confidence which is enjoyed by the children of God: it is based not upon human calculations, but upon the eternal purpose of God; and it depends upon the recognition of the fact that the Divine method is not bound by human standards of judgment.

What a wealth of illustration of this truth the recorded history of God's ancient people provides! The birth of Isaac,8 the experiences of Joseph,9 the choice of David,10 the call of Amos,11 the call of Jeremiah,12 readily come to mind in this connection. And was not the Lord Jesus Himself, in respect of His earthly circumstances, the most wonderful example of it? Indeed, across the whole history of Divine dealings with man there can be written, My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.13

The articulate expression of the method is given by St. Paul. Ye behold, your calling, brethren, how that not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: but God chose the foolish things of the world, that he might put to shame them that are wise; and God chose the weak things of the world, that he might put to shame the things that are strong; and the base things of the world, and the things that are despised, did God choose, yea, and the things that are not, that he might bring to nought the things that are.14

2. The Purpose.

We are indebted to St. Paul not merely for this statement of the Divine method, but also for what is of no less importance, the explanation of the purpose. This he describes negatively and positively: negatively it is that no flesh should glory in his presence; positively, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.15

Sympathy with the purpose is the surest road to loyalty to the method. It was because St. Paul perceived and rejoiced in the purpose, that he devoted himself to the foolishness of preaching as the means of man's salvation, and was determined to know nothing among men but Jesus Christ, and him crucified.16 It was on this account that he refused to be deterred by his own weakness, fear, and much trembling, and that he abjured the persuasive words of wisdom. It was because he knew that glorying was excluded that he perceived the reasonableness of the revealed truth that man is justified by faith and not by works.17 The first secret of co-operation with God, whether in the matter of salvation or of service, is the acceptance of this principle. When a brilliant young controversialist feels himself at liberty to pour contempt upon those who rejoice in the doctrine of Justification by faith, and to compare them with the man in the Parable who hid his pound in the napkin, he renders himself an object of pity. He has allowed his wisdom to blind him to the meaning of faith; and, what is still worse, he has revealed himself as being out of sympathy with the revealed method of grace. Faith assuredly involves co-operation, otherwise it is not faith; but it is equally certain that the faith which God requires from man will find the ground of its glorying only in the Lord.

3. The Result.

The Divine intervention issues in deliverance for Judah. The captives are restored, true religion is established, and peace is enjoyed (vers. 3-6). But this is not all. Salvation and service are complementary terms: men are saved to serve. Thou wast slain, and didst purchase unto God with thy blood men of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, is only one part of the song of the redeemed; it continues, and madest them to be a kingdom and priests18 Even so it is during the earthly stage of the process of redemption: we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them.19 There was no exemption from this law for Judah; her blessing was not intended for her selfish enjoyment. She had a mission to fulfil in relation to the nations of the world.. She was to be in the midst of many peoples as dew from the Lord, as showers upon the grass (ver. 7). The imagery was of far greater significance for the people of Palestine than it can be for us,20 but even we have no difficulty in understanding it to mean life. The restored people were to be the means of life to others, partly through the quiet and subtle effect of influence, represented by dew, and partly through the more perceptible and consciously exerted ministry of the word, represented by the showers. They were not to be deterred in this ministry by any unwillingness on the part of the nations. The blessing was to be offered to them whether they would receive it or refuse it. Just as God causes His rain to fall upon the earth without any respect of men, so that it tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men, even so was this God-given enterprise of Judah to be carried out. But there was another aspect of the mission: it was to be destructive as well as life-giving. Judah was to be amongst the nations as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep; who, if he go through, treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and there is none to deliver (ver. 8). To those who submitted themselves the mission would be the means of life, but to those who opposed themselves it would be a mission of death.

The same conception finds expression in St. Paul's words, We are a sweet savour of Christ unto God, in them that are being saved, and in them that are perishing; to the one a savour from death unto death; to the other a savour from life unto life.21 It is present likewise in the words with which the Lord Jesus commissioned the Church to be in the world for the remitting and the retaining of men's sins.22

What this means in actual experience we can see in the work of Christian missions. The preaching of Christ is the offering to men of the choice between life and death. The fact that He is the light of the world means that men are being automatically judged as they either believe in Him or reject Him.23 And further, Christian teaching and civilisation exercise inevitably a destructive as well as a constructive influence. The old civilisations give way before them, and idols are torn down from their seats, while at the same time all who turn to the Lord are quickened and renewed.

But there is one essential condition for the fulfilment of the mission: Judah herself must first be purified. This thought which was present in the earlier description of the nation's sufferings receives articulate expression at the end of the chapter. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and will destroy thy chariots: and I will cut off the cities of thy land, and will throw down all thy strongholds: and I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and thou shalt have no more soothsayers: and I will cut of thy graven images and thy pillars out of the midst of thee: and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands. And I will pluck up thine Asherim out of the midst of thee: and I will destroy thy cities.24

1 Ch. iv. 5 f.

2 Jer. i. 5.

3 Isa. xlix. 1, 5.

4 Gal. i. 15.

5 2 Tim. i. 9.

6 2 Them. ii. 13.

7 Rom. viii. 29.

8 Gen. xvii. 17, xviii. 12.

9 Ps. cv. 17.

10 Ps. lxxviii. 67 ff.

11 Amos vii. 14 f.

12 Jer. i. 4 ff.

13 Isa. iv. 8.

14 1 Cor. i. 26 ff; cf. St. Matt. xi. 25.

15 1 Cor. i. 29, 31.

16 1 Cor. ii. 2.

17 Rom. iii. 27, iv. 1 ff.; Eph. ii. 8 ff.

18 Rev. 7. 9 f.

19 Eph. ii. 10.

20 See Neil, Everyday Life in the Holy Land, pp. 115, 169.

21 2 Cor. ii. 15 f.

22 St. John xx. 21 ff.

23 Cf. St. John iii. 18 ff.

24 Ch. v. 10 ff.