Isaiah 3:10-11-George Mueller

Part of an

Address on Isaiah 3:10-11

There is a most perfect unity between the Old and New Testaments.  Both reveal to us the true and living God, both bring before us the precious, adorable Mediator between God and man, the Lord Jesus Christ, both tell us that by faith in the Messiah sinners are to be justified.  Both also bring before the intimate connection between holiness and happiness.  It is this last point which is especially the subject of our meditation this evening.  “Say ye to the righteous that it shall be well with him.”  Who are we to understand by the righteous?  Romans 3: 20-26 distinctly shows us, viz:  “Such as have put their trust in our Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of their souls, after having been led to see themselves as needing a Saviour and having passed sentence on themselves.  These are reckoned righteous by God and they are able to act in a little degree at least according to the mind of God.  Because through faith in Jesus they are renewed, born again, have obtained spiritual life and are no longer dead in trespasses and sins.

Now of these it is said “It shall be well with the righteous”.  On account of the intimate connection between holiness and happiness we see what this statement means.  As they are sowing, so they are reaping – if sowing to the Spirit (Gal 1: 8) they are reaping of the spirit in a measure abundantly now – to the full hereafter and throughout eternity this reaping will be going on.  Let us particularly notice – “Say ye”.  This truth is not to be kept back, but published far and wide, that it is not a vain thing to live for God.  And on the other hand, it is also said:  “Woe unto the wicked, it shall be ill with him”.  This is the will of God, made known on the one hand for the encouragement of those who have judged themselves and on the other for a warning to the ungodly, so that at last they will have no excuse.

We have further to notice that it is stated here, “They shall eat of the fruit of their doings”.  But we have never to forget that in this time-state, it is only in measure.  We have to walk by faith and not by sight and for our encouragement to lay hold on the blessing of eternal realities.  And because some forget this they are greatly discouraged for they are reaping now only in part.  Now when we look at the lives of holy men, we find this truth here illustrated.  Look at Joseph, Mordecai, Daniel etc.  There were great difficulties connected with Daniel’s life, with Mordecai’s life, great difficulties connected with Joseph’s career, yet see how God dealt with them and made manifest that He was caring for His people, that His eye was on them, that He would not leave them in the hands of the ungodly, but in due time He would deliver them out of their difficulties.  See the blessed end of Enoch, whom God took to Himself without even letting pass through the article of death.  Look at Moses, Elijah and others.  And in the New Testament remember John and Peter, what peace and joy they had in the Lord Jesus, and how God used them in blessing to the ungodly and in blessing to His children and though they were not among the great, the rich or the mighty of this world, and though they had great difficulties, yet how God continually was with them.  And God points them out for our encouragement, and just as we tread in their footsteps so we shall find in this present time-state what a blessed thing it is to belong to the righteous.

And then how blessed it is to belong to the righteous, because guilt is removed from the conscience.  In our natural state, whether we see it or not, it rests on us and we cannot get rid of the burden until by faith in the Lord Jesus we are born again, become children of God, and are brought to the holy, godly determination to henceforth seek to please God and not to live to ourselves.  Now here we see what blessing the righteous have already in this life – to be able to look up to God without fear or terror, because of a guilty conscience.

Is that the condition in which all here are?  It is mine, by the grace of God, though I have been guilty of ten thousand sins, the burden is gone through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  This is one of the blessings we have that one is able to look forward to the end of the journey knowing that one is a forgiven sinner, that one’s numberless transgressions are all forgiven – to know that one is a child of God through faith in Christ.  Oh, how precious!  And this is the privilege of every one who believes, not of those merely who are strong in the faith and well instructed in the things of God, or who have had a great deal of experience of spiritual life or who have laboured for the Lord many long years.  No!  It is the blessed privilege of the youngest child of God, though weak and feeble, if their faith is only laying hold of it.  Ah, the blessedness of this – no longer to be a child of wrath, disobedient, but to be a child of God and that for all eternity, for once regenerated you are forever a child of God, though through your state of health you may not see your interest in Christ, yet God sees the Blood in which you rest, God sees that you lay hold of Christ and God remembers it for ever and ever.  And when we look at the end of the journey – what is awaiting us?  Full, complete redemption as to the body.  We shall have a redeemed, glorified body, as the Lord Jesus has had since His resurrection and we shall be free from weakness and weariness, pain and suffering and shall no longer be subject to sickness and death and in this glorified body we shall go on serving God throughout eternity.  Ah, how great a privilege to have a glorified body!  And this comes as the fruit of believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Now to think (though I have often brought this point before the beloved brethren and sisters) of being able to work on and on without a particle of weariness!  At present we can only work six, eight – 10 hours, or perhaps fourteen, if strong, but at last there comes over us the greatest weariness, but when we have our glorified bodies we shall be able to go on working day after day for 24 hours (speaking after the manner of men) for ever and ever, never being weary or requiring rest, but going on year after year, working one hundred years after another hundred years, as vigorous as ever – one thousand years after another thousand years and we shall be as vigorous, as fresh and strong as ever and if there is any difference we shall grow spiritually stronger and stronger, and thus hundreds of millions of years will pass over and eternity is, so to speak, only commencing.  And during all this time we shall have been reaping, reaping, reaping the fruits of time.  And we shall not only have a glorified body, but we shall be perfectly like Christ, for we shall see Him as He is – when He comes not merely as a Judge of the ungodly, but as a Friend, Brother, Bridegroom, High Priest, who waits no longer at the right hand of God, but comes to take us to Himself. 

 George Mueller