Milo

November 30

“And seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord: but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest.” (Jer. 45:5.)

A PROMISE given for hard places, and a promise of safety and life in the midst of tremendous pressure, a life “for a prey.” It may well adjust itself to our own times, which are growing harder as we near the end of the age, and the Tribulation times.
What is the meaning of “a life for a prey”? It means a life snatched out of the jaws of the destroyer, as David snatched the lamb from the lion. It means not removal from the noise of the battle and the presence of our foes; but it means a table in the midst of our enemies, a shelter from the storm, a fortress amid the foe, a life preserved in the face of continual pressure: Paul’s healing when pressed out of measure so that he despaired of life; Paul’s Divine help when the thorn remained, but the power of Christ rested upon him and the grace of Christ was sufficient. Lord, give me my life for a prey, and in the hardest places help me today to be victorious.—Days of Heaven upon Earth.
We often pray to be delivered from calamities; we even trust that we shall be; but we do not pray to be made what we should be, in the very presence of the calamities; to live amid them, as long as they last, in the consciousness that we are held and sheltered by the Lord, and can therefore remain in the midst of them, so long as they continue, without any hurt. For forty days and nights, the Saviour was kept in the presence of Satan in the wilderness, and that, under circumstances of special trial, His human nature being weakened by want of food and rest. The furnace was heated seven times more than it was wont to be heated, but the three Hebrew children were kept a season amid its flames as calm and composed in the presence of the tyrant’s last appliances of torture, as they were in the presence of himself before their time of deliverance came. And the livelong night did Daniel sit among the lions, and when he was taken up out of the den, “no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God.” They dwelt in the presence of the enemy, because they dwelt in the presence of God.

30 NOVEMBER (PREACHED CHRISTMAS MORNING 1769)

Our Deliverer

‘The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come …’ Genesis 49:10
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Psalm 72:1–20

To apply the passage to ourselves, I shall speak a little concerning this name of the Redeemer, Shiloh. Many of the Hebrew words have various significations. So has this, and it will bear different translations that are applicable to Christ. And to help you judge for yourselves, I shall mention some suitable passages where the root occurs. The root signifies ‘to loose’ as in Exodus 3 and may be taken more generally to release from any bond or confinement. Thus Shiloh signifies the Deliverer, he who was anointed with power and authority to break open the prison doors and set the prisoners free—to take the prey from the hand of the mighty and to deliver the lawful captive. It denotes a state of prosperity and success. Thus it is used, in Job 12, of the prosperity of the wicked. And the same word occurs in Psalm 122:6–7. Thus it is applicable to Christ in two senses:
(i) to intimate the success and prosperity of his undertakings on behalf of his people. He not only fought but conquered for them, and subdued his and their enemies under his feet, and now he reigns in peace.
(ii) He is the giver and author of peace, prosperity and success to his people. Happy and glorious is the change, when they are freed from the dominion of Satan, and translated under his mild and gracious government. From him they derive all comfort, and by his power they are made more than conquerors.
Believers, fix the eyes of your faith upon this glorious Shiloh.
FOR MEDITATION:
Fervent persevering prayers
Glad the summons they obey,
Are faith’s assured resource,
And liberty desire;
Brazen gates, and iron bars,
Straight their fetters melt away,
In vain withstand their force:
Like wax before the fire:

He can break through walls of stone,
By the word of him who died,
Sink the mountain to a plain;
Guilty prisoners to release;
They, to whom his name is known;
Every door flies open wide,
Can never pray in vain.
And they depart in peace.

SERMON: GENESIS 49:10–12 [3/3] [ALSO PREACHED CHRISTMAS 1780]

November 29th

The absoluteness of Jesus Christ

He shall glorify Me. John 16:14.

The pietistic movements of to-day have none of the rugged reality of the New Testament about them; there is nothing about them that needs the death of Jesus Christ, all that is required is a pious atmosphere, and prayer and devotion. This type of experience is not supernatural nor miraculous, it did not cost the passion of God, it is not dyed in the blood of the Lamb, not stamped with the hall-mark of the Holy Ghost. It has not that mark on it which makes men say, as they look with awe and wonder—‘That is the work of God Almighty.’ That and nothing else is what the New Testament talks about.
The type of Christian experience in the New Testament is that of personal, passionate devotion to the Person of Jesus Christ. Every other type of Christian experience, so called, is detached from the Person of Jesus. There is no regeneration, no being born again into the Kingdom in which Christ lives, but only the idea that He is our Pattern. In the New Testament Jesus Christ is Saviour long before He is Pattern. To-day He is being despatched as the Figurehead of a religion, a mere Example. He is that, but He is infinitely more; He is salvation itself. He is the Gospel of God.
Jesus said—“When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, … He shall glorify Me.” When I commit myself to the revelation made in the New Testament, I receive from God the gift of the Holy Spirit Who begins to interpret to me what Jesus did, and does in me subjectively what Jesus Christ did for me objectively.

November 29

“Nevertheless afterward.” (Heb. 12:11.)

THERE is a legend that tells of a German baron who, at his castle on the Rhine, stretched wires from tower to tower, that the winds might convert them into an Aeolian harp. And the soft breezes played about the castle, but no music was born.
But one night there arose a great tempest, and hill and castle were smitten by the fury of the mighty winds. The baron went to the threshold to look out upon the terror of the storm, and the Aeolian harp was filling the air with strains that rang out even above the clamor of the tempest. It needed the tempest to bring out the music!
And have we not known men whose lives have not given out any entrancing music in the day of a calm prosperity, but who, when the tempest drove against them have astonished their fellows by the power and strength of their music?

  Rain, rain
Beating against the pane!
How endlessly it pours
  Out of doors
From the blackened sky—
  I wonder why!

  Flowers, flowers,
Upspringing after showers,
Blossoming fresh and fair,
  Everywhere!
Ah, God has explained
  Why it rained!”

You can always count on God to make the “afterward” of difficulties, if rightly overcome, a thousand times richer and fairer than the forward. “No chastening … seemeth joyous, … nevertheless afterward …” What a yield!

29 NOVEMBER (PREACHED CHRISTMAS MORNING 1769)

Till Shiloh come

‘The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes: His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.’ Genesis 49:10–12
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Genesis 49:8–12

Among Jacob’s dying words, the prophecy concerning Judah is the most eminent. The victories and the blessings of this tribe, as well as its perpetuity, are all applicable to the person here spoken of—who is the Messiah, the Lord Christ. The land of Judah was to be, and so it proved, fruitful in wine and milk, under which emblems the abundance of gospel blessings is set forth by the prophet Isaiah in chapter 55 [verse 1]. The time of his [Messiah’s] appearance is marked out by the Sceptre, or, as the word signifies, the tribeship. Judah was a distinct tribe and had the government—till he appeared. Then, or very soon after, they were destroyed out of their land, and their genealogies were lost, so that none of the Jews at present or for many ages past, have been able to prove their descent from any particular tribe.

To him shall the gathering of the people be. This clause is expounded by John’s exposition of what Caiaphas unwittingly delivered (John 11:52 [And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad]). The people whom God had chosen for himself were not confined to the Jewish nation but dispersed; by the preaching of the gospel revealing his love, they should be called out of ignorance. Note he is the desire of all nations. Some of all people and languages, when they hear of him and feel their need of a Saviour, shall be enabled to look to him and put their trust in his name, renouncing every other (see Isaiah 45:14). Note also the efficacy of his love and grace: they shall not be overlooked or disappointed. Whatever difficulties are in the way, they shall be surely gathered unto him, and not one of them lost.

FOR MEDITATION: ‘And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof’ (Revelation 5:5).

SERMON: GENESIS 49:10–12 [2/3] [ALSO PREACHED CHRISTMAS 1780]