Verse 7. “They go from strength to strength; every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.” Blessed indeed is the way, rough or smooth, that leads to such a glorious end—before God, in Zion—the center of grace and glory. But it seems strange, at first eight, that pilgrims should find strength for such a journey in the valley of tears—the place of self-mortification. And yet, we may say, they could find it, in like manner, nowhere else. We are strengthened through faith in the risen Christ, and in reckoning our old nature as crucified by His cross. Never, until we enter into the great truth of the cross, and a risen Christ, is the strength of God perfected in us. This is the blessed teaching, though crushing work, of the valley. “When I am weak,” as the apostle says, “then am I strong.” We go, as it were, from weakness to weakness, and yet, from strength to strength. It is not merely in Paul as the Lord’s servant that this grace so wonderfully shines forth, but in his felt, conscious weakness.
This is carefully to be noted. It is worthy of thy deepest meditation, Ο my soul. There is no truth more practical in the Christian’s history, and none, we fear, less understood, or longer in being reached. “My strength,” says the Lord, “is made perfect,” not merely in my apostle, or in my servant, or in my disciple, but “ in weakness.” There must be acknowledged weakness before there can be known strength. But, oh! what a time we are in learning even a little of this lesson, though we have a divine Teacher. Mark the great hindrance to progress from the lowest form in the school of Christ.
Why does that newly awakened soul refuse to believe God’s word, though weeping sore to know His mind? Just because self is in the way, and the work of the cross is not yet learned. Self and its feelings are treated by the anxious one as of higher authority, and more to be trusted, than the word of God. What a place to give, we may well exclaim, to mere human feelings! But how often have we heard, from the lips of such, these words, “If I could feel that I am pardoned, I would believe it.” This is vain, important, unjudged self. It sits on high, and judges everything as below it. And its distrustful nature and opposition to God have not yet been detected by the awakened soul. And, of course, while this is the case, there can be no peace, no rest, no assurance of salvation enjoyed. Dark despair, oftentimes, seems near at hand; and the darkness and the despair will be in proportion to the reality of God’s work in the soul. The more real the work, the more real the distress, if self be in the way. And this state of things must continue, so long as the voice of self is listened to. It matters not what blessed things the Lord says to such in His word; they all go for nothing, until self be set aside as an utterly condemned thing by the cross. This is the most subtle of Satan’s snares, both with young and old.
The word of the Lord is before the soul in all its plainness and fullness. It meets every case, condition, and state. The light of a cloudless sky shines on them all. But. no; it matters not. Self refuses to yield. It will readily acknowledge God’s word to be true; but still says, “It is not true to me yet, for I have not experienced that change within which warrants me to believe that it is true to me.” This state of mind may seem humble, but it is really pride — it is unbroken self-resisting God and His word. But the controversy must go on until self is subdued. God will never yield the point — the soul must. But that may not be until after many tears and sighs, and sleepless nights. Let us mark for a moment the struggle.
God says to the awakened, restless soul, ‘Believe my word, and you shall be perfectly happy.’ ‘No,’ replies the soul, ‘first give me to feel an inward change that the word is true to me, and then I will believe it.’ ‘What!’ God again says, ‘is not my word true whatever your feelings may be! Can any inward change make my word more true than it is! Why should you ask for any token that my word is true!’ But again the soul will venture to say, ‘How can I believe, unless I feel?’ Once more God graciously replies, ‘How can you feel, unless you believe?’ Thus the sorrowful struggle goes on, until self is lost sight of and the word of God received as the answer of His love to the anxious soul. He waits patiently in His love, until His word is believed without the feelings, for that is what it must come to in all, sooner or later. In some cases the struggle is short, in others it may last a life-time. This depends on the simplicity of faith; for the feelings, so much desired, can only be produced by means of the written word received into the heart. Oh! that we could persuade every weary one to have done with self, and to rest entirely on the sure word of God; then would they have rest, and peace, and joy; and then, too, they would by strong for labor in the service of Christ.
The practical importance of this point cannot be overestimated. Thousands of true believers are kept in a state of uncertainty, through looking to themselves in place of looking to Christ, or, through looking to their feelings, instead of listening to His word. And the unhappy consequence is, that they bear little testimony for Christ, and do little service for Him they are so much occupied with good-for-nothing self, that the best things are lost sight of. Thus the enemy gains an advantage. Oh, that we may ever remember, that all our blessing flows from the grace of God, and securely rests upon His word! And that word can never be truer or plainer than it is now. Of course, we shall, by and by, understand it better; but our knowledge of the word is the fruit of faith, not the ground of it. Faith bows to God’s word, and sets to its seal that He is true. Sweetly entering into its depths, or discovering its treasures, come afterward. We must wait on God, that He, by the Holy Spirit, may shed divine light on the infinite fullness of His own word.
“Thy faith hath saved thee,” is the plain word of God to all, without exception, who come to Christ — who believe in Him. Having been brought to see our need as sinners, and to trust in Jesus, the full blessing of God is ours. “Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.” Faith believes it just because God says it, and the feelings follow. The good news fills the soul with joy unspeakable and full of glory. When self has been silenced, and the word of God allowed its right place in the heart, the believer enters, in measure, into the very joys of heaven. The precious word of God will not be truer there. Therefore we ought to know our blessing now as perfectly, though not so fully, as we shall do when enthroned and crowned in glory. But before this happy condition of soul is enjoyed, self, or the flesh, must be judged, broken, and mortified. This needed work of self-judgment must begin with conversion and never cease while we are here. It is founded on the work of the cross.
There God judged the sin of our nature, and our many actual sins. (Romans 8:33For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: (Romans 8:3), Heb. 9:2828So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. (Hebrews 9:28), 1 Pet. 2:2424Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (1 Peter 2:24).) We should have the same thoughts of sin and self, and Christ and the cross, as He has.
The Valley of Baca sets forth the place of blessing through deep exercise of soul. When self is broken down and distrusted, we go from strength to strength, until we appear before God in Zion. When delivered from the galling bondage of self-occupation, and the heart is happy in the liberty of Christ, we have made a fair start on our journey homewards, and great blessing will be our daily portion. “Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them.” (Ver. 5.)
In Ver. 6, we have that which characterizes the way home; “Who passing through the Valley of Baca, make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.” And in verse 8 we have the precious fruits and rich experience of the wilderness journey described. “They go from strength to strength; every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.”
All the males of the tribes of Israel were commanded to appear before God in Jerusalem three times a year. The godly women, such as Hannah and Mary, though not bound by law to go, seem to have gone also. “Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles.” Deut. 16:1616Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the Lord empty: (Deuteronomy 16:16).
The psalmist, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, meditates in his solitude on these journeyings. He sees, in vision, the different tribes going up to the worship of Jehovah. His heart, like the heart of every true Israelite, longs to join them. They are in the way of blessing. In this respect, the spiritual instruction of the psalm applies to the Christian as well as to the Jew. The ways of God are always ways of blessing to the soul. Doubtless these annual feasts were seasons of the deepest interest to Israel. “I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord. Our feet shall stand within thy gates, Ο Jerusalem..... Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord.” (Psalm 122) The numbers going up to worship must have been, at times, very large. This is plain from Luke 2:4444But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. (Luke 2:44), “But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day’s journey; and they sought him amongst their kinsfolk and acquaintance.” The many little companies meeting each other would greatly increase the general company, as they approached the city of solemnities. Brother meeting brother, and friend meeting friend, must have been the occasion of many tears, both of joy and of sorrow.
“Blessed, who, their strength on thee reclined,
Thy seat explore with constant mind,
And, Salem’s distant towers in view,
With active zeal their way pursue;
Secure the thirsty vale they tread,
While, called from out their sandy bed —
As down in grateful showers distilled —
The heavens their kindliest moisture yield —
The copious springs their steps beguile,
And bid the cheerless desert smile.
From stage to stage advancing still,
Behold them reach fair Zion’s hill,
And prostrate at the hallowed shrine,
Adore the Majesty divine.”
As pilgrims and strangers in the valley, they met each other. They were now far from home; but they had one common feeling, one common joy, and one common hope. They were all journeying to the same glorious city — the same temple, and the same God. And great must have been their delight when, worn and weary with the wilderness, they caught a glimpse of the towers and palaces of their beloved Zion. “Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.” (Psalm 48) Thus it is with the Christian, through the bright gleams of his blessed hope.
“Mother of cities! o’er thy head
See peace, with healing wings out spread,
Delighted fix her stay.
How blest, who calls himself thy friend,
Success his labors shall attend,
And safety guard his way.
Thy walls remote from hostile fear,
Nor the loud voice of tumult hear,
Nor wars wild wastes deplore:
Here smiling plenty takes her stand,
And in thy courts with lavish hand
Has poured forth all her store.”
In these touching scenes of Israel’s past history, we have their future glory brightly foreshadowed; and also, the Christian’s present path through this world, strikingly illustrated. But there is always this great difference between the Jew and the Christian — “We walk by faith, not by sight.” The Jews’ religion was chiefly by sight. “The law is not of faith.” But, alas, there is a great deal of that which is Jewish as well as Christian in many believers. Hence the large place that feelings, doings, and ceremonies have with many.
It is only by faith that we know our pardon, acceptance, and peace with God. And without the knowledge of these, there can be no strength for the journey, and no happy enjoyment of God Himself in Zion — in the riches of His grace. As all blessing flows from the grace of God, and is all founded on the cross of Christ, so it all rests on His word. And the Holy Spirit, by whom we are quickened and taught, is given in connection with faith.
“This only would I learn of you, received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” (Gal. 3:22This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? (Galatians 3:2).) The great doctrine of life in Christ as unfolded by the apostle in the second chapter, and its kindred subject, “the Spirit,” in the third, are both received, entered into, and enjoyed by faith. “The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Whether it be “life” or “the Spirit” — eternal life — or the witness of the Spirit; both are known, and can only be known, by faith. They are matters of revelation in the word, not merely of feelings in the soul. True, most true, the feelings will follow, and answer to the truth believed. Faith and feeling go together; but faith must always have the first place. Faith, experience, and practice form the threefold cord of practical Christianity.
Would to God we knew more of this — saw more of this Meditate thereon, Ο my soul, and let thy one desire be, to give a living manifestation thereof, to thy Master’s glory, God grant that these three things may never be separated in His children! Bear in mind, for thyself, Ο my soul that wonderful word, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” (Phil. 4:1313I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. (Philippians 4:13).) Here, observe, and carefully note, that it is through faith in the riser, Christ, that we go from strength to strength. The risen Christ, victorious over every foe, is the strength of the Christian for his journey through this world. He has his motive to devotedness, in the once lowly Jesus, and strength for walk in the now exalted Christ of God. “He loved me and gave himself for me,” is surely enough to command the entire consecration of the heart and life to Him. It is easy to give our hearts to Jesus, when once we see that He gave His heart for us. But our strength from day to day, and from one stage of our journey to another, is in the risen, triumphant, glorified Christ. Blessed Lord — my Lord — Jesus — Christ — I need thee in all thy names and titles — I need thee as my Jesus — my powerful motive for this sluggish — this carnal — ease—loving heart of mine. I need thee as my Christ on high, with every enemy beneath thy feet, and beneath mine too, as one with thee. I need thee as my Lord — my sovereign Lord — my coming Lord — my blessed hope, amidst all that would entangle and hinder me down here. Ο let my affections be governed, and my character formed, by my knowledge of thee as my Lord, Jesus, Christ, through the power of the Holy Ghost!