“These things hast thou done, and I kept silence” (Psalms 50:21).
“As a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth” (Isaiah 53:7). “When I kept silence, my bones waxed old, through my roaring all the day long” (Psalms 32:3).
“And he was speechless” (Matt. 22:12).
In the first of these Scriptures we find the silence of God; in the second the silence of the Saviour; in the third, the silence of a convicted sinner; and in the fourth, the silence of a rejected sinner.
Silence is always awe-inspiring. The Two Minutes’ Silence in November, when there is a sudden stoppage of all sound, is always awe-inspiring. And some quiet place of nature, among the mountains, how awe-inspiring the silence! But here is the silence of God. When men put His Son on the cross, when they martyred Stephen, God was silent, and has been all these years. In his providential ways He speaks at times through something happening on earth, or a special judgment on one defying His Name; but, speaking generally, God has “Kept silence.” God keeps silence about judgment, but He is always speaking about His Son.
And He says, “Consider it” (v. 23). Judgment must come upon sin. God loves the sinner, and that is why His patient grace goes on year after year. But the door of mercy will be closed, the sun will set on this day of grace, and then the wrath of God will be poured out on the sinner who has forgotten Him, and not had ears to hear the gospel of His Son. “Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence” (v. 3). He has kept, and is keeping silence, but He will break it, and that soon.
Let us go to Isaiah 53. The spirit of Christ, in Isaiah the prophet, is looking forward to that which, beyond all compare, is the greatest event on earth, in heaven, or in hell, that can ever take place, the CROSS OF CHRIST. And we find this recorded about the blessed Lord, the Lord of Glory, the Lamb whom Abraham foretold God Himself would provide, the Lamb to whom the sacrifices pointed, the Lamb of Whom John says, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world: “He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth.”
Men robbed Him of His throne; they gave Him the cross instead, and wrote a name on His head in mockery. Yet he was the King of the Jews. He was derided of men, and those on the judgment seat spoke against Him, while the drunkards made Him their song, as we read in Psalm 69. They sought by false witness to take his character, “Yet He opened not His mouth.” “When He was reviled, He reviled not again.” The silence of the Saviour.
In Psalms 32, we find one who knew he was a sinner, and he says (v. 3), “When I kept silence my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.” Such was the anguish of soul through which this convicted sinner passed, until he gave expression to what he realized he was, convicted of sin, ruined and undone, with distance between himself and God, because of sin he could not remove. “I acknowledged my sin unto Thee.” Not to a fellowman. It is with GOD we have to do individually. It all comes out, and what follows? “Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.” He confessed his transgression and sin unto the Lord, and “Thou forgavest!” Oh, God, is ready to pardon! “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. That one, and that one only, has real happiness in his soul, who knows his sin has been covered by the precious blood of Christ, and his sins, though many, are all forgiven.”
Let us look at the last silence in Matt. 22. A certain King made a marriage for His Son, and His servants gathered together, both bad and good, and the hall was full. But the King had made provision of a wedding garment for the guests, a garment suited to His presence as King.
The King represents what God is: His heart is always going out towards the undone sinner; but the undone sinner is not fit to come into the presence of God, so God has made provision of a suited garment. For a sinner to be uncovered in God’s presence would be unbearable. The provision God has made is Christ and what He did when He died on the cross, and rose again. The Person of Christ is that which meets the need of the sinner, and is suitable for the presence of God.
But one at that feast did not know the character of the One Who invited him, and he spurned His provision. He was like the sinner who is trying to get into the presence of God without Christ.
The King saw this man. Oh, fearful moment as the King looked on him and said, “Friend, how earnest thou in hither, not having a wedding garment?” What a word for religious persons, who profess a religious character, yet have no appreciation of Christ: “He was speechless.” He had no words to say. He was there convicted, and without excuse. So will those be who seek by their own works to get into the presence of God, and despise all God has provided for them in the Person of Christ. What was the result? “Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Men try to deny hell today; but have you ever thought of those who murdered Stephen? They “gnashed upon him with their teeth.” That will be expressed in hell, where mercy can never come, and prayer is never answered. The rich man in hell, in Luke xvi., was occupied with the torment, not with his sins. Today is the day of God’s mercy, and of His grace. Today the Saviour is not silent, but says, “Come unto Me” Jesus the Saviour, the Redeemer, the Lamb of God, and “I, I will give you rest.”
QUARTUS.